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Li, Kin-man Ronald, and 李健民. "Green politics of planning in Hong Kong." Thesis, The University of Hong Kong (Pokfulam, Hong Kong), 1998. http://hub.hku.hk/bib/B42574791.
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Murray, Stephen Andrew. "Bankside Power Station : planning, politics and pollution." Thesis, University of Leicester, 2015. http://hdl.handle.net/2381/31592.
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Electricity has been a feature of the British urban landscape since the 1890s. Yet there are few accounts of urban electricity undertakings or their generating stations. This history of Bankside power station uses government and company records to analyse the supply, development and use of electricity in the City of London, and the political, economic and social contexts in which the power station was planned, designed and operated. The close-focus adopted reveals issues that are not identified in, or are qualifying or counter-examples to, the existing macro-scale accounts of the wider electricity industry. Contrary to the perceived backwardness of the industry in the inter-war period this study demonstrates that Bankside was part of an efficient and profitable private company which was increasingly subject to bureaucratic centralised control. Significant decision-making processes are examined including post-war urban planning by local and central government and technological decision-making in the electricity industry. The study contributes to the history of technology and the environment through an analysis of the technologies that were proposed or deployed at the post-war power station, including those intended to mitigate its impact, together with an examination of their long-term effectiveness. Bankside made a valuable contribution to electricity supplies in London until the 1973 Middle East oil crisis compromised its economic viability. In addition to altered economic externalities, changing environmental and social conditions influenced how Bankside was perceived. Its pollution became increasingly unacceptable and the building itself came to be seen as a major architectural and industrial archaeological achievement. The transformation to Tate Modern in 2000 was instrumental in the social repositioning of the gloomy post-industrial Bankside locality to a modern cultural area. Bankside’s central London location, its architectural and technological design, and its role as Tate Modern make this a significant case study in urban history, environmental history and the history of technology.
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Li, Kin-man Ronald. "Green politics of planning in Hong Kong." Hong Kong : The University of Hong Kong, 1998. http://sunzi.lib.hku.hk/hkuto/record/B42574791.
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Raman, Nithya Varsha. "The politics and anti-politics of shelter policy in Chennai, India." Thesis, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2008. http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/45367.
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Thesis (M.C.P.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Urban Studies and Planning, 2008.Includes bibliographical references (leaves 82-87).
Many scholars argue that global forces, such as increased economic integration into the global economy or interventions from international aid agencies, are directly affecting the governance of municipalities. This paper explores the process by which international influences affect local governance by using the history of a single institution, the Tamil Nadu Slum Clearance Board in Chennai, India, and examining the evolution of the Board's policies towards slums and slum clearance from 1970 to the present. In its early years, state level political party incentives determined the shelter policies of the Board. The World Bank donated significant amounts of money to the Board for projects in low- income shelter provision between 1975 and 1996, and attempted to significantly change shelter sector policies in the city. However, the Bank faced a great deal of resistance in imposing reforms on the Board. It was not until they radically changed institutional structures within the Board to cut ties with local political parties that they were able to successfully implement policy reform. The history of the Tamil Nadu Slum Clearance Board suggests that institutional structures are of great importance when trying to understand the way in which international influences affect local governance.
by Nithya V. Raman.
M.C.P.
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Saumarez, Smith Otto. "Planning, politics and central area redevelopment, circa 1963." Thesis, University of Cambridge, 2015. https://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.708858.
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Bushman, Janna K. "Prophets, Planning, and Politics: Utah's Planning Heritage and its Significance Today and Tomorrow." Diss., CLICK HERE for online access, 1997. http://patriot.lib.byu.edu/u?/MTAF,15590.
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Gilbert, Anthony Patrick. "Social welfare : care planning and the politics of trust." Thesis, Open University, 2001. http://oro.open.ac.uk/18902/.
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This thesis describes a study of power and power relations, which is developed through an exploration of the literature and professional discourse in an abductive research strategy The focus is provided by services for people with learning disabilities within one English County and the relationships that are produced within the processes that surround care planning. The study sets out to describe and to provide evidence for the proposition that welfare professionals and the organisations in which they are embedded set out to manufacture trust. This trust has a particular quality as it is impersonal and therefore does not require knowledge of any individual involved. At the same time this trust serves as a commodity within the competitive environment of welfare and it is contested - hence the politics of trust. The study defines trust as the reduction of complexity and the management of expectations. It uses a framework developed from the work of Michel Foucault and his followers’ relating to the relationship between power and discourse and the concept of governmentality. The study describes the local relations of power within which both organisations and the people to whom they provide services become fixed. At the same time it links a developing discourse of citizenship concerning people with learning disabilities with a discourse of trust that is articulated by professionals within organisations. However, organisations tend to promote sets of relationships between the individual and the community, which produce differing forms of citizenship dependent upon the discursive structure of the organisation. The existence of differing discursive structures between organisations is linked with Foucault’s description of the ‘orders of discourse’ that is then used to produce an organisational typology of three broad forms into which the range of organisations involved in the study are be placed. These are described as New Wave, Pragmatists and the Old Radicals and as each provides a different set of outcomes for service users they actively challenge the basis of the trust claimed by the other with the first category, New Wave, proving hegemonic. This implies that an understanding of the discursive structure of an organisation is essential to the understanding of power relations within a particular field of operations such as social welfare.
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Andersson, Ann-Catrin. "Identity politics and city planning : the case of Jerusalem." Doctoral thesis, Örebro universitet, Akademin för humaniora, utbildning och samhällsvetenskap, 2011. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:oru:diva-16371.
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Jerusalem is the declared capital of Israel, fundamental to Jewish tradition, and a contested city, part of the Israel–Palestine conflict. Departing from an analysis of mainly interviews and policy documents, this study aims to analyze the interplay between the Israeli identity politics of Jerusalem and city planning. The role of the city is related to discursive struggles between traditional, new, and post-Zionism. One conclusion is that the Israeli claim to the city is firmly anchored in a master commemorative narrative stating that Jerusalem is the eternal and indivisible capital of Israel. A second conclusion is that there is a constant interplay between Israeli identity politics, city policy, and planning practice, through specific strategies of territoriality. The goals of the strategies are to create a political, historical and religious, ethnic, economic, and exclusive capital. Planning policies are mainly focused on uniting the city through housing projects in East Jerusalem, rehabilitating historic heritage, ancestry, and landscapes, city center renewal, demographic balance, and economic growth, mainly through tourism and industrial development. An analysis of coping strategies shows that Jerusalem planners relate to identity politics by adopting a self-image of being professional, and by blaming the planning system for opening up to ideational impact. Depending on the issue, a planner adopts a reactive role as a bureaucrat or an expert, or an active role, such mobilizer or an advocate. One conclusion drawn from the “Safdie Plan” process is that traditional Zionism and the dominant collective planning doctrine are being challenged. An alliance of environmental movements, politicians from left and right, and citizens, mobilized a campaign against the plan that was intended to develop the western outskirts of Jerusalem. The rejection of the plan challenged the established political leadership, it opened up for an expansion to the east, and strengthened Green Zionism, but the result is also a challenge to the housing needs of Jerusalem.Författaren tillhör även "Forskarskolan Urbana och Regionala Studier – Städer och regioner i förändring"
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Lasso, Ana Maria 1976. "Planning a community cultural festival : the power of politics." Thesis, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2001. http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/68375.
