Digital Commons Network^™

A Framework For Forming Resident-Controlled Manufactured Housing Communities In Richmond, Linwood Rogers

Master of Urban and Regional Planning Capstone Projects

Despite manufactured housing representing one of the most affordable, unsubsidized housing options for families in the United States, the nature of ownership in many manufactured housing communities places families at constant risk of displacement. In mobile home parks, where a household owns their manufactured home but rents the land underneath it from a park owner, residents have few protections from eviction. Richmond contains 58 mobile home parks housing nearly 6,000 households, but poor park conditions and neglect from park owners has threatened the viability of many communities. In other parts of the country, residents have gained control of their communities …

3014 Meadowbridge Rd: A Community-Engaged Opportunity-Based Re-Investment Action Plan, Antwan L. Hoy

Master of Urban and Regional Planning Capstone Projects

This plan is an asset-based community response for 7^th Street Memorial Baptist Church CDC as a way to revitalize and uplift the Six Points neighborhood of Highland Park. This plan was designed to provide a template for community engagement that would reintroduce a legacy of service to the community while partnering with other community assets to reinvest into the community. The primary action that makes this a prime engagement opportunity is the restoration of 7^th Street Memorial Baptist Church location at 3014 Meadowbridge Rd. Treating the building as an asset for the community and not only the church …

Arising: Hurricane (Superstorm) Sandy’S Impact On Design/Planning Professionals, Maxinne R. Leighton

Antioch University Dissertations & Theses

Standing by my bedroom window, looking out at the ocean, a huge wave comes and swallows up my building. Everything around me is gone, including me. I wake up. I am 13 years old and living in the Coney Island Houses on Surf Avenue, Brooklyn, New York. With ongoing anthropogenic changes to the natural environment such as sea level rise and intensifying storms, coastal communities, especially ones segregated by class and culture, are particularly vulnerable in this context that challenges a way of life, and in some instances, threatens that life's survival. This dissertation focuses specifically on what one massive …

Residential Land Use Change In The Wissahickon Creek Watershed: Profitability And Sustainability?, John Sorrentino, Mahbubur Meenar, Donald Wargo

School of Earth & Environment Departmental Research

The Wissahickon Creek Watershed is one of five major watersheds in the Philadelphia metro region. The main objective of the work in this paper was to determine and compare the energy and environmental impacts of placing housing in the Watershed according to profitability and environmental sustainability criteria, respectively, in the context of increasing urbanization. Future population and employment for the Watershed have been projected by the Delaware Valley Regional Planning Commission. Housing requirements for the projected populations in each municipality were computed, and their location was influenced by the local zoning ordinances. Suitability analysis using ArcGIS 10.6 generated areas for …

Levin Regional Cooperation Survey, Roland Anglin, Rene Kizys

All Maxine Goodman Levin School of Urban Affairs Publications

Regionalism is defined in many ways. Some define it by regional tax sharing and consolidating local units of government into a larger city/county statutory governing arrangement that may encourage equity and efficiency. Notable examples of this include Indianapolis and its “Unigov” consolidation with many surrounding towns, municipalities; as well as the City of Nashville and Davidson County in Tennessee. Other consolidations are bilateral city-to-city policy setting arrangements, such as the Metro Council, that determine growth and development policy for the Twin Cities, Minneapolis-Saint Paul. This study proceeds on the belief that regionalism can also be defined in functional terms based …

Legal Walls Pdx, Sofía Álvarez-Castro, Ellen Palmquist, Brittany Quale, Austin Ross, Hilary Sueoka, Joseph Williams

Master of Urban and Regional Planning Workshop Projects

Legal Walls PDX charts a path toward a more inclusive atmosphere for street art, and specifically graffiti, in Portland by planning a legal graffiti wall for public expression in the Central Eastside Industrial District. This plan proposes legal routes forward, as well as recommendations for implementing, designing, and stewarding the wall. These recommendations are informed by stakeholder outreach, best practices in other cities, and key advisory interviews. The complementary zine presents the idea of a free wall through storytelling and provides an approachable version of the plan for a wider public audience.

