Master of Regional Planning (MRP) Theses and Exit Projects
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This is a collection of Master in Regional Planning (MRP) Theses and Exit Projects for the Department of City and Regional Planning.
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Item Analysis of potential gentrification in downtown Syracuse, New York, due to Micron’s establishmentSinthy, Anika Tabassum (2025-07)This study investigates the potential of gentrification in Syracuse's downtown, affected by two development projects in the metropolitan area: the $100 billion Micron Technology semiconductor factory and the I-81 viaduct being removed and it put at grade simultaneously. The developments will naturally generate economic growth, induce high-income people to live or invest in the area, and housing prices will inevitably rise as a consequence to both the economic growth and loss of land to higher-income residents. The study takes a mixed-methods approach, using a combination of analysis of American Community Survey data (2013-2023), GIS mapping, interviews with stakeholders, and secondary policy review to measure the ways in which demographics, housing affordability, and urban planning framework changes in the city. While we found an insufficient measure or opportunity for gentrification in downtown Syracuse, where rents are already high and protective zoning (ReZone Syracuse) has limited the shifts from affordability, fringe neighborhoods now experience an increased risk of gentrification. My research in other cities like Portland, Rochester, and Atlanta demonstrate the challenges of getting in front of gentrification once it has started. With that, the policy recommendations concern stronger affordability mandates, permanent affordability protections, and community engagement to implement in a genuine way to engage and share in economic development in a more equitable and inclusive manner.Item The preservation of railway heritage and urban memory in the post-ningwu era in Nanjing: A case study of the section from Zhonghuamen to GuanghuamenXue, Yanwen (2025-07-29)In the broader context of contemporary urbanization, the conflict between preserving industrial heritage and urban development has emerged as a significant challenge to urban growth. Rapid urbanization and significant industrial transformation have brought traditional industrial infrastructure to a critical historical juncture. The systematic abandonment and demolition of numerous industrial heritage sites are causing an unparalleled loss of historical depth and cultural identity in cities, resulting in alarming trends of spatial homogenization and decontextualization. This study focuses on the Nanjing–Wuhu (Ningwu) Railway, particularly examining the challenges of industrial heritage conservation caused by the relocation of the section from Guxiong to Cangbomen during the railway’s expansion and renovation project. It aims to investigate the relationship between industrial heritage and urban memory within the context of modernization, as well as to identify viable pathways for its preservation, thereby offering theoretical insights and practical references for future railway heritage protection initiatives.Item ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT REVIEW AND INFRASTRUCTURE GOVERNANCE IN NATIONAL PARKS: A COMPARATIVE STUDY OF YULONG NGP AND ZION NPWang, Jiawei (2025-07-23)This study compares environmental governance and transportation infrastructure in Yulong Snow Mountain National Park (China) and Zion National Park (USA). It investigated how spatial infrastructure planning and environmental impact assessments influence ecological outcomes in national parks. Using comparative case analysis, field observation, and policy document review, the study revealed institutional differences—particularly the legally binding NEPA framework in the U.S. versus the advisory ecological assessments in China. It identified the paradox of Green Infrastructure in fragile zones, critiqued the asymmetric risk discourse, and offered institutional recommendations to embed ecological data into enforceable spatial governance. The research contributed to sustainable national park management and infrastructure planning under ecological constraints.Item Age-Friendly Society: The Impact of Planning Decisions on Community ServicesHuang, Hongtao (2025)In 2023, we surveyed 1,119 U.S. local governments to examine age-friendly community planning post-COVID-19. Our research explores three key questions: What drives communities to pay attention to seniors and include their needs in comprehensive plans? How do we evaluate the efforts communities put into supporting their senior populations? And what factors actually lead to the implementation of senior-focused planning recommendations? Using logistic regression and structural equation modeling, we investigated factors influencing comprehensive plans, public health integration, and service availability. Following the research approach established by Warner & Zhang (2022) in their analysis of previous rounds of surveys, our findings reveal that professionalism, particularly cross-agency partnerships, consistently predicts comprehensive planning focus. Senior-engaged communities develop more integrated plans addressing multiple populations, while conservative boards show negative associations with planning for both children and older adults. Public health integration is primarily driven by professionalism rather than demographics or COVID-19 impacts. Although communities integrating public health provide more services, our analyses show this relationship is correlational rather than causal. Service delivery is fundamentally driven by professionalism and civic engagement, surpassing planning focuses and most socioeconomic factors, which function more as common influences rather than direct drivers of service provision.Item Going Green at What Cost? A Fiscal Analysis Of Utility-Scale Solar Development and Pilot Agreements in Tompkins County, New York StateZhang, Chenming (Cornell University, 2025-05-20)By 2040, New York State aims to achieve 100% zero-emission electricity generation. To realize this ambitious goal, utility-scale solar development is a key tool. The state has implemented tax exemptions and centralized siting authority to accelerate renewable energy growth, arguing these measures are necessary to attract development. However, this study questions whether local jurisdictions receive fair compensation for hosting these facilities. This thesis conducts a fiscal analysis of utility-scale solar development and PILOT agreements in Tompkins County, using Yellow Barn Solar as a case study. Through scenario comparisons and stakeholder interviews, this paper evaluates how PILOT agreements impact local tax revenues compared to full property taxation. The analysis employs three scenarios: negotiated PILOT payments, full property taxation using the state’s appraisal