Master of Landscape Architecture / Department of Landscape Architecture/Regional and Community Planning / Blake Belanger / This master’s project and report examines the correlation between social inequity and vacancy to develop a phased revitalization strategy for Raytown, Missouri. The perception of vacant built landscapes cause people to interpret places as having no productive use (Corbin 2003). Vacant spaces appear void of opportunities and are fueled by a capitalist society where markets move toward the urban fringe in order to remain competitive (Fainstein 2010). Vacancy creates a cultural response that “erodes the local social fabric, [signifying] the ills of neglect, [and] communicating to people the futility of inner-city living” (Jakle and Wilson 1992, 175). As a result, people passing through a community dismiss these vacant spaces because what they see is a place of little value. The perception of vacancy can lead to severe social inequity as society’s affluent members move from inner-city cores. Economic viability and the overall quality of life begins to decrease. Building on the Creating Sustainable Places Initiative for the Kansas City region and planning efforts for redeveloping the currently unused Rock Island Rail Corridor, this project explores how vacant built landscapes within Raytown’s Central Business District can be reprogrammed to establish place identity. Through critical mapping, key equity dilemmas at the metropolitan level are brought forth to identify issues that can be addressed through corridor redevelopment in Raytown. Mapping vacancies in the Raytown CBD identifies current vacant parcels. Together, the identification of vacant parcels with parcel size indicates primary redevelopment sites that can readily support higher density development in anticipation of a potential rail transit system. Using a phased approach, temporary design solutions regain public interest in the community, while working to develop mixed-use neighborhoods, pedestrian oriented streetscapes, and improved open space amenities at future build out. Strategies at each phase provide opportunities for community gathering and living choices that accommodate a variety of people. Studying social inequity and vacancy allows landscape architecture professionals the opportunity to better understand this phenomenon and promote community revitalization through the creation of welcoming places for all people.

Master of Regional and Community Planning / Department of Landscape Architecture/Regional and Community Planning / Jae Hong-Kim / The concept of Live-Work-Play has grown in popularity in the field of planning, as various strands of the planning literature increasingly have highlighted the potential benefits of providing places to live, work, and play in close proximity. This study explores the theoretical foundations of the Live-Work-Play concept and discusses its effectiveness as a strategy for creating vibrant urban areas by reforming the spatial arrangement of the built environments. More specifically, the present study empirically examines how the segregation or the mixture of places to live, work, and play may create differences in terms of growth, inequality, education, the built environment, and transportation by analyzing the Boston metropolitan region as an example. The empirical analysis with the use of census tract level socio-economic data shows that the Live-Work-Play mixes can encourage more desirable travel patterns, while the mixes may not significantly promote growth in small areas. However, the analysis also revealed racial and income inequalities exist in the provision of the mixes in the Boston region. These findings suggest planners carefully should consider the equity issues when adopting the Live-Work-Play concept and providing its potential benefits.

xi, 63 p. : ill. (some col.) A print copy of this thesis is available through the UO Libraries. Search the library catalog for the location and call number. / Walking, bicycling, and other modes of active transportation can be utilitarian modes of personal transport, but barriers exist that limit the ability of groups of people to use these modes. This research looks at the walking and bicycling behaviors and attitudes of residents of suburban multifamily housing, a housing type identified in previous literature as needing research. Particularly, the roles of pedestrian route distance and directness as well as physical route characteristics are explored in their effects on walking and bicycling behavior. Results show that both the pedestrian network distance and major arterials are significantly correlated with a person's mode choice. Recommendations include increasing density around suburban commercial centers and encouraging pedestrian and bicycle connections between developments to limit arterial interaction. / Committee in Charge: Nico Larco, Chair; Dr. Marc Schlossberg; Dr. Kathryn A. Lynch

The purpose of this study was to determine the differences between industrial and municipal executives' practices and perceptions toward the administrative requirements of a water pollution control system as set forth in a National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System permit. This was a descriptive study that utilized a two-part attitudinal survey designed to obtain the perceptions of the executives (N = 171) of all major industries and all major municipalities in the State of Tennessee who had direct responsibility for the administrative requirements of an NPDES permitted water pollution control system. Descriptive statistics were used for the analysis of data with the chi-square formula used for the analysis of the study's three hypotheses. The descriptive analysis of the three hypotheses resulted in the following findings and conclusions: (1) There was no significant difference in what principal executives perceived was the most important administrative requirement of the NPDES permitted water pollution control system ($\chi\sp2$ = 1.44, df = 2). Both categories defined operational problems as the most important administrative requirement. (2) There was a significant difference in what principal executives perceived were the important water quality designated uses achieved by the facility water pollution control system ($\chi\sp2$ = 12.80, df = 6). Industrial respondents perceived "protection of fish and aquatic life" as most important, while municipal executives perceived "domestic and industrial water supply" as most important. (3) There was no significant difference in what principal executives perceived was the direct motivation for the water pollution control system installation, operation, and maintenance ($\chi\sp2$ = 1.65, df = 2). Both categories perceived environmental motivation as the most important reason for the NPDES permit administrative requirements. These findings supported the Clean Water Act regulatory program national objective to "restore and maintain the chemical, physical, and biological integrity of the nation's waters" (Arbuckle, Frick, Hall, Miller, Sullivan, & Vanderver, 1983, p. 83). The major municipal and industrial facility executives in Tennessee were in agreement that their systems were effective in achieving compliance with the administrative requirements of the permit. The researcher recommended future research to identify specific problems resulting from the administrative requirements of the NPDES permit and replications of the study nationally.

