School of Architecture, Planning & Preservation
Permanent URI for this communityhttp://hdl.handle.net/1903/1607
The collections in this community comprise faculty research works, as well as graduate theses and dissertations.
Browse
28 results
Search Results
Item Market Forces and Urban Spatial Structure: Evidence from Beijing, China(2010) Zhao, Xingshuo; Ding, Chengri; Urban and Regional Planning and Design; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)This dissertation contributes to the literature on urban spatial structure by addressing two research questions. First, it empirically examines the urban economic theory by testing the relationship between the distance elasticities of land prices and housing prices. The theory indicates that land prices are more elastic with respect to distance from the city center than housing prices; in other words, land prices decline faster than housing prices. Using data from Beijing, which include matched housing and land prices, my findings support the theory. Second, this dissertation investigates the impacts of housing services production in general and the impacts of the capital-land substitution in particular on urban spatial structure. Using a constant elasticity of substitution (CES) production function for housing services, I theoretically derive the impacts of the elasticity of capital-land substitution on urban spatial structure, which is measured in terms of the distance gradients of land prices and capital densities, the housing output per unit of land, and the ratio of the distance elasticity of land prices to the distance elasticity of housing prices. The derived results suggest that an increase in the elasticity of capital-land substitution leads to increases in the land price, the capital density, and the housing output per unit of land at any location within the city, flattening of the land price and capital density curves, an increase in the ratio of the distance elasticity of land prices to the distance elasticity of housing prices, an expansion of the city boundary, and a growth in the population. These theoretical results are verified by numerical simulations and empirical estimations using the Beijing data. The simulations also reveal the magnitudes of these impacts: a 1% change in the elasticity of capital-land substitution leads to 15-20% changes in the total land value and housing output. The findings of this dissertation have practical implications in housing market behaviors, land value assessment for property taxation, and urban land use policy and planning.Item HEALTH | CENTER JAMAICA, NEW YORK: DESIGN IN PROMOTION OF COMMUNITY WELLNESS(2010) SWIATOCHA, BRETT; BELL, MATTHEW J; Architecture; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)This thesis is a series of conjectures on the potential for architectural and urban form to positively influence the health and wellness of a community in Jamaica, New York. The proposition examines the relationship between site, building, and context at multiple scales, providing a vision for the physical and sociocultural revival of a historically significant urban center whose identity is threatened by visionless development and whose population of residents is suffering from increasing rates of chronic health problems. This thesis contends that urban revitalization can be used as a mechanism for stimulating the advancement of healthy lifestyles within the population surrounding the project site. The site selected as the vehicle for investigation is the Downtown District of Jamaica, Queens in New York City with a focus on the redevelopment of the site and immediate urban context of the former Mary Immaculate Hospital, vacated in early 2009.Item Stadspoort Amsterdam(2009) Marcelis, Ritsaart Jens; Williams, Isaac S; Schumacher, Thomas L; Architecture; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)This thesis will attempt to redevelop the immediate context of Amsterdam's central train station in order to reinvigorate the station's intended purpose of serving as a gateway to the city. Implicit in this goal is the need to examine the transportation and visitor functions housed on the site and to resolve them in a more urbanistically coherent way. However, the main focus of the thesis is to investigate the history and culture of the city and to synthesize them into a built form which is clearly evocative of Amsterdam's gestalt. Since architecture inherently reflects the attitudes of the community that produced it, it is hoped that much of this synthesis may be achieved by examining the tectonic approaches used in Amsterdam's recent and distant architectural past and then reinterpreting them for the twenty-first century. A secondary focus for the thesis is to attempt to repair the rift in the city's urban fabric that was caused by locating the station at Amsterdam's waterfront, effectively splitting the city in two. Although the primary area of interest is the plaza in front of the station, this secondary focus will necessitate interventions both in the station itself and on its waterfront edge. By means of these investigations and interventions it is hoped that the site can be reinvigorated as a culturally and urbanistically significant entryway to the city.Item Architecture: Music, City, and Culture(2009) Riad, Mahmoud M.; Noonan, Peter; Architecture; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)Many scholars have discussed the relationship between architecture and music. Design methodologies have been created to highlight this intersection, attempting to attain the sublime. While architecture theorists have used western music as a foundation, this thesis aims to investigate this relationship in a non-western setting. Music would be used as a cultural identifier, to unlock "hidden dimensions" shared in language, music, and architecture. The case study site is historic Cairo, between the Fatamid Walls. For the past two centuries, Cairo has abandoned its cultural heritage and embarked on a process of