Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

College Of Engineering Senior Design Competition Fall 2005, University Of Nevada, Las Vegas

Fred and Harriet Cox Senior Design Competition Projects

Part of every UNLV engineering student’s academic experience, the senior design project stimulates engineering innovation and entrepreneurship. Each student in their senior year chooses, plans, designs and prototypes a product in this required element of the curriculum. A capstone to the student’s educational career, the senior design project encourages the student to use everything learned in the engineering program to create a practical, real world solution to an engineering challenge.

The senior design competition helps to focus the senior students in increasing the quality and potential for commercial application for their design projects. Judges from local industry evaluate the projects …

Who Is Listening To Local Communities? Connections Between Chicago Region Community-Based Organizations And Regional, State, And National Policy Initiatives, Center For Urban Research And Learning, Philip Nyden, Nathan Benefield, Maureen Hellwig

Center for Urban Research and Learning: Publications and Other Works

As the Chicago metropolitan area continues to grow, a number of plans have been authored by a variety of regional civic organizations. “Regional equity” and “smart growth” have been suggested as organizing principles in some, while economic growth and public revenues have been the focus of others. However, the ongoing role of local community voices in past, present, and future plans is a critical matter. The extent to which future direction of our city and suburbs is informed by local needs partially hinges on the integration of local communities in regional policy debates on both comprehensive plans and specific policy …

Enrollment Forecast (2006-2015) For Klamath Falls City Schools, Portland State University. Population Research Center, Risa S. Proehl, Vicky Buelow, George C. Hough Jr.

School District Enrollment Forecast Reports

This report, prepared by the Population Research Center (PRC) provides a district-wide Enrollment Forecast, Enrollment Forecasts for individual schools, and demographic information for Klamath Falls City Schools (KFCS). The Enrollment Forecasts are developed for each grade for both the district-wide forecast and for the individual schools. KFCS offers education for students in grades kindergarten through 12. However, there is an area within its geographic boundary where not all public school students attend schools in KFCS. This area is referred to as the ‘overlap’ area. Students residing in the overlap area in grades 9-12 attend school in KFCS and those in …

The Internet And Civil Society: Environmental And Labour Organizations In Hong Kong, Yin-Wah Chu, James T. H. Tang

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

To what extent has the Internet strengthened civil society? In which ways have civil society organizations (CSOs) used the internet to communicate their missions, enhance the discussion of public issues, extend networks and mobilize collective actions? This article seeks to answer these and related questions by reporting on an empirical study in Hong Kong. The study involves an analysis of the web pages launched by 14 environmental groups and 22 labour organizations on the one hand, and in-depth interviews with representatives of five of these organizations on the other. Due to the lack of resources and low level of e-readiness …

Immigrant Entrepreneurs And Neighborhood Revitalization: Studies Of The Allston Village, East Boston And Fields Corner Neighborhoods In Boston, Ramon Borges-Mendez, Michael Liu, Paul Watanabe

Institute for Asian American Studies Publications

Although somewhat later than other major urban areas, Boston has been experiencing fundamental demographic changes. The 2000 Census reported that for the first time non-Hispanic whites constitute a minority of the city’s population. Subsequent Census estimates confirm an even stronger trend toward a rapidly diversifying population.

Immigration has been a major factor in this growth and diversification. A recent report shows that over the last 15 years more than 22,000 new immigrants have annually settled in Massachusetts. The foreign-born as a percentage of the population has grown from 9.4 percent in 1980 to 14.3 percent in 2004.

The Nasa Glenn Research Center: An Economic Impact Study Fiscal Year 2004, Robert Sadowski

All Maxine Goodman Levin School of Urban Affairs Publications

The John H. Glenn Research Center at Lewis Field (Glenn) is one of 10 National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Centers. Glenn is situated on 350 acres adjacent to Cleveland Hopkins International Airport. Its physical plant includes over 150 buildings that contain a unique collection of world-class test facilities. Glenn also includes the 6,400-acre Plum Brook Station near Sandusky, Ohio, 50 miles west of Cleveland. It specializes in large-scale tests that would be hazardous within the confines of the main campus.

