Urban Studies Commons^™

Bringing Judaism Downtown: A Smart Growth Policy For Orthodox Jews, Michael Lewyn

Scholarly Works

Until the late 20th century, the most rigorously traditional Jews, haredi Jews (often referred to as “ultra-Orthodox”) tended to congregate in New York City. But as New York became more expensive and haredi population grew due to high birth rates, some haredi Jews (known collectively as “haredim”) moved to small towns and outer suburbs in search of cheaper land, sometimes creating towns dominated by haredim such as Kiryas Joel, New York and Lakewood, New Jersey. As haredi populations have continued to grow, their households now seek undeveloped land outside these enclaves. But as haredim move deeper into the countryside, zoning …

Putting Policy In Its Place: Policy Enactment And Engagement Through A Multiscalar Policy-Shed Framework, Barbara L. Maclennan

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

The objective of this research is to examine the spatial components integral to policy formation, implementation, and evaluation. The research uses solid waste as a case study to explore a multiscalar GIS policy-shed framework. To this end, the goal of this dissertation is to examine the spatial nature of public policy. The research applies spatial concepts and multiscalar methodological applications embedded within GIS and geovisualization to explore the complex spaces surrounding public policy implementation and evaluation.

Evaluating The N/Ne Preference Policy, Amie Thurber, Lisa K. Bates, Susan Halverson

School of Social Work Faculty Publications and Presentations

North/Northeast Portland has long been the heart of Portland's Black community. By 2010, the area had lost two-thirds of its Black residents to displacement. In response, the City adopted a Preference Policy that prioritizes displaced affordable rental and homeownership applicants. This report describes findings from the first phase of a study to understand what difference this policy is making in the lives of residents.

Pedestrians Under Attack, Michael Lewyn

Scholarly Works

A review of Right Of Way by Angie Schmitt

Citizen Participation In Times Of Crisis: Understanding Participatory Budget During The Covid-19 Pandemic In Nepal, Thaneshwar Bhusal

ASEAN Journal of Community Engagement

This research assumes that various forms and scales of lockdowns and social distancing measures have limited local decision-makers’ ability to reach out to communities as part of their mandatory annual participatory budgeting processes. Building upon this proposition, this article assesses Nepal’s local budgeting process of 2020 to understand the degree to which it succeeded (or failed) in incorporating citizen’s voices in the annual handbook of local public policies and budgets. The research followed a qualitative case study research methodology. It generated interviews with participants including ordinary people, local politicians, and bureaucrats from 20 different municipalities and a federal ministry in …

A Crisis Within A Crisis: Nyc Landlords Ramp Up Harassment Of Vulnerable Tenants In Wake Of Pandemic, Joseph A. Jungermann Iii

Capstones

Already burdened with more sickness and death during the pandemic than other New Yorkers, low-income tenants and tenants of color are particularly vulnerable to additional harassment by landlords who seek to take advantage of the city's health and financial crisis to force them out. Brooklyn residents Delene Ahye, Dexter Lendor and Sonny Singh tell stories of their landlord, landlord agents and building manager’s harassment, which began during the pandemic’s most dangerous spikes in New York City. These forms of harassment included intimidation, abusive construction, constant buyout offers and biometrics and surveillance technology.

Link to capstone project: https://joseph-jungermann.medium.com/a-crisis-within-a-crisis-nyc-landlords-ramp-up-harassment-of-vulnerable-tenants-in-wake-of-e09d67968208

Diana: Unapologetic And Unafraid, Kirkpatrick B. Cohall

Capstones

Diana: Unapologetic and Unafraid provides a snapshot into the multifaceted, and dynamic world of Assemblywoman Diana C. Richardson. Richardson, born and raised in Brooklyn, New York has a heart for service to her community and will stop at nothing to make sure her voice is heard. Richardson takes us on a journey through her current political responsibilities and how she’s endured opposition on nearly all fronts of her political sphere, including law enforcement, news media, and other elected officials. From police officers pepper-spraying her earlier this summer at a George Floyd protest, to articles digging up dirt to intentionally slight …

The Long-Haul: Buddhist Educational Strategies To Strengthen Students’ Resilience For Lifelong Personal Transformation And Positive Community Change, Namdrol Miranda Adams, Kevin Kecskes

Public Administration Faculty Publications and Presentations

For decades, community engagement scholars have built a robust body of knowledge that explores multiple facets of the higher education community engagement domain. More recently, scholars and practitioners from mainly Christian affiliated faith-based institutions have begun to investigate the complex inner world of community-engaged students’ meaning-making and spiritual development. While most of this fascinating cross-domain effort has been primarily based on “Western” influenced Judeo-Christian traditions, this study explores service-learning/community engagement themes, approaches, rationale, and strategies from an “Eastern” perspective based on the rich tradition of Tibetan Buddhism. This case study research focuses on curricular approaches, influences, and impacts of Buddhist …

The Electronic Hardware Music Subculture In Portland, Oregon, James Andrew Hickey

Dissertations and Theses

Music is relatively understudied as a geographic phenomenon, but recently there has been a shift in academic literature to understand the social, cultural and economic factors that determine music and its development in specific places. The purpose of this study is to examine the Electronic Hardware Music Subculture (EHMS) in Portland, why it thrives, and how it is linked to the local cultural economy. To do this, I used semi-structured, long form interviews with key members of the EHMS. These interviews, and my own observations, gave insight into what factors affect the success of members of the EHMS, and how …

Expanding The Boundaries Of Food Policy: The Turn To Equity In New York City, Nevin Cohen, Rositsa Ilieva

