Digital Commons Network^™

Tree Canopy Cover And Potential In Portland, Or: A Spatial Analysis Of The Urban Forest And Capacity For Growth, Jeff Ramsey

Dissertations and Theses

Urban forests have positive impacts on human and ecosystem health, reduce stress on aging stormwater infrastructure, increase property values, and reduce energy consumption. The scale of these benefits ranges from the hyper-local to the global. While the benefits of urban forests can extend well beyond the boundaries of cities, they often do not reach all residents of the city equally. Urban forest policies do not adequately address environmental equity or employ planting strategies with knowledge of the social and political factors that determine the spatial variations of tree canopy extent in cities. Chapter I analyzes the determinants of current canopy …

Ecofeminist Understandings Of Care And Design For Sustainability Transitions: Towards A Theoretical Framework Of Work For The Degrowth Movement, Eeva Houtbeckers, İdil Gaziulusoy

Nordes Conference Series

The starting point of this paper is a recognition of the need for transitions to sustainability. This exploratory paper is a stepping stone for development of a theoretical framework for ways of imagining and acting upon ecofeminist degrowth futures based on design for sustainability transitions (DFST). The aim of the framework is to conceptualise the role paid and un(der)paid work in and for such transitions. In this paper, we bring together previous research of design for sustainability DFST, degrowth, and ecofeminist understandings of care as gendered work. With references to the multi-level perspective of system innovations, DFST investigates the niche …

In-Groups, Out-Groups And The Challenge Of Increasing Diversity Through Intentional Inclusion And Equity Practices: Exploring The Roles Of Urban Land Managers, Affinity Groups, And Alaska Residents, Susan Newton, Amy Markle, Laurie Stuart

Dissertations

Public lands belong to all of us. Yet, data indicate that some Americans are participating more than others in the decision-making processes that guide use, access, and availability of our public lands and resources. Three researchers investigated three ways public participation intersects with the decision-making process, with a focus on illuminating barriers to full public participation as well as potential bridges to increasing equitable inclusion. Researchers interviewed urban land managers and affinity group leaders, surveyed a sample of residents in Alaska, and examined public testimony from a city council discussion about an inclusion resolution in Homer, Alaska. Qualitative and quantitative …

Opening Doors, Eric F. Spina

President's Blog: From the Heart

Rachel Carr ’20 traveled 1,200 miles from home to attend a university in Texas because she wanted to open up her world. Only her world, she discovered, is actually right here in her hometown on the University of Dayton’s campus.

The Pacific Sentinel, June 2019, Portland State University. Student Publications Board

The Pacific Sentinel

Editor: Jake Johnson

Articles in this issue include:

• Richard Barry: Chronicle of a Death as Told
• Students Rally Against Tuition Increase
• Portland's Heritage Trees
• Portland Clean Energy Initiative
• Did You Know Sunscreen is Controversial?
• SMSU's Quiet Study Lounge is Leaving
• Resource Centers Reunited
• Campus Accessibility: Room for Improvement
• What Stonewall Means to Me
• The Policeman's Tale
• Honey to Die for
• Shoureshi's Cross-Disciplinary Internship Program Revealed as a Cover for Secret Escape Plan
• Artists on Campus: PSU Artists of Color Collective

Still Melting: How Climate Change And Subsistence Laws Constrain Alaska Native Village Adaptation, E. Barrett Ristroph

Colorado Environmental Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Noho2: North Hollywood Transit-Oriented Development, Caroline Chen

City and Regional Planning

As population in California continues to grow, the demand for high-density housing alongside alternative transportation in communities across the U.S. has been steadily increasing. North Hollywood, a neighborhood in Los Angeles, California, is one such community. This transit-oriented development (TOD) proposal capitalizes on the existing assets of the community while introducing new elements that meet local and regional demand and enhance the harmony of the public.

