Urban design and community development are often divorced from one another as disciplines despite the profound influence the form of urban space has on the cohesiveness of a community. Using street musicians and the phenomenon of spontaneous breaking of social barriers as a context, this study argues for a holistic approach to design with community development in mind by demonstrating how social relationships between strangers spring up and how they are affected by the nature of urban form....

This particular study focuses on reestablishing the need for a plan and design that creates a more sustainable environment within certain communities, in this case a city such as San Diego. Creating a walkable and sustainable San Diego includes incorporating the new idea of walk audits expressed through the organization Walk San Diego, helping to answer the questions: What are walk audits and how are they used to create the idea of a sustainable environment? Walk audits analyze a particular...

This video is a short introduction to my Senior Research Project for the Urban Studies and Planning program at the University of California at San Diego.

This is an introduction to my Senior Research Project in March 2010

As new undeveloped land becomes scarce in San Diego and the economic downturn has put pressure on existing developments, particularly retail and commercial spaces, the trend has shifted towards infill redevelopment. Hillcrest’s Uptown District Shopping Center, developed three decades ago, has been heralded as the type of infill major cities should now strive for. Developments such as this one, however, are not easy to achieve nor are they to emulate. This research is a study of what makes...

Conformation of Americans to their vehicles has caused a great amount of congestion and problems in the urban infrastructure, in which New Urbanism claims to relieve. This project questions the effectiveness of New Urbanist theories and presents a realistic understanding of transit oriented development in relationship with the American lifestyle.

An Assessment of Walkability Audits, their Results, and their Impact on Future Development

My research project is about the Price Center Expansion at the University of California, San Diego. The main point of this study was to prove if the community environment at UCSD is improving in regards to the recent renovations that were done to Price Center.

Mentored by Teddy Cruz students Emma Feeney, Jamie Intervalo, Nathaniel Kwak and Charles Liu present their work on "Regional heritage in architecture and urban design" for the grand challenge "Sustainable Design of Buildings & Urban‐Ecological Landscapes" for the USP 187: Senior Sequence Research Project. For more information please see: http://seniorsequence.net/