Bridging Divides Studio - Fall 2025 Portal: Welcome
Welcome
Welcome to the Bridging Divides Studio research portal. The portal provides quick links to the resources you need to succeed in your course. Whether you are online or on-Grounds, UVA Library services and support are available to all students.
Your Librarian
Your Librarian is Rebecca Coleman
Rebecca can help with: refining your topic, gathering research, finding images and site documentation, locating maps and data, organizing your research, citations, and more! She can meet with you in-person or online via Zoom.
Search Virgo
Request content any time
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I need scanned chapter(s)/articles from a print item in the LibraryNOTE: this option is available to graduate students and faculty only at this time.
Download library apps and software
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Libkey Nomad Browser ExtensionUpon finding an article on any website, Libkey Nomad identifies if the Library has access (and directs you to the full PDF of the article), or if not, directs you to Interlibrary Loan to allow you to get quick access to any article, anywhere.
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ZoteroAnother free alternative to Refworks - collect, organize, cite and share your research sources. Downloads to your web browser on your personal computer. Is especially good for saving and linking to digital objects and web pages.
Ask a Librarian
Help me with citations
Different disciplines use different styles of citation. Please check to determine which style is right for your course and assignment. Remember that citations are important for crediting ideas, designs, data sources, image creators, and more.
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Use Zotero to organize your sources and generate bibliographiesGuide to downloading and using Zotero, a free application that collects, manages, and cites research sources.
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MLA Handbook Plus This link opens in a new window
The ninth edition builds on the MLA’s unique approach to documenting sources using a template of core elements that allows writers to cite any type of work, from books, e-books, and journal articles in databases to song lyrics, online images, YouTube videos, dissertations, and more.
Sign Up for Library events
Sign up for Library orientations, workshops, and events with our online calendar. UVA Library programming is offered in-person and online.
Search for articles
Academic databases can help you discover peer-reviewed articles, images, reports, news, and more.
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Google Scholar This link opens in a new windowFind articles from most online scholarly journals plus some books and Web sites. Use preferences to turn on links to Find@UVa.
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Avery Index to Architectural Periodicals This link opens in a new windowSearch an index of more than 2000 periodicals about architecture. Includes tools to limit your results to articles that inclued plans, sections, etc.
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Web of Knowledge/Web of Science This link opens in a new windowInterdisciplinary database strong in the sciences and social sciences. Has tools to help you follow citation trails and evaluate content quickly.
Washington DC Resources
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Washington, DC Office of PlanningLinks to plans and initiatives for the city. Includes zoning, historic preservation, maps, data, and more.
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DC Advisory Neighborhood CommissionsAdvisory Neighborhood Commissions consider a wide range of issues and policies within DC Neighborhoods. This site can help you identify the ANC for an area of DC, and link you to meeting minutes and more information.
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DC Policy CenterNonprofit with a stated mission to "arm decision makers with fact-based, unbiased, and reliable research and analyses to help create a vibrant local economy that can maximize opportunities for residents, workers, and businesses in the District of Columbia."
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DC History ResourcesA thorough guide from Georgetown University with a wealth of links to institutions, online collections, and more.
Data and GIS Sources
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Built Environment Indicators & Health – Interactive Map Tool.Subsection of Open Data DC of particular relevance to this studio.
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Open Data from COREOpen data resources from CORE (Council on Racial Equity). Includes data sets on a variety of indicators from multiple sources.
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Mapping Racial Segregation in Washinton DCHistory and mapping of racial property covenants in DC.
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PolicyMap This link opens in a new windowPolicyMap is an online data and mapping tool that enables government, commercial, non-profit and academic institutions to access data about communities and markets across the US. Use it for research, market studies, business planning, site selection, grant applications and impact analysis.
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ArcGIS Living AtlasSearch maps and data layers from the largest collection of geographic information in the world. Log in for best functionality.
11th Street Bridge Project Resources
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Building Bridges Across the RiverIncludes information and a collection of resources and documentation.
Images (DC and Graphic Design)
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JSTOR This link opens in a new window
JSTOR provides access to millions of journal articles, books, images, and primary sources in 75 disciplines. The Archive Journal Collection is included.
API available, more information here: APIs for Scholarly Research
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Environmental Justice Screening and Mapping ToolOriginally hosted by the EPA before information was removed and restored at this location.
