Urban Studies and Planning Commons^™

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 …

Food-Based Businesses And The Creative Class In New England's Post-Industrial Cities, Francesca Cigliano

Masters Theses

This master’s thesis examines how the density of food-based businesses in New England’s post-industrial urban neighborhoods relates to neighborhood demographic characteristics. The relationship between food-based businesses and demographic change has been examined in larger metropolitan areas like New York City and Chicago and has found that younger, wealthier, and more highly educated residents tend to live where there are greater densities of food businesses. However, there has been little research on the topic in New England’s post-industrial cities that have historically struggled to attract highly sought knowledge workers. I find that food business density and the share of residents employed …

Worker-Owned Cooperatives As Urban Economic Development., Nick Conder

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation explores the topic of urban policies relating to worker-owned cooperatives, and the political conditions surrounding worker-owned cooperatives in American cities. The topic is studied through a comparison between two case study cities: Cleveland, Ohio and Jackson, Mississippi. Through the collection of public records and interviews with policymakers, analysts, and community activists, this study details the current policy status towards worker-owned cooperatives and the political context for the worker-ownership movement in each city. The study also offers preliminary assessments of existing worker-owned cooperatives and explores the obstacles facing worker-owned enterprises in the selected cities. The findings of the case …

Planning For Industrial Land And Industrial Jobs: An Evaluation Of New York City's Industrial Business Zone Program, Jennifer Davis

Masters Theses

In recent years, industrial preservation policies, which aim to preserve urban industrial activity and industrial employment often through the preservation of industrial land, have emerged as a flashpoint in cities across the country that have implemented these policies. While critics contend that industrial preservation policies amount to smokestack chasing in “post-industrial” cities like New York City, industrial preservationists argue that such policies help to preserve well-paying, middle-class jobs and thus represent a tool to mitigate rising income inequalities in cities. Despite considerable attention to these policies, minimal research has evaluated the effectiveness of industrial preservation policies as land use and …

Coastal Fortresses: A Cross-Case Analysis Of Water, Policy, And Tourism Development In Three Gulf Coast Communities, Kimberly A. Krupa

University of New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

As a result of development pressures and water resource struggles, once rural, spatially segregated coastal commercial fishing villages along the U.S. portion of the Gulf of Mexico are increasingly tourist frontiers for elites and the emergent businesses that cater to them. Over the course of the twentieth century, water events, from coastal land loss to hurricane destruction to natural disaster, have fast-tracked development projects that have allowed for the expansion of the tourism sector, and relaxed policies to encourage bold new economic development initiatives that often put poor coastal communities and their environment in jeopardy. This outcome is not universal …

The Unmaking Of An Embargo: How Policy Entrepreneurs At The Individual, State, And National Levels Are Creating New Paths For Policy Change In Modern United States-Cuba Relations, Kyle C. Griffith

University of New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

Throughout the Cold War antagonisms of the twentieth century, the United States (US) championed greater global economic cooperation and an embrace of free market principles to encourage economic growth. Post World War II, passage of the Bretton Woods Agreement institutionalized this political agenda effectively establishing the rules of global commerce. The result has been increased economic participation and trade liberalization. One of the last remaining vestiges of Cold War hostility and impediments to trade is the US economic embargo of Cuba, in place since 1960. Increasingly seen as a policy failure, the US has taken steps in the past two …

The Hartford Food System: A Review Of Assets, Challenges, And Opportunities, Zachary A. Fromson

International Development, Community and Environment (IDCE)

Abstract

Healthy food systems hold potential to improve a city’s social, health, and economic well-being. Currently, there is a worldwide trend in refocusing food systems to invest in the local community rather than relying on hyper-industrial food value chains that erect barriers for local residents in a city’s food sector. It is the purpose of this report to assess how Hartford’s food sector currently is working so that the city may move in a more innovative direction with its food sector, improving the social, health, and economic conditions for the city and its residents. Thus, this report examines Hartford’s food …

The Job Of Human Capital: What Occupational Data Reveal About Skill Sets, Economic Growth And Regional Competitiveness, Lillian Frances Stewart

ETD Archive

A region's workforce has been described as its greatest asset. Guided by human capital theory and new growth theory, regions have pursued economic development policies to increase the number of college-educated workers and expand the pool of STEM -- science, technology, engineering, and math -- talent. Academic literature and policy interventions have focused on a region's human capital in terms of educational attainment instead of a more fine-grained definition of human capital based on skills and competencies. This dissertation integrates economic and business theory and combines three federal databases to explore regional human capital assets. Findings suggest that policymakers may …

Bicycle Tourism Plan For Economic Development: A Template For Rural Agricultural Towns And A Case Study For The City Of Winters, California, Marisa Rene Lee

Master's Theses

Bicycling is a method of tourism transportation that is healthy, non-invasive, environmentally responsible, and economically sustainable. It allows freedom, mobility, and sightseeing potential that is not made possible by other modes of transit. Thousands of bicycle tourists travel from all over the globe annually to explore California on touring bikes via established cycling routes and robust determination. Thousands of additional domestic and international visitors take weekend trips, plan family vacations, travel for business, or tour California from abroad, many of whom are excellent candidates for local and regional bicycle touring at a more gentle intensity level.

