Urban Studies and Planning Commons^™

Labor Unions, Corporations And Right-To-Work Laws: Impacts On The American Economy, Cara Robinson

Social Work and Urban Studies Faculty Research

The labor movement of the U. S. continues to bring the issue of worker rights to the forefront of American policy debates. As the American economy again has shifted from one based on manufacturing and the production of hard goods to one reliant upon human, financial and informational services, the labor movement faces new challenges. Labor unions and business leaders continue to disagree on the proper role of collective action and the effectiveness of policies aimed at the workplace sector. Today, one of the largest debates is the continued role and expansion of Right-to-Work (RTW) legislation. The debate is often …

Historically Black Colleges And Universities: Sustaining A Culture Of Excellence In The 21st Century, Nia I. Cantey, Robert Bland, Lakerri R. Mack, Danielle Joy Davis

Social Work and Urban Studies Faculty Research

Historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs) continue to provide a substantial role in the black community and in higher education by providing a culture of excellence. Yet, their role in higher education is the center of many academic and political debates. Defining this role has been thwarted with questions of HBCUs relevance in society, in the African American community, and in higher education. The relevance of HBCUs is neither the dilemma nor the question for higher education and HBCUs. The conundrum for HBCUs is ensuring that they are equipped with the necessary tools to address global and economic 21^{st …}

No. 12: The State Of Food Insecurity In Johannesburg, Michael Rudolph, Florian Kroll, Shaun Ruysenaar, Tebogo Dlamini

African Food Security Urban Network

Johannesburg is the economic hub of South Africa and the Southern African region. At the same time, it is a city of extremes which juxtaposes ostentatious wealth and conspicuous consumption with grinding poverty and food insecurity. Not enough is known about the prevalence and nature of food insecurity in the city, making it dif!cult to challenge and plan to reduce the urban food gap. This paper uses AFSUN data from three lower-income areas of the city (Alexandra, Orange Farm and the Inner City) to examine the characteristics and drivers of food insecurity in Johannesburg. Despite high overall levels of food …

Slimplexity: A Glimpse Inside The Hive Mind Of Snohetta, Noel Brady

Articles

Simplexity is an interview with Craig Dykers cofounder of Snohetta. The firm has a unique structure in Architecture circles with a Hive Mind like structure. In addition its parallel interests in Architecture and Landscape Design has meant that both professional strands have equal parity in the firms operation.

Producing Edible Landscapes In Seattle's Urban Forest, Rebecca J. Mclain, Melissa R. Poe, Patrick T. Hurley, Joyce Lecompte, Marla R. Emery

Environment and Sustainability Faculty Publications

Over the next decades, green infrastructure initiatives such as tree planting campaigns, and ecological restoration will dramatically change the species composition, species distribution and structure of urban forests across the United States. These impending changes are accompanied by a demand for urban public spaces where people can engage in practices such as gleaning, gardening, and livestock production. This article analyzes the institutional framework that undergirds efforts in Seattle, Washington to normalize the production and use of edible landscapes. We focus attention on the role of grassroots fruit gleaning groups and highlight their bridging function between Seattle's agriculture and forestry policy …

Gathering In The City: An Annotated Bibliography And Review Of The Literature About Human-Plant Interactions In Urban Ecosystems, Rebecca J. Mclain, L. P. Buttolph, Melissa R. Poe, K. Macfarland, J. Hebert, N. Gabriel, Patrick T. Hurley, Laura Brody, Martina Dzuna, Marla R. Emery, S. Charnley

Environment and Sustainability Faculty Publications

The past decade has seen resurgence in interest in gathering wild plants and fungi in cities. In addition to gathering by individuals, dozens of groups have emerged in U.S., Canadian, and European cities to facilitate access to nontimber forest products (NTFPs), particularly fruits and nuts, in public and private spaces. Recent efforts within cities to encourage public orchards and food forests, and to incorporate more fruit and nut trees into street tree planting programs indicate a growing recognition among planners that gathering is an important urban activity. Yet the academic literature has little to say about urban gathering practices or …

Reliability Testing Of The Pabs (Pedestrian And Bicycling Survey) Method, Asha Weinstein Agrawal, Ann Forsyth, Kevin J. Krizek, Eric Stonebraker

Faculty Publications, Urban and Regional Planning

The Pedestrian and Bicycling Survey (PABS) is a questionnaire designed to be economical and straightforward to administer so that it can be used by local governments interested in measuring the amount and purposes of walking and cycling in their communities. In addition, it captures key sociodemographic characteristics of those participating in these activities. Methods: In 2009 and 2010 results from the 4-page mail-out/mail-back PABS were tested for reliability across 2 administrations (test-retest reliability). Two versions--early and refined--were tested separately with 2 independent groups of university students from 4 universities (N = 100 in group 1; N = 87 in group …

A Decision-Support Framework For Using Value Capture To Fund Public Transit: Lessons From Project-Specific Analyses, Shishir Mathur, Adam Smith

Faculty Publications, Urban and Regional Planning

No abstract provided.

