An applied research project (formerly called a client project) is recommended for students who are more interested in practical application of what they have learned in their coursework than in scholarly research.  The time span and magnitude of the final project approximates that of the thesis. Academic credit is given through required courses UP 205A and B and UP 597.  Guidance of the applied research project is provided by a committee charied by a faculty member, and and consisting of at least one consulting faculty member and a client representative.

The product may take any form agreed on in advance (e.g., a report, film, computerized model, set of working drawings).  Small groups of students may engage in such a project collectively, or individual students may work on projects alone.

Projects are available at the Southern Regional Library Facility (310 206-2013).   For instructions on how to locate a project from the YRL catalog click here.

Recent project topics are listed below:

2011-12

Careers, Capstones & Conversation Program, April 4, 2012

• From Fringes to Benefits: Strategies for Transitional Banking
• Mitigating Risk in the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit market
• From Microentrepreneurs to Cooperaties? Mobile Vendors, CFRC and Collective Strategies for Economic Development
• The Promise of School Gardening for Students with Special Needs
• Gateway to Green: energy and Water Assessments through the City of Los Angeles Systematic Code Enforcement Program
• Designing for Development: Design Guidelines as a Tool for Preservation and Revitalization in Playa del Rey
• Contemplating the First and Last Mile
• Sustainable Rating System for Affordable Housing in Mexico
• Finding the Effective Planning Tool to Prevent Displacements of Culturally Important Small Businesses in LIttle Tokyo
• Public Art Potential in Los Angeles: Shifting Visions and New Directions
• Redefining Impact: leveraging CEQA to Enhance Complete Streets
• Pushing the Cart Towards Legal Street Vending
• Using Ecosystem Benefits to Prioritize Infrastructure Improvements in Santa Monica
• Evaluating Relationships between Rail Developemnt and Neighborhood Change: Heavy Rail in the City of Los Angeles
• Developing Affordable Transit Neighborhoods through Land Use Planning
• Jobs/Housing Fit: Housing Needs Assessment at Planned Rail Stations in Los Angeles
• Evaluating Relationships between Rail Development and Neighborhood Change: Heavy Rail in the City of Los Angeles
• The Impact of LA Fixed-Guideway Transit Stations on Local Real Estate Market
• Banking Development Districts; A New Solution to Help California Households Access Mainstream Financial Services
• Innovation and Economic Development in the Southern California Water Industry
• Assessing the Institutional Capacity for Complete Streets in L.A.
• The Boy Who Cried Wolf
• Noise at Transit Stations in Highway Medians
• Towards Complete Streets in Los Angeles: Implementing the California Complete Streets Act
• A Comparative Evaluation of the Federal Regulatory and Funding Environment Present During Developmentof Ground Transportation Projects at U.S. Airports
• Carbon Dioxide Reduction Benefits from Bus Rapid Transit: A Case Study of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
• York Boulevard; The Economics of a Road Diet
• Impact Fees for Complete Streets
• Connecting Buses to Increase Intercity Passenger Rail Access
• Parking at High Speed
• Getting Los Angeles to Walk the Walk
• Is Smarter Growth More Equitable Growth? The Relationship Between Gentrification and Travel Behavior
• Bringing New People to the Open Streets
• You've Arrived. Now What? Wayfinding in Transit Station Areas
• Behind the Drivers Seat of Selecting Carshare Locations in West Hollywood, CA
• Engaging Inactive Members: Voluntary Municipal Climate Change Mitigation in Canada
• Climate Change Mitigation Plan

