Urban, Community and Regional Planning Commons^™

Towards Net-Zero Energy Communities: Evaluating Capacity Of Local Comprehensive Plans For Energy Efficiency In Oregon, Nan Zhao

Community and Regional Planning Program: Theses

While energy-related issue is conventionally recognized as a large-scale issue to human and natural environment, few researches directly focus on local-level policies and strategies on energy efficiency. This thesis mainly aims to explain how to establish Net-Zero Energy Communities (NZECs) in the respective of local planning and policy. Based on the innovation adoption theory and key factors of NZECs, this study firstly establishes a practical protocol to assist local jurisdictions to develop high-quality local comprehensive plans (LCPs) to promote the development of NZECs. Then, through assessing the capacities of LCPs for local energy efficiency in Oregon, the strengths and weaknesses …

Zoning Barriers To The Implementation Of New Urbanist Land Use Principles In Lincoln, Nebraska, Rachel K. Jones

Community and Regional Planning Program: Theses

Euclidean land use regulations that segregate different kinds of uses from one another can present significant barriers to achieving the land use-related principles of New Urbanism on a foundational level. This research evaluated the zoning ordinance of the city of Lincoln, Nebraska, with a special focus on the Community Unit Plan and Planned Unit Development processes, in order to determine its openness to mixed housing and mixed uses, using a combination of policy analysis and Geographic Information System (GIS). It was found that a number of Lincoln’s zoning districts as well as a significant amount of land are restricted in …

Assessing The Level Of Bicycle Planning In Local Planning Efforts: A Case Study, Christopher Michael Hussey

Community and Regional Planning Program: Theses

The transportation system in the United States has long been dominated by motor vehicles. The US Department of Transportation has encouraged cities to increase bicycle transportation as a means to improve health and activity, reduce fuel consumption and greenhouse gas emissions, reduce congestion, improve air quality, and reduce vehicle miles traveled. Bicycle transportation is improved in a city when thorough planning documents have been created to help guide and improve bicycling facilities

This research creates a framework to evaluate a city’s planning documents for the purpose of bicycle planning. The framework is derived from a thorough literature review and from …

The Nebraska Sandhills Food Desert: Causes, Identification, And Actions Towards A Resolution, Andrew Thierolf

Community and Regional Planning Program: Theses

Declining populations over the past several decades have created issues for residents in many rural areas. A serious concern is the emergence of “food deserts,” areas where people do not have sufficient access to nutritious foods. The Sandhills region in west-central Nebraska is a prime example of an area that is subject to the food desert phenomenon. It features a low-density rural population that creates a difficult economic environment for grocery retailers.

This paper looks at multiple aspects of the food desert issue in the region. It begins by reviewing literature to determine the definition of the term “food desert” …

Assessment Of New Energy Use Policy In Land Use Planning, Xun Liu

Community and Regional Planning Program: Theses

In modern society, energy has long been a part of human life. However, traditional energy resources will be used up eventually, and they also cause environmental pollution. In contrast with traditional energy resources, new energy has three major advantages: it has high efficiency, renewable and environmentally friendly. Considering new energy’s efficiency, local government should adopt appropriate policies. New energy policies are the most effective and direct method to enable governments to achieve their goals.

This study mainly focuses on how energy policies can improve the efficiency of new energy use. More specifically, this research addresses three major questions: 1) To …

The Consistency Doctrine As Applied To Comprehensive Plans And Zoning In Nebraska Counties: An Argument For Periodic Plan Updates, Jeffrey Lee Murman

Community and Regional Planning Program: Theses

A citizen’s participation in the process of formulating goals for a particular locality is essential to the idealistic development of a comprehensive plan. Adopting a comprehensive plan is a manifestation of goals and ideals expressed by those participating in formulating the comprehensive plan. Consistency doctrine requires zoning regulations have a certain level of conformance to an adopted comprehensive plan. An adopted comprehensive plan should be reviewed at a certain level of regularity to ensure that citizens have a voice in the constantly shifting developmental alterations. Nebraska county zoning enabling statutes require zoning regulations be consistent with an adopted comprehensive plan …