Miljonprogrammet är namnet på det politiska projektet som pågick mellan åren 1965 och 1974 då riksdagen fattat ett beslut om att en miljon nya bostäder skulle byggas i Sverige, för att råda bot på bostadsbristen. Nu är det mer än 40 år sedan byggnaderna uppfördes och renoveringsbehovet är ett faktum, vilket gör ämnet aktuellt. Huvudsyftet med studien är att kartlägga de tre största städernas hantering av renoveringsbehovet. Huvudfrågan för studien är hur miljonprogrammets bostäder hanteras idag. Samtidigt har en rad andra frågor besvarats i studien; vilka skillnader som finns i lagarna då och nu, hur miljonprogramsområdena ser ut i de olika städerna och hur de behandlas i översiktsplanerna, vilka följder som uppstår av att husen behöver renoveras samt om det finns någon ekonomi i att renovera husen.Studien har genomförts med en kombination av kvalitativ och kvantitativ metod. En kvalitativ genomgång av skrivet material med anknytning till miljonprogrammet i de tre städerna har gjorts. Därutöver har också en kvantitativ enkätundersökning skickats ut till de tre kommunerna och dess kommunala bostadsbolag.Stockholm, Göteborg och Malmö har både likheter och skillnader gällande planering och visioner. Både Stockholm och Göteborg har valt att placera sina miljonprogramsområden utanför stadskärnan medan Malmös ligger i nära anslutning till centrum. De har alla visioner i sina översiktsplaner om att skapa en mer enhetlig och sammankopplad stad genom ökad integration och bättre kommunikationer mellan stadens olika delar.Det uppstod en renoveringsvåg under 80- och 90-talet i samband med ROT-avdraget och idag pågår flera projekt kring miljonprogrammet. Fasadrenovering är vanligt i alla tre städerna och även till viss del upprustning av balkonger och fönster. Göteborg har satsat mycket på energieffektiviserande åtgärder och i Stockholm har det blivit allt vanligare med energi-besparade ingrepp såsom tilläggsisolering.Lagstiftningen i Sverige har stor betydelse vid renoveringen då det idag finns krav på bl.a. energieffektivitet men även under renoveringsvågen på 80- och 90-talet då varsamhetskravet infördes i PBL 1987. Stommen i bostäderna är bra och de är funktionellt byggda vilket gör att renovering är mer kostnadseffektivt än att riva och bygga nytt. Problemet ligger alltså inte i renoveringsbehovet, då de flesta hus behöver renoveras efter så pass många år, utan antalet hus som behöver renoveras. / The million programme is a building era that took place between the years 1965 to 1974 when a politic decision was made to build a million new residences in Sweden, to correct the housing shortage. It´s now been more than 40 years since these residences were built and the need to renovate is a necessity, which makes this programme a very current subject. The purpose of this study is to map the three largest city´s handling of the need for renovation. The main question of this study is how the buildings of the million programme is being handled today. Meanwhile a series of other questions have been answered in this study; the difference between laws now and then, how the million programme areas looks in the different cities and how they are treated in the layout plans, what the need for renovation might lead to, and if there is any profit in restoring the buildings.It is a qualitative study as it is a situation in a few cities that are being studied, but through a survey this study gets a quantitative mixture as well. A survey was dispatched to the three municipalities and their communal real estate companies.Malmo, Gothenburg and Stockholm are both similar and different regarding planning and visions. Both Gothenburg and Stockholm placed their million programmes outside of the city´s core, whilst Malmo´s was located close to the centre of the city. They all have visions in their layout plans to create a more unified and connected city through increased integration and better communication between the city areas.There was a wave of renovation in the eighties and nineties because of the ROT-deduction and many projects concerning the million programme are still ongoing to this day. Facade renovation is common in all three cities and, to a certain degree, restoration of balconies and windows. Gothenburg has invested a lot in energy efficient measures and in Stockholm it has become increasingly more common with energy saving interventions like adding increased isolation. The image of the million programme´s constructions is "concrete ghettos", but the most common houses consists of three storeys with apartment size 3 rok.The Swedish legislation are of great importance during the renovation as there now are requirements on energy efficiency amongst other things, but also during the wave of renovation in the eighties and nineties when the demand of discretion was enforced in PBL 1987. The foundation in the million programme houses is satisfactory and they are functionally built which makes a renovation more cost-efficient than it would be to tear it down and build new buildings. The problem then does not reside in the need for renovation, as most houses needs restoration after so many years, but in the sheer number of buildings that would require a renovation.

No abstract available. / Thesis (M.T.R.P.)-University of Natal, Durban, 2001.