2010-11

• Achieving Zero Waste at UCLA
• Demonstration Projects and their Effect on Neighborhoods
• Earthquake mitigation measures for critical infrastructure and mega-city lifelines in Dhaka, Bangladesh
• A Policy-Based Guide to California Climate Change Regulation for Local Governments
• The Potential for Green Jobs in Pacoima 
• Addressing Diesel Truck Pollution in Pacoima 
• Project Homesafe: A Case Study on Amnesty-Based Granny Flat Legalization & Policy Recommendations for Garage Units in Pacoima, Los Angeles 
• The Built Environment and Travel Behavior: Incorporating Resident’s perception into policy recommendations  
• New Minimum Bicycle Parking Requirements for Los Angeles 
• Metro Gold Line Foothill Extension: Ridership Improvement through Market Segmentation 
• Mediating a Land Use Dispute on 40th Street in Oakland, California 
• Benefit-Cost Analysis for Transportation Project Evaluation: Selecting a Tool for the Metropolitan Transportation 
• Beyond the Peak Travel Market: Can Reinventing Weekend Service Help Save Caltrain? 
• The Relationship between Bikeway Design and Ridership in Eleven North American Cities 
• Potential Opportunities for Jitneys in San Francisco 
• EIR Evaluation Checklist 
• Long Beach Transit: Using GFI Data for Fix-Route Transportation Planning 
• Transit-Oriented Development Guidelines for Metro 
• Electric Vehicles in Los Angeles 
• Understanding the Needs of Los Angeles’ Ethiopian Community: An Assessment of Housing, Employment and Transportation Concerns 
• Missing Link: Express Bus Service from Long Beach to West Los Angeles 
•  Case Studies in Bike-Sharing – Lessons for the City of Santa Monica 
• Integration of transit capacity and vehicle dwell time into the San Francisco travel demand model 
• A Framework for Street Improvements in the Cleantech Corridor  
• Decreasing Outdoor Water Usage Through Social Media 
• Rethinking the Los Angeles Auto Mall:  Updating an outdated model by planning for long-term land use change 
• Bikeable Design: A toolkit for bike-friendly development 
• Koreatown- Multicultural Neighborhood 
• Koreatown- Multicultural Neighborhood 
• Ecological Pocket Parks: Empowering Communities through Neighborhood Water Quality Projects 
• Building Affordable Communities in Santa Monica
• Grey to Green: Developing a guidebook for communities in Los Angeles to reclaim under-utilized right-of-ways for public space
• Partnership and Participation in Kenya
• Sector-Based Job Training
• Taking the High Road:  Bringing Workforce Development Standards to the California Public Utility Commission's Energy Efficiency Programs
• Developing a Distribution Mechanism for Delivering Local, Organic Produce to South Los Angeles
• Where are the Good Food Jobs? Locating and Enhancing Good Work Opportunities in the Los Angeles Food System
• Using GIS to Enhance ENLACE's Basic Service Provision in El Salvador
• Metal Fabrication in LA: Challenges and Opportunities for Growth

