Urban Studies Commons^™

Behavioral Perspectives On Home Energy Audits: The Role Of Auditors, Labels, Reports, And Audit Tools On Homeowner Decision-Making, Aaron Ingle, Mithra Moezzi, Loren Lutzenhiser, Zachary Lawrence Hathaway, Susan Lutzenhiser, Joe Van Clock, Jane Peters, Rebecca Smith, David Heslam, Richard Diamond

Center for Urban Studies Publications and Reports

Our study focused on the perspective of homeowner decision-making in response to home energy audits, combined with attention to the quality of the recommendations that homeowners receive, as well as the perspectives of some key industry actors on auditing and home energy labels. Unlike a program evaluation, the research was not designed to answer detailed questions about program effectiveness in terms of costs, savings, or process, nor was it designed to provide direct answers to questions of how to get people to do more audits or more retrofits. Rather it “steps back” toward a better understanding of more basic questions …

An Evaluation Of The Foundation For Louisiana: The Citizen's Guide To Land Use & City Of New Orleans Citizen Engagement: New Orleans Land Use Planning Districts, Michelle M. Thompson

Planning and Urban Studies Reports and Presentations

No abstract provided.

A Study Of Headway Maintenance For Bus Routes: Causes And Effects Of “Bus Bunching” In Extensive And Congested Service Areas, Miguel A. Figliozzi, Wu-Chi Feng, Gerardo Lafferriere, Wei Feng

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

A healthy and efficient public transit system is indispensable to reduce congestion, emissions, energy consumption, and car dependency in urban areas. The objective of this research is to 1) develop methods to evaluate and visualize bus service reliability for transit agencies in various temporal and spatial aggregation levels; 2) identify the recurrent unreliability trends of bus routes (focusing on high-frequency service periods) and understand their characteristics, causes and effects; and 3) model service times using linear regression models.

This research utilized six months of archived automatic vehicle location (AVL) and automatic passenger count (APC) data from a low-performance route (Route …

Crime In The News: How Do People Feel About Crime Reporting In Portland, Oregon?, Kris R. Henning, Brian Renauer, Greg Stewart

Criminal Justice Policy Research Institute Research Briefs

This research brief summarizes the results of a recent survey with residents in Portland, Oregon assessing public opinions on the local news media’s coverage of various crime topics.

Analyzing And Quantifying The Impact Of Congestion On Ltl Industry Costs And Performance In The Portland Metropolitan Region, Miguel A. Figliozzi

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

Increased congestion during peak morning and afternoon periods in urban areas is increasing logistics costs. In addition, environmental, social, and political pressures to limit the impacts associated with CO2 emissions are mounting rapidly. A key challenge for transportation agencies and businesses is to improve the efficiency of urban freight and commercial vehicle movements while ensuring environmental quality, livable communities, and economic growth. However, research and policy efforts to analyze and quantify the impacts of congestion and freight public policies on carriers operations and CO2 emissions are hindered by the complexities of vehicle routing problems with time-dependent travel times and the …

Discover Kaufman, Institute Of Urban Studies

Institute of Urban Studies Publications - Archive

No abstract provided.

Mattapan United Community Questionnaire, Mattapan United, Center For Social Policy, University Of Massachusetts Boston

Center for Social Policy Publications

In the winter and spring of 2012, the Steering Committee of the Mattapan United Resilient Communities/Resilient Families project undertook an assessment of community members’ attitudes and opinions for use in planning and program development.

The Committee was assisted in this endeavor by the Center for Social Policy (CSP), McCormack Graduate School of Policy and Global Studies, University of Massachusetts Boston. The work of CSP is supported by a grant from The Boston Foundation to provide analytical and evaluation assistance for its Fairmount Initiative along the Fairmount/Indigo Corridor of Boston.

