<p> Maslow's hierarchy of needs identifies shelter (specifically safety and security) as a basic need that motivates people to continue through life. Many Americans are at risk of losing this basic need, yet we continue to stigmatize specific groups of people based on their inability to secure permanent housing. The integration of crisis intervention, resource networking, education, and empowerment into a supportive housing strategy in Washington, DC could reduce chronic homelessness. </p><p> Homelessness is a major issue that does not receive adequate attention in most cities. As gentrification continues, affordable housing is rapidly declining, placing longtime residents at risk of being displaced. An issue that can't be overlooked, homelessness contributes to social issues such as crime and violence. There are several stages of homelessness; therefore, multiple approaches must be developed to combat the issue at different points in the cycle. While an intervention may be successful in only one stage of the cycle, it could potentially provide the answers to questions surrounding other stages of homelessness. </p><p> This thesis will explore the causes of homelessness and only its associated problems. By identifying some of these problems and shedding light on some of the causes of homelessness (and realizing that those issues are present throughout society), this thesis will identify why it is important to create supportive housing and how this type of approach will help end chronic homelessness. </p><p> To develop a solution to this problem this thesis will use correlational research, observational research, qualitative data and quantitative data to identify the current homeless population, and the potential growth of the population within specific geographic areas. This information will help me identify a site and develop a replicable housing solution that will reduce the number of destitute residents, as well as potentially provide strategies for reducing the homeless population. </p><p> It has been determined that supportive housing, along with consideration for sustainability and several factors that affect the human psyche, will help end homelessness, which is costly in a small city such as Washington, DC. This thesis will explore supportive housing as one solution to chronic homelessness.</p><p>

Abstract not available.

Abstract not available.

This thesis had four main objectives: 1) to examine older people's walking experiences in the context of their daily lives; 2) to investigate how key informants, at both neighbourhood and municipal levels, describe the socio-political process of creating walkable neighbourhoods; 3) to examine how neighbourhood SES and urban form may inter-relate to affect older people's walking experiences and; 4) to examine differences among neighbourhood key informant perspectives on the socio-political processes that shape the walkability of neighbourhood environments. Objectives were addressed using a comparative embedded case study design. Four neighbourhoods were purposefully selected to vary on SES and urban form. The study was conducted in three phases. During phase one, interviews and focus groups were conducted with older people in order to describe their walking experiences in these four neighbourhoods. In the second phase, these results provided a platform for interviewing key informants about the municipal and neighbourhood-level socio-political processes of creating walkable neighbourhoods. In the third phase, qualitative data from phases one and two, in combination with publicly available quantitative indicators were compared across neighbourhoods using a matrix strategy consisting of SES and urban form axes. Analysis of phase one qualitative data revealed four themes common to older people's walking experiences: 1) multidimensional personal meanings; 2) navigating hostile walking environments; 3) experiencing ambiguity; and 4) getting around. Five dimensions of the socio-political process of creating walkable neighbourhoods were identified in phase two: 1) political context; 2) access channels; 3) resources; 4) actors and; 5) opportunities. These dimensions and their inter-relationships elucidated insights on how neighbourhoods and municipalities interact on walkability issues. Examining the inter-relationship of neighbourhood SES and urban form characteristics on older people's walking experiences in phase three indicated that urban form differences were accentuated positively in higher SES neighbourhoods and negatively in lower SES neighbourhoods. Key informant descriptions of the socio-political processes indicated that differences in these processes can affect neighbourhood capacity to influence decisions at a municipal level. Together, both sets of findings along with quantitative indicator comparisons provided evidence of inequitable walking environments. This research provides new insights on older people's walking experiences by revealing multi-layered meanings affected by intersecting dimensions of the physical and social environment. The experiences are further understood within a socio-ecologic context. An integration of the study data is presented in a theoretical model, which conceptualizes how dynamic community socio-political structures and processes at the individual, neighbourhood and municipal levels inter-relate to affect the production of neighbourhood walkability. The model also depicts four sets of influences operating at various stages in the cycle of local production, which create different conditions for neighbourhood action and which can lead to inequitable walking conditions. This study signals the need for a fundamental shift in thinking about walkability. It calls upon us to re-examine the notion of walkability as an array of historically-determined built environment characteristics and to consider how walkability is shaped by dynamic socio-political processes that can be challenged and influenced. This research highlights the need for municipal policies that promote walking as a legitimate form of transportation and that guarantee equitable access for older people. Municipal governments must monitor and address differences in walkability that exist between socially advantaged and disadvantaged neighbourhoods, ensuring that walking improvements in one neighbourhood do not exacerbate walking problems in another. These approaches may help to support independent living, particularly among older people who rely on walking for transportation. Future population health interventions must aim to reduce inequitable walking conditions among socially advantaged and disadvantaged groups, and must do so in a way that harnesses the dynamic properties of municipal systems. (Abstract shortened by UMI.)

