Urban Studies and Planning Commons^™

Urban Nature Indexes Tool Offers Comprehensive And Flexible Approach To Monitoring Urban Ecological Performance, Jennifer Rae Pierce, Laura Costadone, Lelani Mannetti, Joeri Morpurgo, Charlyn Elaine Green, Michael D. Halder, Pablo Arturo Lopez Guijosa, Abner L. Bogan, Russell Galt, Jonathan Hughes

ODU Articles

We present the Urban Nature Indexes (UNI), a comprehensive tool that measures urban ecological performance under one standard framework linked to global commitments. The UNI was developed by interdisciplinary experts and evaluated by practitioners from diverse cities to capture each city’s ecological footprint from local to global scale. The UNI comprises six themes (consumption drivers, human pressures, habitat status, species status, nature’s contributions to people, and governance responses) that encompass measurable impacts on climate change, biodiversity loss, ecosystem services, pollution, consumption, water management, and equity within one comprehensive system. Cities then adapt the UNI to their context and capacity by …

Health-Based Urban Design And Planning Interventions; Maximizing Harmony, Vitality, And Wellness In Hopewell, Virginia, Suzanne K. Yeats

Master of Urban and Regional Planning Capstone Projects

Urban planners as practitioners work to create a more progressive future while simultaneously redressing the past. This tension is found in many cities, including the City of Hopewell, Virginia where city planners, managers, economic developers work passionately for positive change. In Hopewell, there has been almost no population growth since 1970 and existing health outcomes are alarming. In every determinant of health category (medical, psychological, or social), this city falls below the state and national average. This health-based urban design and planning intervention capstone challenges the status quo by flipping the paradigm and placing the health of all residents first …

Advancing Social Equity And Promoting Black Self-Determination: A Community Garden Opportunity Plan For Richmond, Va, Alessandro U. Ragazzi

Master of Urban and Regional Planning Capstone Projects

Urban agriculture provides a variety of economic, environmental, and social benefits. Recognizing these benefits, the City of Richmond administers a community garden program known as “Richmond Grows Gardens.” Through this program, underutilized city properties are permitted for use as community gardens. However, an emerging concern is the potential for community gardens to perpetuate underlying structures of social and racial inequality through displacement and social exclusion. Considering these concerns, this plan investigates the implementation of community gardens in Richmond and establishes a methodology for ranking existing and available community garden sites based on the social and racial demographics of their surrounding …

Governing Smart Cities As Knowledge Commons - Introduction, Chapter 1 & Conclusion, Brett M. Frischmann, Michael J. Madison, Madelyn Sanfilippo

Book Chapters

Smart city technology has its value and its place; it isn’t automatically or universally harmful. Urban challenges and opportunities addressed via smart technology demand systematic study, examining general patterns and local variations as smart city practices unfold around the world. Smart cities are complex blends of community governance institutions, social dilemmas that cities face, and dynamic relationships among information and data, technology, and human lives. Some of those blends are more typical and common. Some are more nuanced in specific contexts. This volume uses the Governing Knowledge Commons (GKC) framework to sort out relevant and important distinctions. The framework grounds …

Aclp - Broadband Planning Tool Kit - October 2022, New York Law School

Reports and Resources

This Tool Kit provides state and local policymakers with a range of resources and analyses for use during broadband planning. The Tool Kit focuses on the array of grant and other funding opportunities available to states and localities as a result of the Infrastructure Investment & Jobs Act, as well as other pandemic-era stimulus programs. However, the Tool Kit is also useful for broadband planning outside of these specific funding programs. Indeed, the Tool Kit offers foundational planning resources that can be used now and in the future by officials, ISPs, and other stakeholders in the broadband space.

Land Use Scenarios For Scottsville, Va, Christopher Warring

Master of Urban and Regional Planning Capstone Projects

Scottsville is an incorporated municipality responsible for its planning and zoning. The town has a small population and serves a larger surrounding area from the neighboring Albemarle, Buckingham, and Fluvanna Counties. As part of its comprehensive plan update, Scottsville can consider long-range planning options. Three scenarios were produced for the town of Scottsville, each representing a different development pattern and planning approach. Added dwelling units, additional retail demand, and total open green space were calculated for each scenario to compare each development approach through common metrics.

