Urban Studies Commons^™

Housing Pressure In Athens: A Contested And Fragmented Process Of Post-Crisis Housing Restructuring, Vasileia Spyrou

Master's Projects and Capstones

Athens has been experiencing a severe housing affordability crisis, recording one of the highest rent increases among EU countries in recent years. The absence of a strong housing welfare system, combined with new pressures related to tourism, investment activity, and post-crisis market restructuring, has intensified housing insecurity across the city. This thesis examines three Athenian neighborhoods that reflect different forms of housing pressure within the post crisis housing landscape: Koukaki, a central neighborhood heavily affected by short-term rentals (STRs); Palaio Faliro, a coastal suburb shaped by redevelopment and investment activity; and Nea Smyrni, a predominantly residential area experiencing increasing density …

Justice On Autopilot: Comparing Predictive Litigation And Data Justice In Bay Area Municipal Governments, Darris M. Thomas

Master's Projects and Capstones

This Capstone project examines how Bay Area municipal governments, specifically the City and County of San Francisco, Alameda County, San Mateo County, and Santa Clara County, are adopting and governing predictive litigation technologies, and what these practices reveal about the possibilities and limitations of data justice in advancing racial equity, transparency, and public accountability. Drawing on a qualitative, comparative case study methodology analyzing procurement contracts, AI governance policies, California Public Records Act (CPRA) disclosures, and semi-structured interviews gathered across fifteen municipal legal institutions, the research applies an interdisciplinary theoretical framework synthesizing John Rawls’s distributive fairness, Nancy Fraser’s recognition justice, Tom …

A Stadium In Our Backyard: Community Participation In Stadia Redevelopment Projects, Sofia Zazueta

Master's Theses

The Santiago Bernabeu in Madrid, Spain and the Chase Center in San Francisco, California are two stadium redevelopment projects that exemplify the stakeholder dynamics that come into play when developers pitch a multipurpose stadium located a few blocks away from people’s backyards. Urban development patterns must be in constant evolution to meet the needs and demands of the current generations. In cities, stadia redevelopment projects have entered the picture to reimagine the role that these structures once played. The stadium once used for the sole purpose of holding matches has become a venue that now hosts different events such as …

Building Cultural Wealth: A Look Into The 40x40 Council’S Rise East Plan, Camille L. Batiste

Master's Theses

This research began as an effort to understand how community-based organizations in neighborhoods that have experienced generational economic disinvestment address the financial and cultural wealth gap in their communities. With the 40x40 Council and its work in East Oakland serving as the case study, it is evident how this organization mobilizes to reverse the impact of cultural erasure and wealth exclusion, helping Black residents not just live, but thrive. With an enriched understanding of how the 40x40 Council frames its approach, implements its vision, and develops its longevity, the Rise East Plan utilizes an alternative wealth-building strategy that centers community, …

Pedaling Toward Justice: Exploring The Role Of Community Advocacy In Shaping Bicycle Policy In Oakland., Claire Farrell Lowe

Master's Projects and Capstones

The way people move through a city fundamentally shapes their access to jobs, essential services, and economic and social opportunities. While Oakland’s bicycle infrastructure has improved over the past decade, vehicle-centric planning has historically sidelined cycling, creating mobility inequities. This thesis examines the role of community advocacy in advancing equitable bicycle planning and prioritizing cycling infrastructure as a core element of urban development. This thesis project follows the question: what role do advocacy groups play in addressing the gaps between the Oakland Bicycle Plan and its implementation? Through policy analysis, community engagement, and interviews with key informants from Bike East …

The Politics Of Being Heard: Communication And Power Struggles In Hunters Point Naval Shipyard, Caroline Trejo

Master's Projects and Capstones

The environmental and public health challenges in Bayview-Hunters Point have catalyzed widespread community activism, as residents and advocates respond to the ongoing fallout from radiological contamination at the Hunters Point Naval Shipyard. Communication plays a vital role in bridging the gap between affected communities and government entities throughout the cleanup process. This research asks: how have the communication strategies of advocacy groups influenced government actions and policies during the Bayview-Hunters Point Shipyard cleanup? To explore this question, I conducted semi-structured interviews with three community advocates, two former members of a non-partisan civil jury, one independent researcher, and one government official. …

Having A Home To Come Home To: How Subsidized Housing Impacts Unhoused Pregnant Women, Stephanie O. Porvaznik

Master's Projects and Capstones

Community based organizations (CBOs) lead the charge in the fight to end housing insecurity and often must make up where local governments fall short. San Francisco is an example of a municipality that has a long history of addressing instances of housing insecurity for its residents, and where CBOs step in to provide housing support for populations with unique and special circumstances. One CBO that operates in San Francisco that I was interested in studying was the Homeless Prenatal Program (HPP), and the Jelani House, a housing subsidy that is funded and operated by the HPP for pregnant women who …

