No description available.

Master of Regional and Community Planning / Department of Landscape Architecture/Regional and Community Planning / Huston Gibson / This document is a Master’s Project for a proposal of a sustainable community amenity to be implemented in Union, Nebraska. The idea that I have considered best fit for Union is the concept of a multi-functional structure that will have many uses, such as office space for city government, a community center, a visitor center, public restrooms, and indoor and outdoor recreational space. There may also be space that can be utilized for a small commercial function, such as a coffee shop, bakery, or convenience store. Right now, Union only has a handful of businesses, most of which only operate part-time. There is nowhere currently where a person can purchase a drink, a meal, groceries, or even use a restroom. Although Union lacks those amenities, Union is home to two historic finds: an old Union Pacific Railroad caboose car and a single-room jail cell. Without a proper place to showcase Union’s unique character or a place for people to stop in the town, Union may take a turn downhill economically and socially. Many sites in the town are deteriorating and are in definite need of rehabilitation. The implementation of the proposed structure will improve the quality of life for the community as well as benefit passersby by providing an attraction. The social equity of the community is an important concern and providing a space where the community can thrive within Union is an integral factor for sustainability in the town. By also targeting the people driving through Union, the town can benefit economically by getting these visitors to stop and spend money in the town. Environmentally, Union can be improved by addressing the aging properties along their main street. Many parcels along Main Street are potential brownfield sites and could be revitalized through cleanup funding opportunities. Within this document I will be identifying potential sites and funding opportunities and focusing on composing a feasible course of action for implementing the multi-functional structure. Research has been done through many methods including literature reviews, case studies, site visits, and through a community survey process. Funding for my research is provided by the Technical Assistance to Brownfields (TAB) program through the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) because of the potential brownfield interests in Union. Working with Union, Nebraska constitutes a valid planning situation because it is in need of essential planning practices that can boost the social, economic and environmental equity of the town. With only about 230 residents, Union has only one governmental official, the city clerk. The city clerk must wear many hats in order to keep Union running smoothly. Having help with planning recommendations will greatly benefit the town and take some weight off of the city clerk’s work load. By focusing my efforts on creating a concept for a multi-functional building, I could produce the optimum outcome in the most efficient manner. The final goal of my work is to not only graduate with a Master’s Degree in Regional and Community Planning through the College of Architecture, Planning and Design at Kansas State University, but also to impact the town of Union, Nebraska in a positive and lasting way. I am truly pleased to be able to produce something that could improve the quality of life in a realistic way for a real community. If I can use this project to make any positive influence in a community, then I have succeeded.

No description available.

No description available.

No description available.

