Architecture & Urban Design Designing Regional Parks for Civic Vitality and Sustainability

1. Architecture & Urban Design • Designing Regional Parks for Civic Vitality and Sustainability • Parks and open space planning for the public good (co-mentors: Judy Tjiong, Patrick McDonough) • Greening of Buildings • Green Building: Design Innovation and Implementation (mentor: Paul Linden) • Urban Design Master Planning • Mike Stepner, New School of Architecture (application required)

2. Community & Economic Development • Greening of Industry and Economic Development • Greening of Business: Socio-economic and regulatory challenges (mentor: Patti Krebbs; research team supporters: Al Hurt, John Grosskopf) • Quality of Life in Community and Economic Development • Quality of Life metrics and improvement strategies (mentor: TBD) • Equitable Redevelopment and Public Policy • Inequality and public policy (mentor: Isaac Martin) • Sustainable Development : Policy and planning challenges aimed at integrating social justice/equity, economic efficiency and environmental stewardship (co-mentors: Murtaza Baxamusa, Corinne Wilson, Donald Cohen)

3. Environment • Environmental Justice • There are no 2008-2009 Research Teams • Greening the University and Sustainability Science • UCSD's carbon footprint and climate change: Initiatives involving renewable energy, energy efficiency and conservation (co-mentors: John Dilliot, Julie Hampel). • Climate Change: Responding at the local level • Costs/Benefits of Climate Change Mitigation Measures (mentor: Linda Pratt) • Sustainability of Urban-Nature Ecosystems • Nature Reserves and the city: Socio-technical challenges in the stewardship of urban-ecological systems (Mentor: Isabelle Kay; Research Team Supporter: Paul Dayton) • Regional Integrated Watershed Management • Chollas Creek Watershed: New approaches to integrated ecological planning and decision-making (mentors: Hiram Sarabia, John Robertus) • Regionalizing urban watershed management planning (mentors: Hiram Sarabia, John Robertus) • Coastal Zones and Ocean Management • Ocean Management in Coastal Zones: Socio-Technical and Legal-Institutional Challenges (mentor: Carl Nettleton)

4. Housing • Affordable Housing • Housing , Smart Growth and Regional Development (mentor: Ken Grimes, research team supporter: Jeff Tayman) • Housing Affordability: Policy and Planning Methods (mentor: Ken Grimes, research team supporter: Nico Calavita)

5. Infrastructure and Public Facilities • Green Infrastructure for Sustainable City-Regions • Green Infrastructure: Balancing design, technical challenges and cost/benefits at a regional scale (mentor: Rob Hutzel) • San Diego River Park: A case study in valuing green infrastructure (mentor: Rob Hutzel) • Sustainable Energy and Environmental Monitoring • Greening of energy production and policy (mentors: Rich Caputo, Jake King) • Cyberinfrastructure • Information and communication technology: The 4th wave in use of computers and the internet for urban and regional planning (mentors: Jeff Tayman, Ilya Zaslavsky; research team supporter: David Schkade)

6. Public Health, Safety and Welfare • Crime and the City • Crime and the City: New approaches in theory and practice (mentor: Julie Wartell) • Education and Equity • Innovation in educational policy and planning: Case studies (mentor: TBD) • Quality of Life, Public Health and Welfare • Public health policy and practice: Toward whole systems and integrated approaches (mentor: TBD, research team supporter: David Cleveland)

7. Transportation Planning • Transportation Equity • Inequalities in Transportation Planning (mentor: Connery Cepeda; research team supporter: Carolyn Chase) • Promoting Bicycling and Walking • Colina Park Mobility Planning (mentor: Kerry Sheldon, research team supporter: Andy Hamilton)

8. Tribal Policy and Planning • Improving Tribal Environmental Health Through Collaboration • Empowering Tribes Through Collaboration: Environmental Health Policies and Ordinances (mentor: Paula Stigler) • Tribal Environmental Health Science and Technology • Tribal Environmental Health Assessment for the San Diego Region (mentor: Hiram Sarabia)

9. Urban and Regional Planning • Climate Change and Natural Disasters • Low-lying coastal zones and risks posed by climate change (mentor: TBD) • Regional Comprehensive Planning • The Regional Comprehensive Plan: Barriers and Bridges to Implementation (mentor: Bob Leiter) • Community and Regional Food Planning • Foodshed Mapping (co-mentors: Julie Osborn, Jonathan Reinbold, Elle Igoe; research team supporter: Mary Lydon) • Multiculturalism and the City • Ethnic diversity and social change (mentor: TBD, research team supporter: April Linton) • Community Mapping and Comparative City Planning Analysis • The science of land use planning: Using data to craft and evaluate alternate versions of projects and plans and to monitor implementation (co-mentors: Toni Dillon, Samir Hajjiri, Jacques Chirazi) .

