Urban Studies and Planning Commons^™

The Forgotten Few: Foreign Professional Workers & U.S. Foreign Policy, Adrian Pandev

Journal of Vincentian Social Action

U.S. foreign policy took a dramatic shift since the Trump Administration took office in 2017. The country has pulled out of the Paris Agreement, has imposed more sanctions on Russia, and has vowed to renegotiate international trade deals to “Make America Great Again.” U.S. foreign policy has an enormous impact on the lives of foreign professionals, from the ability to obtain work visas to being able to simply travel to the U.S. to pursue employment opportunities.

Corruption, Political Instability And Transnational Crime In The Country Of Guinea-Bissau, Brian K. Harte

Journal of Vincentian Social Action

Internationally, Guinea-Bissau is regarded as a ‘cocaine gateway’ and transition point for narcotics trafficking from South America to West Africa, and into Europe (United Nations, 2011). Furthermore, “many esteemed experts have asserted that West Africa, and Guinea-Bissau in particular, is crumbling under the pressures posed by this drug trade which threatens to turn the region into an epicenter of lawlessness and instability” (Bybee, 2011, p. 3). We will provide an overview of transnational crime, corruption and political instability that contribute to social unrest within the country of Guinea-Bissau.

Colombian Conflict: A Sociological View Of A Gendered Society, Jorge Restrepo

Journal of Vincentian Social Action

Jorge Restrepo, having lived and experienced Colombian conflict, explores how the construction of the war narrative was driven by berracos (an expression used in Colombia to identify uber-males masculinized by war). In Colombia, women, afro-Colombians, native-Colombians, LGBT, anyone over sixty (as they are not perceived useful to society), children (childsoldiers), who have no representation before the government, the voiceless minorities, were cruelly marginalized. The Colombian conflict imposed a power dynamic between men, women, and other minorities, established by the government and the FARC (Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia - People’s Army) as part of their internal war.

Sisters Of The Caliphate: Media And The Women Of Isis, Kathleen German, Rosemary Pennington

Journal of Vincentian Social Action

Women have long been viewed as the “weaker sex”–more peace-loving and passive than men. However, clashes in Sri Lanka and Northern Ireland have shown that women are both willing and able to participate in violent conflict (Alison, 2004; Cheldelin & Eliatamby, 2011). We will specifically examine the recruitment to and roles of women in the Islamic State through an examination of the scholarship on female fighters, in order to contextualize the women of ISIS. We conclude with a suggestion that scholars and others interested in the experience of women in conflict move away from overly simplistic framings which suggest women …

Forgetting Fallujah: Covert Silence, Digital Public Memory And The Civilian Consequences Of Operation Phantom Fury In Iraq, Jason L. Jarvis

Journal of Vincentian Social Action

“Forgetting Fallujah” challenges the institutional memory of Fallujah advanced in “US Marines.” For most people, the understanding of war is based entirely on media images (Schwalbe, 2006; Sontag, 2003). This essay, like the work of Jackie Orr (2016) is a salvo in an ideological struggle to re-signify the meaning of Fallujah. The invasion of Fallujah was more severe for civilians than the torture of prisoners at Abu Ghraib, yet Fallujah caused almost no public outcry because it lacked visual evidence and went uncovered by mainstream American media (Entman, 2006). Covert silence in “US Marines” demonstrates that digital memory is easily …

Disinformation As Warfare In The Digital Age: Dimensions, Dilemmas, And Solutions, Minna Aslama Horowitz

Journal of Vincentian Social Action

Disinformation as warfare in the digital age may not be so different than any other type of warfare; wars are fought for power, and some benefit economically while the vulnerable suffer the most. The vast majority of conflicts today are not fought by nation states and their armies; increasingly, they are fought not with conventional weapons but with words. A specific sort of weaponry—“fake news” and viral disinformation—has been at the center of policy discussions, public debates, and academic analyses in recent years. Everyone who is active on digital platforms can be responsible in the simplest of ways: not lashing …

Introduction: Wars, Conflicts, And The Marginalization Of Dissent, Tuija Parikka, Basilio G. Monteiro, Sejal Singh

