Main content start

Previous Honors Theses

Our students have written theses on a broad variety of topics, pursuing their unique passions within the broad field of Urban Studies.

Hard copies of these and other previous honors theses may be consulted in the Urban Studies office, or in special collections at Green Library.

Previous theses may also be available through the Stanford Libraries' Digital Collection of Urban Studies Capstone Projects and Theses

2024
  • Deconstructing the Ethnic Enclave: Selective Cultural Commodification and Gentrification in Koreatown Los Angeles (Andrew Cha, 2024) (pdf)
  • How Much Steak, How Much Sizzle? Evaluating the Sustainability Narratives of Alternative Proteins (Cecilia Ergueta, 2024) (pdf)
  • SQUAT, or the Radical Community Builders of Reunified Berlin [a podcast] (Maya Green, 2024) (pdf) (podcast episodes)
  • Obscenity, Blunder, Utopia: Phoenix's Growth from 1949-1979 (Maya Levine, 2024) (pdf)
  • The Radical Potential of Community Land Trusts: How CLTs can Transform Economies (Sophia Manolis, 2024) (pdf)
  • "Cebritas" Educadores Urbanos: How Bolivia's Zebra Traffic Directors are Shaping Infrastructural Citizenship (Isabel Peralta, 2024) (pdf)
2023
  • Pandemic Disaster Utopia: The Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Perceptions and Uses of Neighborhood Space in the Bay Area (Olivia Szabo, 2023) (pdf)
  • [It's] like being ripped out of your house every day”: Studentification and Psychological Displacement in Proximity to the University of Southern California (Olivia Fu, 2023) (pdf)
  • The Lore of Lake Lanier: Exploring the Impacts of Racial Violence in Shaping Collective Memory Through the Lens of Urban Folklore (Victoria Flowers, 2023) (pdf)
2022
  • #ProtectTheBucketBoys: Bucket Drumming in Chicago as a Means of Transgression (Whitney Tomas, 2022) (pdf)
2021
  • An Atlas of Urban Latin America (Elías Gálvez-Arango, 2021) (pdf)
  • "No, I'm Puerto Rican": An Exploration of Identity Formation and Anticolonial Resistance in Chicago's Puerto Rican Community

    (Melinda Hernandez, 2021) (pdf)
  • Beyond the Great Commission: Exploring the Diversity of Churches as Public Service Organizations (Sarah Priya Kratzer, 2021) (pdf)

  • “Ni de Aquí, Ni de Alla:” Analyzing Identity Formation in the Bordertown of San Ysidro (Marisol Rodriguez, 2021) (pdf)

  • Policing Suburbia: A Case Study of Racist Policing Practices in San Mateo, California (Andrew Skelton, 2021) (pdf)

