Urban Studies and Planning Commons^™

Gentrification And Nonprofit Activities For Neighborhood Development In Baltimore, Maryland And Houston, Texas, Jesseca E. Lightbourne, Aminata Sillah, Julius A. Nukpezah

Journal of Public Management & Social Policy

This study examines the role of community-based nonprofit organizations in neighborhood revitalization/community development and their impact on the level of housing services. The neighborhoods in the study represent certain universalities of gentrification in older communities, and therefore selected for the study. By going beyond the profitability of gentrification, this study examines the social costs associated with gentrification through the lens of nonprofit organizations using quantitative data from Baltimore, Maryland and Houston, Texas. Taking into account nonprofit organizations as important actors in the gentrification field, this study contributes to the understanding of the social cost of gentrification and how community-based nonprofit …

Developing Agrihoods: The Context For Petersburg, Brandon L. Archer

Master of Urban and Regional Planning Capstone Projects

Petersburg has an extensive history of navigating through challenging times. From its inception, African Americans have played an important role in the development of the city, and today that spirit is still present. As evidenced by an extensive network of community support and stakeholders, the Petersburg Youth Farm has matured into a resource for not just the residents of the neighborhood but of the city as a whole. By incorporating some innovative planning techniques and building a housing development truly dedicated to community needs, we can improve lived experiences in the city.

By adopting the recommendations set forth in this …

Revisiting Participatory Rural Appraisal (Pra) Related Studies And Exploring Pra's Success Determinants: A Content Analysis, Raquel Garcia-Agustin

Journal of Public Affairs and Development

Participatory Rural Appraisal (PRA) has shown that participation in development programs in poor communities can be empowering not only for the community members but also for the development workers. However, not all PRAs have seen successes especially in fulfilling their mission to encourage real participation. Hence, it is imperative to understand whether PRA has led to adequate understanding of indigenous perspective to call for action and the interest PRA serves. This analysis aims to provide critical insights and reflections from the experiences of previously conducted PRAs. It further aims to reveal whether PRAs were used effectively and successfully according to …

Community Development Corporations And Neighborhood Stability In Hartford And New Haven, Ct, Gabriell Nelson

Masters Theses

This study investigated the effects of CDC housing revitalization programs in Hartford and New Haven, CT on neighborhood stability. Using a combination of quantitative and qualitative data, this study sought to connect the observed impacts in Hartford and New Haven with the literature on revitalization in formerly industrial cities. Data on three key indicators of neighborhood stability (property values, owner occupancy rates, and vacancy rates) were collected for the time period spanning 2000 to 2019. Street conditions were observed by a Google Street View “windshield survey” of the CDC focus areas; conditions were observed in 2011 and again in 2019 …

Envisioning Pathways Toward Transformative Food Systems Change: Understanding The Role Of Multi-Stakeholder Engagement At The Culinary And Nutrition Center In Springfield, Ma, Kristen Whitmore

Masters Theses

The alternative food movement claims varied goals such as building environmental sustainability, strengthening local economies, and promoting health equity, yet critics argue that the movement’s transformative potential is threatened by a lack of shared vision. Literature suggests that community-based multi-stakeholder coalitions are a useful tool for building consensus around food systems futures. But what kinds of futures? Home Grown Springfield is a school food initiative aimed at reducing hunger in Springfield, MA by serving healthy, homemade, and locally-sourced meals via the Culinary and Nutrition Center, a brand-new full-service commercial kitchen and storage facility. This qualitative case study examines the engagement …

Decision Science For Community Development And Social Change, Michael P. Johnson Jr.