2009-2010

• Less Than Meets the Eye: Emerging Equity Issues in Curitiba’s Integrated Transport Network
• THE PLANE TRUTH Air Quality Impacts of Airport Operations and Strategies for Sustainability
• Advancing Statewide Climate Change Adaptation Strategies: Lessons from States and Local Governments Addressing the Impacts of Climate Change  
• Continuous Access HOV Lane Study
• Cycling in Los Angeles 
• Transportation and Travel Costs in Transnational Remittances: A Case Study of Remittance Costs from Los Angeles, California, to Oaxaca’s Valles Centrales 
• Preparing for the Subway: An Analysis of Existing Pedestrian and Cyclist Conditions in Westwood Village
• Wilshire Bus Rapid Transit Project: Lessons Learned for Maintaining Public Support After Implementation of a Bus-Only Lane 
• Incremental Changes for Neighborhood Councils: A Toolkit of Design Strategies and Interventions for more Livable Neighborhoods
• The Real Costs of Building Green: A Closer Look at the Relationship Between Green Design & Cost
• BIDs Take Care of Business: How Los Angeles Neighborhood Initiative Can Use Business Improvement Districts to Improve and Maintain its Neighborhoods
•  Managing Hollywood’s Alleys: A Review of Best Practices and a Guide to Implementation 
• How Can Affordable Housing Build Carbon Neutral?
• Development Agreements in the City of West Hollywood: Community Engagement and the Discussion of Public Benefits
• Defining the Right Price for Variable Tolling Systems: A Case Study Analysis of HOV to HOT Lane Conversions 
• Federal Funding for Local Needs: A Critique and Case Study of the Consolidated Planning Process
• Toy District Revitalization Study 
• City Reintroducing the Pedestrian: A Cast Study of Boyle Heights’ Efforts to Improve Safety, Health, and Transportation  
• Affordable Housing Overlay Zone: Strategies for Legalization and Development of Accessory Dwelling Units in el Pueblito, San Ysidro, CA
• Connecting Pico 
• Clean Compton: A Statistical and Spatial Analysis Approach to Identifying Priority Brownfield Sites in the City of Compton  
• Affordable Housing Provision Through Community Benefits Agreements in South Los Angeles 
• Shifting Power: The Importance of Funding Community Participation
• A Strategic Plan for the Chinese Progressive Association – San Gabriel Valley 
• Shipyard Legacy Fund, Working Families Center  
• Pounding the Pavement: Addressing Walkability in Central Hollywood 
• Housing Homeless Families: Characteristics and Best Practices of Family Transitional Programs in Los Angeles County   
• Bringing YouthBuild to Tucson: Identifying Where an Education, Employment, and Empowerment Opportunity is Most Needed   
• Greening the Apparel Industry: A Process-Based Perspective 
• Good Food for All Angelenos: The Food System Stakeholder Landscape in Los Angeles 
• Food Policy Councils: Democratic Governance for a Sustainable and Equitable Food System
• Design Solutions for East Los Angeles  
• LONCHERAS: A Look at the Stationary Food Truck of Los Angeles 
• Sustainable Trust: The Greening of Existing Affordable Housing 
• Recommendations for the Development of an Expansion Strateg
•  Renewable Energy in Indian Country: An In-Depth Look at Renewable Energy in Hualapai Nation 
• Assessing the Economic Impacts of Climate Change Events to Marine Industries in Long Beach, California  
• A Climate Change Adaptation Strategy for the City of Los Angeles
• The Potential for Energy Efficiency Industry in Los Angeles 
• Keeping Water Conservation Afloat: Sustainable Outdoor Water Conservation Through Progressively Tiered Pricing 

 2008-2009

Client & Thesis Poster Presentations, May 26, 2009:
Program
Session Photos
Poster Photos

• The Plane Truth -- Air Quality Impacts of Airport Operations and Strategies for Sustainabillity: A Case Study of the Los Angeles World Airports ('10)
• A Right to the City: Building a Los Angeles Tenant Union (09)
• Towards a Sustainable Future.(09)
• Stimulating Supermarket Development in South Los Angeles.
  (09)
• Curriculum Development for the LGMTA: Results from Qualitative Research ('09)
• Open Space for Chinatown, Los Angeles ('09)
• Community-Grown Solutions for Improving Food Security: Establishing Community Gardens in Oxnard ('09)
• Carbon Offset Funding: Alternative Funding Options for the Downtown Los Angeles Streetcar ('09)
• Los Angeles State Historic Park: An Analysis of the Challenges to Creating a Twenty-First Century Urban Park ('09)
• Examining the Linkages Between Electronic Roadway Tolling Technologies and Road Pricing Policy Objectives ('09)
• Anaheim Regional Intermodal Center (ARTIC): The Integration of Transportation and Land Use Connectivity ('09)
• State of the Commute at UCLA ('09)
• Rethinking Cultural Arts Planning '09)
• Planning Cultural Tourism in Los Angeles ('09)
• Cultivating Food Equity: Incorporating Edible Gardens into Affordable Housing Developments in Los Angeles ('09)
• Fair Growth in the Figueroa Corridor: Equitable Development Land Use Practice and Town/gown Strategy Possibilities ('09)
• Reclaiming the Roadway: A Study on the Transformation of an Underutilized Street in an Urban Plaza in Hollywood (09)
• A Proposal for a Mixed-Use Development Over the Red-Line Yard: The Tongva ('09)
• Water Inaccessibility in Metro Manila: An Assessment of Water Tariff and the Impact on the Urban Poor After Privatization ('09)
• Addressing Urban Runoff and Water Supply Through Low Impact Development ('09)

