The City of Clearlake in northern California initiated its first general plan update in 2012.The City decided to do an Environmental Impact Report (EIR) for the general plan update in order to fulfill the California Environmental Quality Act’s (CEQA) requirements.The author wrote the Agriculture and Biological Resources sections of the EIR.She explains the CEQA process for a programmatic-level EIR, and summarizes the lessons learned and recommendations for CEQA. General CEQA issues include fear of litigation and vague requirements for thresholds of significance.Additional CEQA issues include difficulty applying the same level of analysis to programmatic projects when the Environmental Checklist is more applicable for small-scale projects; difficulty identifying the extent of analysis needed; and the cost and time burdens of preparing programmatic-level EIRs.Recommendations for future programmatic-level EIRs and CEQA reform conclude the paper.

Public art plays a significant role in communities around the world. It embodies a close relationship between the artist, the space in which it’s being exhibited, and the public. The development of this project examined various literary sources that demonstrated the importance of public art and how cities, artists, and community members may benefit from the incorporation of public art. This project included the framework for development of a Public Art Program for the City of Pismo Beach, California, which outlined the critical steps of a planning process and implementation of the program.

This thesis focuses on the design of a construction method that utilizes a single adaptable kit-of-parts system. The new system is designed to be flexible while also enhancing construction speeds without severely limiting the building's ability to merge into an urban fabric. This thesis proposes a residential structure to be built from a handful of simple structural units. This is accomplished through the design of a residential building situated in an area of Miami currently under reconstruction.

The Bellevue Community Plan (BCP) was developed to be consistent with the Merced Vision 2030 General Plan, and is highly reflective of its policies, illustrative plans and guiding features, such as providing significant employment generating uses that would benefit from being in close proximity to the UC Merced campus. The BCP establishes a high-level planning framework that strikes a balance between certainty and flexibility by anchoring key land uses while allowing their size to adapt to changing market conditions in response to economic growth and the expansion of UC Merced. While the BCP provides a broad range of uses and densities that could occur throughout the plan area, it emphasizes the foundational building blocks of street connectivity, functional mobility choices, active and passive recreation open space corridors and bikeways, gateway street designs, and attractive business park settings to create a great sense of place with investment certainty.

This professional project assesses current conditions and regulations within San Clemente’s Coastal Zone, and provides recommendations to the City and California Coastal Commission through a draft Land Use Plan. The amended Land Use Plan will be included in the certified Local Coastal Program, which will govern decisions that determine the short and long-term conservation and use of coastal resources within San Clemente’s Coastal Zone. Local Coastal Programs (LCPs) are planning guides used by local governments for development within the Coastal Zone. They contain goals and policies for development and protection of coastal resources throughout coastal cities and counties in California. LCPs identify appropriate locations for various land uses based on their goal of environmental and sustainable development and growth. Each LCP contains two components: a Land Use Plan (LUP) and an Implementation Plan (IP). Generally, the LUP contains the Coastal Element of the General Plan and provides the overall goals and policies that protect a City’s coastal resources. The IP is intended to implement the goals and policies in the City’s Land Use Plan and includes sections of the City’s Zoning Ordinance, and Specific Plans within the Coastal Zone. Although each LCP is unique to a coastal community, they all need to maintain statewide regulations through conformity with the Coastal Act requirements. After the California Coastal Commission (CCC) has approved an LCP, the coastal permitting authority over most new development is transferred to the local government, but the CCC retains permanent coastal permit jurisdiction over all proposed development on public trust lands, tidelands, and submerged lands. The CCC will also review and approve any amendments to previously certified LCPs.

Why do some communities thrive after closure of a major employment center such as a military base, while others suffer for many years with long-term unemployment, decaying infrastructure, or other indicators of a weak economy? Through a mixed-methods approach, this paper examines a wide variety of community characteristics from past base closures, builds a model of the most relevant indicators of success or failure, and then offers redevelopment lessons to communities facing base redevelopment. This research incorporates a multivariate statistical analysis including panel regression and then a historical study of the five major BRAC closures in New England. While strong pre-existing economic and social conditions are indicative of successful recovery in many situations, there is no universal set of indicators that can predict success. Nonetheless, there are actions that communities can take to help navigate a military base redevelopment - these include establishing a strong leadership system, aggressively seeking federal and state funding, and orchestrating comprehensive planning that synchronizes market research with available infrastructure and opportunity.