westernization. Those who seek to hold onto the city's identity are abusing traditional motifs in a manner that seems cliché and somewhat absurd. The thesis calls for a deeper understanding and evolution of Cairo's heritage, using concepts of the Arabic Melodic modes, Maqams, to create a place for listening, al Masmaa'.Item Chesapeake City, Maryland: Creating a Vision for Eastern Shore Town Development(2009) McKearin, Jonathan Matthew; Bell, Matthew J; Architecture; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)Exploring the future of town development on Maryland's Eastern Shore, this thesis confronts the pattern of sprawling suburban expansion by offering an alternative masterplan of compact, limited development for the historic town of Chesapeake City. In addition to proposing a comprehensive strategy for managing future growth in the region, this project actively engages the local discourse surrounding the Chesapeake Country National Scenic Byway, asserting Chesapeake City's position as the northern gateway to the Chesapeake Bay and Maryland's Eastern Shore. By reconnecting the town to the Scenic Byway and strengthening the town's presence on the Chesapeake and Delaware Canal, the project augments the town's access to the recreational and tourist opportunities of the northern Chesapeake region. Furthermore the project proposes a carefully woven network of neighborhoods and districts, promoting a diverse, livable community.Item Reversing the Process; Taking a Detail to a Design(2009) Schooley, Zachary Ryan; Kelly, Brian P; Architecture; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)A comprehensive understanding of the development of the architectural detail is currently lacking in the professional education of architects. Detail development is normally seen as the end product of an architectural design process. In academic settings the majority of time is devoted to abstract generalizations, parti development, and schematic design. This thesis will reverse the typical architectural design process by taking a detail to a design. By using the proposed Washington, D.C. `Purple-line' light-rail initiative as a vehicle for study, a framework to support an in-depth exploration of tectonic, conditional details will be developed. These prototypical details will require adaptations due to location or function, yet will need to exhibit a unifying language for the overall identification of the line. This proposition will pursue an alternative to the traditional architectural design methodology. By implementing detail development at the beginning of the design process, a deeper educational experience can be achieved.Item THE EFFECT OF LAND USE REGULATION ON HOUSING PRICE AND INFORMALITY: A MODEL APPLIED TO CURITIBA, BRAZIL(2009) Souza, Maria Teresa X.; Knaap, Gerrit J; Urban and Regional Planning and Design; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)Developing countries have been experiencing an accelerated urban growth with high levels of informal housing (houses that do not comply with property rights regime and urban regulations). This trend has brought renewed attention to the study of developing cities in general, and of the informal housing sector in particular. This study examines the relationship between land use regulation, housing price, and informality, in the metropolitan area of Curitiba, Brazil. Using a simultaneous equation model, the study conducts a regression analysis to understand the magnitude of the effect of urban regulation on formal housing price and the effect of rising formal housing price on the quantity of informal housing. Three hypotheses are tested: (a) more restrictive land use regulation increases housing price in the formal housing market; (b) an increase in formal housing price causes the quantity of informal housing to rise; and (c) an increase in formal housing price in one geographic area causes the quantity of informal housing to rise in neighboring areas. The study shows that for three regulatory variables - minimum plot area, minimum front setback and minimum frontage - land use regulations that limit the density of occupation have a significant positive effect on price. Regulatory variables that affect building height - maximum number of floors and floor-to-area ratio - have the opposite effect, possibly because single and multifamily units are not being analyzed separately. The study finds that the price of formal housing has a negative effect on the quantity of informal housing in the same location, but this effect turns positive in the adjacent and more distant locations. As expected, the rise in formal housing price in one locality pushes people to the informal sector in more distant neighborhoods. However, in the same locality, a rise in price decreases the quantity of informal housing. The results indicate that high priced areas act as a bar to the development of the informal sector in the same locality (explaining the negative coefficients of formal housing price) while the informal sector is being pushed to the outskirts of the city (explaining why the lagged price variables become positive and have an increasing effect on the quantity of informal housing as the locations move further away from each other).Item Sustainable Town Center: Wheaton, Maryland(2008) Ramos, Cesar Enrique; Schumacher, Thomas L.; Architecture; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)Population and automobile dependency are growing at a fast rate. This proliferation brings side problems, such as sprawl, shrinking of natural green areas, traffic, and air pollution. Bringing people back to the cities and relying on public transportation becomes important to solve or reduce some of these problems. Wheaton, Maryland, has the potential to become a better place. This thesis proposes the implementation of a sustainable mixed-use complex to revitalize the Wheaton town center. The town center seeks to provide a sense of community and to improve the social, economical, and cultural