Faced with population increases but stagnant capital improvements and impacts from global warming, cities around the world are experimenting with smaller-scale and cheaper strategies in order to accommodate the new influx of residents. New York City has led the way in converting low-efficiency intersection space into public plazas with a limited range of permanently installed elements and San Francisco has pioneered the concept of the parklet, which converts two to four street parking spaces into a modular and flexible pedestrian space. I seek to answer two questions about these spaces: What are common factors influencing the viability and successful implementation of parklets and public plaza? And what are the social and environmental outcomes of constructing parklets and public plazas at a site-specific level and across larger urban scales? Previous research has examined the dynamics and components of public spaces in cities. This research builds upon previous research efforts. By answering these questions, cities and communities seeking to create more pedestrian-friendly and human-oriented space have insights into the components that make parklets and public plazas work and what impacts these developments can have throughout their built environment. I conducted theoretical research of scholarly works concerning urban ecology, resilience, and the social components of cities, and conducted structured observations of plazas and parklets and appropriate control sites in New York City and San Francisco. At a site-specific scale, these developments promote a diverse range of uses and can serve as localized nodes. Across larger scales, these developments can use design considerations to change the perception of an area or neighborhood and have the potential to create a linked system that provides widespread circulatory and ecological improvements. Creating programs that facilitate parklet installations and plaza conversions give cities and communities the most bang for their buck because they provide flexible spaces that do not involve major and expensive capital improvements. Parklets and public plazas are viable projects for providing green space and promoting pedestrian circulation within neighborhoods and communities.

ABSTRACT A Comparative Study of Three Growing Media and Four Plant Groups Under Extensive Green Roof Conditions in San Luis Obispo, California Todd A. Nelson Green roof growing media and plant species are critical factors when deciding on the best materials for a project. Growing media must be chosen in accordance with load bearing capacities of structures and water requirements of the plant material. Plant species must be able to thrive in the climate of the green roof and withstand a green roof’s harsh environment. The objectives of this research were: (1) to determine which of three extensive green roof growing media support the most growth of Sedum, a proven extensive green roof plant genus; and (2) to determine which of four plant groups provides the most media coverage under extensive green roof conditions. Sedum growing in a granular growing media blend with higher organic matter and larger particles provided more coverage than Sedum growing in a medium with smaller particles with lower organic matter and an experimental foam medium. Sedges covered the soil faster than Sedum, grasses, and Mediterranean species. These results will help green roof designers and landscape architects anticipate the plant growth rates during the first 36 weeks of new projects and choose more effective growing media blends. They can also observe the growth patterns of the plant groups to choose plant material that will achieve the functional objectives of a green roof more efficiently. These results are applicable to green roofs designed for moderate California coastal climates and regions with similar weather conditions.

This paper explores how cities have integrated formal planning into improving public space. Through a review of literature on the topic, this the paper identifies the potential design has to renovate narrow streets and alleys, within the public right of way. By preforming an assessment of plans and programs, this paper identifies the common themes or components that have been used by planners, architects, and engineers to improve the urban environment for pedestrians. Based on this information, a pilot study was created to measure the influence the most common components have on pedestrian route choice. The results are then compared to the information gathered from the assessed plans and programs. Suggestions for expanding the pilot study and other recommendations are presented upon the conclusion of this report.

The advent of Social Networking Systems (SNS) has introduced new possibilities for planners to refine and extend conventional engagement and data-gathering techniques by leveraging user-contributed, spatially-referenced content freely available online. This study examines the use of SNS content as community input, complementing input gathered through traditional participatory processes such as workshops, public comment hearings, and charrettes. Four case studies of recent community planning projects in the United States are analyzed, comparing the data gathered from traditional participatory processes with available SNS content related to each project study area, to determine to what extent the inclusion of SNS data would improve the overall data- gathering efforts of these projects. Three significant findings emerge from this analysis: (i) that SNS data analysis can positively complement data gathered from traditional participatory processes, (ii) that although SNS data analysis can provide useful data to planners, it is not a direct replacement for conventional engagement techniques, and (iii) that SNS data analysis is most effective for projects in neighborhoods with a well- defined identity. The study also examines the characteristics of effective SNS data analysis integration and discusses broader implications for planning practitioners and additional research needed.

As demand for additional athletic fields continues to increase, the City of San Luis Obispo is struggling to meet the recreation needs of the community. This project evaluated the feasibility of a joint use partnerships with Cal Poly San Luis Obispo for the shared use of the University’s underutilized Sports Complex, and made recommendations of strategies to address the City’s recreation needs. This project reviewed current and professional academic literature on successful approaches to joint use partnerships; conducted case study analyses on two Cal Poly facilities; and worked with City and University officials to examine the issues associated with establishing joint use agreements between state universities and local municipalities. Because little research currently exists to inform joint use partnerships between these two entities, the opportunities for exploration are many. Of particular interest are the fields of local and state policy and financing methods.

