Urban Studies Commons^™

[Introduction To] More Than Shelter: Activism And Community In San Francisco Public Housing, Amy L. Howard

Bookshelf

In the popular imagination, public housing tenants are considered, at best, victims of intractable poverty and, at worst, criminals. More Than Shelter makes clear that such limited perspectives do not capture the rich reality of tenants’ active engagement in shaping public housing into communities. By looking closely at three public housing projects in San Francisco, Amy L. Howard brings to light the dramatic measures tenants have taken to create—and sustain and strengthen—communities that mattered to them.

More Than Shelter opens with the tumultuous institutional history of the San Francisco Housing Authority, from its inception during the New Deal era, through …

The Effect Of Kernel And Bandwidth Specification In Geographically Weighted Regression Models On The Accuracy And Uniformity Of Mass Real Estate Appraisal, Paul E. Bidanset, John R. Lombard

School of Public Service Faculty Publications

The article presents a study which examines the performance of kernel and bandwidth specification in geographically weighted regression (GWR) models in mass real estate appraisal. The kernels employed in the study are the bi-square kernel and the Gaussian kernel. Data from the sales of single-family homes in Norfolk, Virginia from 2010 to 2012 are highlighted.

An Analysis Of The Impact Of Housing Policies On Housing Prices In South Korea, Daeil Kwon

MPA/MPP/MPFM Capstone Projects

The South Korean government has been intervening in the housing market for a long time to either activate or stabilize housing prices. However, there is a controversy about the effect of housing policy in South Korea. I analyzed the effect of housing policies as well as other factor s (interest rate, cost of renting, inflation, stock price, unemployment rate, exchange rate) on housing prices nationally as well as in northern Seoul and in southern Seoul, from January 2000 to January 2015 (181 months of data).

According to the results of my regression analysis to test the effect of housing policies, …

Teacher Perceptions Of Violence Prevention Approaches And Self-Efficacy: Where Do We Go From Here?, Kristie Jo Redfering

Department of Conflict Resolution Studies Theses and Dissertations

This research project explored teachers’ beliefs of violence prevention approaches and self-efficacy. Relevant research indicates the value of violence prevention and conflict resolution education as well as the importance of teacher support of such programs. Theories of decision-making and self-efficacy provide the foundation for the variables that were examined through use of a survey instrument developed by Dr. K. King and Dr. T. Kandakai. Participants were sampled from two Florida school districts. Independent variables included teacher background and experience indicators including demographics and teaching/training experience. Dependent variables were comprised of multiple indicators of outcome value, efficacy expectation, and outcome expectation. …

Shrinking Cities, Growing Adversaries: The Politics Of Territory For Community Nonprofits In 'Shrinking City' Planning Processes, Janice Bockmeyer

Publications and Research

Political institutions in ‘shrinking cities’ undergo transformative restructuring when depopulation and disinvestment threaten public capacity. Using a New Institutionalism approach, this chapter explores historical impacts of changing institutions on community nonprofit organization (CNPO) behaviors, and highlights applications to Detroit’s current ‘right-sizing’ planning processes. It explores influences of foundations, intermediaries and anchor institutions on CNPO roles in decision making and concludes that Detroit illustrates governance without government, challenging CNPOs to impact deliberations increasingly led by the independent sector, where communities and CNPOs lack formal access. The chapter presents one case of counter-institutional response, that of LEAP, an innovative alternative CNPO plan.

Sustainability Policy’S Inherent Dilemmas – Exemplified Via Critical Examination Of The Las Vegas Metropolitan Sustainability Campaign, Kathryn A. Zimmerman

All Master's Theses

In response to a dual problem of critical water scarcity and rapid population growth, leaders of metropolitan Las Vegas implemented a region-wide, internationally marketed sustainability campaign. Preliminary studies found that, while sustainability policy attains its rhetorical goals, solutions initiated not only perpetuate but also purposefully expand the original dual problem to justify continuous water resource acquisitions. To examine this sustainability conundrum constructed by leadership—problem-perpetuation rather than problem-resolution—a critical examination in resource management asked two basic questions: what is being sustained and by what means? Via this inquiry, specific processes by which leaders perpetuate problems can be identified; and, so-informed, new …

The Metropolitan Revolution And Unlv As A Carnegie-Tier 1 University, Robert E. Lang

Brookings Scholar Lecture Series

No abstract provided.