2007-08
Client & Thesis Poster Presentations, May 20, 2008:

• Making the Invisible Visible: A case study in cultural preservation and urban design in historic Filipinotown ('08)
• Cleaner Skies, Brighter Future: Opportunities and Obstacles to Reduce Airport-based Greenhouse Gas Emissions ('08)
• Reinvestment in Housing: A Southern California Bank's Perspective ('08)
• First-rate Advocacy from Second-tier Issues: Participatory Transportation Planning in Low-Income Los Angeles. ('08)
• Industrial Mixed Use in Downtown Los Angeles ('08)
• City of Modesto: Affordable Housing Implementation Tools and Plan ('08)
• Putting a Floor UnderWages and Conditions in the Janitorial Industry in California: A Case Study of the Maintenance Cooperation Trust Fund ('08)
• Modeling Sustainability in the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreational Area ('08)
• Accommodating Local Affordable Housing Needs: Southern California Affordable Housing Production During the 1998 to 2005 RHNA Period ('08)
• Green Building and Workforce Development Opportunities in Los Angeles ('08)
• Where the Streets and Sidewalks End: Greening the Public Right-of-Way: Sustainable Solutions for the City of West Hollywood ('08)
• Transportation Impacts of Increased Chinese Textile Imports in the U.S. ('08)
• Valle de los Cirios Pacific Coast Analytical Framework and Site Analysis ('08)
• Construction Careers Policy and Workforce Development ('08)
• Putting Sustainable Community Development in Context: Excerpts from the Rocky Mountain Land Use Institute's Sustainable Community Development code Reform Project ('08)

2006-07
Client & Thesis Poster Presentations, May 29, 2007:
Program

• Passenger Perceptions of Intermodal Connectivity: Evaluating Transit Stops and Stations from the Perspective of Transit Users ('07)
• Santa Monica College Environmental Audit ('07)
• The Collaborative Model: Are We Really Working Together? - An Evaluation of the Fish Contamination Education Collaborative's Participatory Framework ('07)
• Immigrant Boomers' Access to Community Involvement: Assessing the Challenge of Limited Mobility Amidst Dispersed Ethnic Clustering in Los Angeles ('07)
• Public Markets as Sites for Immigrant Entrepreneurship in East Hollywood ('07)
• Cultural Heritage Tourism in Los Angeles: Using a Critical Pedagogy Approach ('07)
• Green Vision-LA: Uniting Economic and Environmental Goals in Northeast Los Angeles ('07)
• Lehigh Liberty Center: Obstacles and Opportunities for Providing Community Benefits in A Private Redevelopment in Newark, New Jersey's Disinvested South Ward ('07)
• Frontline Innovations in the Battle for Affordable Housing: Recommendations for Community Land Trusts in Council District 1, City of Los Angeles ('07)
• Motor Avenue: A Community, Destination, and Connection ('07)
• Design in the Creative City: An Ideas Competition ('07)
• Post-Disaster Shelter and Housing Standards ('07)
• International Disaster Response: Integrating Livelihood Development and Psychosocial Support ('07)
• How Urban Design and Public Investment Can Benefit San Francisco's Redevelopment Agency ('07)
• Integrating Land Use and Transportation: The Revitalization of a Commercial Corridor In Fresno, California Through Innovative Land Use and Zoning Policy ('07)
• Public-Private Partnerships in Energy Efficiency: An ESCO Industry Primer
• New Urbanism and Housing Affordability: An Assessment
• Walkable Alleys: Improving Pedestrian Linkages Between Public Parking Facilities, Housing, and Commercial Businesses in Hollywood, CA ('07)
• Industrial Conversion in Unincorporated LA County ('07)
• A Bicycle Analysis and Conceptual Plan for Southeast Los Angeles Within Proximity of the Exposition Right-of-Way ('07)
  