image of the individual and indeed of the larger community. Multiple family housing is the major component of this mixed income community that has access to various types of outdoor spaces which encourages interaction. The important uses, in addition to housing, of this mixed use community include office space, retail, and community services, such as a day care, a new mid county community center, and a police sub-station. This program affords the community the possibility to live, work, entertain, and shop within a pedestrian-friendly environment.Item The Relationship Between Neighborhood Environment and Walking Behavior: The Influence of Perceptions(2008-07-28) Smith, Andrea; Clifton, Kelly; Urban and Regional Planning and Design; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)Perceptions are key to fully understanding walking. Theorists and designers in the urban planning field have long held that people internalize their environment in very complex ways, but these efforts have rarely been translated into empirical travel behavior research. As a result, there is a lack of understanding of how perceptions are shaped by the environment and the contribution of those relationships in the explanation of walking behavior. This study investigates the relationships between residents' perceptions of their neighborhood environment and corresponding objective measures of the same attributes and tests their associations with walking behavior. The methodology includes a cross-sectional, disaggregate research design that incorporates three major categories of data: (1) objective (micro and macro) measures of the environment, (2) residents' perceptions of the environment, and (3) walking behavior. Five areas in Montgomery County, MD are chosen as the study locations because of the variation in social and transportation factors. Six constructs representing major features of the environment (land use/density, pedestrian network, road network, safety from traffic, cleanliness, tree cover) are elaborated in both the objective and perceptual assessments of the environment. Models of perceptions show that objective measures of the environment and socio-demographic measures are generally not good predictors of perceptions. Perceptions have slightly higher explanatory power than objective measures in models of walking behavior. Different measures of the environment are significant from the objective and perceptual angles: only land use and street network are associated with walking both when measured objectively and through perceptions. The other measures are only significant when measured from one perspective: pedestrian network and cleanliness are significantly associated with walking when measured objectively, while tree cover is significant when measured perceptually. The results indicate that the traditional methods of assessing the pedestrian environment with regard to walking might not be the most effective way of capturing environmental variables. They underscore the value of trying to understand the impact of perceptions on the relationship between the built environment and walking, which entails more targeted environmental interventions that can better change and improve walkability.Item Understanding Modern Segregation: Suburbanization and the Black Middle Class(2008-06-12) Harrell, Rodney; Baum, Howell; Urban and Regional Planning and Design; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)A new sociological phenomenon exists: middle class African Americans are moving to suburban areas and many are moving to majority black neighborhoods and developing majority black communities. This challenges common thinking among social scientists and policymakers who make broad assumptions that concentrations of African Americans are inherently problematic. This project distinguishes the involuntary segregation and concentration of the black poor from those who choose to live in racially concentrated communities. Those in the middle class who choose to live in majority black neighborhoods may do so for several reasons, including social institutions, political incorporation, ethnically responsive commercial development, and their individual preferences for integration. It focuses on majority-black Prince George's County, Maryland, a prominent example of this phenomenon, and compares those homeowners there with those in predominately white neighborhoods in neighboring Montgomery County. The research hypothesizes that those who choose predominately black neighborhoods do so because these neighborhoods give them access to cultural or physical amenities associated with African American culture and the comfort of living with other African Americans, and also that those who live in predominately black neighborhoods differ from those that live in predominately white neighborhoods in their preferences for those amenities specific to a majority African American neighborhood and those amenities that often exist in majority white neighborhoods. These questions are addressed through several methods: the analysis of national housing data to describe the extent of African American middle class suburbanization, site visits and historical analysis of both counties, and semi-structured interviews of middle-class African American residents to provide reasons why they live in the neighborhoods that they have chosen. The study includes 50 respondents: 38 in Prince George's and 12 in Montgomery. The findings that some prefer African American neighborhoods have several potential policy implications, including a shift in housing policy from a focus on racial integration to one of economic integration and community development. More specifically, it argues for a particular focus on education reform, economic development and the promotion of responsible commercial development in predominately black neighborhoods, and it points toward considering the benefit of racial/cultural amenities in existing poverty deconcentration efforts.
- «
- 1 (current)
- 2
- 3
- »