What Do Americans Think About Federal Tax Options To Support Public Transit, Highways, And Local Streets And Roads? Results From Year 3 Of A National Survey, Asha Weinstein Agrawal, Hilary Nixon, Vinay Murthy

Faculty Publications, Urban and Regional Planning

This report summarizes the results of a national random-digit-dial public opinion poll that asked 1,519 respondents if they would support various tax options for raising federal transportation revenues, with a special focus on understanding support for increasing revenues for public transit. Eleven specific tax options tested were variations on raising the federal gas tax rate and creating a new mileage tax, and creating a new federal sales tax. Other questions probed various perceptions related to public transit, including knowledge and opinions about federal taxes to support transit. In addition, the survey collected data on standard socio-demographic factors, travel behavior (public …

Remember The Fillmore: The Lingering History Of Urban Renewal In Black San Francisco, Christina Jackson, Nikki Jones

Africana Studies Faculty Publications

In the summer of 2008, I moved to San Francisco, California. I lived in the city for three months. As a researcher, my objective was to learn more about Mayor Gavin Newsome’s African-American Out-Migration Task Force. The Task Force convened in 2007 and met eight times from August to December. In 2009, the Mayor's office released a final report on the Redevelopment Agency's website that summarized the history of blacks in the city and outlined several recommendations for reversing their flight. The final report found that the political, economic, and social conditions of African-Americans are disproportionately more dire than any …

No. 15: The State Of Food Security In Manzini, Swaziland, Daniel Tevera, Nomcebo Simelane, Graciana Peter, Abul Salam

African Food Security Urban Network

This study of the food security situation of the poor in Manzini, Swaziland’s economic hub, formed part of AFSUN’s baseline survey of eleven Southern African cities. It found that the urban poor here are less food secure than in any of the other cities in the survey. On the basis of the findings presented in this paper, AFSUN makes several policy recommendations to deal with food security challenges in the poor urban areas of Swaziland. Among these is that government needs to target urban households specifically in addition to its focus on poverty in rural areas. A more national approach …

No. 09: Migration, Development And Urban Food Security, Jonathan Crush

African Food Security Urban Network

Over the last decade, two issues have risen to the top of the international development agenda: Food Security & Migration and Development. Each has its own agency champions, international gatherings, national line ministries and voluminous bodies of research. There is thus a massive institutional and substantive disconnect between these two development agendas. The reasons are hard to understand since the connections between migration and food security seem so obvious. Food security needs to be “mainstreamed” into the migration and development agenda and migration needs to be “mainstreamed” into the food security agenda. Without this happening, both agendas will proceed in …

Ua12/8 Wku Police, Wku Archives

WKU Archives Collection Inventories

Records created by and about the WKU Police Department.

Ua1f Wku Archives Multimedia Resources / Vertical File, Wku Archives

WKU Archives Collection Inventories

Electronic and multimedia resources created by WKU Archives regarding Western Kentucky University departments and history. Non-WKU created ephemera related to WKU history.

Tax Facts, Tom Dunne

Articles

Tom Dunne Clarifies the issues surrounding different forms of property tax

Urban Design Projects, Vicente Del Rio

City and Regional Planning

Images of main planning and urban design projects and book covers, such as: Urban design concept plan for Fells Point, Baltimore; Rio Cidade Project, Rio de Janeiro; Lagoa dos Ingleses and Porto Jacuhi new communities; Runner-up for riverfront ecological park in Uberlandia, Brazil; Runner-up proposal for the 2016 Rio Olympics Park Master Plan; Park Marina Riverfront Urban Design Plan, Redding CA; Avenue 12 Corridor Urban Design Plan, Madera County CA.

