Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Frameworks For Systemic And Structural Analysis Of Financial Innovations In Infrastructure, Ali Mostafavi, Dulcy M. Abraham

Infrastructure System-of-Systems (I-SoS ) Research Group

Financial innovations have emerged globally to close the gap between the rising global demand for infrastructures and the availability of financing sources offered by traditional financing mechanisms such as fuel taxation, tax-exempt bonds, and federal and state funds. The key to sustainable innovative financing mechanisms is effective policymaking. This paper discusses the theoretical framework of a research study whose objective is to structurally and systemically assess financial innovations in global infrastructures. The research aims to create analysis frameworks, taxonomies and constructs, and simulation models pertaining to the dynamics of the innovation process to be used in policy analysis. Structural assessment …

Infrastructure For Economic Growth And Development: The Financing Gap, Michael Regan

Michael Regan

Extract: Infrastructure is one of the most important tools for accelerating economic development in developing and transition economies. However, the benefits are not always uniform across nations; the results vary significantly between industries, and improved social returns from additional investment have more to do with the procurement method and operational efficiencies than the amount of money that is employed. This article provides a review of the role that infrastructure plays in strengthening economic development and poverty reduction and reducing trade costs to support improved regional cooperation and integration in Commonwealth countries.

How To Shift Into High Gear: An Analysis Of The Implementation Of London’S Bicycle Master Plan, Kenneth Man

MPA Major Research Papers

This paper examines the impediments to the implementation of the Bicycle Master Plan (BMP) in London, Ontario. Interviews with key BMP stakeholders, a literature review, archival research, and participant observations were conducted. The findings reveal that various political and structural and administrative obstacles have impeded the progress of the construction of on-road bicycling facilities in the city, including pressures to maintain the transportation policy status quo, a general lack of advocacy for bicycling-related issues, the problematic assignment of key implementation officials, low levels of data collection, and the absence of a formalized public consultation process.

Public-Private Collaborations: The Case Of Atlanta Metro Community Improvement District Alliance, Andrew Ewoh, Ulf Zimmermann

Andrew I.E. Ewoh

Globally business improvement districts have proliferated as the most influential public-private mechanisms for revitalizing business districts and promoting infrastructure improvement projects. Community improvement districts in Georgia share the same characteristics of business improvement districts (BIDs) as in other states or countries. The Georgia constitution enables the state legislature to create BIDs, called community improvement districts (CIDs) in Georgia, in any city or county or any combination thereof to deliver public services. This analysis explores the CIDs' governance structures, financing mechanisms, and promotion strategies through CIDs' provision in various projects and their impacts in the Atlanta metropolitan area. The paper begins …

Slides: Chapter 7 Of The Commission Report, David L. Bernhardt

The Past, Present, and Future of Our Public Lands: Celebrating the 40th Anniversary of the Public Land Law Review Commission’s Report, One Third of the Nation’s Land (Martz Summer Conference, June 2-4)

Presenter: David L. Bernhardt, Partner, Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck (Washington, DC) and former Solicitor for U.S. Department of the Interior

14 slides

A Greenway Runs Through It: The Midtown Greenway And The Social Landscape Of Minneapolis, Minnesota, Aaron M. Brown

Geography Honors Projects

Minneapolis’ Midtown Greenway is a 5.5 mile bicycle and pedestrian corridor that replaced a grade-separated railroad line in 2000 and expanded to its current length in 2007. In an era of reinvestment in American inner cities and a heightened political awareness of both urban transportation alternatives and public spaces, the academic field of geography has much to contribute to the discussion about the viability, effectiveness, and success of projects such as this adaptive reuse of reclaimed, deindustrialized space. My research investigates results from a survey of 223 Greenway users, exploring participants’ demographics, residential proximity to the trail, and purposes for …

Emerging Law Addressing Climate Change And Water, Prof. Elizabeth Burleson

Prof. Elizabeth Burleson

The World Economic Forum recognizes that while restrictions on energy affect water systems and vice versa, energy and water policy are rarely coordinated. The International Panel on Climate Change predicts that wet places will become wetter and dry places will become dryer. Transboundary water, energy and climate coordination can occur through international consensus building.

Human Rights Education In Peace-Building: A Look At Where The Practice Has Come From, And Where It Needs To Head, Tracey Holland

Human Rights & Human Welfare

The world’s peace-building and development organizations increasingly are incorporating human-rights frameworks into the myriad of activities now under their purview. Slower to develop, however, are the capacity-building programs designed to impart knowledge about human rights to citizens and communities. Field-workers throughout the world indicate that the lack of such guidance-giving education hinders them when it comes to monitoring activities, helping to rebuild public institutions, setting up and organizing electoral politics, building an unfettered media, protecting human security, setting up transitional justice mechanisms, and the myriad of other peace-building activities and democratization challenges they face in post-conflict situations. This paper not …

Implementation Issues For Mobile-Wireless Infrastructure And Mobile Health Care Computing Devices For A Hospital Ward Setting, Liza Heslop, Stephen Weeding, Linda Dawson, Julie Fisher, Andrew Howard

Associate Professor Linda Dawson

mWard is a project whose purpose is to enhance existing clinical and administrative decision support and to consider mobile computers, connected via wireless network, for bringing clinical information to the point of care. The mWard project allowed a limited number of users to test and evaluate a selected range of mobile-wireless infrastructure and mobile health care computing devices at the neuroscience ward at Southern Health’s Monash Medical Centre, Victoria, Australia. Before the project commenced, the ward had two PC’s which were used as terminals by all ward-based staff and numerous multidisciplinary staff who visited the ward each day. The first …