Creation Of A Gis Based Model For Determining The Suitability Of Implementing Green Infrastructure: In The Town Of Berlin Maryland, Ronald A. W. Marney

Community and Regional Planning Program: Theses

This project is entitled “Incorporation of Green Infrastructure Into Comprehensive Storm Water Management and the Effective Utilization of LiDAR: In the Town of Berlin ”. The goal of this research was the creation of a Geographic Information System (GIS) based model for determining the suitability / feasibility of green infrastructure implementation, as defined by this study, within the study area. This model was only applicable for the identified elements or tools under green infrastructure as defined by this study. This enabled clear and concise definitions and more readily identified the criteria and their parameters. The scope of the model’s applicability …

Water Borne Diseases: A Cry Of A Trapped Community, Passmore Mudundulu

Community and Regional Planning Program: Theses

The purpose of this study was to understand the problem of attaining safe and clean water that has contributed to high incidence of water borne diseases and to investigate its effects on the residents of Chawama Township, Lusaka, Zambia. A survey was used to collect data from 400 male and female participants to determine their source, treatment and storage of water; sanitary facilities; attitude, experience and knowledge of waterborne diseases. Findings indicated that, the most common source of water was communal city taps and residents did not boil or add chlorine to make it safe for use, making it susceptible …

Building Low-Carbon Cities Through Local Land Use Planning: Towards An Appropriate Urban Development Model For Sustainability, Ting Wei

Community and Regional Planning Program: Theses

The main purpose of this thesis is to study how to establish low carbon, attractive cities for human beings. This paper attempts to contribute to sustainable development by encouraging the development of low-carbon cities through local land use decisions. The study proposes to answer the following two research questions: 1) how well do the fastest growing cities in the U.S. implement low-carbon principles in their local comprehensive land use plans?, and 2) how can local land use plans be improved to achieve the goal of low-carbon cities? Through evaluating the local land use comprehensive plans of the top fifty fastest …

Managing Stormwater Runoff With Green Infrastructure: Exploring Practical Strategies To Overcome Barriers In Citywide Implementation, Shaojing Tian

Community and Regional Planning Program: Theses

Cities in the United States are facing the challenges of protecting water resources, drinking water and public health with a rapid pace of population growth and urban sprawl. Large quantities of stormwater runoff arising from increased imperviousness on urbanizing watershed will cause municipal sewer system overflow and discharge of untreated runoff into waterways, and as a result, pollute local water bodies and affect the quality of drinking water in the long run. It has been increasingly acknowledged that Green Infrastructure (GI) and Low Impact Development (LID) can be used as an effective tool to capture and retain stormwater on site …

Walkability, Social Interaction, And Neighborhood Design, Theresa A. Glanz

Community and Regional Planning Program: Theses

Typically suburban neighborhoods within the United States are often not pedestrian friendly especially when it comes to destination walking.  Since the 1980s New Urbanists have been working on developing neighborhoods that not only allow people to walk for leisure but also allow the residents to walk to nearby shopping and public spaces. These increases in opportunities for walking can enhance people’s lives through improved health, reduction in financial outputs for fuels, enhancement of the physical environment through reductions in carbon monoxide, and the potential for increased social capital through accidental and intentional social opportunities. This paper discusses neighborhood design as …

Regulating Green Buildings, Jeffrey S. Webert

Community and Regional Planning Program: Theses

Green buildings are becoming the new fixation for the building industry because of the impact they have on the carbon footprint and the cost savings they offer for utility costs. Governments have begun to produce policies and regulations that implement and mandate green buildings due to these successes. However, the policies are having troubles increasing the popularity and quantities of green buildings. There is a need for a way to produce better policies and regulations that will increase both the amount of green buildings their popularity. A decision-making tool, such as a decision tree, should be created to help policymakers …