Transforming Our Regional Economy, Ziona Austrian, Ed Morrison, Laszio Kozmon

All Maxine Goodman Levin School of Urban Affairs Publications

This strategic action plan focuses on the future of Cuyahoga County and sets forth a roadmap to build a more prosperous economy. It is not the only road map available to us, and we can certainly improve upon it. But, it is a roadmap that is practical, one that we can begin using today. We have set out initiatives that can and should be implemented.

Successes And Challenges Among Community Technology Programs In Illinois, Center For Urban Research And Learning, Amy Kerr, Tanya Kellam, Aparna Sharma

Center for Urban Research and Learning: Publications and Other Works

The Illinois Community Technology Fund (ICTF) came about through the SBC/Ameritech merger that set aside $1.5 million in 2000 to provide advanced telecommunications services and skills necessary to improve the quality of live for low-income and rural Illinois populations through organizational grants. This is an evaluation report of a multiple organization community technology project funded by the Illinois Community Technology Fund. These funds were distributed in 2001 and 2002 grant rounds to prepare citizens to live and work in a growing technological society. A wide variety of organizations including community based organizations, community colleges, and schools were given a maximum …

Globalisation And Urban Crime: Mean Streets Or Lost Suburbs, Mark Findlay

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

This parer introduces notions of contemporary globalisation and the manner in which crime and glotalisation interrelate. In particular, the importance of analysing crime and control at both local and global levels is emphasised. Issues of crime and space are addressed in the context of urbanisation. The tendencies of the city to marginalise, and the consequential criminal outcomes from this environment of modernisation (and the modem city) are discussed. Urban planning has had a crucial part to play in humanising and at the same time distinguishing the global push towards urbanisation, and crime prevention is now a recognised feature of globalised …

An Evaluation Of The Oregon Department Of Transportation’S (Odot) Environmental Streamlining Efforts: A Focus On Cetas, Connie P. Ozawa, Jennifer Dill

Urban Studies and Planning Faculty Publications and Presentations

The Oregon Department of Transportation responded to the federal call in the late 1990s to streamline the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) by (1) implementing organizational and procedural changes internal to the agency, (2) funding ODOT-dedicated staff positions in state and federal resource agencies, and (3) convening regular meetings with state and federal agencies with NEPA-related regulatory responsibilities. This latter effort evolved into the CETAS (Collaborative Environmental and Transportation Agreement for Streamlining) process that includes a management and a technical team element. This document reports an assessment of the effectiveness of these efforts. Phase I of the study was designed …

Interlocal Services Cooperation: Bridging Public Management And Metropolitan Governance?, Jered B. Carr

Working Group on Interlocal Services Cooperation

No abstract provided.

List Of Abstracts, Creating Collaborative Communities Conference, Jered B. Carr

Working Group on Interlocal Services Cooperation

No abstract provided.

The Nature Of Metropolitan Governance In Urban America: A Study Of Cooperation, Conflict, And Avoidance In The Kansas City Region, Curtis H. Wood

Working Group on Interlocal Services Cooperation

In this study I determine the dominant pattern of governance in the Kansas City metro based on interviews with 46 city administrative officers in cities over 2,500 in population. Consistent with theories of cooperation, I found that the dominant governance strategy is intergovernmental cooperation in the delivery of public services punctuated by conflict and avoidance/defection when intergovernmental service delivery arrangements involve infrequent interaction between the parties and when the presence and influence of the regional council of government is minimal.

Public Administration And Shared Power: Understanding Governance, Networks, And Partnerships, H. George Frederickson, David Matkin

Working Group on Interlocal Services Cooperation

Starting with the “consolationist” and “fragmentationist” arguments in American local government and contemporary patterns of increasing jurisdictional cooperation and regionalization, this paper examines patterns of jurisdictional cooperation and power sharing in metropolitan regions, and analyses the influence of extrajurisdictional benefits on local government decisions to engage in regional agreements. Our findings are based on a survey of local government officials in the Kansas City Metropolitan area. Cooperation is examined using an Axelrod-type prisoner’s dilemma scenario. Participants include elected officials, chief administrative officers, and department-level administrators—Police Chiefs, Parks and Recreation Directors, Fire Chiefs, and Public Works Directors. Results point to differences …

Interlocal Contractual Arrangements In The Provision Of Public Safety, Simon A. Andrew

