Urban Studies and Planning Commons^™

Understanding The Jobs-Affordable Housing Balance In The Richmond Region, Thomas Jacobson, I-Shian Suen, Mike Mackenzie, Fabrizio Fasulo

L. Douglas Wilder School of Government and Public Affairs Publications

The mismatch between location of jobs and housing has a significant impact on the efficiency and quality of life within metropolitan areas. A well-planned region strives to be a “community of short distances.” A wide range of housing choices located close to employment centers could shorten commuting distances and substantially reduce government outlays for transportation facilities, reduce household transportation expenses, and increase feasibility of pedestrian movement. These needs are particularly important to families earning modest wages.

CURA, with support from The Community Foundation Serving Richmond and Central Virginia and the Richmond Association of Realtors, has analyzed the spatial pattern of …

Uncovering The Progress Of Planning For Vulnerability To Sea-Level Rise & Coastal Storms: A Plan Evaluation Of Norfolk, Va & New York City, Eric K. Borchers

Theses and Dissertations

In response to recent storms like Superstorm Sandy and sea-level rise influenced by climate change, cities, particularly those located at the coast, have taken initiative to combat these growing threats with adaptive urban planning. Although civilians residing in susceptible neighborhoods are often the most vulnerable socioeconomically, there has been minimal evidence that planning has accounted for the characteristics of vulnerability. This thesis evaluates the recent planning efforts and vulnerability of Norfolk, VA and New York City to gauge the progress being made toward reducing citizen vulnerability and raising adaptability and preparedness. The most recent peer-reviewed research is consulted to forge …

The Tea Party Versus Planning: A Study Of Tea Party Activism And Its Impact On Local Government Planning, Spencer A. Norman

Theses and Dissertations

The Tea Party movement’s effect on local and regional planning in Virginia has received little study. This work identifies how conservative political activism has impacted planning in the Commonwealth and how planners have responded. The study relies on a qualitative approach involving 22 semi-structured interviews with activists, planners, and citizens, as well as textual analyses of planning documents, local and regional news reports, and Tea Party social media. The resultant findings show that Tea Party activism is rooted in deep seated ideals about private property rights and individualism. It also reveals that planning processes that increased the amount of public …

Community Gardens: Exploring Race, Racial Diversity And Social Capital In Urban Food Deserts, Jennifer F. Jettner

Theses and Dissertations

Study purpose. The study examined race and racial diversity in community gardens located in Southern urban food deserts, as well as the capacity of community gardens to generate social capital and promote social justice. Methods. A mixed-methods approach was used to describe characteristics of gardeners and community gardens located in urban food deserts, and test Social Capital Theory hypotheses. A convenience sample of 60 gardeners from 10 community gardens was obtained. Data was collected using surveys and semi-structured interviews. Analyses. Univariate and bivariate statistics were used to describe gardeners and gardens. Leader rationales for garden characteristics were analyzed using thematic …

Cleveland Street Connection: A Transit Oriented Development Plan, Ursp 761 (Studio I), Aidan Quirke, Crystal Castleberry, Elizabeth Greenfield, Haley Angel, Joseph Costello, Jonah Lampkin, Lauren Cross, Lois Milone, Michal Voscek, Michaela Martin, Mina Monavarian, Tyler Walter

Urban and Regional Studies and Planning Reports

The City of Richmond requested a plan that will inform the creation of a vibrant walkable community within a quarter mile of the Cleveland Street Pulse Station. The plan will focus on creating a cohesive, yet unique, station design that will draw together two neighborhoods: the Museum District and Scotts Addition, with Broad Street acting as the binding element. The Cleveland Street Connection will provide a vision for future development and infill in the area. The goals of the plan are to develop a walkable environment, create a distinctive Broad Street corridor, and provide a clear set of standards to …

The Small Area Fair Market Rent System In The Richmond Region: An Evaluation Of Current Voucher Concentration, Move To Opportunity Counseling, And Value Capture Planning, Catherine L. Bray

Theses and Dissertations

In June of 2015, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development released an Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking to establish a more effective Fair Market Rent System using Small Area Fair Market Rents (SAFMRs) in the Housing Choice Voucher Program (HCVP) instead of the current 50^th Percentile FMRs. The 50^th Percentile FMR is currently in use in the Richmond, Virginia region, and the region is likely to be among early adopters of the new SAFMR System. This thesis assesses existing conditions that will affect implementation of the Small Area Fair Market Rent (SAFMR) System. First, it evaluates …

The Impact Of Gentrification On The Youth Of Church Hill, Alicia R. Garcia

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis focus on the topic of gentrification and how the youth have been impacted by this movement in the neighborhood of Church Hill. Given that there are many youths in the community, this thesis specifically focuses on how students have been impacted in regards to their sense of place and their new mentoring relationships with the new residents in the community. Through open-ended interviews with both high school students and post high school graduate students and mentors to the youth, this study focuses on how the students have altered where they spend their time and how they are affected …

