Digital Commons Network^™

Housing And Community Development, Michael P. Johnson Jr.

Public Policy and Public Affairs Faculty Publication Series

Researchers in housing and community development design and evaluate policies regarding access to attractive, affordable and sustainable housing and improving the social, physical and economic infrastructure of communities, especially those in the urban core. Practitioners in this field confront political considerations, administrative guidelines and limited funding.

Decision science can increase the efficiency and effectiveness of market-rate housing development and provide support for policy responses to issues such as affordable housing, race and class segregation, ineffective and/or inequitable economic development, and sustainable development. This research spans many disciplines, including systems modeling, urban economics, multi-criteria decision modeling, stochastic models and decision support …

Community Partner Perspectives Of Community-University Partnerships That Support Service Learning, Anne Marie Witchger Hansen

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Community partner voices are important to understand because they provide the contexts in which occupational therapy students meet course objectives by applying clinical reasoning theory and developing clinical reasoning skills in a natural context (Witchger-Hansen et al., 2007; Provident, et al., 2011). To sustain these community-university partnerships, faculty must understand how community partners are experiencing these partnerships. This understanding provides the faculty with insight on how to adjust, revise or enhance the partnership process that supports the service-learning pedagogy to sustain this community work of meeting community-identified needs while providing students with an opportunity to apply theory and develop clinical …

Design Strategies For Mitigating Passenger Door Holding Behavior On Suburban Trains In Paris, Selby Coxon, Karen Burns, Arthur De Bono

World Transit Research

The length of time a train is halted at a station is particularly important during service peak periods and short headways. Some passenger behaviors, such as the deliberate holding open of doors, has a detrimental effect upon maintaining short dwell times and service timetable. Mechanical malfunction due to door holding is also a significant contributor to trains having to be removed from service.
There is a general absence of literature in the transportation field examining this problem or offering potential solutions. This paper discusses a commissioned research project carried out by Monash University’s Department of Design for the French National …

A Gulf United: Canada-Us Transboundary Marine Ecosystem-Based Governance In The Gulf Of Maine, Lawrence Hildebrand, Aldo Chircop

Articles, Book Chapters, & Popular Press

In 1989, the Northeastern states of Maine, Massachusetts, and New Hampshire in the United States and the neighboring Canadian Provinces of New Brunswick and Nova Scotia embarked upon a new form of regional marine environmental cooperation when their governors and premiers adopted the Agreement on Conservation of the Marine Environment of the Gulf of Maine Between the Governments of the Bordering States and Provinces.

Can Urban University Expansion And Sustainable Development Co-Exist?: A Case Study In Progress On Columbia University, Keith H. Hirokawa, Patricia E. Salkin

Fordham Urban Law Journal

This article uses the expansion of Columbia University as a case study to demonstrate the difficulty in labeling projects as "sustainable" or "unsustainable" when key stakeholders view the process and outcomes of sustainability differently.

Green Local Governments In Florida: Assessment Of Sustainability Performance, Naimish Upadhyay, Robert Brinkmann

School of Geosciences Faculty and Staff Publications

The sustainability performance of local governments that adopted the Florida Green Building Coalition’s Green Local Government standard was evaluated using a web-based review and survey of 26 local governments within the context of the Three Es of environment, equity, and economic development. The results indicate that while many local governments exhibit a broad commitment to sustainability as evidenced by the inclusion of sustainability in formal documents, such efforts are not present across all government functions or departments. In addition, while local issues are often addressed, interrelated sustainability goals of equity and economic development are not clearly articulated. Most local governments …

Sustainable Mountain Tourism Development Illustrated In The Case Of Switzerland, Benedikt Schorner

SPNHA Review

The concept of sustainable mountain tourism development meets the needs of the present tourists and host regions while protecting and enhancing opportunities for future generations (WTO, 2001). The principles of sustainable tourism development are composed of environmental, economic, and socio-cultural aspects. In order to be successful in the long-term, an equilibrium among these three dimensions must be established (Samy & El-Barmelgy, 2005). The Swiss Federal Council established a general framework for its Sustainable Development Strategy 2000, which is used in this paper to show successful policymaking in this area. Furthermore, policy priorities, recommendations, challenges, and successful strategies for sustainable mountain …

