Digital Commons Network^™

Modeling Land Use Change Using Spatial Statistics And Spatial Panel Data Regression In Dallas-Fort Worth Metropolitan Area (1990 - 2020), Ali Behseresht

Public Affairs Dissertations

In this dissertation research, we explored land use change for Activity and Residential land uses in the Dallas-Fort Worth Metropolitan Area (DFW) from 1990 to 2020 in association with spatial and socioeconomic factors. It aims to study three aspects of land use change: dynamics, drivers, and impacts. The research started with three hypotheses, all proven and accepted by the research findings. We reviewed the relevant literature from five aspects of land use change: theories, models, methods, drivers, and impacts. Based on the reviewed literature, the land use change model we discussed is an economics-based spatiotemporal modeling approach in which the …

Creative Collaboration In Rural Texas Communities, Kathryn May Lattimore Norris

Public Affairs Dissertations

The body of research investigating collaboration has grown exponentially in recent years with the realization of its potential in generating innovative solutions to complex problems. Even though an abundance of literature on collaboration exists, scholars have fallen short of understanding how collaboration works towards creativity. Lack of consensus on understanding how this critical construct functions has not only made furthering theory on the matter challenging for researchers, but also made recognizing, utilizing, and realizing the full benefit of collaboration difficult for practitioners. Until the ways collaboration can result in creative outcomes are better understood, practitioners will not be able to …

Meaning-Mating And Hyphenated Actualizing In Individual-Organization Units: Lived Experiences Of Organization Development Practitioners Learning And Carrying Out The Philosophy Of Organization Development, Brian Lee Chapman

Public Affairs Dissertations

Individuals have been organizing for millennia. The purpose of this study was to investigate what it means for individuals and organizations to each experience how an exposure to the instrumentalized philosophies of one impacts the internalized philosophies of the other. This phenomenological investigation focused on the lived experiences of Organization Development (OD) practitioners with learning and carrying out the philosophy of OD. Individual conversations with six participants during fourteen separate interview sessions were phenomenologically carried out, analyzed, and interpreted. The experiences articulated during these conversations elucidate two concepts not found during the literature review – meaning-mating and hyphenated actualization. These …

Researching Appointment Robbery: Voices From The Street, Arthur Gregory Vasquez

Public Affairs Dissertations

This dissertation is composed of three papers that will examine three topics related to the main research project of examining whether or not CPTED strategies have an effect on the decision to participate in appointment robbery. The first paper examines the difficulties in gaining access with the hard-to-reach population of active offenders. The second paper will provide examples of ethical dilemmas that the qualitative researcher faced while in the field. The third paper will explore whether or not criminals were deterred from deciding to engage in criminal activity due to an implementation of a CPTED strategy. These three papers together …

Building On Ruins: Impacts Of Mass Violence And State-Led Repression In Indonesia, Geraldine Santoso

International Affairs Senior Theses

How does mass violence affect perceptions of citizenship? What are the impacts of mass violence and state-led repression on post-colonial political economies? This thesis focuses on the impact of mass violence on the perceptions of citizenship and the political economy of Indonesia. After the Indonesian 1965-1966 mass murders and subsequent state-led repression under General Suharto, perceptions of political and civic identity and political participation were fundamentally changed– where Chinese Indonesians, despite their economic power, are politically disenfranchised and PKI/PKI affiliated pribumi (native) Indonesians are neither politically nor economically empowered.

Capitalist expansion also serves as a critical motive for mass atrocity …

Resilient Or Vulnerable? The Geography Of Crime And Its Impact On Mental Health In Urban Communities, Qian He

Public Affairs Dissertations

This dissertation examines the relationship between neighborhood characteristics, crime, and mental health, with an emphasis on the role of social disadvantage. Using 5-year panel data from Dallas- Fort Worth metroplex, Texas, and a Spatial Econometric research approach, the findings of this study provide suggestions for building safe and healthy communities. Building upon the interdisciplinary literature on urban planning, environmental criminology, and public health, this study first identifies the impact of environmental factors on property crime, then detects the moderating effects of neighborhood environment upon crime’s impact on mental health status. This study finds that commercial and mixed land-use development, number …