Each scenario adopts a different design approach. Scenario 1 follows existing development patterns and …

The Kind Of Solution A Smart City Is: Knowledge Commons And Postindustrial Pittsburgh, Michael J. Madison

Book Chapters

This case study brings new attention to a critical but under-appreciated dimension of so-called “smart” cities: how smart city governance builds and relies on institutionalized sharing of data, information, and other forms of knowledge across all sectors of public administration. Those smart city practices are referred to here as knowledge commons and systematized using the Governing Knowledge Commons (GKC) research framework. That framework extends and modifies Ostrom’s research tradition as to community-based resource governance. As with other GKC-focused research, this work relies on a qualitative case study. It draws a detailed, context-specific portrait of a smart city as knowledge commons …

Comparing Twitter And Lodes Data For Detecting Commuter Mobility Patterns, Jochen Albrecht, Andreas Petutschnig, Laxmi Ramasubramanian, Bernd Resch, Aleisha Wright

Mineta Transportation Institute

Local and regional planners struggle to keep up with rapid changes in mobility patterns. This exploratory research is framed with the overarching goal of asking if and how geo-social network data (GSND), in this case, Twitter data, can be used to understand and explain commuting and non-commuting travel patterns. The research project set out to determine whether GSND may be used to augment US Census LODES data beyond commuting trips and whether it may serve as a short-term substitute for commuting trips. It turns out that the reverse is true and the common practice of employing LODES data to extrapolate …

An Equity-Focused Assessment Of The City Of Richmond’S Rvagreen 2050 Planning Process, Meghan Z. Gough, Eric Asplund, Rebekah Cazares, Gabriella Francese, Logan Ashby, David Sale, Rebecca Acland, Sara Barton, Nicholas Jancaitis, Ben Jordan, Desmond Smallwood, Jen Allen, Molly Mickens, Kerry Ramos, Sarah Mullarney, Michelle Murrills, Joseph Pickert

Urban and Regional Studies and Planning Reports

Local climate action and sustainability initiatives are often critiqued for their inattention to issues of equity and justice. In response, an increasing number of cities are now attempting to respond to this critique by making equity a more explicit goal of their climate action plans: Richmond Virginia is among those cities. The City of Richmond's Office of Sustainability committed to prioritizing equity in the RVAGreen 2050 plan by recognizing how Richmond’s history of racism and structural inequalities have exacerbated climate concerns for largely Black and Latinx communities and centering historically marginalized communities of color in the engagement process. Students in …

Disability Inclusive Transportation: Assessing First Mile Last Mile Conditions In The Richmond Region, Rebekah A. Cazares

Master of Urban and Regional Planning Capstone Projects

Accessible public transportation services are vital to promoting a healthy, livable, and thriving region. For people with physical disabilities, the inability to access services and activities can have a harmful impact. A lack of personal mobility may lead to a decreased quality of life and the inability to advocate for one’s rights. Given the region's growing population, as well as increased disability rates, providing accessible public transportation services is crucial.

While public transportation services are required to be accessible under Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990, supporting infrastructure oftentimes creates additional barriers. For example, poorly maintained …

Norfolk Scope Community Plan, Michael D. Nixon-Garrison

Master of Urban and Regional Planning Capstone Projects

The purpose of the Norfolk Scope Community Plan is to provide the client, the City of Norfolk’s Department of City Planning, with a plan for revitalization of the community surrounding the Norfolk Scope Complex. The plan includes three potential redevelopment scenarios, along with general recommendations for areawide enhancements, both of which the client could potentially use to guide small area planning for the community in the future. The Scope is a multi-functioning entertainment complex located in the heart of Downtown Norfolk, Virginia and includes the Scope Arena, an 11,000-seat venue for concert and sporting events, Chrysler Hall, a performing arts …