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Thesis (M.C.P.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Urban Studies and Planning, 2001.Includes bibliographical references (p. 117-119).
This investigation is catalyzed by my interest in the impact that cultural planning has had on the physical and social formation of cities. Beginning with the hypothesis that urban festivals have lasting impacts on cities, I intend to investigate how cultural planning shapes the social and physical form of a city through the mechanism of festivals. Since these festivals are ephemeral, one might assume that such events would have fleeting impressions on the communities they engage and the spaces they occupy. On the contrary, I will argue that the impacts of festivals are tangible and long lasting. They have significant economic effects, stimulating local and, at times, citywide development. In some cases, festivals spur urban design projects that have permanent consequences for the neighborhoods and cities where the event takes place. In addition to the economic revitalization that festivals produce, they are vehicles by which community organizations come to participate actively in political decision-making and ultimately help give voice and expression to cultural groups. I will investigate how two entities-city governments and community organizations-plan and produce special events, and I will analyze how their collaborative efforts influence the social and physical impacts that festivals have on cities. Comparing and contrasting the two municipal governments, Los Angeles and Chicago, I argue that cultural programming policies are not the only factors that influence how festivals impact space and communities; a combination of other policies and variables such as the social construction of identity and the shaping of urban space influence the impacts that these urban cultural festivals have on the city. I will use the ideas of the social construction of identity and power of place to understand better the planning and impacts of festivals.
by Ana Maria Lasso.
M.C.P.
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Gilbert, Anthony Patrick. "Social welfare : care planning and the politics of trust." n.p, 2000. http://oro.open.ac.uk/18902.
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Farndon, D. "Planning for socially just outcomes : planners, politics and power in the Olympic legacy planning process." Thesis, University College London (University of London), 2016. http://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/1508299/.
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This thesis explores whether mega event-driven development can achieve socially just planning outcomes by investigating how the development in London’s Olympic Park regeneration masterplan - the Legacy Communities Scheme (LCS) planning application - was rationalised by the actors involved (particularly planners), and assesses whether the LCS’s planning outcomes were socially just. The thesis firstly critically reviews conceptualisations of social justice within the planning and urban studies literature, thus informing a normative framework of ‘socially just planning outcomes’, adapted from Fainstein’s three ‘Just City’ principles, against which to assess the LCS. This theoretical framing is accompanied by an examination into the functioning of power in the planning decision-making process, drawing from analytical concepts relating to agency, agenda setting, and rationality. Through analysis of the LCS application’s documentation and in-depth stakeholder interviews, the main planning outcomes of the LCS are established, focusing on housing, employment, open space, and education land uses. How actors engaged in the LCS’s planning decision-making process reflected on and rationalised their support/objections to these outcomes is then examined. Subsequently, the role of power in shaping the LCS is discussed, with consideration to the exceptional governance arrangements, technical expertise, agenda setting, and the consensual, ‘closed-door’ approach to decision making. The thesis concludes that the LCS only partially provides outcomes that meet the ‘Legacy promises’ and the ‘socially just planning outcomes’ criteria. These outcomes closely align with national government objectives to ensure the delivery of the ‘Legacy’ development and recoup Olympic expenditure. This was primarily secured by the LCS applicant’s technical viability rationalisations, premised on maximising financial returns, which were largely accepted by the planners within the Olympic planning authority when assessing the LCS. This constrained the application of local planning policy and development objectives, and thus the influence of rationalisations advanced by the Boroughs’ planners and councillors.
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Davenport, Kelly (Kelly Ann) 1971. "The Tobin Bridge : its history and politics." Thesis, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 1999. http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/65466.
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Thesis (M.C.P.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Urban Studies and Planning, 1999.Includes bibliographical references (p. [42]-[43]).
The Tobin Bridge was a significant transportation improvement which gave automobile travelers from Chelsea and the North Shore unprecedented high-speed access to Boston. Through the first 50 years of the 20th century, Chelsea wanted a high-speed bridge but could not afford to build one, and also could not convince the state of Massachusetts or the city of Boston to finance a new bridge. In 1946, the state legislature created the Mystic River Bridge Authority, a public authority which built a high-level bridge by issuing bonds whose repayment was based upon expected toll revenues. The construction process was briefly delayed by protests from community members and their elected representatives, who objected to the residential displacements the bridge caused. The Mystic River Bridge opened in February, 1950, and was renamed the Maurice J. Tobin Bridge in 1967.
by Kelly Davenport.
M.C.P.
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Sahin, Savas Zafer. "Politics Of Urban Planning In Ankara Between 1985 And 2005." Phd thesis, METU, 2007. http://etd.lib.metu.edu.tr/upload/3/12608337/index.pdf.
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This thesis analyzes the inherent informal political relations embedded in urban planning process in the city of Ankara between 1985 and 2005. It has been argued that, urban planning process is -by nature- a political process and micro level political interactions in urban political sphere can be observed by looking at it. The urban planning process, as a political process interacts with existing political mobilization mechanisms and their spatial reflections. Such an interaction may cause emergence of informal political networks interested in derivation of urban land rent. The emergence, sustenance and persistence of these networks are related with the opportunities and legitimization potential of urban planning process. For the verification of hypothesis of the research the city of Ankara was taken as the subject of case study. A methodology consisting of a two phase research is devised to analyze the nature and the dynamics of these networks In the first phase a conventional statistical analysis the research universe consisting of all the all urban development plans and modifications realized in Ankara between 1985 and 2005 was realized. Then, in the second phase based on the patterns explored in the research universe, a specific example of urban planning process was chosen, which represents the patterns of the research universe. This example, Çayyolu 907 Parcel, then subjected to social network analysis. The results of the research has shown that, when the structure of the local political structure changes altogether as a result of for example local elections, the structure of existing informal political networks and the way they exploit urban land rent changes. In these periods the number of urban development plans and urban development plan modifications increase, while the size of the area covered by these plans tends to decrease and mostly confined to prospective areas in central business district and residential areas. Yet, by the time passes, new and diverse political relations are established congruent with the existing political mobilization mechanisms. This time, although the number of plans decreases, the size of the area covered by plans increase and mostly, vacant land in the fringe of the urban macro form become the target of these networks. Although these networks involve a hierarchy in it, extensive brokerage and patron client relations sustain them.
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Paccoud, Antoine. "A politics of regulation : Haussmann's planning practice and Badiou's philosophy." Thesis, London School of Economics and Political Science (University of London), 2012. http://etheses.lse.ac.uk/652/.
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This thesis is concerned with empirically determining whether a particular political sequence can be interpreted through Badiou’s philosophy. It focuses on the public works that transformed Paris in the middle of the 19th century, and more specifically on Haussmann’s planning practice. From an epistolary exchange between property owners, Haussmann and the Minister of the Interior during Haussmann’s first years as Prefect of the Seine, the thesis draws out a political event: the playing out in a singular context of an opposition over a political practice predicated on equality. In this case, the opposition is in the field of planning as regulation: the sanctity of property rights against a planner’s efforts to break the complacency of the planning apparatus towards property owners. The thesis argues that Haussmann was a Saint-Simonian state revolutionary that sought to make property owners contribute to the public works in equal relation to the benefits they extracted from them. In the face of sustained opposition, this planning practice was ultimately sacrificed by the imperial regime. Haussmann’s first years as Prefect are shown to have taken place in the temporality of Badiou’s events, while the commonly invoked process of Haussmannisation best describes the situation that followed the demise of Haussmann’s planning practice. Badiou’s notion of the state revolutionary gives us a way to think through the difficulty and evanescence of regulation. It can help us understand those fleeting moments when political will was used to break hierarchies of power and capital. Badiou’s philosophy is shown to be compatible with a social science that is concerned with isolating and singularising particular political sequences, of which early Haussmann is one.
