Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Reconceiving The Relationship Between The Built Environment And Walking Behavior: Examining The Samples, Scales, And Methods In Travel Behavior Research, Jaime Pablo Orrego-Oñate

Dissertations and Theses

This dissertation aims to formulate a mechanism for the relationship between the urban form and walking choice that can be consistent across contexts. The motivation is the lack of concordant results in the magnitude of the environmental influence on walking choice in urban areas found in the literature. The dissertation identifies a series of limitations in previous research that could cause mixed results in the magnitudes of the association. This research elaborates an approach to overcome these limitations by proposing a mechanism of the activity density over walking modal share by controlling for trip distance distribution. The aim is an …

An Analysis Of The Strengths And Weaknesses Of The Tulsa Remote Program, As An Effective Economic Development Strategy, Kristen J. Padilla

Dissertations and Theses

Cities do not exist in a vacuum. They are in constant competition for talented, educated individuals and growing, innovative businesses -even if that competition is not explicit or specific. Traditionally cities have been left with two economic development paths to help diversify their economies: attract talent but without jobs, or attract business but without a strong talent pool. However, due to technological advancements, exacerbated by the pandemic, a new and growing workforce that can work from anywhere has emerged, remote workers. This talent pool shifts traditional economic development attraction strategies from city to industry to city to talent.

Many remote …

Examining Emergency Citizen Response To The Covid-19 Pandemic: Emergent Groups Addressing Food Insecurity In Portland, Oregon, Aliza Ruth Tuttle

Dissertations and Theses

Emergency response agencies commonly focus on how hard infrastructure will interact with extreme climatic and geologic events: bridges during an earthquake and buildings following a tornado, for example. Peoples' actual experience of these extreme events vary, however, based on socially constructed consequences of natural hazard events and their interaction with a depleted or robust social safety net.

Previous research shows people living with depleted social safety nets and who experience a natural hazard event are likely to help where they see disaster. Individuals consistently form groups, called emergent groups, to organize their efforts. This research explored emergent groups that formed …

The Impact Of New Light Rail Service On Employment Growth In Portland, Oregon, Lahar Santra

Dissertations and Theses

This study quantitatively examines the impact of the new Light Rail Transit (LRT) service on employment growth in retail, knowledge, and service sectors before and after opening the LRT. At the corridor level, this study conducts a case study of Greenline in Southeast Portland, Oregon. The results of the corridor level study suggest that the new LRT service increased employment along the Greenline corridor among all the three sectors of interest- retail, knowledge, service in the long-term (ten years) while having slightly different results for the short-term (five years), likely due to the slow growth of LRT benefits. This study …

Heat, Wildfire And Energy Demand: An Examination Of Residential Buildings And Community Equity, Chrissi Argyro Antonopoulos

Dissertations and Theses

Extreme heat and wildfire events are becoming more prolific and exacerbated by climate change, carrying significant implications for environmental and social systems. Residential buildings play a central role in protecting people from heat and pollutant exposure during extreme weather events, but the level of protection varies dramatically depending on building energy efficiency and technology availability. Low-income and communities of color have higher energy burdens compared to affluent populations, and underserved communities often do not have financial resources for, or access to, advanced building technologies. This dissertation explores the impacts of extreme heat and wildfire on residential buildings, focused specifically on …

Comparative Study Of Newspaper Coverage About Tiny Homes Within America: A Content Analysis Of Six Geographic Regions, Faith Rothenberger

Dissertations and Theses

Tiny home living is an alternative way of dwelling, compared to the average American home, and is increasing in popularity worldwide. Tiny homes have a smaller ecological footprint, are more affordable than traditional housing, and can be instrumental in addressing many social and environmental pressures facing the US today. This study examines how tiny homes are represented to the public by way of newspaper reporting and seeks to understand if there are geographic and temporal differences in reporting related to tiny homes. The study uses content analysis to identify differences in key factors between regional newspapers within America’s six geographic …