When Houston looks at itself, it is usually through a windshield. As Reyner Banham realized in Los Angeles, one must learn to drive in order to experience the city at the rate and scale in which it is continuously designed. The car is an appropriate analytical tool for investigating an urban condition in which large distances must be traversed quickly in order to maintain urban cohesion and experiential continuity. It is not necessary to slow oneself down in order to recognize the existence of other spaces, spaces that do not conform to general urban use patterns. One can "see" them at seventy miles per hour. What if the object of research is not spatial continuity, but rather, the very things that this space divides, omits, and jumps over? This urban residuum is not designed or used at breakneck speeds. It must be examined at a much slower pace---the speed of a bulldozer or, perhaps, a pedestrian---a relative crawl. To actually enter and investigate this space requires a wholesale elimination of the mechanisms that allow the city to operate in the first place. There are significant breaks in urban space that cannot be understood from the 30th floor or, even, from the sidewalk.

This thesis examines Canadian and Indonesian land use legislation to determine the extent to which each addresses, or could address, environmental concerns. / It shows that both jurisdictions do presently provide some measure of protection, with Canadian planning statutes containing some express provisions while the protection under Indonesian law is more implicit. / However, both jurisdictions could go further in this regard. A consideration of specific land use planning tools suggests that planning agencies could be given the power to require of a developer the submission of an environmental impact statement as part of the approval process. This would require modification of Canadian planning legislation and the adoption of a comprehensive planning statute by Indonesia, which could incorporate some aspects of the Canadian planning system.

In spite of the 1976 Central Area Plan, the Toronto Central Area still maintained its role as a major employment centre, and is likely to stay as the hub of increasing work trips generated throughout the Toronto region in the future. / The principal task of this study is to analyze and measure the effects and impacts of population and housing intensification in the Toronto Central Area on travel demand during the morning peak period associated with this Toronto Central Area for the period 1975-90. The findings could prove to be a very valuable tool in managing growth and development in the Central Area. / Detailed time series analysis from 1975 to 1989 is performed using the Metro Cordon Count data. A cross-sectional analysis for 1987 was also conducted using the 1987 Travel Diary Survey data. A simple travel demand model for the Central Area is developed to evaluate Cordon Count data.

The study identifies the major problems associated with the current approach to the planning and engineering of large development projects with respect to the objectives of sustainable development and the requirements of the environmental impact assessment process. The Great Whale Hydroelectric Project is used as an example to illustrate some of these deficiencies. The author argues that the economic and technical criteria traditionally used by engineers in designing projects are no longer sufficient to meet society's objectives, and that a new multidisciplinary approach must be adopted that allows for the accommodation of environmental and social factors from the very beginning of the planning and design process. A protocol is proposed as a structured approach to engineering for sustainable development and recommendations are made regarding the need to adapt engineering ethics and training to reflect this new reality.

<p> Sub-surface motivations of individuals to engage in planning for climate change adaptation and response are influenced by a combination of orthodox factors such as their community's physical and social demographics, and an array of supplementary factors such their community's epistemology, direct experiences, hyperbolic discounting, media, and outreach initiatives. In turn, public demand for initiatives and a community's ability to facilitate an institutional supply of initiatives shapes the surface motivations of decision-makers that direct the development, implementation, and diffusion of initiatives. This paper investigates the relationship between influential factors and motivations for climate change planning by examining the climate change planning process of Aspen and Boulder in Colorado. Research results indicate that the motivations for climate change planning and subsequent initiatives vary because of differences in a community's orthodox and supplementary factors.</p>

<p> Land use regulations affect housing prices, with more restrictive regulatory environments associated with higher prices. Yet, regulations are only a part of the regulatory regime in which land use decisions are made, leading to the question: how do land use regulatory regimes affect housing prices? This study examines and compares the land use regulatory regimes of four counties, Frederick, MD, Montgomery, MD, Fairfax, VA, and Loudoun, VA through interviews, project files, and regulatory review to learn how the combination of structures, rules, norms, principles, and expectations, relate to housing prices. State differences in the tools available lead to Virginia counties having a more predictable, but not faster, subdivision review process than Maryland counties. More importantly, local differences in developer contributions for mitigating the impact of development, community involvement, and perspectives on development affect the cost and predictability of the residential development review process. These jurisdictional differences support the need to focus research on regulatory regimes rather than simply regulations to identify changes to reduce unnecessary costs that increase house prices.</p>

