Urban Studies and Planning Commons^™

Demolition, Rehabilitation, And Conservation: Heritage In Shanghai’S Urban Regeneration, 1990–2015 [Post-Print], Xiaohua Zhong, Xiangming Chen

Faculty Scholarship

Urban heritage sites in central cities are most difficult to protect during rapid and large scale urban (re)development. Rising land values from property development conflict with and constrain heritage preservation. Compared with many cities in developed and developing countries, large Chinese cities have experienced a stronger redevelopment imperative, faster population growth, and a weaker concern for urban heritages over the last three decades. We use Shanghai to examine the contested evolution of heritage preservation against massive urban redevelopment through three stages from 1990 to the present. Using three heritage projects (Xintiandi, Tianzifang, Bugaoli), we focus on: 1) how each project …

Aiddata Gis International Fellowship: Ghana West-Africa, Jason N. Ready

International Development, Community and Environment (IDCE)

My internship, or fellowship as it was commonly referred to, was funded by a non-profit organization out of Williamsburg Virginia called AidData. This fellowship took place in in the country of Ghana, West-Africa beginning in May of 2016 and continued for 14 weeks with 40 hours each week. The objective of this internship was to provide in-depth training on the use of geographic Information Systems to Private and Public sectors within the country to allow for increased efficiency, and transparency through data visualization. In accordance with the requirement of Clark Universities GISDE master’s program this paper will delve into the …

The Latino Population Of New York City, 1990 - 2015, Laird W. Bergad

Center for Latin American, Caribbean, and Latino Studies

This report is an update to the CLACLS report "The Latino Population of New York City, 1990-2010" issued in November 2011. It uses the most current data from the U.S. Census Bureau's 2015 American Community Survey released in October 2016. The report examines a wide range of social and economic variables tracing how these changed for Latinos in general within the City in comparison to non-Hispanic whites, non-Hispanic blacks, and Asians. It also examines the changes within the five largest Latino nationalities in the City: Dominicans, Puerto Ricans, Mexicans, Ecuadorians, and Colombians. There has been a definitive transformation in Latino …

Solving Slums: Assessing Rehabilitation Policy In Mumbai, India, Carl Hooks

Carl Hooks

Sentido De Comunidad: Conectando La Teoría Con La Práctica En El Sector La Mariscal, Quito, Ecuador / Sense Of Community: Connecting Theory With Practice In The Mariscal Sector, Quito, Ecuador, Matthew Sant-Miller

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

En este ensayo, analizaré las maneras en que la teoría del sentido de comunidad se traduce en la práctica. Para cumplir con este análisis, me enfoco en una organización barrial, Operación Urbana Sostenible (OPUS) – La Mariscal, que se ubica en un barrio al norte de Quito, Ecuador. Después de repasar la literatura académica actual y presentar el marco teórico, proveo información básica de fondo tanto del barrio La Mariscal como de la organización OPUS. Luego, considero la temática de la aplicación de la teoría del sentido de comunidad a través de un análisis de tres temas principales que OPUS …

Relocation, Resistance And Resilience: Squatter Community Responses To Government Intervention For Urban Development In Kathmandu, Reilly Brooks

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

“Squatting,” or residing on public land illegally, is a modern urban phenomenon in developing countries. This phenomenon is attributed to rapid urbanization due to rural-to-urban migration, which leads to rising costs of living, exclusionary housing markets, a lack of affordable housing and urban inequality. Ultimately, unplanned urban growth encourages the formation and expansion of squatter settlements. These settlements are commonly characterized as slum due to the impoverished living conditions, highly congested spaces and lack of public services (water, sanitation, education, etc.) Without land certificates, squatters are denied their right to adequate housing and land security, which should be protected by …

Post-Apartheid Citizenship And The Politics Of Evictions In Inner City Johannesburg, Anthony Johnson

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Based in Johannesburg, South Africa, this ethnographic study examines the phenomenon of eviction within the context of the post-apartheid constitutional right to housing and legal protections against evictions. Rather than view evictions as a singular event, evictions are treated as a lived experience intrinsically linked to the historical, political, and economic life of inner city Johannesburg and more broadly South Africa. I address how South Africa’s constitution creates both a platform for housing advocates to contest evictions and also allows property owners to evict tenants. To analyze evictions, I collected data through participant observation, media sources, archives, interviews, and legal …

Urban Synagogues-Changing Relationship With Tikkun Olam, Rena Schuman Stoler

International Development, Community and Environment (IDCE)