Journal of Vincentian Social Action

Conflicts, wars, and crisis, unfortunately, abound, transform, and become metastasized in unexpected ways. The vast majority of armed conflicts today are not fought by nation states and their armies but rather informal entities, such as gangs and warlords using small arms, improvised weapons, and media technologies. Few, usually poor resource regions, get global attention, thus deprived of political will and economic resources needed to resolve the conflicts. As women and other minorities are becoming primary targets and suffering unprecedented casualties, they are profoundly affected by practices and cultures of warring, yet often remain voiceless in the global arena.This special issue …

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Journal of Vincentian Social Action

No abstract provided.

Editors

Journal of Vincentian Social Action

No abstract provided.

Cover

Journal of Vincentian Social Action

No abstract provided.

Riding The Green Wave: Researchers Test “Green Light Optimized Speed” App For Bicyclists, Stephen Fickas, Marc Schlossberg

TREC Project Briefs

No abstract provided.

Fast Track: Allowing Bikes To Participate In A Smart-Transportation System, Stephen Fickas, Marc Schlossberg

TREC Final Reports

This project focuses on a mode of transportation that is currently left out of V2X (vehicle-to-everything) conversations: bicycling. The project demonstrates how university researchers, city traffic engineers, and signal-controller manufacturers can come together to give bicyclists the same technology appearing on modern vehicles: Green Light Optimized Speed Advisory (GLOSA). GLOSA allows motorists to set their speed along corridors to maximize their chances of catching a “green wave” (i.e., not being forced to stop as they travel through the corridor). This project demonstrates how GLOSA can be used by bicyclists in the same way it is used by motorists on a …

La Sostenibilidad De La Reconstrucción 2014-2019 Tras El Gran Incendio En Valparaíso: Una Mirada Desde La Habitabilidad, Resiliencia Y Preparación En La Gestión De Desastres, Dana Kulma

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

The beautiful port city of Valparaíso, Chile is home to 42 colorful hills that overlook the Pacific Ocean. This unique city, however, is also home to multiple disasters, including urban and forest fires, tsunamis, landslides and earthquakes. This descriptive study explores the case of the 2014 “mega-fire” that destroyed 3,000 homes and affected the lives of 11,000 residents. Through five semi-structured interviews and the review of several academic and official documents, the present study analyzes the process of post-disaster reconstruction, seeking to understand the habitability and the resiliency of the reconstructed houses and neighborhoods. In order to understand the challenges …

The Making And Silencing Of “Axé-Ocracy” In Brazil: Black Women Writers’ Spiritual, Political And Literary Movement In São Paulo, Sarah S. Ohmer

Publications and Research

In this article, I will focus on two influential writers from the south of Brazil, Cristiane Sobral who currently lives in Brasília, from Rio de Janeiro, and Conceição Evaristo who currently lives in Rio de Janeiro state, from Minas Gerais. I got to know them in São Paulo in 2015 at a public event: the “Afroétnica Flink! Sampa Festival of Black Thought, Literature and Culture.” I will include references to some of their younger contemporaries such as Raquel Almeida, Jenyffer Nascimento, and Elizandra Souza, all of whom reside in São Paulo, in order to illustrate the Black Brazilian women writers’ …

Energy Storage Roadmap For Northeast Ohio 2019: Full Report, Mark Henning, Andrew R. Thomas

All Maxine Goodman Levin School of Urban Affairs Publications

The 2019 Energy Storage Roadmap examines the trends that are driving growth in energy storage for the electric power grid, transportation, and consumer electronics applications. The report also highlights the commercial and structural assets that Northeast Ohio currently possesses that could enable it to capture an increasing share of what is projected to be a $100 billion market by 2025. While disruptive market forces are causing the ground to shift for the advanced energy industry, this shift will present opportunities for Northeast Ohio to capitalize on innovative technologies being developed regionally that would enable the realization of appreciably greater economic …