Michael P. Johnson

Consciousness Against Commodifcation: The Potential For A Radical Housing Movement In The Cully Neighborhood, Cameron Hart Herrington

Dissertations and Theses

A right to housing is a central iteration of the broader demand for a democratic right to the city. The perpetual housing crisis for lower-income people results from a commodified system in which access to housing is based on the exchange value interests of property owners, rather than a universal right to a decent, affordable home. This system is a pillar of neoliberal urban governance and justified by a hegemonic ideology that equates speculative homeownership with the American Dream. Achieving a right to housing, even at the local scale, requires a radical movement that cultivates individual and collective consciousness, discredits …

Community Operational Research: A Survey Of The Discipline, Michael P. Johnson Jr., Gerald Midgley, Jason D. Wright, George Chichirau

Michael P. Johnson

Trec/Oapa Webinar: Authentic Community Engagement, Eryn Kehe, Wendy Serrano

TREC Webinar Series

This webinar will provide practical tools for designing effective and authentic community engagement for transportation projects. Too often, we can forget to ask ourselves who, what and why for our engagement processes. Authentic community engagement requires us to think through exactly why we need to involve the public, how they can influence project decisions and who the most impacted people may be. This session will walk you through the steps to plan a unique engagement approach for each project and share examples of what can happen when these tools are used correctly and what can go wrong when they are …

Uwt Experiences In The Townships Of South Africa, Bridging Borders, Breaking Bread, Fern Tiger, Christopher Knaus, Maija Thiel, Anneka Olson, Autumn Diaz

Conflux

In late August, 2017, twelve students representing all academic levels (undergraduate, masters, and doctorate) from all three University of Washington campuses (Tacoma, Bothell, Seattle) journeyed to Cape Town, South Africa, where they participated in a three-week UWT study abroad course. Students examined a range of community development activities and gained an understanding of pressing “township” development issues, including a range of conflicts between business interests and community needs. Students also learned how schools and non-governmental organizations have sought to empower and transform communities. This paper synthesizes key reflections of this remarkable urban experience from Professor Fern Tiger, Christopher Knaus and …

United In The Struggle: The Role Of Land Titles For Communities Of Internally Displaced Persons In El Salvador, Corie Welch

International Development, Community and Environment (IDCE)

Multiple episodes of dispossession and displacement characterize the lives of landless rural and semi-rural families across El Salvador. The residents of 30 de Abril, a semi-rural community in El Salvador formed from displaced families, engaged in a five-year struggle to force the government to make good on its promise of land to the rural poor. Now, with legal titles in hand, residents continue to work together to seek additional services and resources for their community, proving their resilience in the face of displacement. Based upon the experience of 30 de Abril, this paper explores the trajectory of one community‟s struggle …

Worcester Community Clean Energy Project: A Preliminary Assessment Of Project Aims And Potential, Gabe J. Epstein

International Development, Community and Environment (IDCE)

E4TheFuture is orchestrating two pilot Community Clean Energy Projects (CCEP) in the state of Massachusetts. This paper is a preliminary analysis of the Worcester CCEP and is commissioned by E4TheFuture. The CCEP incorporates multiple types of renewable energies and a cooperative energy approach to provide clean energy access to any community member regardless of income level or homeowner status. The paper examines the CCEP’s mission statement and project estimates, using data provided by E4TheFuture and academic literature. The analysis seeks to determine the feasibility of the Worcester CCEP, its potential impact on underserved communities, and the potential for project replication.

Housing And Community Development, Yana Kucheva

Open Educational Resources

No abstract provided.

Focusing On Equity In Regional Plans, Kristine M. Williams

TREC Project Briefs

Metropolitan planning organizations (MPOs) have long been required to consider the equity implications of their regional transportation plans and processes.

Paradoxes Of Violence: A Post-Colonial 'Gaze' On Chicago's Segregation, Zackary Rupp

Cultural Studies Capstone Papers

Although post-colonial theory was developed to examine the legacy of colonial powers, this project proposes that post-colonial theory can nonetheless fruitfully be used for a literary analysis of the Fair Housing Act to account for the typically non-colonial legacy of US segregation. Even though Chicago is not a city in the colonial context, the post-colonial discourse of violence, territorialization, and citizenship are useful tools for understanding the language in legislation that shaped American systemic segregation. Through a post-colonial lens, the research shifts the individual attention away from the marginalized offender and focuses on systemic othering that has shaped spaces suffering …