Regionalizing The Infrastructure Turn: A Research Agenda, Jean-Paul D. Addie, Michael R. Glass, Jen Nelles

USI Publications

An interdisciplinary ‘infrastructure turn’ has emerged over the past 20 years that disputes the concept of urban infrastructure as a staid or neutral set of physical artefacts. Responding to the increased conceptual, geographical and political importance of infrastructure – and endemic issues of access, expertise and governance that the varied provision of infrastructures can cause – this intervention asserts the significance of applying a regional perspective to the infrastructure turn. This paper forwards a critical research agenda for the study of ‘infrastructural regionalisms’ to interrogate: (1) how we study and produce knowledge about infrastructure; (2) how infrastructure is governed across …

The Eastern Goochland Greenway: Connecting Goochland's Past, Present, And Future, Scott A. Newhart

Master of Urban and Regional Planning Capstone Projects

The Eastern Goochland Greenway Plan proposes a shared-use trail that is nested within the Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation’s (DCR) conceptualization of a statewide trail system called the James River Heritage Trail (JRHT). The JRHT includes shared use bicycle and pedestrian facilities as well as water trail access points that would connect pre-existing trail systems to new proposed trails that are parallel with and in close proximity to Virginia’s James River corridor and all of the natural, cultural, and historic resource opportunities that the surrounding areas offer. Specifically, the Eastern Goochland Greenway aims to serve two major purposes; to …

The Role Of Geospatial Information And Effective Partnerships In The Implementation Of The International Agenda For Sustainable Development, Etta Delores Jackson

Antioch University Dissertations & Theses

The former United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon (2014), repeated the core promise in the 1986 UN Declaration on the Right to Development, in which the General Assembly called for an approach guaranteeing meaningful participation of everyone in development and the fair distribution of the benefits of that development. To this end, partnerships are central and can lead to the dignity of the citizens involved as they participate in the development of their own communities. This dissertation research conducted in Manyatta A and B in the Port City of Kisumu, Kenya sought to do just that. The purpose of this study …

Interdisciplinary Lens On Indigenous Health Iniquities: Planning, Nursing, Anthropology, Geography, Education, Chantal Francouer, Alana Kehoe, Ivy Tran, Steven Vanloffeld, Lillian Woroniuk, Jacob Renaud

Head and Heart Posters 2019

Indigenous peoples experience poorer health outcomes on almost every measure of health and wellbeing, when compared to the rest of Canada. For decades researchers have been working independently on addressing health inequalities, yet little progress has been made on closing the gap. This Discipline-specific way of thinking is too narrow and neglects indigenous ideologies of holistic approaches to health. An interdisciplinary approach to indigenous health research provides a more collaborative and integrated opportunity to address the multidimensional aspects of health. This paper has the goals to contribute to the limited research on interdisciplinary indigenous health research.

Economic Revitalization In The Lower Anthracite Coal Region, Shaunna Barnhart

Sponsored Events -- Materials

Conference materials distributed at the Economic Revitalization in the Lower Anthracite Coal Region convening event organized in collaboration with Bucknell University, Bloomsburg University, Susquehanna University, Greater Susquehanna Valley Chamber of Commerce, Anthracite Region for Progress, Mother Maria Kaupas Center, Shamokin Area Businesses for Economic Revitalization, and the City of Shamokin. The convening focused on collaborative opportunities across the communities of Shamokin, Coal Township, Mount Carmel, and Kulpmon. Event materials include an eight page booklet with speaker biographies, descriptions of event partners, and descriptions of sponsors. Supplementary materials include a welcome letter and the electronic version of a printable flier.