Investment Without Displacement: A Study Of The Better Neighborhoods, Same Neighbors Initiative In East Oakland, Jeremy Mack

Master's Projects and Capstones

This Capstone interrogates the teleology of neoliberal community development – does investment in historically disinvested working-class urban neighborhoods inevitably lead to gentrification? Learning from the Better Neighborhoods, Same Neighbors Initiative (BNSN) in Deep East Oakland as a case study, the Capstone uses a Transformative Justice (TJ) framework to make the case for an ethical approach to community development: one in which working-class urban residents are the authors and architects of their own neighborhood’s future, community needs are centered, and long-term residents are able to continue to age-in place. This approach utilizes the lens of Black-centered community development, integrating an understanding …

Resitance Art And Urban Space: A Strategic Comparison Of Artistic Urban Space Usage In Buenos Aires And San Francisco, Adeline Rose Schmitz

Undergraduate Honors Theses

In the early Twentieth century the Mexican Muralism movement reached two important port cities: San Francisco and Buenos Aires. The artists in these cities quickly adopted the usage of public art as means to insert political dialogue into the everyday life of their citizens. Throughout the years the resistance art in these cities has evolved in parallel, shaped by their dynamic histories of social and political change. This paper critically compares the evolutions of resistance art in Buenos Aires and San Francisco over the past twenty years. It does so by analyzing the public art archives of local collectives in …

Abolition Ecologies And The Making Of Freedom As A Place In Bayview-Hunters Point, Spencer Daniel O'Hara

Master's Theses

In this paper, I critically explore the subjectivities of Hunters Point Naval Shipyard (HPNS), part of the largest redevelopment project in San Francisco since 1906. Applying an abolition ecologies framework, I ask what explains the duplicity of the Shipyard as a site of radioactive contamination and capital accumulation, and in the same time-space one that creates the conditions for radical place-making. Hunters Point Naval Shipyard is a former commercial and military shipyard located on a peninsula in southeastern San Francisco. Motivated by its desire for a major shipbuilding and repair facility to project maritime power in the Pacific, the Navy …

Recommendations For Sustainable Tourism In Patagonia: An Exploratory Analysis Of Sustainable Tourism In Costa Rica, The Nordic Region, And Thailand’S Communities, Julia K. Lowery

Undergraduate Honors Theses

This thesis explores different levels of governance and its role towards actualizing sustainable tourism in Patagonia. With the growing threat of climate change, international destinations such as Patagonia are looking to continue building their tourism industries in a sustainable way. Through analyzing case studies of national governance in Costa Rica, multi-national governance in the Nordic region, and community-based tourism in Thailand, we can better understand how each form of governance has the potential to create a sustainable tourism industry. With this understanding of successful governance in my case studies, as well as understanding the historical and political forces that have …

Affordable Housing On Community Land Held In Trust: An Essential Component Of Sustainable Development, Kevin S. Tellez Ramos

Master's Projects and Capstones

This project summarizes an assessment of affordable housing development in Sonoma County - centered in an analysis of sustainability. The language of sustainability requires a new vocabulary for conversation on a broad topic. The sustainable development goals can be directed for the benefit of organizations that contribute to solutions that lack insight towards greater longevity for the at-risk members of the community (i.e., greenwashing, net-zero emissions, etc.). More recent sustainable development literature from the United Nations reveals new priorities: social, economic, and environmental sustainability. (This applies to developing nations of which the researcher believes Sonoma County, California and the United …

Our Streets: Increasing Equity In Active Transportation Planning Through Community Outreach, Jordan Hoy

Master's Projects and Capstones

ABSTRACT Significant research has demonstrated that active transportation infrastructure is essential for the growth and livability of San Francisco: it increases access to economic opportunities, promotes overall improved public health, encourages mobility without contributing to roadway congestion, prevents traffic injuries and fatalities, and supports the sustainability goals of the city. Despite the fact that communities of color will benefit the most from active transportation infrastructure development, historical disenfranchisement in tandem with a lack of diverse representation within public participation contributes to an inequitable distribution of walking and biking investments throughout the city of San Francisco. While research shows that Black …

Solving For Affordability In The San Francisco Housing Crisis: Is California’S Regional Housing Needs Allocation (Rhna) The Answer?, Matthew J. Mandich

Master's Projects and Capstones

Over the last two decades San Francisco has been suffering from a worsening housing shortage and affordability crisis, as housing production has lagged far behind job growth in the city and the region. As San Francisco’s housing market is especially supply constrained due to its unique geography, long-standing zoning laws, and convoluted permitting process, it is especially difficult to add the needed housing at an acceptable rate. Overall, this housing crisis has affected middle and lower income households the most as many have been forced to relocate due to rapidly increasing rents.