Curbing Energy Sprawl With Microgrids, Sara Bronin

Faculty Articles and Papers

Energy sprawl - the phenomenon of ever-increasing consumption of land, particularly in rural areas, required to site energy generation facilities - is a real and growing problem. Over the next twenty years, at least sixty-seven million acres of land will have been developed for energy projects, destroying wildlife habitats and fragmenting landscapes. According to one influential report, even renewable energy projects - especially large-scale projects that require large-scale transmission and distribution infrastructure - contribute to energy sprawl. This Article does not aim to stop large-scale renewable energy projects or even argue that policymakers focus solely on land use in determining …

"Just A Girl": The Community-Centered Cult Television Heroine, 1995–2007, Tamy Burnett

Department of English: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Found in the most recent group of cult heroines on television, community-centered cult heroines share two key characteristics. The first is their youth and the related coming-of-age narratives that result. The second is their emphasis on communal heroic action that challenges traditional understandings of the hero and previous constructions of the cult heroine on television. Through close readings of Xena: Warrior Princess, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Firefly, Dark Angel, and Veronica Mars, this project engages feminist theories of community and heroism alongside critical approaches to genre and narrative technique, identity performance theory, and visual media …

Interorganizational Network Coordination Under Stress Caused By Repeated Threats Of Disasters, Naim Kapucu, Thomas Bryer, Vener Garayev, Tolga Arslan

Faculty Bibliography 2010s

The study addresses interorganizational learning and coordination as well as their impact on collaborative capacity building in disaster environments. Community coordination requires communication and planning to take necessary precautions in the face of severe threats of disasters. The historically unique case of the four Florida hurricanes of 2004 is used to assess coordinated response under conditions of repeated threats of hurricanes. The repeated threat scenario suggests that emergency managers must vigilantly work to keep the partnering public, private, and nonprofit agencies and citizens informed and apprised of the seriousness of the situation. The research examines four hurricane response operations drawing …

The Role Of An Effective It Intervention For Microenterprises, Changsoo Song, Sajda Qureshi

Information Systems and Quantitative Analysis Faculty Proceedings & Presentations

Information technology (IT) interventions for micro-enterprises are fragmented and their approach lacks theoretical foundations. While various researchers have conducted studies on the effects of IT adoption in micro-enterprises, little research has been conducted to explain critical aspects of an effective IT intervention for micro-enterprises from a theoretical perspective. This study aims to fill this gap and empirically investigate how IT interventions can effectively facilitate the process of IT adoption by micro-enterprises. This paper suggests that effective IT interventions may have considerable potential for facilitating IT adoption among micro-enterprises across the United States and the world. Following an analysis of four …

Maxine Goodman Levin College Of Urban Affairs Biennial Report: 2007-2009 Levin. Changing America's Cities..., Csu University Marketing

All Maxine Goodman Levin School of Urban Affairs Publications

The Maxine Goodman Levin College of Urban Affairs is known for its commitment to thought leadership in urban public policy and city management. During the past biennium, we reinforced that reputation and made important investments in Levin’s future.

Equal Standing With States: Tribal Sovereignty And Standing After Massachusetts V. Epa, Joseph Mead, Nicholas Fromherz

All Maxine Goodman Levin School of Urban Affairs Publications

In Massachusetts v. EPA, 549 U.S. 497 (2007), the Supreme Court held that Massachusetts was entitled to "special solicitude" in the standing analysis because it was sovereign. As a result, Massachusetts passed the standing threshold in a global warming case where an ordinary litigant may have been stymied. The Supreme Court’s analysis raises an interesting question: Are Indian tribes—which have been considered sovereign entities since before the founding, and which hold lands facing heavy environmental pressure—entitled to "special solicitude" as well? We think they should be.

