Urban Studies and Planning Commons^™

Assessing Flood Resilience In West Virginia Communities: Integrating Physical, Institutional, Socioeconomic, And Environmental Dimensions, Anahita Mahmoudi

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Flooding is one of the most frequent and damaging natural hazards in the United States, with impacts expected to intensify under changing climate conditions. In regions such as West Virginia, complex terrain, development patterns along river corridors, and socioeconomic disparities contribute to elevated flood risk. Traditional approaches to flood risk assessment often focus on single dimensions of vulnerability or rely on binary floodplain maps, which do not fully capture the spatial variability and multidimensional nature of flood resilience.

This dissertation develops an integrated, community-scale framework for assessing flood resilience in West Virginia by combining physical, environmental, institutional, and socioeconomic dimensions …

Smart Cities Beyond Methodological Cityism: Foregrounding Developmentalism, Scalar Flexing And The Rebranding Of The 'Urban', Prerona Das, Orlando Woods, Lily Kong

Research Collection College of Integrative Studies

In this paper we show that in Southeast Asia, smart city development has become a type of digital urban transformation that is not targeted towards any particular territorial formation or settlement. Instead, development-oriented states in the region leverage the smart city rhetoric as a nationwide branding strategy to leapfrog development stages. Such smart city policies are infused with a scalar logic – which we call ‘scalar flexing’ – that captures the enmeshing of local and national scales, causing local scale smart city initiatives to be stretched across wide-ranging, national-scale urban transformation agendas. We examine the nationwide 100 smart cities policies …

How Do You Fix Knowledge In Place? Digital Nomads And Infrastructural Stickiness, Emma Grimley, Prerona Das, Orlando Woods, Lily Kong

Research Collection College of Integrative Studies

Remote work has become increasingly accessible due to the growing acceptance of remote work arrangements following the COVID-19 pandemic. Some state actors, especially in countries which face a shortage of digital talent and have reputations as leisure-tourism destinations, have begun considering the opportunities for digital transformation or workforce upskilling that highly skilled remote workers may offer. This paper develops the case of remote workers in Thailand to argue that infrastructural stickiness is a critical determinant for effective knowledge transfer to occur. By infrastructural stickiness we refer to the regulatory and socio-material infrastructures that both attract and retain international remote workers …

Modelling Nature? The Digital Twinning And Untwinning Of Urban Farms, Prerona Das, Orlando Woods, Lily Kong

Research Collection College of Integrative Studies

Data-driven solutions and innovations have been extended to various industries, including agriculture, to increase efficiency. With the emergence of smart farming and agriculture 4.0, advanced technologies such as IoT, big data, machine learning, and cloud computing are increasingly integrated into farming. Among these, technologies such as digital models, digital twins and the metaverse are now used to control various farming activities remotely based on real-time data. However agricultural ecosystems, involving uncertain nature-based factors and complex human-nature interactions cannot always be accurately represented or predicted by digital models. Digital models aim to reduce natural environments into controllable game-like situations and undermine …

Walking Through Green And Grey: Exploring Sequential Exposure And Multisensory Environmental Effects On Psychological Restoration, Sifan Cheng, Binyu Lei, Kunihiko Fujiwara, Clayton Miller, Filip Biljecki, Jeroen Van Ameijde

Research Collection College of Integrative Studies

Urban environments are increasingly recognised for their potential to support psychological restoration, yet most studies assess green and grey spaces in isolation and rely on static, lab-based measures. This study introduces a multi-layered analytical framework that integrates experimental walking, momentary perception tracking, and machine learning to investigate how multisensory urban features shape restoration. Conducted on a university campus, the experiment exposed 20 participants to sequential grey–green–grey walking routes. Restoration was measured through pre/post psychometric surveys, heart rate variability (HRV), and minute-level micro-surveys during walking. Results reveal three key insights: (1) green exposure induces a short-term “inoculation effect”, with restorative benefits …