Synagogues in their urban context are searching for ways to responsibly act on the value of tikkun olam. Tikkun olam has adapted in the American context but in its essence is Jewish value of repairing the world. Five rabbis and one organizer were interviewed to shed light on the intricate dynamic between Jewish synagogues and social justice work in their city. The five synagogues were challenged by the Jewish call to social justice, and challenges that influenced their vision for a better world. Therefore, rabbis need to strike a balance between appeasing internal issues and being a present force in …

Growing The Green Energy Economy: Workforce Development And Cluster Growth In The Pioneer Valley Of Massachusetts, Nicholas B. Altonaga

International Development, Community and Environment (IDCE)

Workforce development programs have a positive effect on the formation of a cluster. Incorporating these programs into cluster theory is essential to creating more robust and dynamic local growth in the emerging green energy sector. Studying programs in the green energy sector in the Pioneer Valley has shown an increase in collaboration, local and regional connectivity, and industry communication. These aspects reinforce the comparative advantage of organizations within the cluster, while downplaying their challenges . Applying this focus on workforce development is important for cementing the green energy cluster into an enduring force in the domestic economy in the 21 …

Cloud-Based Land Change Modeler Application: Summer Internship With Clark Labs, Lei Rong

International Development, Community and Environment (IDCE)

ABSTRACT

Cloud-based Land Change Modeler Application:

Summer Internship with Clark Labs, Worcester, MA

Lei Rong

This report provides a detailed illustration of my internship experience with Clark Labs in Worcester, MA, during the summer of 2015. The internship is about two Land Change Modeler projects which conducted by Esri. The first one is a cloud-based Land Change Model on ArcGIS online for professional change analysts. Another one is a free cloud-based App for land change analysts and the public to explore land change of 48 states in United State. This work mainly relied on TerrSet skills and Land Change Modeler …

Masters Of Science In Environmental Science And Policy Portfolio, Annalise B. Kukor

International Development, Community and Environment (IDCE)

Through my work as a Master’s student in Environmental Science and Policy at Clark University I have acquired a wide variety of knowledge and skills which will be showcased in this document. The breadth of courses and sub disciplines that I have taken has expanded my awareness and understanding of the current state of Environmental Science and Policy. My undergraduate degree from Clark University in Environmental Science focusing on Earth Systems Science focused primarily on comprehension of the Earth’s physical processes with applications for Global Climate Change. This master’s work has expanded upon those quantitative skills as well as deepened …

Singapore: Real State Control, Sock Yong Phang

Research Collection School Of Economics

The author explains how the government of Singapore has taken on the role of land use planner and housing developer to ensure affordable housing. Numerous instruments have been devised by governments to provide affordable housing. These can be classified into four broad categories: taxes and subsidies, land use and market regulations, public-private partnerships, and institutions that supply housing or provide financing.

Climate Change Instability And Gender Vulnerability In Nepal: A Case Study On The Himalayan Region, Akriti Sharma

International Development, Community and Environment (IDCE)

For the past decade, low-income developing countries have and will continue to remain on the frontline for the consequences of human induced climate change. While climate change is expected to have universal negative impacts on the health, well-being and the livelihoods of people, it is expected to specifically affect women from low-income developing countries where poverty and gender inequality are both still very prevalent. A closer look at previous research reveals that women, specifically in the Himalayan region of Nepal are more vulnerable due to the already challenging terrain in which they live in. This paper analyzes the vulnerability of …

The Political Economy Of Wasted Food Policies In The United States And European Union: A Multi-Scale Analysis, Rebecca Miller

International Development, Community and Environment (IDCE)

Between 33 and 40 percent of food produced is wasted while one quarter of the population of the United States and the European Union is food insecure (Gunders, 2012, p. 4). How is this problem addressed through policy in the United States and the European Union? Although there are non-governmental organizations working to redistribute food and educate consumers, a more comprehensive policy-based approach is needed to fully address this problem. Several cities and states in both the U.S. and E.U. have adopted policies before they were nationally or internationally implemented. These early adopter cases were examined here to determine best …

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 Ethics Of Care And Refugee Education: Promoting Caring Envrionments In U.S. Urban Schools To Address The Needs Of Unaccompanied Refugee Minors, Tina Meetran

International Development, Community and Environment (IDCE)

The United States has resettled more than 2 million refugees since 1975 and approximately one third of them are children. Some of the children who arrive in the U.S. are unaccompanied refugee minors (URMs), meaning they arrive without a parent nor guardian. The absence of a parent figure heightens the adversities of escape and acculturation for URMs. However, due to the lack of available information on URM experiences, their physical, emotional and psychosocial needs in the U.S. are continually unmet. This paper considers the role that schools and teachers have as agents of care to foster positive growth and acculturation …