• Biodiesel Options for UCLA ('07)
• Creating a Green Industry Based on Diesel Retrofit Devices in Los Angeles ('07)
• Evergreen Park and Recreation Center Transportation Analysis ('07)
• Parking Incentives for Carsharing Organizations: An Analysis of Local Government Agencies' Options for Encouraging Carsharing Use Through Parking Incentives and Recommendations for Implementation ('07)
• Florence and Pacific: A Plan for Improving Bike-Transit Access in Huntington Park ('07)

2005-06

• Inner City Revitalization: Revitalizing Vernon-Central Through Strategic Partnerships ('06)
• A Place at the Table: Food Security Strategies for Affordable Housing Communities ('06)
• Exploring Residential Development of Brownfields as a Solution to Los Angeles' Affordable Housing Shortage ('06)
• The Public Costs of Slum Housing in Los Angeles: A Case Study of the Morrison Hotel ('06)
• Choice of the Choice Rider Demand for Light Rail Transit in the Polycentric City: A Look at Culver City and Mid-City Exposition Line ('06)
• The Inner City Facility Struggle: An Assessment of Charter School Facilities and the Development Process in the City of Los Angeles ('06)
• Santee Court Phase II: Analysis of a Real Estate Opportunity in Downtown Los Angeles for an Institutional Investor ('06)
• Public Transit between the United States and Canada: Establishing Regular Bus Service between Whatcom County, Washington, and Vancouver, British Columbia in a post-NAFTA, post-9/11 world ('06)
• The Power of Partnerships: Recommendations for Strategic Partnerships Between Bank of America and Community Organizations in Boyle Heights ('06)
• Estrella Park vs. Caltrrans Nuisance Property: Greeing Wasted Spaces ('06)
• Transit-oriented Development in Culver City: An Opportunity to Support Light Rail Transit and Create a Pedestrian-oriented District ('06)
• Examining Gentrification and Building a Framework for Equitable Development Policy in Los Angeles' Asian Pacific American Ethnic Enclaves ('06)
• Public Transit as a Hedge Against Congestion-Related Externalities: Substantial Benefits and Potential Strategies ('06)
• Mitigating Air Pollution at Seaports: A Review of Emissions Mitigation Efforts at U.S. and European Seaports ('06)
• Examining Gentriciation and Building a Framework for Equitable Development Policy in Los Angeles' Asian Ethnic Enclaves ('06)
• One Step Forward, Two Steps Back: Coordinating Water Management and Development in Response to the Costa Keuhl Act of 2002 ('06)
• Uncommon LA Community Development Through Cultural Tourism: Three Los Angeles Neighborhoods ('06)
• Dollars to Pesos: US to Mexico Remittance Flows ('06)
• MacArthur Park in Transition: Assessing Change and Preserving Neighborhood Integrity ('06)
• Wage, Labor and Safety Conditions in the California Car Wash Industry ('06)
• Trading Spaces: Parking Reform in Neighborhood Commercial Districts
  Affordable Housing Goes Solar: A Feasibility Analysis of Photovoltaics for Future ('06)
• Job Implications in Los Angeles' Green Building Sector ('06)
• A Week's Wage for a Month's Rent: Defining and Measuring Housing Affordability in One of the Nation's Most Expensive States ('06)
• Examining Gentrification and Building a Framework for Equitable Development Policy in Los Angeles' Asian Pacific American Ethnic Enclaves ('06)
• Thinking Regionally and Acting Regionally: An Examation of the Process of Regional Planning in San Diego ('06)
• Pedestrian Experience and Built Form: Analysis and Recommendations for Pasadena's Fair Oaks/Orange Grove Renaissance Commercial District ('06)
• Alternative Methods to Increasing Housing Stock--Converting Commercial Spaces to Residential ('06)