This research provides a confirmatory based analysis which begins with the planning concept of land use mix and explores its explanatory affect upon resident perceptions of their built environment in terms of proximity of recreation and retail destinations within their neighborhood public realm. This research further explores the resident’s potential inclination to access these destinations by non motorized active travel modes of walking or bicycling. This research examines the relationship between the propensity for active travel within the neighborhood public realm and levels of resident active engagement (walking and bicycling) and passive engagement (sitting on the front porch) in the neighborhood public realm. This research then examines the relationship between public realm engagement and levels of neighborhood social capital. There are two overarching types of community design patterns, the traditional design pattern, which generally provides higher levels of land use mix and the conventional suburban design pattern, which generally provides lower levels of land use mix (primarily single use). Since the end of World War II, virtually all of the Florida landscape has been developed with the conventional suburban design pattern. In the past ten years, several planning based initiatives have been undertaken by regional planning advocacy and academic organizations which examine differing outcomes associated with the implementation of traditional versus suburban design patterns. Specifically, these studies sought to understand how these different design patterns would translate into the development of existing undisturbed uplands and wetlands. Two major studies, the Penn Design Study (2004) sponsored by the University of Central Florida Metropolitan Center for Regional Studies and the “How Shall We Grow” (2006) study sponsored by MyRegion.org in association with the Orlando Chamber of Commerce, provided scenarios associated with future growth outcomes over the next fifty years within the iii seven county Central Florida region. These study initiatives concluded that the conventional suburban pattern should no longer be implemented in order to reduce future adverse impacts to Florida’s environment. These studies supported the implementation of a more traditional pattern of growth, with its higher levels of compactness, mixed land uses and connectivity, as the preferred form of future land development. They demonstrated that traditional design forms would reduce the amount of impacted undeveloped land and also reduce the amount of public service costs associated with lower levels of compactness and land use mix. Although the aforementioned studies provide a very informative evaluation from an environmental perspective, they do not extend their differing potential growth scenarios to a “healthy communities” perspective. This research endeavors to begin to fill that gap through evidence based research using a confirmatory model approach that addresses relationships between phenomena that may be indicative of healthy communities. This study identifies the phenomena of outdoor neighborhood public realm engagement, primarily in the form of physical activity (walking and bicycling) and socializing in the public realm, and neighborhood level social capital, and their potential relationship with higher and lower levels of land use mix. This research posits a pathway mechanism, using structural equation modeling, to better grasp their possible relationships. This research seeks to add evidence based research to the public policy discussion pertaining to the type of future land development patterns that will be advocated by citizens and public policy makers by providing a fuller evaluative resource that includes a discussion of “healthy communities” in terms of outdoor physical activity and social interaction.

This study examines potential transportation improvements in the Elysian Fields Avenue Corridor, and the benefit that these improvements may produce. Data for the study area are compiled and analyzed. Conceptual plans for the implementation of different transit technology alternatives were developed and assessed in terms of user benefits, cost, potential land use impacts, potential economic impacts, and feasibility. Case studies and relevant literature are reviewed. The intent of this thesis is to provide an overview of the study area prior and subsequent to Hurricane Katrina, develop plans for the implementation of transit alternatives in the Elysian Fields Avenue Corridor, and assess potential costs and benefits of the different alternatives developed.

The word revise means to reconsider or modify as with text. If we think of the suburban landscape as a text, the culture of each era left documentation of their values, policies and way of life in the form of transportation networks and other infrastructure, such as Main Streets, squares and public buildings. While evidence of most of the everyday life of individuals of every era gets erased by the following era, infrastructure investments of each era are adaptively reused and remain to tell the story. This thesis documents the adaptive reuse of these suburban frameworks and develops a proposition for the appropriate next layer to accommodate a new culture of inhabitants. Focusing on second generation suburbs, using Gwinnett County as a case study, this analysis identifies three problems of the current suburban situation: the problem of abandoned strips, a demographic shift, and the need for place. As new strip highways develop, old strips decline leaving abandoned shopping centers and declining property values. New development continues to move north and out of the county, and middle class residents, for which existing auto-oriented suburbs were created, move as well. A new, poorer, and more ethnically diverse population inherits the auto-oriented landscape left behind. This phenomenon is particularly concentrated along the southern portion of the Buford Highway corridor. Those with more money move closer to new development, while those with less money have less choice and are found near declining strips with fewer services, poorer quality housing and lower quality of life. Finally, county officials have expressed a desire for defining "the epicenter of Gwinnett." I believe that there is no one "center" of Gwinnett, but a series of places defined by memory, design or events. I propose to improve the situation of these three problems with a light rail line that connects existing places and creates new walkable, livable places to improve quality of life. This connective piece will serve as a social condenser in lieu of a center, provide links between polar populations, and reactivate declining strips while creating a sustainable infrastructural spine for future growth in the region.