<p> Due to the inappropriate planning and explosive population growth in urban areas, especially in developing countries, sustainable and disaster-safe urbanization has become the most important challenge for governments. Urbanization presents benefits in different ways but has led simultaneously to changes in land use/land cover (LULC), impacting soil quality, runoff, surface temperature, water quality, and promoting climate change. The environmental implications of LULC changes cannot be understood well enough to take precautions without the knowledge of LULC change. This reality is the driving force behind my research, which focuses on impacts of urbanization on flood and soil erosion hazards in Istanbul, Turkey. Istanbul is the biggest city in Turkey with its almost 15.000.000 population. In 1999 the Marmara earthquake destroyed the city especially the newly developed zones. Every year Istanbul suffers also from flood damages. Istanbul has been experiencing uncontrolled migration, chiefly from rural areas, since the economic reform policies took place in the second half of the 20th century. These policies forced the city to expand towards the agricultural land and to the coastal areas. Istanbul has been faced with illegal housing and uncontrolled development since then. This developoment has produced significant decreases inproductive agricultural lands and created more impervious areas. Infrastructure development has not matched the rate of the population increase and uncontrolled urbanization, making the city vulnerable increasingly to natural disasters. This dissertation aims to understand the impacts of urbanization on flood and erosion hazards in Istanbul by examining changes in the city using remote sensing (RS) and geographical information systems (GIS) methods. LULC was examined first: Two change detection methods were applied to choose the best peformer for Istanbul. The post-classification comparison (PCC) method produced better results than the principal component analysis (PCA). PCC utilized 1984, 1997, 2001, 2007 and 2010 Landsat images of the study area. These Landsat images were corrected atmospherically and radiometrically using COST Model (Markham and Barker, 1986). After the corrections geometric rectification was performed with the help of 1987 topographic map, 1995 orthophotos, 2005 GPS data. Location and nature of the change were derived for the time periods. Results show that since 1984, agricultural land have been replaced increasingly by urbanization. Flooding and related soil erosion are both natural events. Yet these events can be hazardous; they can harm/destroy lives and property. In recent years these events have become disasters for Istanbul.. We investigated the role of urban growth in such disasters. To understand the urbanization and flood relation better, flood events for each time period were examined using LULC change, runoff information and watershed analysis. Soil erosion events occur slowly and in Istanbul they do not happen frequently (yearly) as with flooding. But some of the locations of erosion that occurred in the past are now urbanized areas. It is thus important to understand how the built environment affects soiol erosion. We applied the Revised Universal Soil Loss Equation (RUSLE) method for each year in the time series. Prior erosion locations digitized from General Directorate of Mineral Research and Exploration were compared to predicted locations. The resultant maps indicates that European side of Istanbul is more prone to erosion than Anatolian side.</p>

<p> The scale of the climate crisis is immense and solutions are urgently needed. This dissertation develops tools to provide highly tailored carbon footprint information and place-based solutions to U.S. households and communities in three complimentary studies. The first study quantifies the greenhouse gas (GHG) savings potential of different U.S. metropolitan areas and household types within locations, developing average household carbon footprint (HCF) profiles for 28 metropolitan areas, 6 household sizes and 12 income brackets. The model includes emissions embodied in transportation, energy, water, waste, food, goods, and services, and further quantifies GHG and financial savings from potential mitigation actions across all locations and household types. The size and composition of carbon footprints vary dramatically between geographic regions (38 to 52 tCO₂e) and within regions based on basic demographic characteristics (&lt;20 to >80 tCO₂e). Despite these differences, large cash-positive carbon footprint reductions are evident across all household types and locations. </p><p> Using national household surveys, the second study develops econometric models to estimate HCF for essentially all U.S. zip codes, cities, counties, and metropolitan areas. The results demonstrate consistently lower HCF in urban core cities (&sim;40 tCO₂e) and higher carbon footprints in outlying suburbs (&sim;50 tCO₂e), with a range from &sim;25 to >80 tCO₂e in the 50 largest metropolitan areas. In contrast to a vast literature demonstrating GHG savings in more dense cities, analysis of all U.S. locations presents a more complex picture. Population density exhibits a weak but positive correlation with HCF until a density threshold is met, after which range, mean, and standard deviation of HCF decline. While population density contributes to relatively low HCF in the central cities of large metropolitan areas, the more extensive suburbanization in these regions contributes to an overall net increase in HCF compared to smaller metropolitan areas. Suburbs alone account for &sim;50% of total U.S. HCF. </p><p> Results from this quantitative research have informed the development of "smart" online carbon management tools that allow users to quickly calculate, compare and manage household carbon footprints, and to visualize average community carbon footprints using high spatial resolution interactive maps. Yet, the potential benefits of such tools are limited to those who find them, and the information may often do little to increase intrinsic motivation to adopt new low carbon technologies and practices. Following lessons from behavioral sciences, a subsequent study engaged &sim;2,700 residents in eight participating cities to track and reduce household carbon footprints and compete for the title of "Coolest California City." The yearlong pilot project achieved an estimated 14% reduction in electricity consumption, lending evidence that community-scale climate initiatives, enabled by sophisticated information and communication technologies and motivated local program implementers, can help scale up tailored, place-based climate solutions. Together, this research and accompanying tools and programs provide a framework for individuals and communities to prioritize GHG mitigation opportunities and stimulate collective climate action.</p>

