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Publication How Emerging Challenges in Higher Education are Revolutionizing the Campus Planning Paradigm(2024-09) Abdelaal, Mohammed M.From the 1990s to the present, U.S. public universities have invested heavily in campus development as part of the fierce competition with peer institutions over students and funding. At the same time, these institutions are confronted with enormous demographic, economic, pedagogical, and technological challenges. This dissertation studies this problem through three parts: a) a semi-structured literature review investigating the impacts of the emerging trends in higher education on the prevailing 21st century’s campus expansion paradigm, b) a cross-case-study analysis of institutional planning documents measuring the level of awareness of the emerging challenges impacting campus physical planning, and c) a cross-case-study analysis of interviews with senior administrators and planners evaluating the level of institutional response to the emerging challenges in question. The review synthesis of the scholarly sources confirms the looming risks and their implications for all aspects of institutional and campus planning; the cross-case-study documentary analysis confirms an overall strong awareness of the emerging risks; and the evaluation of interviewee’s insights and answers to the research questions reveals a high-level of concern and a moderate institutional response to these risks. With a wide range of recommendations and strategies unearthed in all three parts, this study indicates that a new planning paradigm is taking shape that institutions are gradually adopting in response to the growing risks. Most institutions, however, are still tied to several strategies of the old model of business and planning for Higher Education (Higher-Ed). The findings of this research emphasize the magnitude of the growing risks and their implications for campus physical planning, the urgency for place-based institutions to rapidly re-examine their prevailing capital planning priorities, and the need to explore innovative response strategies as part of the new and improved planning paradigm.Publication Social vulnerability, green infrastructure, urbanization and climate change-induced flooding: A risk assessment for the Charles River watershed, Massachusetts, USA(2013-09) Cheng, ChingwenClimate change is projected to increase the intensity and frequency of storm events that would increase flooding hazards. Urbanization associated with land use and land cover change has altered hydrological cycles by increasing stormwater runoff, reducing baseflow and increasing flooding hazards. Combined urbanization and climate change impacts on long-term riparian flooding during future growth are likely to affect more socially vulnerable populations. Growth strategies and green infrastructure are critical planning interventions for minimizing urbanization impacts and mitigating flooding hazards. Within the social-ecological systems planning framework, this empirical research evaluated the effects of planning interventions (infill development and stormwater detention) through a risk assessment in three studies. First, a climate sensitivity study using SWAT modeling was conducted for building a long-term flooding hazard index (HI) and determining climate change impact scenarios. A Social Vulnerability Index (SoVI) was constructed using socio-economic variables and statistical methods. Subsequently, the long-term climate change-induced flooding risk index (RI) was formulated by multiplying HI and SoVI. Second, growth strategies in four future growth scenarios developed through the BMA ULTRA-ex project were evaluated through land use change input in SWAT modeling and under climate change impact scenarios for the effects on the risk indices. Third, detention under climate sensitivity study using SWAT modeling was investigated in relation to long-term flooding hazard indices. The results illustrated that increasing temperature decreases HI while increasing precipitation change and land use change would increase HI. In addition, there is a relationship between climate change and growth scenarios which illustrates a potential threshold when the impacts from land use and land cover change diminished under the High impact climate change scenario. Moreover, spatial analysis revealed no correlation between HI and SoVI in their current conditions. Nevertheless, the Current Trends scenario has planned to allocate more people living in the long-term climate change-induced flooding risk hotspots. Finally, the results of using 3% of the watershed area currently available for detention in the model revealed that a projected range of 0 to 8% watershed area would be required to mitigate climate change-induced flooding hazards to the current climate conditions. This research has demonstrated the value of using empirical study on a local scale in order to understand the place-based and watershed-specific flooding risks under linked social-ecological dynamics. The outcomes of evaluating planning interventions are critical to inform policy-makers and practitioners for setting climate change parameters in seeking innovations in planning policy and practices through a transdisciplinary participatory planning process. Subsequently, communities are able to set priorities for allocating resources in order to enhance people's livelihoods and invest in green infrastructure for building communities toward resilience and sustainabilityPublication Climate Change Adaptation: A Green Infrastructure Planning Framework for Resilient Urban Regions(2013-09) Abunnasr, Yaser FThe research explores multiple facets of a green infrastructure planning framework for climate change adaptation in urban regions. The research is organized in three distinct, but related parts. The first develops an adaptation implementation model based on triggering conditions rather than time. The approach responds to policy makers' reluctance to engage in adaptation