1995 map of East Tennessee State University's VA Campus. Created 5/30/1995 by Johnson City GIS. Buildings can be identified using the building index on the left side of map. Parking info and the parking lot legend can be found on the bottom half. Some buildings are shaded using a colored pencil at an indeterminate time post publication. Physical copy resides with Johnson City, Geographic Information Systems Division. No scale is included. / https://dc.etsu.edu/rare-maps/1051/thumbnail.jpg

2005 map of East Tennessee State University's VA Campus. Created 12/9/2005 by Johnson City GIS. Buildings can be identified using the building index on the left side of map. Different types of buildings are denoted using a color scheme. Parking info and the parking lot legend can be found in the top left quadrant. Hydrants and related items are also included. The map is dated by a handwritten date in black ink in the bottom left corner. Physical copy resides with Johnson City, Geographic Information Systems Division. No scale is included. / https://dc.etsu.edu/rare-maps/1052/thumbnail.jpg

2013 map of East Tennessee State University's VA Campus. Created 12/4/2013 by Johnson City GIS. Buildings can be identified using the building index on the left side of map. Parking info and the parking lot legend can be found on the bottom right corner. Fire suppression system info is also included. Physical copy resides with Johnson City, Geographic Information Systems Division. No scale is included. / https://dc.etsu.edu/rare-maps/1053/thumbnail.jpg

Created 3/28/2006 by Johnson City GIS, this map provides a tour of historic places in Johnson City, Tennessee. Historic sites are listed on the right edge and are denoted by numbers which correspond to places on the map.Road names are listed on the map itself. Physical copy resides with Johnson City, Geographic Information Systems Division. Scale - 1" = 0.257260 miles / https://dc.etsu.edu/rare-maps/1054/thumbnail.jpg

General highway map for Washington County, Tennessee created August 4, 2010 by Johnson City GIS. Map features, the transportation key, and place/neighborhood names can be found in the lower right corner. A county road index which lists county roads alphabetically can be found along the left edge. Physical copy resides with Johnson City, Geographic Information Systems Division. Scale - 1" = 4700' / https://dc.etsu.edu/rare-maps/1069/thumbnail.jpg

Urban community gardens’ capability to yield aspects of social sustainability has been addressed in previous research. Nevertheless, further studies within this scientific field are requested for, exploring various socio-economic contexts and how such variables impact the outcomes of urban community garden initiatives. By the means of qualitative content analysis of material obtained via interviews and documents focusing on two urban community gardens in Skäggetorp, Linköping, on which a conceptual framework of social sustainability is applied,this study aims to investigate and seek a greater understanding of the potential and challenges of utilising urban community gardens as a planning strategy to foster social sustainability in socio-economic vulnerable neighbourhoods. The study finds that urban community gardens can bring various aspects of social sustainability, which can help meet the needs of socio-economic vulnerable neighbourhoodsin the strive for social sustainability. Many of these aspects are primarily created through the interaction occurring in the gardens. The study further confirms that urban community gardenscan function as educational hubs, allowing residents to practise language skills and learn about societal functions. Additionally, findings indicate that urban community gardens can be of financial significance in socio-economic vulnerable areas, a finding that previously mainly has been identified in studies of developing countries. Moreover, the study finds that urban community gardens allow existing traces of social sustainability to become visible and practised. However, low participation and lacking governmental support can obstruct the utilisation of urban community gardens as a planning strategy to foster social sustainability in socio-economic vulnerable neighbourhoods.