The questionnaire was widely disseminated throughout Mattapan in hard copy and …

In Search Of Opportunity: Foreign-Born Residents In Oregon, Jason R. Jurjevich, Ryan Dann

Publications, Reports and Presentations

From our earliest beginnings and to present day, the social fabric of the United States continues to be shaped by immigration. Americans are generally aware of their families’ personal stories and the inextricable link to immigration, but they are likely less familiar with historical and current trends. Focusing in Oregon and more specifically, the Portland metropolitan area, we provide a statistical portrait of the foreign-born population by examining recent growth patterns, identifying geographic origins, and describing individual-level characteristics.

Ambitions Of A Global City: Arts, Culture And Creative Economy In 'Post-Crisis' Singapore, Lily Kong

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

This paper chronicles some of the key policies pertaining to the arts and culture in post-independent Singapore. A brief summary is first provided of the early (1960s and 1970s) cultural policy focusing on the harnessing of arts and culture for nation-building purposes, followed by the subsequent (1980s) recognition that the arts and culture had tourist dollar potential. The paper then expands on the cultural/creative economy policy of the 2000s, in which arts, heritage, media and design are recognized for their economic value (beyond their role in tourism to include their export value and their importance in attracting global workers). The …

The Nasa Glenn Research Center: An Economic Impact Study Fiscal Year 2011, Iryna Lendel, Sunjoo Park

All Maxine Goodman Levin School of Urban Affairs Publications

No abstract provided.

2011 Economic Impact Of Jumpstart Inc. Portfolio And Client Companies, Ziona Austrian, Candice Clouse

All Maxine Goodman Levin School of Urban Affairs Publications

No abstract provided.

The Ohio Bioscience Sector, 2000-2010, Matthew Hrubey, Candice Clouse, Ziona Austrian

All Maxine Goodman Levin School of Urban Affairs Publications

No abstract provided.

We Are The 'Who Dat' Nation: City Identity, Narratives Of Renewal, And Football Fandom In New Orleans Public Realm, Casey Knoettgen

LSU New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

Research often frames the relationship between sports and the city in terms of economics as researchers debate the costs and benefits of using public subsidies to build stadiums, retain professional teams and host mega-events. However, people assign symbolic or intangible values to their home sports teams that cannot be measured through economic frameworks. My research examined the ways in which urban residents create value around their home professional sports team that other researchers dismissed as hard to measure. Using the New Orleans Saints as a case study, this research incorporated interviews, questionnaires, content analysis and participant observation to provide greater …

The Closure Of New Orleans' Charity Hospital After Hurricane Katrina: A Case Of Disaster Capitalism, Kenneth Brad Ott

LSU New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

Abstract

Amidst the worst disaster to impact a major U.S. city in one hundred years, New Orleans’ main trauma and safety net medical center, the Reverend Avery C. Alexander Charity Hospital, was permanently closed. Charity’s administrative operator, Louisiana State University (LSU), ordered an end to its attempted reopening by its workers and U.S. military personnel in the weeks following the August 29, 2005 storm. Drawing upon rigorous review of literature and an exhaustive analysis of primary and secondary data, this case study found that Charity Hospital was closed as a result of disaster capitalism. LSU, backed by Louisiana state officials, …

Deep Play, Urban Space, Adolescent Place: A Multi-Sited Study Of The Effects Of Settings On Adolescent Risk/Reward Behavior, Benjamin A. Shirtcliff

LSU New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

The extant literature on the play behavior of youth normalizes adolescent behavior in public space as transgressional, resistant, and in need of social control. The dissertation counters this trend by looking to see if physical qualities, peer effects, and neighborhood context of settings play a deeper role in youth behavior. The study documented urban context, peer effects, physical features, and play behavior across 21 urban settings in New Orleans. Unobtrusive observations employed a highly innovative technique based on YouTube videos and analyzed using hierarchical linear modeling. Coded observations of risk-taking and prosocial behavior demonstrated some stability in behavior amongst adolescents—“youth” …

On Track To Success: Extending Metro-North To The Neighborhoods Of The East Bronx, Christopher Kennedy