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Knox, Colin Gerard. "Local government leisure services : planning and politics in N. Ireland." Thesis, Queen's University Belfast, 1989. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.335979.
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Vigar, Geoffrey Ian. "The politics of 'paradigmatic' policy change and the greening of UK tranport planning." Thesis, University of Newcastle Upon Tyne, 2000. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.324926.
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Stokes, Leah C. "Power politics : renewable energy policy change in US states." Thesis, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2015. http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/99079.
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Thesis: Ph. D. in Public Policy, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Urban Studies and Planning, 2015.Cataloged from PDF version of thesis.
Includes bibliographical references (pages 405-425).
Addressing climate change requires societies to transition towards renewable energy resources. In the United States, most states have passed renewables portfolio standards (RPS), creating goals for electricity's share of renewables, and instituted net energy metering (NEM) policies, compensating individuals and organizations for supplying distributed energy to the grid. Why have some states, like California, successfully expanded their policies, while others, like Texas, have failed to enact higher RPS targets or a NEM policy? Why have some states, like Ohio and Arizona, weakened their policies, while others, like Kansas and Colorado, have staved off retrenchment attempts? Typical explanations for policy change include shifts in partisan control, shifts in public opinion, and bureaucratic learning. However, I argue that shifts in the balance of power between supportive and opponent interest groups best accounts for variation across states in repeal efforts' success. Through policy feedback, policy design structures interest groups' relative power. Retrenchment attempts are more likely to succeed when renewable energy opponents are greater in number, profitability or political influence. By contrast, policy expansion is more likely to occur when renewable energy advocates become disproportionately empowered compared to their opponents. Drawing on comparative case studies, this dissertation uses process-tracing to construct policy histories, examining how policymaking and implementation shaped later rounds of policy revision. The study compares six cases of renewable energy policy change in US states, developed through over 100 semi-structured interviews with politicians, political staff, utilities, bureaucrats, and interest groups. Primary and secondary archival documents on were also gathered and analyzed. Advocates and opponents use several strategies to try to change policy. Politicians often come to support or oppose policies as a function of their ties to interest groups. Still, public support for policy matters; accordingly, interest groups construct and present public opinion strategically to try to shape politicians' actions. Finally, how the policy is designed, including its timing and visibility, may condition its capacity to expand or contract over time. In this way, my argument draws from and contributes to policy feedback theory.
by Leah C. Stokes.
Ph. D. in Public Policy
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Drubner, David Victor. "Intimidation lawsuits and the politics of real estate development." Thesis, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 1990. http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/65669.
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Chew, Weng-Huat. "Identity in city form : the politics of building height." Thesis, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 1995. http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/11859.
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Freemark, Yonah(Yonah Slifkin). "Mobility politics : local ideologies in the multi-jurisdictional metropolis." Thesis, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2020. https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/129039.
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Thesis: Ph. D. in Urban and Regional Studies, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Urban Studies and Planning, September, 2020Cataloged from student-submitted PDF of thesis.
Includes bibliographical references (pages 427-444).
What is the interplay between local politics and metropolitan infrastructure planning in the context of the multi-jurisdictional governance of contemporary urban regions? I interrogate, first, how cities make policy when many governmental organizations are involved in city planning. And I ask, second, how politics--in the form of partisan affiliations and personal ideologies--influences political officials' decisions and ultimately the designs of new transportation projects and adjacent development. I develop a new theory for how regional planning works. I first show that, even when deprived de jure jurisdiction over transportation projects and land-use planning, local governments harness their perceived democratic legitimacy to exert de facto power over planning. Second, I demonstrate that they expand this power through alliances with other localities, structured on the concept of mutual deference.
Third, I offer new evidence that local action on land-use and transportation planning is differentiated by partisanship, beyond typical explanations of municipal choices being based on demographics or economics. Fourth, I develop a typology of land-use ideologies held by local officials and structured both by differences in views on the left/right spectrum and preferences for the scale of new spatial development, that I use to further explain heterogeneous local action. Finally, I show how actors representing multiple jurisdictions and with contrasting ideological viewpoints coalesce around a single regional transit project by adjusting for these ideologies in the planning process. I examine six transit infrastructure projects in France and the United States. For each, I conduct interviews and archival research.
My comparative research approach--which operates across country and project levels--allows the deciphering of common and distinctive traits within each, allowing me to detect how officials promote goals independently and through alliances, and to identify the influence of partisanship and officials' ideologies on outcomes.
by Yonah S. Freemark.
Ph. D. in Urban and Regional Studies
Ph.D.inUrbanandRegionalStudies Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Urban Studies and Planning
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Dedrick, Charles S. "Politics, practicality and personality : superintendent succession planning in New York State /." Connect to resource online, 2009. http://library2.sage.edu/archive/thesis/ED/2009dedrick_c.PDF.
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Thesis (E. Ed.) -- The Sage Colleges, 2009."A Doctoral Research Project presented to Associate Professor Ann Myers, Doctoral Research Committee Chair, School of Education, The Sage Colleges." Suggested keywords: succession; succession planning; superintendent succession; leadership succession; superintendent turnover; passive absorption; transition planning; internal candidate; external candidate; superintendent search; vertical preparation; horizontal preparation. Includes bibliographical references: (p. 84-88).
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Ehrlich, Bruce David. "The politics of economic development planning : Boston in the 1980's." Thesis, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 1987. http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/14964.
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Lyons, Chris. "Planning gain and progressive politics : New Labour as a paradigm shift?" Thesis, London School of Economics and Political Science (University of London), 2010. http://etheses.lse.ac.uk/3024/.
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New Labour came to power claiming it would usher in an era of progressive politics that would go beyond the old Left and New Right ideologies and deliver balanced communities through a modernised local government. These communities would see a move away from the dominance of economic policy with environmental and social issues given parity. The planning system has historically accepted a socially driven argument for capturing some of the uplift in land value that results from the granting of planning permission, for community benefits. Local planning authorities seeking social benefits for a community normally secure these through planning obligations. However, obligations can be used for a wide range of purposes and this thesis investigates whether New Labour changed the emphasis of using obligations to be more socially cognisant, compared to the previous Government. This is measured by conducting an in-depth analysis of obligations signed at one local authority over the period 1991 to 2003. This gives six years of obligations under the Conservative Government to provide a contrast with the obligations signed under the first six years of the New Labour Government. Every clause signed in every obligation over this period has been classified to see whether the use of obligations has undergone a paradigm shift under New Labour. The research at the authority came to an interesting and surprising conclusion that a smaller percentage of obligations had a social purpose under New Labour than the previous Conservative Government. The research results were investigated by conducting interviews with senior officers at the authority to consider why so little progress was made under New Labour. The thesis concludes by suggesting why problems arose, considers whether they are likely to transcend the case study authority, and suggests how changes are needed if social issues are to be progressed.