Nuclear Power Plant Policy Comparison Between The U.S. And Republic Of Korea, Vara Ha

International Development, Community and Environment (IDCE)

Five years after the Fukushima accident, people and countries still argue about the opportunity costs of denuclearization. While nuclear power generation has safety and waste issues, it is carbon free. Climate change has created more pressure for greenhouse gas reduction, so a few countries have decided to maintain or even increase nuclear power generation. The United States ranks first for using nuclear power produced by electricity generation, while the Republic of Korea, the closest country in proximity to Japan, ranks fourth in countries that use nuclear power. In fact, Korea even rapidly increased nuclear business after the Fukushima accident. Despite …

Young Liberian Women In The Diaspora: The Dilemma Of Returning ‘Back Home’, Jedidia Yaa-Sakumah Adusei

International Development, Community and Environment (IDCE)

Women in Liberia have played an important role in ending the civil war in Liberia. This paper addresses the question of return for young Liberian women living in the diaspora particularly in Rhode Island, and the motivation and dilemma they may face in the process of deciding to go ‘back home’. The division of Liberian citizens; Americo-Liberians and the indigenous Liberians created a series of civil wars, which later created a large number of Liberians to be resettled in the U.S. Rhode Island, is among one of the three states to have the largest population of Liberians in the U.S. …

Redefining The Impact Of Public-Access Media In Worcester, Ma, Anthony Ortiz

International Development, Community and Environment (IDCE)

This research presents findings from a study of how Worcester’s current public-access media center can serve as an anchor institution for two-way communication between the producers and the audience. More generally, it addresses two questions: 1) How to ensure maximum participation and 2) How can active communication be preserved (or maintained) between the producers and the audience. Drawing on case studies done around the U.S. this paper offers a model of community based media that can be essential for empowering people to serve as active receivers of information. The concept for community based media should allow as a grassroots oriented …

Disrupting Eurocentric Education Through A Social Justice Curriculm, Joanna Cidalia Miranda Dacunha

International Development, Community and Environment (IDCE)

This paper will illustrate the project conducted to disrupt Eurocentric education through a social justice curriculum. Eurocentric education has silenced and misconstrued the history and truth of marginalized communities. There is a need for curriculums that challenge the dominant narrative and help students of color acknowledge the triumphs and challenges their people face. This curriculum was created to assist students of color towards the process of developing critical consciousness and self-awareness. Through Critical Race Theory and other frameworks we were able to conduct a series of workshops. Through these workshops youth began a process of self-awareness and critical consciousness through …

Can We Do It? : The Feasibility Of Youth Restorative Justice Implementation In Worcester, April M. Hooper

International Development, Community and Environment (IDCE)

This paper addresses the feasibility of implementing a restorative justice process in the juvenile justice system in Worcester, Massachusetts from a community stakeholder perspective. Strengths, barriers, process, and collective will in Worcester were explored. Findings of this research include that while Worcester has many strengths, the barriers and lack of collective will may interfere with any immediate attempts to implement restorative justice processes within the local juvenile justice system. It concludes that while restorative justice approaches may be feasible in the longer term, current implementation is unlikely.

The Gaian-Inspired Systems View Of Life: A Systemic Approach To Global Crises A Case Study: How Scientific Worldviews Influence Global Food Systems, Wyatt Lee Graft

International Development, Community and Environment (IDCE)

This Master's Paper relies on secondary research in addition to theoretical and philosophical arguments to show that humanity's metaphysical worldview significantly underlies its valuing systems, institutions, and behavior. The paper uses the examples of modern industrial food production and emerging organic and local alternatives to provide a comparative analysis between fundamental worldviews and how they influence the way human systems originate and function. It is argued that the change required to address substantial and interconnected global issues will require a re-evaluation and scrutiny of the metaphysical assumptions inherent in the politics and practice of agriculture, food processing, and the very …

Gis And Spatial Analysis: Summer Internship With The Center For Health And Global Environment At The Harvard T.H. Chan School Of Public Health, Wensi Hu

International Development, Community and Environment (IDCE)

The objective of the report is to introduce and discuss my internship at the Center for Health and Global Environment at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, in Boston, MA. The internship lasted four months from the middle of May to the middle of September, with 15 hours each week. My tasks included geocoding, developing GIS-calculated variables, data visualization/mapping and documentation. Creation of variables was vital as it included air quality data, land use map, greenness (NDVI), roads data as well as parks data.

