Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Evaluating Deliberative Democracy : Comparing Habermas' Discourse Ethic And Evaluations Of Consensus Process In Residential Cooperatives, Katheryn Sutter

Dissertations and Theses

How do deliberators reason together on what is best? Planners, policy analysts and community developers should know how to recognize the validity of participatory deliberations claimed to give groups voice in policy decisions. Policy analyses have lost power in the face of postmodern critiques of objectivity. Practical policy analyses require more than objective validity for they express results of what Jürgen Habermas refers to as normative rationality. This study followed John Forester's recommended research agenda for rigorous empirical analyses of policy process deliberations using Jürgen Habermas' Theory of Communicative Action. Three successful residential communities were identified with organizational and institutional …

Community Benchmarks: An Analysis Of Performance Measurements In Urban Planning Management, Susan Joan Daluddung

Dissertations and Theses

New public management practices in the U.S. call for governmental accountability, performance measures and benchmarks. Community benchmarks research provides a basis for current information and further research for planners and educators in the urban planning profession. A benchmark is simply a standard for performance or targeted level of service delivery aspired to by the city. Community benchmarks, as defined by the researcher, are tied to an adopted community plan. Community plans take many shapes including the General or Comprehensive Plan, the city's budget document, or a variety of strategic planning documents.

The intent of the study was to complete research …

Actor And Partner Effects Among Marital Dyads In Retirement Adjustment And Well-Being, Julie Guenette Howard

Dissertations and Theses

Our understanding of and interest in how retirement impacts the lives of individuals have grown over the past 20 years. Studies to date have ranged from small, convenience samples composed primarily of men to large, national longitudinal samples of men and women from different professional and socioeconomic backgrounds. There is consensus in the literature that older adults generally function better with a partner; however, gaps remain. We know little about the impact of retirement beyond the individual, although research in other areas on couples has produced evidence of crossover and contagion effects relative to depression and other outcomes, including absenteeism, …

"We Want Smokestacks And Not Swamps" : Filling In Portland's Guild's Lake, 1906-1925, Kathleen D. Tucker

Dissertations and Theses

Between 1905 and 1926. developers. real estate speculators, and the Port of -Portland filled in Guild's Lake, a riparian marsh that had been the location for Portland's 1905 Lewis and Clark.: Exposition and Oriental Fair. There were two phases in the filling process. The first phase, which began before the fair ended and lasted until 1914, involved developers using high-pressured hydraulic hoses to sluice soil from nearby hills into the lake. Their primary goal was to terrace the hillside to create a high-end view neighborhood; Guild's Lake was a convenient "dump" for the gravel and dirt. During the second phase. …

Re-Imaging A Neighborhood : The Creation Of The Alberta Arts District, Portland, Oregon, Meredith R. Rizzari

Dissertations and Theses

Art is often used as a catalyst to stimulate redevelopment and neighborhood change. This often occurs inadvertently as the presence of artists in certain communities can attract both public and private investment to revalorize economically depressed areas. Marginal neighborhoods in inner-urban areas offer inspiration and diversity to artists seeking lower-cost housing. Their presence effectively makes these marginal communities "safe" for middle-class residents looking to live in a funky, urban neighborhood. Ultimately, however, artists are eventually priced out of the communities they helped to create.

The Alberta district in northeast Portland, Oregon has used art to create an identity that distinguished …