Evaluating The Distributional Effects Of Regional Transportation Plans And Projects, Kristine Williams, Aaron Golub

TREC Final Reports

Metropolitan planning organizations (MPOs) have long been required to consider the equity implications of their regional transportation plans and processes. Funded by the National Institute for Transportation and Communities, this research aims to provide additional guidance to MPOs on how to evaluate distributional equity in regional plans and projects. The report begins with an overview of federal requirements related to equity in transportation planning. We then synthesize contemporary methods for measuring transportation equity and the distributional effects of plans and projects from a review of the literature and MPO plans and studies. The report concludes with exploratory case studies of …

City Of Oberlin, Comprehensive Housing Study And Needs Analysis, Kirby Date, Kathryn W. Hexter, Charlie Post, N. Colt Ossoff, Arleesha Wilson

All Maxine Goodman Levin School of Urban Affairs Publications

The Center for Community Planning and Development was engaged by the City of Oberlin, Ohio to develop a comprehensive housing needs assessment. A fact-finding study with recommendations, it is intended to support future policy discussion and visioning as part of the City’s planned comprehensive plan process in the coming year. This study was completed with input and guidance from the City and a Housing Study Steering Committee of community stakeholders, a Community Open House, and interviews with residents, workers, business owners, and community leaders. Data analysis demonstrated a need for additional housing for low-income families, starter housing for younger households, …

How Can School Districts In Shrinking Regions Remake Themselves To Support Their Communities? Policy And Operations Analysis For A Massachusetts School District, Michael P. Johnson Jr.

Michael P. Johnson

Community Data Analytics: Localized Data Analysis And Decision Modeling In The Era Of ‘Big Data’ And ‘Smart Cities’, Michael P. Johnson Jr.

Michael P. Johnson

Community Land Trusts: A Help Or Hindrance To Community Development In The United States, Andrew Kuka

Stevenson Center for Community and Economic Development—Student Research

The availability of affordable housing in the United States continues to be an issue for Americans who are on the brink of homelessness, rely on housing subsidies, or struggle to pay their mortgages or rents. These issues, as well as the gentrification threat that community development poses to low-income residents can have deleterious effects on democratic participation and community development efforts. One proposed solution to these problems is the implementation of more community land trust programs nationally. This paper will assess the practicality of CLTs, and what such an implementation would mean for individuals, government entities, community members, and community …

Success Measures For Local Economic Development: Project Final Report, Michael P. Johnson Jr., Sandeep Jani

Michael P. Johnson

No abstract provided.

Decision Modeling For Housing And Community Development: #11;A Methodology For Evidence-Based Urban And Regional Planning, Michael P. Johnson Jr.

Michael P. Johnson

Greater University Circle Initiative: Year 5 Evaluation Report, Kathryn W. Hexter, Candi Clouse, Kenneth Kalynchuk

All Maxine Goodman Levin School of Urban Affairs Publications

In 2015, the partners of the Greater University Circle Economic Inclusion Initiative reached an important milestone—5 years of working together to revitalize the seven neighborhoods that comprise Greater University Circle (GUC). This milestone offers an opportunity to take a step back and reflect on why the group first came together as well as their collective accomplishments, challenges, and opportunities. This fifth evaluation report includes a very brief summary of the history of the Initiative before launching into reflections from the participants on the major accomplishments, challenges, and opportunities on the horizon. It concludes with significant outcomes to date. The report …

Resident-Led Urban Agriculture And The Hegemony Of Neoliberal Community Development: Eco-Gentrification In A Detroit Neighborhood, Theodore Pride

Wayne State University Dissertations

This dissertation employs a Gramscian framework as an alternative approach to understand the utilization of neoliberal community-based development—which advocates free-market schemes to development, and a refocus from institutional and structural causes of poverty to endogenous community forces (social capital and community capacity building)—by low-income residents in hyper-abandoned and disinvested urban neighborhoods. Using a case study of resident-led neighborhood development in the low-income neighborhood of Brightmoor in Detroit, Michigan, I show how “everyday discourse” of urban decline in Detroit and the possible rehabilitation of the city shape the “common sense” understanding of the “problem-and-solution equation” associated with the process of neighborhood …

