Urban Studies and Planning Commons^™

Active Recreation In Parks: Can Park Design And Facilities Promote Use And Physical Activity?, Lynnette Renee Weigand

Dissertations and Theses

Current research is examining the link between the built environment and regular physical activity to improve public health. As communities become denser and individual lots become smaller, locally accessible parks will assume more importance as places to promote physical activity and individual health outcomes.

To determine if park design and facilities can promote use and physical activity, I examined five neighborhood parks in three newer developments near Portland, Oregon (Fairview Village, Sunnyside Village and Orenco Station). I used a multi-method research approach that included interviews with relevant public agencies and developers, field inventories of the parks and surrounding context, observations …

Contribution Of Public Support Agency Programs To Local New Firm Performance, Stephen Baker Braun

Dissertations and Theses

New and small firms make two indispensable contributions to the American economy: they generate change and competition through market structure changes and they are an essential vehicle by which hundreds of thousands of individuals enter the economic mainstream of American society. Small business formation is hailed as the "engine for economic growth," contributing more than 60 percent of net new jobs in the United States. The central issue of this dissertation is to understand the extent to which entrepreneurs are helped by government agency programs in assembling resources that contribute to the performance of new firms.

This study develops a …

Revitalizing Deteriorated Urban Neighborhood Real Estate Markets Through Concentrated Homeownership Development: Determining The Spillover Effects Of New Homes On The Value Of Surrounding Homes, Jerry Michael Hawkins

Theses and Dissertations in Urban Services - Urban Management

The promotion of homeownership opportunities represents an important approach used by localities to support the revitalization of deteriorated urban neighborhoods. Homeownership is associated with a variety of social and economic benefits to the homeowner including increased residential stability and equity accumulation. The introduction of new homeownership opportunities into a deteriorated urban neighborhood as part of local public policy is intended to capitalize upon the anticipated positive social and economic outcomes. Such new homeownership development also presents the opportunity to generate positive spillover effects on the adjacent existing properties in the neighborhood which may ultimately result in higher real estate tax …

The Influence Of Scientific Claims On An Emerging Environmental Issue, Beth Ann Schaberg

ETD Archive

The environmental movement relies on scientific claims to justify its calls for protectionist policies. These claims can be followed in the scientific literature using bibliometric methods such as citation analysis. Citation analysis was used to deconstruct the literature of endocrine disrupting chemical (EDC) sciences as it emerged and developed time from 1980 through 2004. This study explored how the attributes of scientific papers such as topic, journal, experimental model, document type, and support or negation of hypotheses impacted their influence (quantified as times cited) within the field over time. To accomplish this, unique bibliographic data were acquired for each attribute …

Residential Outcomes Of Hope Vi Relocatees In Richmond, Va, Lallen Tyrone Johnson-Hart

Theses and Dissertations

In 1997 the Richmond Redevelopment and Housing Authority received a HOPE VI grant from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development in the amount of $26.9 million to revitalize the Blackwell scattered site public housing community. The mixed income approach of HOPE VI calls for a reduction of public housing units, thus requiring all households to relocate to other neighborhoods. This research analyzed socioeconomic data to examine the relocation of households, assess whether they moved to better neighborhoods, and compare them to other poor households. Over half of all households moved to other distressed neighborhoods in the Northside, East …

Perceptions Of Change In The Urban Core: A Case Study Of A Satellite Campus In Kitchener, Ontario, Lindsay Woodside

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

The university satellite campus is a recent planning instrument used to revitalize struggling downtown cores. The satellite model, however, is not without controversy. To gain an insight into the debate, this study focuses on the perceptions of groups involved in bringing the Lyle S. Hallman Faculty of Social Work satellite campus to downtown Kitchener, Ontario. Approaches to revitalization since World War II are examined together with the current downtown revitalization initiative in bringing university satellite campuses to downtowns. The strengths and weaknesses of the university and community dynamic are highlighted as they relate to the main university campus and host …

Intra-Urban Spatial Accessibility: An Improved Methodological Approach, Jeremy W.E. Mcandrew

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

The study of accessibility is commonly utilized to further the social equity debate. However, the accessibility literature is ingrained with, and perpetuates, a form of spatial error; aggregation error. The presence of this spatial error severely hinders the applicability of accessibility research in the study of our environment. This thesis seeks to eliminate forms of spatial error from the study of accessibility through the use of comprehensive high resolution spatial information. A service accessibility study is undertaken utilizing origin data collected at the parcel level, while destinations are represented by a diverse and detailed database identifying businesses which cater to …

The Battle Over Our Land: Urbanization Versus Farmland Preservation In The Greater Golden Horseshoe, Kali Mikulica

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

Urban sprawl continues to advance further and further into the countryside, as individuals trade cramped urban spaces for much larger rural lots and longer commutes to work. This increased sprawl permanently converts productive agricultural land to urban uses, especially in regions surrounding rapidly expanding cities. It is for this reason that farmland preservation has become a significant issue for policy officials in recent decades. According to the literature, there are numerous methods of protecting prime agricultural land in the face of urbanization; however there are few studies that focus on how these different policy techniques affect farmers. The Ontario government …

Analysis Of Determinants In Neighborhood Satisfaction Between Defended And Defensible Communities Within The General And Urban Housing Environments, David William Chapman

School of Public Service Theses & Dissertations

The purpose of this study is to provide a detailed examination and analysis of neighborhood satisfaction determinants among residents living within defended and defensible gated communities in the United States. The study considers whether there are significant differences in the determinants at national or regional levels and whether there are significant differences within the components of individual household characteristics, neighborhood quality characteristics, or both.

The theoretical framework and model for neighborhood satisfaction used with this study is based on a modified model of Lu's work on neighborhood satisfaction (1999, pp. 78-79) and residential mobility (1996) that were based on Speare's …

Evaluating If The Built Environment Has A Substantial Effect On Obesity In Fayette County, Kentucky, Will Warren

MPA/MPP/MPFM Capstone Projects

Background:

Obesity is a major health issue in the United States and Fayette County. As Fayette County has become increasingly obese, it too has had an issue of sprawl within its urban service area and beyond. Relationships between obesity and aspects of the built environment are continuing to be studied.

Objective:

To evaluate the impact certain factors may have on the body mass index of Fayette County residents, in particular whether urban sprawl has an overriding impact on the weight of residents.

Methods:

The study area used was Fayette County, which was broken down into its fourteen zip code areas …