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DeYoung, Elizabeth Helen. "Girdwood Barracks : power, politics and planning in the post-ceasefire city." Thesis, University of Liverpool, 2018. http://livrepository.liverpool.ac.uk/3021323/.
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In any society, contestation arises over the 'right' to space - how access to space is controlled and negotiated, who belongs and who is excluded. My research is primarily concerned with the policy and planning machinations of the post-ceasefire city, taking the former Girdwood Army Barracks in Belfast, Northern Ireland as its case study. It examines how power is exercised and how rhetoric is practiced and subverted through the processes of governance. The focal point of the analysis will be the nuanced relationships and dynamics within and between groups, and how these reflect upon the transformation of politics, society, and space in a city emerging from conflict. The regeneration of the former Girdwood Army Barracks is a microcosm of wider problems in Northern Ireland. The 1998 Good Friday Agreement promised a new future for a society previously mired in sectarianism and violence; the subsequent Northern Ireland Act enshrined its prescriptions into law. The vision for the 'new' Northern Ireland included a ceasefire leading to devolved consociational governance, which would then deliver social justice and the protection of vulnerable groups. Girdwood's regeneration was a test case for putting the rhetoric of the Agreement and the legislative framework of the Act into practice: promoting equality and democracy, sharedness and reconciliation, and a 'peace dividend' of prosperity in areas that saw the worst of the Troubles. The demilitarised Barracks site offered an opportunity for a regeneration project of international significance in one of the most deprived, divided, and conflict-afflicted parts of Northern Ireland. My research argues that such sentiments were rhetorical and camouflage the reality of a planning process that lacked shared visions; ignored equality and human rights legislation; and frustrated inter-community conflict amelioration. Girdwood is a site that has never before been studied in-depth, but which exemplifies the nature of ethnosectarian territorialism and zero-sum resource competition between groups estranged by conflict. However, it also highlights a developing social justice element which emerged as a dissenting voice to the sectarian status quo in Northern Ireland, attempting to hold politicians to the promises and prescriptions of the peace process. Ultimately, this thesis demonstrates that consociationalism has not delivered the promises of the Agreement, nor the rule of law enshrined in the subsequent Act. It highlights the chasm between rhetoric and reality, vision and practice evident throughout both the eleven-year Girdwood development process and in the concurrent workings of the Assembly. The uneasy dynamic of power-sharing in the post-ceasefire Assembly which produced Girdwood has come to a seemingly intractable end; the Assembly collapsed in January 2017, and over a year later at the time of writing, a compromise still has not been reached. My study concludes that as a test case, Girdwood shows that the consociational system is ultimately not fit for purpose, and influenced the eventual failure of government.
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Prytherch, David. "Planning the urban emblematic: Valencia and the politics of entrepreneurial regionalism." Diss., The University of Arizona, 2003. http://hdl.handle.net/10150/280378.
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In this dissertation I explore how globalization and ethnic regionalism collide in the planning of the contemporary European city. Political-economic restructuring is making Europe simultaneously more integrated and regionalized. An emerging literature approaches such restructuring as a matter of geographic 'scale,' refraining globalization as 'rescaling' or 'reterritorialization,' often contested through a 'politics of scale.' These innovative approaches, however, need to be elaborated through case study. More, they fail to account for how globalization is not merely resisted, but is negotiated locally, particularly in the politics and landscapes of European cities where ethnic regionalism is resurgent. I ask: How may local politician and planners balance the external imperatives of globalization with the internal politics of regionalism, particularly in the cultural landscapes upon which a rescaled Europe must necessarily be constructed? I approach this question through case study of the city of Valencia, capital of the autonomous region the Comunitat Valenciana, emblematic of the European regionalization at which Spain is at the vanguard. Analyzing secondary literature, archival research of planning documents and newspapers, semi-structured interviews, and participant observation, I show politics in Spain to have long been defined by the politics of scale, revolving around issues of regional, cultural difference. Planning in capital cities like Valencia is thus central to efforts to consolidate regional territory, but the rescaling of urban space usually implies the transformation of traditional, cultural landscapes, like the irrigated croplands of the Horta that surround the city of Valencia. The politics of scale are both more contested and 'cultural' than the existing literature suggests, and they unfold in and through the cultural landscape. Globalization must necessarily be negotiated through what I call the cultural politics of scale, which are struggles to define the meaning of economic restructuring in political discourse and the material landscape. In Valencia, political leaders attempt to strike a balance between entrepreneurialism and regionalism in an ideology of entrepreneurial regionalism, which is manifest in both political discourses and new landscapes of economic development meant to materialize them. In the process, the cultural politics of scale remake local places and the global political economy simultaneously.
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Zakhour, Per Sherif. "From Issue to Form : Public Mobilization and Democratic Enactment in Planning Controversies." Thesis, KTH, Urbana och regionala studier, 2015. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:kth:diva-174352.
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Academics, experts and politicians have come to the conclusion that democracy is in trouble. The contemporary understanding is that new competitive pressures from the outside and unruly publics from the inside have drastically changed the way politics is enacted. Where it was previously provoked by ideological programs it is now engulfed in issues, and where it used to be framed by established democratic institutions it is now characterized by informal governance arrangements. In this environment, it is argued, only the reformed institution can bridge the gap between politics and democracy and restore legitimacy to the decision-making process. In Swedish planning, these reforms have positioned the citizen as the point of departure for democratic politics, manifested in procedural citizen dialogues and in authorities’ relinquishment of political responsibilities. But when unplanned publics do emerge, they are intuitively dismissed as NIMBYs and obstacles to the planning process – preemptively foreclosing opportunities for public democratic enactment. The aim of this paper is to analyze this process by examining the public controversy surrounding the ongoing redevelopment of Slakthusområdet in southern Stockholm. It draws heavily on Noortje Marres’ work. She suggests that politics pursued outside of established institutions could be occasions for democracy since the activity might indicate that issues are finding sites that are hospitable to their articulation as matters of public concern. However, her issue-focused reasoning also positions the citizen as the focal point for democratic politics, meaning that those who fail to accept this role inevitably have themselves to blame. Her work is therefore supplemented with Laurent Thévenot’s understanding of how forms, that is, ideals, rules, and procedures, can be just as important as issues in informing the decisions among actors. Through interviews with those involved, this paper highlights the ease in which the city disarticulates the attempts at public democratic enactment, a proficiency largely stemming from its “reformed” management form. Moreover, while the public finally managed to settle their issue at stake, it came with the substantial cost of eroded faith in democracy. Drawing on this, the paper concludes that both issues and forms, publics and the public sector, are crucial in facilitating the enactment of democratic politics.
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Pang, Ho Yan Catherina, and 彭可茵. "Public policy and political party: a study ofthe role of the democratic party." Thesis, The University of Hong Kong (Pokfulam, Hong Kong), 1996. http://hub.hku.hk/bib/B31965039.
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Finkelpearl, Max. "Neoliberalism, Rationality, and the Politics of Congestion Pricing in New York City." Oberlin College Honors Theses / OhioLINK, 2020. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=oberlin1590068724079849.
