Browsing by Subject "Regional planning"
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Item An integrated model of resources planning for regional development: with Lombok Island of Indonesia as a case study(Texas Tech University, 1993-05) Amron, MochammadRegional development is one of the methods applied to reduce regional differences in the levels of welfare of people, to ease political tension, and to strengthen a nation's territorial integration. Among the difficulties in the preparation of such development plans for local govenunent are the lack of political and institutional support, the lack of planning expertise, the inability to formulate applicable policy plans, and inadequate local sources of revenue. This study proposes the application of an integrated resource development model for establishing a conceptual development plan. A concept plan is a statement of proposals concerning form, structure, and future development trends of the planning area. It is a general guideline for physical development which takes into consideration social and economic values. In general, previous regional planning works concentrate on one key issue such as a natural resources approach, a cultural-regional approach, a locational-space economy approach, a hierarchical-spatial system, or a facilities approach. This study will differ in that it will integrate key issues in one model of resource development.Item Critical regionalism in Yosemite Valley(Texas Tech University, 1999-05) Ross, RobertThe proposed facility type is a lodge. A lodge facility is a public stmcture aimed at providing services to its guests. Lodges are vacation oriented hospitality facilities generally located in a natural context. Contents of the facility are a main public lodge, cabin units, employee dorms, and parking areas. The site is located in Yosemite Valley in Yosemite National Park, California. The east-west valley width varies in size up to one mile wide with walls over 1,000 feet in height. The site is on a meadow just outside the flood plain of the Merced River. For this project all the existing stmctures on site will be removed for new lodge facilities. The aim of the project is to design a lodge based on human senses, site factors, environmental conservation, and local vernacular.Item Dynamic traffic assignment-based modeling paradigms for sustainable transportation planning and urban development(2014-05) Shah, Rohan Jayesh; Boyles, Stephen David, 1982-Transportation planning and urban development in the United States have synchronously emerged over the past few decades to encompass goals associated with sustainability, improved connectivity, complete streets and mitigation of environmental impacts. These goals have evolved in tandem with some of the relatively more traditional objectives of supply-side improvements such as infrastructure and capacity expansion. Apart from the numerous federal regulations in the US transportation sector that reassert sustainability motivations, metropolitan planning organizations and civic societies face similar concerns in their decision-making and policy implementation. However, overall transportation planning to incorporate these wide-ranging objectives requires characterization of large-scale transportation systems and traffic flow through them, which is dynamic in nature, computationally intense and a non-trivial problem. Thus, these contemporary questions lie at the interface of transportation planning, urban development and sustainability planning. They have the potential of being effectively addressed through state-of-the-art transportation modeling tools, which is the main motivation and philosophy of this thesis. From the research standpoint, some of these issues have been addressed in the past typically from the urban design, built-environment, public health and vehicle technology and mostly qualitative perspectives, but not as much from the traffic engineering and transportation systems perspective---a gap in literature which the thesis aims to fill. Specifically, it makes use of simulation-based dynamic traffic assignment (DTA) to develop modeling paradigms and integrated frameworks to seamlessly incorporate these in the transportation planning process. In addition to just incorporating them in the planning process, DTA-based paradigms are able to accommodate numerous spatial and temporal dynamics associated with system traffic, which more traditional static models are not able to. Besides, these features are critical in the context of the planning questions of this study. Specifically, systemic impacts of suburban and urban street pattern developments typically found in US cities in past decades of the 20th century have been investigated. While street connectivity and design evolution is mostly regulated through local codes and subdivision ordinances, its impacts on traffic and system congestion requires modeling and quantitative evidence which are explored in this thesis. On the environmental impact mitigation side, regional emission inventories from the traffic sector have also been quantified. Novel modeling approaches for the street connectivity-accessibility problem are proposed. An integrated framework using the Environmental Protection Agency's regulatory MOVES model has been developed, combining it with mesoscopic-level DTA simulation. Model demonstrations and applications on real and large-sized study areas reveal that different levels of connectivity and accessibility have substantial impacts on system-wide traffic---as connectivity levels reduce, traffic and congestion metrics show a gradually increasing trend. As regards emissions, incorporation of dynamic features leads to more realistic emissions inventory generation compared to default databases and modules, owing to consideration of the added dynamic features of system traffic and region-specific conditions. Inter-dependencies among these sustainability planning questions through the common linkage of traffic dynamics are also highlighted. In summary, the modeling frameworks, analyses and findings in the thesis contribute to some ongoing debates in planning studies and practice regarding ideal urban designs, provisions of sustainability and complete streets. Furthermore, the integrated emissions modeling framework, in addition to sustainability-related contributions, provides important tools to aid MPOs and state agencies in preparation of state implementation plans for demonstrating conformity to national ambient air-quality standards in their regions and counties. This is a critical condition for them to receive federal transportation funding.Item Envision Central Texas performance indicators : is central Texas realizing its preferred vision?