After being neglected for two decades, rural areas in China are experiencing another wave of reform. There has been increasing attention from central government on rural issues and a series of rural resurgence policies were published with a central idea of ‘urban-rural integration and New Socialist Rural Construction Programme’ (State Council, 2010b). Planning as a policy tool to guide development has just began to cover rural areas in China. There is a need to develop a framework, both theoretically robust and deliverable, to guide rural planning in China. ‘Spatial planning’ has been widely adopted as a planning approach in Western Europe, including the UK, to achieve sustainable development. Hence, the research aims to use the concept of ‘spatial planning’ to identify potential ways to integrate rural areas into the complex planning system that currently exists in China. The research was carried out through a case study approach in three municipal cities in Jiangsu province, China. The newly developed rural planning system in Jiangsu province mainly focuses on the development control of towns and villages, physical landuse regulation and the renovation of settlements through town and village distribution planning and village planning. There is a lack of development planning for rural areas. The findings also show that the new urban and rural planning system generally fails to integrate urban and rural development, though in some developed areas more attention has been put on urban-rural integration planning. Moreover, it is found that, in many areas, the new urban and rural planning framework tends to be urban-centre-led and economically driven, which has led to the loss of rural landscape and characteristics. The research also identifies the weakness of planning at the local scale in coordinating policies and projects of different sectors. In addition, local government plays a leading role in the making and delivery of rural planning in China and, in some areas, local government activities in rural development and planning are much more a political response to the national and provincial government’s policy rather than the local demands. Based on these findings, the research provides some policy recommendations for modifying the current rural planning framework in China to overcome these problems in the short and long term by making reference to some of the key ideas of the spatial planning approach.

Society's need for industry has been at odds with maintaining a sound and healthy natural environment. The concept of sustainability has arisen to bridge the gap between the competing forces of industry and environment. Through sustainability, industry is promoted, natural resources are protected, and both the economy and the environment gains. One example of sustainability in action is the eco-industrial park. This park differs from conventional industrial parks in how it embraces the principles of sustainability in construction, operation, and production. This thesis will examine the development of the eco-industrial park concept from the broader concepts of sustainability and industrial ecology. Sustainability will be further conceptualized and operationalized through the use of indicators. Then, those indicators will be in a case study of the former Fort Devens Army Base to evaluate, qualitatively and quantitatively, which better achieves the goals of sustainability: an eco-industrial park or a conventional industrial park.

This dissertation is a geographical analysis of the Dutch Green Urbanism planning paradigm and its origin, evolution and spatial implementation in Almere New City, the most recently planned and built city in the Netherlands. This morphological study of planned development examines the essence of the Dutch metropolitan planning process in the latter half of the twentieth century and its influence on Almere's conceptual development that began in the late 1960s and actual spatial development that began in 1975. This study is set in the context of both international and national efforts to create “green urbanism”—a revised approach to urban planning that captures both the central and environmental dimensions of a more ecological and aesthetic planning process that emphasizes the important role of cities and positive urbanism in shaping more sustainable places, communities, and lifestyles. “Green Urbanism” is a term that was first used by Timothy Beatley (2000), and it builds upon a series of approaches to urban planning. This concept is applied throughout this dissertation and encapsulated in my urban morphological analysis of planned development and urban form in Almere New City, the Netherlands.