planning due to uncertain future conditions. The model is based on planning and adaptation literature and applied to two case studies. Uncertainty during implementation may be reduced by incremental and flexible policy implementation, disbursing investments as needs arise, monitoring conditions, and organizing adaptation measures along no-regrets to transformational measures. The second part develops the green infrastructure transect as an organizational framework for mainstreaming adaptation planning policies. The framework integrates multi-scalar and context aspects of green infrastructure for vertical and horizontal integration of policy. The framework integrates literature from urban and landscape planning and tested on Boston. Prioritization of adaptation measures depends on location. Results suggest that green infrastructure adaptation policies should respond to configuration of zones. Cross jurisdiction coordination at regional and parcel scales supports mainstreaming. A secondary conclusion suggests that green infrastructure is space intensive and becomes the basis of the empirical study in part three. A spatial assessment method is introduced to formulate opportunities for green infrastructure network implementation within land-uses and across an urban-rural gradient. Spatial data in GIS for Boston is utilized to develop a percent pervious metric allowing the characterization of the study area into six zones of varying perviousness. Opportunities across land uses were assessed then maximum space opportunities were defined based on conservation, intensification, transformation and expansion. The opportunities for transformation of impervious surfaces to vegetal surfaces are highest in the urban center and its surrounding. Intensification of vegetation on pervious surfaces along all land uses is high across the gradient. Conservation of existing forested land is significant for future climate proofing. The concluding section argues for a green infrastructure planning framework for adaptation based on integration into existing infrastructural bodies, regional vision, incremental implementation, ecosystem benefits accounting, and conditions based planning rather than time based.Publication From Tank Trails to Technology Parks: the Impact of Base Redevelopment for New England(2012-05) Schliemann, Bernd FWhy do some communities thrive after closure of a major employment center such as a military base, while others suffer for many years with long-term unemployment, decaying infrastructure, or other indicators of a weak economy? Through a mixed-methods approach, this paper examines a wide variety of community characteristics from past base closures, builds a model of the most relevant indicators of success or failure, and then offers redevelopment lessons to communities facing base redevelopment. This research incorporates a multivariate statistical analysis including panel regression and then a historical study of the five major BRAC closures in New England. While strong pre-existing economic and social conditions are indicative of successful recovery in many situations, there is no universal set of indicators that can predict success. Nonetheless, there are actions that communities can take to help navigate a military base redevelopment - these include establishing a strong leadership system, aggressively seeking federal and state funding, and orchestrating comprehensive planning that synchronizes market research with available infrastructure and opportunity.Publication Reasons for Local Smart Growth Efforts: An Evaluation of the Commonwealth Capital Program and its Outcomes in Massachusetts(2011-05) Jia, JiaThe Massachusetts model illustrates the latest approach to smart growth - the incentive based program. This study examines the reasons for and actual outcomes of local smart growth efforts through one of the Massachusetts’ smart growth incentives - the Commonwealth Capital (CC) Program. The main objectives of this research are built on two conceptual models through a mixed approach that combines qualitative and quantitative methods. The qualitative method is mainly utilized to evaluate the implementation of the CC program. The results indicate that the program is a good measure of municipal smart growth efforts representative of goals of the state. Communities with diverse land bases have some advantage, as a variety of zoning methods can be employed. It is not obvious that communities have changed their own zoning in response to the stimuli of the CC program. The first model is applied through various statistical tests to investigate the relationships among the towns’ characteristics and CC data. Homeownership, education and access to the highway system are significant factors related to municipal smart growth efforts in Massachusetts. Wealth, population and quantity of open spaces are only significant for certain type of communities (e.g. maturing suburbs, developing towns etc). Municipal political preferences (e.g. forms of municipal governance, DEM/GOP preference etc) and municipal planners’ efforts have some influence on the adoptions of smart growth policies, though the specific outcomes might vary case by case. The second model tests the statistical relationships between CC data and the Urban Sprawl in Massachusetts. The urban sprawl are defined by Urban Sprawl Indicator (USI) as the amount of residential land consumed per building permit in the five past years per community in Massachusetts. The CC scores and USIs negatively fit the regression line well, indicating that local smart growth efforts have generally controlled land consumption in the past. In particular, the USIs in developing suburbs appear more responsive to the CC data. The spatial lag model shows sprawl is a net-effect phenomena and the cluster of sprawl in a region might weaken the effectiveness of particular municipal smart growth efforts. Lastly, this research suggests that the design of state land use policies ought to follow the nature of geographic segmentation