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.
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Item Access to the City: Physical, Economic, Social, Inclusion(2019) ramos, Adan Jose; Kelly, Brian P; Architecture; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)ABSTRACT Urban Renewal Highways built following the National Highway Act of 1956 perpetuate a culture of inequity and segregation by acting as socio economic dividers in many postindustrial American cities of the Great Migration. In the Post-Great Recession Real Estate Boom communities disconnected by these highways have received little to no investment, while communities in desirable locations have faced displacement. Southwest Baltimore, Maryland embodies the former. Separated from the heart of Baltimore by Martin Luther King Junior Boulevard the neighborhood has made modest strides in recovering from urban exodus and institutional racism involved in home loans, red lining, and block busting following World War II. As cities revitalize, now is a critical point in history to improve connectivity across Urban Renewal infrastructure and provide access to improved quality of life in communities like Southwest Baltimore, while maintaining affordability and existing culture. To maintain these physical dividers in place is an endorsement of divisive urbanism and subsequent inequitable culture.Item Social Enterprise Development: A preventative approach to homelessness and displacement in Point Breeze, Philadelphia(2019) Huntington, Cassandra Aaryn; Gabrielli, Julie; Architecture; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)Social enterprise development focuses on creating economic value to help solve social problems. This thesis tests the viability of this concept by creating a mixed-use, mixed-income property in a low-income neighborhood in South Philadelphia. A profit-sharing financial model is used to support both affordable housing and transitional housing for homeless adolescents. The thesis uses biophilic design principles and values to explore architecture’s role in healing from adolescent trauma and preventing future health issues. This thesis presents a preventative solution to social issues rather than a reactive solution. Prevention of chronic homelessness and prevention of displacement are key to addressing social injustice and help break cycles of poverty in low-income communities. This thesis exemplifies architecture’s ability to provide equal access to both housing and services to help the most vulnerable members of society and help them become self-sufficient and contributing members of the community.Item A LOOK AT COHOUSING: WHY BABY BOOMERS ARE SELF DEVELOPING ALTERNATIVE HOUSING OPTIONS(2019) Matthews, Georgeanne Nabrit; Howland, Marie; Dawkins, Casey; Urban and Regional Planning and Design; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)An interdependent community with shared amenities and resources, like ‘cohousing’, is one solution to the challenges Baby Boomers face in finding suitable housing options to age in place. Cohousing developments are on the rise in the U.S., more often lead by a committed group of Baby Boomers who seem to be getting around existing public policy hurdles at great emotional and financial costs on the front end of development. This in an indicator that certain barriers exist in the public policy arena that make it difficult to get zoning approval for a cohousing development, and in turn to access traditional financing options to get these projects built. This dissertation looks at why and how Baby Boomers are self-developing their own alternative housing options as they face their retirement years. Over the next 20 years, the Census Bureau anticipates an increased national demand for moderate to middle-income housing posed by the retirement of 80 million Baby Boomers by the year 2031. This paper will highlight: 1) The demographic issue of the rapid growth in the retirement age population; 2) The social considerations that occur with family members living further afield than in previous generations, and therefore leaving the elderly without a built-in network to depend on. In addition, this generation is accustomed to independence and is looking for alternatives that support their ability to remain independent; and 3) The public policy gap highlighting the lack of affordable housing that meets the needs of Baby Boomers, who are ill prepared to shoulder the costs of retirement according to the Social Security Administration. Architects Schreiner and Kephart draw attention to the need for Baby Boomers to have safe, moderately affordable, amenity intensive housing with built-in community and safety nets (2010). The Harvard Journal on Housing (2008) acknowledges the challenge of providing quality housing across a broad income spectrum and points to population shifts indicating a future need for more cost effective, densely clustered housing that is smaller and more sustainable than the typical American dream home. Baby Boomers will be the largest group in this demand shift, accompanied by other groups like single parent headed households, individuals who live alone and Millennials. However, due to the sheer size of the Baby Boomer