Theorizing More Inclusive Cities: A Relational Model Of Boundary Transformation And Urban Research Agenda, Leigh Graham

Publications and Research

To generate more inclusive environments for marginalized urban communities of color demands a strategy that privileges symbolic boundary change and uses it as the inroad towards spatial changes. This paper theorizes a three step relational process of a) communicative democratic activism, b) "multicultural" capital brokers providing access to the policy making process, and c) practices of community building that reflect the role of cities as key sites for sociospatial boundary transformation. An emphasis on discursive and ideational change, relying on communicative democratic processes steeped in historical, comparative analysis opens up our minds towards different classification schemes for stigmatized groups. Participating …

To Destroy Or To Preserve: Urban Renewal And The Legal Foundation Of Historic District Zoning, Andrew Tarne

Theses and Dissertations

Historic preservation and urban renewal are often thought to be polar opposites. Where one seeks to preserve, the other generally seeks to destroy in order to rebuild. While the programs appear on the surface to be in opposition, this Thesis seeks to demonstrate that there is a fundamental connection between the underlying legal principles of historic zoning and urban renewal. To that end, the jurisprudence involving historic zoning and aesthetic regulations before and after the seminal urban renewal case of Berman v. Parker has been collected and analyzed. This analysis revealed that courts were hesitant to support aesthetic, and by …

How Livable Is Your Transit System?, Marc Schlossberg

TREC Project Briefs

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development has identified some “livability principles” which include healthy, safe and walkable neighborhoods and safe, reliable and economical transportation choices. Transit agencies and local governments routinely use metrics to evaluate the performance of transit systems, but a uniform standard of transit data collection does not exist outside of the reporting requirements of the National Transit Database (NTD). Because of the types of data collected for the NTD, the focus of performance measurements is often on ridership and financial performance, leaving aside the question of livability.

In an OTREC-sponsored project, principal investigator Marc Schlossberg …

Civic Deliberative Dialogue And The Topic Of Race: Exploring The Lived Experience Of Everyday Citizens And Their Encounters With Tension And Conflict, Jacquelyn Yvonne Mccray

Antioch University Dissertations & Theses

The research explored the interactions and experiences of participants and facilitators in civic deliberative dialogue and how they worked through tension and conflict. The dissertation question asked: What is the lived experience of participants and facilitators of civic deliberative dialogue and how do group members collectively move beyond tensions and disagreements that surface during dialogue processes? The study analyzed the joint influences of tension and disagreement within the context of seven deliberative dialogues convened on the topics of race, race relations and racism. Grounded theory methodology was used to analyze qualitative research data collected from participant volunteers and facilitators. A …

A Comparison Of Emergency Service Provider Costs For Formerly Homeless Persons Living Inpermanent Supportive Housing In Washington County, Oregon, Scott Stewart, Janai Kessi

Northwest Economic Research Center Publications and Reports

Comparison between the emergency service costs that homeless persons incur while homeless with their costs for the same services while residing in permanent, supportive housing.

Oregon Manufacturing Extension Partnership: An Economic Impact Analysis, Jeff Renfro, Marisol Cáceres, Janai Kessi

Northwest Economic Research Center Publications and Reports

Estimated the economic impact of the Oregon Manufacturing Extension Partnership on manufacturing in Oregon.