The companion zine is available below in the …

Homelessness And Hospitality On The Ground, A Methodological Proposal For Catholic Social Teaching, Daniel Pilario

Journal of Vincentian Social Action

What resources, perspectives and experiences can we draw from formal Catholic Social Teaching and broader Catholic social thought to help us understand and interpret street homelessness in a global context? This article is intended to be an invitation to share narratives of hospitality on the ground vis-à-vis the problem of homelessness in the global world. Unlike top-down approaches, there are no clear principles to be applied; only concrete stories with all their frictions, ambiguities and difficulties hoping that God’s inspiration can reveal itself on the rough grounds where people walk in fidelity to the Gospel.

Collaborative Research For Justice And Multi-Issue Movement Building: Challenging Discriminatory Policing, School Closures, And Youth Unemployment, Ronald David Glass, Brett G. Stoudt

Publications and Research

This special issue engages ethical, epistemic, political, and institutional issues in projects of collaborative research for justice that were designed with movements contesting policing, school closures, and youth disinvestment and unemployment. Three of the articles were collaboratively written by activists and scholars who drew from movements that deployed research for community-driven progressive change. The movements and the research are thus situated at the intersection of struggles against a resurgent anti-immigrant white supremacy, gentrification, a punitive carceral state, low pay and lack of meaningful employment opportunities, and the privatization of the public sector. These articles build upon and are in conversation …

Understanding The Dynamics Of Public Space: Zoning, Urban Design, And Use Value. A Case Study Of Downtown San Francisco, Joaquin Cabello Silva

Master's Projects and Capstones

This paper seeks to understand how zoning, urban design, and use value control the dynamics of a city and the public space, from the way they are shaped, to the way they are built, and finally to the way they are used. In this research the first step is to recognize that the strategies of zoning in a city are a way of governing and guiding the development of the space, followed by the urban design—which is a more tangible way of interpreting the different rules because it is the actual form zoning takes—to then see how they generate an …

Aer-075, Yasmin Soliman

Hospitality Design Graduate Student Capstones

Anticipating the potential future changes of airport design and expansion along with city planning for the purpose of bringing the two entities in closer alignment with one another is the main purpose of this book.

By conducting a timeline analysis of five different US cities and their airports, conclusions were drawn from tracking the relationship between the growth patterns of both. This allowed for a discovery of methods to increase connectivity with one another. These conclusions were followed by an overview of the jet industry and its possible future impacts on the way airports are designed, considering future adaptations of …

Economic Revitalization In The Lower Anthracite Coal Region, Shaunna Barnhart

Sponsored Events -- Materials

Conference materials distributed at the Economic Revitalization in the Lower Anthracite Coal Region convening event organized in collaboration with Bucknell University, Bloomsburg University, Susquehanna University, Greater Susquehanna Valley Chamber of Commerce, Anthracite Region for Progress, Mother Maria Kaupas Center, Shamokin Area Businesses for Economic Revitalization, and the City of Shamokin. The convening focused on collaborative opportunities across the communities of Shamokin, Coal Township, Mount Carmel, and Kulpmon. Event materials include an eight page booklet with speaker biographies, descriptions of event partners, and descriptions of sponsors. Supplementary materials include a welcome letter and the electronic version of a printable flier.

