The purpose of the research is to determine the potential impact of global climate change on the upper Rio Grande basin. Geographically, the study encompasses the Rio Grande basin upstream of its confluence with the Rio Conchos. (More)

This is a study of the effect of spatial mismatch, that is a lack of geographically accessible employment opportunities, on the employment status of blacks compared to whites and Hispanics in the Detroit, Atlanta, Boston, and Los Angeles Metropolitan Areas. (More)

While the ongoing mortgage crisis has brought heightened awareness to housing problems nationwide - including foreclosed, abandoned, and vacant properties - the problem of housing abandonment is not new. Long before the current mortgage crisis, many large metropolitan areas were already grappling with the problems of housing abandonment and neighborhood decline. This problem, however, is no longer confined to older cities but spreading to small towns and suburbs across the country due to the recent foreclosure crisis. (More)

This research contributes to scholarly understanding of the labor market activity of women living in disadvantaged neighborhoods in large U.S. cities, the group most affected by 1996's welfare reform legislation. Welfare reform tightened eligibility for means-tested assistance programs, forcing many women to seek employment despite daunting personal obstacles. This research uncovers the extent to which this subset of women found steady employment in standard, living-wage jobs as well as the reasons why many have not. Unlike most work in this field, it incorporates measures of neighborhood disadvantage to further explore the spatial barriers to employment faced by this demographic group. I ask whether neighborhood context matters for employment outcomes, beyond individual characteristics and circumstances. (More)

In dozens of cities across the United States, public housing projects characterized by intense concentrations of poverty, high crime rates, and extensive physical deterioration are being revitalized through a U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development program called HOPE VI. This dissertation investigates whether the HOPE VI program, when implemented as intended, better serves or further exacerbates the housing needs of low-income households in the United States. (More)

This dissertation investigates the spatial distribution of affordable housing and the locations where vouchers can be used. (More)

The proposed research is a sustainability-based assessment of the impacts of a Philadelphia, Pennsylvania-based program that uses greening as an interim management strategy for vacant land. I will use quantitative spatial analysis techniques to measure economic, environmental, and social justice impacts of the Vacant Land Stabilization program, which treats vacant land by removing debris, bringing in topsoil, planting grass and trees, putting up a split-rail fence and providing maintenance during the growing season. The analysis is shaped by the concept of sustainability, which posits that to be sustainable, development must incorporate and balance economic development, environmental preservation, and social justice. The research will measure impacts on surrounding property values and success of commercial corridors, air pollution mitigation and carbon sequestration, and access to greenspace for underserved populations and communities. It will assess the extent to which these impacts vary based on location and whether or not there are significant tradeoffs between potential benefits. (More)

From case studies and even casual observation, the characteristics of gentrified neighborhoods—and, by extension, the probably determinants of urban housing renovation—are easily identifiable. However, nearly all existing empirical studies in the literature have found that these characteristics (with the exception of building age) are insignificant as predictors of residential renovation. (More)

This dissertation examines the political economy of the redevelopment process to ascertain why some projects are successful while others are not. The dissertation consists of case studies of four former Naval facilities. (More)

The Home Owners’ Loan Corporation, created in 1933 to help urban homeowners avoid foreclosure, developed a series of residential security maps for cities across the country. (More)

Eradicating homelessness and housing those currently or at risk of becoming homeless is a policy priority shared broadly in the United States by entities including HUD and the National Alliance to End Homelessness. Ten-year plans to End Homelessness have been established in more than 300 municipalities throughout the United States, including a plan in the city of Chicago that was initiated in 2003. The Chicago Plan, as well as the others, adheres to a Housing First approach to end homelessness, and represents a shift in the city's homelessness system from a shelter-based to a housing-based model. (More)

This grant will support my dissertation research, which compares African-American-led faith-based and secular community development corporations (CDCs) in order to explore the hypothesis that although faith-based and secular CDCs appear to be similar, several factors may contribute to differential project outcomes. (More)

Since the 1970s, waves of deindustrialization have dramatically transformed the urban Rust Belt. The plight of cities in this region is well documented by scholars. The story they present upholds central assumptions in theories of urban growth, mainly new cities grow in new economic regions at the expense of others. This dissertation challenges this notion by addressing the following question: What are the different economic trajectories Rust Belt cities have taken over the course of global economic restructuring from 1970 to 2000? (More)

The process of globalization is fundamentally reorienting not only urban economies, but also urban political projects and the ways in which people think of cities as being connected to one another through trade, migration, communication and representation. (More)

My research will examine the economic interdependence of central cities and suburbs both theoretically and empirically. The theoretical section will bridge the gap between two divergent groups of models: urban growth and urban simulation models. Urban growth models emphasize urbanization economies at the metropolitan level, and generally conclude that center cities and suburbs grow together—the complementary view. (More)

This study will examine two types of policies to limit in-home secondhand smoke (SHS) exposure among subsidized housing tenants. First, voluntary home smoking restrictions (VHSRs), which households voluntarily impose on themselves will be assessed. Second, tenant support for mandatory smoke-free policies imposed by housing owners or managers will be assessed. Individual, interpersonal, social, and environmental factors associated with VHSRs and support for mandatory policies will also be identified. The study population is tenants in 1,000 private, project-based Section 8 housing units in Columbus, Ohio. Methods include a face-to-face survey with a probability sample of tenants, surface nicotine sampling, and focus group interviews. Results will be used to inform the design and implementation of smoke-free policies in subsidized housing. (More)

Existing research has shown that households consider differences in public school quality when choosing where to live (Jud and Bennett, 1986). A recent article in the New York Times entitled "Parent's Real Estate Strategy: Schools Come First" (July 12, 2010) finds that in New York City homeowners often hire an education consultant before deciding in which neighborhood they would be willing to purchase a home. However, current literature does not explain exactly how and to what extent a household's decision to move into a neighborhood is affected by school quality. Nor does existing research detail how changes in school quality influence that household's strategy for investing in renovating their home. Due to difficulties in the identification of the relationship between schools and homeowners, as well as the difficulties involved in obtaining the necessary data, these questions have remained unanswered. (More)

The purpose of this study was to explore factors affecting the desire to age in place among Korean American elders. (More)

Harlem in New York City and Bronzeville in Chicago are two of the most historic and culturally significant urban African-American communities in the country. These areas have been critical spaces for the study of neighborhood change theory, Black urban life, and concentrated poverty. After a middle-class flight and almost 40 years of economic abandonment, these urban communities are currently experiencing massive influxes of commercial and residential investments, rapidly changing them from low- to more mixed-income environments. (More)