Accessibility And The Implementation Of The Americans With Disabilities Act In Small And Medium-Sized Municipalities In The Dallas/Fort Worth Metropolitan Area, John C. Powers

Public Affairs Dissertations

People with disabilities face daily physical challenges posed by inaccessible buildings and unsafe sidewalks or public parks. These barriers prevent millions of people from enjoying resources provided by municipalities across the countries, such as public parks, libraries, and community centers. The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) of 1990, later amended in 2008, was designed to guide municipalities in the removal of those barriers to offer a more inclusive living environment for people with disabilities. Title II of the ADA requires municipalities to ensure that their sidewalks, public parks, and public buildings are accessible. Additionally, public programs such as city council …

Assessment Of The Potential Of Self-Incorporation As A Solution To Roadway Maintenance In Texas Colonias, Moise Dzogolo

Public Affairs Theses

Colonias are communities that lack basic infrastructures such as water, sewer, and paved roads and that are located within 100 miles of the US-Mexico border. They are generally found in unincorporated areas, and the literature, as well as policy makers, have extensively called for their annexation as a solution to solve the infrastructure issues. This paper examines selfincorporation as an alternative to annexations as cities have consistently avoided colonias when they expand through annexation. The paper has two focuses. The first one consists of analyzing the economic and social aspects of a colonia to determine whether they resemble the ones …

The Volunteering Experiences Of African American Millennials: An Exploratory Study, Kapreta J. Johnson

Public Affairs Dissertations

Volunteering is an invaluable resource and practice that connects people to much-needed services. Current research is limited on the practices and perspectives of African American volunteers in the United States. Through the application of surveys, interviews, and focus groups, this qualitative study explores the volunteer experiences of African American millennials. Based on an in-depth review of the literature on volunteerism and social capital theory, this study addresses the following research questions: What are the experiences and expectations of African American millennials participating in employer-sponsored volunteer activities? What are the challenges and limitations of participating in employer-sponsored volunteer activities? What are …

Micropolitan Vs Metropolitan: An Examination Of City Size And Police Funding In Texas, William Casey Heath

Public Affairs Dissertations

The current investigation seeks to understand if similarities or differences in police funding exist between metropolitan and micropolitan cities in Texas. Little is known about the micropolitan cities and police funding for micro cities. Therefore, the general assumption is that metropolitan and micropolitan cities operate similarly. However, the sizes of the cities vary significantly, where metropolitan cities generally comprise cities with populations over 50,000, and micropolitan cities comprise populations between 10,000 and 49,999. In addition, most research focuses on the enormous cities or the rural towns regarding police funding. Therefore, the investigation attempts to address the wide gap of literature …

A Study Of Disproportionality In Discipline For Black Girls In Texas: Does District Type Matter?, Tonelli L. Hatley

Public Affairs Dissertations

The number of African American girls that experience exclusionary discipline in Texas schools is an area of concern that needs to be addressed. In the Southern States, African American female students are five times more likely to receive out-of-school suspension than White female students. The research surrounding the topic of school discipline outlines the disparities concerning students of color and the likelihood of students of color receiving discipline more often and more severe than their counterparts (Fenning & Rose, 2007, Fowler, 2007, Townsend, 2000). Directly related to this concern is the makeup representation of the discipline committee members that decide …

Effects Of Land Use And Transportation Infrastructure On Distance To Work In Individual Car Riders, Raha Pouladi

Public Affairs Dissertations

Studying travel behavior has become a means of addressing car dependency, greenhouse gas emission, and environmental protection. Many studies have examined the effects of socioeconomic and built environmental factors on Vehicle Miles Traveled (VMT) but there is a limited literature examining the role of these factors on home-to-work distance. If one of the concepts of developing new freeways and toll roads is providing faster and more reliable commutes, then it is assumed that new high-speed road infrastructure will lead to a higher commuting distance. This study used the 2017 National Household Travel Survey, U.S. Census, GIS, and Longitudinal Employer-Household Dynamics …