Convening …

Webster Square Neighborhood Plan, Conor Mccormack

Sustainability and Social Justice

In this study, Webster Square is examined as a neighborhood and commercial node within the City of Worcester, MA. Using a variety of data sources and analyses, the study looks at the characteristics of the area to define the condition and context of Webster Square as it currently exists.Guided by current planning theory, contemporary practice, and key informant interviews, this study then suggests different directions for future development and growth in Webster Square. These visions for the future look to address key issues to help make the neighborhood a more vibrant, cohesive, and walkable community. More broadly, this study highlights …

Value Capture To Fund Public Transportation: The Impact Of Warm Springs Bart Station On The Value Of Neighboring Residential Properties In Fremont, Ca, Shishir Mathur

Mineta Transportation Institute

This study estimates households’ willingness to pay for single-family houses and condominiums/townhouses located within 2 miles of Warm Springs (WS) BART Station in Fremont, CA. The study finds that, compared to the houses sold in the referent category (2 to 5 miles away and sold during the pre-project-announcement period of 2000-2001), an average-priced single-family house within two miles of the WS BART Station was higher in price by 9% to 15%. The total property value increment for the single-family houses is large enough to fund the $802 million Warm Springs BART Extension Project cost five times over.

Increasing The Supply Of The Missing Middle Housing Types In Walkable Urban Core Neighborhoods: Risk, Risk Reduction And Capital, Shrimatee Ojah Maharaj

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

There is a low supply of the missing middle housing types (MMH) in walkable urban core neighborhoods. That is, a variety of compact low- to mid-rise housing in walkable areas that are accessible to entertainment, recreational and other amenities. The largest demographic, the millennials, followed by the baby boomers, prefer the MMH types. The MMH types is a new name for a variety of compact housing types that existed in traditional neighborhoods in urban areas pre-World War II. However, due to changes in housing preferences after World War II, the requisite land use and zoning changes facilitated larger single-family homes …

Increasing Access To Food: A Comprehensive Report On Food Supply Options, Ursp 666 (Commercial Revitalization), Logan Ashby, Chesley De Leon, Vegas Krane, Eric Mai, Shekinah Mitchell, Michael Nixon-Garrison, Gabriella Pino-Moreno, Elizabeth Roderick, Chloe Rote, Jeff Smith, Charlie Wilson, Will Wilson, Hunter Wood

Urban and Regional Studies and Planning Reports

Access to food is one of the most important aspects of a healthy, sustainable community. Grocery stores and other suppliers can serve as an economic anchor to provide social benefits to communities. Unfortunately, many communities do not have convenient and/or affordable access to grocery items, particularly fresh produce.

As part of Virginia Commonwealth University's Fall 2019 graduate course on Urban Commercial Revitalization, class members researched 13 retail and other food access options, which are described in this report. Each chapter covers a food access option and provides basic information that will be useful to individuals, organizations, or government agencies that …

A Region Recovers: Planning For Resilience After Superstorm Sandy, Donovan Finn, Divya Chandrasekhar, Yu Xiao

School of Marine & Atmospheric Sciences Faculty Publications

2012’s Superstorm Sandy had a devastating impact on the New York City metropolitan region, including the suburban Long Island coast and the New Jersey shore. Given the size, density, complexity, and diversity of the region, many approaches have been used to address post-storm recovery. Planning has been central to these efforts. Using in-depth interviews with recovery stakeholders, this analysis of the planning responses to Sandy illustrates what an emergent model of resilient recovery planning looks like and highlights the kinds of resources and approaches that help facilitate this approach. We argue that preexisting planning capacity, strong political leadership, and nongovernmental …

Glocalizing Community Heritage Tourism In Two African American Communities In Miami, Graylyn Swilley-Woods

Antioch University Dissertations & Theses

The purpose of this study was to examine significant elements and aspects of community heritage tourism development activities using a scholar activist approach in two African American communities located in Miami-Dade Florida. Community heritage tourism was investigated to understand its relevance and to assess multiple factors that may influence its direction in relationship to economic sustainability, leadership, and change. This collaborative research included community involvement with key relevant stakeholders. The aim of the study was to achieve better knowledge of heritage tourism and understanding of growth and/or hindrance to the community’s capacity to change and economically sustain itself. The study …

Why Csas Matter: (Re)Localizing For People-Based Food Networks, Gretchen Alexander

Scripps Senior Theses

This thesis details the history of Claremont Market Shares, a Community Sourced Agriculture (CSA) project based out of Claremont, California. By using this project as a jumping off point for discussing local food networks, buzzwords such as "organic" and "local" are analyzed and re-defined. I argue for a people-based food network model over the currently popular 'place-based' that prioritizes producer-consumer relationships. The CSA functions as a sustainable model of this ideology.