To make this argument, we begin by discussing standing basics; dissecting Massachusetts v. …

Centro De Educación Creativa [Powerpoint], 2010, Brandon Gordon, Saba Hamidi, John Mccarthy, Colin Mccarville, Luis Ramirez, Alana Sanders, Charles Schmidt

Monteverde Institute: Sustainable Design, Planning and Community Development

This report focuses on the process of determining the best and most efficient ways of improving the Centro de Educacion campus and facilities. The document provides the CEC with sustainable design recommendations related to additional facilities, land use, water management, and sustainable practices that can be implemented in the future. Photos, site plans, architectural drawings, drawings, and maps are included in the report.

Renewable Energy And The Neighbors, Troy A. Rule

Utah Law Review

As the popularity of small wind turbines and solar panels continues to grow, neighborhood conflicts over the devices will become increasingly common. Despite state and federal programs that aggressively encourage landowners to invest in distributed renewable energy systems, local land use laws often deter their installation. A growing number of states have enacted statutes that sweepingly invalidate land use restrictions on distributed renewables. These broadbrush preemption laws tear down local barriers to installing the devices, but they also undermine communities’ land use authority and inefficiently ignore local issues and concerns.

Re-Imagining The Nature Of Development: Biodiversity Conservation And Pastoral Visions In The Northern Areas, Pakistan, Nosheen Ali

Book Chapters / Conference Papers

Examines how, in the mountainous village of Shimshal, national parks and “community-based” conservation projects such as trophy hunting are deeply problematic, promoting exploitive ideologies of nature and development while delegitimizing the values and rights of pastoralists. The Shimshalis have creatively resisted the appropriations of their land by creating a Shimshal Nature Trust, implementing a model of ecological sovereignty instead of “community participation”—challenging the very logic of protected areas in international conservation.

Obesity Prevention: A Review Of The Interactions And Interventions, And Some Policy Implications, Anura Amarasinghe, Gerard D'Souza

Regional Research Institute Working Papers

Obesity is reaching epidemic proportions especially in the developed and, more recently, in the developing world where the problem is compounded by myriad socio-economic, demographic, built and natural environmental factors. This review examines the possible causes, consequences and policy implications using a multilevel, multispectral framework. The causes of obesity clearly are multifaceted and involve numerous interactions. Together with economic incentives, allocation of physical and financial resources to community intervention strategies through educational programs as well as better land use planning would be helpful in promoting healthier and sustainable communities. Towards this goal, we proposed a dynamic and integrated Individual, Social, …

Mapping The Issues: Public Health, Law And Ethics, Lawrence O. Gostin

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

The field of public health is typically regarded as a positivistic pursuit and, undoubtedly, our understanding of the etiology and response to disease is heavily influenced by scientific inquiry. Public health policies, however, are shaped not only by science but also by ethical values, legal norms, and political oversight. Public Health Law and Ethics: A Reader (expanded and updated 2nd ed., 2010) probes and seeks to illuminate this complex interplay, through a careful selection of government reports, scholarly articles, and court cases together with discussion and analysis of critical problems at the interface of law, ethics, and public health. The …

Sustainability Booklet, Paul Andricopulos, Ned Thomas

Publications (SD)

An online booklet highlighting the responsible efforts being made by the City of Henderson to foster a sustainable community.

Low Income And Impoverished Families Pay Disproportionately More For Child Care, Kristin Smith, Kristi Gozjolko

Carsey Publications

According to research based on the 2004 Survey of Income and Program Participation, working families with young children living in poverty pay 32 percent of their income on child care, nearly five times more than families living at more than 200 percent of the poverty level. This brief asks policy makers to consider allowing more subsidies to be available to those who could benefit most from them.

Whom Would Jesus Cover - A Biblical, Ethical Lens For The Contemporary American Health Care Debate, Jeffrey R. Baker

Journal of Law and Health

This paper attempts a view of the contemporary health care debate in America through the prism of Biblical scripture and proposes that people of faith should recognize the current state of the American health care system as a moral crisis of justice and charity. First, I provide a survey of the current state of American health care for the uninsured, describing the demographic and economic circumstances of the uninsured and the resources available to them when they need medical care. Second, I ask whether, in light of scripture, this state of affairs presents a moral question that should drive our …

Barriers To Implementing A ‘Secured By Design’ Program For The Lexington-Fayette Urban County Government, Brent Burchett

