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 Made in Ithaca: How Storytelling and Digital Placemaking Strategies Effectuate Economic Development PlansChen, Melody (2024-09)In June 2022, the City of Ithaca’s Department of Economic Development launched a media campaign to highlight local small-scale manufacturers. This campaign featured photos, videos, and profiles of eight Ithaca-based businesses, aiming to support small businesses, promote the “Made in Ithaca” brand, and foster economic growth. The report details the creation of this content, the rationale for supporting small scale manufacturing, and the integration of digital storytelling and media literacy standards in planning. It also evaluates the impact of media campaigns as a tool for planners. Addressing challenges like limited resources and digital literacy variations, the report emphasizes the importance of implementing digital literacy standards in the planning field and offers recommendations for future digital engagement strategies. This case study highlights the role of storytelling and digital placemaking in enhancing community identity and participation in economic development initiatives.Item Spirits of our Courtyards: Intersecting Publics of Souq el Manama, BahrainAl Saif, Fatima (2024-05-23)This study explores the evolving significance of Souq el Manama, a historic market in Manama, Bahrain. Drawing on sensory ethnography and interviews conducted in the Souq, this research delves into cross-sector preservation efforts of the Souq and their implications. By exploring intersections between diverse publics and narratives, the study elucidates the potential of urban conservation as a catalyst for social repair. By contributing a nuanced understanding of urban heritage dynamics in Bahrain, it advocates a holistic approach to urban conservation that transcends material integrity and instead emphasizes the continuous remaking of significance. The increase of interest in preserving Souq el Manama has created an alternative space for public participation in imagining an alternative urban future.Item EXISTING 15-MINUTE CITY MODELS: LESSONS FOR DUBAI FROM ITS EXPATRIATE NEIGHBORHOODSParekh, Dhruv Parag (2024-08-16)Dubai's urban areas were not explicitly planned as 15-minute cities; however, the fundamentals of density and proximity have enabled certain neighborhoods to function in that capacity. This paper decodes the existing 15-minute city models prevalent in Dubai by engaging the everyday realities of the expatriates residing in such neighborhoods. It seeks to determine the factors that influence an individual's ability to experience such 15-minute neighborhoods. In doing so, it helps ground the definition of a 15-minute city in the distinct geographical and socio-political context of Dubai. Using a qualitative approach, this study documents the weekly travel diaries of five families residing in Mankhool to understand their daily urban lifestyles. It further examines the applicability of the 15-minute city concept by accommodating diverse transportation modes and acknowledging the city's distinct characteristics. The findings reveal that the ability to experience a 15-minute city is a factor of a family’s needs, choices and practices along with the spatial trends ubiquitous across the city. By bridging top-down planning frameworks with bottom-up lived experiences, this research aims to foster a dialogue for creating a more holistic and implementable 15-minute city framework for Dubai, emphasizing the importance of individual agency in shaping urban policies.Item Dialectics of Debris: A Grounded Analysis of Construction and Demolition Waste in BangaloreAysola, Shivani Lakshmi (2024-08-19)Bangalore, often referred to as India’s Silicon Valley, is one of Asia’s fastest-growing cities. Its transformation from a garden city to a concrete jungle has been rapid, marked by the erection and dismantling of buildings at an unprecedented pace. This urbanization has extended beyond housing and commercial spaces to include roads, flyovers, pavements, and metro corridors, generating massive amounts of construction and demolition waste (CDW) daily. Despite policy mandates for recycling CDW, changed attitudes have led to significant waste management challenges. This research focuses on the sources and destinations of CDW, aiming to illuminate the environmental, social, and infrastructural implications of waste amid rapid urbanization. Fieldwork conducted in Bangalore from June to August 2023 involved site visits and interviews with over 30 practitioners across disciplines. Findings highlight that amongst this globalized urbanization, local Indian architects and tech executives play a crucial role in mitigating CDW through facilitating reuse of demolition materials and the retrofitting of IT office spaces.Item PERCEPTIONS AND IMPACTS OF PLACE NETWORKS OF ETHIOPIAN AND ERITREAN IMMIGRANTS IN OAKLAND, CAYusuf, Darine (2024-08-19)This thesis explores the dynamics within the Ethiopian and Eritrean immigrant communities in Oakland, California. This study explores the relationships with the considerations of place, community networks, country and regional histories, and theories of time and place attachment. Used in this study are methods of interviews, observations, and historic and current map studies to get an understanding of varying histories and impacts on dynamics across Ethiopian and Eritrean community interaction and places in Oakland. The findings from this research demonstrate the experiences as well as intentions of various members and groups whether through the development of formal organizations or informal relationship.Item Building Climate Resilience for an Aging Community Through Service Provision: A Case StudyHu, Shunyi (2024-08-19)The United States, like many other countries, is aging. In 2020, a total of 56 million people were 65 years or older, representing 1 in 6 Americans. This changing demographic is transforming both urban and rural communities and raises an important question for urban scholars and planners: How should we plan for an aging society? On top of this “gray tsunami,” rising sea levels, catastrophic floods, and abnormal weather continually remind us of the urgency for transformative plans to address climate change. This paper stands at the nexus of two challenges faced by cities: population aging and climate change. For