Impediments To And Opportunities For Fulfillment Of The Rational Comprehensive Intent Of The National Environmental Policy Act, Brian P. Mcmullen

Community and Regional Planning Program: Theses

The National Environmental Policy Act of 1960 (NEPA) initiated the study and practice of environmental impact analysis. Upon passage, NEPA transformed the process in which the federal government plans, seeks input on, and documents major projects of environmental significance. While NEPA has surely affected project-level incremental actions, its rational comprehensive mandate as expressed in Title II of the statute has remained largely unfulfilled. Neglect of Title II has occurred as a result of broad language in NEPA that is difficult for federal judges to interpret and administrators to implement. Political interference with the President’s Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) has …

An Analysis Of Small Business Loan Guarantee Funds, William E. O'Bryan Iii

Community and Regional Planning Program: Theses

Small businesses are considered important engines for job growth and economic development by policy makers worldwide. One of the most commonly cited constraints of small businesses is a lack of access to capital. To address this constraint, small business loan guarantee programs have been established in over 100 countries. There are a variety of types of guarantee funds, with the most significant differences being which borrowers are eligible for guarantees, and how borrowers are approved for guarantees. There is currently no clear delineation between types of programs and the economic conditions they operate in, though some trends are becoming apparent. …

Form-Based Code As A Regulatory Tool For Mixed Use Urban Infill Development In Lincoln, Nebraska, David A. Gaspers

Community and Regional Planning Program: Theses

The separation of incompatible uses by zoning has been an established land regulatory tool for the past eighty years. The Standard State Zoning Enabling Act was made available to states by the U.S. Department of Commerce in 1924 to provide state governments with standardized language with which they could pass legislation that would grant governments the authority to enact zoning ordinances to promote the health, safety and welfare of the public. The United States Supreme Court held up the legality of zoning with the landmark 1926 case of Euclid v. Ambler Realty. Since that time, zoning has been the predominant …

Legislation And Education As Strategies To Reduce Behavioral Health Risk Factors In The State Of Nebraska, Kimberly M. Poindexter

Community and Regional Planning Program: Theses

In the interest of improving health care planning and practice, this paper exami~es legislation and educational strategies designed to reduce behavioral health risk factors in the state of Nebraska and the United States. The growing problem of modifying health behavior in the nation and Nebraska is reviewed, including trends in seat belt use, drinking and driving, smoking, hypertension, obesity, and sedentary lifestyle. Nebraska's rate of death associated with these risk factors is higher than the national average. Several of the strategies which Nebraska and the United States have implemented are reviewed.

Legislation to reduce the prevalence of seat belt nonuse, …

The National Register Of Historic Places: An Historic Preservation Planning Tool?, Brent Donald Nelson

Community and Regional Planning Program: Theses

This paper answers three questions: 1) What is the National Register of Historic Places? 2) Does the National Register act as an historic preservation planning tool? 3) Did the administrative changes made to the National Register nominating procedures in 1986 enhance or improve any planning tool functions that it may have had?

The author, based on preliminary research and personal experience hypothesized that the answers to the first two questions would be that the National Register is a list that acts primarily as an "honor roll" bestowing distinction and recognition onto properties placed on it and only secondarily as a …

An Outline Development Plan For The Cngla Region, N. Brito Mutunayagam, Matthew C. Brammeier, Randall J. Weaver

Community and Regional Planning Program: Theses

The CNGLA is an organization of citizens from central Nebraska representing Loup, Garfield, Wheeler, Greeley, Valley, Ouster, Howard, and Sherman counties concerned with the future of their region. The mission of the CNGLA is to initiate and promote the development of the region and to stimulate the economy and quality of life of all of its residents. It is a key objective of the CNGLA to develop a plan for accomplishing its mission.

In the summer of 1990, the CNGLA engaged the Department of Community and Regional Planning of the College of Architecture at the University of Nebraska- Lincoln to …