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This thesis attempts to disentangle the multilayered interactions between Greater Los Angeles’s history, its built environment, and its inequitable treatment of different peoples, focusing on how transportation in surrounding suburban communities like San Gabriel Valley has developed in relation to the inner city of Los Angeles. Greater Los Angeles contains a long, winding trajectory of transit-based environmental injustices, from the indigenous societies being overtaken by the Spanish missions, to the railroads and streetcars boosting the farmlands and urban growth of Los Angeles, leading into the decline of transit and rise of automobile-oriented suburbia. Within the San Gabriel Valley, the suburban community of El Monte has a varied history in its racialized spatiality and transportation development, rising from a former agricultural hub and to its more recent growth as a vibrant working-class suburb full of minorities. Based on a case study of El Monte’s past and present built environment, this thesis looks at the present situation of El Monte’s downtown district, including a walkthrough of its ongoing downtown revitalization project centered on transit-oriented development around the newly renovated regional bus station. This thesis finds the city of El Monte and Greater Los Angeles’s transit agencies have approached the renewed economic and public interest in transit in disconnected ways, leading to mixed results for its working-class minority populace, but also finds avenues in which the government and the public can cooperatively create more equitable transit-based communities for the future.

Public participation is not a form of civic responsibility that it once was. With not only fewer people taking part in the public participation process, there is a trend towards an older (45 years and older) group of residents that come to such meetings or workshops. Plans, such as Specific Plans or General Plans often take years to implement and require all generations to give feedback on what is needed for the future. Additionally, within the last decade, there has been a rise in social media websites such as Facebook and Twitter. These websites emerged as informal virtual places for friends to connect, but have slowly evolved into a tool for businesses, and more importantly, government to connect with constituents. This study explores the relationship between the decline of public participation with findings to support the reasons residents do not take part in the process, and the rise of social media as a tool for engagement with findings to support how cities nationwide use Facebook. Social media provides a two-way form of communication between the community and the local government which aides in promoting genuine participation. Additionally, social media allows for efficient outreach and noticing of meetings or public workshops. As opposed to newspaper or website noticing, websites such as Facebook allow for local governments to target a specific audience by location, age, or interests. Findings indicate that although many cities developed a Facebook Page to engage the “younger generation”, all ages became fans of the City operated Facebook Page. In addition, the findings show that the true potential of Facebook as a participatory tool have not been discovered. cities are developing their own ways of using it as a tool as there is no formal best practices manual for City planning departments. The findings of this study have provided the necessary information to develop a best practices manual for planning practitioners to utilize. The manual provides information on developing a Facebook Page as well as the implications of the technology.

Portland's Southeast Hawthorne Boulevard illustrates commercial gentrification in progress. Once a declining service district, "Hawthorne" is now one of the city's most popular shopping streets. Tracing and classifying businesses, using address listings from city directories, gives an accurate picture of changes since 1980. Three parallel trends can be distinguished in the makeup of the business mix: a shift from services to retailing; a move towards a regional, rather than a neighborhood, market area; and a cultural upgrading associated with the influx of increasingly expensive stores. Classification also aids in the definition of a tipping point at which revitalization became gentrification. The actions of individual entrepreneurs in the revitalization process were complemented by the Hawthorne business association's participation in the Main Street program, a national project to improve declining retail districts. The program helped the Hawthorne district become more successful by encouraging physical improvements, special promotions and greater communication among merchants. Hawthorne has experienced dramatic increases in the numbers of restaurants, gifts shops and clothing stores, and a decline in convenience and household goods. Its changing role and evolving image exemplify the national trend towards specialized, recreational retailing. The district has retained its longstanding reputation as a focus for used books and stereo equipment and, in spite of becoming a regional magnet, still reflects the character of its surrounding neighborhoods. The commercial was accompanied by a shift in business orientation. The conspicuous consumption and high prices usually associated with gentrification are moderated by a large number of stores that advocate "political correctness" and promote recycling. Hawthorne is typified by the presence of alternative subcultural groups such as bohemians and gays. The district's continued accessibility to poorer sectors of society is apparent in the large number of stores se11ing secondhand goods. Coincident with its bohemian image, many stores have a strong feminist slant. Hawthorne as a whole serves as a focus for Portland's lesbian community. Hawthorne's multi-faceted image is created by the stores and their advertising, and by planned ventures of the business association. The well-educated, low-income, female-focused nature of many stores reflect the character of neighborhood while drawing like-minded people from all over the city. Hawthorne's neighborhoods have a lower rate of owner occupancy, more non-family households, and a higher percentage of women than the city as a whole. The five census tracts adjacent to Hawthorne have above average education levels but lower household incomes than the city median. The significance of gentrification lies in it being a manifestation of broader changes affecting society as a whole. Changes in gender divisions, the break-down of the traditional household, the evolution of lifestyle-based neighborhoods, and the increasing appeal of diverse central city neighborhoods are all creating new places and new forms of consumption. The Hawthorne district is an effective example of successful commercial revitalization and the creation of a gender-based commercial landscape.