Neighbors Building Community - A Community Empowerment Initiative Through Community Mapping, Mark J. Salling

All Maxine Goodman Levin School of Urban Affairs Publications

Cleveland State University’s Office of Civic Engagement, through an Engaged Learning Enhancement Grant, funded a pilot demonstration project to evaluate the use of community mapping for assisting with community assessments of neighborhood issues in a west side neighborhood of Cleveland. The project used neighborhood residents to collect and map data on a variety of neighborhood issues, specifically dilapidated buildings, potentially dangerous dogs, pot holes, broken sidewalks, offensive graffiti, trash in vacant lots, dead trees, and more.

The pilot project educated the participants about neighborhood issues, while providing the community with documentation on issues that can be presented to council representatives …

Examining The Right To Bicycle: Synergies And Tensions Between Human Rights, Civil Rights, And Planning For Cycling, Aaron Golub

PSU Transportation Seminars

Securing and expanding the broad right to bicycle, including the right to adequate and safe street space and related infrastructure for cycling along with other policies and protections for cyclists, is the obvious goal of cycling advocacy efforts in their various forms. All rights are situated within frameworks for promulgating and insuring they are honored, and the right to cycling is no different. This project investigates how the right to bicycle falls within various rights frameworks, focusing on broad human rights and civil rights frameworks while reflecting as well on traffic safety codes and transportation planning frameworks. While certain aspects …

Slavic Village Neighborhood Retail Market Study, Kirby Date

All Maxine Goodman Levin School of Urban Affairs Publications

Slavic Village is a revitalizing urban neighborhood in the southeast area of the City of Cleveland. A historic neighborhood that was once home to 75,000 immigrants of Polish and Slavic descent, it has seen steady decline since the 1960’s, along with other Cleveland neighborhoods, and was especially hard hit during the housing and foreclosure crisis of 2007-2010. However, in the present day, it has many assets and opportunities that make it poised to become one of the vibrant Cleveland neighborhoods of the future.

This study was done as part of a student project to look at the potential to re-invigorate …

“Two-Ways” To Fix Our Neighborhoods, John Gilderbloom, William W. Riggs

William W. Riggs

Expanding on earlier research about the impacts of one-way streets on outcomes such as public health and property values, a new study examines a citywide case study in Louisville.

Strong Cities, Strong Communities Fellowship Program Final Report 2012-2014, Kathryn Hexter

All Maxine Goodman Levin School of Urban Affairs Publications

The management team of the Strong Cities, Strong Communities (SC2) Fellowship Program — The German Marshall Fund of the United States (GMF), Cleveland State University (CSU), and the Virginia Tech Metropolitan Institute (MI) — is pleased to present this final report on outcomes and impacts of the program. The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and The Rockefeller Foundation were our primary champions in conceptualizing and funding this pilot program to build capacity in local government through embedded mid-career professionals. As a pilot initiative, the SC2 Fellowship program has proven that project-based and cohort-oriented urban fellowships can deliver …

Understanding The Location Decisions Of The Cuyahoga Metropolitan Housing Authority's Housing Choice Voucher Holders: Pilot Study, Kathryn Hexter, W Dennis Keating, Mittie Davis Jones, Brian Mikelbank, Michael Veres, Joyce Huang

All Maxine Goodman Levin School of Urban Affairs Publications

The goal of the Housing Choice Voucher Program is to assist low-income families in renting decent, safe, and affordable housing. Voucher holders are free to select a unit and location that best meets their needs within the guidelines of the program. The Cuyahoga Metropolitan Housing Authority (CMHA), which administers the program in Cuyahoga County, was interested in learning more about how housing choice voucher holders decide where they want to live. CMHA was also interested in understanding the barriers that might be preventing voucher holders from moving to areas of greater opportunity and how it could partner with cities to …