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Jawaid, Naveen Q. (Naveen Qamar). "The Lebanese schism? : understanding localities of microcredit, poverty, and politics." Thesis, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2010. http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/59745.
Full textAbstract:
Thesis (M.C.P.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Urban Studies and Planning, 2010.Cataloged from PDF version of thesis.
Includes bibliographical references (p. 110-115).
The widespread popularity of microfinance as a "win-win" solution to global poverty alleviation has significantly limited debate and dialogue around contesting viewpoints, program structures, and implementation norms. The present microcredit industry in Lebanon offers an authoritative space for practitioners to explore a differing microcredit model as implemented by a Hezbollah affiliated NGO, Al Qard Al Hassan Association. As one of the oldest and largest microcredit institutions in the Middle East, I argue that the perceived Lebanese schism allows us to explore the role in which organizational diversity has enabled a reinterpretation and an opportunity to revisit microcredit as a poverty alleviation tool in the context of the Southern Suburbs of Beirut. The country of Lebanon also offers a new locality in which development planners can explore how an NGO grassroots program, Al Majmoua, and how an institution, Hezbollah, that began as a grassroots political movement for the community and is now in many ways of the state, implement successful microcredit programs. Through the lens of Lebanese microcredit professionals and borrowers of the programs, this study explores how a hybrid narrative of microcredit has escaped industry isomorphism in Lebanon and how social capital has been created, managed, and reproduced.
by Naveen Q. Jawaid.
M.C.P.
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Mehta, Aditi Ph D. Massachusetts Institute of Technology. "The politics of community media in the post-disaster city." Thesis, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2018. http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/115714.
Full textAbstract:
Thesis: Ph. D. in Urban Sociology and Planning, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Urban Studies and Planning, 2018.Cataloged from PDF version of thesis.
Includes bibliographical references (pages 285-301).
Disasters are times of information deficits and mass media misrepresentations. While mainstream media reports an array of narratives about crisis situations, it often ignores a variety of perspectives and the lived experiences of minority populations. This creates a biased knowledge base for city planners and the general public about the events before, during, immediately following, and long after the disaster. Accordingly, such events can trigger new forms of community media to amplify marginalized voices in the city. As information communication technologies (ICTs) become more accessible, it is easier for people to produce and disseminate community media, which manifests in varied forms with diverse purposes. This dissertation seeks to understand how and why people use ICTs to create community media in the aftermath of a disaster during recovery and rebuilding, as well as identify the multi-scalar gains of these activities. Using extensive qualitative interview data and thick description, this dissertation creates a framework and comprehensively analyzes the evolution of over forty initiatives such as low-powered FM radio, neighborhood Wifi mesh networks, the innovative use of social networking sites, blogs, and participatory documentaries, among others, that emerged in post-Katrina New Orleans (2005) and in post- Sandy New York City (2012). Applying grounded theory and emergent coding from these examples, it presents a timeless Post-Disaster Community Media Typology that outlines the primary action(s) and progression of these digital activities including: to inform (resource-sharing), to investigate (bottom-up journalism), to incite (organize for place), to include (crowd-sourced deliberation), to interact (therapeutic networking), to interpret (memorialize), and to income-generate (economic self-determination). Two in-depth ethnographic case studies with youth of color in both cities further verify the typology and illustrate how the community media production process can be an emancipatory form of rebuilding. By investigating the media ecology of grassroots communication, news generation, and storytelling in the post-disaster context, this research challenges the ongoing debate about how ICTs change the concept of community since few researchers have explored this question when physical space is destroyed due to disaster. Media production and communication using various digital tools allows dispersed racial/ethnic communities to maintain bonds, facilitates the creation of new values-based or goal-oriented communities, and provides a way for members of a neighborhood to rebuild their physical communities from afar. Ultimately, this dissertation argues that the there are three types of gains at the individual, community, and city level from post-disaster community media: recognition, instrumental capacity, and asset creation, which are essential for a healthy democracy and equitable resilience to shock. The findings also have implications for a broader understanding of public participation in the digital age. The typology offers a framework to conceptualize how community development efforts make use of a variety of new media technologies and how to best characterize the impacts of such engagement. The outcomes of planning are evaluated through the ideals of procedural or distributive justice, but neither of these perspectives critically examine how individuals form and obtain knowledge to make sense of their environments in the first place. City planning practitioners and scholars must include access to communication and media production as an issue area in the field to effectively address inequality.
by Aditi Mehta.
Ph. D. in Urban Sociology and Planning
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Sajjad, Fizzah. "Mega-project politics : the evolution of Lahore's first BRT corridor." Thesis, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2014. http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/90103.
Full textAbstract:
Thesis: M.C.P., Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Urban Studies and Planning, 2014.Cataloged from PDF version of thesis.
Includes bibliographical references (pages 118-124).
This thesis asks how opportunities emerge for states in the Global South to undertake large-scale spending on public transport, particularly in cases where they have previously withdrawn from its provision. In recent years, such opportunities have emerged in the form of mass transit mega-projects, particularly BRT mega-projects. Most of the recent research on BRT adoption predominantly attributes these increasing investments to the changing nature of urbanization and associated increases in demand for public transport, as well as the political will shown by strong, committed local individuals. However, a limited number of scholars have pointed out that demand and political will are not sufficient explanatory variables, and have called for incorporating alternative explanations that pay greater attention to the processes, politics, and the relationships between different agents. This thesis heeds these calls and investigates how these processes and linkages converge to open a 'window of opportunity' that enables change to take place. Using the case of Lahore's first BRT corridor, this study shows that the window of opportunity opened in 2012 as the by-product of an idea under development for roughly two decades in Lahore. Further, it shows that the opportunity for the state to undertake large-scale infrastructure investment in public transport emerged not simply due to individual actors or purely technical reasons, but due to the inter-linkages between a number of agents and broader structural, technological, and historical forces at play. Hence, this thesis argues that it is essential to understand change not simply through individual-centric explanations, but to ground such explanations in the particular political-institutional context in which they are based. This approach can allow us to understand not only how opportunities emerge for states in the Global South to undertake large-scale spending on public transport, but also the reasons why these opportunities arise in the manner that they do. Further, it can allow us to situate the spaces through which more effective, equitable solutions can be imagined.
by Fizzah Sajjad.
M.C.P.
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Horan, Cynthia L. "Empty coffers--tax reform politics in Boston and New York." Thesis, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 1986. http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/14889.
Full textAbstract:
Thesis (Ph. D.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Urban Studies and Planning, 1986.MICROFICHE COPY AVAILABLE IN ARCHIVES AND ROTCH
Bibliography: leaves 246-256.
by Cynthia L. Horan.
Ph.D.
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Allen, John G. "From centralization to decentralization : the politics of transit in Chicagoland." Thesis, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 1996. http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/11030.
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Hassan, Mirza Masood. "Politics of decentralization : the case of Upazila reform in Bangladesh." Thesis, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 1993. http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/66759.
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Nelson, Andria M. "Regional politics: the importance of regional planning bodies in ensuring effective communication and collaboration." Kansas State University, 2011. http://hdl.handle.net/2097/8564.