No. 16: The State Of Food Insecurity In Msunduzi Municipality, South Africa, Mary Caesar, Jonathan Crush, Trevor Hill

African Food Security Urban Network

There is plenty of food in Msunduzi, in South Africa’s KwaZulu-Natal province, but the urban poor regularly go hungry. This study of Msunduzi’s food security situation formed part of AFSUN’s baseline survey of eleven Southern African cities. The survey results show that the urban poor in Msunduzi are significantly worse off than their counterparts in Cape Town and Johannesburg. A third of the households reported that they sometimes or often have no food to eat of any kind. Household size did not make a great deal of difference to levels of insecurity but female-headed households are more food insecure than …

No. 14: The State Of Food Insecurity In Windhoek, Namibia, Wade Pendleton, Ndeyapo Nickanor, Akiser Pomuti

African Food Security Urban Network

AFSUN recently conducted a survey of poor urban households in eleven major cities in Southern Africa to better understand the seriousness of the urban food insecurity situation. This report looks in detail at the results for Windhoek and seeks to answer one central question, that is, why do the urban poor in Namibia’s capital generally appear to be better off than the urban poor in most of the other ten cities where the survey was conducted and why, at the same time, does Windhoek contain some of the most food insecure households in the region? As a city of migrants, …

Ua1f Wku Buildings & Property Lists, Wku Archives

WKU Administration Documents

A compilation of lists of WKU buildings indicating namesake, date built, architects, replacement value, construction type and brief histories. Buildings included are:

• Academic Complex
• Barnes-Campbell Hall
• Barracks
• Bates-Runner Hall
• Bemis Lawrence Hall
• Cabell Hall
• Central Hall
• Cherry Hall
• Cherryton
• College High Hall
• Colonnade
• Copy Center
• Craig Alumni Center
• Cravens Graduate Center
• Denes Field
• Diddle Arena
• Diddle Dorm
• Downing Student Center
• East Hall
• Environmental Sciences & Technology
• Faculty House
• Frisbie Hall
• Ft. Albert Sidney Johnston
• Garrett Conference Center
• Gilbert Hall
• Gordon Wilson Hall
• Grise Hall
• Hardin Planetarium
• Helm Library
• Home Management House
• Industrial Education
• Industrial Education Annex
• Ivan Wilson Fine Arts …

The Local Economic Growth Impact Of Broadband Infrastructure 1998 To 2008, Karen A. Gurney

ETD Archive

This dissertation presents estimates of the relationship between early investment in broadband infrastructure and a number of local economic indicators using a data set of communities (by zip code) across the U.S. Data is matched from the FCC (Form 477) on broadband infrastructure availability with demographic and other socio-economic data from the U.S. Population Censuses and Business Trends Surveys. Spatial econometric techniques are utilized. Even after controlling for community-level factors known to influence broadband availability and economic activity, it was found that between 1998 and 2008, communities in which broadband was available by 1999, compared to those that did not, …

Do The Causes Of Poverty Vary By Neighborhood Type?, Uday Bhaskar Kandula

ETD Archive

Increasing our understanding about the nature of poverty is important due to its severe consequences at the individual, neighborhood and community levels. The purpose of this dissertation is to understand whether, or the degree to which, the causes of poverty vary across different types of neighborhoods. To accomplish this goal, cluster analysis was used to identify unique types of metropolitan neighborhoods. Next, variables that correspond to the causes of poverty were identified and entered into a factor analysis. The resulting factors were used as explanatory variables in a regression analysis explaining the variation in poverty across the different types of …

A Survey Of The Structural Determinants Of Local Emergency Planning Committee Compliance And Proactivity;Towards An Applied Theory Of Precaution In Emergency Management, Erica M. Matheny

ETD Archive

Millions of factories, chemical facilities, and highways store or convey extremely hazardous substances (EHS) in proximity to populated residential and commercial areas. The proliferation of hazardous chemicals in manufacturing has led to thousands of facilities that store and utilize them throughout the United States. There is inherent risk to neighborhoods and populated areas located near facilities that use and store hazardous chemicals. Local Emergency Planning Committees (LEPCs) were created in 1987 as stakeholder based, primarily volunteer organizations that address hazardous chemical accident mitigation. In addition, LEPCs were mandated with the intent of engaging communities in the debate about hazardous materials. …

No. 13: The State Of Food Insecurity In Harare, Zimbabwe, Godfrey Tawodzera, Lazarus Zanamwe, Jonathan Crush

African Food Security Urban Network

Harare is at the epicentre of the economic meltdown and political crisis that has devastated Zimbabwe over the last decade and led to a mass exodus from the country. Those who remained in Zimbabwe’s largest city and capital endured unprecedented hardship as the formal economy collapsed, unemployment soared and poverty deepened. Household surveys conducted in Harare with official sanction between 2003 and 2009 appear to demonstrate that food insecurity was not a particularly serious problem, a conclusion sharply at odds with reality. In 2008, at the height of the crisis, AFSUN therefore implemented its own baseline food security survey in …

