Urban Studies and Planning Commons^™

Community Impacts Of Decision Modeling For Foreclosed Redevelopment, Michael P. Johnson Jr., Alvine Sangang, Buki Usidame

Michael P. Johnson

Community development corporations purchase distressed housing to rehabilitate for renter or owner-occupancy. These mission-driven organizations, skilled in the business of housing development, often lack analytic expertise to determine which acquisitions to pursue that would maximize social impact. This paper presents results, using actual purchase data from a Boston-area CDC, to assess the potential social benefits associated with using a decision model as compared to conventional practices.

Data And Analytics For Neighborhood Development: Smart Shrinkage Decision Modeling In Baltimore, Maryland, Michael P. Johnson Jr., Justin Hollander, Eliza D. Whiteman

Michael P. Johnson

Many older cities in the United States confront the problem of long-term declines in population and economic activity in certain neighborhoods have resulted in blighted conditions that make conventional revitalization initiatives based on increased residential and commercial development unlikely to succeed. Planning scholars have developed a theory of smart shrinkage in which emphasis is placed on non-residential land uses that can maintain and improve quality of life while positioning some land for future growth-oriented activities (Hollander and Németh 2011). Smart shrinkage research and practice involves application of methods from information technology and decision science to identify vacant and abandoned parcels …

Voices Of Blackford County: Employing Counter-Normative Pedagogy In Service Learning, Sherrie M. Steiner

Sherrie M Steiner

No abstract provided.

Strategy Design For Community Response To Distress And Decline Using Data Analytics, Michael P. Johnson Jr.

Michael P. Johnson

The foreclosure crisis in the U.S. has resulted in immense economic and social losses for individuals and neighborhoods. Some neighborhoods face long-term declines in population and economic activity that have been compounded by the foreclosure crisis. How can government and non-profit organizations design responses to neighborhood distress that reflect distinctive community characteristics and are consistent with long-term policy and planning goals? In this talk, I discuss alternative decision modeling strategies that support neighborhood health. Where foreclosure responses are likely to ensure that neighborhoods remain vital places for residential housing, productive strategies may include property acquisition and redevelopment. Other neighborhoods, however, …

Using Big Data: Free, Readily Available But Not Without Problems, Jaap Vos

Jacobus J. "Jaap" Vos

Presentation about the problems with the aggregation of data.

Converting Garages Into A Dissertation: A Conversation With Jacob Wegmann, Jonathan P. Bell

Jonathan P. Bell

UrbDeZine, June 17, 2014. In part 1 of the article, I highlight that burgeoning scholarship on "informality" in the U.S. housing market fails to address the implementation side of planning: the regulation and enforcement of unpermitted dwelling units. Part 2 includes a Q&A with PhD candidate Jacob Wegmann on his groundbreaking dissertation examining the impacts of extralegal dwelling units on the political economy and housing market in Southeast Los Angeles County. The enforcement perspective is core to Wegmann's study. URL: http://losangeles.urbdezine.com/2014/06/17/converting-garages-into-a-dissertation-a-conversation-with-jacob-wegmann/

Feasibility Study Of Consolidating Public Safety Answering Points In Highland Heights, Lyndhurst, Mayfield Heights, Mayfield Village And Richmond Heights, Ohio, Daila Shimek, Kyle Johnson, Eugene L. Kramer, Charles Post

Daila Shimek

This study found that – based on certain configurations of communities and cost considerations – it is economically viable to consolidate public safety answering points (PSAPs) in Highland Heights, Lyndhurst, Mayfield Heights, Mayfield Village and Richmond Heights, Ohio. When comparing 2012 staffing and noncapital costs to estimated staffing and noncapital costs for a consolidated PSAP, the consolidated PSAP would provide an estimated collective reduction in staffing and noncapital costs of ranging from $775,400 to $1.19 million. When comparing 2012 staffing and noncapital costs to estimated staffing and noncapital costs for a consolidated PSAP – plus costs for additional staff to …

Legal Compliance And Window Dressings Do Not Make It Ethical, Jaap Vos

Jacobus J. "Jaap" Vos

Presentation for annual ethics session of APA Idaho.

Data, Analytics And Community-Based Organizations: #11;Transforming Data To Decisions For Community Development, Michael P. Johnson Jr.