The Chicago Area Transportation Study (CATS) set the standard for urban transportation planning during its original 1955-61 genesis years. This study examined CATS' planning methodology during these years and its 1962 regional transportation plan for the Chicago metropolis which had a planning target year of 1980. The subject focus of this study was on expressway planning while the temporal focus was from the late 1950's to circa 1980. The findings of this study revealed four key reasons why CATS' 1962 expressway plan was largely never implemented. These reasons include the inconsistency of some of CATS' 1962 projections for 1980 versus actual 1980 data, the apolitical orientation of CATS, increased urban environmentalism, and rising expressway infrastructure costs. Yet despite the lack of plan implementation, the literature supports the conclusion that CATS did set the standard, at least in its methodology or planning approach. / Department of Urban Planning

abstract: A right to the city is a human right that is overlooked in American cities. Cities reflect humanity in collective form, but are manipulated by the powerful at the expense of the powerless. Landscapes of cities tell the city's stories, as historical inequalities become imprinted on the city's physical and symbolic landscapes. In Detroit, Michigan, over forty square miles of the city are vacant, unemployment might be as high as fifty percent, and the city has lost about sixty percent of its population since the mid-1950s. Detroit must now solve its spatial problems in the context of depopulation; the city's planners, nonprofits, and scholars are now debating "planned shrinking" or "right-sizing." Simultaneously, a blooming arts scene is also slowly revitalizing parts of the city. This thesis will critically examine the possibilities of planned shrinking and the arts movement in Detroit, as well as suggest theoretical explanations for the city's dilemmas. Detroit has been the subject of a myopic popular narrative, one that isolates the city from modern America rather than critically examines its place in modern America. Redefining regional healing through honest discourse and developing a more appropriate narrative for Detroit are among the solutions proposed. Finally, the importance of establishing a human right for the city is discussed. / Dissertation/Thesis / M.A. Social Justice and Human Rights 2011

abstract: Sustainability research and action in communities should be holistic, integrating sociocultural, biogeophysical, and spiritual components and their temporal and spatial dynamics toward the aim of co-creating thriving living systems. Yet scientists and practitioners still struggle with such integration. Regenerative development (RD) offers a way forward. RD focuses on shifting the consciousness and thinking underlying (un)sustainability as well as their manifestation in the physical world, creating increasingly higher levels of health and vitality for all life across scales. However, tools are nascent and relatively insular. Until recently, no empirical scientific research studies had been published on RD processes and outcomes. My dissertation fills this gap in three complementary studies. The first is an integrative review that contextualizes regenerative development within the fields of sustainability, sustainable design and development, and ecology by identifying its conceptual elements and introducing a regenerative landscape development paradigm. The second study integrates complex adaptive systems science, ecology, sustainability, and regenerative development to construct and pilot the first iteration of a holistic sustainable development evaluation tool—the Regenerative Development Evaluation Tool—in two river restoration projects. The third study builds upon the first two, integrating scientific knowledge with existing RD and sustainable community design and development practices and theory to construct and pilot a Regenerative Community Development (RCD) Framework. Results indicate that the RCD Framework and Tools, when used within a regenerative landscape development paradigm, can facilitate: (1) shifts in thinking and development and design outcomes to holistic and regenerative ones; (2) identification of areas where development and design projects can become more regenerative and ways to do so; and (3) identification of factors that potentially facilitate and impede RCD processes. Overall, this research provides a direction and tools for holistic sustainable development as well as foundational studies for further research. / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation Sustainability 2019

A growing body of research emphasizes the development of an understanding of the relationship between older adults and their physical and social environments (Wahl & Weisman, 2003). Researchers, planners, policymakers, and community residents have been increasingly interested in shaping urban environments as places that foster active aging and independence among older adults. Senior centers have served a critical role in their communities as focal points for older adults, as individuals or in groups, to participate in services and activities that support their independence and encourage their involvement in and with the community (NCOA, 1979). The aging of the population and influx of baby boomers into the older demographic, along with declines in participation rates and funding, are challenging senior center staff to be innovative and adaptive in order to demonstrate senior centers’ relevance to future older adults while maintaining the programming and services for their current participants. This research is a multiple-case study of five unique senior centers located throughout the Portland metropolitan area in Oregon. Different types and models of senior centers are represented by the selected cases, as they operate under different governance structures and vary in aspects such as administration, funding, participant characteristics, community partnerships, transportation options, physical environments, and range of services and programs offered. This study aims to better understand challenges, strengths, and future directions for different types of senior centers serving a metropolitan area. Data collection at each site included interviews with staff as well as focus groups with senior center participants. Interviews with key informants enriched the findings and provided outside perspectives of senior center experiences. Data analysis revealed challenges and strengths that were common across and unique to the different senior centers in this study. This research contributes to the literature in urban studies, community development, and gerontology by exploring potential opportunities for urban senior centers to adapt and continue to serve older adults. Recommendations were developed for how senior centers might capitalize on these opportunities and for how their communities might provide mechanisms of support to facilitate the continuation and contributions of senior centers in metropolitan areas.