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Sustainability And Interdisciplinary Education: Planning And The Caed Sustainable Environments Program, Paul Wack

City and Regional Planning

For the past fifteen years, through an interdepartmental effort, the College of Architecture and Environmental Design has been offering an interdisciplinary minor on Sustainable Environments. CRP professor Paul Wack, a devoted co-founder and one of its most popular instructors, writes about this unique and popular initiative which recently received a national educational award from the American Institute of Architects.

The Competitive Global City 2030: A Futures Approach, Ruth Kelly, John Ratcliffe, Julie Gannon

Articles

In an increasingly globalising and competitive world, cities are facing unparalleled challenges relating to such forces as economic restructuring and fiscal stress, national security, institutional relationships and the changing role of governance, environmental degradation, social and cultural transformation and rising exclusion. In May 2005, The Futures Academy, Technological University Dublin, in collaboration with the Urban Land Institute (ULI), embarked on a joint initiative to stimulate thinking and encourage informed discussions concerning the future trajectory and sustainable development of the competitive ‘global city’. As part of this study, The Academy undertook in-depth background research including a comprehensive questionnaire survey; an interactive …

Smart Growth: A Buffer Zone Between Decentrist And Centrist Theory?, Dorothy Stewart, Lorcan Sirr, Ruth Kelly

Articles

The context for planning at the turn of the 19th century, in a newly industrialized world, was based on the need to find solutions to overcrowding and dire urban conditions. Planning decisions made in the post-World War II period were primarily motivated by the desire to reconstruct war torn cities. The forces of influence for planning and development in modern advanced capitalist societies are arguably set within the context of sustainable development. Many developed countries have witnessed a dramatic change in their territorial structures. Urban centres are extending into rural areas and surrounding hinterland, where large tracts of land are …

Village Homes, Davis, California: A Learning Lab For Future Planners, Paul Wack

City and Regional Planning

Built in the 1970s, Village Homes is an extremely successful housing development in Davis, California, and considered a model of sustainable community design. Energy-conscious houses are organized around a system of pedestrian-friendly streets and open spaces, with community facilities, shared gardens, orchards, and vineyards, all managed by residents. Professor Paul Wack, a founder of the Sustainable Environments minor in the College of Architecture and Environmental Design, has been adopting it as a case-study for his classes for several years.

Templeton 2030 Community Plan, Crp 410/ 411 Community Planning Lab

CRP 410/411 Community Planning Laboratory I & II

No abstract provided.

New Zealand's Search For Sustainability: Ideas For California Planning, Paul Wack

City and Regional Planning

New Zealand, or Aotearoa to the native Maori, is a small island nation of 4 million people and 47 million sheep, located across the Tasman Sea from Australia. The home of the Kiwi (an endangered bird, a popular fruit, and the friendly people) is about the size of Colorado, although the shape of the north and south islands would approximate the elongated length of California.

Much of New Zealand would remind us of Oregon and the Sierras with their majestic Southern Alps. Overall, New Zealand reminds me of California during the 1950’s, before urban sprawl kicked in with a vengeance. …

Futures Thinking To Achieve Sustainable Development At Local Level In Ireland, Lorcan Sirr, Ruth Kelly, John Ratcliffe

Reports

We are living in times of unprecedented global change and upheaval and over the next ten to 20 years governments, organisations and individuals will face increasing difficulties in an environment of growing complexity, heightened uncertainty and a quickening pace of change. The concept of sustainable development implies the reconciliation of long-term socio-economic development, environmental protection and quality of life; essentially it is concerned with the future. Unfortunately, the potential for linking “futures thinking” to debates about sustainable development at local and regional government levels is relatively undeveloped, particularly in Ireland. Responding to this challenge, The Futures Academy at Technological University …

Futures Thinking For The Built And Human Environment, Lorcan Sirr, John Ratcliffe

Reports

We are currently living through an era where we can, and need to, create exciting new possibilities in the way we think about, plan, design and build new places and spaces for working and living. At the same time, two irresistible forces – change and complexity – face decision-makers charged with framing and executing future policy and practice for the built and human environment. This paper generally argues the case for employing a ‘prospective’ process through scenario thinking for strategic planning and management in the urban arena. It does not attempt to identify or explore the advances made in planning …

Action Education In Land Use Decisions: Student Views On Urbanization And Farmland Loss, Mindi Schneider, Charles A. Francis, Dick Esseks

CARI Extension and Education Materials for Sustainable Agriculture

Loss of prime farmland is a serious concern in the United States and around the globe. With rapid urban population increases, the activities and perceived needs of concentrated groups of people result in the swallowing of some of the most fertile lands in this country. Today we have just under 2 acres of productive farmland per person in the United States. Given the current population growth rate due to births and immigration, plus the present rate of farmland loss, World Watch Institute estimates that we will have about 0.6 acres or one-third as much farmland available per person by 2055--a …

The Prospective Process Through Scenario Thinking For The Built And Human Environment: A Tool For Exploring Urban Futures, John Ratcliffe, Lorcan Sirr

Articles

We are currently living through an era where we can, and need to, create exciting new possibilities in the way we think about, plan, design and build new places and spaces for working and living. At the same time, two irresistible forces – change and complexity – face decision-makers charged with framing and executing future policy and practice for the built and human environment. This paper generally argues the case for employing a ‘prospective’ process through scenario thinking for strategic planning and management in the urban arena. It does not attempt to identify or explore the advances made in planning …

Healthy Cities, Julie Gannon

Articles

No abstract provided.

Can Sustainability Be Sustained? Review Of Toward Sustainable Communities: Transition And Transformation In Environmental Policy By Danial A. Mazmanian And Michael E. Kraft, Michael R. Boswell

City and Regional Planning

No abstract provided.

A Quantitative Method For Estimating Probable Public Costs Of Hurricanes, Michael R. Boswell, Robert E. Deyle, Richard A. Smith, E. Jay Baker

City and Regional Planning

A method is presented for estimating probable public costs resulting from damage caused by hurricanes, measured as local government expenditures approved for reimbursement under the Stafford Act Section 406 Public Assistance Program. The method employs a multivariate model developed through multiple regression analysis of an array of independent variables that measure meteorological, socioeconomic, and physical conditions related to the landfall of hurricanes within a local government jurisdiction. From the regression analysis we chose a log–log (base 10) model that explains 74% of the variance in the expenditure data using population and wind speed as predictors. We illustrate application of the …