Case Study Resources
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Building Types Online This link opens in a new windowBuilding Types Online is a resource for the study and practice of architectural design. It is based on Birkhäuser's high international standing in professional architecture books, on the knowledge of the authors and editors who are leading experts in their fields, as well as on the technical quality of the illustrations. The database offers highly flexible and detailed search and browse access to the contents of the Birkhäuser program on building types.
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Detail Inspiration This link opens in a new window
In this image and reference database you will find all project documentation from more than 50 years of DETAIL. With every new DETAIL edition, the database is supplemented with the current projects. You can search and filter by main keyword terms, such as building type, material, year of construction or DETAIL issue theme. DETAIL inspiration supports you in the search for building solutions and in your everyday work. All project descriptions are available for download.
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El Croquis OnlineDigital access to El Croquis journal issues 2001-Present. Please note: El Croquis currently requires that you use VPN access, even if you are on Grounds.
Tip: Remember that books and periodicals include case studies, images, and diagrams that may not be available online. See the Precedent Research Guide for more help in finding project information and documentation.
Suggested Books
Search VIRGO to find more books. Suggested search terms include: "Shared Housing," "Apartments," "Apartment houses,"Housing,"Urban," "City," "Health," and "Architecture," "Construction," or "Design".
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Soft City
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Imagine waking up to the gentle noises of the city, and moving through your day with complete confidence that you will get where you need to go quickly and efficiently. Soft City is about ease and comfort, where density has a human dimension, adapting to our ever-changing needs, nurturing relationships, and accommodating the pleasures of everyday life. How do we move from the current reality in most cites--separated uses and lengthy commutes in single-occupancy vehicles that drain human, environmental, and community resources--to support a soft city approach? In Soft City David Sim, partner and creative director at Gehl, shows how this is possible, presenting ideas and graphic examples from around the globe. He draws from his vast design experience to make a case for a dense and diverse built environment at a human scale, which he presents through a series of observations of older and newer places, and a range of simple built phenomena, some traditional and some totally new inventions. Sim shows that increasing density is not enough. The soft city must consider the organization and layout of the built environment for more fluid movement and comfort, a diversity of building types, and thoughtful design to ensure a sustainable urban environment and society. Soft City begins with the big ideas of happiness and quality of life, and then shows how they are tied to the way we live. The heart of the book is highly visual and shows the building blocks for neighborhoods: building types and their organization and orientation; how we can get along as we get around a city; and living with the weather. As every citizen deals with the reality of a changing climate, Soft City explores how the built environment can adapt and respond. Soft City offers inspiration, ideas, and guidance for anyone interested in city building. Sim shows how to make any city more efficient, more livable, and better connected to the environment.
Call Number: EbookISBN: 9781642830187Publication Date: 2019-08-20 -
Urban Sprawl and Public Health
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Urban Sprawl and Public Health offers a comprehensive look atthe interface of urban planning, architecture, transportation,community design, and public health. It summarizes the evidence linkingadverse health outcomes with sprawling development, and outlines thecomplex challenges of developing policy that promotes and protectspublic health. Anyone concerned with issues of public health, urbanplanning, transportation, architecture, or the environment will want toread Urban Sprawl and Public Health.
Call Number: EbookISBN: 9781559639125Publication Date: 2004-07-09 -
Urban Lowlands: A History of Neighborhoods, Poverty, and Planning
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Call Number: EbookISBN: 9780226710679Publication Date: 2020 -
Healthy Placemaking
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In modern-day society the main threats to public health are now considered 'avoidable illnesses', which are often caused by a lack of exercise and physical activity. Research suggests that architectural and urban design strategies play an important role in reducing the amount of avoidable illnesses by enabling physical activity through healthier streets. Practitioners must now consider how they can encourage people to lead healthier lifestyles and improve health through urban design. This book presents the path to healthier cities through six core themes - urban planning, walkable communities, neighbourhood building blocks, movement networks, environmental integration and community empowerment. Each theme is presented with an overview of the issues, the solutions and how to apply them practically with exemplars and precedents. It's an essential text that provides practitioners across urban design, architecture, master planning with the necessary knowledge and guidance to understand their role in producing healthier places and put it in to practice.