The Housing Crisis And The Rise Of The Real Estate State, Samuel Stein

Publications and Research

This article — an excerpt from my book, Capital City, with elaborations on a number of key points — argues that the housing crises endemic to contemporary capitalism must be understood as a result of the concentration of global capital into real estate and the the re-orientation of state planning capacities around the demands of the real estate industry. The first half of the article explains the dimensions of the crisis in the US and the rise of "the real estate state." The second half explores policy alternatives to contemporary urban neoliberalism and the kinds of movements necessary to …

Haa 372 World Cities: Cairo, Mother Of The World, Mark Delancey

Course Website Archive

This course will examine the urban development and architectural heritage of Greater Cairo, Egypt since the reconstruction of the fortress of Babylon in the Roman period, through the establishment of Cairo itself in 969, and until the present. Cairo has always been a crossroads of cultures, set between Africa, Europe, and the Middle East. It has been home to significant Jewish, Christian and Muslim populations who have been impacted by the various ruling dynasties who have held sway there, including the Byzantines, early Islamic rulers, Tulunids, Shi'i Fatimids, and later Sunni Ayyubids, Mamluks, and Ottomans. In the 20th century, rapid …

¿Historia Y Cultura Al Viento? Los Efectos De La Construcción Del Aeropuerto Internacional De Chinchero En El Patrimonio Arqueológico Circundante, Becca Teachey

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Durante los últimos 40 años, el gobierno del Perú ha hablado de construir un nuevo aeropuerto internacional en Chinchero, Perú. Chinchero es una ubicación perfecta debido a su proximidad a numerosos sitios turísticos y su gran cantidad de tierra que tiene el potencial de servir como un sitio de construcción. Sin embargo, Chinchero también es conocido por su riqueza en historia, belleza natural y ruinas arqueológicas del imperio inca. Con la construcción de un nuevo aeropuerto internacional en Chinchero, el patrimonio cultural y la integridad de la arqueología allá están en peligro. Se dice que el aeropuerto atraerá más turistas …

Laguna De Los Datos: Usos Y Percepciones De Rnu Laguna De Los Patos, Río Grande, Tierra Del Fuego, Argentina, Rosa Kirk-Davidoff

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

La protección de las áreas naturales urbanas es un tema importante que requiere tanta atención a los aspectos humanos de estos espacios como a sus características naturales. Río Grande, Argentina tiene un sistema de reservas naturales urbanas (RNUs) que comenzó en 2012 para proteger el hábitat de las aves migratorias en la ciudad. En este proyecto, estudié las actividades y las percepciones de los visitantes de una de estas reservas, RNU Laguna de los Patos. Conté todas las personas que visitaron la reserva durante 13 días, registrando lo que hicieron y cuánto tiempo se quedaron. También encuesté a una muestra …

Making Democracy Count: The Seemingly Technical Procedures That Can Make Or Break A Census, Charlotte Schwartz, Jeffrey Zalesin, Rachel Brown

The Scholar: St. Mary's Law Review on Race and Social Justice

Abstract forthcoming

Population Law And Policy: From Control And Contraception To Equity And Equality, Victoria Mather

St. Mary's Law Journal

Abstract forthcoming

Our Young People And The Gateway To Opportunity, Jonnie Ling

PSU Transportation Seminars

The Community Cycling Center has been working with youth through the "Big Jump: Gateway to Opportunity" project. We'll be discussing our exploratory educational model and the ways the project can increase accessibility and opportunity for the youth living and learning in the Gateway neighborhoods.

Believe Our Stories & Listen: Portland Street Response Survey Report, Greg Townley, Kaia Sand, Thea Kindschuh

Psychology Faculty Publications and Presentations

Many advocates, local officials, and people experiencing homelessness agree that Portland needs a better way to respond to low-priority calls for service involving those experiencing homelessness and behavioral health crises. This report examines efforts to address homelessness in Portland through the development of a plan to dispatch the Portland Street Response unit rather than police.

A team of community partners spread out across the city July 16 and 18 to interview people experiencing homelessness to help inform the design of the Portland Street Response pilot project (PSR). An additional team went out on Sept. 6.