Les régions urbaines alpines et en proximité des Alpes présentent des caractéristiques spécifiques: elles combinent une ressource foncière limitée pour l'urbanisation et une qualité environnementale particulière dans l'arrière-pays. Cette combinaison les rend particulièrement propices à la péri-urbanisation, et potentiellement à la ségrégation sociale. Dans le contexte d'une métropolisation croissante, ces deux processus entravent des objectifs centraux de la planification urbaine, à savoir la compacité des formes urbaines, la mixité fonctionnelle, l'égalité territoriale et la cohésion sociale. Dans les régions urbaines alpines, les liens entre l'environnement montagnard, les politiques de planification et les processus résidentiels à l’œuvre restent toutefois peu connus.Cette thèse analyse la planification urbaine et des choix de localisation résidentielle en région urbaine alpine. Elle cherche à comprendre les liens entre l'environnement montagnard, les politiques de planification urbaine et deux processus résidentiels: la péri-urbanisation et la ségrégation sociale. Son objectif général est de mettre en lumière comment et dans quelle mesure ces processus résidentiels sont influencés par (i) l'environnement montagnard et (ii) les politiques de planification pour ainsi fournir des recommandations pour la planification territoriale en région urbaine. Pour cela, nous nous appuyons sur trois contributions distinctes en utilisant la région urbaine de Grenoble comme zone d'étude centrale.La première contribution porte sur les changements dans la pratique de la planification urbaine contemporaine dans la région d'étude. Basée sur une recherche qualitative, elle se concentre sur l'émergence d'une planification territoriale stratégique et sa montée en échelle vers des périmètres de planification plus larges intégrants les espaces péri-urbains. Le chapitre montre la création de nouvelles arènes de gouvernance qui remettent en question les cultures de planification locale.La deuxième contribution analyse les liens entre les préférences pour l'environnement naturel, les choix de localisation résidentielle et la ségrégation sociale. En utilisant des modèles de choix de localisation pour la région d'étude et la région métropolitaine de Marseille, cette partie présente une analyse de ségrégation contrefactuelle qui compare les résultats de ségrégation og avec fg{} et og sans fg{} les préférences pour l'environnement naturel entre les deux régions. Le principal résultat est que la recherche des milieux naturels par les ménages a des effets significatifs sur la ségrégation sociale. Cette recherche a le plus souvent tendance à renforcer la ségrégation, mais peut également être un facteur d'atténuation.La dernière contribution étudie les liens entre les politiques de planification urbaine et les processus résidentiels. Le chapitre développe un modèle de choix discrets pour créer et analyser des simulations de demande résidentielle pour différents scénarios de politique de planification. Les résultats illustrent que les scénarios tendanciels de planification soutiennent et potentiellement renforcent la périurbanisation dans la région d'étude. Des politiques de planification plus contraignantes semblent capables de freiner et potentiellement d'inverser la dispersion de la demande. Les politiques visant à ré-centraliser la demande tendent à maintenir, voire accroître les niveaux de ségrégation sociale.Les résultats de cette thèse suggèrent l'importance d'une prise en compte plus grande de l'environnement naturel dans la planification urbaine et territoriale. Si les disparités spatiales dans la qualité environnementale contribuent aux processus résidentiels qui portent atteintes aux objectifs du développement urbain, les politiques de planification devraient rendre compte de ces disparités afin de limiter l'étalement urbain, la ségrégation sociale et l'inégalité environnementale, non seulement dans un contexte de région urbaine alpine. / Urban regions in and close to the Alps have specific characteristics: they combine a limited land resource for urban development with particular environmental quality in their mountainous hinterland. This combination makes them particularly prone to peri-urbanisation, and potentially social segregation. In the context of continued metropolisation, both of these processes work against central objectives of urban planning, notably compactness of settlement patterns, functional mix, social equity and cohesion. In Alpine urban regions, the links between the mountain environment, urban planning policies and residential processes remain, however, not well understood.This thesis analyses urban planning and residential moves in an Alpine urban region. It seeks to understand the links between the mountain environment, urban planning and notably two residential processes: peri-urbanisation and social segregation. Its general objective is to investigate how and to what extent these residential processes are influenced by (i) the mountain environment and (ii) urban planning policies and to develop recommendations for urban and regional planning. The thesis does this via three distinct contributions which use the urban region of Grenoble in the French Alps as a central study area.The first contribution addresses changes in contemporary urban planning practice in the study region. Based on qualitative research, it focuses on the shift towards strategic spatial planning and on territorial re-scaling towards large urban-peri-urban planning perimeters. The chapter shows the creation of new governance arenas which call into question local planning cultures.The second contribution investigates the links between preferences for the natural environment, residential moves and social segregation. Using location choice models for the study region and the Marseille metropolitan area, this chapter presents a counterfactual segregation analysis that compares segregation outcomes ``with'' and ``without'' preferences for the natural environment. The main result is that households' search for natural environments has significant impacts on social segregation. It most often contributes to reinforcing segregation, but can also be an attenuating factor.The last contribution investigates the links between urban planning policies and residential processes. The chapter develops a residential location choice model in order to predict and analyse residential demand patterns for different planning policy scenarios in terms of concentration and segregation. The scenario results show that continued trends in urban planning policies would sustain and potentially reinforce peri-urbanisation in the region. Confining planning policies are found to be capable of curbing and potentially reversing demand dispersion. Policies that aim at re-centralising demand sustain and potentially increase social segregation levels.The results of this thesis call for a stronger integration of the natural environment in urban and regional planning. If spatial disparities in environmental qualities contribute to residential processes that are detrimental to compact urban forms and an equitable access to environmental quality, then planning should incorporate and account for these disparities in order to prevent further loss of land resources, socio-spatial fragmentation and environmental inequality, not only in an Alpine urban region context.