Perceptions Of The Homeless Toward Nonprofit Human Service Provider, Lequan M. Hylton

Theses and Dissertations

As the debate intensifies regarding developing remedies to meet the needs of America’s homeless, one solution is for governmental agencies to collaborate with and employ organizations from the nonprofit sector to assist with the needs of the homeless population. Included in the nonprofit sector, faith-based organizations (FBOs) have historically been a source of debate and contention in terms of collaborations with the government. However, Presidents Reagan, George H. Bush, Clinton, George W. Bush, and Obama have embraced the idea of including FBOs in the pool of service providers offering human services. In the Richmond, Virginia region, FBOs and nonreligious nonprofit …

Adopting Sustainability Innovations In Restaurants: An Evaluation Of The Factors Influencing Owner-Managers’ Decisions In Richmond, Virginia, Anna Salzberg

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study is to investigate the factors influencing restaurant Owner-Managers’ decisions to adopt sustainability innovations in restaurants. A cross-sectional survey research design is used for this study, which entails distributing a survey to restaurants in the City of Richmond, Virginia, to gain an understanding of the factors influencing sustainability innovation adoption. Drawing from both the innovation adoption theory and the theory of planned behavior, the researcher contributes a baseline of the restaurants’ sustainability and the Owner-Managers’ intrinsic motivations. By integrating innovation adoption theory’s perceived innovation characteristics and measuring restaurants’ past sustainability behavior, this study increases the overall …

Dispersal: A Multidisciplinary Investigation Of Plant Life, Alexandra E. Arzt

Theses and Dissertations

Using plants as a basis for exploring the interstices between the human and nonhuman, this thesis investigates ideas of awareness, intelligence, deep time, animism, and the fluctuating human perception of the agency of Nature. It outlines environmental art practices since the 1950s involving vegetal life. In addition, the paper provides a critical analysis of plant perception of Jakob von Uexküll’s work and theories of vital materialism and “critical plant studies” while noting recent studies in plant neurobiology. In my work, plants become active participants via their movement, seeding, and smell. This study takes the form of imitation, purposeful symbiosis, anthropomorphism, …

Acknowledgements: Richmond, Race And Regionalism, Richmond Peace Education Center

Richmond, Race and Regionalism

Acknowledgements of contributors to Richmond, Race and Regionalism video project, sponsored by the Richmond Peace Education Center and funded by Virginia Commonwealth University Department of Educational Leadership.

Vcu's Green Richmond Research, Nadia Rentia

AUCTUS: The Journal of Undergraduate Research and Creative Scholarship

The impact of urbanization on the dogwood tree was the VCU junior Kaitlyn Parkman’s focus as she researched hundreds of trees in Richmond.

Hang-Yong High-Speed Railway And Ningbo’S Industrial Structure: A Conceptual Analysis, Dongxuan Ying

Theses and Dissertations

High speed railway and promote the economic development of the city. So the operation of high-speed railway in Ningbo to Hangzhou, Ningbo’s opportunity and challenge, tourism, transportation, business, industry, real estate industry, headquarters economy, financial, cultural and creative industries, attract talent. Although short-term high iron research is very difficult to see effect, but through some research can guess and judge the impact of high-speed rail industry of Ningbo city and some Suggestions put forward the Ningbo, Hang-Yong high-speed railway.

Community Participation In Disaster Planning And The Expectation Gap: Analysis And Recommendations, Phillip Sperry

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis explores the expectation gap and how it relates to the field of emergency management. As disasters become more commonplace, many citizens have high expectations of their governments, which results in a lack of individual disaster preparation. This thesis analyzed the current state of community education and engagement programs, use of best practices by governments and inter-agency cooperation and partnerships. The research consisted of fifteen interviews with emergency management professionals representing local, state, and federal government as well as the private sector. The results show limited public participation, as well as issues with crisis communications systems. Over 80% of …

The Impact Of Local Public Education On Economic Development, Curtis Cobert

Theses and Dissertations

The focus of this thesis is to seek and observe the patterns of economic development around local public schools of varying quality. The Greater Richmond Region (consisting of the City of Richmond and the counties of Chesterfield, Hanover and Henrico) were used as the basis of the study. The scores for the schools were derived from an equation that took into account some of the main quality aspects. The factors that went into the equation were graduation rates, dropout rates, standardized test scores and AP (Advance Placement) enrollment. The basis of the economic development evaluation is based on a set …

Land Grab Or Development Planning Strategy: An Analysis Of Agricultural Development Led Industrialization Planning In Ethiopia., Nathan Teklemariam