Public Housing Transformation And Crime: Making The Case For Responsible Relocation, Susan J. Popkin, Michael J. Rich, Leah Hendey, Chris Hayes, Joe Parilla, George C. Galster

Urban Studies and Planning Faculty Research Publications

The research in this article examines the effect on crime rates of public housing transformation in Atlanta and Chicago, focusing on the neighborhoods receiving households relocated with housing vouchers. Modeling the complex relationship between voucher holder locations and crime, using quarterly data, our analysis found that crime rates fell substantially in neighborhoods with public housing demolition, whereas destination neighborhoods experienced a much lesser effect than popular accounts imply. Nevertheless, on average, negative effects emerge for some neighborhoods with modest or high densities of relocated households compared with conditions in areas without relocated households. Overall, we estimate small net decreases citywide …

Environment, Economy, And Equity: Can We Find A Language For Fairness In Regional Planning?, John Provo, Jill Fuglister

Institute of Metropolitan Studies Publications

Metropolitan Portland is often cited as a model for regional planning and growth management. In the 19905, both academics and the popular press "discovered" the Portland region, connecting our quality of life--vibrant urban places, natural beauty, and healthy economy--with our unique forms of regional cooperation and land use planning. Metropolitan Portland became the avatar of an emerging New Regionalism, a movement characterized not only by its spatial nature, but also by an interest in holistic solutions integrating a variety of issue areas. One central tenant of this movement is the ability of regional policies to address growing inequities and inefficiencies …

Weaving Together A Knowledge Community, Aaron Maples, Bob Sack, Brett Walker, Chris Mulcahy, Daniel Navarro-Gomez, Jan Frutiger, Jeremy Grotbo, Melissa Peavey, Sofie Malm, Steffanie Lorentzen

Urban Design Workshop

The purpose of this document is to propose a framework for future development that result in a connected and integrated collection of neighborhoods that form the larger University District. Design Principles guide the proposed Concept Plan. Improving multi-modal transit corridors will result in a more seamless transition between neighborhoods. Key objectives of the study include:

• Completing the fabric: Connect adjacent neighborhoods through meaningful design
• Erasing edges: Overcome barriers created by large-scale infrastructure
• Connections, continuity and accessibility: Create a connected community for all users
• Extending the urban core: Redesign areas for a more urban, vital experience
• Global knowledge exchange: Use the …

Critical Issues 2005, Craig Wollner, Deborah Elliott

Institute of Metropolitan Studies Publications

Biennially, the Institute of Portland Metropolitan Studies (IMS) undertakes to identify the most compelling concerns, problems, and dilemmas facing citizens of the Portland metropolitan region. The region is defined as Clackamas, Colwnbia, Multnomah, Washington, and Yamhill Counties and Clark County in Washington. IMS staff analyzes the results of two Critical Issues list surveys, one of area residents at large conducted by the Survey Research Laboratory (SRL) of Portland State University (pSU), and the other a mail survey of regional opinion leaders. The opinion leaders are elected and appointed officials serving in jurisdictions throughout the six-county metropolitan region, academic experts in …

Trade, Transportation, And Freight Mobility: Invest Now Or Pay Later?, Eric Jessup

Institute of Metropolitan Studies Publications

An efficient multi-modal transportation system that out-performs other international gateway cities will provide a regional. competitive advantage. Achieving this goal requires a strategic plan and a concerted effort based upon access to accurate, timely, relevant data and investment prioritization that maximizes efficient utilization of limited resources. Once a plan is developed, the public must buy-in, a process that involves an educational and information exchange function where public-private benefits are enumerated, understood, and presented to voters, legislative bodies, lobbyist, and state policymakers in a clear, convincing manner. This process applies any time in history but is especially important given the current …

The Landscape: Verboort, Michael Burnham

Institute of Metropolitan Studies Publications

A brief look at the small Oregon community of Verboort, focusing on the annual Verboort Sausage and Kraut dinner.

Sprawl In Canada And The United States, Michael Lewyn

Scholarly Works

The purpose of this Article is to ascertain whether (1) suburban sprawl is as widespread in Canadian metropolitan areas as in their American counterparts, and (2) Canadian government policies, and in particular Canadian zoning law and transportation policies, encourage sprawl. The article concludes that Canadian metropolitan areas are in fact somewhat less sprawling than most of their American counterparts, but that in Canada, as in the United States, government land use regulation and government transportation policy do favor sprawl to some extent. For example, in both nations municipal zoning regulations, by limiting density and forcing landowners to build parking lots, …