This research analyzes the relationship between local land use regulations and commercial development in the City of Bakersfield, California, specifically focusing on how the regulations are used to inform commercial development to be sustainable or not. This research contributes to similar research efforts through its contribution of the Sustainable Development Indicator Checklist, the tool used to measure sustainable development within the regulations as well as the built environment. Analysis of six case study locations falling under the C-B (Central Business), C-C (Commercial Center), and PCD (Planned Commercial Development) zone designations indicated the local land use regulations were not informing development to be particularly sustainable, mostly due to vague language, constraining language, and sometimes a combination of the two. Recommendations are made for how the City of Bakersfield can improve the land use regulations to be more pertinent to the process of informing future commercial development to be more sustainable.

The purpose of this professional project is to address the practical implications of decentralized greywater usage in the City of Arroyo Grande. This professional project consists of two products: a brief greywater guide for the City and a background report. The greywater guide is intended for city planners to use for general information about greywater systems. The guide addresses Arroyo Grande’s potable water shortage; what greywater is; advantages and concerns about greywater use; plants that are tolerant and intolerant of greywater irrigation; appropriate detergents to use with a greywater system; and a summary of California greywater law. The background report discusses the City of Arroyo Grande’s potable water conditions and how water supply will be affected by growth projections for 2030. It is estimated that by the year 2030, Arroyo Grande’s water demand will outgrow its water supply by 283 acre feet. Future water shortages are a concern at a local level and also on a global level. Three case studies examine how water scarcity has prompted the successful use of greywater. These studies examine the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan; the Casa del Agua project in Arizona; and a local study in Santa Barbara, California. The report concludes with California greywater law, and how the recent change in August, 2009 has greatly increased the legal accessibility of greywater reuse as an obtainable method of water conservation. In combination with education and outreach among city officials and residents, greywater has potential to play a main role in water conservation in Arroyo Grande.

The passage of AB 32 in 2006 initiated the need for city planners in California to consider the quantification of greenhouse gas emissions at the community level in order to develop policies and programs to reduce emissions in the future. Although local jurisdictions are not required to quantify and report emissions at this time, the AB 32 Climate Change Scoping Plan recommended a reduction goal for local governments of 15 percent below today’s levels by 2020 to ensure consistent reduction goals at the state and local levels. ICLEI-Local Governments for Sustainability initiated the Cities for Climate Protection (CCP) campaign in 1993, which provides a framework for local governments to develop a baseline emissions inventory and identify reduction measures as part of a climate action plan. This inventory is developed under the framework of the CCP campaign. A review of the current practice of local greenhouse gas emissions inventories in California identified significant consistencies across jurisdictions in the overall framework of community and municipal emissions inventories– due largely to the framework provided by the CCP campaign. However, data sources used and methods of measurement vary greatly among local inventories, which limit the ability to compare results. This highlights the need for a standard reporting protocol for community inventories. This baseline emissions inventory document provides the technical information necessary for the city to set reduction goals and facilitates the development of the climate action plan outlining policies and programs that when implemented would reach those goals.

This document is a professional project and academic companion piece completed to partially fulfill requirements for the attainment of a Masters in City and Regional Planning at California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo. The project is the City of King West Broadway Master Plan (Plan). The Plan was completed over the course of a year for a real-world client (The City of King) and provides new form-based code recommendations in the Plan Area. The Plan is included as Appendix A. The companion piece is intended to provide additional background research that was conducted during the planning process, but omitted from the final project. In the companion piece, I first explain why I selected the WBMP for my professional project. Next, I elaborate on the sources and inspiration for the goals of the project that are listed in the plan including grant requirements, input from the public, and current planning practices. Finally, I provide background research and justifications for two parts of the plan that have little reasoning in the text: mobilehome relocation law and the suggested development standards.