model, and standardized PILOT rates based on project revenue. Results reveal that while solar development increases fiscal revenues compared to current land use, the negotiated PILOT agreement generates approximately $2,455,367 less revenue than full property taxation would yield over the project’s 20-year lifespan. Interviews highlight challenges in the negotiation process, including varying levels of IDA involvement, lack of transparency, disputes over the state’s assessment methodology, and tensions between jurisdictions regarding benefit distribution. This research provides empirical evidence to help local governments navigate the complex tradeoffs between advancing renewable energy goals and maintaining fiscal sustainability. Findings suggest that current PILOT structures warrant reconsideration to ensure host communities receive equitable compensation for their contribution to state climate objectives.Item WHAT EFFECT DOES POLYCENTRISM HAVE ON THE PROVISION, DISTRIBUTION, AND DIVERSITY OF URBAN AMENITIES: A COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF US METROPOLITAN AREASGuan, Xi (2025-05-20)The relationship between polycentric urban structure and urban amenities is examined across 380 U.S. Metropolitan Statistical Areas (MSAs). Polycentricity indices are developed using population density distribution, and amenities from the Overture Maps database are categorized into comparison, convenient, leisure, and catering types. After controlling for socioeconomic, land use, and street network factors, higher polycentricity is found to be associated with greater quantity and more even spatial distribution of amenities—but lower diversity across categories. Stratified analysis shows that this inverse relationship with diversity exists only in large and medium MSAs, while small MSAs exhibit greater diversity under polycentric structures. This may reflect functional specialization in larger MSAs versus multifunctional centers in smaller ones. For per capita amenity indicator, amenities in polycentric MSAs are more balanced distributed. These findings highlight the nuanced impacts of urban structure on amenity provision and offer insights for urban planning.Item Resilient Retrofitting and Building Decarbonization: Rural Community Engagement in Disaster and Energy Transition PlanningRajbhandary, Shreni (Cornell University, 2025-05-20)This report presents a comprehensive rural resilience model, the Resilient Retrofits Program (RRP), developed to address the converging challenges of flood risk, energy insecurity, and institutional undercapacity in small villages like the Village of Owego, New York. The report integrates spatial vulnerability analysis, stakeholder power mapping, and regulatory review to propose an implementable and equity-centered retrofit delivery framework. The RRP couples technical interventions, such as sump pump installation, heating-ventilation-air-conditioning (HVAC) elevation, and heat pump electrification, with a 50/50 loan–grant financing structure and tailored outreach strategies. Central to the model is a high-touch community engagement plan leveraging climate navigators, Village Board of Trustees leadership, and analog-friendly materials to reach underserved residents in low-connectivity environments. Institutional bottlenecks, including contractor shortages and regulatory compliance through the State Historic Preservation Office (SHPO), are addressed through funding, pre-reviewed design templates, and early coordination protocols.Item BETWEEN INFORMAL LOGICS AND FORMAL LOGISTICS: STREET VENDING PRACTICES IN LAW GARDEN, AHMEDABADJani, Mansi (2025)This research examines the everyday survival strategies of street vendors in Ahmedabad’s Law Garden market—a contested urban space where informality is simultaneously celebrated, criminalized, and co-opted. Through ethnographic fieldwork including participant observation, semi-structured interviews, and spatial mapping, the study traces how vendors such as pheri-walas, thela-walas, and baithak-walas navigate a fragmented regulatory terrain marked by licensing, eviction, and extortion. Their practices ranging from jugaad and strategic concealment to relational negotiation, reveal a sophisticated system of placemaking rooted in material improvisation, spatial calibration, and collective infrastructure. Drawing on theories of informality (Anjaria, 2006), southern urbanism (Bhan, 2019), and systems of survival, the study argues that vending is not merely economic but a form of adaptive planning, relational, embodied, and deeply attuned to the city’s rhythms. Law Garden emerges as a living site of resistance and reinvention, where vendors do not just survive but actively remake the city from below.Item Planning For Whom? Misaligned Policy Transfer and Compact City Strategies in Aging South KoreaLim, Na Youn (Kathy) (2025-05)South Korea faces mounting demographic challenges, including rapid aging, population decline, and youth outmigration—trends increasingly framed as “local extinction.” In response, policymakers have turned to Japan’s Compact + Network model, particularly the case of Toyama, as a spatial solution. This thesis traces Korea’s demographic evolution and critically examines its adaptation of the compact city model. It explores how the concept of local extinction has been reinterpreted in the Korean context, and whether current policy responses align with the needs of aging, declining regions. Through comparative analysis, the study reveals a growing disconnect between the stated goals of compact cities and its actual implementation, which often favors growth in metropolitan peripheries. Ultimately, the thesis questions whether Korea’s compact city initiatives serve their intended demographic purpose—or whether they have been co-opted by growth coalitions to further real estate development in thriving areas.Item The Fiscal Impact of Property Tax Cap on Local Governments in New York StateLiang, Jiahe (2025-05)The New York State Property Tax Cap, implemented in 2012, limits the growth of local property taxes to the lesser of 2% or the inflation rate. This paper examines its fiscal impact on local governments. Using longitudinal financial data from counties, cities, towns, and villages between 2000 and 2019, I find that the cap has not exerted a strong binding effect on local budgets. Rather than engaging in deep austerity cuts, most local governments practiced pragmatic municipalism, maintaining service responsibilities through cautious financial management, increased reliance on sales tax revenues, and flexible use of override provisions. However, this strategy may not be sustainable in the context of rising inflation or declining sales tax collections. The paper highlights the need for increased state aid, a counter-narrative to “local government inefficiency”, and greater fiscal discretion at the local level to repair the broken state-local relationship and promote long-term fiscal sustainability.