Michael P. Johnson

Big data and analytics for community-focused nonprofits can improve analytic capabilities and increase impact. However, Community-based organization needs do not match well with conventional notions of data and analytics. Decentralized model for data-driven research may be preferred, but centralized model is dominant. CBOs can articulate data needs, but are often not yet able to access relevant data easily and use data effectively. Finally, certain values maximize impact of big data and analytics

Planning For Climatic Extremes And Variability: A Review Of Swedish Municipalities’ Adaptation Responses, Christine Wamsler, Ebba Brink

Ebba Brink

Climate change poses a serious challenge to sustainable urban development worldwide. In Sweden, climate change work at the city level emerged in 1996 and has long had a focus on mitigating greenhouse gas emissions. City planners’ “adaptation turn” is recent and still ongoing. This paper presents a meta-evaluation of Swedish municipal adaptation approaches, and how they relate to institutional structures at different levels. The results show that although increasing efforts are being put into the identification of barriers to adaptation planning, in contrast, there is little assessment or systematization of the actual adaptation measures and mainstreaming strategies taken. On this …

Curriculum Vitae, Judah J. Viola

Judah J. Viola, Ph.D.

No abstract provided.

Shelter Poverty In Boston: Problem And Program, Michael E. Stone

Michael E. Stone

This paper argues, first, that most housing problems—in Boston and throughout the nation—are ultimately the result of the squeeze between inadequate incomes, on the one hand, and the cost of profitably providing housing on the other. It is also argued that housing cost and incomes together are the most decisive determinants of the overall quality of life of families and communities. Third, it is contended that the long history of inadequate attempts to cope with the affordabiiity problem have not only failed to solve the problem, but have indeed contributed significantly to the broader and serious problems of the overall …

Students As Catalysts For Large Landscape Conservation, Philip J. Nyhus

Philip J. Nyhus

Colleges, universities, and research institutions are important innovators and partners in many large landscape conservation initiatives. Students are essential but often under-recognized constituents in these endeavors. A conference on Students as Catalysts for Large landscape Conservation was held in 2013 at Colby College to explore this topic. Participants came from 12 states, 3 countries, and 19 institutions. This paper summarizes insights from the conference and associated meetings of the Conservation Catalyst Network, including how and why students engage in large landscape conservation, benefits to students and practitioners, and remaining challenges. Land conservation and policy is replete with legacies of innovative …

Curriculum Vitae, Michael Stone

Michael E. Stone

No abstract provided.

Environmental Justice 2.0: New Latino Environmentalism In Los Angeles, Eric D. Carter

Eric D. Carter

This paper presents the results of ethnographic research conducted with several environmental justice (EJ) organisations in Latino communities of Los Angeles, California. Traditional EJ politics revolves around research and advocacy to reduce discriminatory environmental exposures, risks, and impacts. However, I argue that in recent years there has been a qualitative change in EJ politics, characterised by four main elements: (1) a move away from the reaction to urban environmental "bads" (e.g. polluting industries) in the city towards a focus on the production of nature in the city; (2) strategies that are less dependent on the legal, bureaucratic, and technical "regulatory …

New York City's Community-Based Housing Movement: Achievements And Prospects, Laura Wolf-Powers

Laura Wolf-Powers

A contribution to the book about the relationship of community-based activism to planning, this paper, highlights the experience of community-based not-for-profit housing organizations in New York City and their relationship (from the 1970s through to the present) with that city’s elected officials and executive agencies. I argue that in New York City, community-based organizations have unambiguously added strategic value in the social housing arena, becoming part of the production system and governance framework for the city's affordable housing. Moreover, their political participation and advocacy have helped to bring about many of the policies that currently structure this system. Their role …

Understanding Biopharmaceutical Employment Growth In North Carolina: A "Working Regions" Approach, Laura Wolf-Powers

Laura Wolf-Powers

Scholars of the life sciences industry argue that spatial linkages between research and production have been critical to the growth of the biotechnology and biopharmaceutical sectors. (Feldman and Ronzio, 2001, 2006; Pisano, 1997). More recently, work by Jennifer Clark has suggested that firms in innovation-intensive industries gain competitive advantage from localized supply chains and close control over the manufacturing process. Clark contends that the co-location of design and production makes for regional economies that are innovative and resilient as well as more socially equitable (2013).

Because it has been difficult to understand spatial relationships between manufacturing and R&D using establishment …