Differences In Discipline: Analysis Of Texas School Discipline Actions For Black Females, Norcise Lavette Williams

Public Affairs Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to examine disproportionate disciplinary rates among Black girls and whether the disproportionality impacts reading achievement in comparison to White girls in Texas urban and suburban public schools, Grades 3–9, in the 2015-2018 academic years. To determine the extent to which inequities were present in the assignment of disciplinary actions for Black girls, the author used data from the Texas Education Agency’s (TEA) Public Education Information Management System (PEIMS). The data included all female students enrolled in Texas public schools who received some form of disciplinary action in the 2015–2018 academic school years. Specifically, the …

Effects Of Assessment And Assignment Regimes On Characteristics Of Participants In Housing Programs For People Emerging From Homelessness, Flora Alexandra Brewer

Public Affairs Dissertations

Homelessness response systems evolved over the last 20 years into institutional regimes that assess and assign homeless people to a limited set of housing programs based on individual characteristics and experiences of homelessness through Coordinated Entry Systems (CES). CESs have become a central feature of US homelessness systems and are now required of all communities receiving HUD funding through the Continuum of Care (CoC) program, the nation’s largest source of funding for homelessness assistance. In theory, housing program assignments are based on criteria reflecting an assessment of participants’ degree of vulnerability for incurring greater harm if left homeless and an …

Evolution Of Sustainability And Resilience In Military Master Planning: Examining Planners' Perceptions, Rhonda E. Fields

Public Affairs Dissertations

An increasingly globalized world and mounting threats to our economy, environment, and social structures have brought the concepts of sustainability and resilience into sharp focus. These threats include climate change, rapid urbanization, and loss of biodiversity in an increasing volatile, uncertain, ambiguous, and complex world. Sustainability and resilience have emerged as key concepts in understanding and addressing urban dynamics toward a livable urban future. These concepts are important because resilience typically deals with the short-term issues surrounding predicting and responding to immediate threats, while sustainability looks at the long-term, steady state of the built and natural environment. Focusing on resilience …

Application Of The Critical Race And Latino Critical Theories To Explore Social Innovation In Nonprofit Services Addressing Hiv/Aids Issues In Texas, Jack Brandon Philips

Public Affairs Dissertations

The nonprofit sector is an essential and valuable resource in the United States for aiding marginalized populations. This study focuses on how nonprofit health organizations provide and innovate HIV services, and how they can overcome barriers in delivering quality services for HIV/AIDS education, prevention, and treatment to Latinos in Texas. Nonprofit organizations are on the front lines of the HIV/AIDS fight, through their outreach in the areas of education, prevention, and testing. Nonprofit organizations are examined for barriers and innovations in service delivery as it applies to the Latino community. This study also examines how the integration of Critical Race …

An Exploratory Case Study: Analyzing Planning Approaches In Economic Development Through The Institutional Analysis And Development Framework, Priscylla Bento

Public Affairs Dissertations

This exploratory case study examines planning and economic development through the Institutional Analysis and Development (IAD) framework in the New Institutional Economic Theory. Two selected case studies highlight economic development orchestrated under two planning approaches, Transactive Planning and Market Oriented Planning. A case study of the Bishop Arts District urban revitalization in Dallas, Texas and the Bexar Street Retail Development Project in Dallas, Texas provides an exploratory analysis of the specified planning methods. This study moves away from previous forms of analysis of economic development planning, highlighting the New Institutional Economic theory through the Institutional Analysis and Development framework as …

Trumpism Against The Public Interest: A Political Discourse Analysis, Walter L. Taylor

Public Affairs Dissertations

Trumpism has come to mean different things to different people. This dissertation explores whether Trumpism is an extreme form of New Public Management, privileging values of efficiency and effectiveness, in public policy and public administration, to the exclusion of the value of social equity. Fairclough & Fairclough’s (2012) political discourse analysis method is applied to Trump’s immigration policy to enact merit-based immigration and to his housing policy to eliminate the Community Development Block Grant program. Using Fairclough & Fairclough’s (2012) political discourse analysis method consisting of argumentation theory and critical discourse analysis, along with Frederickson’s “Compound Theory of Social Equity” …