In an attempt to stimulate housing production state …

A Multi-Criteria Approach To Building Resilient Neighborhoods Through Green Space Investments In Sacramento, Luis E. Montes

Master's Projects and Capstones

The consequences of climate change and urbanization have increased heat, air pollution, and flood risks in urban areas. Green spaces—parks, trees, trails, and gardens—are multifunctional solutions that help communities adapt to these various climate vulnerabilities, promoting urban resiliency through the socio-ecological service they provide. Yet, low-income communities and neighborhoods of color are often deprived of these services. As a result, this study utilizes a multi-criteria analysis to assess a variety of social, climate, and green space indicators in North and South Sacramento, two racially diverse and historically marginalized communities, to recommend more robust green space implementation strategies. Priority areas are …

Evict The Speculators: An Analysis Of Moms 4 Housing, Kendra N. Ma

Master's Projects and Capstones

This paper contributes to the scholarly work on grassroots housing movements in the United States. More specifically, I explore how Moms 4 Housing’s activism challenged urban displacement regimes and offered pathways towards the human right to housing. My analysis of their movement reveals that they utilized three principle strategies to articulate their movement and push the agenda for the right to housing: 1) the use of corruption narratives to confront the state and urban speculators, 2) the application of “motherhood” as a political identity and a rights-based framework to challenge the capitalist property regime, and 3) direct action to shift …

Neighborhood Reinvestment: A Changing Community In The Urban South, Jackson Nutt-Beers

Master's Projects and Capstones

Since the mid-twentieth century, public and private actors across the country have been identifying sources of potential capital accumulation in the United States. Shortly after the passing of the Civil Rights Act by President Lyndon Johnson in the mid 1960s, many White families across the country fled the urban core for the suburbs leaving neighborhoods in the city center abandoned and without capital. During this period, Black families and other racial minority groups were forced to live in the blighted neighborhoods of the urban core due to a variety of racialized discriminatory housing practices that lead to the disinvestment of …

Budgetary Obstacles To Police Reform: The Case Of San Francisco, Hayden Anderson

Master's Projects and Capstones

In response to the murder of George Floyd in May 2020, the Black Lives Matter movement issued a statement calling on cities to Defund the Police. The event sparked a nationwide reckoning that has reshaped the narratives and strategies for remedying the racial bias and police brutality apparent in the criminal justice system. The shift in police reform efforts embraces notions guiding police budgeting decisions. Today's advocates are transforming their approach to police reform to include budgeting decisions by promoting a municipal practice known as police budget reform. This Capstone explores the feasibility of successful police budget reform under current …

Affordable Housing In San Francisco: A Historical Analysis Of Its Finances And Policies, Ricky H. Tran

Master's Projects and Capstones

The affordable housing crisis is not new to San Francisco. As it has been made clear several times, The Bay Area continues to face a crisis of a massive wealth disparity as housing prices continue to rise as incomes for the top earners have risen dramatically since 1999. In San Francisco, rents and housing prices are one of the highest in the nation, and people are facing rent burdens, in which a large portion of their income goes to rent, as for those with low and extremely low income are facing severe rent burdens, which take up more than 50% …

Driving Disruption: Assessing Uber's Corporate Identity In The Battle Over Driver Classification, Benjamin Peterson

Master's Projects and Capstones

This research analyzes the ongoing effort by Uber’s executives to prevent the reclassification of the company’s drivers from independent contractors to employees. Through rhetorical appeals made to customers, regulatory bodies, and drivers themselves, Uber’s executives are attempting to cultivate a corporate identity that portrays the company’s labor practices in a way that adheres to California’s labor laws, namely the “ABC” test for worker classification codified in Assembly Bill 5, while maintaining the company’s ill-gotten reputation as a bastion of Silicon Valley innovation. The success of this posturing hinges on attempts to conflate Uber’s labor practices with equitable social outcomes, publicize …

A Leadership Change. A Culture Shift...And A Police Riot: The Story Of How The Highest College Going High School In San Francisco Became The Lowest Graduating School In The District, Emmanuel Padilla

Master's Theses

Thurgood Marshall Academic High School, located in San Francisco’s Bayview, Hunters Point, scored the third lowest in the most recent Academic Performance Index (API) Report. Based on the median household income, the Bayview is a low-income community and according to San Francisco data, is a high crime neighborhood. The odds are against Marshall to provide exceptional service to their students, but it once did. In 2001, Marshall had the highest college-going rate in the San Francisco Unified School District (SFUSD). Today, only 20% of its student body would be considered college ready. This study will look into what happened to …