The aim of this thesis is to analyse the financial situation of rural municipalities and define their specifics. The analysis deals with rural municipalities in the districts of České Budějovice, Prachatice and Jindřichův Hradec. It comprises several partial analyses {--} the analysis of civic amenities, the analysis of expenditures (according to the type and branch categorization of budget structure), the analysis of revenues (tax, non-tax, capital and subsidies), the calculation of budget surplus, the analysis of financial independence, and the calculation of an indebtedness index. The analysis of revenues has shown that rural municipalities are to large extent dependent on tax revenues, particularly on the portion of shared taxes that they are not able to directly influence, as the amount of the taxes depends on the number of inhabitants living in the municipality. That is why the rural municipalities can not afford too expensive investments. Consequently, if follows from the above-mentioned analyses that the respective municipalities are almost debtless, and their financial stability is considerably high. However, as a result, the smallest municipalities still miss sewage systems and gas distribution systems. Other problems also include bad traffic accessibility, lack of job opportunities and few social, cultural and sport facilities.

abstract: Hotel amenities and their influence on consumer choice have been extensively studied by academics. These have largely focused on consumer preferences vacation modes and the psychographic characteristics of travelers. Revenue managers make practical use of this information by attempting to match available hotel rooms with traveler demands for accommodations, setting prices that maximize profits for the hospitality company. The experienced revenue manger is able to determine the most profitable price schedule for a room types across many distribution channels. This study was conducted to test the use of choice modeling for objectively assessing dollar values of three basic amenities for consumers (room type, kitchen availability and price). Researcher used paired comparisons modeled as a conditional logit. This study used market segmentation and choice modeling to determine the value of amenities for an aggregate group and 16 more homogenous groups. Market segmentation and choice modeling allowed this study to segment markets into more homogenous groups, and by doing that allowed for calculation of customer willingness to pay for additional amenities. Results from this study confirm that customers are willing to pay for kitchen $65.43 on top of their room value. All responders generally agree to liking an extra bedroom in their hotel room and they are willing to pay $37.39 more than for a studio room. A surprising result is that it seems based on the results that responders generally do not like to have a second bedroom and they are not willing to pay for it. By knowing customer willingness to pay, it can be assured that customers always feel they are getting a high value out of the transaction and increase the likelihood of future transactions. The significance of this research is the concrete numbers that can be, and already have been, applied immediately in the hospitality industry, and is positively impacting business revenue and customer experience. / Dissertation/Thesis / M.S. Community Resources and Development 2014

L'accroissement des mobilités résidentielles métropolitaines engendre une réorganisation démographique du territoire. La compréhension de ce phénomène représente un enjeu pour l'ensemble des territoires puisque la répartition de leur richesse en dépend. En effet, en particulier grâce au développement des réseaux de transports, la distance entre les territoires se réduit et les lieux de résidences diffèrent aujourd'hui des lieux de production. Hors les ménages réalisent une grande part de leurs dépenses à proximité de leur lieu de résidence. La question de l'attractivité résidentielle des ménages n'a jusqu'aujourd'hui que très peu été approchée; les données disponibles ainsi que les méthodes de traitement permettent à présent de l'appréhender. L'ensemble de la thèse s'articule autour de l'étude des disparités territoriales en termes d'attractivité résidentielle à différentes échelles. En premier lieu, une étude nationale révélera les dynamiques métropolitaines actuelles et les facteurs explicatifs. Dans un second temps, par l'étude de trois régions dynamiques, Ile-de-France, Rhône-Alpes et Aquitaine, nous nous intéresserons aux problématiques et aux politiques établies pour y faire face. Dans une troisième et dernière partie,l'analyse à une échelle plus fine traitera des comportements résidentiels suite à un choc exogène positif ou négatif sur des territoires spécifiques. L'objectif de la thèse est de mettre en évidence des comportements individuels à travers l'analyse de territoires à différentes échelles afin de déterminer quels sont les déterminants de l'attractivité résidentielle des territoires. / L'accroissement des mobilités résidentielles métropolitaines engendre une réorganisation démographique du territoire. La compréhension de ce phénomène représente un enjeu pour l'ensemble des territoires puisque la répartition de leur richesse en dépend. En effet, en particulier grâce au développement des réseaux de transports, la distance entre les territoires se réduit et les lieux de résidences diffèrent aujourd'hui des lieux de production. Hors les ménages réalisent une grande part de leurs dépenses à proximité de leur lieu de résidence. La question de l'attractivité résidentielle des ménages n'a jusqu'aujourd'hui que très peu été approchée; les données disponibles ainsi que les méthodes de traitement permettent à présent de l'appréhender.

This master's thesis describes the design of new object of civic amenities on the outskirts of the city of Zlín. The new building is situated in flat terrain. The building has two floors and basement. Roofing is solved by single-flat extensive green roof. The purpose of master’s thesis is to design a building for meeting and relaxation citizens from the nearby surroundings. There is one entrance lead to the object and it is accessible from the eastern boundary of the property. The whole building was designed accessible for people with reduced mobility and orientation.