How can the revival of nature combined with the introduction of contemporary structures improve a city’s appeal? The goals of this thesis are as follows: 1) To provide a new public space along Hartford’s waterfront, 2) To relieve traffic of those traveling through Hartford, 3) To allow for easier/increased access for local traffic to access the downtown area and central business district, and 4) To create connections across the River at the Human Scale. The relocation of I-91 to the opposite side of the Connecticut River using existing infrastructure is a clean, concise way of achieving these four goals. By having I-91 cross the Connecticut River south of downtown on the existing Charter Oak Bridge, following the Right-of-Way of the current State Route 2, intersecting with Interstate 84 at a four-way, all-access intersection, and traveling back across the Connecticut River north of downtown using an existing Right-of-Way, the Riverfront opens up while allowing for easier traffic flow for both local and through traffic. A new boulevard in the existing highway’s Right-of-Way that starts and ends at exits off of the new configuration of I-91 allows for local traffic to access all parts of downtown, while having through traffic avoid the commuters and bypass the city completely. The new intersection of I-91 and I-84 across the River in East Hartford would allow all users access to all points, no matter what direction they're traveling; something the current intersection in downtown does not offer. Using existing bridges and Rights-of-Way also does the least amount of damage to current residents of East Hartford and its own waterfront, as there would be no new land needed for this new configuration. The following thesis attempts to bring life back into the downtown area of Hartford, Connecticut through various means that have been proven to work well in other cities throughout the United States.

This study examines how a shuttle system can meet transportation needs in Pittsburg. A circulator shuttle connecting major commercial nodes, public facilities, and residential locations, can increase travel options and improve accessibility to key locations. A review of best practices and transit planning standards provides a means to determine the cost of a shuttle service. The base costs of service are then applied to three alternatives for different shuttle route alignments: 1) a north-south route along Railroad Avenue only, 2) a north-south route along Railroad Avenue and an east-west route to Century Plaza, and 3) a north-south route along Railroad Avenue and an east-west route to Century Plaza that also links to Los Medanos College. Each alternative presents the basic system characteristics, which include travel time between proposed stops; the difference in shuttle and automobile travel times; ridership along each route; and cost evaluation of service. Alternatives are evaluated based on comparisons of benefits and costs they can produce in the current environment. Alternative 3 provides the greatest coverage, has the largest potential ridership, and provides access to other major destinations in the eastern half of the city. This should be the ultimate vision for the shuttle service. However, fiscal uncertainties at the moment suggest that it is prudent to select the least expensive alternative, Alternative 1, and slowly branch out the system over time. This would create opportunities for the shuttle system to expand with the future growth of central Pittsburg.

The University Square Development Proposal (USDP) explores the redevelopment of the underutilized University Square site (the Site) in the City of San Luis Obispo (the City.) The Sites proximity to California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo (Cal Poly), a university with significant student housing needs, makes it an ideal location for student housing. The City has also expressed interest in the Site, having identified it in the General Plan Land Use and Circulation Element (LUCE) update as a “Special Planning Area”. The LUCE proposes a new mixed-use typology on the Site that may include a mixture of multi-family housing, retail services, entertainment, and recreation. The USDP is an early take on redevelopment of the Site, and provides a development option that accommodates both the objectives of Cal Poly, by providing student housing, and the City, by proposing a mixed-use development typology. To this end, the USDP includes a site assessment, project program, design vision, and financial analysis. The USDP concludes with project evaluations and lessons learned.

This study investigates the housing characteristics and the determinants of housing production of the informal housing sector in Alexandria, Egypt. It also examines the impact of land policies on the development of the informal housing sector. Informal housing, by definition, is constructed and acquired outside the legal procedure of land and building registration and without the necessary permissions and approvals. Therefore, there is a little knowledge about it, and its role in the housing market could be underestimated. The aim of this research is to enhance the factual knowledge about informal housing as a basis for future policy development. The findings of this research, based on data collected from a field study conducted in four informal settlements in Alexandria in 1991, include the following: 1. Macro-economic, political, and social structures accelerated the emergence and the development of informal housing settlements, which occurred rapidly during and after times of economic and political crises. 2. Informal settlements are heterogeneous and it is not evident that informal housing is synonymous with marginal housing for poor people. 3. Informal settlements have low levels of public utilities and infrastructure. 4. Income, household size, age of household head, and tenure status of the household are the major variables that explain different patterns of housing consumption and expenditure among informal households. 5. Inhabitants of informal settlements have moved from other areas of the city rather than origins outside Alexandria. Owners are more satisfied with both the units and the neighborhoods than renters are. 6. The determinants of informal housing production are in a dynamic process of change and are self-organized. The general conditions of the overall housing market influence informal housing in similar ways. Informal housing finance depends upon small scale and incremental methods of savings. 7. Implementation of different land policies results in augmenting provision of illegal land subdivisions, increasing land prices and expanding informal land market operation. From the analysis undertaken in this research and previous findings, some policy implications for future planning for informal development become evident.

This paper attempts to find new directions and solutions that for both planners and landscape architecture designers to consider new progress into the future city design. Cities and towns worldwide are facing similar problems of growing automobile use, suburban sprawl, pollution, and proliferating use of natural resources and energy. Our times offer an historic opportunity for society and designers to rethink where and how to make a better living environment. Sustainable lifestyle established on the principles of smart growth, new ecological urbanism, and green design strategies etc. It will not only reduce the harm on the environment, but also can vastly increase the quality of life of people.