Metropolitan Planning Organizations And Climate Change Action, Susan G. Mason, Michail Fragkias

Urban Studies and Community Development Faculty Publications and Presentations

Metropolitan Planning Organizations (MPO) sit at a unique nexus of government arrangements and missions that could be effective for addressing issues of climate change. Using survey and secondary data this study investigates the potential of metropolitan planning organizations to play a formative role in climate change action and policy. We examine factors that promote MPOs involvement in climate change issues by bridging two types of literatures in a quantitative modeling framework: the institutional responses to environmental change, driven by conceptualization of urban systems as social-ecological systems, and the public policy, regional planning and local politics literature. We find robust MPOs, …

Finding The Middle: Overcoming Challenges To Building Missing Middle Housing, Ryan Winterberg-Lipp

Metroscape

In the Portland metro area and across the state, the demographics of cities are changing. Urban populations and housing prices are rising, while household sizes are declining with an aging baby boomer generation and younger households both delaying marriage and children and having fewer children. With these changing dynamics, many Portland metro communities are looking to missing middle housing types to “provide for the housing needs of citizens of the state” as called for in the Oregon Statewide Planning Goals and Guidelines. With increasing interest in missing middle housing as a way to provide more housing choices for area households …

Reorganizing School Lunch For A More Just And Sustainable Food System In The Us, Jennifer Gaddis, Amy K. Coplen

Urban Studies and Planning Faculty Publications and Presentations

Public school lunch programs in the United States are contested political terrains shaped by government agencies, civil society activists, and agri-food companies. The particular organization of these programs has consequences for public health, social justice, and ecological sustainability. This contribution draws on political economy, critical food studies, and feminist economics to analyze the US National School Lunch Program, one of the world's oldest and largest government-sponsored school lunch programs. It makes visible the social and environmental costs of the "heat-and-serve" economy, where widely used metrics consider only the speed and volume of service as productive work. This study demonstrates that …

Arts And Social Justice: The Role Of Art Organizations In Building Community, Hannah Romig

Sustainability and Social Justice

ABSTRACT

ARTS AND SOCIAL JUSTICE: THE ROLE OF CULTURAL ORGANIZATIONS IN BUILDING COMMUNITY

HANNAH ROMIG

This research paper will examine how art can be used as a tool for community development and social change, using a community arts program in one city’s multi-cultural district as a case study. Research will be conducted using a variety of methods, including quantitative data analysis and qualitative data collection. Interviews with key informants and organizations will be a primary source of qualitative data. Observations and census data will be used to supplement information gathered from interviews. This particular community arts program employs principles of …

Equitable Sustainable Development In Small American Cities: The Northend Greenway And The Path Forward, Amelia Morrison

Senior Honors Projects, 2010-2019

As global climate change prompts a demand for “green” urban development, the representation of sustainability as a panacea to all environmental, economic, and social issues has been increasingly challenged by social justice advocates. In particular, critics of the social component of this supposedly balanced sustainability model have characterized holistic sustainability rhetoric as an appropriation of equity discourse to serve the interests of a narrow set of affluent consumers. The ongoing question of who benefits from sustainable development has revealed highly problematic patterns of displacement and gentrification that fall disproportionately on low-income neighborhoods and communities of color. This tension is examined …

A Fair Distribution Of Accessibility: Interpreting Civil Rights Regulations For Regional Transportation Plans, Karel Martens, Aaron Golub