Convening …

Making A House A Home: A Community Plan For Regional Engagement On Housing, Anna N. Clemens

Master of Urban and Regional Planning Capstone Projects

This plan was developed for Virginia Organizing, a statewide non-partisan grassroots organization dedicated to challenging injustice by empowering local communities. The plan was designed to produce a replicable model for organizers embarking on housing campaigns. Research on the Virginia Organizing chapters in Fredericksburg and Charlottesville was completed as well as on the broader affordable housing ecosystems in these regions. This research was gathered through interviews with regional and local planners, organizers, non-profit representatives, and individuals working in the intersection of planning and organizing. Chapter member research, which guided this plan, was conducted through surveying, focus groups, and qualitative mapping. Findings …

Conflicts Abound: How Future Development Along The Wasatch Front Will Replace Critical Migratory Bird Habitat Around Farmington Bay, Aubin A. Douglas

Landscape Architecture and Environmental Planning Student Research

Every year, the Great Salt Lake (GSL) and its associated wetlands provide critical habitat to over 250 migratory bird species from both the Pacific and Central Flyways. The GSL borders the Wasatch Front, which is the fastest growing and most populous region in Utah. To support the ever-increasing working population, the government of Utah aspires to increase economic growth in the region through more economic incentives and infrastructure development. As this area continues to develop, greater pressure will be placed on the surrounding natural resources, including the GSL, its wetlands, and the open space and agricultural lands that act as …

Panel Presentation: Norfolk: Thriving With Water, Norfolk Working Group

October 30, 2015: Beyond Toolkits: Adaptation Strategies and Lessons

No abstract provided.

Enhancing Big Ideas Through Regional Planning: Cross-Jurisdictional 'Value Added' In Washington State, Yonn Dierwechter, Brittany Hale, Robert Woodmark, Cody Wyatt, Wendy Moss, Matthew Hall, Whitney Hays, Shanna Schubert, Cheng Wang, Seth Lundgaard, Caleb Rawson

Conflux

This paper argues that enhancing multi-jurisdictional planning - i.e. regionalism in various forms -- should be at the center of how we ameliorate most of our major developmental challenges. Put another way, efforts to improve the planning profession’s contribution to concerns like “climate action,” “economic development,” “social equity,” “local government capacity,” and so on, all require more attention to stronger regional planning processes. The paper is divided into three sections. In the first section, we develop the over-arching theme that experiments in regionalism longer refer to significant institutional-structural reforms - in particular, to consolidation or centralization of planning authority -- …

An Interpretive Plan Guide For Wilderness Park In Lincoln, Nebraska, Rachel J. Ward

Community and Regional Planning Program: Professional Projects

Wilderness Park, located in Lancaster County, Nebraska, is a public park of unique ecological and historical value to the city of Lincoln and to the surrounding region. The natural and historical features of the park present an opportunity to communicate environmental and historical topics that are relevant on local, national, and global levels, as well as inspire a lively sense of pride in the community. The problem is that many topics relevant to Wilderness Park are not currently being interpreted at the park, and that there are relatively few interpretive resources available to park visitors.

The purpose of this project …

The Social Implications Of Bicycle Infrastructure: What It Means To Bike In America's Best Cycling Cities, Erin Daly

Geography Honors Projects

The abundance of bicycle infrastructure appearing alongside controversial urban revitalization efforts in recent years has left many with distinct perceptions about people who ride bicycles and their role in society. The lifestyle associated with the most visible cyclist cohorts has furthered divisive perceptions and often times created resentment, as what was once a humble tool for mobility has become a symbol of an inaccessible cyclist “culture” often associated with gentrification. This paper aims to acknowledge existing research on how the bicycle has attained so many divisive connotations, while looking at methods to improve this reputation and increase accessibility to utilitarian …

Plans Are Not Enough, Michael Lewyn

Scholarly Works

Some commentators see comprehensive municipal plans as a remedy for suburban sprawl. But in fact, a plan can be used to promote sprawl as well as to prevent sprawl.

Climate Change Adaptation Chapter: Marshfield, Massachusetts, Joshua H. Chase, Jonathan G. Cooper, Rory Elizabeth Fitzgerald, Filipe Antunes Lima, Sally R. Miller, Toni Marie Pignatelli

Landscape Architecture & Regional Planning Studio and Student Research and Creative Activity

Climate change, understood as a statistically significant variation in the mean state of the climate or its variability, is the greatest environmental challenge of this generation (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, 2001). Marshfield is already being affected by changes in the climate that will have a profound effect on the town’s economy, public health, coastal resources, natural features, water systems, and public and private infrastructure. Adaptation strategies have been widely recognized as playing an important role in improving a community’s ability to respond to climate stressors by resisting damage and recovering quickly.