Paid Family Leave & The Media: A Narrative Policy Framework, Nichole Angelic Horn

Public Affairs Dissertations

This study seeks to understand how paid family leave laws influence traditional gender roles and stereotypes. The mother homemaker/father breadwinner narrative, a prominent concept within feminist circles, assumes particular gendered roles that include women’s responsibility for unpaid labor within the home. The implications of these gendered roles leave women in an economically disadvantaged position. Given the media’s influence in policy making and function to echo current social values, this study utilizes the Narrative Policy Framework (NPF) to investigate how the media frames these policies, and whether that framing helps to dismantle traditional gender narratives. This study finds that as these …

Analysis Of Homeownership Outcomes In The Dallas-Fort Worth Region And Growing Disparities An African American Perspective, Gwendolyn Isokpan

Public Affairs Dissertations

Since the housing bust and Great Recession, in the United States, the homeownership gap between black and white households has widened to its largest levels in 50 years (Choi, McCargo, Neal, Goodman & Young, 2019). With overall inequality continuing to grow, policy decisions must be implemented to begin to mitigate the decreasing levels of homeownership. I argue decreased levels of homeownership are one contributing factor to inequality. More specifically, for African Americans, the homeownership rates have decreased back to the levels during the Civil Rights Era. Within the United States, owning a home is considered an important social and economic …

Assessing Community Mediated Settlements: Enugu, Nigeria's Neo-Customary Approach To Land Delivery And Development At The Peri-Urban Interface, Emma Chetuya

Public Affairs Dissertations

Like most states in Nigeria, the Enugu state government is unable to meet the high demand of land for housing development in Enugu and as a result, the vast majority of land available for purchase is through customary sources. Rapid urbanization is expanding and the urban population is seeking relatively affordable land for development. This is happening predominantly in the peri-urban areas of Enugu. It is in this area where community-mediated settlements (CMS) are developing. CMSs are joint ventures between local communities and the government that provide subdivided land for development. These initiatives are neo-customary in nature as they have …

The Impact Of Perceived Organizational Support On Member Satisfaction With Community Health Worker Organizations, Denise Adame Hernandez

Public Affairs Dissertations

Community Health Workers (CHWs) organizations are professional associations that support the growing CHW workforce and advocate for the unique needs of CHWs. CHWs have successfully improved health outcomes of vulnerable populations and helped alleviate the burden of high healthcare costs. The professional support provided by CHW organizations can play a significant role in addressing the downward trend in the number of CHWs and certification renewals. However, there is little research on the effectiveness of the professional support provided by CHW organizations. This interdisciplinary study applied principles from public administration and behavioral sciences research to apply organizational performance measures to CHW …

Spatial And Dwelling Determinants Of Adult Asthma Exacerbations In The North Central Texas Region, Jinat Jahan

Public Affairs Dissertations

Asthma is an important public health concern as it is one of the major chronic diseases and is influenced by both environmental and genetic factors. The asthma situation is deteriorating in the North Central Texas. In such degrading condition of asthma, this research is one of the first attempts to investigate both indoor and outdoor environment quality and their relationships with adult asthma exacerbation i.e. adult asthma hospital admission rate in this region. To investigate this, I analyzed the geographical variation of about 12,000 adult patients hospitalized for asthma in the North Central Texas (NCT) Region and their association with …

Why People Remain In Socially Disorganized Communities: A Critique Of Social Disorganization Theory, Lasheyla Kajuan Jones

Public Affairs Dissertations

The literature surrounding social disorganization has typically focused on crime and a communities inability to influence existing social rules of behavior upon individuals (Paulsen & Robinson, 2004). This qualitative study examines twenty-one tenure tract residents, business owners, and/or leader’s motivation for remaining in areas deemed socially disorganized under the HUD R/ECAP standards. Utilizing interviews and surveys to understand how individual participants experience living, working, and/or advocating in communities classified as socially inadequate, allowed patterns to emerge that pinpointed why people chose to remain in these communities. Leaders, business owners, and residents alike, offered an array of information supporting their position …