This research identifies variables that determined the amount of autonomy Oregon's gubernatorial leadership possessed in formulating and implementing the Regional Strategies program, centerpiece of industrial policy in Oregon during the latter half of the 1980s. The literature on state industrial policy points to instances in which the leaders of America's state governments are acting autonomously. Gubernatorial actors appear to be formulating industrial policy goals independent of powerful non-state groups and other state actors and developing the capacity to transform their policy preferences into authoritative actions. The literature is largely devoid, however, of any systematic accounting of the variables that determine the extent to which gubernatorial actors possess autonomy. Drawing upon interviews with key actors involved in formulating and implementing the Regional Strategies initiative and document research, this case study points to five principal sources of variation in gubernatorial success. These are as follows: (I) Economic crisis. The inability of longstanding industrial recruitment practices to reconcile divisions caused by Oregon's deepest recession since the Great Depression eroded support for existing state economic development arrangements, enabling Oregon's newly elected Governor Neil Goldschmidt to reform state economic development policy along industrial policy lines and accumulate discretionary authority for state economic development spending denied his predecessors. (2) The division of power between the executive and legislative branches of Oregon state government. Reacting to tensions founded in localism, regionalism, and concern with having its authority usurped, Oregon's legislature placed limitations upon Governor Goldschmidt's industrial policy mandate. Legislatively-enforced measures precluded the competitive evaluation of local economic restructuring plans, frustrating a key Administration goal, and instead made equity and political expediency the driving force behind key industrial policy decisions. Legislators also denied the Administration authority it was seeking over semi-autonomous state agencies, impeding its plan to consolidate control over state economic development policymaking. 3) State fiscal capacity. Industrial recruitment's failure led voters to establish a statewide lottery with proceeds dedicated to economic development. The lottery expanded Oregon's fiscal capacity for economic development, providing the Goldschmidt administration an instrument with which to fund industrial policy. (4) The degree to which local interests were fiscally dependent upon state revenues. Administration success in securing key industrial policy goals was a direct consequence of its ability to use the discretionary authority it possessed over lottery spending to enforce local compliance with its policy preferences. The Administration proved more successful in circumstances in which local authorities were fiscally dependent upon gubernatorial controlled state lottery revenues for funding local economic development projects than in instances in which local interests were independent of the state for revenues. (5) The character of private capital investment. Economic development is contingent upon the investment of private assets, over which Oregon's political leadership exercised little direct control. The failure of anticipated private investment to materialize frustrated Administration plans to use lottery money to leverage private investment in favored projects. Investment induced by Oregon's industrial policy initiative was likely to promote job growth in low wage sectors, frustrating the Administration's goal of using industrial policy to generate high wage jobs.

Abstract Throughout history, land has been treated as man's platform for development and expansion into new territories and the basis for our current infrastructure. Understanding existing properties and characteristics of the land has become imperative to successful development and strong networks that connect human beings to one another. As we discover ever changing natural tendencies, we are prone to rethinking the way in which the land is engaged from a developmental and conservational standpoint. Coexisting with natural processes of the earth and the land is of utmost importance to the success of human systems using it as a base for growth. Land is becoming very scarce as the human race expands its network, which makes the term "Conservation Development" an integral part of the future of infrastructure. Conservation Development is defined as the process of planning, designing, building, and managing communities that preserves landscapes or other community resources that are considered valuable for their aesthetic, environmental, cultural, agricultural, and/or historic values (McMahon, 2010). Critically analyzing potential sites prior to any ground work is vital to successful conservation development. Specifically, Bristol West is a challenging site and as with every site it has specific constraints and opportunities for development. If developed using traditional methods, it has the potential of being built upon without responding to the existing features and natural resources, which could potentially lead to economic and environmental problems. Some problems include wildlife corridor interruptions, flooding problems within the site and contextually, destruction of the character and "sense of place" of Bristol, unsuccessful business applications, and strip development. The appropriateness of conservation development to a site in Bristol will be examined through analyzing existing topography, natural drainage patterns, wildlife corridors, and relationships to surrounding context. Strip development of the site could hinder the economic and environmental integrity of Bristol, TN if certain issues are not addressed throughout its planning process. Therefore, more responsible development strategies are explored as well as how economically efficient the site can be for its surrounding context and the City of Bristol, Tennessee.