Working Group on Interlocal Services Cooperation

The range of interlocal contractual arrangements in the realm of public safety in Florida provides a research site to examine the extent to which these arrangements have been used by local governments. We developed a contractual perspective on interlocal contractual arrangements as relational contracts by arguing that their institutional designs are partly an effort of involved parties to reduce transaction costs that are the product of the properties of the services themselves; and partly by state statutes that allowed mix approaches to contractual arrangements. A relational contract is advantageous because it specified the activities to be rendered without unnecessarily intruding …

Characteristics Of Service, Structure Of Networks, And Forms Of Inter-Local Cooperation In Local Service Production: Evidence From Florida, Manoj Shrestha

Working Group on Interlocal Services Cooperation

This paper empirically examines the interrelationships between service characteristics and the structure of networks among local jurisdictions using relational data across a set of diverse services from Pinellas County in Florida. In metropolitan areas, cities as well as counties work together to become increasingly efficient in public service delivery, and hence, engage into a variety of cooperative arrangements such as bilateral or multilateral service agreements. Increasing restraints on jurisdictions’ fiscal capacity have further forced them to look for cooperative avenues. Extant literature suggests that types of public goods and services determine the choice of service production. Policy/management network scholars argue …

Which Local Governments Cooperate On Public Safety?: Lessons From Michigan, Jered B. Carr, Kelly Leroux

Working Group on Interlocal Services Cooperation

Despite the increased interest in voluntary services cooperation, little is known about the factors that encourage local governments to enter into collaborative services arrangements with each other. This paper addresses this question through an analysis of interlocal contracting arrangements for police and fire services reported by 464 local governments in Michigan. While the contracting of public services is increasing common in local governments across the country, collaborations on police and fire services have proved far more difficult to achieve. Public safety contracting presents a dilemma for public managers. On one hand, local governments devote a substantial part of their budgets …

Cooperative Municipal Service Provision: A Political-Economy Framework For Understanding Intergovernmental Cooperation, Elisabeth R. Gerber, Clark C. Gibson

Working Group on Interlocal Services Cooperation

We develop and apply a theoretical framework for understanding how local governments respond to the perceived costs and benefits of intergovernmental cooperation. Our theory connects local government decisions to economic and political costs and benefits at both the local and regional levels, as well as the institutional context in which collaborative decisions take place. We develop and test hypotheses with data from a sample of regional councils. We find preliminary support for our institutional, local, and regional hypotheses

Elements Of Successful Interlocal Agreements: An Iowa Case Study , Kurt Thurmaier

Working Group on Interlocal Services Cooperation

This paper explores the factors that contribute to successful interlocal agreements. Success is defined in terms of achieving agreement objectives, increasing the effectiveness of the public service, and increasing the efficiency of the public service. Influential factors of interest include the reason the interlocal agreement was created, the estimated costs and benefits of participation in the agreement, and the types and levels of communication between the parties to the agreement. The paper reports results from a survey of local governments (including cities, counties, school districts) in Iowa that have filed an agreement with the state. The sample of about 1250 …

Institutional Collective Action And Local Goverance, Richard C. Feiock

Working Group on Interlocal Services Cooperation

This paper elaborates the institutional collective action framework and its applications to cooperative interlocal service agreements among governments in metropolitan areas. It begins by outlining the information, negotiation, enforcement and agency cost that pose obstacles to cooperative interlocal arrangements. Next it identifies how these transaction costs, and the ability of local actors to overcome them, depend on: 1) characteristics of services; 2) characteristics of communities; 3) political institutions; and 4) structures of policy networks. Specific propositions regarding evolution and effectiveness of interlocal cooperation are advanced and an agenda to investigate institutional collective action among local governments is presented.

Cooperation Costs And The Economics Of Intergovernmental Partnerships, Soji Adelaja, Laila A. Racevskis

Working Group on Interlocal Services Cooperation

Increasingly, state and local governments are promoting intergovernmental coordination, cooperation, and/or outright consolidation (3Cs) based on the perceived economies of scale advantages of such joint actions. However, the growing public finance and political science literature on interregional cooperation highlights the fact that transactions or other cooperation costs may preclude the realization of economies of scale benefits. Despite this evidence, some proponents go as far as to view such collaborative actions as effective policy tools for enhancing regional economic development and competitiveness. The role of cooperation costs and their relationship to economies of scale are not well documented in the literature. …

Facilitating Interlocal Collaboration: Community And The Soft Skills Of Public Management, Ricardo S. Morse

Working Group on Interlocal Services Cooperation

This paper explores the issue of interlocal collaboration in non-metro areas and argues that the concept of community and related "soft skills" that go along with it are critical to understanding how increased collaboration can be encouraged. An action research process piloted in two Iowa counties provides the basis for this study and offers rich qualitative insight into some of the factors that influence non-metro interlocal collaboration.