2020
  • Nowhere to Go: Community-Based Research on Tenant Displacement and Relocation in the San Francisco Bay Area (Kate Ham, 2020) (pdf)
  • A Framework for Identifying Local and Universal Symptoms of Emerging Structural Violence: A Case Study in Berlin (Anna Cecilia Rosenkranz, 2020) (pdf)
  • All Roads Lead to Stockton: How Stockton 'Boomerangs' Are Giving Back and Changing the Narrative of their City (Celine Lopez, 2020) (pdf)
2019
  • Urban Sanity: Examining Administrators' Perceptions of School-Based Mental Health Programs in Oakland Unified School District (Makaila Farrell, 2019) (pdf)
  • Early-Stage Gentrification in America's Heartland: Analyzing College-Age Experiences of Rapid Transformation inside Fayetteville, Arkansas (Sean Michael Volavong, 2019) (pdf)
  • Navigating the Hood Mentality: Exploring the Influence of Neighborhood Effects on At-Risk and Formerly Convicted Youth (Marisol Zarate, 2019) (pdf
  • 626 The Rise of an Asian American Suburb and the Future of Housing and Place in America (Terence Zhao, 2019) (pdf)
2018
  • Housing Works: Welfare, Work, and Leisure in America (Joshua Seawell, 2018) (pdf)
  • Is This My Home? How White Ethnic Organizations Shape Latinx Communities (Rocío Hernández, 2018) (pdf)
2015
  • Rainbow Junction:  South Africa’s Born Free Generation and the Future of Democracy (Stefan Norgaard, 2015) (pdf)
  • Re-Imagining Urbanity: Performance and Collective Disruption in Our Cities (Natasha Tamate Weiss, 2015) (pdf)
  • Traditional Malagasy Architecture and Its Influences on an Urbanizing Antananarivo (Laetitia Walendom, 2015)
2013
  • Arrival of the City: The Impacts of Urban Expansion on Periurban Agricultural Communities of Sangareddy, India (K Gibson, 2013) (pdf)
  • Exploring Perceptions of Asian Identity through Conversations with Asian American Mothers and their Mixed Asian-White Daughters (Jamie Yuen-Shore, 2013) (pdf)
  • Exploring the Broken Windows Theory: A Spatial Analysis of Graffiti and Crime in San Francisco (Natalie Dillon, 2013) (pdf)
  • From Dust to Dust: Mapping Race & Risk to PCB Exposure in West Oakland’s Soil, Food, and Water from 1940-2000 (Matthew Miller, 2013) (pdf)
  • Global Trends and Local Choices: A Comparison of Young Italian and American Food Choices (Taylor McAdam, 2013) (pdf)
  • Grantmaking Foundations' Use of Social Media (Rachel Heredia, 2013) (pdf)
  • High-Tech Urbanism: The Political and Economic Implications of the Smart City (Anna Ponting, 2013) (pdf)
  • Place-Based Corporate Social Entrepreneurship: A Case Study of Whole Foods (Paul Princen, 2013) (pdf)
2012
  • California Dreamin’: Examining the Legacy of the Great Tax Revolt in Chula Vista, California (Gerad Hanono, 2012) (pdf)
  • Effects of Land Use Change and Urban Development on Biodiversity and Traditional Ecological Knowledge in a Maya Community in Yucatan (Erica Fernandez, 2012) (pdf)
  • The Impact of Rail on Economic Growth: A Case Study of the Los Angeles Red Line (Tamara Knox, 2012) (pdf)
  • The Waizhou Special: Exploring the Effects of Immigrant Diffusion on Chinese Restaurant Workers in McMinnville, Tennessee (Stephanie Chan, 2012) (pdf)
2011
  • Getting Involved: How Summer Enrichment Programs Improve Social Development and Behavior (Annie Read, 2011) (pdf)
  • Re-Constructing Hayes Valley: Place Branding and Community in a Revitalizing Neighborhood (Gary Chan, 2011) (pdf)
  • Towards an Integrated Approach to Microfinance A Case for the Integration of Financial and Non-Financial Services in Microfinance Institutions (Eva Orbuch, 2011) (pdf)
  • Working Towards Sustainable Commutes: An Analysis of Cyclists on Caltrain and BART (George Carollo, 2011) (pdf)
2010
  • Participation, Politics and Planning: The Impact of Citizen Participation in Palo Alto, California (Katie Martinez, 2010) (pdf)
2008
  • How Victim-Offender Mediation Impacts Juvenile Offenders: What it Offers and Who it Benefits (Stephanie Fagliano, 2008) (pdf)
  • Theme Park in the City: Disneyland and the Aesthetic of the ‘Anaheim Resort’ (Andrew Reovan, 2008) (pdf)
2007
  • Beyond ‘Máquinas de Dinero’: A Case Study of a Low-Income Worker Cooperative (Alexandra Goldman, 2007) (pdf)
  • How Migrant Workers Find Housing in Beijing: The Role of Individual Agency in Differential Housing Access and Outcomes (Deland Chan, 2007) (pdf)
2000
  • There Goes the Neighborhood: The Failure and Promise of Second Units as a Housing Source for the Midpeninsula (Selena Kyle, 2000) (pdf)