of municipal smart growth preferences.Publication An Assessment of Natural Resources Management Conflicts in the Working Landscapes of Mediterranean Turkey (Turkiye): Koprulu Kanyon National Park(2009-05) Kemer, NedimEnvironmental conservation and natural resources management are critical global issues of the 21st century. The management of protected public lands emerges as a challenge particularly in developing countries because of the biophysical and socio-cultural importance of these lands. These lands are often referred to as 'working landscapes' where the natural systems and the collective actions of local residents have shaped one another in well-balanced interactions for generations. The working landscapes of the Köprülü Kanyon National Park (KKNP) in Turkey have provided the case study for this dissertation. Eleven villages exist within the park with a total of approximately 7,100 residents. The rich natural resources of the park have been contested by local communities, management and concessionaires. The objectives of the research were: first, to understand the fundamentals of the natural and socio-cultural dynamics within protected areas in general, and within the KKNP in particular; second, to examine the social conflicts which complicate the management of the KKNP; and third, to explore potential solutions whereby the stakeholders can cooperate in stabilizing the traditional dynamics of the park's working landscapes. Qualitative data was collected via 38 in-depth, semi-structured interviews with local residents, managers and concessionaires. The research found that an array of social disturbances and conflicts impact the social fabric and harm the land-human integrity of the site. These include shifting demographics, changing lifestyles of the villagers, pressures from tourism, multiple governmental authorities and instable management. Yaylacýlýk tradition, a semi-sedentary form of pastoralism, has played a significant role in both the traditional ecology and the social relations within the communities of the KKNP; and its abandonment has severely impacted both social and biophysical conditions. Through yaylacýlýk local residents had managed the lands as common property. The establishment of the national park, changing life styles and the pressures on the local agricultural economy brought an end to yaylacýlýk . Now the resources are treated in effect as open pool resources, thus leading to their demise. Throughout the eventful past of the KKNP the local residents have come from being integral elements of the 'working landscapes,' to being as antagonistic enemies of the park management. The three ideal characteristic elements of the 'working landscapes' of the KKNP (controlled access, coordination and communication) which once were maintained by the yaylacýlýk tradition, can be re-institutionalized within the region through contemporary applications by neutral third party initiatives. Restoration, conservation and efficient management of biophysical resources and the natural environment should be the outcomes of the resolutions of social conflicts which can be accomplished by the restoration of these three elements of the social structure.Publication Preserving Urban Landscapes as Public History --- A Qualitative Study of Kensington Market, Toronto(2011-02) Li, NaSituated within the interpretive and critical traditions, this study aims to contribute to one of the continuing primary themes in urban preservation: how to interpret and preserve the intangible values of built environments. A comprehensive analysis of dominant theories of urban preservation forms the conceptual framework within which this dissertation takes place. It starts by locating the intellectual context of preservation in North America, and examines its basic premises and core issues. It identifies three limits to the traditional approach to preservation planning. The complexity and fragility of history, its narrative quality and its particularities, its emotional content and economic values, all connect urban preservation with public history. Therefore, in the spirit of communicative democracy and "a shared authority", the study incorporates collective memory as an essential construct in urban landscapes, and suggests a culturally sensitive narrative approach (CSNA). The study employs an in-depth case study. The setting is Kensington Market in Toronto, Canada. It examines retrospectively the urban renewal planning of Kensington Market in the 1960s, identifies the pivotal events that prompted the change of urban renewal policies, and demonstrates, through the interpretive policy analysis, that sometimes urban renewal plans that fail to be implemented can become success stories in how to preserve urban neighborhoods as a kind of public history. To probe deeper into the sources of conflict between the professionals and the public, the study further explores the mutual relationship between collective memory and urban landscapes. It takes a selective look at some significant sites of memory, and connects them into a narrative path. Through oral history interviewing, field observation, and material cultural analysis, this part of the analysis constitutes an empirical study of CSNA. A proposition is derived from this critical case study. The study concludes with seven steps of CSNA, a guide for urban landscape preservation and planning.Publication Building Main Street: Village Improvement and the Small Town Ideal(2010-09) Makker, KirinBefore the American small town was enshrined as an ideal, it was a space of dynamic and pioneering progressive reform, a narrative that has been largely untold in histories of professional planning and landscape history. Archival research shows that village improvement was not simply a prequel to the City Beautiful in the years following the 1893 Chicago Expo, but a rich and complex history that places the residential village at the center of debates about the middle landscape as a civic realm comprised of complimentary and oppositional pastoral