Urban Studies Commons^™

Detroit Regional Analysis: Demographics, Economy, Entrepreneurship And Innovation, Merissa Piazza, Joan Chase, Chang-Shik Song, Elorm Tsegah, Ziona Austrian

Ziona Austrian

No abstract provided.

Minority Participation In Technology Based Growth Industries In Northeast Ohio, Merissa Piazza, Elorm Tsegah, Ziona Austrian, Ellen Cyran

Ziona Austrian

No abstract provided.

Maintain, Demolish, Re‐Purpose: Policy Design For Vacant Land Management Using Decision Models, Michael P. Johnson Jr., Justin Hollander, Alma Hallulli

Michael P. Johnson

Neighborhoods, cities, regions and countries face sustained economic and population decline, due to lower population growth rates, deindustrialization and sustained disinvestment, and the housing foreclosure crisis. Planners increasingly see ‘decline’ as something to plan for: a place may lose population while ensuring a high quality of life and enhanced social value (Delken 2008, Hollander 2010). Growth-oriented planning continues to maintain its hegemony over local government decision-making. Can decision models help planners devise strategies that will maximize the social value of managed decline?

Nonpunctuated And Sweeping Policy Change: Bhutan Tobacco Policy Making From 1991 To 2009, Michael S. Givel

Michael S. Givel

This paper examines policy outputs associated with the 2004 Bhutan antitobacco law, including 2009 amendments, to determine if the law is congruent with punctuated equilibrium or social policy realism theories of policy change. There was no direct and sudden tobacco policy output change in Bhutan due to a shock to the policy system contrary to what punctuated equilibrium theory would predict. Rather, policy change was sweeping but nonpunctuated. This paper reconfirms prior findings of social policy realism theory that various and complex policy output patterns occur due to a mixture of contingent and complex factors. Under social policy realism, a …

Re-Thinking The Rural-Urban Divide In China’S New Stratification Order, Qian Forrest Zhang

Qian Forrest ZHANG

I use a Marxist framework centred on the mode of production to conceptually analyze the changing stratification structure in today’s China with a focus on the changing nature of rural-urban inequality. As the state-managed tributary mode of production, once dominant under socialism, is being gradually eclipsed by the reviving petty-commodity mode of production and the newly emerged capitalist mode of production, both of which are market-based and enable the transfer of surplus from labour to capital, a new set of mechanisms are creating and sustaining rural-urban inequality in China. Rural-urban inequality – although still significant in its magnitude – is …

Chagrin River Watershed Partners Needs Assessment And Service Strategy, Daila Shimek

Daila Shimek

This report describes the needs identified by member communities and organizations of the Chagrin River Watershed Partners (CRWP) that could be adopted by CRWP as part of its service strategy. The results suggest that members are pleased with the services provided by CRWP. Additional needs fell into one of eight categories: (1) Information, education, and training, (2) Planning, development, redevelopment, and resolutions/ordinances, (3) Funding and grants, (4) Technical assistance, (5) Regulations and requirements, (6) Storm water infrastructure maintenance, (7) Providing a strategic role in helping manage the watershed, and (8) Managing relationships.

Decison Models For Housing And Community Development, Michael P. Johnson Jr.

Michael P. Johnson

Values, Objectives, And Decisions: Using Community-Based Operations Research For Neighborhood Redevelopment, Michael P. Johnson Jr., Rachel B. Drew, Jeffrey Keisler, David Turcotte

Jeffrey Keisler

In this presentation we describe an application of value-focused thinking and decision analysis to the design and evaluation of strategies for housing development especially in urban communities affected by the ongoing foreclosure crisis. This is part of a multi-campus, multi-disciplinary effort to study decision processes of community development corporations (CDCs) acquiring and redeveloping foreclosed properties for neighborhood stabilization.

Values, Objectives, And Decisions: Using Community-Based Operations Research For Neighborhood Redevelopment, Michael P. Johnson Jr., Rachel B. Drew, Jeffrey Keisler, David Turcotte

Michael P. Johnson

In this presentation we describe an application of value-focused thinking and decision analysis to the design and evaluation of strategies for housing development especially in urban communities affected by the ongoing foreclosure crisis. This is part of a multi-campus, multi-disciplinary effort to study decision processes of community development corporations (CDCs) acquiring and redeveloping foreclosed properties for neighborhood stabilization.