Residential Segregation And Rethinking The Imperative Of Integration, Ronald R. Sundstrom

Philosophy

In this chapter I consider the place of the topic of racial and ethnic urban residential segregation factors into political philosophy. I begin with a short history of residential segregation and the ghetto, and their role in systems of racial domination and oppression, and remarks on the general neglect of this topic in contemporary political philosophy, including in nonideal political philosophy, which proports to take on examples of real-world injustices and inequalities. I then examine, from the standpoint of liberal-egalitarian political theory, what segregation, as a con- cept, entails, and its harms to individuals, communities, and societies. Segregation in all …

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 …

“Paying” The Way For A Better Bart Future: A Call For Better Enforcement Of Fare Evasion Policies And Strategic Planning At Bart, Ethan S. Tan

Creative Activity and Research Day - CARD

The Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) system has undoubtedly shaped the way the San Francisco Bay Area operates today. BART has molded itself to becoming a popular form of transportation for citizens of the area. However, numerous problems have arisen in recent years in regard to the overall “healthiness” of the BART system with its ex-aging fleet of trains, undertrained staff, lack of BART Police presence, rampant illegal drug use, etc. which has made BART unpopular with riders. The root cause of these problems through, is the lost revenue through “stolen” rides. At any one of BART’s 48 stations in …

Protecting San Francisco Residents From The Wolves Of Wall Street: A Case Study, Jessica Lindquist

Master's Projects and Capstones

This research conducts the first deep data analysis of the public complaints filed to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's Consumer Complaint database by San Francisco residents. The case study highlights how consumer financial harms are a citywide problem: San Franciscans living at every income level and in every part of the city are struggling to resolve their financial issues with the wolves of Wall Street, the financial services industry. The recommendations center on what the city, particularly the San Francisco Office of Financial Empowerment, can do at a local level now that the Trump administration is focused on deregulating the …

Health Starts In The Home: An Assessment Of Efforts To Improve Occupant Health Through Healthy Building Materials In San Francisco’S Affordable Housing, Staci Hoell

Master's Projects and Capstones

Americans spend 90% of their lives indoors, and much of this time is spent at home, surrounded by building materials that typically have added chemicals like flame retardants, highly fluorinated compounds, and antimicrobials. Recent research has linked these chemicals to adverse health outcomes such as asthma, endocrine disruption, cancer, neurodevelopmental issues, and reproductive problems (Bayer et al., n.d.; Green Science Policy Institute). Furthermore, these chronic health conditions disproportionately affect low-income populations. Fortunately, substantial efforts in research, practice, and policy are working to reduce the use of these potentially harmful chemicals in building materials, particularly in San Francisco’s affordable housing sector. …

The Intersection Of Culture And Activism In The Filipino Community In Soma, Ericka J. Martynovych

Master's Theses

My research analyzes the intersection between culture and activism, through oral histories with participants and organizers of SoMa Pilipinas, the Filipino cultural heritage district in the South of Market neighborhood of San Francisco. I analyzed the impact of the establishment of the Filipino cultural heritage district on the Filipino community in the South of Market neighborhood. I examined what motivates members of this community to be politically active by organizing and attending protests and rallies, speaking at Planning Commission hearings at City Hall, attending planning meetings for SoMa Pilipinas, building relationships across organizations and fields, and providing resources for community …

"Tell Him I'M Gone" On The Margins In High-Tech City, Rachel Brahinsky

Politics

No abstract provided.

History In Collaboration: Equalizing The Arts And The Humanities In San Francisco, Nicole C. Meldahl

Master's Projects and Capstones

Historically, there has been a critical imbalance in the way history and preservation organizations are civically supported in comparison with the amount of funding that is available to arts organizations in the United States. To correct this imbalance in San Francisco, I propose the creation of a San Francisco Department of Culture that would place the San Francisco Arts Commission equally alongside a San Francisco History Commission within a department that absorbs responsibilities currently managed by other divisions with in city government, such as the Planning Department and the Office and Economic and Workforce Development. City government necessarily takes time …

From Empty Lot To Garden Plot: Urban Agriculture In Chula Vista, Jennifer E. Gutierrez

Undergraduate Honors Theses

This project is an exploration of how agriculture can be incorporated into the fabric of the city of Chula Vista, which has both uniquely urban and suburban areas. The proposal is to integrate agriculture as a design tool to reconnect to the city’s agricultural past and as a model for cities of the future. First, I discuss Chula Vista’s history and contemporary context, including demographics. I review the existing urban agriculture policies Chula Vista has and compare them to other cities in California. The second part of the project is concerned with how to choose and develop a site for …