<p> Using an interdisciplinary critical theoretical approach and a mixed qualitative and quantitative methodology this research project aims to better understand the racial identities and perceptions of gang members and the causes of inter-minority racialized gang conflict in Los Angeles County and California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR). The research methodology for this project consists of two years of ethnographic fieldwork, one hundred formal interviews, and statistical analysis using the interview data, census data, and data from CDCR. Existing research and theoretical perspectives that could account for inter-minority racialized gang conflict in Los Angeles are analyzed within this historical context, and evaluated against the qualitative and quantitative data produced by this research project and provided by existing demographic data sets. Both existing and novel theoretical perspectives are applied, which tie racialized gang conflict in Los Angeles in with larger macro-historical structures. </p><p> The project begins by analyzing the historical background of racial conflict between blacks and Latinos in Los Angeles. The second factor this research examines is the relationship between racial and gang identities and how these amalgamated identities are culturally defined and differentiated between the black and Latino gang communities specifically, and the black and Latino communities at large generally. Third, this research examines the extent of racial bias among and between black and Latino gang populations in Los Angeles County. </p><p> The dissertation goes on to examine the history of racialized prison gangs and the trajectory of inter-racial conflict between them in California's prisons, as well as the role that CDCR staff and administration play in provoking and perpetuating inter-racial conflict. Following that, the occurrence of inter-minority gang conflict between specific gangs on the streets of Los Angeles is subjected to an intense micro-analysis of specific conflicts between specific gangs in specific contexts. The proximate causes of specific conflicts are uncovered, and their trajectories are examined and analyzed. Respondents reveal the rules that govern interaction between black and Latino gang members in Los Angeles and California's carceral facilities, as well as the rules of engagement as to how targets are chosen during the course of racialized gang conflicts, and how gangs interpret and respond to the intentional or accidental victimization of innocent residents during the course of these conflicts. </p><p> The role local media, politicians and law enforcement officers and administrators play in provoking and perpetuating inter-racial conflicts on the streets of the Los Angeles County is examined. Finally the project concludes with a critical analysis of the role that conflict among and between marginalized criminalized populations both exacerbates and perpetuates their marginalization and criminalization. </p>

<p> Common tenets in the field of emergency management hold that all disasters are different and all disasters hold a great deal of uncertainty. For these and many other reasons, many challenges are present when providing post-disaster assistance to victims. The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) has identified post-disaster interim housing as one of its greatest challenges. These challenges have been highlighted in recent years in the media as spectacular failures as evidenced during the recovery efforts for Hurricane Katrina. Partly in response, FEMA developed the <i>National Disaster Housing Strategy </i> that establishes the framework and strategic goals of providing housing to disaster victims. This strategy calls for emergency management professionals to both anticipate needs and balance a host of factors to provide quick, economical, and community-based housing solutions that meet the individual, family, and community needs while enabling recovery. The first problem is that emergency management officials need to make decisions early on without actual event data in order to provide timely interim housing options to victims. The second problem is that there is little guidance and no quantitative measures on prioritizing the many factors that these same officials need for providing interim housing. This research addressed both of these problems. To anticipate needs, a series of models were developed utilizing historical data provided by FEMA and regression analysis to produce a series of forecast models. The models developed were for the cost of a housing mission, the number of individuals applying to FEMA for assistance, the number of people eligible for housing assistance and the number of trailers FEMA will provide as interim housing. The variables analyzed and used to make the prediction were; population, wind-speed, homeownership rate, number of households, income, and poverty level. Of the four models developed, the first three demonstrated statistical significance, while the last one did not. The models were limited only to wind related hazards. These models and associated forecasts can assist federal, state, and local government officials with scoping and planning for a housing mission. In addition, the models also provide insight into how the six variables used to make the prediction can influence it. The second part of this research used a structured feedback process (Delphi) and expert opinion to develop a ranked list of the most important factors that emergency management officials should consider when conducting operational planning for a post-disaster housing mission. This portion of the research took guidance from the "National Disaster Housing Strategy" and attempted to quantify it based on the consensus opinion of a group of experts. The top three factors that were determined by the Delphi were 1) House disaster survivors as soon as possible 2) The availability of existing housing and 3) Status of infrastructure.</p>