and urban worldviews. The second half of the nineteenth century saw an extensive movement in village improvement that affected the physical, economic, and social infrastructure of rural settlements of all sizes in every region of the country. As a concept referenced by planners working on comprehensively-designed suburban communities, the small town ideal has never been historicized with respect to the history and theory of the nineteenth century village landscape improvements. This study broadens the study of village improvement to include the history of ideas and debates surrounding rural development on the national and local level between the 1820s and 1880s and, in doing so, argues that the discussion-born theory of village improvement within a national rural reform movement led by some of the nineteenth century's most respected and influential reformers including B.G. Northrop (education), Col. George Waring (sanitation), N.H. Egleston (conservation), Isabella Beecher Hooker (women's rights), and F.L. Olmsted, Sr. (landscape architecture) was modeled on the Laurel Hill Association in Stockbridge, Massachusetts, and that the local practice of this one society over the same period in line with the national movement together comprised the most active sustained discussion about the civic society and physical infrastructure of rural settlements in American history. This narrative tracks reform movements in rural settlements over several decades, beginning with landscape gardening through sanitation and up to the professionalization of city planning and the country life movement. Planning veered from broadly conceived urban pastoralism and multi-disciplinary rural improvement that viewed the village as an extension of the city toward preservation planning that viewed the small town as an increasingly idealized pastoral space, past-looking and unchanging. This trend was in line with an associated shift from planning as a series of fine-grained locally led practices to expert-driven professionalized planning as grandiose comprehensive vision.Publication Greenspace Conservation Planning Framework for Urban Regions Based on a Forest Bird-Habitat Relationship Study and the Resilience Thinking(2010-05) Kato, SadahisaThe research involves first conducting a "case study" of ecological data and applying the results, together with the resilience concept, to the development of a greenspace conservation planning framework for urban regions. The first part of the research investigates the relationship between forest bird abundance and the surrounding landscape characteristics, especially, forest area and its spatial configuration in urban regions at multiple scales. The results are similar for simple and multiple regression analyses across three scales. The percentage of forest cover in a landscape is positively correlated with bird abundance with some thresholds. Overall, the percentage of forest cover in the landscape, contrast-weighted forest edge density, and the similarity of land cover types to forest cover are identified as important for the conservation of the target bird species. The study points to the importance of species-specific habitat requirements even for species with similar life history traits and of maintaining some forest edges and/or edge contrast. The second part of the research involves the development of a landscape planning meta-model and its conceptual application to greenspace conservation planning, integrating the results of the first part. Administrative and planning units are recognized to exist in a nested hierarchy of neighborhood, city, and urban region, just as biodiversity can be conceived in a nested hierarchical organization of genes, populations/species, communities/ecosystems, and landscapes. Resilience thinking, especially the panarchy concept, provides a scientific basis and a metaphorical framework to develop the meta-model, integrating a proposed landscape planning "best practice" model at each planning scale. Ecological concepts such as response and functional diversity, redundancy, and connectivity across scales are identified as key concepts for conserving and increasing biodiversity and the resilience of an urban region. These concepts are then used in the meta-model to develop the greenspace conservation planning framework. Ecological processes such as pollination and dispersal, as well as social memory and bottom-up social movements---small changes collectively making a large impact at the broader scales as well as these incremental changes gaining momentum as they cascade across scales---are identified as cross-scale processes and dynamics that connect various planning scales in the meta-model.Publication Participatory Planning in the Brazilian Cerrado: Mainstreaming land use, climate adaptation, and vulnerability in the state-led program City for Us(2017-05) De Oliveira, EuripedesThe research highlights the urgency of communicating information about climate change, and to seeks to advance generalized knowledge about alternatives to mainstreaming land-use, climate adaptation, and vulnerability in participatory planning processes. It examines the state-led community-based planning process under the program City for Us (2005-2007), that took place in the state of Goiás, Brazil. My leading argument contemplates that vulnerability assessments developed through community-based planning processes might pave the way to further mainstreaming climate change adaptation in planning processes. The research investigates whether the planning process integrates vulnerability in the land-use discussion by the participants of the program. This research aimed to answer the question “How do land-use practices discussed in City for Us participatory planning processes relate to vulnerability, and what does this mean for how vulnerability can be relevant in other participatory planning.” The arguments for adaptation in this research are advanced through the lens of the social sciences, wherein the element vulnerability considers