Thesis (M.S.)--State University of New York at Binghamton, Geological Sciences and Environmental Studies of Department, 2007. / Includes bibliographical references.

Master of Regional and Community Planning / Department of Landscape Architecture/Regional and Community Planning / Stephanie A. Rolley / This report will examine the effect that shifting political ideologies have had on the redevelopment process for Penn’s Landing and how citizen activism influenced planning reform along the Central Delaware Riverfront. It addresses the historical development that lead to the demise of Philadelphia’s port industry and waterfront commerce. The study discusses the influences that mayoral administrations from the 1950s to present day have had on planning for Penn’s Landing. The report reviews the public forums held by Penn Praxis to change the course of planning from a top-down approach to a grassroots effort and evaluates the progress that has been made in the years following the forums. An analysis of the political ideologies of Philadelphia’s mayoral administrations is made to determine that the most effective approach to advancing waterfront redevelopment along the Central Delaware Riverfront involves discovering the right balance of private investment and public involvement.

Thesis (M.A.)--University of Wyoming, 2007. / Title from PDF title page (viewed on Feb. 11, 2009). Includes bibliographical references (p. 157-168).

This thesis tells the previously untold story of how environmental activists in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, in the 1980s waged a nearly decade-long and ultimately losing battle against a plan to pump water from the free-flowing Delaware River. As a case study of grassroots community activism during the presidential administration of Ronald Reagan, the struggle known locally as “Dump the Pump” and spearheaded by a nonprofit organization called Del-AWARE supports and provides a regional take on recent scholarship that has illuminated the vibrant underlying dynamics of local civic engagement occurring amid the overshadowing political conservatism of the Reagan years. Also a case study in public history, this thesis demonstrates how collective historical memory fueled not only Del-AWARE’s protracted struggle, but its enduring legacy in public policy and community life. It concludes with suggestions for preserving the history of Del-AWARE before it is lost forever. / History