Urban Studies and Planning Commons^™

No. 02: Approaching Sustainable Urban Development In China Through A Food System Planning Lens, Zhenzhong Si, Steffanie Scott

Hungry Cities Partnership

After more than two decades of rapid urbanization, Chinese cities now face severe sustainability chal- lenges in terms of balancing economic viability, social justice, and environmental protection goals. While various types of planning have long been adopted to cope with these challenges, food as a centrepiece of daily life and of social and economic activity in cities has rarely been considered as a focus of urban planning in China, despite a lot of recent attention to food waste and food safety concerns. China’s food policy is largely fragmented in terms of its multiple regulatory agencies and diverse policy goals. Amid …

No. 01: Hungry Cities Of The Global South, Jonathan Crush

Hungry Cities Partnership

The recent inclusion of an urban Sustainable Development Goal in the Post-2015 UN Development Agenda represents an important acknowledgement of the reality of global urbanization and the many social, economic, infrastructural and political challenges posed by the human transition to a predominantly urban world. However, while the SDG provides goals for housing, transportation, land use, cultural heritage and disaster risk prevention, food is not mentioned at all. This discussion paper aims to correct this unfortunate omission by reviewing the current evidence on the challenges of feeding rapidly-growing cities in the Global South. The paper first documents the magnitude of the …

Barriers To Energy Efficiency In Hospitals: Building A Better Business Case For Sub-Metering, Chris Davies

Sustainability and Social Justice

The natural world finds itself placed in an ever more precarious position as climate change is continually exacerbated by the burning of fossil fuels. Achieving greater energy efficiency in resource intensive industries has emerged as part of the immediate solution to this problem, a solution which can be financially, environmentally, and socially beneficial. Healthcare is one such industry where energy efficiency has high relevance. With hospitals operating 24/7 and energy intensive equipment running all day long, the healthcare industry offers high potential for successful building energy efficient retrofits. Yet it also faces many unique barriers. This paper identifies some of …

Land Change Modeler Application:Summer Internship With Clark Labs, Siqi Cheng, Nan Ding

Sustainability and Social Justice

This paper is a description of our internship with Clark Labs in the summer of 2015. We worked as research assistants in the Land Change Modeler Application (App) project. This project aimed to display the land cover changes in the United States from 2001 to 2010, show the vulnerability in 48 states and predict changes from the yaer 2050. Our responsibility was to extract eight variables (slope, elevation, surface water, roads, high intensity land, protected areas, county subdivisions, and cultivated crops) in TerrSet, and use them in several models to test the accuracy of prediction.

The internship is a great …

The Effect Of Athletic Stadiums On Communities, With A Focus On Housing, Dominique Wilkins

Sustainability and Social Justice

ABSTRACT: The purpose of this research is to examine the role of athletic stadiums in the gentrification of minority neighborhoods. New athletic stadiums have increasingly been constructed in low- and moderate- income areas with high minority populations, and results in the displacement of that community’s longstanding residents. This paper uses Census and American Community Survey (ACS) data as part of a case study of the Washington Nationals Stadium in Washington DC; the data shows that within a few years of construction, the community that previously boasted an affordable housing stock and a high low-income minority population is replaced with high-income, …

Innovations In City-Level Climate Policy: Building Energy Efficiency And Retrofitting Programs In C40 Cities, Benjamin Tweed

Sustainability and Social Justice

Abstract

Innovations in City Level Climate Policy: Building Energy Efficiency and Retrofitting Programs in C40 cities

Benjamin Tweed

Worldwide buildings account for approximately a third of global energy use and a quarter of GHG emissions. In large cities these proportions can double or even triple. Combined with a slow rate of building turnover, this creates a need for policy instruments designed to address the energy efficiency of existing buildings. With a lack of national attention, cities are stepping forward to offer a solution. This paper examines policy approaches taken by six cities, all members of the C40 Climate Leadership Group. …

Cleveland’S Greater University Circle Initiative: An Anchor-Based Strategy For Change, Walter Wright, Kathryn W. Hexter, Nick Downer

All Maxine Goodman Levin School of Urban Affairs Publications

Cities are increasingly turning to their “anchor” institutions as drivers of economic development, harnessing the power of these major economic players to benefit the neighborhoods where they are rooted. This is especially true for cities that are struggling with widespread poverty and disinvestment. Urban anchors— typically hospitals and universities—have sometimes isolated themselves from the poor and struggling neighborhoods that surround them. But this is changing. Since the late 1990s, as population, jobs, and investment have migrated outward, these “rooted in place” institutions are becoming a key to the long, hard work of revitalization. In Cleveland, the Greater University Circle Initiative …