Michael Johnson Research Profile, Michael P. Johnson Jr.

Michael P. Johnson

This document summarizes my disciplinary training and my research products.

Finger Lickin’ Good: An Analytical Investigation Into The Urban Diet, Jennifer T.R. Tomlinson

Jennifer T.R. Tomlinson

In this analysis, the origins, customs and implications of fast-food culture will be explored with important focus on the customs of fast-food urban eating. Research indicates that lower-income urban areas are more likely to consume fast-food. The high consumption of fast-food subsequently results in the development of social and economical implications, which include health implications, economic dilemmas, a disconnection between consumers and their consumption and issues of social classification. This analysis also explores the customs of fast-food culture of Pine Hills, Florida with added emphasis on Pine Hills’ cultural uniqueness.

Community-Engaged Decision Support For Foreclosed Housing Acquisition And Redevelopment In Boston, Michael P. Johnson Jr.

Michael P. Johnson

This project develops decision tools and analytical methods to help non‐profit community development corporations (CDCs) acquire and redevelop foreclosed housing for neighborhood stabilization and revitalization. Interviews and direct observations at partner CDCs have helped us identify current practices, data and requirements for our decision models. Problem‐structuring methods through CDC focus groups have generated core operational and organizational objectives. Spreadsheet‐ and optimization based decision models generate policy and operational alternatives that address multiple resident and community outcomes. Our research will support efficient responses to the recent foreclosure crisis, especially in distressed neighborhoods, and suggest policy implications at local and national levels.

Public Policy Phd Program 2012 Policies And Procedures Manual (Draft), Michael P. Johnson Jr.

Michael P. Johnson

Policies and procedures manual for the Public Policy PhD program, Department of Public Policy and Public Affairs, University of Massachusetts Boston. Covers courses, concentrations, candidacy requirements, procedures for completing the PhD. Includes forms and supporting documents.

From The Quadrangle To The River: Revitalizing The Heart Of Downtown Springfield, Mary F. Dehais, Yuanfang Gong, John E. Hulsey, Pamela Jo Landi, Adam G. Monroy, Seth A. Morrow, Alexander G. Seib, Jie Su, Kate A. Tooke, Owen M. White, Emily S. Wright, Kuang Xin, Xiao Zhou

Mary Dehais

This studio report explores community service learning in the graduate urban design studio taught in the in Department of Landscape Architecture and Regional Planning at the University of Massachusetts Amherst and instructed by Professor Frank Sleegers. The project will began with a visioning workshop, conducted to engage community members in the shaping of project goals and objectives within the project area of downtown Springfield. These findings were brought to the studio and guided the design process and outcomes. Five design teams developed five alternative master plans for the core area of downtown Springfield with focus on the revitalization of open …

The Impact Of Municipal Renewable Electricity Use On Greenhouse Gas Emissions In The United States, Rachel M. Krause

Rachel M. Krause

Local governments are increasingly taking initiatives to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. However, limited and inconsistent data makes evaluating the aggregate impact of relevant actions difficult. This paper focuses specifically on U.S. city governments’ use of renewable electricity to power their own operations. It develops a range of rough estimates for the cumulative nationwide impact of this activity and finds that it results in an annual abatement of between 5.8 and 29.2 million metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2e), with the best approximation being 6.2 million tons CO2e a year. This is about 20% of the estimated total that …

Bureaucratic Advocacy And Ethics A State-Level Case Of Public Agency Rulemaking And Tobacco Control Policy, Michael S. Givel, Andrew Spivak

Michael S. Givel

Before 2001, the Oklahoma Department of Health achieved little to protect the public from the dangers of secondhand tobacco smoke. In an ongoing effort between 2000 and 2003, the department joined with health groups to lobby for stronger requirements, resulting in a new Oklahoma administrative rule in 2002 and legislation in 2003 regulating secondhand tobacco smoke. This action was congruent with the American Society of Public Administration's Code of Ethics for interactive democratic policymaking, in which administrators are required to serve the public interest with compassion, benevolence, fairness, and optimism.

Regional Industrial Structure And Agglomeration Economies: An Analysis Of Productivity In Three Manufacturing Industries., Joshua Drucker, Edward Feser

Joshua Drucker