African & African American Studies Senior Theses

This thesis will examine a large-scale transit project that could have far-reaching, longs-lasting effects on a large swath of neighborhoods in the East and South Bronx. Currently, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA), and Metro-North Railroad are exploring options to provide their customers access to Penn Station via existing infrastructure. A large part of this plan would involve the New Haven Line, which currently runs from New Haven, CT to Grand Central Terminal. Under the proposal, some New Haven Line trains would access Penn Station via the Hell Gate Line, currently used by Amtrak to bring their customers from New Rochelle …

Risky Business: How Policy, Demographic And Economic Changes Have Left The Lower East Side Empty During Daytime Hours, Dustin Molter

African & African American Studies Senior Theses

"When your friends begin to flatter you on how young you look, it's a sign you're getting old". This statement by world renowned Mark Twain perfectly describes change as it often works. When the 'old' is noticeably transitioning to the 'new', the old's age truly starts to show. The unfortunate thing is that this change, and ultimately any type, is inevitable. Whether abrupt or subtle, sought after or fought against, change occurs. In turn, it is the inevitability of change which prompts out need to adjust to such changes. People, places and things alike all change in different ways, and …

What We Learned From Copenhagen And Where We Went Wrong: Changes New York Can Make In Car-Parking Policy To Better Promote A Bicycle City, Tiffany Zuffi

African & African American Studies Senior Theses

In this study, I argue that the oversupply of parking in New York City promote private care ownership and defeat attempts of accepting cycling as a viable mode of transport. Overabundant parking also actively rakes away from public areas and urban aesthetics, often increasing carbon footprint and traffic congestion and denying the city its opportunity to develop into the walkable urban environment envisioned by PlaNYC2030. Copenhagen was able to realize the importance demand for the automobile cannot continue to thrive alongside pedestrianized design. With existing means of parking management, parking design and perking incentives that will reduce demand for …

Interethnic Relations As A Strategy For Community Empowerment: The Case Of University Heights, Caitlin Waickman

African & African American Studies Senior Theses

I became involved with St. Rita's Immigrant and Refugee Center in August of 2011 and immediately began teaching English classes to groups of adult immigrants in the University Heights areas of the Bronx. The class was relaxed and open, so conversations flowed freely among the diverse group of students. One of the first things that become clear was that communication was difficult. Immigrants that come to a new country not only have to know the difference between 'to be' and 'to have', but also the nuances that separate phrases such as 'shut up' and 'please be quiet.' The other thing …

Behind Enemy Lines: Community Responses To Violence And Incarceration In East New York, Forrest Van Dyke

African & African American Studies Senior Theses

On the fringes of Brooklyn, flung way out east, the neighborhood of East New York is a place most choose to ignore. Desolate and often forgotten, it is a community characterized by neglect and isolation. Tucked out of sight, East New York is a place easy for New Yorkers to keep out or mind.

Does School Quality Affect Real Estate Prices? The Effect Of Top-Tier Elementary Schools On Property Prices In Shanghai, Wanyi Li

Economics Honors Projects

This study adapted the hedonic pricing model and inspected how varying elementary school quality affects property prices in Shanghai. Because the variation of school quality appeared before the capitalization of the housing market, the obtained results suggest a causal relationship. The data set comprises top-tier elementary school information from eWOM, the yearly school attendance zones published by the government, and the Shanghai Existing Property Index, which has a sample of similarly structured apartments. Main results show that prices on average increase 41.9% more in the top-tier school districts under the standardized housing system, and range from 15.5% to 69.7% among …

Understanding Urban Sustainability And Quality Of Life: A System Dynamics Approach, Abby Elizabeth Beck

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

For an urban area to be sustainable, its resources cannot be depleted faster than they can replenish. If an urban area is to provide a high quality of life (QOL), it must offer and maintain an amenity package that satisfies its resident's preferences. Past studies on these topics all have a common thread: sustainability and QOL both pertain to people's relationship to capital. Capital is something that can accumulate and add value to a person or society. If sustainability and QOL are a function of people's relationship with capital, how they use it, deplete it, replenish it and transform it …

Minority Participation In Technology Based Growth Industries In Northeast Ohio, Merissa Piazza, Elorm Tsegah, Ziona Austrian, Ellen Cyran

All Maxine Goodman Levin School of Urban Affairs Publications

No abstract provided.