generation, this group has the potential to be a catalyst for the creation of new housing initiatives. This trend will require changes in land-use zoning for multi-family housing, and the creation of new financial options that support group living. Baby Boomers seem to be investigating various collective living options in order to offset the financial and social challenges that can come with the aging process. The cohousing model will be used as a case study for its claim that it offers luxury amenities, homeownership, community, cultural activities and a built-in social network by design.Item Assessing User Understanding of Heritage in the Environment: Preservation Strategies for the Use of Place(2019) Semmer, Johnna; Linebaugh, Donald W; Urban and Regional Planning and Design; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)While places often derive associations with heritage from distinctive land uses or patterns of activity, the historic preservation planning tools commonly available in the U.S. are limited in their ability to sustain those associations. The active and evolving aspects of a location’s character are challenging to reflect in the point-in-time historic property documentation that typically serves as the basis for preservation planning decisions. This study explored methods to illuminate the qualities residents and users associate with a community’s distinctive local character, or sense of place, and how those qualities relate to local history and heritage. Two case studies in Nashville, Tennessee, the urban Music Row neighborhood and rural Bells Bend community, were examined through mixed research methods, including document-based research, field observation, online survey, and interviews, to achieve a more holistic understanding of sense of place and to ascertain which features and qualities meaningful to members of the community align with place characteristics that can be regulated by local planning tools. Older and historic places were among those associated with the sense of place of both cases. Continuity of locally-distinctive uses emerged as important, as did social interactions and relationships. Uses may be sustained with the help of planning tools beyond those commonly thought of as preservation strategies, such as land use zoning and economic incentives. Social aspects of place are harder to address but can be recognized through expanded definitions of heritage and interpretive efforts. Though a limited response rate constrained interpretation of some results, elements of the methodology show promise for enabling direct input from place users in practice. Defining what heritage-related qualities are most meaningful to community character can yield better informed preservation planning processes.Item URBAN DISCONNECT: URBAN COHOUSING AS SOLUTION TO SOCIAL ISOLATION(2018) Johnson-Williams, Malik-Jon E; Simon, Madlen; Lung-Amam, Willow; Architecture; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)More than ever, Americans are experiencing the negative effects of infrequent social interaction and thinning social networks. However, the ‘loneliness epidemic’ is only one part of a greater issue facing the nation: the steady decline of community within America. The rise of social disconnection among Americans is further evidence that today’s communities can no longer be considered socially sustainable. Beginning with a literature review of social disconnection and social capital theory, this thesis will analyze social factors’ effect on individual and community health. Next, an analysis of alternative community models will be used to identify architectural strategies for promoting social interaction. Using the factors identified in both the literature review and precedent studies, a set of design guidelines for community development will be created. These guidelines for development will then be used to design a new urban community in the redeveloping business district in Wheaton, MarylandItem THREE ESSAYS ON URBAN TRANSPORTATION STUDIES IN WASHINGTON D.C.: SAFETY EFFECT OF ALL-WAY STOP CONTROL, SAFETY EFFECT OF REVERSIBLE LANE AND LOADING ZONE ALLOCATION(2019) Deng, Zuxuan; Knaap, Gerrit-Jan; Urban and Regional Planning and Design; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)Systematic data-driven and evidence-based urban transportation policy making and evaluation become increasingly important for public agencies to ensure transparent and efficient services. This dissertation, consisting of three essays on urban transportation studies, focuses on two issues (safety and asset management) that are broadly related with urban transportation policy making and evaluation in Washington D.C. In Chapter One, I evaluate the safety effect of All Way Stop Control (AWSC) conversion with an observational treatment group and a randomly selected control group from stratified samples. Selection bias and time trend are controlled using empirical strategies such as Multiway ANOVA and Difference-in-Differences analysis. The study reveals statistically significant reductions of right angle crashes upon AWSC conversions. However, for all the other collision types, including right turn, left turn, rear end, sideswipes and bicycle crashes, none