Full textAbstract:
Master of Regional and Community PlanningDepartment of Landscape Architecture/Regional and Community Planning
John W. Keller
Regions are an intricate network of communities, geographies and economies that together impact the long-term growth and stability of one other. Cooperation between municipalities within the same region is vital in order to achieve sustained growth, both economically and in the built environment. The research question states: What is the value of regional planning bodies in ensuring effective communication and collaboration among region-wide governmental and non-governmental agencies? This research report includes a detailed history of the role and significance of regional planning bodies in the United States, as well as a case study involving the regional planning body in Houston, Texas and the Gulf Coast Region. The Houston-Galveston Area Council is the lead participant in a 25-member coordinating committee working together to complete a regional sustainability plan under the federally funded Sustainable Communities Regional Planning Grant Program. The interviews included in this report give conclusions and recommendations to the success of the region working together in terms of communication and collaboration. The challenge of establishing effective collaboration among a variety of agencies in the Gulf Coast Region is proving to be difficult and slow moving, however, there are signs of improvement as the three-year grant program moves forward. The conclusions from the literature review and case study show that regions with an unbiased planning body benefit both from the communication and social capital gained by working together on a shared goal.
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Krolik, Theodore. "Playing to win : democratic deliberation, planning, and politics in Toronto's civic lottery." Thesis, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2016. http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/104988.
Full textAbstract:
Thesis: M.C.P., Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Urban Studies and Planning, 2016.This electronic version was submitted by the student author. The certified thesis is available in the Institute Archives and Special Collections.
Cataloged from student-submitted PDF version of thesis.
Includes bibliographical references (pages 180-196).
Government institutions across the world are currently experimenting with randomized household-selection engagement methods designed to maximize the diversity and representativeness of their sampled citizen participants. Varieties of "mini-publics" have been asked to deliberate on topics as wide-ranging as electoral reform and health care policy. As they have become more widespread, the focus of randomly selected citizen bodies has also been moving from topics debated at the national and state level to more practical questions affecting specific cities and communities. In this thesis project, I examine what happens when a city planning agency develops its own "mini-public" that is neither a one-off event nor supervised by elected officials. The heart of my research is an investigation of the Toronto Planning Review Panel, a "civic lottery" initiative begun in fall 2015 by the City of Toronto Planning Division intended to cover a broad spectrum of city planning topics over the course of multiple years. I present initial analysis of not only what the Panel looks like in practice, but also how it performs as a deliberative body. Though I consider the outlook of both volunteer and professional participants, I place special emphasis on the convening agency's perspective. I make a contribution to the extensive theoretical discussion by assessing the potential long-term ramifications for governance when city agencies form "mini-publics." While I present evidence to show that the Panel's contributions toward social justice and effectiveness immediately strengthen the legitimacy of the Planning Division's staff reports, I also argue that the Panel's popular element could eventually serve to validate the entire Planning Division within Toronto's larger "deliberative system."
by Theodore Krolik.
M.C.P.
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Foltz, Kimberly. "Waiting for the interurban : the politics of light-rail planning in Seattle." Thesis, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2010. http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/59723.
Full textAbstract:
Thesis (M.C.P.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Urban Studies and Planning, 2010.Cataloged from PDF version of thesis.
Includes bibliographical references (p. 84-93).
Transportation systems pose some of the most intractable challenges to sustainable, climate-friendly cities. As the fastest growing source of greenhouse-gas emissions, transportation is critical to sustainability. Yet transportation planning is complex, involving dynamic, multi-modal systems, and requiring the collaboration of multiple jurisdictions. Efforts to implement a more sustainable transportation system, therefore typically confront multiple barriers. This thesis examines a 20-year process to establish a light-rail system in Seattle, Washington to explore the opportunities for and obstacles to devising sustainable metropolitan transportation systems.
by Kimberly Foltz.
M.C.P.
38
Paul, Evan Thomas. "Projections, politics, and practice in regional planning : a case study of MetroFuture." Thesis, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2010. http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/59582.
Full textAbstract:
Thesis (M.C.P.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Urban Studies and Planning, 2010.This electronic version was submitted by the student author. The certified thesis is available in the Institute Archives and Special Collections.
Cataloged from student submitted PDF version of thesis.
Includes bibliographical references (p. 101-107).
This thesis describes the comprehensive planning effort undertaken by the Metropolitan Area Planning Council in the Boston area. This effort engaged over 4,000 of the area's residents between 2002 and 2009 and produced a new vision and action plan for the region entitled 'MetroFuture,' Without formal authority to ensure compliance with the plan, the agency worked to increase the scale, transparency, and specificity of its efforts in order to build broad-based support for implementation. This study analyzes MAPC's use of modeling, public participation, and advocacy and evaluates the strengths and weaknesses of the agency's "new regionalism" approach. They were able to achieve more diverse participation, a more comprehensive plan, and actionable recommendations with input from a much broader set of actors than previous efforts. They were hampered by the lack of political endorsement from state and local leaders, as well as by financial constraints and their inability to secure stakeholder agreement on key recommendations. The concluding discussion makes recommendations to other metropolitan regions trying to re-think how best to conduct comprehensive regional planning efforts.
by Evan Thomas Paul.
M.C.P.
39
Kazandjian, Mihran W. "Land Politics, Urban Poverty and Exclusionary Planning in an Inland Chinese City." Kent State University / OhioLINK, 2014. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=kent1396464159.
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Levine, Jeremy. "Slow Train Coming: Power, Politics, and Redevelopment Planning in an American City." Thesis, Harvard University, 2016. http://nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:HUL.InstRepos:33493277.
Full textAbstract:
Who decides which neighborhoods receive affordable housing, community gardens, or job centers? How do these organizations and agencies get a seat at the decision-making table? And what can urban redevelopment politics tell us about larger links between governance and inequality in American cities? This dissertation, based on four years of ethnographic fieldwork in Boston, addresses these questions and significantly advances our understanding of urban governance and neighborhood inequality. First, I argue that influence over community development plans depends on organizational legitimacy, not unequal access to resources. Second, I illustrate a consequential realignment of political representation, showing how private community-based organizations (CBOs)—not elected politicians—represent poor neighborhoods in community development decision-making. Finally, I reveal how subtle cultural processes—not overt elite domination—undermine resident power in public participatory processes. By focusing on the day-to-day grind of governance, this dissertation reveals overlooked actors and new political processes. It is a unique urban ethnography that takes readers off of the street corner and into the conference rooms of government agencies and private development organizations—a move forcing social scientists to rethink dynamics of power, political representation, and inequality in poor neighborhoods.Sociology
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Philliskirk, Ben. "'Bogged down in housing' : politics and planning in residential Leeds, 1954-1979." Thesis, University of Leeds, 2016. http://etheses.whiterose.ac.uk/17765/.