Call Number: EbookISBN: 9781003010050Publication Date: 2020-01-31 -
Designing Healthy and Liveable Cities
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In the last ten years, concepts such as urban health and liveability have become ever more present in urban planning studies. Many companies rank the most liveable city in the world or in a nation, and many indicators are used to try to measure factors which can report the health of a place by investigating it in different ways. While it is possible to understand why a place is liveable - due to the liveability and health concepts that are being more and more explored in urban studies, and the strong influence coming from other disciplines - it is difficult to design a place that is certain to be healthy and liveable. Accordingly, aim of this book is, after the definition of the field of investigation concerning sustainable regeneration trough topics such as resilience, adaptation, health, and mixed connections, to illustrate the present-day approaches to the analysis and design of healthy places, and in particular the original Healthy Pl@ce Design method, flexible and repeatable in different contexts. The method aims to identify sustainable urban liveability and healthiness and the factors which make places liveable and healthy from users' points of view and identifying design interventions that can enhance or create both urban liveability and health. Emblematic case studies carried out in Europe, Canada and China - Bordeaux, Copenhagen, Hamburg, Madrid, Newcastle-Gateshead, Nice, Dublin, Vancouver and Wuhan - constitute the empirical part of the book, detailed with surveys, questionnaires, images and maps. The theoretical framework - built on contemporary issues - and international case studies make this book both attractive and scientific, adding a new stone on the sustainable city construction and opening it to a particularly wide readership, including scholars, students, administrators and professionals.
Call Number: EbookISBN: 9781003098775Publication Date: 2022-10-11 -
City of Well-Being
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City of Well-being provides a radical and holistic introduction to the science and art of town planning. It starts from the premise that the purpose of planning is the health, well-being and sustainable quality of life of people. Drawing on current and historic examples it offers inspiration, information and an integrated perspective which challenges all professions and decision-makers that affect the urban environment. It is both authoritative and readable, designed for students, practitioners, politicians and civil society. The science. Summarizing the most recent research, the book demonstrates the interrelationships between the huge issues of obesity, unhealthy lifestyles, inequality, mental illness, climate change and environmental quality. The radical implications for transport, housing, economic, social and energy policies are spelt out. The art and politics. The book examines how economic development really happens, and how spatial decisions reinforce or undermine good intentions. It searches for the creative strategies, urban forms and neighbourhood designs that can marry the ideal with the real. The relationship of planning and politics is tackled head-on, leading to conclusions about the role of planners, communities and development agencies in a pluralistic society. Healthy planning principles could provide a powerful logical motivation for all practitioners.
Call Number: EbookISBN: 9781315438672Publication Date: 2016-11-10 -
River of Redemption
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Incorporating seven years of photography and research, Krista Schlyer portrays life along the Anacostia River, a Washington, DC, waterway rich in history and biodiversity that has nonetheless lingered for years in obscurity and neglect in our nation's capital. River of Redemption offers an experience of the river that reveals its eons of natural history, centuries of destruction, and decades of restoration efforts. The story of the Anacostia echoes the story of rivers across America. Inspired by Aldo Leopold's classic book, A Sand County Almanac, Krista Schlyer evokes a consciousness of time and place, taking readers through the seasons in the watershed as well as through the river's complex history and ecology. As with rivers nationwide, the ways we've changed the Anacostia affect the people and wildlife that inhabit its shores, from the headwaters in Maryland, past its confluence with the Potomac River, and ultimately to the Chesapeake Bay. Centuries of abuse at the hands of people who have altered the landscape and mistreated the waterway have transformed it into a polluted, toxic soup unfit for swimming or fishing. The forgotten river is both a reminder of the worst humanity can do to the natural landscape and a wellspring of memory that offers a roadmap back to health and well-being for watershed residents, human and non-human alike. Blending stunning photography with informative and poignant text, River of Redemption offers the opportunity to reinvent our role in urban ecology and to redeem our relationship with this national river and watersheds nationwide.
Call Number: EbookISBN: 9781623496920Publication Date: 2018-11-26
Google Tips & Tricks
These tips can help you locate better information on the web, faster. But remember- a lot of information is not freely available on the web, no matter how well you search!
- Put quotation marks around words that you want to stick together as a phrase
- Add "site:.gov" to the end of your search to ONLY search websites on government domains
- Add "site:website.com" to search only the content of a specific site (for example: charlottesville.org!)
- Add "filetype:pdf" to ONLY search for information you think is likely to be in PDF format (reports, documents, etc.)
- Use the minus sign or dash to eliminate results that are off target (Example: food system -digestive)
- Remember that Google is only a computer, and doesn't understand the concepts in your search. So, try your search using different keywords and phrases that mean the same thing.
Locate more resources by program or topic
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See Resources in Other Subject AreasWe have guides to the databases in many areas-- history, politics, business, sciences, etc. If your research touches on these subjects, check out the databases listed on that guide, too!