Digital Commons Network^™

Community Participation And Travel Choice: An Analysis Of Central Florida New Urban And Conventional Suburban Residents, Laura P. Mikovsky

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Previous research has demonstrated a relationship between the built environment and social and transportation outcomes when comparing traditional and conventional suburban neighborhoods, but much remains to be learned about whether New Urbanism can produce similar results. Among studies where new urban neighborhoods have been assessed, most have centered on regions with highly-utilized public transit systems and with climates that are amenable to utilitarian physical activity. This research sought to build on the existing research base through direct comparison of new urban and conventional suburban neighborhoods in central Florida, a region with an under-developed transit system and a climate that renders …

A Needs Assessment Of Knowledge, Skills, And Values For Urban Planning Professionals Based On Competencies Set Forth By Professional Planning Organizations, Chade Saghir

Wayne State University Dissertations

Continuing education and training is pivotal in today's fast-paced technology driven society. A profession is defined by the theories and techniques that competent practitioners utilize in their everyday work. Therefore, determining the competencies that practitioners must possess for any given profession is a prerequisite for a respected profession. Most professions are bounded by competencies that are dictated by professional organizations and education programs, yet the real test is how practitioners view these competencies as they relate to their job. For a profession to reach the ultimate goal of improving society the first step is to align professional organization, education, and …

Fostering Regionalism: Comment On "The Promise And Perils Of 'New Regionalist' Approaches To Sustainable Communities", Nestor M. Davidson

Fordham Urban Law Journal

This brief comment, written in response to Professor Lisa Alexander's, "The Promise and Perils of 'New Regionalist' Approaches to Sustainable Communities," reviews Professor Alexander's assessment of the US Department of Housing and Urban Development's Sustainable Communities Regional Planning Grant Program. This comment suggests that although the ability to approach regionalism from a national perspective does not ensure that local power dynamics will not be replicated, the distance and independence that the federal perspective provides may in fact be a cause for optimism, particularly for those marginalized at the local level.

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 …

Planning A Sustainable Portland: A Digital Library For Local, Regional, And State Planning And Policy Documents, Carl Abbott

Urban Studies and Planning Faculty Publications and Presentations

This paper is intended as a guiding framework for the collection and digitizing program of the Oregon Sustainable Community Digital Library (OSCDL). The document addresses the following issues: (1) Portland and Oregon as centers of innovative planning (2) The institutional context of planning (3) The types of planning documentation typically found (4) The definition and dimensions of sustainability (5) Issue areas and topics that are most significant and interesting for electronic access.

It then offers suggestions about priorities for digital archiving based on a historical interpretation of Portland’s key planning and policy accomplishments and its consequent planning "gems" that are …

Futures Thinking For The Built And Human Environment: The Prospective Process Through Scenario Thinking For The Built And Human Environment: A Tool For Exploring Human 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.

Smart Growth: A Catalyst For Public-Interest Investment, Honorable Norman B. Rice

Fordham Urban Law Journal

Written by a former mayor of Seattle, this Article describes the "smart growth" movement as a way to sustain the livability of large urban centers in the twenty-first strategy. It describes some of the problems facing urban areas experiencing population growth, namely traffic, rising housing prices and a scarcity of open space. The "smart growth" movement seeks to address these problems in a cost efficient and environmentally friendly manner. Specifically, it seeks to do so through increased citizen participation in development decisions an constructive dialogue regarding development on individual neighborhoods. Ultimately, the goal of the movement is to make urban …

Dangerous Crossing: State Brownfields Recycling And Federal Enterprise Zoning, Michael Allan Wolf

Law Faculty Publications

Urban policymakers over the past two decades have engineered a curious and potentially dangerous intersection of late 20th Century policies designed to foster the rebirth of America's distressed urban regions. First, we find widespread enthusiasm about the potential for reusing brownfields 1 (typically contaminated urban sites), which has stimulated an impressive range of initiatives at all levels of government. 2 Second, after more than a decade of sitting on the sidelines and watching the states battle over the ideal range of incentives that will most effectively drive inner-city redevelopment, the federal government finally entered the fray in the 1990s with …