Publications and Research

Policymakers acknowledge that the food system is multidimensional and that social determinants affect diet-related health outcomes, yet cities have emphasized programs and policies narrowly connected to food access and nutritional health. Over the past fifteen years, the boundaries of food governance have expanded to include a wider range of issues and domains not previously considered within the purview of food policy, like labor, housing, and education policies. This paper illustrates the processes by which this shift occurs by presenting the case of New York City, which has broadened its food governance to a larger set of issues, requiring cross-sectoral initiatives …

When The City Sells Some Landlords’ Tax Debt Year After Year, It’S The Tenants Who Suffer., Peter Senzamici, Allison Dikanovic

Capstones

New York City’s tax lien sale has been put on hold since last spring, giving homeowners some relief and allowing landlords who are behind to continue to neglect their obligations without consequence. Now, the state’s new eviction and foreclosure moratorium offers protection from the lien sale until May, and City Council is poised to vote on a new bill that would reauthorize the sale for one year. http://petersenzamici.com/liens

Winning The Fight For Better Bus Service, Steven Higashide

PSU Transportation Seminars

The "right to the city" depends on the right to access the city, and U.S. regions are marked by profoundly unequal access. One of the clearest manifestations of this is the state of U.S. bus transit. Bus service is simple to improve and has vast potential to better people's lives, but has been constrained by the racist planning and politics that shape every American city.

How can we fulfill the promise of better buses and create abundant transit networks that expand access to opportunity? In this seminar, Higashide unpacks the elements of effective bus service – and cites examples from …

What Do People Experiencing Homelessness Need?, Marisa Zapata

Homelessness Research & Action Collaborative Publications and Presentations

This is an opinion piece about a survey in Portland that reveals profound racial disparities even in basic answers about where people sleep.

Albion Through Malleable Eyes: The Great Migration, Urban Renewal And Missed Opportunities, Demetrius R. Goodale

Masters Theses

Albion, Michigan’s African American community built a robust, diverse, and thriving city in the early 20th century. Jobs were plentiful and wages allowed for healthy communities to sprout up across the city’s landscape. During this period Albion’s overall population more than doubled, and its African American community grew exponentially over the course of six decades. However, for many in the African American community, societal and economic gains were overshadowed by a crippling shortage in viable housing options. Albion’s African American community experienced limited options to help remedy the community’s housing challenges. These limitations were due to discriminatory housing norms and …

Façade Improvement Programs In The San Francisco Bay Area, Liz Lange

Master's Projects

The purpose of this research project is to provide a comprehensive inventory and analysis of FIPs that currently operate in the SFBA, identify common components, analyze unique features, evaluate program goals, and determine successful practices. The intent of this study is to encourage municipalities, particularly in the SFBA, that do not operate a FIP to consider implementing one by providing a starting point and guidelines for program development. Many municipalities are unable to research FIPs due to limited staff hours and other competing priorities. Through this research, staff will be able to identify what resources are required to operate a …

Perceptions Of The Built Environment Among Older Adults Who Live In Age-Restricted Communities Compared To Those Who Do Not In Southern Nevada, Sandra Annan

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

As Americans are living longer, there has been exponential growth in the number of older adults. Growth in the aging population has created unique challenges. As seniors age, they face many changes in their health, financial stability, and lifestyle, making it challenging to remain independent. The inability to remain independent can be a stressful and depressing experience for older adults. Studies show that most seniors prefer to stay in their current living environment as they age, or age in place, rather than move into senior housing or other available housing options designed for aging. This study investigates how perceptions about …

The Future Is Urban: The Progressive Renaissance Of The City In Eu Law, De Maartje Visser

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

For much of the European integration process, local authorities have been on the legal margins. Yet many amongst this group, and cities in particular, consider themselves as important players in realising the Union’s overarching policy objectives. This view is slowly but surely fi nding traction with the EU’s political institutions. This article suggests that the future architecture of the European Union’s (EU’s) operating system will evince a rapprochement between the socio-economic clout of local authorities, notably cities, and their legal-political recognition at Union level. It further suggests that there is room for greater conceptual clarity along two lines when interrogating …

Racial Disparities In Traffic Enforcement, Mike Dolan Fliss

PSU Transportation Seminars

Law enforcement traffic stops are one of the most common entryways to the US justice system, with significant downstream impacts for both individuals and communities. Group-specific rates are typically based on jurisdiction resident populations; these rates, like many justice-system indicators, demonstrate race-ethnicity disparities. Residential-based rates implicitly assume race-ethnicity groups have equal vehicle access, equal driving volume, and that all driving occurs in resident’s jurisdictions. In contrast, surveys suggest Black non-Hispanic and Hispanic households have less access and drive less than white non-Hispanic households. Models incorporating US Census data and race-ethnicity driving factors from the 2017 National Household Travel Survey showed …

Curating Equitable Transportation, Nikotris Perkins

PSU Transportation Seminars

Getting people and goods from here to there is central to the ways we live, work, and play in the United States. The transportation networks we create as planners, engineers, geologists, contractors, consultants, advocates, and citizens involve a multitude of decisions. These decisions have great impact on who can get where, when and how; often connected to our structures of social power. This seminar connects those dots, questions our ability to make change, and calls participants to be actively involved in a transportation system that is curated for those it targets: everyone.

Webinar: Bus Stops: Access And Equity, Keith Bartholomew

TREC Webinar Series

Improving bus stops by providing shelters, seating, signage, and sidewalks is relatively inexpensive and popular among riders and local officials. Making such improvements, however, is not often a priority for U.S. transit providers because of competing demands for capital funds and a perception that amenities are not tied to measurable increases in system effectiveness or efficiency. This webinar focuses on the role that bus stops play as the point of first contact between transit agencies and their potential riders, and how the quality of that contact can influence both ridership and accessibility for riders with mobility-related disabilities. The webinar will …