processes, practices, and governance-inequity issues. I investigate the vulnerability of human systems, which have experienced some sort of climate and or non-climate stress with limited capacity to cope or adapt. The vulnerability framework guiding the investigation encompasses the “architecture of entitlements” and “pressure and release” traditions in the climate change adaptation literature, which better suit the focus of the investigation than the “sustainable livelihood” and “socio-ecological” traditions. The exploratory design used in the research advances the qualitative paradigm that guides the ontology, epistemology, and methodology of my investigation, which is in unison with the constructionist perspective in the climate change adaptation literature that vulnerability is socially constructed. The analytical process combines an adapted constant comparative analysis, and a theoretical framework of vulnerability. Data collection methods include semi-structured interviews with purposely selected respondents that represented cities within the Goiânia Metropolitan Region while participants of the program City for Us. Journaling, field notes, and memos were also used. Triangulation materials are drawn from Brazilian’s national and state surveys, database, and archives including toolkits and publications used through the implementation of the program City for Us. The research found that vulnerability assessments developed through participatory planning processes facilitate further mainstreaming climate change adaptation, wherein policy makers and planners introduce more robust climate-related measures in further planning revisions. Research limitations concerned time and budget, accessibility to and availability of respondents, unintended pre-conceived theoretical frameworks, and the researcher’s positionality and roles. The research improves methodological frameworks for development of and revision of master plans, development policies, and development of capacity building initiatives that engages policy makers, managers and planning professionals, and the community at large in the advancement of climate adaptation.Publication Creating a Framework for Participatory Practice(2014) Gross, Alina TPublic participation has become highly relevant in the practice of urban and regional planning, as well as within a number of planning-related disciplines. A broad body of research has been developed on how to more effectively involve the public in a participatory planning process, and recent decades have seen the rapid development of a wide range of methods for doing so. This proliferation of various participation methods presents a number of organizational challenges that may hinder the practitioner’s ability to select participatory methods effectively. In order to better understand these challenges, this dissertation explores the history of how planning literature has addressed participatory practice, highlighting publication of participation-focused articles as exemplified by two major planning journals from their inception. We then analyze categorization schemes for participatory methods, highlighting five different ways that categorization for methods has been approached: level-, objective-, method-, stage-, and participant-based schemes. Finally, we explore the development of an integrated, comprehensive and hierarchical scheme for organizing participatory practices that can serve as decision-making support for planners and other professionals. By examining the past, present and potential future evolution of participatory planning methods, as well as the articulation between participatory theory and practice, this research aims to lay the initial groundwork for strengthening the relationship between participatory research and practical application, and more broadly, to understand how participatory programs can be planned more effectively to create more effective and representative plans and policies.Publication Do we have a climate for change? Insights about adaptation planning actions in coastal New England(2016-09) Emlinger, Ana M“I just drink more coffee and stay late” – declared the town planner of a small coastal community in the South of Boston, Massachusetts (MA) referring to the need of extra work to address climate change adaptation in a short-staffed planning department. These words illustrate one of the many common issues faced by planners of small and medium coastal communities in the region. A systematic incorporation of climate change concerns into formal community planning, management, and infrastructure design is in nascent stage. The challenges of effective adaptation are complex and likely to be politically hard, especially at the local level where the impact of climate change is most likely to be experienced and administered. Climate science is providing an increasingly sophisticated picture of possible climate alteration in future decades, and for coastal zones in particular, the potential consequences are a cause for mounting concern. The role of planners comes to a new level of importance because they urge to develop creative and innovative responses to adapt the built environment to these challenges. Efforts are needed to guide proactive adaptation actions that benefit coastal communities for present and future generations. Overall, there is a pressing need to move beyond vulnerability analysis and into implementation of adaptation action. In the real world, however, planners of small coastal communities are often times alone in their innumerable professional daily struggles and issues related to climate change are frequently placed in the bottom of their list of priorities. One of the goals of the present research is to examine the status of climate adaptation planning at the local level in the coastal New England. The research also aims to investigate what are the preferred climate actions taken by these municipalities, the main forces behind the challenges faced by planners and city officials trying to deal with these issues and