The environment has become an important issue in planning agendas as a consequence of the industrial era. Planners have begun to use scientific findings and strategies in solving problems. Among these strategies, the greenway planning strategy is promoted by landscape-ecological planning proponents and employed by planners because of its multifunctional features. Along with the positive science-based strategies, social sciences began to discuss the meaning of environment in the light of post-modern perspectives after the late 1980s. The environment is recognized as a discourse based on intertwined social, economic and political understandings. There are different discourses on the meaning of environment among different countries; moreover, there is a significant distinction between the environmental discourses of industrial countries and developing countries. This research investigates the modes of adaptability of the green-way planning strategy in the Istanbul Metropolitan Area (IMA), Turkey, by exploring the differences in environmental discourses between industrial and developing countries. It is argued that the environmental discourses are interconnected in the process of making and implementing physical plans that have ecological concerns. Moreover, industrial and developing countries exhibit relatively sharper differences in environmental discourses than within the industrial countries or within the developing countries. The investigation has been undertaken in two phases. In the fast phase two industrial country metropolitan area plans (Toronto and Portland, OR) and two developing country metropolitan area plans (Jakarta and Mexico City) are examined. Based upon this examination, a draft strategy has been drawn. In the following phase, the possibility of implementing the strategy in the IMA is investigated through interviews. The research concludes that environmental discourses differ in developing countries as compared to industrial countries in two ways. First, developing countries do not have environmental discourses of their own in the same way as do the industrial countries; they utilize mostly the discourses imported from industrial countries. Second, the content of environmental discourses can be subject to weakening or under-utilization, as in the case of sustainability. The research also found that the greenway planning strategy can be adapted to a developing country's planning system within the limitations of the planning tradition and environmental priorities of that country.

The cultural landscape of Lisbon Metropolitan Area evolved through processes of trial and error, and cultural exchanges, leading to a landscape that is in many situations ecologically sustainable, visual attractive, and culturally and historically identifiable. This results in a high landscape quality that is underlying the attraction of population to this region, its tourist industry and urban development. This research aims to explore the significance of cultural and historic resources for the development of a greenway network for the conservation of landscape quality. The landscape is studied in two levels (regional and local), through two case studies: Northern municipalities of Lisbon Metropolitan Area, and the municipality of Amadora (in Lisbon Metropolitan Area). Research at the regional level is framed by parametric methods of landscape planning. The results show that it is possible to delineate a greenway network for Lisbon Metropolitan Area, strongly supported by the landscape patterns of cultural and historic resources. A method framework for local level draws on landscape planning, environmental history, landscape conservation, and cultural geography, is applied at the local level. This level of research also used parametric methods of landscape assessment, complemented with an environmental historic, landscape ecology, and cultural geography approaches, using secondary historic, and focus group interviews data sources. The objective is to address the local values and ascertain the significance of the regional level approach when applied to the local scale. Cultural and historic resources assessment should include the different cultural perspectives and environmental contexts existing in fragmented metropolitan areas. which eventually underlies the uniqueness of each place. This research concludes that cultural and historic resources have a high potential for the development of greenway networks in ancient settled metropolitan Mediterranean landscapes, such as in Lisbon Metropolitan Area. Such a network can provide for the conservation of landscape quality and bring about development and recreation opportunities. However to thoroughly achieve these objectives, the criteria for the assessment of cultural and historic resources have to consider diversified levels of cultural and historic significance, becoming therefore significant resources for the economic development and cultural identity at a national, regional and local scale.

As it is often the failure of governments to meet the perceived needs of identity groups in a divided society, the challenge is incumbent upon them to provide a fair and equitable distribution of a variety resources, from land, to infrastructure, to financial assistance to industry. Thus, urban planning can create the physical basis for either ameliorating or exacerbating ethnic conflict, as these conflicts are often manifest in claims on the physical environment. A strong interest in studying the dynamics of planning in polarized societies is reflective of the need to fully understand the implications of urban change in this context. This research is an exploration of national planning mandates and their effects upon ethnic conflict. Specifically, it analyzes how communal relations can deteriorate even when government leaders make genuine efforts to meet the need and demands of competing groups. This paper is a study of Northern Ireland in the early 1960s during the introduction of regional planning by way of the Matthew and Wilson Plans. These national policies, intended to promote both physical and economic development and better community relations, actually contributed to a deepening of tensions between the Catholic and Protestant communities. Through archival research, a series of three case studies undertaken at the regional, city and neighborhood levels uncovers how the plans were perceived by both groups to potentially destroy their ability to secure economic opportunity, determine the use of their land, and maintain their identity and way of life. Therefore, the plans created a context which instigated the worst collective fears of both communities, ultimately resulting in protest and violence and what had initially promised to be a relatively peaceful decade ended in some of the worst violence the region has ever witnessed.