age-friendly planning, service provision is key to moving beyond physical constraints of the built environment. Emerging from existing literature, this study raises the hypothesis: Can we leverage political support and ample funding from the broader energy transition to increase older adults’ climate resilience through service provision? This study then presents a case study of Tompkins County, NY, and its initiatives in energy upgrade service provision, which encompasses actors co-delivering services while engaging in planning, public policy, and the market. Using data gathered from four open-ended interviews, along with archival records of policies and programs for energy upgrades and gray literature such as local news pieces, this study describes the process of energy service provision, assesses the key actors who initiate actions, and explains how these actors collaborate within the county.Item The Impact of Urban Renewal Projects on the Sense of Community in Hong Kong: An Integrated StudyMan Sze Li (2024-08-16)This study investigates the impact of urban renewal projects on the sense of community among residents and visitors in Hong Kong, with a focus on the psychological and social implications of displacement. By analyzing six significant urban renewal projects—Kwun Tong Town Centre, Central Market, Wan Chai Blue House, Tai Kwun, The Mills, and PMQ—this research explores how these transformations affect community cohesion, cultural preservation, and social identity. The analysis leverages social media portrayals, particularly Instagram posts, to capture real-time community sentiments and emotional responses to the changes brought about by these projects. Findings indicate that urban renewal projects that prioritize community involvement, heritage conservation, and cultural programming are more successful in fostering positive community outcomes. Projects like Wan Chai Blue House and Tai Kwun, which adopted a community-centric approach, preserved social cohesion and reinforced community identity. In contrast, large-scale redevelopments such as Kwun Tong Town Centre, driven primarily by commercial interests, often led to feelings of displacement and loss among residents. The study underscores the importance of balancing modernization with the preservation of community values and highlights the critical role of stakeholder engagement in achieving sustainable urban renewal. Based on the findings, the study recommends that future urban renewal projects emphasize community participation from the outset, integrate cultural and social programming, and adopt a holistic approach that considers the social, economic, and cultural dimensions of redevelopment. By doing so, urban renewal efforts can enhance community cohesion and ensure that redevelopment projects contribute positively to the urban fabric of Hong Kong and other cities facing similar challenges.Item WIRE GULLY : A STORY OF CHANGE AND ACCUMULATION IN MUMBAI’S EASTERN SUBURBIA, 2017-2024.Deshmukh, Advait (2024-08-15)Against the context of informality, this paper seeks to understand the changing dynamics of the wire scrap market, and the ways in which spatial relations, social institutions such as caste, gender and religion, as well as material structures (labour arrangements and prices) together shape capital accumulation. It accomplishes this through a case study of Wire Gully, which is significant to a flourishing scrap economy in India and is situated in Sakinaka, a locality in Lal Bahadur Shastri Nagar, in the eastern suburbs of Mumbai. This case study covers the transformations that take place in Wire Gully and the surrounding area over the course of seven years, from 2017 to 2024. It identifies the market’s trade areas, key institutions that govern it, the flows of waste and recycled material and contextualizes it within the shrinking e-waste informal waste management system (specifically marked by two moments of disruption - demonetisation and the Covid pandemic). The paper investigates how the state facilitates the accumulation of private formal capital by appropriating and dispossessing the value and knowledge created by informality.Item WIRE GULLY : A STORY OF CHANGE AND ACCUMULATION IN MUMBAI’S EASTERN SUBURBIA, 2017-2024.Deshmukh, Advait (2024-08-15)Against the context of informality, this paper seeks to understand the changing dynamics of the wire scrap market, social institutions like caste and gender, value production, the ways in which spatial and material structures (labour arrangements and prices) come together and capital accumulation. It accomplishes this through a case study of Wire Gully, which is significant to one of the most flourishing scrap economies in India and is situated in Sakinaka, a community in Lal Bahadur Shastri Nagar, in the eastern suburbs of Mumbai. This case study covers the transformations that take place in Wire Gully and the surrounding area over the course of seven years, from 2017 to 2024. It identifies the market’s trade areas, key institutions that govern it, the flows of waste and recycled material and contextualizes it within the shrinking e-waste informal waste management system (specifically marked with two moments of disruption - demonetisation and the Covid pandemic). The paper investigates how state facilitates the accumulation of private formal capital by appropriating and dispossessing the value and knowledge created by informality.Item Smart Solar Energy Integration in Saudi Arabian Cities: Strategies for Sustainable Urban DevelopmentAlsadah, Shifaa (2024-05)This paper examines the potential for integrating smart solar energy solutions in Saudi Arabian cities, aiming to transition from an oil-dependent economy to a sustainable, renewable energy-based future. Through a comparative analysis with China and the UAE, leaders in solar energy, this study identifies key economic, political, and technological barriers and offers tailored strategies to overcome these challenges. By leveraging geographic advantages and enhancing fiscal incentives, the paper suggests that Saudi Arabia can not only mitigate the economic risks associated with oil dependency but also foster significant urban development through renewable energy. The proposed transition strategy underscores the importance of political support and technological innovation, positioning Saudi Arabia as a future leader in global renewable energy initiatives.