what they need to move forward in the adaptation planning. The results of this study showed many similarities among these coastal communities in NE. Barriers repeatedly found in the literature such as lack of financial support, staff dedicated to this matter, political support and information were confirmed with high rates in all states. However, despite the challenges encountered, 36 communities were able to break the barriers and advance in the adaptation planning process. The data collection for this study was divided in two phases: Phase 1 – In-person semi-structured interviews with planners in the coastal Massachusetts (conducted in 2011; n=15); Phase 2: Web-survey with city officials, mostly planners, of small and mid-sized coastal communities in New England, particularly the states of Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Maine, Rhode Island, and Connecticut (Fall 2015, n=121). I focused on coastal areas, as these seemed the most likely to have begun considering climate change due to publicity about sea level rise and existing climate vulnerability. This study brings a range of benefits to Massachusetts’ smaller coastal towns and cities, as well as to the broader region of New England. First, it generates empirically-based findings on what communities are doing to become better adapted to future climate, and why. This leads to improvements in our ability to advise communities on how to move ahead on this important topic based on their particular situation. These coastal communities constitute a system, like a string of intrinsically interconnected parts. These parts are not impacted alone by the challenges associated with climate change. For this reason the risks to which these communities are subject should be addressed collectively. Perhaps, this knowledge will be an important step to collaborate in the meeting of joint solutions for the region.Publication Urban metabolism and land use modeling for urban designers and planners: A land use model for the Integrated Urban Metabolism Analysis Tool(2016-09) Farzinmoghadam, MohamadPredicting the resource consumption in the built environment and its associated environmental consequences (urban metabolism analysis) is one of the core challenges facing policy-makers and planners seeking to increase the sustainability of urban areas. There is a critical need for a single integrated framework to analyze the consequences of urban growth and eventually predict the impacts of sustainable policies on the urbanscape. This dissertation presents the development of an Integrated Urban Metabolism Analysis Tool (IUMAT) – an analytical framework that simulates urban metabolism by integrating urban subsystems in a single comprehensive computational environment. It reviews the existing literature on urban sustainability, urban metabolism, as well as introducing the general framework for IUMAT. IUMAT uses three separate models for quantifying environmental impacts of land-use transition, consumption of resources, and transportation. This work outlines the development of IUMAT Land-Use Model that uses Remote Sensing, GIS, and Artificial Neural Networks (ANNs) to predict land use change patterns. By using Density-Based Spatial Clustering and normal equations, this dissertation introduces a method for generating building-form variables from Light Detection and Ranging (LIDAR) data, which can be used as a new determinant factor in land-use change modeling. The proposed Land-use Model, within IUMAT or other analytical models, can be useful to local planning officials in understanding the complexity of land-use change and developing enhanced land-use policies.Publication RESIDENTS' PERSPECTIVES OF YOUNG, STREET-FACING TREES: THREE CASES FROM LEGACY CITIES WITH ACTIVE TREE PLANTING INITIATIVES(2022-05) Coleman, AliciaOrganized tree planting initiatives are underway in cities across the world in order to expand tree canopy cover, combat environmental threats, and create more livable places for urban residents. Trees along and near city streets provide a number of services for residents; however, evidence from environmental design and landscape preference research suggests that the perceptual effect of large-statured, mature trees may differ from small-statured, young trees. This dissertation explored these differences in three studies based in communities with active tree planting initiatives. Chapter 2 compares tree preferences from a hypothetical tree planting initiative to preferences for trees in other settings and also identifies the most influential characteristics to choosing a specific type of tree. Chapter 3 relates subjective and objective measures of street-facing trees to resident satisfaction and explores the role of resident satisfaction to potential participation in an urban tree planting initiative. Chapter 4 explores the role of street trees to pedestrian perceptions of safety, based on the presence, maturity, and absence of trees. Implications for theory, research methodology, and practice are considered in the final chapter.Publication Place Vibrancy and its Measurement: Construct Development, Scale Development, and Field Study of its Relationship to Planning Interventions for Three Villages in the Town of Montague, Massachusetts(2020-09) Delconte, John DThe process of using arts and culture to change the physical and social character of places has been defined as ‘creative placemaking’. Creative placemaking granting agencies originally considered constructing ‘livability’ and ‘vibrancy’ indicators to characterize the outcomes of their programs. However, the research community critiqued these indicators, which were considered too nebulous, and efforts to develop them were halted. Other researchers have sought to measure place vibrancy in other contexts. This study revives the initial line of inquiry for using ‘vibrancy’ as a measure of creative placemaking effectiveness and of revitalization efforts more generally. Here, place vibrancy is proposed as a construct that can be measured through