Full textAbstract:
This thesis addresses several themes relating to politics and planning processes and their effect on residential areas of post-war Leeds. As such, it examines the extent to which Leeds’ political leadership and council bureaucracy were pursuing a ‘modernisation project’ in the post-war period, asks if policy changed from an ambitious attempt to reshape Leeds’ residential environment to the aim of managing selected ‘problem’ areas, and questions whether popular organisations were concerned mainly with defending ‘traditional’ communities and ways of life, or if they had a more positive aim of achieving greater control over the built environment. In relation to this, it considers how much the council bureaucrats, local politicians and community groups were constrained by political, economic, organisational and technical issues. Ultimately, one of the central features of this thesis is how housing issues in Leeds went from a relatively consensual political approach with extensive technocratic guidance and little popular involvement, to a situation by the end of the 1970s where numerous grass-roots organisations were demanding a say in housing policy, party-political divisions were an increased feature and the council had become more exasperated at the resources, guidance and management it was receiving from central government. This is linked to concepts of ‘collective consumption’ and the relationships between citizens and the state, producing conclusions that suggest that an inability to achieve broader political influence over changes to the residential environment effectively encouraged a retreat to the pursuit of more individual solutions and the frustration of collective aims.
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Jameson, Cade. "Radical Conservation and the Politics of Planning: A Historical Study, 1917-1945." Thesis, University of Oregon, 2017. http://hdl.handle.net/1794/22728.
Full textAbstract:
This thesis is a historical, sociological case-study of the movement for public control and land-use planning prior to WWII. The impetus for this movement came from a radicalized faction of the forestry profession. Radicalism in forestry centered around a group of professional foresters who were followers of Gifford Pinchot, the nation's Chief Forester from 1898-1910. Pinchot commenced the movement for public control over cutting on private forestlands in in the nineteen-teens.
The emphasis in this case-study is on identifying social factors responsible for giving impetus to a movement for collective environmental planning, and the social and environmental possibilities of this subject. Three specific areas are studied: first radicalism in the forestry profession; second the vision of sustainability that emerged from radical forestry; and finally the relationship between the radical foresters and organized currents of the political Left.
Findings: The understanding of the scientific conservation and land-use planning movement that has developed in scholarly literature does not provide an accurate characterization of this movement. The neglected vision of sustainability through public ownership and planning associated with radical forestry might be reconsidered in light of the present environmental problems. Despite the fact there was a radical presence in the forestry profession, norms of professional behavior are significant obstacles to radicalization, hence why Pinchotist conservation is anomalous in environmental history. Even though leading personalities in forestry took up the cause of public control, the institutional environmental movement remained aloof, giving indication that there are barriers to the development of an organized movement for environmental planning. Various radical political currents, however, demonstrated signs of receptivity to the scientific conservation movement.
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Christmas, Shannon Stewart. "Cultural policy, state politics, and rural economic development : lessons from Maine." Thesis, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2006. http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/37665.
Full textAbstract:
Thesis (M.C.P.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Urban Studies and Planning, 2006.Includes bibliographical references (leaves 69-73).
This thesis explores how political actors utilize studies of the arts' impact on state economies to boost -the significance of cultural policy within a given political environment. Specifically, this thesis explains how the current Governor of Maine, John Baldacci and the leaders of Maine's cultural policy bureaucracy utilized a study of creative industries' contributions to the Maine economy to lead an effort to garner public support for a statewide cultural economic development agenda. In researching this topic, I have come to learn how an economic impact study in the hands of an ambitious and enterprising coalition of arts advocates convinced political elites and voters in an overwhelmingly rural state to embrace cultural development as an economic development strategy - a decidedly urban(e) phenomenon - via Governor Baldacci's Creative Economy Initiative. Largely attributable to the state's desperation for economic development, the anomalous political success story of the Creative Economy Initiative is a revealing one, providing a look at how cultural policy can garner high priority status on state policy agendas as well as lessons on how to make cultural economic development politically palatable in rural areas.
by Shannon Stewart Christmas.
M.C.P.
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Chattaraj, Shahana 1976. "Eviction or inclusion? : the politics of resettlement in Calcutta's squatter settlements." Thesis, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2003. http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/30028.
Full textAbstract:
Thesis (M.C.P.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Urban Studies and Planning, 2003.Includes bibliographical references (leaves 120-126).
Summary: This thesis explores the relationship between politics, urban governance and tenure security in informal settlements in the city of Calcutta. A secure place of living for the urban poor is critically important both from a human rights perspective, as well as an economic development perspective. Planners concerned with both human rights and economic welfare require an understanding of the policies, strategies, and actions leading to tenure security. In this thesis I demonstrate how tenure security in post-independence Calcutta has functioned along a two-pronged model, where some slums have been legalized due to historical and political reasons, whereas others with equally strong claims to official recognition (as per the legal definition of slums) have been denied their existence and basic rights. Residents of the non-recognized slums have managed, through political contacts and with the help of non-governmental organizations, to ease a measure of services, as well as government-issued documents that testify to their residence in the unrecognized slums. But these measures provide a perception of security that is very precarious. Calcutta is on the threshold of a number of environmental and infrastructure improvement projects, as well as unprecedented private housing and commercial developments. Many of these projects will require the eviction of vast numbers of already impoverished squatters living in unrecognized slums. In this milieu, residents of unrecognized areas face the very urgent and real threat of eviction without any form of rehabilitation, due to their "illegal" status. At this juncture, it is critically important to make a case for their legality and inclusion, based on the West Bengal government's own history of progressive slum regularization, so that "illegal" residents may be adequately and fairly compensated for any relocation, rather than forcibly and brutally removed. In this thesis I make such a case. Further, my analysis highlights the need to consider the role of political parties, their ideology and the competition between them within the discussions on tenure security. Unlike upgrading, environmental improvement and even service provision, urban land reform requires political motivation, without which international policy recommendations, donor guidelines and human rights norms cannot ensure shelter security for the vast majority of the urban poor. Thus, for squatters and their advocates in the nongovernmental sector to be successful in achieving tenure rights, their efforts should be geared towards influencing political motivation. This would require them to work within the framework of electoral politics, either with the government, or with opposition parties to make their demands heard. The mistrust of political opportunism in non-governmental circles and amongst donors, planners and bureaucrats might result in missed opportunities for gaining public support, building effective alliances and using political competition as a means for furthering the cause of the urban poor. Access to land can be a tool for both inclusion and exclusion from urban political and social processes, as is demonstrated by the history of Calcutta's land tenure policies. While the "politics of stealth" through which squatters gradually acquire rights is a commendable survival tactic, the continuing lack of official recognition is a powerful indication that illegal slum dwellers are not considered equal residents of the city, nor entitled to official service provisions. Their continued safety depends on lower-level political connections, some NGO advocacy and administrative inertia. Despite providing perceptions of security, these supports can be withdrawn at any time.
by Shahana Chattaraj.
M.C.P.
45
Durso, Holly Bellocchio. "Subway spaces as public places : politics and perceptions of Boston's T." Thesis, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2011. http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/66801.
Full textAbstract:
Thesis (M.C.P.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Urban Studies and Planning, 2011.Cataloged from PDF version of thesis.
Includes bibliographical references (p. 145-160).