Multidimensional Analysis Of Human Outdoor Comfort: Integrating Just-In-Time Adaptive Interventions (Jitais) In Urban Digital Twins, Binyu Lei, Pengyuan Liu, Kunihiko Fujiwara, Mario Frei, Clayton Miller, Xuan Yun Chua, Filip Biljecki

Research Collection College of Integrative Studies

How can bidirectional information exchange be enhanced in urban digital twins, and support human-centric data and processes? Their key characteristic is the nearly real-time exchange of information, allowing adjustments to physical environments based on simulations and analytics within virtual models. Yet, achieving such interaction remains challenging, particularly regarding device deployment and infrastructure development. Embracing the concept of humans as sensors, this work develops a two-way framework based on the emerging concept of just-in-time adaptive interventions (JITAIs), exploring how urban digital twins can play a role in understanding and enhancing human comfort outdoors. Human comfort outdoors is inherently spatio-temporal and personalised, …

Barriers To Youth Employment And Economic Mobility In The Bronx, David Cortes

CUNY Mexican Studies Institute

This research aims to uncover systemic factors that limit career stability for young adults in the Bronx. In this paper, I focus on unequal access to educational resources, economic inequality, and the digital divide as connected barriers that shape the quality of education and training youth receive, the resources and networks they have access to, and the opportunities they can realistically maintain over time. Based on a review of public data, media reports and the current literature, I argue that job instability in the Bronx is a structural problem. At the same time, this project pushes back against the assumption …

Green Connectivity In Metropolitan Jabodetabek: Climate Change And The Challenge Of Urban Forest, Safira Maharani Putri, Hendricus Andy Simarmata

CSID Journal of Infrastructure Development

Urban areas in Indonesia, particularly the Greater Jakarta metropolitan region (Jabodetabek), are increasingly experiencing the adverse effects of climate change, such as the Urban Heat Island (UHI) phenomenon. Rapid urbanization has contributed significantly to rising greenhouse gas emissions and deteriorating environmental quality. Urban forests are one of the key solutions to mitigate these impacts; however, their spatial distribution in Jabodetabek remains suboptimal and poorly connected. This study uses NDVI as a proxy for urban forest density, where “urban forest” refers to vegetated areas within cities as defined by Presidential Regulation No. 60/2020. The research addresses the following question: How has …

Drainage, Transportation, And City Security Policies In Realizing Urban Environment With Smart City Integration, Wahyudi Setiawan

Cities and Urban Development Journal

Latar Belakang: Perkembangan urbanisasi yang pesat di berbagai kota besar di Indonesia menyebabkan meningkatnya permasalahan perkotaan seperti banjir, kemacetan, dan tingkat kejahatan yang tinggi. Ketiga permasalahan ini saling berhubungan dan berdampak pada kualitas hidup masyarakat serta keberlanjutan lingkungan. Oleh karena itu, diperlukan kebijakan yang terintegrasi dengan konsep Smart City untuk menciptakan lingkungan perkotaan yang lebih aman, nyaman, dan berkelanjutan.

Tujuan: Penelitian ini bertujuan untuk menganalisis kebijakan drainase, transportasi, dan keamanan kota dalam mengatasi permasalahan perkotaan serta mengevaluasi implementasi teknologi dalam mendukung kebijakan tersebut.

Motode: Metode penelitian yang digunakan adalah pendekatan kualitatif deskriptif dengan studi literatur, analisis kebijakan, dan wawancara …

Singapore As A Global City: Response To Urbanization, Climate Change, And Digital Economy, Idris Sandiya, Arief Nasrudin

Cities and Urban Development Journal

Background: Singapore faces pressures from rapid urbanization, climate change, and digital economic transformation amid limited land and resources. As both a city-state and global economic hub, Singapore develops adaptive strategies that balance growth, sustainability, and competitiveness through technology-driven governance and long-term planning.