Guide To Ms439 Alert Citizens For Environmental Safety(Aces) Records, Miguel H. Vasquez

Finding Aids

Formed in 1983, Alert Citizens for Environmental Safety (ACES) was a nonprofit organization that researched, educated and provided information to communities in Hudspeth County, which would be affected by the construction of a low-level radioactive waste dump. The ACES records date 1989 to 1998, bulk 1992-1994. The records contain information about ACES members who played key roles in the fight against nuclear waste and environmental organizations. The records contain newspaper clippings, cartoons used in the press, faxes between other environmental organizations, publications, court cases, legislative papers, and extensive information about nuclear waste and sludge waste pollution.

Containing The Jeremiad: Understanding Paradigms Of Anxiety In Global Climate Change Experience, Brian Glaser

The Journal of the Assembly for Expanded Perspectives on Learning

This essay uses Bion’s concept of “containing” to read the psychological dynamics of jeremiads about global climate change, arguing that their structure reveals a strategy of communication that may be useful for more broadly raising awareness about this challenging state of the planet. More specifically, I argue that contemporary global climate change jeremiads have a structure that first elicits alarm and then moves to discuss solutions, and that this structure may be beneficial to those who are awakening to the reality of global climate change by rendering anxiety bearable and therefore open to purposive and creative response.

Aesthetic Perception Of Urban Spaces: New York, Timur Pozhidaev

Theses and Dissertations

Aesthetic perception is an important field of interest in many aspects of everyday human life. It affects individual and social unconscious behavior and is strongly related to the decision-making processes in the human mind. The current study can serve as an important prototype for planning purposes and social and environmental justice among the regional units of New York City. With the current scientific sphere lacking a comprehensive methodology for assessing social superstructure, an aesthetic framework has the potential for success in evaluating the aspects of sustainable and resilient urban development.

The Campaign To Make Ecocide An International Crime: Quixotic Quest Or Moral Imperative?, Anastacia Greene

Fordham Environmental Law Review

No abstract provided.

Before We Make A Pig's Ear Of It: How North Carolina Hog-Farming Nuisance Suits Provide Context For The Ethics Of Gene Editing Livestock, Karen M. Meagher, Paul B. Thompson

North Carolina Law Review

No abstract provided.

Waste Not Want Not: Chinese Recyclable Waste Restrictions, Their Global Impact, And Potential U.S. Responses, Colin Parts

Chicago Journal of International Law

Since 2013 China has introduced increasingly stringent restrictions on imports of recyclables, and those restrictions have severely limited the amount of recyclables allowed into the country. Because China plays such a large role in handling global recycling flows—including waste from the U.S.—these restrictions are likely to have enormous impacts on trade in recyclables over the long term. The restrictions are potentially vulnerable to challenge within the World Trade Organization (WTO), but challenging the restrictions could create many negative impacts and be seen as an action akin to U.S. imperialism by denying China a right to a healthy environment. The domestic …

Sidewalks To Nowhere: A Tool To Prioritize Pedestrian Improvements, Ho Yan Lai

Master's Theses

Walkability as a concept that captures the ability to walk from one place to another has multiple dimensions. Between traversability to being a proxy for better urban places, there are also numerous measurements of walkability that attempts to quantify certain or all aspects of walkability. It is, however, unclear, through a review of available literature, how these measurements of walkability relate to each other statistically. This methodology focuses on generating a framework for analysts to evaluate and prioritize pedestrian infrastructure. WalkScore™ (WS), HCM Pedestrian Level of Service (PLOS), Average Nodal Degree (AND), and Intersection Density are the four metrics selected …

Alumni Matter, Summer 2019, Women's, Gender, And Sexuality Studies Program

Alumni Matter (2009-2022)

A bulletin of Illinois State University’s Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies program, June 2019.