10. US-Mexico Border Planning • Transborder City-Region Planning and Development • New Regionalism and Global Environmental Health: Challenges posed by transboundary flows of material, energy and knowledge (mentor: Hiram Sarabia, Carlos Graizbord) • Planning for Sustainable Human Settlements • Environmental health and the built environment: An analysis of low-income housing development along the US-Mexico border (mentors: Oscar Romo, Hiram Sarabia) • Laureles Canyon, Tijuana: A case study focused on alternative community-based solutions to urban and environmental health problems (mentors: Hiram Sarabia, Oscar Romo)

11. This assignment has three parts: (1) Proposal Abstract, (2) Sources of Evidence, and (3) Feedback from Mentor plus two Experts. 1: Proposal Abstract Write the first draft of your proposal abstract (150 words). Begin by looking over the requirements for a complete proposal (jump ahead and review what will be required in A#2). The abstract is part of a larger whole; so you need to know where it fits in the context of a complete proposal. Examples of a complete proposal (written by students) are in the course reader on reserve and posted on our class web site: http://seniorsequence.net/?page_id=211 Your abstract should succinctly state the issue you will be addressing in your Senior Thesis and how you will do the research. The abstract should be no longer than 150 words, and it should address these specific questions: 1. Opening sentences: What is the research question or problem? 2.Middle section: Why is your topic significant? How is the study to be conducted? What methods will you use to answer your questions? 3. Ending sentences: What is the scholarly context and how will your investigation add value to the literature in this area? What is the objective of the research?

12. If you get stuck trying to write your abstract, try using this template (fill in the blanks) This proposal outlines a research strategy to examine [1] in [2]. Current research on [1] suggests that [3]. This raises three fundamental problems: [4]. This proposal outlines a research strategy aimed at addressing these three problems. Specifically, the study will [5] . The research will contribute to the literature on [6], but it will also be shared with [7] in the hope that [8]. [1]. Fill in this blank with your object of study: e.g., watershed-based approaches to pollution prevention, the affordable housing crisis, digital divide, economic redevelopment, environmental planning. [2]. Fill in this blank with your target area or unit of analysis: e.g., San Diego, a neighborhood, a school district, the San Diego-Tijuana crossborder region, network, association. [3]. Fill in this blank with highlights that underscore the significance of your topic: e.g., Recent studies suggest that watershed initiatives offer a more proactive and whole-systems approach to pollution prevention, yet current regulatory arrangements thwart progress. [4]. Fill in this blank with the three specific questions/issues/problems/concerns that drive your study. [5]. Fill in this blank by listing your methods: e.g., I will do a case study of San Diego County's Project Clean Water. I will also rely on archival research, interview data, and participant observation as a research intern for the City of San Diego. [6]. Fill in this blank by identifying the field of literature to which your study aims to add value: e.g.,This research will contribute to the literature on environmental policy and regulatory innovation. [7]. and [8]. Here you can add other objectives of your research outside the scholarly dimension (that is, if you have other objectives). For example, The results of this study will also be shared with public sector officials in the hope that the findings will help improve water quality management.

13. II: Sources of Evidence The objective of this assignment is to get you thinking about the empirical content of your SRP (i.e., what data will you actually analyze in your SRP). Create a table (like the one shown below) that includes your sources of evidence (data), the strengths and weaknesses of your sources of data, info on what the data adds to your story (anticipated findings), and provide a brief one-page narrative summary (~250 words) of your table telling us what sources of evidence you think are the most important for your study and why.

15. III: Feedback from Your Mentor Plus Two Additional Experts •  This part of the assignment forces you to seek out and get input from experts or specialists (individuals willing to give you feedback on your initial research topic in the form of suggestions, contacts, academic sources, insights, etc.). Specifically, we want you to check in with your mentor and two additional experts. • Solicit their feedback on your ideas and strategy (as described by you in Parts I and II above). Record this feedback in the form of a brief report that includes: (a) the name and affiliation of your mentor and two more experts, (b) the time and place of your contact/communication with said mentor/experts, and (c) the highlights of what they shared with you in the form of suggestions, contacts, academic sources, insights, etc. • Part (c) should highlight what each expert said, and what you learned from the interaction. Part (c) can be written as one integrated narrative (weaving together into one overarching summary the feedback you get from all three experts) or it can be written as three separate summaries (one for each expert). Regardless of how you format the report, the total length should be no longer than three pages of double-spaced text.