Urban Studies and Planning Commons^™

From Greens To General Plans: Reinventing Abandoned Golf Courses, Chloe Carolyn Partain

City and Regional Planning

This paper examines three case studies from different areas of the western United States to analyze the challenges and opportunities associated with redeveloping underutilized or abandoned golf courses. By examining how different communities from across the region have approached this process, this study aims to inform city planners, developers, policymakers, and other stakeholders about the intricacies and potential pitfalls of this process. It concludes with a list of necessary considerations for the redevelopment of any golf course and recommends best practices to follow throughout the process of redevelopment.

Planning, Preserving, And Increasing Accessibility: A Reflection On Going “Car-Free”, Abigail J. Weizer

City and Regional Planning

This paper studies the accessibility of car-free areas to those with mobility impairments by examining three car-free and car-lite experiments in California. Whether slowly converted to car-free with long-term, careful planning, or expeditiously changed to car-free during the COVID-19 pandemic, these three car-free experiments show the shortcomings of planning for accessibility in car-free spaces, and how instead of improving accessibility, current planning practice often hinders it. This paper offers a deep-dive into the drawbacks and benefits of going car-free and the ethical and legal reasons why urban planners, designers, and policymakers must consider the accessibility of a space before planning …

Cityengine As A Tool For Visualizing Neighborhood Change: An Initial Study, Zach Noyes

City and Regional Planning

Urban planning is reliant upon genuine public engagement to ensure that planning and policy decisions reflect the ideas shared by the public. Because planning is a profession largely focused on the physical and built implications of more abstract planning concepts, effective graphic communication is critical to securing public support and understanding of policy decisions. ESRI's CityEngine uses procedural modeling technology to render personally-tailored scenes to non-planner members of the public, and shows potential to positively change the way that planners generate graphic representations of physical impacts of policy changes. This initial study establishes a methodology for determining the efficacy of …

Outdoor Learning Environments, Elizabeth Farin

City and Regional Planning

Outdoor Learning Environments have the ability to enhance the campus socially, educationally, psychologically, and environmentally. They can provide a defined, outdoor environment that students feel comfortable using and learning in. Outdoor Learning Environments create the space and opportunity to bring individuals and professors together to work on an interdisciplinary project. These spaces provide an area for students to relax and rewind during a stressful day. Outdoor Learning Environments have an enormous potential to achieve University-wide social and learning objectives.

This project examines the potential for Outdoor Learning on University campuses. Through analyzing existing outdoor spaces both at Cal Poly and …

Potential Of Existing And Proposed Bicycle Facilities To Link Multiple Origin And Destination Needs For Non-Motorized Travel In San Luis Obispo, Sheridan Nansen

City and Regional Planning

The purpose of this study is to investigate the potential of linking multiple origins and destinations for efficient non-motorized travel in San Luis Obispo, California. The city currently has seventy-five miles of bicycle infrastructure with the intention to add thirty-five more miles to create a more functional bicycle network and foster an increase in bicycle trips taken.

Many cities in the United States are following their European counterparts in the push towards more sustainable forms of transportation by promoting bicycling, walking, and the use of public transit. Recently, we have seen an increase in both local and national legislative efforts …

Bike And Pedestrian Safety Planning: Excelsior/Outer Mission District, Alexandra Lee-Gardner

City and Regional Planning

San Francisco’s Outer Mission and Excelsior districts host a vibrant community of small business owners and residents from a variety of backgrounds and cultures. The neighborhood is known for its diversity and sense of community. However, lack of adequate infrastructure and high-speed roadways has created great safety concerns within the community. In the last five years, the Excelsior/Outer Mission area had 828 collisions, nine of which were fatal (Transbase, n.d.). San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency (SFMTA) has identified nearly 14 miles of streets in the project area that are on the City’s high injury network, meaning collisions there are highly …