Based on review of climate projections for the …

Adaptation Practices And Lessons Learned, Molly Mitchell

November 16, 2012: Best Practices for Adapting to Sea Level Rise and Flooding

No abstract provided.

Using Children’S Maps To Locate Areas Of Perceived Danger On Children’S Routes To School, Frank Bondzio, Ken Boyle

Conference Papers

Municipals and local authorities all over the world are attempting to boost the number of children walking or cycling to school as the benefits for children and society as a whole deriving from an active travel to and from school are widely acknowledged. For this reason programs that encourage active travel to school are often implemented by local authorities or schools. Many of these programs focus on the child. Cycle training or motivation programs aimed at a mode shift towards active travel are relatively easy to set up and can lead to quick results. Yet, a child centred review of …

Agenda: Navigating The Future Of The Colorado River, University Of Colorado Boulder. Natural Resources Law Center, Western Water Policy Program

Navigating the Future of the Colorado River (Martz Summer Conference, June 8-10)

Competition for scarce Colorado River water resources is nothing new, but the conflicts that prompted the seven basin states to negotiate the 1922 Colorado River Compact have grown considerably fiercer and more complex in recent decades. In 2007, responding to the challenges of increasing demand and sustained drought, the seven basin states and a number of other affected interests agreed to a set of interim guidelines for allocating Colorado River water in the event of shortages. This agreement represents an important evolution in the governance of the Colorado River, suggesting that the many interests in the basin can work together …

Agenda: Best Management Practices (Bmps): What? How? And Why?, Houston Advanced Research Center. Environmentally Friendly Drilling Systems Program, Research Partnership To Secure Energy For America, University Of Colorado Boulder. Natural Resources Law Center. Intermountain Oil And Gas Bmp Project

Best Management Practices (BMPs): What? How? And Why? (May 26)

The Environmentally Friendly Drilling Systems (EFD) Program, managed by the Houston Advanced Research Center, works to identify, develop and transfer critical, cost effective, new technologies that can provide policy makers and industry with the ability to develop natural gas reserves in a safe and environmentally friendly manner. Funding for the EFD Program is through a grant from the Research Partnership to Secure Energy for America, established under the 2005 Energy Act. Within the EFD Program, some projects focus on technologies for developing energy sources in environmentally sensitive areas; others (like the NRLC’s BMP Project) seek ways to reduce the environmental …

An Assessment Of Regional Partnerships For Economic Development Through The National Heritage Area Collaborative Model, Kimberley Mckee

Masters Theses 1911 - February 2014

The National Heritage Area program administered by the National Park Service represents a collaborative partnership approach to managing large-scale natural and living landscapes. Heritage area management objectives integrate goals across disciplines including resource conservation, historic preservation, community revitalization and economic development. With the growing number of National Heritage Area designations over the past decade, increasing focus has turned towards efforts to measure program effectiveness and resulting economic impacts as a return on federal investment. Previous studies established a working program evaluation model that places emphasis on the importance of the partnership system in heritage area implementation and outcomes. The purpose …

Preservation Ethics In The Case Of Nebraska’S Nationally Registered Historic Properties, Darren Michael Adams

Department of Geography: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

This dissertation focuses on the National Register of Historic Places and considers the geographical implications of valuing particular historic sites over others. Certain historical sites will either gain or lose desirability from one era to the next, this dissertation identifies and explains three unique preservation ethical eras, and it maps the sites which were selected during those eras. These eras are the Settlement Era (1966 – 1975), the Commercial Architecture Era (1976 – 1991), and the Progressive Planning Era (1992 – 2010). The findings show that transformations in the program included an early phase when state authorities listed historical resources …