Commoning Mobility: Towards A New Politics Of Mobility Transitions, Anna Nikolaeva, Peter Adey, Tim Cresswell, Jane Yeonjae Lee, Andre Nóvoa, Cristina Temenos

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

Scholars have argued that transitions to more sustainable and just mobilities require moving beyond technocentrism to rethink the very meaning of mobility in cities, communities, and societies. This paper demonstrates that such rethinking is inherently political. In particular, we focus on recent theorisations of commoning practices that have gained traction in geographic literatures. Drawing on our global comparative research of low‐carbon mobility transitions, we argue that critical mobilities scholars can rethink and expand the understanding of mobility through engagement with commons–enclosure thinking. We present a new concept, “commoning mobility,” a theorisation that both envisions and shapes practices that develop fairer …

Confronting Gentrification: Can Creative Interventions Help People Keep More Than Just Their Homes?, Amie Thurber, Janine Christiano

School of Social Work Faculty Publications and Presentations

Gentrification is changing the landscape of many American cities. As land values rise, people may lose their homes, neighbors, and sites of significance, along with their sense of place, community, and history. There is a critical need to build and preserve affordable housing, yet housing alone will not address the more than material losses. What role can the arts play in sustaining place attachments, restoring relationships, and building place knowledge in gentrifying neighborhoods? This paper explores this question through a systematic review of current research. We identify four prominent alternative interventions in gentrifying neighborhoods—creative placemaking, public pedagogy, community organizing, and …

Not All Your Neighbors Are Free: Community Building With Incarcerated Folks In San Luis Obispo, Gianna Bissa

sprinkle: an undergraduate journal of feminist and queer studies

The American criminal justice system is rooted in white supremacist ideology that is predicated on the murder, displacement, exploitation, and marginalization of people of color. Scholars and activists recognize the American prison system as a modern form of slavery. Only three miles away from Cal Poly’s campus, the California Men’s Colony State Prison (CMC) operates as one of thirty-four state prisons in California. Nearly 4,000 men, trans women, and nonbinary people are being held at the CMC. Not only can mass incarceration be identified as one of the most dreadful state projects that violates human freedom, but also non-incarcerated community …

The Heritage Leadership Process: Exploring Meaning Making And Social Emotional Competencies In Heritage Interpretation And Education For Sustainability, Lynn Cartmell, Tonia Herndon, Thomas Moffatt, Katy Mike Smaistrla Lampe

Dissertations

This study explores qualities identified as being critical to leadership work in heritage fields as identified by established leaders in heritage work. It also establishes a foundational definition of the term heritage leadership. After reviewing existing data to identify significant questions related to heritage leadership, the research team interviewed leaders in HIn and Education for Sustainability with a specific focus on leadership, meaning making, and social emotional competencies as guiding constructs in heritage leadership. A proposed definition of the term heritage leadership resulted: Heritage leaders aspire to serve others and to create meaningful connections to shared natural and cultural heritage …

Interview With David Takacs, California State University, Monterey Bay

Founding Faculty Oral History Interviews

Interview with David Takacs, Associate Professor, Earth Systems Science and Policy, Science, Technology and Information Resources Center/College of Science

Solidarity Economy Lawyering, Renee Hatcher

Tennessee Journal of Race, Gender, & Social Justice

This essay explores lawyering in the solidarity economy movement as an emergent approach to progressive transactional lawyering. The solidarity economy movement is a set of value-driven theories and practices that seeks to transform the global economy into a just economy that centers the needs of people and the planet. While the solidarity economy movement has been established for several decades in other parts of the world, the solidarity economy movement in the United States emerged in 2007. Over the last decade the movement has grown and gained significant momentum, with the rise of solidarity economy organizations and initiatives, as well …

Impact Transaction - Using Collective Impact Relational Contracts To Redefine Social Change In The Urban Core, Patience A. Crowder

Tennessee Journal of Race, Gender, & Social Justice

Called a “protest anthem” for urban America, Inner City Blues, the final single from R&B artist Marvin Gaye’s award-wining album What’s Going On, documents American urban life by detailing the systemic barriers to economic independence and social equality that plagued urban residents and the impact of these barriers on their daily lives. The song (and album) were released in 1971 as Gaye’s journalistic exploration of the poverty-induced challenges and frustrations of urban life. Almost fifty years later, unfortunately, not much has changed. This is because the operation of law in urban communities historically not been designed to work for …

This Is Your Brain On Science: Using Cognitive Theory To Strengthen Students’ Learning, Alyson Drake

Teaching the Teachers Conference

Having a baseline understanding of cognitive theory and educational psychology is critical to ensuring students learn effectively. This program will discuss key concepts from cognitive learning science and give concrete examples of how librarians can incorporate these theories into their instructional choices. Participants will also have the opportunity to brainstorm ways they can apply these concepts as they design or restructure their own classes.