John Carroll University Economic Impact, Ziona Austrian, Candice Clouse, Merissa Piazza, Tyler Thompson, Matthew Hrubey

All Maxine Goodman Levin School of Urban Affairs Publications

No abstract provided.

Broken Windows, Police, &Traffic Safety, Carol Servino

Graduate Research Symposium (2010 - 2017)

Abstract This research explores application of the “broken windows” theory of public disorder and urban decline to the pattern and problem of police officer fatalities in motor vehicle crashes. It contextualizes the influential theory into a 45-year timeline of significant events related to legislative efforts and traffic safety behavioral safety programs in the United States. It finds one police agency that reported fewer crimes and fewer crashes after implementing a community-wide Safe Streets program designed around “broken windows” theory in 1997. It pays particular attention to states with the highest percentages of law enforcement officer fatalities in motor vehicle crashes, …

Revitalized Streets Of San Francisco: A Study Of Redevelopment And Gentrification In Soma And The Mission, Lucy K. Phillips

Scripps Senior Theses

San Francisco's South of Market (SoMa) neighborhood and the Mission District are facing new forms of redevelopment. The deindustrialization of SoMa has posed an opportunity for a 'new model' of gentrification to create a mixed-use, mixed-income neighborhood from an area previously occupied by abandoned warehouses and vacant lots. In the Mission, awareness of the threats of gentrification and increased community participation are fighting to preserve the neighborhood and eliminate displacement. The innovative approaches to urban revitalization in these two neighborhoods demonstrate how redevelopment may occur without gentrification.

Building Bridges: Fostering Dialogue & Shared Understanding Between Communities & Government Agencies, Eben Weitzman, Darren Kew

Office of Community Partnerships Posters

Professors Eben Weitzman and Darren Kew of the Department of Conflict Resolution, Human Security, and Global Governance are facilitating ongoing conversations among state and federal agencies and minority community representatives in Massachusetts as a means for fostering shared understanding of the challenges and opportunities inherent to their relationship. Working with the BRIDGES program, they are applying theories around group dialogue in order to help stakeholders build lasting, productive connections.

Housing And Urbanization: A Socio-Spatial Analysis Of Resettlement Projects In Hồ Chí Minh City, Michael J. Stumpf

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

As Hồ Chí Minh City continues to undergo rapid urbanization, especially with the creation of a multitude of new urban zone developments on the periphery of the inner districts, the resettling of people has become common. Families who live within areas that are selected for urban upgrading or, as in other cases for the construction of new miniature cities, must face the realities of relocation. Many issues arise in the complicated process of resettling the displaced, due to complex land-use laws, bureaucratic dissonance, and lack of investment in actual resettlement housing. The authorities of Hồ Chí Minh City have faced …

Creating A Benefit Index For Targeting Investment In Pedestrian Connectivity Improvements East Bayside Neighborhood: Portland, Me, Damon Yakovleff

Muskie School Capstones and Dissertations

This project demonstrates how a GIS-based analysis of pedestrian accessibility to selected amenities from locations in and around the East Bayside neighborhood of Portland, Maine can help identify and guide decisions about public investment in improving such access. Two street network configurations are analyzed: the current (2011) condition, and a hypothetical configuration including several connectivity improvements currently under discussion or in the process of construction. The GIS tools are used to calculate the network distances between the centroid of the area’s census blocks and two amenities: the nearest full-service grocery store, and an outdoor fitness station available to the public. …

Detroit Regional Analysis: Demographics, Economy, Entrepreneurship And Innovation, Merissa Piazza, Joan Chase, Chang-Shik Song, Elorm Tsegah, Ziona Austrian

All Maxine Goodman Levin School of Urban Affairs Publications

No abstract provided.