Aims: This study analyzes Singapore’s adaptation strategies in addressing urban, environmental, and digital economic challenges while evaluating policy effectiveness and limitations within the frameworks of the global city, state capitalism, and sustainability governance.

Methods: A qualitative literature review and SWOT analysis were conducted using secondary data from academic journals and policy reports. The analysis focuses on the integration …

Technology And Sustainability In Integrated Transportation Hubs: A Systematic Literature Review, Samuel Darwisman, Yosef Ricky Simanjuntak

Cities and Urban Development Journal

Background: Integrated transportation hubs serve as a critical foundation for modern urban mobility, tasked with efficiently coordinating passenger and freight logistics flows. However, current research remains fragmented across disciplines, resulting in a lack of unified understanding regarding the synergy between advanced technology and holistic sustainability.

Aims: This study aims to map the global research landscape of integrated transportation hubs to identify dominant themes, analyze the gap between technological potential and policy reality, and formulate a strategic future research agenda.

Methods: Adhering to PRISMA 2020 guidelines, a systematic literature search was conducted across Scopus, Web of Science, and ScienceDirect databases up …

A Collective Micro Food Farming: Maximizing The Limited Space Of Urban Neighborhood, Arnis Rochma Harani, Fathurrahman Nur Azmi, Kelfin Ilyas Prassetyo, Cheong Peng Au-Yong

ASEAN Journal of Community Engagement

This paper examines the concept of urban farming in residential areas with limited space to provide food security while improving the environment. The practice of cultivating food crops, vegetables, fruits, or medicinal plants in small spaces such as yards, rooftops, balconies, walls, terraces, or indoor spaces is a form of domestic adaptation with significant ecological and social impacts in urban areas. This study is part of a community service program that aims to maximize limited space for food production and green space. Three phases of the activity methodology are involved in this program, including collecting spatial data to identify potential …

The 2025 Pakistan Floods: Investigating The Human, Agricultural, And Economic Collapse, Abdullah Khan

MSJ Capstone Projects

This project examines the 2025 Pakistan floods as a multidimensional climate disaster that triggered severe human, agricultural, and economic consequences. Moving beyond event-based reporting, the study examines how climate change, weak governance, poor infrastructure planning, and delayed institutional responses intensified the scale of destruction. Using investigative journalism methods, the project combines field reporting from flood-affected areas, in-depth interviews with displaced communities, local activists, and experts, and analysis of official data and policy documents. The findings reveal widespread displacement, loss of livelihoods, food insecurity, and long-term social vulnerability, particularly among marginalized rural populations. Agricultural collapse emerged as a central concern, threatening …

How Does Vertical Hydroponic Farming Compare To Traditional Soil Farming In Terms Of Crop Yield, Energy Efficiency, And Cost?, Grace Morgan, Grace Henry, Rebecca Meenach, Jeana Odom

Student Scholar Symposium

Vertical hydroponics (hydro “water;” ponics “labor”) is a method of year-round farming that uses water in place of soil and supplies vegetables’ nutrients in a space-efficient setting. It dates back to 500 BC when it was used in the Hanging Gardens of Babylon, a wonder of the ancient world. Thousands of years later, vertical hydroponics has expanded across the globe to supply leafy greens, herbs, and grains. It is typically implemented in dense urban environments where green space is hard to come by as a form of sustainable farming. Our research seeks to answer the question “How does vertical hydroponic …

Disaster Risk Reduction In Rural Indonesia: Evaluation Of The Japan Red Cross Program In Pujiharjo Village, Meyralda Dara Adisa, Pujo Widodo, Anwar Kurniadi, Wilopo Wilopo