This thesis explores how architecture can be designed to react to changing conditions. In the design I address how the occupants of a building may change the exterior façade based on a change of events or on group size. This creates an architectural language on the façade for pedestrians and motorists to read those activities that are occurring. The design project is a hybrid recreational center and plaza that is designed for the use of small groups and can be adapted for larger groups. By manipulating the ground plane I create spaces where the spectator becomes the display and the display becomes the spectator. The public spaces at the center are a casual stage for movement, while private spaces at the edge offer places for spectators to overlook events. The movements at the center and edge are displayed on the façade creating a system of information.

This thesis addresses contextual design in the city, particularly the design of contemporary architecture in historic places. The research focuses on an analysis of Old Havana's urban architecture, particularly the spatial qualities of colonial Cuban houses as well as visual, social, and functional qualities of their urban façades. Additionally, I analyze specific mid-twentieth century houses that reinterpret Cuba’s colonial architecture in order to derive architectural principles that are tested in my design process. The design project is a mixed-use cultural center at the Plaza Vieja in Old Havana, Cuba. As a cultural destination currently under going restoration, the Plaza Vieja is an appropriate place to propose a contemporary project that reinterprets Havana’s historic context. The cultural center embodies a synthesis between old and new ideas.

Urban planners continue to explore various ways of influencing the type, rate, location, quality and timing of urban development. The need for such influence is evidenced by the compounding of urban environmentmental and energy concerns with local government fiscal difficulties. This study examines two of the tools frequently identified as being useful in efforts to effectively manage urban development: consolidated urban government and the controlled extension of certan urban services, especially water service, sewage service, fire protection and police protection. These two tools are explored through a case study of the urban and general services district concept as it has evolved in Metropolitan Nashville-Davidson County, Tennessee. The decision, with the establishment of consolidated government in 1963, to divide Metropolitan Nashville-Davidson County into two service districts provides a setting for the examination of past, present and potential impact of these service arrangements upon Nashville's urban development. The following four research questions provide the focus of the study: Was the creation of the service districts based upon a planning concern for the coordination of service provision with development objectives? Has the existence of these districts permitted their use as vehicles for coordinatied service delivery consistent with development objectives? Given the history of these districts, do they appear to have potential in assisting Metro Nashville in meeting its future development objectives? Does the Nashville experience with consolidated government and the service district concept provide planners with evidence of the validity of such arrangements for the implementation of development objectives in metropolitan areas? Organized around these central questions, the study employs interviews with past and present planning officials, reviews of planning documents, and searches of literature on Metro Nashville to find its answers. The principal findings of the study are: A continuing group of professional planners and Nashville citizens were instrumental in the design and implementation of consolidated government in Nashville and Davidson County. The creation of the Urban Services District and General Services District concept was a response to service delivery, poltical, fiscal and legal problems in Nashville; developmental concerns were secondary. Since 1963, the continuing need to provide urban services to already-urbanized areas has precluded active consideration of using service policies to guide development; this fact has been reinforced by the general Metro political environment which supports the view that public planning for development should be limited to the maintainance of "minimum standards" of public health, safety and welfare. The potential for use of Urban Services District expansion policies as developmental tools has been moderated by the erosion of the distinction between the Urban Services District and the General Services District. Although Metro is currently reviewing three "general plan" alternatives, there is little evidence to suggest that a political climate is emerging which will support the use of service policies to influence urban development beyond the "minimum standard" level. The expansion of the Nashville metropolitan area beyond the boundaries of Davidson County, the dominance of state and federal decision-makers in transportation decision-making, and the lack of consistent coordination between Metro agencies and departments seriously inhibits any effort to use Urban Services District extension to influence urban development. The conclusions of the study are based upon these findings and are phrased as messages to planners who are interested in the potential impact consolidated government and the management or urban services might have upon urban development. The messages suggest caution in listing the virtures of consolitated government, particularly where such government is not truly metropolitan. It is further suggested that the use of urban service policies to influence development is dependent upon both the political capacity and the political will to effectively achieve development goals. Planner are encouraged to seek the development of each of these.

It is the intent of this thesis to provide adaptive intervention that respects and preserves the significant features of historic urban late industrial buildings while enhancing their cultural and economic role within the city that developed around them. The Dinner Key Boat Yard, in Coconut Grove, will be used to demonstrate the conclusions of this study. Research into the practice and philosophies of historic preservation, and the local history; will be used to identify the attributes of historic value in the case site. An analysis of the surrounding area and case studies of parallel precedence will be used to determine a viable reuse program. The synthesis of this information will determine the new intervention. The resulting programmatic elements selected for the case site, museums, boat yard, restaurant, and pedestrian connector, are formally expressed to reflect the development, evolution, and public benefits of technology in late industrial society.