Exchange Patterns And Relations In Collaborative Governance., Charles Wharton Kaye-Essien

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Collaborative governance has received considerable attention in recent years. From environmental resource management to public safety, collaborative governance continues to play a vital role in regional problem solving. In spite of this increasing popularity previous attempts to model the political, economic, and demographic determinants of collaboration have in most cases produced inconsistent results, thereby undermining the ability to generalize from such findings. Additionally, our understanding of the relational patterns that emanate from collaborative agreements remains fairly rudimentary. The main objective of this research is to address some of the gaps in the literature and improve our understanding of collaborative governance …

Impromptu Domesticity: Housing Adaptations By The Marshallese In Springdale, Ar, Kera Lathan

Architecture Undergraduate Honors Theses

This study analyzes the relationship between people and their spatial environment through the lens of cultural practices and experiences. By using theories of cultural identity and activity patterns to compare spatial usage in two differing circumstances, this study will help to better understand the spatial needs of Marshallese living in Springdale, Arkansas.

The analysis uses two in-depth interviews to establish a base of qualitative data to understand the unique needs of this specific population. Through constructs such as spatial fluidity, sharing culture, and ability to adapt to new spatial practices, the two cases are compared to one another in order …

Revisiting Critical Gis, Jim Thatcher, Luke Bergmann, Britta Ricker, Reuben Rose-Redwood, Daniel O'Sullivan, Trevor J. Barnes, Luke R. Barnesmoore, Laura Beltz Imaoka, Ryan Burns, Jonathan Cinnamon, Craig M. Dalton, Clinton Davis, Stuart Dunn, Francis Harvey, Jin-Kyu Jung, Elen Kersten, Ladona Knigge, Nick Lally, Wen Lin, Dillon Mahmoudi, Michael Martin, Will Payne, Amir Sheikh, Taylor Shelton, Eric Sheppard, Chris W. Strother, Alexander Tarr, Matthew W. Wilson, Jason C. Young

Urban Studies and Planning Faculty Publications and Presentations

The article looks into the critical geographic information science (GIS) in approaching questions both emerging and enduring around the intersection of the spatial and the digital. It offers trading zones for discussion of issues, for building alliances and interrogating tensions, and for a constant dialectical process of critique and renewal. One tension running through critical GIS is the contradictory role it has played in addressing questions of social justice.

Time For A Fresh Look At Housing As Eu Report Shames Ireland, Lorcan Sirr

Media

Now that a new minority administration is here, it’s time to look at ways this government can improve on previous ones. One positive step could be to take on board the findings of a recent EU report on procurement practices. Entitled “public procurement—a study on administrative capacity in the EU”, it looks at the systems and structures of individual member states.

You Can Forget About A Housing Recovery With Our Skills Drain, Lorcan Sirr

Media

Over the past 10 years or so, civil service and local authority staffing levels have been dramatically reduced. Those who retired have not been replaced, and other employees have left for the private sector or have taken early retirement because they were unhappy with pay cuts and changes to their contracts.

The results have been mixed. No doubt money has been saved through reduced state pay and some of the employees who left might have been of limited value in the first place. Workloads have increased for those left behind, but there have also been costs that show not all …

Mining And Clustering Mobility Evolution Patterns From Social Media For Urban Informatics, Chien-Cheng Chen, Meng-Fen Chiang, Wen-Chih Peng

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

In this paper, given a set of check-in data, we aim at discovering representative daily movement behavior of users in a city. For example, daily movement behavior on a weekday may show users moving from one to another spatial region associated with time information. Since check-in data contain both spatial and temporal information, we propose a mobility evolution pattern to capture the daily movement behavior of users in a city. Furthermore, given a set of daily mobility evolution patterns, we formulate their similarity distances and then discover representative mobility evolution patterns via the clustering process. Representative mobility evolution patterns are …

Transitional Urban Voids In Austin, Texas, Courtney A. Tarver

Landscape Architecture Undergraduate Honors Theses

A city’s urban fabric is constantly evolving through development and decay under the fluctuating rates of habitation. Cities are growing rapidly as populations climb higher, with new demands for the incoming waves of people seeking employment and a place to call home. Austin, Texas is the fastest growing American city today, with a population growth rate of three percent per year. With this growth and its demands for open space, open spaces in the form of urban voids and temporary use spaces become an interest to designers as spaces with flexibility. The approach of this thesis is to understand these …

Downtown Cleveland: The Dynamic Engine Of A Talent-Driven Economy, Richey Piiparinen, Jim Russell, Charlie Post

All Maxine Goodman Levin School of Urban Affairs Publications

Cities have long been seen as places serving a variety of purposes. In 1933, for example, the architect Le Corbusier detailed four essential roles of a functional city. A working city is one that provides dwelling, work, recreation, and circulation to its people.