A Transaction Costs Explanation Of Interlocal Government Collaboration, Skip Krueger, Michael Mcguire

Working Group on Interlocal Services Cooperation

No abstract provided.

Patterns Of Interlocal Services Collaboration: A Preliminary Analysis, Jered B. Carr

Working Group on Interlocal Services Cooperation

Presentation of preliminary findings of the Citizens Research Council of Michigan's survey of public services arrangements in Michigan.

Catalog Of Local Government Services In Michigan, Eric Lupher

Working Group on Interlocal Services Cooperation

The Citizens Research Council announces the release of the Catalog of Local Government Services. The Catalog is the result of a survey sent to the governments of 670 counties, cities, villages, and counties in 24 Michigan counties. The surveys asked which services are provided to residents of each community, and if the services are provided, whether they are provided by the units themselves, through cooperative arrangements, by another unit, or by contract. Responses were received from about 70 percent of the units contacted. The data show that Michigan cities, villages, and townships cannot be characterized in simple terms. The menu …

Occupation Analysis For The Greater Cleveland Area, Jun Koo

All Maxine Goodman Levin School of Urban Affairs Publications

Occupation is an important aspect of regional economy; it has been forgotten, however, in most studies of regional economies. We developed a set of benchmark occupation clusters that share similar knowledge and skills and examined the Cleveland metropolitan area based on the derived occupation clusters.

Getting Grounded In The Post Hometown World, Hedley Burrell, David E. Drew

CGU Faculty Publications and Research

Remember when Americans had hometowns? "Where are you from?" we'd ask one another.

And the answer would come back: New York City. St. Joseph, Mo. Atlanta. Santa Barbara, Calif. Chattanooga, Tenn.

But odds are that now we'd get a more complicated response. It'd go something like this: "Well, I was born in Atlanta but we moved to Baltimore when I was 11 and in my junior year of high school, we went out to L.A. I've been in Chicago for a year."

And even this might not be quite accurate. The speaker may have been born in an Atlanta exurb …

Portland Public Schools Enrollment Forecast, 2005-2015, Based On October 2004 Enrollments, Portland State University. Population Research Center, Barry Edmonston, Risa S. Proehl, Sonoko Endo, Richard Lycan

School District Enrollment Forecast Reports

The Population Research Center has prepared district-wide and individual school Enrollment Forecasts for the Portland Public Schools (PPS) for the past 6 years. This year’s forecast relies on October 2004 PPS enrollment figures. It considers several factors that are likely to affect the school district's enrollments between the October 2004 and 2015, including the future number of births, net migrants, and the proportion of school-age children and youth enrolled in the public schools. The forecasts do not take into account local factors such as changing school programs or future school reorganizations that may have a significant effect on an individual …

Ecolopolis: Making The Case For A Cascadian Supercity, Portland State University

Regional Planning and Metropolitan Growth Management Research Projects

This is a working document and is the first product of an ongoing project focused on the existence of and prospects for Cascadia. The document is organized into three main sections. In section one we consider Cascadia from an economic point of view using the cluster model developed by Michael Porter and others. In section two we look at the Cascadia through the lens afforded by high speed rail. In the third section we revisit the questions that launched this study, and discuss the next steps. For those you new to Cascadia, we append some basic background information on the …

Time-Series Analysis Of Clusters In City Size Distributions, Ahjond S. Garmestani, Craig R. Allen, K. Michael Bessey

Nebraska Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit: Staff Publications

Complex systems, such as urban systems, emerge unpredictably without the influence of central control as a result of adaptive behavior by their component, interacting agents. This paper analyses city size distributions, by decade, from the south-western region of the United States for the years 1890–1990. It determines if the distributions were clustered and documents changes in the pattern of clusters over time. Clusters were determined utilizing a kernel density estimator and cluster analysis. The data were clustered as determined by both methods. The analyses identified 4–7 clusters of cities in each of the decades analysed. Cities cluster into size classes, …