Recent Projects by MUEP Students

Improved Pedestrian Thermal Comfort Through Urban Design

By Jennifer Love
Masters of Urban and Environmental Design Professional Project - May 2009
Graduate Committeee Chair: Professor David Pijawka
Illustrated project summary (pdf)

Open space in urban environments, be it a formal park, an informal gathering place or inviting streetscape, contributes to a sense of community and can encourage pedestrian activity. The challenge to creating inviting open spaces in hot, arid climates such as Phoenix is mitigating extreme summer temperatures to allow year-round pedestrian and outdoor activity. In this study, a microscale climate analysis was conducted using the software ENVI-met to examine the effects of various urban design elements on thermal comfort with the goal of creating open spaces that are usable year round. Specifically, this project develops a set of site scenarios with various physical, design, and materials differences, and applies the ENVI-met program to each scenario to analyze ambient site temperature.

Note: Jennifer is now a Senior Planner with Parsons Brinckerhoff, where she works on a variety of transportation planning and urban design projects throughout the western United States. She can be reached at love@pbworld.com for additional project inquiries.

Reshaping Parking Strategies in a Growing, Landlocked City: The Case of Tempe, Arizona

By Derek Partridge
Masters of Urban and Environmental Design Professional Project - June 2009
Graduate Committeee Chair: Assistant Professor Aaron Golub
Illustrated project summary (pdf)

Due to the historic dominant force of the automobile, our cities and towns have spread across vast landscapes requiring significant parking facilities to support the mobility of the car. The costs associated with parking have been well hidden because minimum parking is generally required by zoning ordinances, creating a situation of abundance. The land consumption, construction and operation of parking facilities require significant resources at the expense of the environment, quality of life and economy. Tempe is a landlocked urban college city with an area of approximately 42 square miles in the Phoenix Metropolitan Area. As the city continues to grow in an increasingly dense setting, the automobile will have a less dominant force and mobility will decrease as a result. Reducing parking requirements and enhancing alternative modes of transportation to destinations significantly increases accessibility, promoting infill development, pedestrian oriented design and more human scale spaces. This report explores the strategies, economics, politics and observations related to parking which is applied to potential changes in the way Tempe approaches parking in its entirety.

Note: Derek is currently a Planner for the City of Tempe Development Services Department. In that position, he works on a variety of planning tasks, including use permits, variances, development review, final plats and many others. He can be reached at derek_partridge@tempe.gov.