The increasing popularity and …

Louisiana's Water Innovation Cluster: Is It Ready For Global Competition?, Stephen C. Picou

University of New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

The rapid growth of Louisiana's coastal restoration science and technology assets is paralleled by the growth of business resources to fulfill myriad project needs. Many institutions and organizations in Louisiana seek to further develop the state's research, education, engineering and related restoration assets into a globally competitive set of industries with exportable expertise and products that help the state capitalize on its water challenges. Globally, similar efforts are identified (and often branded) as water technology innovation clusters (or more simply water clusters). This paper explores the phenomenon of the development of water clusters by public-private partnerships and initiatives, nationally and …

Working Towards The Sustainability Of New Orleans’ African American Indigenous Cultural Traditions, Ethan K. Ellestad

University of New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

New Orleans indigenous cultural traditions such as Mardi Gras Indians, Social Aid and Pleasure Clubs and second line parades were born out of the disenfranchisement of the African American community. Though the practices have existed for over a century and provide social benefits, they have faced hostility from the police department, indifference from elected officials and city planners, as well as economic exploitation, denying them the ability to thrive. With a restructuring of public policy and outside assistance, these cultural traditions will be able to help revitalize the economically depressed areas where they continue to be practiced.

The Local Economic Growth Impact Of Broadband Infrastructure 1998 To 2008, Karen A. Gurney

ETD Archive

This dissertation presents estimates of the relationship between early investment in broadband infrastructure and a number of local economic indicators using a data set of communities (by zip code) across the U.S. Data is matched from the FCC (Form 477) on broadband infrastructure availability with demographic and other socio-economic data from the U.S. Population Censuses and Business Trends Surveys. Spatial econometric techniques are utilized. Even after controlling for community-level factors known to influence broadband availability and economic activity, it was found that between 1998 and 2008, communities in which broadband was available by 1999, compared to those that did not, …

Inventive Thought In Endogenous Economic Development;An Empirical Comparison Of Darwinian And Lamarckian Approaches, Songpyo Kim

ETD Archive

The importance of knowledge creation in economic development has been enormously emphasized in recent years. Inventions are the first step for innovations that leads to further economic growth. Moreover, when new ideas are created endogenously from within a regional system, rather than from outside, they may lead to internally-generated economic growth and development. Accordingly, this study aims to understand 'the process of generating creative ideas' for endogenous regional economic growth. On the basis of data that reflects the perspectives of actual inventors, the researcher adopted both qualitative and quantitative research methods. The qualitative methods were oriented toward phenomenology and were …

Eminent Domain: The Unintended Consequences Of Kelo, Tracy Lynn Bower

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

In recent years, local governments in the United States have increasingly used eminent domain to promote economic development, raising concerns among property-right advocates over what those advocates view as unlawful, or what should be unlawful, takings of private property in order to benefit another private property owner. This philosophical and legal dispute reached a crisis point in the 2005 United States Supreme Court decision in Kelo v. City of New London. In that decision, the court narrowly upheld a Connecticut Supreme Court ruling granting the City of New London permission to redevelop land that had been seized from existing homeowners …

The Influence Of Research Universities On Technology-Based Regional Economic Development, Iryna V. Lendel

ETD Archive

Universities are frequently assumed to be essential contributors to regional economic development although conclusive evidence that universities trigger economic growth within their region does not exist. This dissertation presents a model that characterizes the influence of university research on regional economic outcomes, changes of total regional employment and gross metropolitan product. The model controls for industry research activity and incorporates differences in regional industrial organization. The model compares the influence of university research and industry research on changes of regional employment and gross metropolitan product during the expansion (1998-2001) and contraction (2002-2004) phases of the business cycle and over the …

The Regional Public-Private Civic Infrastructure Of Hampton Roads And Its Impact On The Implementation Of Economic Development Initiatives, James Andrew Probsdorfer

Theses and Dissertations in Urban Services - Urban Management

This study analyzes the effectiveness of a network of five regional organizations to promote economic development in Hampton Roads, Virginia. Using a case study methodology, data collected from organizational documents, media reports, and personal interviews was categorized and triangulated to determine how many regional economic proposals were implemented from 1990 to 2000. This analysis created a regional timeline from which was produced a regional inventory of economic proposals. This study concluded that the regional economic development organizations in Hampton Roads have a fragmented network and their output has been influenced by regional factors.

Specifically out of a total of nineteen …

Municipal Involvement In International Relations, John Jack William Hilgers

Theses and Dissertations in Urban Services - Urban Management

The purpose of this study is to examine municipal involvement in international relations in the United States. This municipal phenomenon is occurring concurrently with both a shift away from the traditional nation-centric structure of international relations under the influence of globalism as well as a sharp decline in intergovernmental aid. The research questions were: (1) What are the indicators that define municipal involvement in international relations? and (2) What is the extent of that involvement?

Extensive qualitative and research was conducted in the form of an exploratory literature survey which was set forth in narrative analysis to overcome the paucity …