of the estimated coefficients were statistically significant. In addition, the study quantified a statistically significant increase of straight hit pedestrian crashes upon AWSC conversion. In Chapter Two, I study the safety effect of removing reversible lane operations along urban arterials. Taking advantage of the termination of three reversible lane arterials in 2010, the evaluation is performed using the Before-After (BA) study with a control group and the Empirical Bayes (EB) method, respectively. I estimate Crash Modification Factors (CMF) for all crashes, fatal/injury crashes, property damage only (PDO) crashes, rear-end crashes, left turn crashes and sideswipe crashes. My findings suggest a clear tradeoff between safety and the gain of peak direction capacity by operating reversible lanes along urban arterials. In Chapter Three, I propose an innovative procedure for allocating scarce curbside space for loading zones in an equitable, quantifiable and repeatable manner. Freight Trip Generation (FTG) models are used to estimate the delivery needs for business establishments at a block face level. The current numbers of loading zones per block face are regressed against the Gross FTG (GFTG) per block face and other block face characteristic variables using zero-truncated Negative Binomial models to establish a baseline. Curbside spaces are then assigned as loading zones in an iterative process.Item IMPACT OF GREEN BUILDING CERTIFICATIONS ON THE ECONOMIC PERFORMANCE OF REAL ESTATE OFFICE ASSETS: NET OPERATING INCOME, AND MARKET VALUE(2018) Sadat Lavasani Bozorg, Hossein; Howland, Marie; Urban and Regional Planning and Design; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)Following the existing line of inquiry on green buildings economic performance, this study hypothesizes that LEED and Energy Star green building certifications contribute to premiums in net operating income (NOI) and higher market value (MV) in commercial real estate office assets when compared to their broader conventional market competition. This study utilizes two of the most comprehensive propriety databases in the U.S.: Real Capital Analytics (RCA) data on commercial asset sale prices and Trepp Inc. data on property income and expense information. Employing the hedonic regression analysis, and controlling for several building attributes including location, height, size, age, market perception of quality, transit score, walk score, etc., the study finds significant NOI and MV differentials across metropolitan statistical areas of five major U.S. gateway cities. The findings are encouraging and informative and may significantly contribute to the investment communities’ understanding of how investing in green buildings can positively improve companies’ economic bottom line.Item Do industrial clusters encourage establishment innovation?(2018) Fang, Li; Knaap, Gerrit; Urban and Regional Planning and Design; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)Industrial clusters are geographical concentrations of related industries. They foster innovation, job creation and business formation. Previous studies find that firms in clusters on average are more innovative than firms outside. They interpret this as evidence that clusters encourage firms to innovate. This interpretation is misleading because two different mechanisms can lead to the same result. On the one hand, firms in clusters improve innovativeness through knowledge spillovers and network building. On the other, less innovative firms are forced out of clusters by tough competition. Most studies fail to differentiate these two mechanisms. I separate these mechanisms and examine their variations across industries and establishments. I also search for the optimal spatial scale of industrial clusters to maximize their effect on innovation. In this dissertation, I match establishment data with patent data for the state of Maryland from 2004 to 2013. I improve the methodology of quantifying the causal relationship between clusters and innovation, and apply this method to employment centers. Employment centers on average encourage establishments to file for 8% to 11% more patents. This effect is maximized within a one- to two-mile radius region. I also compare how much clusters encourage innovation across different industries, and find significant heterogeneity. In Metalworking Technology, the effect of clusters peaks at a three-mile radius region and increases patent applications by 18%. In contrast, in Business Services, the effect is essentially zero, even when it is maximized in a one-mile radius region. These differences can be explained by industrial characteristics, such as the different level of reliance on tacit knowledge. Finally, I examine how industrial clusters shape the originality of small versus large establishments. I find that small in-cluster establishments improve innovation numerically more than large establishments, but their differences are statistically insignificant. This dissertation can provide guidance to the design of industrial policies. It helps to more precisely evaluate the benefit of cluster policies. Policymakers can also implement cluster policies targeting at the most beneficiary industries and