Theses and Dissertations

Observing the current wave of large scale land acquisitions in Sub-Saharan Africa, many have found it easy to call the situation land grab, the new form of neo colonialism in Africa. In Ethiopia, few underlining socio-economic and political currents have shaped the leasing of its arable land to both national and international investors in recent years. The Agricultural Development Led Industrialization strategy the country adopted in the early 1990s, followed with consecutive short-term strategic plans focused primarily on agriculture as the driver for the nation’s economic growth and structural transformation, have acted as the main underpinnings in the commercialization of …

Evaluating Social Sustainability In Plans For Inter-Cultural Cities, Diane Faye Gapas

Theses and Dissertations

Recently, there is an increasing interest and awareness on sustainability and sustainable development. Sustainability is comprised of the three E’s: environment, economy and equity. Of these three, the equity or the social sustainability component is often overlooked. As cities become more global and demographically diverse due to immigration, diversity’s impact to the city should be addressed through policies and plans. The content analysis and evaluation of city plans, policies and urban design examines their response to accommodating and including inter-cultural diversity using identified indicators of social sustainability and equity. This study finds that the length of time a city has …

Neighborhood Inclusion And Quality In Richmond, Va: An Empirical Review Of Neighborhoods In The Richmond Region Based On Factors Of Racial And Economic Inclusion And Quality Of Life., Samuel Tuttle

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis is an empirical review of neighborhoods in the Richmond Region based on factors of inclusion and quality of life. The research attempts to answer the question of whether or not healthy and inclusive neighborhoods exist in the Richmond Region, and if they do what factors they hold in common. Inclusion and quality of life are identified using census data, school assessment reports, HUD reports, and cause-of-death data applied at the neighborhood level (census tract). This data is used to identify neighborhoods within the Richmond Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA) that have a high quality of life and include racial …

The Need For Collaboration In Planning Efforts During Natural Disasters: An Evaluation Of The City Of Richmond, Virginia, Jocelyn Leitch

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis evaluates whether or not information data sharing is effectively used between federal, state, and local government agencies and non-governmental agencies in a metropolitan area during and immediately after a major natural disaster. Also, whether vulnerable populations were identified and considered during emergency management. The chosen study area is the City of Richmond, VA, and the disaster response is based on flooding episodes that occurred in the city over the last decade following hurricanes and tropical depressions. Questionnaires were administered to representatives of federal, state, and local agencies and NGOs. The questionnaires consisted of a Likert-style series of 10 …

Unavailable And Inaccessible: An Analysis Of Urban Food Insecurity, Stephen Brown

Theses and Dissertations

This study explored food insecurity by examining the ways in which residents of low-income, urban communities access food. The primary elements of this thesis are an analysis of the demographic and socioeconomic characteristics of the populations surrounding food retailers, and a survey of the availability, cost, and quality of fresh fruits and vegetables in food stores commonly found in the urban environment. Overall, this study found that low-income, minority communities are largely served by independent supermarkets, small grocers and convenience stores that charge higher prices for staple foods. Conversely, it was found that wealthy areas enjoy easy access to corporate …

Opportunities And Challenges Of Citywide Main Street Programs: Examining The Urban Environment, Coordinating Structures And Political Realities In The Application Of The Four Point Approach, Ryan Rinn

Theses and Dissertations

The Main Street Four Point Approach to commercial revitalization has been applied successfully in thousands of communities across the U.S. Starting in 1995, citywide coordinated programs began applying the balanced points of organization, design, economic restructuring and promotion to urban environments. This thesis focuses on the opportunities and challenges present in five citywide Main Street programs in Boston, Baltimore, Washington D.C., Orlando and Portland through quantitative inquiry and interviews with program administrators. This thesis discusses density, capacity, volunteerism, vernacular culture, and politics as emergent themes of the urban application of the Main Street Approach and recommends expanding the breadth of …

Mapping Women's Movement In Medieval England, Claire Clement

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis investigates women’s geographical movement in medieval England from the perspective of mobility and freedom. It uses pilgrimage accounts from medieval miracle story collections and to gather information about individual travel patterns. The study uses GIS to analyze gendered mobility patterns, and to investigate whether there were noticeable differences in the distance which men and women traveled and the geographical area of the country they originated. It also analyzes the nearness of men’s and women’s respective origin towns to alternative pilgrimage locations, as a means of examining the factors determining gendered travel mobility. The study finds that women’s travel …

The Co-Operative Spirit: Bridging Social Capital In Mixed-Income Housing Developments Through Resident Empowerment, Involvement And Cooperation, Alecia Houston