Subways play crucial transportation roles in our cities, but they also act as unique public spaces, distinguished by specific design characteristics, governed by powerful state-run institutions, and subject to intense public scrutiny and social debate. This thesis takes the case of the United States' oldest subway system-Boston's T-and explores how and why its spaces and regulations over their appropriate use have changed over time in response to public perceptions, political battles, and broader social forces. I use data collected from historical newspaper archives, published reports, and official agency records to detail how the city's subway authorities-first the Boston Elevated Railway Company, then the Metropolitan Transit Authority (MTA), and presently the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA)-have sought to manage and shape these unique underground spaces and simultaneously maintain an image of order and control within them. My research reveals and more closely examines three major factors that have influenced the changing controls over subway space usage in Boston: (1) the highly specific design constraints and unique physical aspects of the city's subway spaces; (2) evolving values and ideologies embedded within the transit agencies that are continuously seeking to promote a positive image of themselves; and (3) persisting public perceptions of subway spaces, many of which revolve around historical fears of the unknown and unfamiliar. By highlighting these complex hidden processes at work within Boston's underground realm, this thesis promotes a careful reexamination of a heavily used yet underappreciated urban space for the purposes of better understanding our experiences with and connections to the city.
by Holly Bellocchio Durso.
M.C.P.
46
Sengupta, Annis Whitlow. "Politics on parade : immigration, ethnicity and national identity in Chicago, IL." Thesis, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2012. http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/70414.
Full textAbstract:
Thesis (Ph. D.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Urban Studies and Planning, 2012.Cataloged from PDF version of thesis.
Includes bibliographical references.
Parades are many things. They are treasured annual traditions, community gatherings, expressions of identity and pride. Parades interrupt the daily flow of city life, rerouting traffic, crowding sidewalks and public transportation, and interrupting business activities. Parades are revealing. They are a stage for the performance of identities and interests that are otherwise invisible to the average city resident. Parades are deceptive. They present an image of unity and order that belies the messy and contested nature of collective identity formation. They appear to be emergent cultural practices, but they are more likely aggregate culture than to produce it. They embody stable relationships as much as they inspire spontaneous participation. Parades are public expressions of communities' identities, interests, and values. As such they are like distorted mirrors reflecting the hopes and fears of not just one community but many communities and ultimately of the larger society. This dissertation examines one type of parade - the American ethnic parade - to understand the shifting meaning of ethnicity and nationalism in Chicago, Illinois, from its origins in the nineteenth century to its present twenty-first century context. The question driving this research is how national identities can accommodate change and incorporate new members (such as immigrants and minorities). More specifically, it examines what ethnic parades in one American city can tell us about this process. An in-depth historical analysis uses the history of ethnic parades in Chicago to explore the shifting politics of immigrant incorporation from 1860 until 1990. Drawing on thirty-seven interviews conducted with parade organizers, local scholars, and city officials as well as observation of parades, parade planning meetings and other community events, analysis of Chicago's contemporary ethnic parades illuminates the myriad functions of ethnic during Chicago's transition to a global city. Specifically, it explores how expressions of hybridized nationalism in ethnic parades disguise a complex interplay among local political integration, economic advancement, and transnational political activism that is shaping Chicago's local ethnic communities.
by Annis Whitlow Sengupta.
Ph.D.
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Nelson, Cristina R. "A tale of two armories : preservation politics in New York City." Thesis, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 1985. http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/76395.
Full textAbstract:
Thesis (M.C.P.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Urban Studies and Planning, 1985.MICROFICHE COPY AVAILABLE IN ARCHIVES AND ROTCH.
Bibliography: leaves 65-66.
by Cristina R. Nelson.
M.C.P.
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Rodberg, Josie. "Planning the American Family: The Politics of Government Family Planning Programs from the Great Society to the New Right." Thesis, Harvard University, 2013. http://dissertations.umi.com/gsas.harvard:10999.
Full textAbstract:
This dissertation examines the creation and development of the United States government's Title X family planning program from 1965 to 1988. It argues that Title X became controversial when its supporters shifted their focus from promoting family self-sufficiency to celebrating individual reproductive freedom. The new individualist arguments profoundly threatened many Americans who wanted government policy to support the patriarchal nuclear family. Support for federally-subsidized family planning programs in the 1960s rested on an ideology of nuclear family economic independence. Advocates reasoned that birth control services would enable poor Americans, especially African-Americans, to have children only within stable, self-sufficient marriages. Using these arguments, family planning advocates developed nearly-unanimous support for family planning programs among federal policymakers. In the early 1970s, though, family planning supporters embraced feminist and anti-racist critiques of their earlier ideas, leading them to promote subsidized family planning as a route to individual women’s reproductive freedom. In turn, the dissertation examines the growth of the New Right in reaction to the new liberal focus on individual freedom. While some dissenters had opposed family planning programs in the 1960s, this opposition mushroomed in the 1970s as opponents identified Title X as a threat to the family. Family planning opponents focused on two aspects of subsidized birth control programs that endangered the patriarchal nuclear family: abortion and teenagers’ access to contraception. Both of these issues jeopardized the husband’s and father’s authority over his dependents. In addition, opponents claimed that federal government spending on Title X overused their tax dollars, compromising their own ability to be self-sufficient and, thus, the survival of their own independent nuclear families. As a result, they mobilized in opposition to Title X in the 1970s and 1980s. The dissertation uses a wide variety of archival materials, government documents, and published sources to document the trajectory of debates over federally-funded family planning programsHistory
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Troutman, Philip Parke. "San Diego growth wars : a critique of public participation in California land use politics /." Diss., Connect to a 24 p. preview or request complete full text in PDF format. Access restricted to UC IP addresses, 2004. http://wwwlib.umi.com/cr/ucsd/fullcit?p3142450.
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Lamba-Nieves, Deepak. "Empowering cooperation : Dominican hometown associations and the politics of transnational community development." Thesis, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2014. http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/95579.
Full textAbstract:
Thesis: Ph. D. in Urban and Regional Studies, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Urban Studies and Planning, 2014.Cataloged from PDF version of thesis.
Includes bibliographical references (pages 296-314).
This dissertation examines how three Dominican hometown associations (HTAs) define, negotiate and practice transnational community development, by carefully analyzing the processes through which state, migrants and non-migrant actors engage in "messy" local projects. I identify two interrelated factors that explain the differences and commonalities in how the three organizations under study muddle through transnational community development processes: (1) the intra organizational dynamics that take shape as HTAs engage in cross border efforts, and (2) the types of project-based engagements between the associations, the state and other development actors. I also devised some stylized analytical categories that allow for a more refined analysis of how power is negotiated and exercised in cross-border development situations, and the ways in which the transnational relationships between diverse development actors are shaped. I argue that the more promising processes of transnational community development are those characterized by the coexistence of well articulated transnational cooperation networks that allow migrant and home country HTA chapters to contribute effectively to a common development agenda, together with empowered exchanges that enable the effective coproduction of projects while allowing local community leaders to play a protagonist role. More than a mechanistic cause and effect story, what the data confirms is a co-evolving relationship between the patterns of organizational politics and project-based engagements. By unpacking projects and processes, I also document the routines and tactics that HTAs employ to achieve their goals. In general, all the organizations studied have a tendency to seek answers to complex development issues through experimentation and problem-oriented strategies. Being able to experiment and troubleshoot, these organizations sidestep the strictures of policy and programmatic "monocropping", which, in turn, provides them with increased opportunities to learn from practical experience. That is, in the absence of formal structures, learning becomes a continuously evolving exercise. Nevertheless, learning opportunities come in many guises, so development trials can lead to important process innovations, but also costly mistakes. In light of this, the ability to identify and make the most out of unforeseen or unintended development consequences stemming from experimental projects becomes a fundamental skill for HTAs.
by Deepak Lamba-Nieves.
Ph. D. in Urban and Regional Studies