the optimal spatial scales.Item Three Essays on Agglomeration and Firm Dynamics(2017) Qiao, Yu; Ding, Chengri; Urban and Regional Planning and Design; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)Agglomeration economy has long been proposed to account for an individual firm’s favor for denser environments. Previous strides have linked firm creation and productivity growth to the magnitude of agglomeration. This dissertation addresses three aspects of agglomerative impact on firms’ dynamic that have not been adequately emphasized in the literature. Specifically, the research provides an understanding of how agglomeration affects firms’ decisions on R&D investment, closure and relocation. In Chapter 2, I develop a simple Cournot type, two-stage competition model that reveals firms tend to reduce their R&D investment more in denser locations than in less dense ones with the presence of knowledge spillover. This implies that local agglomeration strengthens the negative relationship between knowledge spillover and R&D efforts. I then use firm-level data from China to test this theoretical prediction. The Tobit model yields estimated results that are consistent with the theoretical prediction. That is, the R&D effort is negatively correlated with knowledge spillover and the magnitude of the negative relationship increases along with localization agglomeration. The impact of geographic concentration on firm survival is studied in Chapter 3. Agglomeration economy encourages firm birth and growth, while agglomeration diseconomy accelerates firm death. The net impact of agglomeration on firm survival depends on the relative strength of agglomeration economy and diseconomy. Drawn upon an establishment-level data from Maryland, the essay finds empirical evidence supporting the claim that urbanization negatively affects survival, while specialization, diversity and employment centers reduce hazards for some industries. The finding indirectly evidences that the firm selection effect contributes to the productivity advantage of big cities. Firms frequently make spatial adjustments to accommodate their change in operation over time. Agglomeration economy could be one essential influence on a firm’s relocation decision-making. Chapter 4 delves into the relocations of service firms within the Baltimore Metropolitan Region. The nested logit model shows a higher probability for firms choosing a location with a high level of agglomeration. The estimates suggest diversity might be more important than specialization at the margin for intra-metropolitan relocation. Also identified is a more prominent localization effect than urbanization effect on firm intra-metropolitan relocation.Item A BETTER NEIGHBORHOOD FOR HOUSING VOUCHER HOUSEHOLDS: OBSTACLES AND OPPORTUNITIES(2017) Jeon, Jae Sik; Dawkins, Casey J; Urban and Regional Planning and Design; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)Since the 1970s, the emphasis of federal housing policy has shifted from place-based subsidies to tenant-based subsidies that are provided directly to low-income households for the purpose of renting in the private market. Although many hoped that the Housing Choice Voucher, a tenant-based housing assistance program, would be a new tool in the fight against concentrated poverty and its associated problems, housing voucher recipients still face obstacles when trying to secure housing in high-opportunity neighborhoods over the long-term. The growing body of evidence linking neighborhood conditions to household outcomes points to the need for a better understanding of how housing vouchers improve access to opportunities. While previous studies have explored neighborhood outcomes of housing voucher recipients, it still remains unclear what factors play a significant role in their residential location choices. My dissertation examines the constraints that housing voucher households face in neighborhood choices. Drawing upon data from the Moving to Opportunity experiment, it specifically analyzes trends in affordable housing inequality, estimates the effect of vehicle access on locational attainment, and explores social networks as a determinant of mobility behavior. The results of these analyses show that obstacles such as affordable housing inequality across the metropolitan area, strong social networks in the initial, poor neighborhood, and a lack of access to vehicles negatively affect the likelihood of moving to neighborhoods in which opportunities are expanded for low-income households. My findings shed light on the dynamics of residential mobility and neighborhood improvements for low-income households. The expansion of the Housing Choice Voucher program, supported by localized payment standard, connection to automobile subsidies, and extensive housing search services that provide information about the opportunities available in across all geographic units, may have a significant impact on poverty de-concentration and access to opportunity over time. These findings are also expected to bridge the gap between research and policy with regard to how housing voucher program could be improved in the context of the federal government’s charge to Affirmatively Further Fair Housing (AFFH).