abstract: Literature on the design and management of urban parks has been informed by empirical research on the value of public space in terms of economic value, public health, social, and environmental benefits. Although there is significant value in discussing these benefits, there has been a lack of understanding about the production of public space as a normative goal. Neighborhood parks have been recognized as one of the key urban public spaces that serve the social, economic, and environmental needs of adjacent neighborhoods. However, relevant studies mostly focus on the contribution of neighborhood parks as discrete space, instead of neighborhood parks as built spaces within the urban context. This research provides a better understanding of the relationship between the context of surrounding neighborhoods and the success of neighborhood parks. The research addresses two major research questions. First, what are the major characteristics of the morphological context around neighborhood parks? Second, how do the characteristics of morphological context associate with the success of neighborhood parks? For the first question, the `context' refers to the layout and configuration of urban form including blocks, parcels, and buildings; street network; pedestrian-oriented attributes; and property land uses. For the second question, the `success' of neighborhood parks is defined by property/ violent crime rate. The study is based on a quarter mile buffer area around 150 neighborhood parks in the City of Chicago, Illinois. The research employed factor and cluster analysis to develop a typology of neighborhood park contexts. Multiple regression analysis was conducted to identify the relationship between park morphological contexts and crime rate. Based on understanding the dimensional structure of urban form elements, neighborhood park surroundings were classified into six categories. This study provided an alternative way of constructing public space typology based on surrounding urban form. The findings of regression analysis revealed that variables associated with higher-density, permeability, and mixed-use development do not necessarily correlate with reduced property/ violent crime rates. However, some variables representing `traditional neighborhood' characteristics were correlated with lower property/ violent crime rates. The study provides guidelines for urban design and physical planning strategies for neighborhood park development. / Dissertation/Thesis / Ph.D. Environmental Design and Planning 2013

The fossiliferous sediments of the Hueso and Tapiado formations exposed in the Vallecito Creek-Fish Creek section (VCFC) of the Anza-Borrego Desert (ABD) span the boundary between Blancan and Irvingtonian North American Land Mammal 'Ages.' Historically, the determination of the Blancan-Irvingtonian (B-I) boundary in the VCFC proved problematic. A new study to determine the B-I boundary in the VCFC revealed data inaccuracies in both published works and curatorial records of the mammal and other vertebrate fossils from the ABD. Most individual inaccuracies were minor, but an accumulation of over 50 years of multiple inaccuracies had significant effects on local and regional biostratigraphic and biochronologic correlations. A detailed investigation of the inaccurate data resulted in recognition of 17 types of error, with at least five sources. The two most prominent sources of error are those derived from publication and curation protocols. Examination of over 150 publications and in-house faunal lists produced over 830 taxonomic names and format variants, for 110 mammalian taxa identified from the ABD and VCFC. Approximately 50% of the taxonomic identifications were previously published without voucher catalogue numbers or fossil descriptions. A critical review of the taxonomic assignments resulted in an updated faunal list of ABD terrestrial Mammalia, including 110 taxonomic names, 66 unqualified genera, and 46 unqualified species. A supplemental list of 'retired' taxa includes 178 previously published or listed taxonomic names and format variants. The 4.5 km sequence of originally superposed sediments within VCFC is now tilted at 23 degrees and exposed in plan view. This exposure was captured in both aerial photos and satellite imagery. GIS layers of the Geomagnetic Polarity Time Scale and individual collecting localities are readily superposed onto the stratigraphic images. When united with the faunal database, GIS maps of biostratigraphic data facilitate detection and correction of data errors. Resulting corrected maps show highest and lowest stratigraphic occurrences of taxa, as well as geographic clustering of taxonomic groups, outlining possible paleohabitats. As a result of data improvement and GIS display, the local B-I boundary currently is best estimated by the presence of Ovibovini at >1.42 Ma. / text