Partnership for Action Learning in Sustainability (PALS)

Permanent URI for this collectionhttp://hdl.handle.net/1903/21474

The Partnership for Action Learning in Sustainability (PALS) is administered by the National Center for Smart Growth at the University of Maryland, College Park (UMD). It is a campus-wide initiative that harnesses the expertise of UMD faculty and the energy and ingenuity of UMD students to help Maryland communities become more environmentally, economically, and socially sustainable. PALS is designed to provide innovative, low-cost assistance to local governments while creating real-world problem-solving experiences for University of Maryland graduate and undergraduate students.

Browse

Filters

20153

Settings

Author: search.filters.author.Allen, TanyaEnd date: 2019

Search Results

Now showing 1 - 3 of 3
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    City of Frederick Carbon Footprint and Energy Profile
    (Partnership for Action Learning in Sustainability (PALS), 2015) Allen, Tanya; Couto, Paulo; He, Pan; Omay, Murat; Sampson, Ashley; Francis, Daniel; Rockwell, Zack; Bearne, Amee; Dunham, Christine; Schlie, David; Engel, Albert; Williamson, Sean
    As Maryland's second largest city, it is imperative that the City of Frederick being tracking and managing its role in contributing to global greenhouse gas emissions (GHGs). This report is the City's first greenhouse gas inventory of local government operations and covers the year 2013. With the data sources, methodology, findings, and recommendations collected or generated as a part of this effort, The City of Frederick is better positioned to institutionalize the process of tracking and managing greenhouse gas emissions, energy use, and other resources that will advance sustainability.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Job Accessibility in Southwest Baltimore
    (Partnership for Action Learning in Sustainability (PALS), 2015) Allen, Tanya; Cunningham, Peter; Lombardi, Derek; Nair, Anusree; Liu, Chao
    Job accessibility is a question of how many jobs are available in a given area, and whether or not area residents are physically able to get to them via car, transit, or other modes of transportation. In addition, it is a question of whether these jobs are a “good fit” for the residents who have access to them—whether or not these jobs offer wages that are competitive and whether or not these jobs require skills and experience consistent with employees’ training and education. This study develops a preliminary understanding of the employment challenges and opportunities facing Southwest Partnership (SWP) residents by mapping selected Longitudinal Employer Household Dynamics (LEHD) and American Community Survey (ACS) data related to employment and commuting. It finds that SWP residents live close to a substantial number of jobs at all wage and skill levels, with average commutes that are consistent with City-wide averages. Nevertheless there is room for improvement. In particular, SWP residents would benefit from programs that match local residents with nearby opportunities and improved multimodal transportation access. It concludes that the SWP should continue to highlight its potential as a central, relatively well-connected area where improvements in infrastructure and educational attainment levels can have a big impact. Targeted improvements in these areas could both enhance the quality of life for existing residents and attract new residents to the community.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Innovation-Led Economic Development in Howard County Maryland Using Cluster Analysis, Network Analysis and Spatial Analysis to Identify Economic Development Strategies
    (Partnership for Action Learning in Sustainability (PALS), 2015) Allen, Tanya; Benoit, Emily; Choudhry, Razia; Farhan, Hanan; Franklin, Kristen; Greene, Cole; Haller, Andrea; Johnson, Jacob; Mohamed, Amina; Norman, Karitsa; Prindle, Emma; Rockwell, Zachary; Schlie, David; Dempwolf, C. Scott
    Identifying and fostering the growth of innovative companies has long been a focus of economic development. However, traditional methods of economic analysis often fail to identify sources of innovative growth because they are not designed to do so. Innovation is by definition ever-evolving and defies methods that focus on slow growth and historic trends. By investigating the nature of innovation, it is clear that methods to foster growth must themselves be innovative and able to capture change and complex relationships. The focus of the Community Planning Studio was to identify innovation-led economic development strategies that would help spur innovation in Howard County, Maryland. In doing so, the class focused on a variety of economic data analysis methods to identify innovation activity in the county. The methods included traditional economic analysis which incorporated demographic, employment, education and commuting data. U.S Cluster Mapping was also used to identify industry clusters in the county- a method used by most economic development agencies.