This study examines the state of off-street parking in the Cornfield Arroyo Seco Specific Plan (CASP) area of the City of Los Angeles. The focus is on discovering relevant strategies to strengthen the plans ability to reduce parking supply and demand. Research has shown a causal relationship between planning policies and the oversupply of parking. An auto-centric approach to land use and urban form creates societal problems such as traffic congestion, air pollution, inflated development costs, and hostile pedestrian landscapes. Further issues that are directly associated with parking include: poor water quality, neighborhood livability, and ambient temperature. Additionally, an overabundance of parking supports increased vehicle miles traveled which is a major source of greenhouse gases. The imbalance between parking supply and demand in the City of Los Angeles has resulted in large tracts of land that are paved over by parking lots instead of more valuable land uses. A thorough assessment of the opportunities to improve the state of parking in the Los Angeles CASP area is needed. The (qualitative) research consisted of a review of secondary data such as the Los Angeles General Plan, the Los Angeles Municipal Code (LAMC), the best practices of Pasadena, Santa Monica and an exposé of scholarly parking theory. The primary (quantitative) data collection methods in this study comprised an aerial survey and a field survey. The results show that half of the major land uses in the area never reach optimal occupancy. A careful evaluation of the CASP revealed that it does institute several progressive parking policies that are more stringent than the LAMC, namely being the first plan in the city that does not include parking requirements. However there are a number of relevant parking management strategies which could serve to further strengthen the CASP. The Specific Plan does not mandate employers to provide transit passes or parking cash-outs. Providing Eco Passes can yield benefits for developers, property owners, employers, commuters, transit agencies, and cities. Another way to reduce parking demand and parking requirements is to offer commuters the option to “cash out” their employer-paid parking. Both transit passes and parking cash-out are cost effective because it is much cheaper to pay for a transit ride to and from work than to pay for a free parking space at work. These two strategies have potential to add another dimension to demand management, civic viability and contribute to the paradigm shift that is needed to mitigate our environmental impact.

Refugee camps in Lebanon are harsh, continuously and rapidly deteriorating environments. In addition to poverty, numerous wars and the restrictions of civil rights, refugee camps that were not designed as a long-term settlement were made to accommodate their residents in addition to their descendents for a period that has lasted over 59 years. Since the establishment of the camps in 1948 the Palestinian refugees in Lebanon have fallen victim to multiple wars and as a result most camps have witnessed major destruction of homes and infrastructure, and a few were entirely destroyed. Today, the planning and development of the camps are highly restricted by the local government, building material is banned from entering the camps and horizontal as well as vertical expansion is prohibited by Lebanese law. According to the United Nations Relief and Work Agency (UNRWA) the hundreds of thousands of Palestinian refugees in Lebanon have the highest rate of people living in "abject poverty" in the Middle East. Meanwhile, the refugee community and the international aid agencies working in the camps are caught in the dilemma of investing in the development of a sustainable environment in a settlement with a temporary purpose and an uncertain future. This thesis explores the problems facing the built-environment in the camps within the political and socio-economic context, and takes the camp of Burj El Barajneh as a case study for deeper investigation. It then suggests three possible solution approaches that address the environmental problems within different future scenarios. The thesis also looks at the feasibility and requirements of an energy generation plant to provide part of the energy needs of the camp of Burj El Barjneh. Finally, a set of conclusions and recommendations are derived that address the refugee community, the international aid agencies and the host country. The significance of this study is to mitigate a possible humanitarian and environmental crisis in the most dire of refugee situations in the Middle East, with the hope that conclusions drawn from this study can be applied to refugee communities elsewhere in the region.

Throughout history planning codes and standards have been used to regulate the built environment for health, power, order, and economic reasons. More recently, in the urban design and planning field, planning codes and standards have emerged to become tools in the process of “placemaking”. The concept of placemaking builds from the desire of humans to create places, not spaces, which are unique, attractive, identifiable, and memorable. It is a concept that is comprised of visual and social components, recognizing the need for both in the creation of successful places. In the field of urban design and planning, form-based codes (FBCs) and design guidelines have emerged to become two types of planning tools used in the process of placemaking. This study explores the relationship between FBCs, design guidelines, and placemaking, investigating it through an extensive literature review, and then in the context of the case of Hayward, California through an update of the City’s Downtown design requirements and guidelines. To frame the update of the Hayward’s Downtown design requirements and guidelines this study used an exploratory methodology that combined quantitative and qualitative methods. Archival research was conducted to provide a historical narrative of the City and the Downtown area and a documents analysis was conducted to reveal information about existing Downtown policies and programs. Community participation through the crowdsourcing platform of MindMixer was used to collect community input and feedback about concepts of place in Downtown. The data analysis and findings from these methods were combined with findings from the literature review to formulate recommendations that were used in the update of Hayward’s Downtown design requirements and guidelines document. Keywords:

The City of Arroyo Grande, California has a problem administering the regulations of five Planned Developments in the City. This problem arises from these regulations being included in a 167-page appendix at the back of the City’s Development Code. This appendix includes the original approvals for the Developments. It also includes amendments to those approvals. These amendments are only added to the appendix. Therefore, changes to the regulations governing the Planned Developments are not tracked. It takes City staff considerable amounts of time to research answers when members of the public have questions regarding development in one of these Developments. Because of the numerous pages that must be read through to track the changes to one of the districts, there is no guarantee that the information presented to the inquirer is accurate. This can lead to issues when the rules are not consistently applied. The purpose of this project is to investigate an appropriate method to address this problem.

The aim of this project report is to investigate and identify the needs of the historic area (focus area) in the City of Milpitas, to positively contribute to the City’s planning process, and to make recommendations for the focus area’s future development. In the first chapters, City and focus area research results are presented. Currently, there is a lack of exclusive regulatory standards for attractive development in the City’s historic core. The project report then discusses the results of a short empirical everyday user survey, a parcel-by-parcel land use survey, and a walkability analysis. Research results indicate that the focus area could benefit from historic identity preservation, additional public open space and recreation, and economic development. The project report then identifies three case studies and analyzes each under an urban design framework regarding walkability and gateway development. Here, the project report draws on a number of sources regarding positive place making and urban design to highlight the focus area’s opportunities and constraints. In conclusion, the project report argues that the City’s location in the Bay Area and proximity to Silicon Valley requires accommodation and competition for development while coordinating current focus area development to contribute to an overall well-designed site plan with a focus on walkability and an attractive gateway image. Recommendations are provided in the form of design guidelines.