Throughout the 20th century, trends in city building were to separate these functions into differing spaces. There were areas meant for living (the suburbs), areas meant for working (the central business district), and areas meant for playing (the entertainment district).

More recently, the trend has been to move away from the division of city life toward a …

Population: Fifth Migration, Crain Content Studio Cleveland

All Maxine Goodman Levin School of Urban Affairs Publications

No abstract provided.

The Impact Of Successful Ncaa Division I Athletics Programs On The Social Capital Of Urban Communities, Paul Woody

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

This study examined how urban communities might grow social capital from the passion and support offered by a college athletics program. Given the increasing emphasis on fiscal responsibility from local governments and public universities, recognizing how college athletics programs influence local community social capital, such as anchor attachments formed by alumni and fans, is an important perspective. Historically, the exhausted conversation has focused on economics, such as the economic impact of athletic venues and franchises. (Coates, 2007; Crompton, 2004). Through decades of research, social capital has been measured at various depths and viewed through social, economic, psychological, and even historical …

The Manifestation Of Blight: Examining The Effects Of Inner City Decline On Populations In The Bronx, New York And New Orleans, Louisiana, Bianca R. Stewart

Honors Theses

Urban decline, and the developments that trigger a collapse among formerly prosperous cities, is a phenomenon that is capable of leaving a lasting mark on any urban system. The collapse and disintegration of the urban landscape carries a variety of facilitators, and with that, this research sought to examine two distinct representations of urban decline and the populations that shifted in tandem with blight: the New York City fiscal crisis of the 1970s and post-Katrina conditions in New Orleans, Louisiana. Through New York City’s fiscal crisis and the act of condensing a city in hopes of rectifying urban decline, known …

Healthy Fails To Wealthy Trails: Revitalization Opportunities For Underused Spaces Alongside Residential Areas In Arleta, California, Jorge Martinez

Master's Projects

No abstract provided.

A Comparative Study Of Urban Forest Management Programs For Three Major Cities In Santa Clara County: A Benchmarking Study, Suzanne Remien

Master's Projects

No abstract provided.

Greater University Circle Initiative: Year 5 Evaluation Report, Kathryn W. Hexter, Candi Clouse, Kenneth Kalynchuk

All Maxine Goodman Levin School of Urban Affairs Publications

In 2015, the partners of the Greater University Circle Economic Inclusion Initiative reached an important milestone—5 years of working together to revitalize the seven neighborhoods that comprise Greater University Circle (GUC). This milestone offers an opportunity to take a step back and reflect on why the group first came together as well as their collective accomplishments, challenges, and opportunities. This fifth evaluation report includes a very brief summary of the history of the Initiative before launching into reflections from the participants on the major accomplishments, challenges, and opportunities on the horizon. It concludes with significant outcomes to date. The report …

High-Growth Firms: Delineating Definitions, Industries, And Business Cycle Performance, Merissa Piazza, Ziona Austrian, Iryna Lendel, Serena Alexander, Ellen Cyran, Deborah D. Hoover, Ray Leach

All Maxine Goodman Levin School of Urban Affairs Publications

There are strong reasons to believe that public policy affects the prevalence and success of entrepreneurial firms, and there is consensus in the literature that high-growth firms (HGFs), a specific subset of entrepreneurial firms that have a propensity to be employment generators in the economy, contribute significantly to employment growth (see, for example, Acs & Mueller, 2008; Acs, Parsons, & Tracy, 2008; Birch & Medoff, 1994; Choi, Robertson, & Rupasingha, 2013, Clayton, Sadeghi, Spletzer, & Talan, 2013; Kirchhoff, 1994; Mason & Brown, 2013; Stangler, 2010; Thurik, 2009). Moreover, authors have called for policy makers to provide HGFs with the resources …

Climate Change Instability And Gender Vulnerability In Nepal: A Case Study On The Himalayan Region, Akriti Sharma

Sustainability and Social Justice

For the past decade, low-income developing countries have and will continue to remain on the frontline for the consequences of human induced climate change. While climate change is expected to have universal negative impacts on the health, well-being and the livelihoods of people, it is expected to specifically affect women from low-income developing countries where poverty and gender inequality are both still very prevalent. A closer look at previous research reveals that women, specifically in the Himalayan region of Nepal are more vulnerable due to the already challenging terrain in which they live in. This paper analyzes the vulnerability of …