creation, review, and testing of scales regarding resident and visitor attitudes toward vibrancy. Literature searches, expert reviews, focus groups, and interviews have been conducted to define the construct of place vibrancy, and results were coded in relation to seventeen themes: forward-looking governance, local ownership of media, education, infrastructure, natural beauty, social capital, well-being, arts and culture, gathering places, pedestrians, unique and historic architecture, cleanliness, strong economy, safety, diversity, buzz, and moderate tourism. Scales were constructed for each theme. With the scales, baseline place vibrancy was measured in three villages in the town of Montague, Massachusetts, which are undergoing varying degrees of cultural intervention: Turners Falls (TF), Millers Falls (MF), and Montague Center (MC). Turners Falls has received cultural funding over the last 10 years, MF is about to received planning attention, including cultural interventions, and MC will not receive any new planning or funding in the near future. The hypotheses were that baseline place vibrancy levels would be higher for TF than MF or MC, and that MF will show the greatest increase over time. The scales were administered as a hand‑delivered paper survey to a census-based sample of households in each village. Baseline place vibrancy was found to be statistically significantly higher in TF than in MF but not in MC, thus problematizing the first hypothesis. Later assessments will be made yearly for the next three years to test changes in place vibrancy for MF relative to TF and MC.Publication PLACE ATTACHMENT AND HOUSING DISPLACEMENT AS MOTIVATIONS FOR CIVIC ENGAGEMENT: THE CASE OF ZEIS IN FORTALEZA, BRAZIL(2020-02) Furtado, Lara SucupiraOne of the challenges in urban development is to promote civic engagement, especially in processes that involve vulnerable lower-income populations. Participation in civic life is often tied to subjective factors such as their experiences within a community; memories and care for place or even situations of trauma such as housing evictions. Thus, this dissertation identifies place-based emotional factors that motivate civic engagement in informal settlements. I observed the process of zoning regulation in the city of Fortaleza to examine how the risk of housing displacement and place attachment trigger community members to become engaged. A statistical analysis of variables about informal settlements in Fortaleza supported the hypothesis that the risk of housing displacement increases the likelihood of civic engagement. Interviews with civic leaders in Fortaleza have supported those findings showing how they have raised risk awareness to fight displacement and used the zoning legislation as a legal tool to achieve concrete results. The risk of eviction is a triggering factor that pushes people toward mobilization but place attachment is a driving force that keeps them active over time. This study shows how place attachment is a community asset that can be promoted to support informal residents’ discourses and actions in face of eviction.Publication Linking Resilience and Climate Induced Migration(2019-09) Marin, Marielos AClimate change is an indisputable reality in countries like El Salvador, where the effects of this phenomenon are palpable. Migrating away from risk is a likely response for residents, but in fact many people choose to stay even in areas that are already impacted by repetitive losses. This dissertation examines the underlying issues that explain why people decide to stay despite constant climatic risk—in other words, why they demonstrate resilience. The objective is to understand the links between resilience and climate-induced migration by considering the social-ecological systems where these phenomena develop. Focusing on El Salvador, I used a multi-method approach and different techniques that reflect the heterodoxy of analytic approaches available for planners. After developing a qualitative analysis of a case study in Jiquilisco, El Salvador, I did a logistic regression in a cross-sectional analysis of 15 years of in-depth data from El Salvador’s national household survey (2003-2017) combined with environmental databases. From these, I built an agent-based model (ABM) that simulated the behavior of populations under climate change stressors, identifying “resilience thresholds” beyond which individuals within a household decide to move. Findings show that the social dimensions of resilience are significant in the decision-making process to relocate; some of these social dimensions include the right to own land, risk perception, social capital, and land tenure. Statistical and modeling investigations focused on land tenure and social capital. One key finding is that contrary to expectations, land ownership has a positive statistical and modeling relationship with the likelihood of migrating. The case study suggested that this is because the wealth inherent in land ownership provides the financial means for migration. Households with high social capital were less likely to migrate, as attachment to land and neighbors/family provides some resilience. The ABM found that there were clear thresholds of resilience in which even with repetitive slow-onset disasters, residents will stay up to a point. These studies inform future research as well as increase understanding of the highly complex issues of migrant agency and decision-making; additionally, they have diverse implications for the planning field as well as other related policy-making agencies.Publication THREE ESSAYS ON REMOTE WORK AND REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT(2019-09) Wallace, RyanThis dissertation is comprised of three papers that collectively explore the relationship between remote work, or people that work from anywhere, and regional economic development. The first paper measures remote occupational employment in the United States with Census microdata and a shift-share model to decompose the share of occupational