Theses and Dissertations

The goal of this thesis is to identify strategies that promote resident empowerment, involvement and cooperation in housing co-operatives that can be applied to mixed-income developments in order to bridge social capital. Numerous American policy makers, housing professionals and planners support the development of mixed-income housing to address the social and economic isolation of low-income, urban citizens living in public housing. Social capital, or social relationships developed from social networks, is an anticipated result of physically integrating individuals of varying income levels in the same housing environment. Despite efforts for integration, numerous studies have found that limited interaction occurs across …

The Correlation Between Land-Use Mixture And Home-Based Trips (The Case Of The City Of Richmond), Yin-Shan Ma

Theses and Dissertations

The city of Richmond has practiced mixed land-use policies to encourage non-private-vehicle commuting for decades based on the successful examples or the empirical evidence of other cities. However, the idea violates one of common logical fallacy—“all things are equal.” Using the indices of land-use diversity, this study explores the correlation between land-use mixture and home-based trip for the city of Richmond. This paper calculates two common indices of land-use mixture—entropy, and dissimilarity. The results indicate that although Richmond’s land-use mixture and home-based trip do have a correlation, the correlation is weak. One possible reason is that socioeconomic actors have a …

Addressing Increased Ridership And Demand: Grtc – Care Paratransit Service Sustainability For The City Of Richmond, Ashray Pande

Theses and Dissertations

The objective of this thesis will be to evaluate and assess the current Care Service being offered by GRTC and recommend economic efficient, equitable and sustainable opportunities for a better Human Mobility Service transportation effectiveness and coordination. Transportation demand management strategies that generate revenue and contain costs are required to meet the demands and needs of future aging populations without compromising quality of service. With the baby boomer population set to retire and advancing health care improvements, the elderly population and disabled segment of the population is bound to rise, increasing the demand for human mobility services. This trend and …

Is Tdr In Virginia Doa? A Study Of The State Of Transfer Of Development Rights Programs In Virginia, Alissa Akins

Theses and Dissertations

Transfer of development rights has been approved as a tool to manage growth in Virginia since 2006, yet it has not been widely employed. This tool can be used to direct growth and development at little or no cost to society while simultaneously preserving land for future generations. In an effort to understand the limited use of transfer of development rights programs in Virginia, this research collected information regarding obstacles and limitations to TDR program development and implementation, from every locality in the Commonwealth authorized to employ this tool. Based on findings of pertinent TDR literature, this research outlines the …

Coordinating Code In Virginia’S Historic Districts, Drew Gruber

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis explores the evolution and limitations of regulatory and historic district overlay zones and the inherent conflicts between the two as applied in Virginia. Historic district overlay zoning and the establishment of local historic districts and design review boards has developed in response to the failures of traditional zoning techniques to adequately protect the architectural character of Virginia’s historic urban landscapes. After almost fifty years of practice and improvement in the fields of urban planning and historic preservation, synchronizing regulatory and historic district overlay zones still presents difficulties for municipal administrators. Several Virginia jurisdictions are highlighted in the thesis …

A Case Study Of The Unaccompanied Refugee Minor Program With Commonwealth Catholic Charities In Richmond, Virginia, Shawn Greene

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis investigates how administrators and staff at a community service agency in Richmond Virginia perceive the needs of unaccompanied refugee children as they transition into the American way of life and the challenges associated with the relocation of these children into foster care setting, and how service delivery to meet these children’s needs might be improved. A common theme that emerged from interviews conducted with these administrators is that successful integration of unaccompanied refugee minors into American society requires from the very start culturally competent approaches to placement, language assistance, and mental health therapy. Options for improving resettlement of …

The Application Of Collaborative Planning Principles With A Content Management System And Web 2.0 Technologies, Craig Macivor

Theses and Dissertations

As urban planners have sought to move away from the rationalist approach that has been employed for decades, and to encourage more public participation than has traditionally existed in the planning process, they have consistently encountered obstacles in successfully communicating with other stakeholders. Likewise, many citizens do not feel they have enough access to planning-related information or adequate means of participation. These systemic problems are due in large part to the limitations of the media on which planning documents have always been printed; the structure and content of the paper-based comprehensive plan has meant that the rationalist process has, at …

A Study Of Land Use Planning Practices And The Relationship Between Population Distribution And Transportation Infrastructure In Kathmandu, Nepal., Walter Suwal

Theses and Dissertations

This particular paper is meant to investigate planning in Kathmandu, Nepal specifically land use planning practices and the implications on the transportation network(s). Very early on in the research including existing land use (if any), and current transportation networks, it was clear that investigations must be made into the political and planning situation leading up to the modern era in Nepal. The overview of past political events is necessary to explain current planning trends and techniques, and also the mindset of the people of Kathmandu towards planning. Of course universal planning truths can be applied in various international contexts, but …