Urban Studies Commons^™

The Need For Enhanced Physical Infrastructure In The United States, Tanvi Gandham

CMC Senior Theses

An examination of necessary infrastructure improvements in the United States.

Equitable Access To Public Transport: Corridor Plans For Transit-Oriented Development In Soweto, South Africa And Boston, Massachusetts Compared, Janice Griffith

Journal of Comparative Urban Law and Policy

The article argues that municipalities should play a major role in ensuring equitable access to public transportation and in planning for transit-oriented development. It presents two case studies that illustrate the importance of these undertakings. In South Africa, apartheid spatial and racial segregation resulted in the exclusion of non-white residents from the urban core where the economy was centered. These residents, who were forced to live in a city’s outlying areas, experienced considerable difficulty in commuting to the workplace. To address the lack of transportation equity, the City of Johannesburg, with support from the national and provincial governments, embarked on …

Lawyered Up: Local Communities, Courts, And Urban Renewal, Madeline Spolin

Sociology Honors Projects

What is the role of the judicial system in solving issues of urban renewal? I propose that communities use courts as a redress to become part of the decision making process on urban renewal issues, because courts provide procedural issues that are easily open to challenge in federal statute. I analyze public statements made throughout the construction of the Green Line in Minneapolis and St. Paul, Minnesota, a federally funded urban renewal project. In spite of built in public consultation processes, changes to transit design do not occur when concerns are raised at public consultation meetings; instead, they come from …

Towards Developing Indicators Of Environmental Sustainability For Kathmandu, Nepal, Published Version, Ambika P. Adhikari

Himalayan Research Papers Archive

Sustainability is now considered one of the key objectives in urban planning. However, due to inappropriate planning, weak institutions, limitation of resources, and poor implementation of policies, many big cities in the developing countries have become even less environmentally, economically and socially sustainable than they were in the past. Historically, the Kathmandu valley enjoyed a unique tradition, rich heritage and a moderate state of sustainability in all areas, particularly in the environmental arena. However, the rapidly expanding and modernizing cities in the valley are facing serious problems of sustainability in all fronts: economic, social, environmental and ecological. Whereas environmental and …

Sustainability Makes Dollars And Sense, John R. Bartle, Gerard Wellman

Faculty Books and Monographs

Environment Omaha has suggested many changes in the metropolitan Omaha area in the hopes of improving Omaha’s environment. We all want a better environment, but is it practical? What will it cost and what improvements can we expect? This document provides answers to these questions focusing on each of the five content areas of Environment Omaha’s study: the natural environment, urban form and transportation, building construction, resource conservation, and community health.

Urban Form In Europe And America, Pietro S. Nivola

Brookings Scholar Lecture Series

Why do America's cities sprawl whereas European cities remain comparatively compact, and what difference do the patterns of urban development make? Pietro Nivola, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, addresses these questions. Nivola examines two kinds of determinants of urban form: (1) market forces, including those influenced by geography, demographics, and technological change, and (2) public policies shaping national transportation systems, tax policy, educational institutions, and more. He also discusses the implications of the different cityscapes for energy consumption.

Hosford-Abernethy Bicycle And Pedestrian Connections: An Alternative Routes Analysis Linking Se Clinton Street And The Eastbank Esplanade, Shannon Axtell, Evan Mackenzie, Brady Smith, Allison Wildman

Master of Urban and Regional Planning Workshop Projects

SE Clinton is a popular bicycle route for commuter, utilitarian and recreational bicyclists that fails to provide a safe and direct connection to the Eastbank Esplanade and downtown Portland. Furthermore, residents in the Hosford-Abernethy and Brooklyn neighborhoods do not have a safe bicycle and pedestrian connection to access the Eastbank Esplanade. This gap in the bicycle and pedestrian network must be removed to serve the needs of bicyclists and pedestrians.

This project presents four alternative bicycle and pedestrian routes that connect the Eastbank Esplanade and the SE Clinton bikeway through the Central Eastside Industrial District. Each alternative, with improvements, is …

The Longest Commute: The Geography Of Poverty, Employment, And Services, Matthew F. Reidy

New England Journal of Public Policy

The average American commuter, alone in an automobile, has a twenty-five-minute ride to work, a not unpleasant, usually overlooked part of the workday. But for millions of low-income people trying to establish themselves in the workforce, getting to work can be a major hurdle because their jobless neighborhoods are not well connected to areas where jobs are plentiful. Theirs is the longest commute. This is not a new problem. The decades-long decline of inner cities and the public transportation system are fairly well-documented phenomena. The time limits instituted as part of the 1996 welfare reform legislation bring a new immediacy …

Managing The Central Artery/Tunnel Project: An Exploration Of Potential Cost Savings, Allan K. Sloan

McCormack Graduate School General Publications (active until 2013)

The John W. McCormack Institute of Public Affairs at the University of Massachusetts Boston is an institution whose primary mission is public service. Through public policy research, educational programs, policy practice and the dissemination ofknowledge, the Institute seeks to have a constructive impact on policy formulation, problem solving and public discourse concerning urgent civic challenges facing state and local government in the New England region.

In 1996, under Chapter 205 of the 1996 Acts and Resolves, the Massachusetts legislature authorized the Institute to undertake a study *to review and explore possible cost savings within the Central Artery/Third Harbor Tunnel project" …

A Plan For Parks And Recreation In Light Rail Station Communities, Mary Anderson, Heather Coleman, Alan Lehto, Kristina Gifford Mckenzie, Deena Platman, Paul Scarlett

Master of Urban and Regional Planning Workshop Projects

This plan proposes new park classifications for THPRD, adding new types of park and recreation facilities appropriate to station communities and adjusting existing classifications to address the needs of a more urban environment. This plan also presents service criteria and design issues that should be considered in siting park and recreation facilities, and elements that should be incorporated into site design. The classifications, service criteria, and design elements were applied to the 170th/Elmonica station area, resulting in a conceptual park and recreation plan for that community, which is also included. Finally, strategies are presented to implement the recommendations contained in …