growth attributed to remote work. Findings indicate remote work has grown significantly since 2000, with the most pronounced growth in high skill jobs. The second paper uses a mixed-methods design to understand the role of remote work in migration decisions. It concludes that remote work arrangements enable access to employment opportunities that are unavailable locally and supports certain migration. The third paper uses a cross-sectional design and spatial econometrics to investigate the influence of amenities on the concentration of remote workers across a sample of US counties. The findings indicate that amenities, especially recreational and cultural, play a powerful role in explaining variations of remote worker concentrations across counties and that amenities play different roles in the hierarchy of county sizes. The dissertation concludes with a discussion of the implications for place and offers avenues for future inquiry.Publication The Influence of Wind Power on Rural Areas Economic, Demographic, and Community Services Impacts(2019-09) Shoeib, EmanWind power development has rapidly expanded in the United States. Much of this growth occurred in rural areas because of the availability of land and wind resources required to power turbines. The economic promise of wind power projects is particularly appealing for rural areas whose traditional economic base (typically agricultural) no longer supports as many households as it once did. Numerous studies have found that wind power projects have positive economic impacts on rural areas. What is less well understood is the effect of these wind power farms on other indicators of development, such as municipal services, demographic change, and quality of life. This dissertation examined the effects of wind power development on the economy, society, and community services in rural counties in the United States. The dissertation utilizes a mixed-methods approach, including both statistical analyses of secondary data, as well as the analysis of primary data collected through interviews. I use two longitudinal data analysis models, mixed effect model and fixed effect model with a quasi-experimental approach, to measure the net economic and demographic impacts of wind development on rural counties. The primary data addressed the effects of substantial wind development on eleven rural counties when they hosted substantial wind farms over 1000 MW. The results of the statistical analysis show a small significant effect of wind development on rural economies in term of increasing per capita income, median household income, farm income, and per capita employment. It also has a significant effect on decreasing the poverty rate. Results of the primary data analysis show that wind power development increased the tax revenue of the rural community without any required public services or increases in population size of the rural communities. I find that counties with larger populations benefit more from wind development, particularly during the construction phase. Substantial wind development leads to an increase in municipal finances of rural counties. This increase has been reflected in improvements on the community services without any negative social impacts. Wind development is a suitable economic source to diversify the rural economy.Publication Project Space(s) in the Design Professions: An Intersectional Feminist Study of the Women's School of Planning and Architecture (1974-1981)(2014) Cahn, ElizabethThe Women’s School of Planning and Architecture (WSPA) was an ambitious, explicitly feminist educational program created by seven women planners and architects who used the school to introduce ideas and practices of the 1970s women’s movement into design and planning education in the United States. Between 1974 and 1981, WSPA organized five intensive, short-term residential educational sessions and a conference, each in a different geographical location in the United States, after which the organization ceased formal programming and the organizers moved on to other activities. The founders and participants involved in WSPA collectively imagined and created a feminist space for environmental design teaching and learning through their evolving project, which was marked by interdisciplinarity, creativity, flexibility, egalitarian decision-making, and attention to diversity. This study uses an interdisciplinary, intersectional feminist framework and feminist qualitative methodologies to investigate WSPA through analysis of archival materials, interviews of surviving members of the founding group, and experiences of the author in the same fields and professions. This research also locates WSPA within a historical review of women in the design professions in the U.S. and links WSPA to early twentieth-century single-sex educational programs for women in architecture and landscape architecture, including Lowthorpe, the Pennsylvania School, and the Cambridge School. This dissertation proposes the notion of project space(s) as a framework for identifying and valuing efforts to incorporate marginalized and excluded groups of people and critical theories about difference and diversity into the planning and design professions, even when such programs and activities are modest in scale, decentralized, or ephemeral. Project space(s) enrich these fields by introducing new understandings of gender, race and ethnicity, social and economic class, sexuality and sexual orientation, and other sources of disenfranchised knowledge. This study discusses methodological issues in identifying and studying project space(s) as well as conditions that contribute to their development, including connection to strong external movements for social change; visionary individuals within the fields linked to outside movements; access to resources such as funding and publicity; critique of educational processes and professional norms from within; preservation of collective memory; and creation of intentional discourse communities, even if temporary.