Preventia: The Indonesian Journal of Public Health

Pujiharjo Village in Malang Regency, Indonesia, is highly vulnerable to natural disasters. In 2021, the Indonesian Red Cross (PMI) partnered with the Japanese Red Cross Society (JRCS) to implement a community-based disaster preparedness program. This study evaluates the program's effectiveness in terms of community participation, institutional support, and alignment with the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015–2030. Using a qualitative case study, data were collected through document analysis of Vulnerability and Capacity Assessments (VCA), Community Action Plans (CAP), and local SOPs. Thematic analysis explored disaster risk perception, governance, mitigation investment, and emergency preparedness. The program successfully improved risk awareness, …

Shale Investment Dashboard In Ohio Q3 And Q4 2024, Andrew R. Thomas, Mark Henning

All Maxine Goodman Levin School of Urban Affairs Publications

This report presents findings from an investigation into shale-related investment in Ohio, looking at up, mid, and downstream activities. The investment estimates are for July through December of 2024. The report also includes an estimate of cumulative investment into shale in Ohio from 2012 through December 2024. Prior biannual investments are included in previously posted reports that are available from Cleveland State University.

A Comparative Analysis Of Complete Streets And Multimodal Transport Approaches: Implications For Sustainable Urban Mobility In Lincoln, And Global Contexts, Oliva Richard Kilyenyi

Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Movement of people and goods in urban areas through different modes of transportation including walking, cycling, public transit and by autos is termed as urban mobility. Urban mobility presents significant environmental, social, and economic challenges for cities worldwide as they grapple with the impacts of conventional transportation systems, particularly in North America context where car-centric planning approaches has dominated urban developments since 1950s. Car-centric dominance is 80% in North American Metropolitan areas (Manaugh et al., 2015). The impacts of these conventional systems include greenhouse gas emission emissions contributing approximately 24% of global carbon dioxide (CO₂) emissions, air pollution …

Transportation Practitioners' Reflections On Addressing Transportation Barriers For Vulnerable Populations In Nebraska, Aysan Esmaely

Community and Regional Planning Program: Theses

This study examines transportation planning practices and challenges in Nebraska, with particular attention to how planners and agencies address the needs of vulnerable populations. Using a qualitative approach, thirty-five transportation planners, practitioners, and service providers were interviewed. Participants were selected based on their professional in transportation planning and service delivery. The study explores what institutional and funding barriers planners and practitioners face, and what strategies they consider most effective for improving access and inclusion. Findings reveal that limited funding, fragmented authority, and the absence of a coordinated regional planning framework significantly constrain transportation development across Nebraska. While metropolitan areas such …

Evaluating The Preparedness Of Local Zoning Regulations For Flood Risk Reduction In The Most Affected Local Jurisdictions In Nebraska, Md Asaduzzaman Noor

Community and Regional Planning Program: Theses

Flooding has profound social, economic, and environmental impacts on local communities, and zoning plays a critical role in mitigating these risks. The 2019 Nebraska floods, among the most severe in the state’s history, highlighted the urgent need to strengthen local preparedness and mitigation strategies. This study assesses the extent to which local zoning regulations in Nebraska’s most affected jurisdiction, including rural areas, address flood risk reduction. A systematic review of 117 zoning ordinances from counties, cities, towns, and villages, we applied a structured analytical framework encompassing regulatory and permitting policies, voluntary and incentive-based measures, and nature-based solutions. The results show …

Public Engagement In Small-Town Planning: A Case Study Of The Wellsville Trails And Active Transportation Plan, Tayli R. Hillyard

All Graduate Reports and Creative Projects, Fall 2023 to Present

This thesis presents a qualitative case study of public engagement in the Wellsville Trails and Active Transportation Plan, developed in Wellsville, Utah—a small municipality with limited staff and resources. Drawing from planning literature on effective community participation, the study evaluates outreach strategies based on their reach, feasibility, and replicability. Outreach strategies in the plan’s development included surveys, stakeholder meetings, a public open house, digital tools, and informal conversations. While early outreach efforts, such as the interest survey and personal invitations, generated meaningful input, the process fell short in sustaining engagement, reaching underrepresented groups, and maintaining consistent communication. The analysis highlights …