Over the past two decades, underused shopping malls and big-box stores have become more prevalent in the landscape, even as newer ones are built. Shopping centers from the last half of the twentieth century may not have been designed to serve uses other than commercial, but that does not mean these buildings must or should only be thought of as single-use spaces. Projects from across the United States demonstrate that large, empty commercial structures can become municipal complexes, new town centers, mixed-use complexes, office buildings, churches, and gymnasiums. They also can be rehabilitated to fill the need for new schools in communities where there is no suitable or cheap land, limited funds, overcrowding, and growing enrollments. This thesis identifies twelve cases where public school districts have converted former shopping malls or big-box stores into schools and conducts histories on three of these cases. A detailed comparative analysis of three school conversion projects in Burnsville, Minnesota, Wake Forest, North Carolina, and Fort Myers, Florida is the foundation for the thesis research. By researching examples of retail conversion and assessing project history, this thesis determines common factors to these school projects and develops conclusions about relationships between school planning, growth management, and economic development. It develops a strong knowledge base that can be used to guide local governments interested in undertaking this type of initiative. Finally, the thesis demonstrates the importance of planning and building for future flexibility by underscoring the value of reusing the built form.

This study develops, analyzes, and a­­­­­pplies transit-system-specific regression tree models that identify and prioritize transit system improvements through analysis and application of ridership, Census, routing and scheduling, and transit stop characteristic data. Regression trees identify and rank independent variables that split dependent variable datasets into meaningful subsets according to significant relationships with independent variable datasets, and regression tree models can be used to identify and prioritize transit system improvements. In this study, ridership datatypes are the dependent variables (i.e., boardings and alightings) and Census, routing and scheduling, and transit stop characteristic datatypes are the independent variables. Data associated with the San Luis Obispo Regional Transit Authority (RTA) is the basis of this study. The literature review for this study identified no other studies that use regression trees to identify and/or prioritize transit system improvements. The analysis method herein can help identify and prioritize improvements to any transit system. The findings of this study may be applicable to other transit systems if assumptions can be made about the similarity of other systems to the San Luis Obispo Regional Transit Authority system. Relationships between transit ridership and independent variables that may be effective predictors of transit ridership are evaluated in this study. Traditional independent variables used to forecast transit ridership include population and employment densities, land use types, income distributions, service frequencies, and transit stop accessibility; other independent variables that may be significant predictors of transit ridership include transit stop amenities, characteristics, and connecting and nearby infrastructure. Ridership data needed for the analysis presented in this study can be obtained from transit agencies. Census data needed for the analysis presented in this study is available through the United States Census Bureau. Routing and scheduling data needed for the analysis presented in this study can be extracted from local transit system schedules. Transit stop characteristic data needed for the analysis presented in this study can be gathered by using a survey instrument during field-visits. The regression tree models developed in this study show a positive relationship in the RTA system between transit ridership and population density (specifically Asian and twenty to twenty-four years old residential population densities), the number of trips serving transit stops, and transit stop characteristics (specifically the presence of a trash can). According to these findings, this study offers recommendations for improvements to RTA’s transit system and marketing and planning strategies. More general conclusions that could be applicable to more transit systems could be drawn if the analysis method used in this study were performed with more and/or larger datasets (e.g., other transit agency, regional, statewide, national, and/or global datasets) comprised of more robust, accurate, and precise datatypes, and this concept is the basis for the future work recommended by this study.

This thesis examines issues of affordability and gentrification in neighborhoods around the Atlanta BeltLine. The BeltLine is a Transit Oriented Development project that is an adaptive reuse of an old freight rail corridor circling the city of Atlanta. The rapid new development occurring along the BeltLine is gentrifying neighborhoods and displacing communities. This thesis examines past urban redevelopment projects in Atlanta to see what the affects were on marginalized communities, and how the BeltLine is either similar or different to past development initiatives.

New software and technology is making it easier than ever before for public transportation planners to evaluate how quickly residents can reach jobs and other destinations. Because in the past it was difficult to measure access to opportunities, these concepts remained primarily in the theoretical and academic realms of research. This thesis reviews methods that could be used to evaluate routine bus service improvements and performs a comparative analysis of different methods in the context of New Orleans. There are many different variables in how the analysis could be performed, but this thesis focuses on the role that time of day plays in analyzing service changes. The results show that accessibility can be a very useful metric to evaluate the effectiveness of transit service changes. It goes on to explore techniques that could assist transit planners and schedulers to identify service gaps and prioritize service changes.

Measured by the level of transportation safety, the Commonwealth of Virginia stands out from all the States because despite increased need for mobility, it manages to maintain its safety indices at exceptionally good levels. In many respects we can attribute this success to the comprehensive Strategic Highway Safety Plan of Virginia (SHSP), which is, as concluded from the analysis of its analogues, among the best in the US. The programs and policies described in this document embrace all aspects of transportation safety and create a harmonious system. To assess the effectiveness of the SHSP, this thesis used correlation and regression analysis based on statistical data from the years 2004 – 2011 in Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT), and Virginia Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) documents. The performed calculations showed very positive trends with gradual reduction, in crash and death rates. It was also found that citizens would use private vehicles more often in the future without making conditions worse on the highways. Instead, drivers tend to be more careful and responsible. Analysis also reveals a rising level of drunken driving incidents, a finding substantiated by literature review, chiefly planning reports and economic analysis. The current transportation policy I does not adequately address this issue. The correlation between allocation of funds and performance indicators showed it would be more effective to invest in research projects on safety rather than in “safety” itself (i.e. construction of roads). Unfortunately, in difficult times, governments usually cut research projects. Finally, Virginia is on the verge of a new transportation era, when the structure of driving cohorts will change, and decisions about building new highways will have to be balanced between technical and ecological considerations.