Publicly Supported Rental Housing And Affordability For Very Low-Income Suburbanites: A Study Of Metropolitan America, Eric Varela

Public Affairs Dissertations

This dissertation is about subsidized housing and its provision in the contemporary metropolis, with particular focus on suburbs. Subsidized housing has typically been conceived as fundamentally an urban issue given its historical roots largely centered on addressing destitute slums and inner-city poverty (Stoloff, 2004). Yet today’s American metropolis is fundamentally different from that which existed one hundred, fifty, or even twenty-five years ago. Suburbs are more prominent now than ever before, both as economic centers and diverse cultural mosaics in metropolitan America (Zhang & Logan, 2017). In fact, suburbs are now home to more impoverished Americans than principal cities (Kneebone, …

Assessment Of Mass Transit In Medellin Colombia - A Case Study, Francisco Wilfred Kessler

Public Affairs Dissertations

In Latin America, the rapid growth of large cities due to a rise of population along with increased urbanization has posed serious challenges in developing adequate infrastructure for mass transit. In these cities the demand for travel has risen sharply exceeding the supply. This case study intends to track the historical development of the City of Medellin, Colombia’s transportation system, to assess the success level of the system and how the unique concept of “social urbanism” that centered on inclusive regional mobility and accessibility was instrumental in the development of its transportation system. Medellín, a city of over 2.5 million …

Effects Of Ethnic Neighborhood Socioeconomic-Physical Characteristics And Individual Attributes On Immigrants’ Travel Mode Choice In North Texas, Kukhyoung Kim

Public Affairs Dissertations

Previous studies of immigrants’ travel behavior have been conducted mostly in California and the United States as a whole. Even though immigrant population and the share of immigrants have rapidly increased in Texas, only limited studies have been conducted for travel behavior of Hispanic immigrants. No study has examined the effects of attributes at multiple geographic levels on travel behavior. This study intends to fill the void. It examines the effects of ethnic neighborhoods’ social, economic, and physical characteristics on residents’ travel mode choice, with a focus on immigrants in North Texas using the 2017 National Household Travel Survey, the …

The Charismatic Dog And Public Space: Are Dog Parks A Third Place?, Lori Dynette Lee

Public Affairs Dissertations

Exiting research supports dog parks as a third place based on the ability of dog-supportive public space to bring people together informally outside home and work (Graham and Glover, 2014), yet offers little clarity in terms of strength of interaction. Ray Oldenburg (1989), the originator of the notion of third place, stresses the importance of certain contexts in supporting repeat encounters, which he explains are of crucial importance to effective third places, while lamenting their absence in suburban America. A careful review of his work in this dissertation raises the question, is a dog park within a suburban Dallas context …

Food Affordability: Sustainable Food Center Increasing Food Access Through Double Dollars Incentive, Codie Freeman

Public Affairs Theses

Food barriers have become a growing problem for many communities due to lower access to healthy foods. Not having access to healthy foods has been linked to health problems rising in communities. There are several food barriers including affordability of food that causes individuals of low-income groups to struggle to gain access to fruits and vegetables. Communities across the world have been creating and implementing new policies and programs in order to reduce the geographic and monetary barriers to increase food access. The Sustainable Food Center has been utilizing their Double Dollars Program to help lower income families who are …

Designing The Civic Commons: How Design Can Foster Social Capital In Civic Spaces In The Context Of Urban Sprawl, Jennifer Jean Sloan

Public Affairs Dissertations

In modern America, people gather in civic public spaces for many reasons: to celebrate family, gather as a community, engage in commerce, or protest injustices. The design of these spaces is critical to their ability to foster civic participation. Jan Gehl has argued that public spaces should be designed for people and encourage social interactions that build social capital (Gehl, 2006). Social capital is beneficial to individuals and communities in many ways, including political engagement, the economic prosperity of individuals and communities, and the safety and security of the community (Putnam, 1995). It has been said that in public spaces, …