As the effects of climate change become increasingly damaging and costly, a public and political consensus is building for planning that will protect private property and public infrastructure. Climate-related planning has primarily focused on mitigation, assessing vulnerability, and building adaptive capacity. Adaptation has not gained substantial ground in the area of implementation. The uncertainty associated with climate change projection and variability has emerged as a dominant barrier to adaptation. However, as knowledge accrues, the global and national science communities have been developing more detailed, fine-scale climate projections. Regional climate assessments are available for the sub-national climate regions in the U.S., and have been created based on the measurement of many components of climate, often referred to as indicators. This thesis evaluates the use of those and other indicators as adaptation decision support tools. Findings suggest that indicators can be effectively integrated into a step-wise, risk-based adaptation planning process to overcome barriers to adaptation, many of which contain concern over climate change uncertainty at their core. The combination of climate science data and information about the local experience of climate change are found to be key to the effective use of indicators in adaptation, as is the direct integration of indicators into the policy-making process. Ideally, these indicators can be used to inform trigger points for phases in a flexible adaptation approach, but more work is needed to develop methods for managing the risks and costs associated with adaptation.

Twenty years ago the public schoolyards in Boston, Massachusetts were in a deplorable state: most were entirely paved, seriously neglected and used predominantly for parking. Since 1995, the Boston Schoolyards Initiative (BSI) has worked to transform these spaces into vibrant environments of recreation and learning. Renovations typically include adding play structures, gardens, murals and seating that can engage children at recess or support an educational activity. Recent research has shown that BSI renovations have had a positive impact on student academic performance (Lopez, Jennings and Campbell, 2008), but little attention has yet focused on how these revived and greened spaces have contributed to citywide urban greening efforts and to the environmental quality of their surrounding neighborhoods. This study uses design plans and GIS data to compare pre- and post-renovation canopy cover and pervious surfaces at 12 BSI schools. Data analysis included both an examination of the percent increase in canopy cover and pervious surfacing as well as exploration of the spatial configuration of green space and play space within the newly designed schoolyards. Data indicates that overall BSI renovations have a slightly positive impact on canopy cover and pervious surfacing, but gains are not uniform and many schools are left not meeting citywide goals for canopy cover and pervious surfacing. In addition, schoolyard designs emphasized traditional play structures and paved spaces, subordinating opportunities for children to interact with vegetation. Although eight school renovations included an outdoor classroom with natural features, only one provided any space for children to interact more informally with vegetation. Schools are organized into five different typologies based on the proportions of spaces they contain and spatial configurations, and one typology is recommended as a model for future renovations. In conclusion, this study addresses the challenges and constraints facing urban schoolyard renovations and proposes a framework for integrating recommendations in an iterative experimental manner.

The public lands of the United States administered by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) are used for multiple purposes, like conservation, recreation, grazing, mining, logging, and oil and gas development. Many of these activities have the potential to disturb the surface of the landscape, which can negatively impact scenic values. While the BLM has a system for managing visual resources and mitigating the potential impacts of development on visual quality, it does not adequately consider cumulative visual effects, which are the combined impacts of the same type of activity on the environment over space and time. This paper studies the challenges and opportunities faced by managers of Canyons of the Ancients National Monument in southwestern Colorado, a landscape particularly affected by oil and gas development, at measuring and managing cumulative visual effects. This paper also reviews the results of a series of interviews conducted with experts in the field of cumulative visual effects and of a visual preference survey that highlight the strengths and limitations of existing methods for assessing cumulative visual effects. This research paper concludes with a list of recommendations for the BLM to incorporate cumulative visual effects into its existing visual resource management system and details directions for future research on this subject.

As an intervention strategy set amid a stark and neglected, yet highly energized urban setting of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, this project seeks to relieve a stagnating urban condition through the introduction of contemporary and dynamic forms of expression. Skateboarding and street art can be seen as interpretative modes of action that reinvent objects, spaces, and conditions within the urban landscape, lending creative and engaging gestures to the everyday. As (sub) cultural expressions in their own right, these practices transcend their mere formal representations, and present unique identities, spaces, and modes of engagement within a society, initiating a creative mindset and DIY ethos among its respective practitioners. By putting these forms into action through programmatic functions of exhibition, practice, cultivation and production, this project aspires to channel the transformative qualities of these art forms into a design intervention that will animate a neglected urban space with new activities and opportunities as well as serving as a much needed public space of art, leisure, and excitement.