Remote Sensing Of Land Cover Change On Indonesia’S Bird’S Head Peninsula After The Creation Of Marine Protected Areas, Daniel Auerbach

Sustainability and Social Justice

This report is an account of my time spent on a summer internship at the World Wildlife Fund’s Washington, DC office. I interned there for 9 weeks from June to August 2015. I worked for the science team under Dr. Louise Glew. The official title of the internship was “Land-Use Change Remote Sensing Intern.” My task was to remotely sense land cover change on a remote peninsula of Indonesia, and to see if any significant changes occurred following the creation of Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) in the traditional fishing grounds surrounding the peninsula. The internship was an opportunity for me …

The Ethics Of Care And Refugee Education: Promoting Caring Envrionments In U.S. Urban Schools To Address The Needs Of Unaccompanied Refugee Minors, Tina Meetran

Sustainability and Social Justice

The United States has resettled more than 2 million refugees since 1975 and approximately one third of them are children. Some of the children who arrive in the U.S. are unaccompanied refugee minors (URMs), meaning they arrive without a parent nor guardian. The absence of a parent figure heightens the adversities of escape and acculturation for URMs. However, due to the lack of available information on URM experiences, their physical, emotional and psychosocial needs in the U.S. are continually unmet. This paper considers the role that schools and teachers have as agents of care to foster positive growth and acculturation …

Summer Internship At African Community Education, Stephen A. Chiavaroli Iii

Sustainability and Social Justice

My internship at African Community Education (ACE) took place from May to December 2015, where I worked with GISDE alum, Joshua Plisinski. My summer was split as a volunteer at ACE and GIS Analyst in partnership with a Worcester nonprofit Cultural Exchange Through Soccer (CETS). My duties at ACE included tutoring, mentoring, and leading the students in homework assignments and various recreational activities. I also completed several GIS tasks and instructed a GIS tutorial for the high school students of ACE. The other time during my summer was spent conducting a spatial network analysis of Worcester soccer fields for CETS …

Creating A Learning Laboratory For Urban Sustainability: Consulting Project For The Blackstone River Corridor Living Systems Laboratory, Jacquelyn Dayle Burmeister

Sustainability and Social Justice

The Blackstone River Corridor Living Systems Laboratory (“LSL”) is a newly formed nonprofit organization with a broad and compelling mission to engage people with local history and water so as to improve public heath though bioremediation. It has evolved from a non-centrally administrated coalition of research institutions and municipalities interested in water quality to a multidisciplinary partnership, requiring consistent coordination. The broad organizational mission with such varied stakeholders requires a stable administrative platform, as well as funds to continue development of novel model process for wastewater treatment. The purpose of this project was to provide long term administrative and project …

The Association Between Shared Values And Well-Being Among Married Couples, Travis G. Parry

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

The primary objective of this research study was to examine the shared values and marital well-being of married couples and to see if there was a relationship between these variables. A secondary purpose of this study was to examine the marital well-being variables (financial stability, marital happiness, individual well-being) and see if there were relationships between these variables when analyzed simultaneously.

This study found a positive relationship between several shared values and the marital happiness and individual well-being variables of material well-being. However, no shared values were related to financial stability. The study did find positive relationships between all martial …

Mississippi College Towns: Assessing The Geography Of Collegiate Culture, Jordan Glynn Moore

Master's Theses

This study assesses the appearance of collegiate culture on the landscape of college towns in Mississippi. The research will add to the understanding of this phenomenon by contributing more focused studies of college towns not yet explored. Refining and adding to the concept of a “college town” by identifying physical and cultural factors that characterize it will open opportunities and provide options that will serve as a gateway for more pointed cross-disciplinary research. Not only are these towns havens for geographic research, but also for cross-disciplinary research pursuits due to their unique cultural characteristics. Using U.S. Census-derived maps and a …

Track Time And Monetary Costs Of Transportation As A Comprehensive Performance Measure: Development And Application Of Transportation Cost Index, Liming Wang

PSU Transportation Seminars

As federal and state policies place increasing emphasis on using comprehensive transportation performance measures to guide transportation decision making, there is a gap in such measures of transportation and land use systems. This seminar reports the results from a research project aiming to fill the gap in the type of applications and policy areas covered by existing measures. Modeled after the popular Consumer Price Index, the project refines and develops a transportation cost index (TCI) measure for transportation and land use systems by tracking the time and monetary costs of transportation for households as they travel to satisfy their daily …