Urban Studies and Planning Faculty Publications and Presentations

The US Department of Transportation requires metropolitan planning organizations (MPOs) to consider social equity in their plans and projects in accordance with civil rights–related laws. In this paper, we suggest four interpretations of directives’ distributional standards in relation to accessibility. Employing this framework, we review the equity assessments of regional plans of the ten largest MPOs in the United States. Against our expectations, we find that MPOs tend to employ relatively strong distributional standards, albeit never explicitly. We argue that more explicit guidance regarding standards would improve the fairness and consistency of planning practice

Hear We Are: Investigating Sonic Inequality Within Bowling Green, Ohio, Declan Wicks

Honors Projects

Using the framework of Steven Feld’s “acoustemology,” Hear We Are examines the sonic structures of Bowling Green and their effects on, and representation of, diverse communities within Bowling Green. Through modeling the sonic landscape of Bowling Green, Ohio in relation to aggregated census data, Hear We Are explores how the city of Bowling Green has been spatially and sonically organized – whether along lines of class, race, or education. Ultimately, Hear We Are offers a narrative of sound within Bowling Green while reflecting on the consequences of living within different soundscapes, i.e., sonic inequality

Using the theoretical framework of placemaking …

Sustainable Communities For The 21st Century Lar 350, Michael Vocino

Library Impact Statements

No abstract provided.

Agribusiness, Food Insecurity, And Chronic Diet-Related Ailments In Worcester, Ma: Toward A Nuanced Narrative, Adam Wriggins

Sustainability and Social Justice

The following research paper begins with an acknowledgement of the global food crisis and, more specifically, the agribusiness model of food production and distribution in the United States. It then zeroes in on the fundamental issues with many of the United States food movements. It then outlines a narrative with the frame that food security is a human right by elucidating concepts of food justice and food sovereignty. Once this foundation has been laid, the paper examines chronic food-related ailments (diabetes and coronary heart disease) in Worcester, Massachusetts, and how these ailments are related to racial/ethnic minorities (Black and Hispanic/Latino …

Worcester Community Clean Energy Project: A Preliminary Assessment Of Project Aims And Potential, Gabe J. Epstein

Sustainability and Social Justice

E4TheFuture is orchestrating two pilot Community Clean Energy Projects (CCEP) in the state of Massachusetts. This paper is a preliminary analysis of the Worcester CCEP and is commissioned by E4TheFuture. The CCEP incorporates multiple types of renewable energies and a cooperative energy approach to provide clean energy access to any community member regardless of income level or homeowner status. The paper examines the CCEP’s mission statement and project estimates, using data provided by E4TheFuture and academic literature. The analysis seeks to determine the feasibility of the Worcester CCEP, its potential impact on underserved communities, and the potential for project replication.

Sustaining Suburbia Through New Urbanism: Toward Growing, Green, And Just Suburbs?, Dan Trudeau

Faculty Publications

This article examines the governance dynamics surrounding the development of sustainable neighborhoods in United States metropolitan contexts characterized as suburban sprawl. Drawing on original case study research of three distinct applications of New Urbanism design principles, the article argues for understanding the relative power of municipal authorities to incorporate social justice imperatives into the practice of sustainable development in suburban contexts. Moreover, key to prioritizing social imperatives is the way in which development processes respond to the “suburban ideal”, which is a view of suburbs as an exclusive bourgeois utopia that constrains the ability to connect so-called sustainable development with …

Effects Of Historic Preservation Policy On Urban Neighborhood Stabilization, Lisa Vaughan Jordan

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Since the 1960s, urban neighborhoods in the United States have been affected by historic designation and local historic preservation policy raising concerns about social inequity in housing and services, environmental resources, and economic challenges. Although there is consensus that the role of public policy in historic preservation decision-making is related to neighborhood stabilization, little is known about the extent of the impact. Using Ostrom's social-ecological systems theory as a guide, the purpose of this single case study of a historical district in the U.S. Mid-Atlantic region was to investigate the impact of implementation of local historic preservation policies and programs …