As more public spaces are under the influence of private stakeholders in cities, it is important to consider the role, both financial and social, that these stakeholders have on the design of the physical space and the users of the space. This analysis will utilize a qualitative methodological approach to understand the contested redevelopment of a public park in Richmond, Virginia as it transitioned from a city-owned space to a public-private partnership. By gaining a better understanding of the major spheres of influence involved in the redevelopment, namely the large public university and the corporations adjacent to the space, it is understood that the public spaces in question take on forms that are less public and more exclusionary in nature. Upon the conclusion of this analysis, I provide suggestions and recommendations for the future of the public forum and the role that private stakeholders might have in public spaces going forward.

This document proposes historic preservation guidelines for the downtown area of the City of St. George, Utah. It grew from a summer internship with the city where I took inventory of the streetscape in the Historic Downtown and prepared recommendations in the form of a PowerPoint Presentation that was given to the city council. This paper summarizes the summer internship and introduces a more appropriate approach based on reflection of the internship. The new approach involves a thorough inventory of the historic character, in-depth research of the historic elements that contribute to the historic character, development of design guidelines and standards, reviews, and codification of the design guidelines and standards. The historic elements that contribute most to the city’s historic character are identified as 1) block and lot layout and building setbacks, 2) architecture, 3) irrigation ditches, 4) tree lined streets, and 5) other streetscape elements and site features. Through comprehensive research of old photography, literature, and existing conditions these historic elements are further defined. The historic elements are currently being specified in design guidelines and standards and reviewed by the city in preparation for possible codification. (173 pages)

Abstract Strip development eases communities’ economic troubles by providing jobs and cheap goods at the expense of a sense of place and social fabric. Four factors are critical to the dissolution of place in strip development: mobility, standardization, specialization, and technology. (Randolph Hester) Mobility gives people the freedom to move over distances with little constraint; a consequence of this is a produced sense of rootlessness within many communities. Standardization creates placelessness in communities by the repetition of form and function. Specialization diminishes comprehensive knowledge of place and complex social and ecological thinking. Technology may divorce people from their natural environments. I want to test these four place indicated principles within LaFollette, Tn. Through methods of mapping, observation, structured interviews, and photographic and archival research I will show how strip development has negatively altered the social and economic development of the city of LaFollette. I will identify elements that currently and historically give the city of LaFollette a sense of place, and encourage social interaction and investment. Strip development can drastically alter the dynamics of communities, both physically and socially. How can communities grow and develop while maintaining this connection to “place”, and how can the social dynamic of a community be encouraged in light of a changing, and growing community?

The conversion of industrial waste sites, also known as brownfields, into sustainable green space can impact the surrounding community in a number of ways. This thesis is a compilation of three case studies in low-income areas of Los Angeles which have all experienced a brownfield to green space conversion. All three projects are dictated by various stakeholders and are located at the intersection of economic and environmental issues. I examine how the stakeholders of these projects affect the process and design and in turn how the process and design affects the community surrounding the site. Additionally this thesis sheds light on how the social, environment and economic implications of these projects change depending on the structural paradigms behind them.

This thesis examines the Grand Paris Express project currently underway in the Île-de-France. The basis of this project is a series of new and renovated railway lines to connect and span across the entirety of the region. They are being planned with the hopes to improve urbanization for the outlying suburbs. The Île-de-France is the wealthiest region in France, but it has high economic inequality between its departments. One hard hit area is Seine-St-Denis. This is the area I will be focusing primarily on. Department number 93, its urban landscape holds histories of rioting, unemployment, and large immigrant populations. In its underdeveloped growth, residents are calling for socio-spatial justice. Professor of Urban and Regional planning Edward Soja (1980) coins this as a “social-spatial dialectic” (208), where any given space is inherently political. Currently, residents in Department 93 are engaged in this “dialectic”, taking action by means of redefining the places where they live. In addition to demands for spatial equality is a more complex and hidden protest: the demand from marginalized citizens for an adjusted French ideology with respect to national identity. In their spatial marginalization, groups are contesting the egalitarian claims of the state based on where they live. I explore the historical significance of the Seine-St-Denis department in the Île-de-France’s urbanizing efforts. This thesis argues that planning for the Grand Paris Express represents the effects of a new French identity in formation. But while Paris is being recreated to accommodate those living in the outer communes, an anti-immigrant state narrative is also resulting in reformed urban planning in an existing discriminatory French ideology. However, as I plan to prove later in my research, the Grand Paris Express will provide more social access for France’s marginalized citizens.

This thesis is a guide to building a sustainable rail-trail, wherein I focus on invasive species removal, green pavement, and creating an inviting space with the inclusion of integrated art. When the City of Kirkland, WA purchased the 5.75 mile long section of railroad going through the city, I approached city manager Kurt Triplett to ask about his plans for the corridor. He liked the idea of aiming for a sustainable trail, so I wrote a guide to building an environmentally friendly trail based on a number of prominent readings on sustainable design.