Date of Graduation

5-2022

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Bachelor of Landscape Architecture

Degree Level

Undergraduate

Department

Landscape Architecture

Advisor/Mentor

Folan, Patty

Committee Member/Reader

Coffman, Jim

Committee Member/Second Reader

Adams, Candice

Abstract

Over the past few years, young adults have been put in a rather tough situation concerning personal finances. As college tuition has risen, so has student debt accrual, leaving many recent college graduates near-crippled financially. Along with this issue, which is large in and of itself, is the fact that housing prices have risen in many of the metropolitan areas in the United States. Both of these problems, when coupled, lead to a decrease in quality of life for most young adults, and people in general. Because of this, the approach of this thesis is to find an affordable form of housing in the form of accessory dwelling units that frees up personal finances for young adults, and thus increases overall quality of life. To do this, economic and housing data will be examined to establish the issue at hand and case studies will be conducted in both San Francisco and Santa Barbara in order to gauge the applicability and feasibility of ADUs as a housing option for recent college graduates. Multiple features that are deemed important to young adults will be examined such as price, design, and walkability. From how each city performed within these chosen metrics, implications and conclusions are drawn as to whether accessory dwelling units would truly serve as an alternative and affordable form of housing for young adults.

Keywords

Landscape Architecture; Urban Planning; Accessory Dwelling Units; Rising Housing Costs; Rising College Education Costs; Student Debt

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