Abstract Greenway design and planning have become a multi-functional, multi-objective approach to address social, cultural and ecological concerns. Traditional greenway design and planning have focused more on ecological, historic and recreational values. However, the current focus of greenway planning is also shifting to community health, which includes both physical health and emotional health. This thesis focuses on physical health. This concern arises out of observations on obesity and physical inactivity as two of the most serious health problems in the United States which greatly threaten the quality of life in the country. Greenways can help address the issues of obesity and poor quality of life in communities by increasing the level of physical activity, preventing obesity, and providing a venue for outdoor recreation and alternative transportation routes. Research has shown that greenway location relative to one’s home influences how a greenway was used, who used it, and how often it was used. Spatial proximity of greenways and communities will increase greenway use. Greenways have been shown to be a popular location of physical activity. The positive relationship between physical activity and health has also been verified by various studies. Based on this, this thesis proposes to improve the connections between greenways and communities, for the purpose of increasing the level of physical activity, and ultimately improving community health. Tennessee, as well as Knoxville, has a very high level of obesity and physical inactivity. The 2008 Knox County Physical Activity Survey found that walking trails are the most popular locations for physical activity. However, Knoxville has a deficiency in parklands and greenways, and many communities do not have greenways within walking distance. There is an urgent need to increase the number of greenways and their accessibility to communities. This thesis (a) reviews the history of greenway planning and various benefits associated with greenways; (b) studies health conditions in Knoxville city; (c) proposes connections between greenways and communities building on Knoxville’s greenway plan and making critiques and recommendations; and (d) explores design solutions for a greenway in a selected focus - the Lonsdale neighborhood - with an emphasis on community health.

The United States government has taken steps to assure underprivileged citizens housing in the form of public housing through the Department of Housing and Urban Development, as well as various humanitarian programs in the form of homeless shelters. Yet, all housing is not equal. Our freedom to choose where we live and what type of house we live in is one revered aspect of life as a United States citizen. We can express our individuality, creativity, and personality through the architectural style of our homes. In this sense it is hard to ask for equal housing. I am suggesting that equality comes from adequate access to social participation, social integration, and power, in other words social inclusion. (Room, 7) Investigating and correcting the causes of social exclusion in order to create social inclusion is necessary in order to ascertain equality of housing in America. Sir Winston Churchill once said, “We shape our buildings and afterward our buildings shape us.” (Gieryn, 35) But what happens when you do not have power over the shaping of your own building? Is your building still a reflection of yourself? And if we allow building to include the environment in which your home is located, what if previous use of the land left it degraded? Will the degradation shape you? My thesis considers the question: does the environmental quality and architectural style of public housing in the United States facilitate the social exclusion of these communities? If so, what best practices can we take away from models that have been successful at combatting social exclusion? By answering these questions I strive to develop a proposal to right this currently unjust situation.

After the fall of the Berlin Wall, the city of Berlin was faced with the challenge to reunify in both political and cultural realms. Berlin is noted throughout history as a metropolis that is characterized by flux; the Post-Wende [Post-Wall] era is another remarkable transitional phase in Berlin’s history. During this era, the city was extremely porous and susceptible to cultural forces that could easily define the city’s malleable future. This essay discusses such forces and events that were planned by the city government, as well as an organic grassroots force that was especially significant in the cultural reunification. This force is the squatting culture that was spurred by the excess of unused and unclaimed buildings in the center of Berlin. Many of the squatters are coalitions of artists who embody the renitente Kultur [unruly culture] that characterizes Berlin. Analyzed in this essay is a group of squatting artists, known as “Gruppe Tacheles das Kunsthaus” who inhabited the ruins of a historical building in the Mitte neighborhood located in the center of Berlin. The creators of Tacheles breathed life back into the ruins by establishing ateliers, a restaurant, a club, a movie theatre, a sculpture garden, and a bar in the building that became an artists’ haven with international fame. Artists, both residential and visiting, have treated the crumbling building like a makeshift giant canvas and it is now covered in layers of graffiti and stands as the Gesamtkunstwerk [total and universal ideal work of art] of the reunifying Berlin that has become an international hub for artists. Due to escalation in property value, an effective owner of the property on which Tacheles stands has stepped forward and taken actions to evict the artists and demolish the building in order to build luxury offices. Most of the artists have left the site, leaving it as a ghostly shell of the bustling community it once was. Near twenty artists remain and protest the actions to destroy their work of art that had come to live symbiotically with the city. At this point, there is one appropriate event to occur next in the lifeline of the site: the building must be demolished in a ceremonious explosion to mark the passing of its vitality, so that its legacy can live on untainted in the future phases of Berlin’s culture.

San Francisco's South of Market (SoMa) neighborhood and the Mission District are facing new forms of redevelopment. The deindustrialization of SoMa has posed an opportunity for a 'new model' of gentrification to create a mixed-use, mixed-income neighborhood from an area previously occupied by abandoned warehouses and vacant lots. In the Mission, awareness of the threats of gentrification and increased community participation are fighting to preserve the neighborhood and eliminate displacement. The innovative approaches to urban revitalization in these two neighborhoods demonstrate how redevelopment may occur without gentrification.