I am happy that I have a chance to work under a professional environmental …

Towards A Reduction In Methane Emissions From Natural Gas In California: A Policy Brief On The Short-Lived Climate Pollutant Strategy, Samantha Caputo

International Development, Community and Environment (IDCE)

To prevent global warming from surpassing 2°C and minimize extreme weather events, action must be taken to combat greenhouse gases (GHGs) that pose a greater short-term threat. Short-lived climate pollutants (SLCPs) have a short lifespan paired with high global warming potentials in the atmosphere. By targeting SLCPs, short-term success in combating climate change will encourage long-term investment. The California Air Resources Board (ARB) has been tasked with developing a strategy to combat SLCPs pursuant to Senate Bill 605. The overall objective of this paper is to examine the policies ARB plans to implement to tackle methane emissions in the natural …

Refugee Youth Challenges And Unique Needs In Worcester Public Schools That Are Satisfied By African Community Education, Heidi L. Biron

International Development, Community and Environment (IDCE)

The influx of refugee youth in United States challenges the structure of the US formal school system, as it struggles to manage the unique needs of refugee youth. This research explores African refugee youth needs in the formal school system in Worcester, MA, and how some of these needs are better supported in a supplementary education institution, African Community Education (ACE). The research draws on individual interviews and focus group discussions with refugee youth and ACE’s staff to analyze the complexities and challenges refugee youth are confronted within formal schools and how they are motivated to seek supplementary education. The …

Working At Tds Telecom This Summer: Cad To Gis Transform And Creating Arcgis Tools By Using Python Scripts, Zhen Yuan

International Development, Community and Environment (IDCE)

My summer internship at TDS telecom last for 3 months from June to August of 2015, where I learned many academic skills and techniques during this process. Except these skills I also learned a lot from this traveling to Wisconsin itself. TDS telecom is an American local telecommunication company which is headquartered in Madison, Wisconsin. And this internship was a paid full-time internship which can be separated into two parts: manually transferring CAD data and creating python scripts to transfer the CAD data.

Supporting Mentor Competency At African Community Education, Kelsey Renner

International Development, Community and Environment (IDCE)

This practitioner paper focuses on the African Community Education (ACE) Mentoring for Empowerment and Exchange (MEE) in Worcester, Massachusetts and its ability to develop mentor competency in their volunteer mentors. In order to be effective mentors to their mentees, mentors need to be given tools to develop their own personal sense of competency via programmatic support like check-ins and trainings. Using interviews with mentors, literature in the field of mentoring, and program data, recommendations are made for ways ACE MEE program staff can enhance their programmatic structures to promote mentor competency and therefore develop high quality matches that support the …

Childhood Trauma, A Cycle Of Violence: Worcester, Ma, Samantha Arsenault

International Development, Community and Environment (IDCE)

This research examines the relationship between childhood trauma, indicated by early police contact, and the probability of later negative life experiences, including involvement in and perpetration of violence, criminal activity and gang involvement for men age 0-27 in Worcester, MA. This research was conducted using probit and tobit regression analysis using the Worcester Police Dataset. This study shows a positive and highly statistically significant correlation between childhood trauma and gang involvement as well as involvement in violence, perpetration of violence, and the number of incidents of violence. This suggests that a crisis intervention for childhood trauma, including witness-based childhood trauma, …

(Between The Streets) In Worcester : Redefining Professional Education In Community Development To Cultivate Empathy Through A Community Theatrical Framework, Chiu Yi Hannah Yukon

International Development, Community and Environment (IDCE)

This research paper presents an alternative form of conducing Community Development Research. It highlights the gaps that currently exist in professional education with the community development and planning program at Clark University. The research paper employs a theatrical framework to encourage practitioners to ask more illuminating questions that informs the ‘human work’ that sometimes gets overlooked. In order to be authentic in the field of Community Development, practitioners need to be in touch with a less scientifically rational side of themselves, to truly embrace the complexities of the human condition. Drawing from my personal experiences, I wrote a play based …

Summer Internship At African Community Education, Stephen A. Chiavaroli Iii

International Development, Community and Environment (IDCE)

My internship at African Community Education (ACE) took place from May to December 2015, where I worked with GISDE alum, Joshua Plisinski. My summer was split as a volunteer at ACE and GIS Analyst in partnership with a Worcester nonprofit Cultural Exchange Through Soccer (CETS). My duties at ACE included tutoring, mentoring, and leading the students in homework assignments and various recreational activities. I also completed several GIS tasks and instructed a GIS tutorial for the high school students of ACE. The other time during my summer was spent conducting a spatial network analysis of Worcester soccer fields for CETS …