Members of Street Roots, Sisters …

Doctoral Education And The Academic Job Market In Planning: 2018-2019, Joanna Ganning, Georgina Figueroa

All Maxine Goodman Levin School of Urban Affairs Publications

This report presents the results from the second year of a planned three-year study on doctoral education and the academic job market in Planning. The Year 2 survey of doctoral programs indicates that programs graduated approximately 270 new PhDs in Planning or closely allied fields during the 2018-2019 academic year—an 8% decrease from the previous academic year. Programs report that approximately 66% of students enroll with aspirations for academic careers. Extrapolating from the survey data, this suggests that of the estimated 270 graduates during academic year 2018-2019, an estimated 179 preferred an academic position. Survey data indicates an estimated 111 …

Identifying Sector-Based Opportunities To Create Living-Wage Jobs In Cuyahoga County, Ohio, Robert Gleeson

All Maxine Goodman Levin School of Urban Affairs Publications

Cuyahoga County’s rate of job growth remains below national averages despite ten years of continual U.S. job growth. Cuyahoga County’s economy has high shares of jobs (Employment Location Quotients above 1.0) in sectors with low national growth rates, and low shares of jobs (ELQ’s below 1.0) in sectors with high national growth rates.

Designing A Blue-Green Infrastructure (Bgi) Network: Toward Water-Sensitive Urban Growth Planning In Dhaka, Bangladesh, Sanjana Ahmed, Mahbubur Meenar, Ashraful Alam

School of Earth & Environment Departmental Research

In a warming world, urban environmental stresses are exacerbated by population-increase-induced development of grey infrastructure that usually leaves minimal scope for blue (and green) elements and processes, potentially resulting in mismanagement of stormwater and flooding issues. This paper explores how urban growth planning in the megacity of Dhaka, Bangladesh can be guided by a blue-green infrastructure (BGI) network that combines blue, green, and grey elements together to provide a multifunctional urban form. We take a three-step approach: First, we analyze the existing spatial morphology to understand potential locations of development and challenges, as well as the types of solutions necessary …

Examining Inclusive Growth: Minority-Owned Firms In The Cleveland-Elyria Msa Brief, Iryna Lendel

All Maxine Goodman Levin School of Urban Affairs Publications

This report provides insight on minority business ownership in the 5-county Cleveland-Elyria Metropolitan Statistical Area (Cleveland MSA) using data from the 2007 and 2012 U.S. Census Bureau Survey of Business Owners. Minority-owned businesses in the Cleveland MSA represented 20% of all firms in 2012. The majority of these firms, 71%, were owned by African American entrepreneurs (24,618), while 14% (4,959 firms) were Asian-owned. Overall, Asian firms have higher combined sales than African American firms ($1.9 billion versus $972 million); resulting in higher sales per firm. Targeted public policies assisting in revenue generation in the African American business community can increase …

Collaborative Environmental Chemistry Projects: Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia And The Claremont Colleges, Katie Purvis-Roberts

EnviroLab Asia

I received a course redevelopment grant from the Claremont Colleges EnviroLab Asia for my Environmental Chemistry (CHEM139) course. This allowed me to add a focus on environmental issues in Asia to the course and, more important, co-teach the class with a colleague at the Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM).Te many results of that cross-Pacific teaching project are the key subject of this reflective essay.

Towards Universal Design For All: Understanding Japan’S Environment From An Accessibility Standpoint, Bailey Lai

EnviroLab Asia

No abstract provided.

Webinar: Social Transportation Analytic Toolbox (Stat) For Transit Networks, Xiaoyue Cathy Liu

TREC Webinar Series

This webinar will present an open-source socio-transportation analytic toolbox (STAT) for public transit system planning. This webinar will consist of a demonstration of the STAT toolbox, for the primary purpose of getting feedback from transit agencies on the tool's usefulness. We are especially interested in hearing about any improvements that would aid transit agencies in implementing it.

The STAT toolbox was created in an effort to integrate social media and general transit feed specification (GTFS) data for transit agencies, to aid in evaluating and enhancing the performance of public transit systems. The toolbox enables the integration, analysis, and visualization of …