(2012-08) Hilde, Thomas Warren; Paterson, Robert G.; Brown Wilson, BarbaraThe Envision Central Texas (ECT) scenario-based regional planning process formulated its preferred vision for future growth in Central Texas in 2004. While the process was successful in developing a unified vision for future development for a region undergoing rapid growth, it is questionable whether any implementation has been seen on the ground since. Utilizing the performance indicators originally used to assess the alternative growth scenarios during the ECT planning process, this study attempts to monitor the region’s growth trajectory since that time. In other words, is the region realizing its preferred vision for new population growth and urban development? An analysis using remote sensing of satellite imagery, GIS and available data was undertaken to calculate eleven performance measures for the current regional context. Results of the indicator analysis helped to form a better understanding of the region’s growth since the ECT vision was adopted. For the most part, the region is continuing to grow in its “baseline” or “business as usual” pattern of development, characterized by low-density, separate use development on the urban fringe. Although the ECT vision is still in its early stages of implementation, the region faces challenges in realizing its fulfillment. The findings of this study are the product of the only quantifiable monitoring efforts of ECT implementation to date. They should be used in conjunction with qualitative monitoring already undertaken by ECT to better understand the region’s growth trajectory, and be used as a model for monitoring ECT implementation in the future. Additionally, the analysis offers a discussion of how the use of performance indicators can be improved in future scenario-based planning processes.Item Mapping energy access : a regional energy planning framework for rural electrification in India(2015-05) Subramanya, Vivek Shastry; Moore, Steven A., 1945-; Sletto, Bjorn IDelivery of modern energy services continues to be a priority in the global development agenda. Despite technological advancements and political efforts, some countries have only achieved limited success in their electrification programs. I take the example of India, where two-thirds of the total population are in rural areas, and only a little more than half of the rural households had access to electricity as of 2011. It has been so despite the early state-driven attempts and more recent national and state policies that aimed to deliver energy to all. In this thesis, I used complexity theory as a lens to investigate the energy access literature. I found this framework particularly helpful because of its emphasis on local knowledge and feedback loops. Essentially, certain types of knowledge are context specific, and a concerted effort is required to recognize this knowledge and bring it into the decision making process. I hypothesized that the delivery of energy access can benefit from local knowledge and regional planning, but it is not yet an institutional practice to do so. I applied a pragmatic multi-method approach to investigate rural electrification in the southern Indian state of Karnataka. First, I explored the historical context of electrification in Karnataka and found this to be a top-down process, much like in the rest of India. Second, I drew from a stakeholder focus group discussion to further substantiate this finding, and provided examples of useful local knowledge in the socio-political context. Third, I identified relevant energy access indicators and presented a spatial analysis to show the regional disparities in different indicators and the opportunities to strategize future policy implementation. Finally, I synthesized all the findings to develop a regional energy planning framework based on three key components: data management, stakeholder coordination and policy advocacy. I make the case that policy research organizations can initiate this planning activity in different states to develop locally relevant rural electrification policies that build on regional data and local knowledge.Item Towards a megaregional future : prologue, progress, and potential applications(2013-05) Fleming, William John III; McCray, Talia; Steiner, Frederick R.In the spring of 2004, a synergistic team of professors, practitioners, and graduate students coalesced in a graduate planning studio at the University of Pennsylvania (Penn) with the greatest of ambitions: to craft a “Plan for America,” through the year 2050. Their work led to a megaregional revival, weaving the work of Jean Gottman, old regionalists like Benton MacKaye, and New Regionalists like Peter Calthrope into a new perspective on regional planning. In the brief period that followed, a flurry of megaregional research was produced by scholars at Penn, Georgia Tech, the University of Texas at Austin, the Regional Plan Association, and the Lincoln Institute for Land Policy. But nearly a decade into this megaregional revival, old questions about the concept continue to simmer while many new questions emerge, which begs the question: what exactly has this flurry of megaregional research settled? How exactly are megaregions defined and delineated? Do they even have fixed boundaries? Assuming a consensus emerged on how to define and delineate the space, how could such a large and unwieldy scale be governed? Are megaregions functional economic units or merely a product of poorly regulated sprawl development over vast expanses? If they are indeed functional units, how are they interacting or competing with one another for growth, development, and finite public resources? The answers to these questions have been, well, elusive. This thesis begins to remedy this glaring gap in the literature by conducting semi-structured interviews with the key informants credited with leading the conception and evolution of megaregional thought in the U.S. With their aid, this thesis begins to contextualize the provenance, the evolution, the barriers to progress, and the potential future trajectories of the megaregional construct. One of these potential future trajectories – megaregional economic development – is explored between the nation’s only physically linked pair of megaregions: the Texas Triangle and Gulf Coast. In the final chapter of this thesis, recommendations drawn from these analyses are made for the research, the pedagogy, and the practice of planning for megaregions. Together, this triptych of recommendations outlines a path towards a megaregional future.Item Transit oriented regions : past and present thoughts on regionalism(2009-05) Hall, Andrea Lynn; Zhang, Ming, 1963 April 22-As society finds it itself on the brink of new social, economic and political upheavals, a reconsideration of the make-up of regions is necessary. From time to time, these changes manifest as migrations from one line of thought to another. Moreover, these changes were predicted and observed by notable historic figures in planning and regional theory. It is the intent of this report is to note and link the connections between historic figureheads and contemporary proponents of regional form and its interconnectedness to transportation infrastructure. This report goes on to provide examples of barriers to modern implementation of regional transit-oriented development and also to provide case studies where positive interaction between local governments has resulted in regional forms and transportation networks that embody new solutions in a changing socio-economic and environmental constructs.