Thesis--University of Wisconsin--Madison. / Typescript. Vita. eContent provider-neutral record in process. Description based on print version record. Bibliographical references.

Thesis (M.C.P.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Urban Studies and Planning, 2009. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 72-77). / (cont.) This thesis seeks to answer the following questions: * What organizational features (i.e. types of leadership, structure, etc.) are significant in executing successful urban redevelopment projects? * To what extent does organizational capacity make certain projects successful? Primary research question: What aspects of organizational capacity contribute to the positive or negative outcomes of urban redevelopment projects and in what way? Organizational capacity is defined as how well an agency organizes its human, social, financial, and technical resources. These questions are answered through an in-depth case study of the Community Redevelopment Agency of Los Angeles (CRA) with respect to its redevelopment of the Crenshaw Center, a regional shopping center built in the late 1940s, into the Baldwin Hills Crenshaw Plaza, a mail completed in 1988. The mall is once again the target of new, extensive redevelpment plans. Research was conducted through theoretical and archival research, supplemented by interviews with those involved with the development and execution of the project, as well site observation. What emerges from the fieldwork and empirical research is a strategic understanding of organizational capacity that is useful in diagnosing key features of an organization that pursues urban redevelopment, and in suggesting areas for strengthening the organization's capacity. The key features of organizational capacity for CRA are cultivating internal leadership, concretely defining mission and central tasks, negotiating power-balanced relationships, and managing their network of actors. / by Virginia Flores. / M.C.P.

This study examines the state of off-street parking in the Cornfield Arroyo Seco Specific Plan (CASP) area of the City of Los Angeles. The focus is on discovering relevant strategies to strengthen the plans ability to reduce parking supply and demand. Research has shown a causal relationship between planning policies and the oversupply of parking. An auto-centric approach to land use and urban form creates societal problems such as traffic congestion, air pollution, inflated development costs, and hostile pedestrian landscapes. Further issues that are directly associated with parking include: poor water quality, neighborhood livability, and ambient temperature. Additionally, an overabundance of parking supports increased vehicle miles traveled which is a major source of greenhouse gases. The imbalance between parking supply and demand in the City of Los Angeles has resulted in large tracts of land that are paved over by parking lots instead of more valuable land uses. A thorough assessment of the opportunities to improve the state of parking in the Los Angeles CASP area is needed. The (qualitative) research consisted of a review of secondary data such as the Los Angeles General Plan, the Los Angeles Municipal Code (LAMC), the best practices of Pasadena, Santa Monica and an exposé of scholarly parking theory. The primary (quantitative) data collection methods in this study comprised an aerial survey and a field survey. The results show that half of the major land uses in the area never reach optimal occupancy. A careful evaluation of the CASP revealed that it does institute several progressive parking policies that are more stringent than the LAMC, namely being the first plan in the city that does not include parking requirements. However there are a number of relevant parking management strategies which could serve to further strengthen the CASP. The Specific Plan does not mandate employers to provide transit passes or parking cash-outs. Providing Eco Passes can yield benefits for developers, property owners, employers, commuters, transit agencies, and cities. Another way to reduce parking demand and parking requirements is to offer commuters the option to “cash out” their employer-paid parking. Both transit passes and parking cash-out are cost effective because it is much cheaper to pay for a transit ride to and from work than to pay for a free parking space at work. These two strategies have potential to add another dimension to demand management, civic viability and contribute to the paradigm shift that is needed to mitigate our environmental impact.