MPA/MPP/MPFM Capstone Projects

Officers from the Lexington Division of Police have begun planning the implementation of a popular United Kingdom crime prevention program, Secured by Design, in Lexington, Kentucky. Many municipalities in the United States operate crime prevention by design programs, focusing on how the built environment affects criminal behavior. Secured by Design, a specific crime prevention by design program privately owned by the U.K.'s Association of Chief Police Officers, partners with U.K. police and urban planning departments to encourage adoption of building and design practices believed to prevent crime. Lexington would be the first U.S. city to have a Secured by Design …

Community Needs Assessment Of Mayasandra Village, Karnataka, India, Alexander Hernandez Holl

MPA/MPP/MPFM Capstone Projects

No executive summary.

The Role And Relevance Of Domain Knowledge, Perceptions Of Planning Importance, And Risk Tolerance In Predicting Savings Intentions, Peter Croy, Paul Gerrans, Craig Speelman

Research outputs pre 2011

The need for individuals to increase retirement savings has been widely promoted, yet our understanding of the motivations of individuals to save at a higher rate remains sparse. This paper reports the findings of a survey of 2300 retirement savings fund members and their motivations to contribute more to savings and to actively manage their investment strategy. Utilising the theory of planned behavior, the study reveals respondent’s self-reported attitudes, subjective norms and perceptions of behavioral control account for a high proportion of the variance in behavioral intention. Contrary to expectations, the study finds that respondent’s risk tolerance adds little to …

Sustainability Starts Locally: Untying The Hands Of Local Governments To Create Sustainable Communities, Jerrold A. Long

Wyoming Law Review

No abstract provided.

Creating A Culture Of Community Involvement In The Adventist Church In Gugulethu Township, South Africa, Jongimpi Papu

Doctor of Ministry Projects

Problem

Most Adventist churches in South Africa live in isolation from their communities. Christianity in general and Adventism in particular are becoming irrelevant to the needs of the church, with serious implications for church growth.

Methodology

Tembalethu Adventist church in Gugulethu Township in South Africa was used to pilot a community services program by adopting a school nearby. A mixed approach of both qualitative and quantitative methods was used. This consisted of structured interviews, both personal and by telephone, and questionnaires. An analysis of a government census was also done.

Results

Tembalethu started an after-care program which was attended by …

Land Use And Water Supply, Susan Kelly, Joanne Hilton

Water Matters!

As New Mexico grows and develops, there is a continuing increase in water demand and the need to provide additional supplies. Recent studies estimate the current population of the State to be about two million people, and the population is expected to grow to approximately 3,400,000 by 2050. Regional water plans project water demands for 16 regions within New Mexico. The total projected new water use associated with population growth—the public water supply and associated commercial sectors, exclusive of agriculture, mining, or other industries—ranges from 280,000 to 380,000 acre-feet per year of new water supply needed in the next 40 …

Evaluation Of Energy Savings For Buildings With Green Roofs Having Different Vegetation, Serdar Celik, William A. Retzlaff, Susan Morgan

International High Performance Buildings Conference

No abstract provided.

Fighting For Survival: Coal Miners And The Struggle Over Health And Safety In The United States, 1968-1988, Richard Fry

Wayne State University Dissertations

My dissertation focuses on coal mining and occupational health and safety in the United States from 1968 to 1985. In the late 1960s, coal miners faced the constant risk of injury, occupational disease, and death. The dangerous conditions in the coal industry resulted in a massive explosion at the Farmington mine in West Virginia in 1968, which killed 78 miners. The Farmington disaster spurred miners to campaign for the reform of state and federal coal mine health and safety laws in the United States. They rejected the national leadership of their union, the United Mine Workers (UMW), which they perceived …

Rising Architecture, Erica M. Wiggin

Architecture Theses and Projects

Many cities have experienced shrinkage in their city centers, leaving behind abandoned lots and buildings throughout the city streets. The historic city of Providence was split after the construction of I-95, leaving the west side of the city separated and in some cases abandoned from downtown. Creating a couple living communities that work together to live sustainably by producing necessities such as electricity, clean water, food and medicine will be contributing to the quality of the city as well as improving their lives by learning, developing and teaching new means of living to the rest of the community in their …