Analysis Of Feasibility Of Lincoln's West O Area For Redevelopment, Adam E. Brown

Community and Regional Planning Program: Professional Projects

This project assessed the feasibility of redevelopment of the area around the West O Street & Sun Valley Boulevard Intersection. The project provides information about the area, including specifics about its location, the zoning currently in use, the population of the area and the surrounding areas, housing characteristics, as well as information about mixed use development pertinent to this project and the study areas relation to the City of Lincoln’s Comprehensive Plan, known as LPlan 2040.

The project’s goal was to research and compile relevant information for review by the Lincoln / Lancaster County Planning Department in regards to the …

Science Fiction Cities, Carl Abbott

Urban Studies and Planning Faculty Publications and Presentations

This essay argues that cities can also be front and center as vividly imagined worlds whose characteristics play active roles that help to structure the arc of the story, forcing and constraining the choices that the characters make.

Cracking Susceptibility Of Concrete Made With Recycled Concrete Aggregate, O. Burkan Isgor, Jason Ideker, Tengfei Fu, Matthew P. Adams

TREC Final Reports

As high-quality, local, natural aggregate resources continue to become less available, and the cost of landfilling waste material rises, the need for alternative aggregates and recycling of waste material will increase. Using RCA in fresh concrete is one way to address both of these issues. However, there has long been a concern that RCA may negatively affect the properties of new concrete in which it is included. The results of the present investigation, however, indicate that the use of RCA in new concrete may not produce higher levels of free drying shrinkage as previously believed. Actually, these results show that …

From Transit Stop To Urbanity Node: Field Audit For Measuring Livability At The Transit Stop, Deni Ruggeri

TREC Final Reports

This research proposal addresses issues of livability at the transit stop. American transit systems have historically been “shoehorned” into existing street networks designed predominantly for cars and trucks. While much research exists on livability and walkability in the context of urban and suburban streets and blocks, bus stops are greatly understudied. This research focused on bus stops and aimed at analyzing their performance in terms of livability, with particular emphasis on perceptions. Our definition of livability was expanded to include considerations of safety and maintenance, cleanliness, imageability and vitality, which have been shown to affect people’s perceptions of livability and …

Social Sensing For Urban Crisis Management: The Case Of Singapore Haze, Philips Kokoh Prasetyo, Ming Gao, Ee Peng Lim, Christie N. Scollon

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

Sensing social media for trends and events has become possible as increasing number of users rely on social media to share information. In the event of a major disaster or social event, one can therefore study the event quickly by gathering and analyzing social media data. One can also design appropriate responses such as allocating resources to the affected areas, sharing event related information, and managing public anxiety. Past research on social event studies using social media often focused on one type of data analysis (e.g., hashtag clusters, diffusion of events, influential users, etc.) on a single social media data …

Introduction: Religion And Place: Landscape, Politics, And Piety, Elizabeth Olson, Peter Hopkins, Lily Kong

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

In 2010, a 14-year-old boy was brutally murdered in a suburb outside of Rio de Janeiro when a group of skinheads observed him at a party and suspected that he might be gay (McLoughlin 2011). This scale of horrific homophobia is not uncommon in Brazil, where rates of violence against gays, lesbians, and transgendered people are reported to be amongst the highest in the world. A study conducted with the support of Grupo Gay da Bahia offers the conservative estimate of 260 gays killed in the country in 2010, indicating that rates doubled in only 5 years. The statistic sits …

Using Indicators Projects As Prompts For Exploring Equity: A Case Study Of Greater Portland Pulse, Meg Merrick, Diane Besser, Shelia A. Martin

Institute of Metropolitan Studies Publications

This paper describes the process that the Greater Portland Pulse (GPP) initiated to incorporate the measurement of progress toward social equity into the project. While equity may appear to be a widely accepted priority for communities, the GPP process created a dialogue that was sometimes contentious but also profoundly educational for the participants revealing some of the complexities, not only of the issue of equity, but the challenges (particularly the inadequacy of available data) and trade-offs that are inescapable when using conventional data sets.

Additionally, this paper discusses some of the consequences of a process that, while incorporating equity values …