César Chávez And Egalitarian Ethics: Lessons From A Contradictory Legacy, Jeremy V. Cruz

Journal of Hispanic / Latino Theology

No abstract provided.

La Lucha For Home And La Lucha As Home: Latinx/A/O Theologies And Ecologies, Jacqueline Hidalgo

Journal of Hispanic / Latino Theology

No abstract provided.

Unimproved : Land Observation At The Edge Of Progress, Adam Somers Bowen

Masters Theses

As residents of the United States, all of us have benefited from the resources that this land provides. Some of these resources are responsibly managed, like some logging operations and grazing land. Some are much more harmful, like hydroelectric dams that have drowned Indigenous lands, and block natural habitat. Whether through development or extraction, we as humans have the special ability to drastically change the world around us in a very short amount of time. In a time of rapid environmental change, we need to find ways to better connect, observe, and assess the landscape so that as a society, …

Green Politics: The Impact Of Grassroots Organizations On Environmental Political Movement, Eric Andrew Stolar

Student Theses 2015-Present

This paper discusses how environmental political movements are impacted by grassroots organizations. In this paper, I explore the importance of the involvement of community-based initiatives in ‘eco-friendly' political and governmental decision making and the accountability of the American political system in responding to these baseline initiatives. This paper argues for both federal and local policies that are centered around environmental restoration, protection, conservation, and natural resource usage. Chapter one examines a look at the issue of coal mining in the United States and how the residents of Appalachia attempted to combat this threat. Chapter two introduces the Sierra Club, one …

Seeking Creative Control: Musical Decisions & Activist Aspirations, Cecelia E. Monroe

University Honors Theses

Classical music academia is built upon a competitive, isolationist and judgmental framework. Despite the progressive attitudes, aspirations and actions of Portland State University, the foundations and structures of white supremacy, misogyny, patriarchy and capitalism are alive and thriving in the walls of classrooms, practice rooms and higher education. These systems oppress individuals, and in my mind, oppress and constrain the art they create. These conversations along with my queer politics, my love for music and my concerns for the future and contemporary state of academic musicianship and pedagogy lead me to develop this event: Seeking Creative Control. I have attempted …

Ecodistricts: Models For Sustainable Urban Development At The Neighborhood Scale, Jocelyn Reynolds

University Honors Theses

This thesis examines sustainable neighborhood design concepts called ecodistricts in the Pacific Northwest via a comparison of two case studies in order to determine patterns and best practices that have emerged over the past decade in the field of sustainable urban development. Through a practice-based research methodology, combined with a discourse analysis, The Village (LEED for Neighborhood Development) in Vancouver BC and Capitol Hill EcoDistrict in Seattle will be evaluated within the context of a growing regional focus on environmental design and urban sustainability. Both ecodistricts are regarded as key precedents of sustainable neighborhood models, but they differ in initial …

The Green Gentrification Of N. Williams Avenue, Marcco T. Higham

University Honors Theses

The Albina District in North Portland, Oregon has experienced a tumultuous cycle of disinvestment, decline, and now reinvestment that has caused a shift in its racial and socio-economic composition . As new sources of investment and capital have been introduced into this historically black neighborhood, a new housing redevelopment trend has emerged that reflects consideration to sustainable design and "eco-conscious" lifestyles. This style of redevelopment in N. Williams Avenue caters to those with higher incomes that desire an "urban" and "sustainable" lifestyle through their housing choices. In this paper I argue that this new housing trend is a gentrifying phenomenon …