Landscape planning is an approach to planning land use based on analysis of physical, biological, cultural, and aesthetic resources. Its aim is creative resolution of land use conflicts through the development of physical plans. These plans result from synthesis of scientific analyses produced by specialists from multiple disciplines and from reconciliation of the interests of different user groups. Landscape planning developed primarily as a specialty area within landscape architecture in the 1960s and 1970s. Its most recognized practitioner was Ian McHarg, author of the influential book Design With Nature (1969). Thirty years ago, landscape planners were on the cutting edge of environmental research. Their work led to methods for implementing the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) and the development of geographic information systems (GIS). Bridging the cultures of scientific research and professional planning practice was the aim of the first scholarly journal in the field, Landscape Planning, and it is a sentiment that characterized landscape planners quite well. In recent years, the profile of landscape planning has diminished considerably. Those who might have called themselves landscape planners in the past now identify themselves as ecological modelers, landscape ecologists, or environmental planners. Is it possible that the mission of classic landscape planning has been subsumed by these newer specialty areas? Or does landscape planning still have a role to play in the resolution of today's environmental and land use problems? These are the questions that this research addresses. To understand the evolution of landscape planning, its history is placed in context with the histories of city planning, ecology, and landscape architecture. To document the current status of the field, scholarly literature is analyzed through journal network analysis and content analysis of the last five years of landscape planning articles. This research sheds light on the complex relationships between disciplines engaged in environmental problem solving. Results suggest that there is still a need for landscape planning today, but that weaknesses must be overcome to make the field more effective. A new model of landscape planning is proposed to address the problems and yet still retain the strengths of the classic model.

Integrating the urban, the environment, and the public spheres in a modeling approach is an important goal for planners. Nevertheless, different terminologies, objectives, models, and the high complexity involved make it very uncommon. Modeling these different components is a challenge since it requires models that can integrate time and space dynamically, and incorporate complexity instead of dismissing it. This dissertation attempts to include these three spheres (urban, environment, public). It uses Cellular Automaton (CA) as the modeling environment, and the Lisbon Metropolitan Area (AML) and the Porto Metropolitan Area (AMP) as the areas of study. After introducing the subject of integrated studies and complexity, the area of CA is presented, and the organization of the dissertation is detailed. A second chapter describes the study areas. Chapters three, four, and five describe respectively the urban, the environmental landscape planning strategies, and the public inclusion. Chapter six interrelates the three components. The simulations that include the environmental, urban and expert's inputs develop scenarios that vary both visually and quantitatively. The simulation using the SLEUTH urban CA presents a trend scenario and demonstrates that by varying the pressures on the ecological (REN) and agricultural reserves (RAN) it is possible vary the urban pressures: relaxing RAN regulations decreases the number high probability of urban pressures, but spreads more areas of average pressures. The option for a limiting ‘no-growth’ strategy had similar results when including the sketch drawing from an expert workshop. The participant's concern with the urban image promoted a concentration of growth, an increase the number of cells with high probability of urban cells, but a reduction of the pressures of average probability urban cells. The countervailing model (CVCA) applied four landscape planning strategies in order to guide urban growth to more favorable areas that do not conflict with environmental land and the intensity of the urban pressures promoted more offensive urban pressures. Five main findings derive from the analysis of the results of each chapter: phase-transitions, existence of a “DNA” for each region, concepts of different images for the same Metropolitan Area, and the importance of integrating different models for metropolitan urban planning.

It is well known that city centers are fragile places and in constant change. The construction of new commercial developments on the periphery of cities greatly influenced the decline of city centers and of the more traditional forms of retailing there installed. The increasing awareness of this reality led different forms of government to act together with merchants to channel European Union funds to modernize traditional retailing enterprises and to revitalize shopping areas in city centers. This process led to the consideration that retailing is an important element in the livability of cities in Portugal. The commercial urbanism projects financed by the PROCOM Program created for the first time in Portugal a large debate about the importance of commercial planning and commercial revitalization of the city centers. The need to increase the private sector participation in this collective effort, as well as the need to find additional sustainable financing, besides the public subsidies, makes critical the call for proper answers to a more adequate and effective commercial revitalization of city centers. Given the fact that the commercial development on the outskirts of cities is not a unique Portuguese phenomenon, it is important and timely to reflect about foreign experiences in this area. The main objective of this dissertation is to discuss and analyze foreign experiences, mainly North American and British, in terms of commercial revitalization, the creation of public-private partnerships and city center management and present how they can relate to the Portuguese experience. The research methods involved literature reviews, comparative analyses, case studies, semi-structured interviews, meeting observations and a discussion of the implications for the Portuguese reality. The conclusion shows an updated knowledge of international best practices in terms of the creation and implementation of city center management partnerships. Finally, the recommendation section presents a set of proposals and principles that can be useful to Portuguese policy makers in the development and implementation of the second generation of commercial urbanism projects.

<p> The purpose of the study was to determine whether family and peer risk and protective factors predicted alcohol, marijuana and cigarette use as well as alcohol-related problems among 6^th, 8^th, and 10^th grade students. This study also determined whether age moderated the relation between family and peer influences and substance use outcomes. Results demonstrated that peer alcohol use, peer positive alcohol use attitudes, and family history of drug and alcohol problems were associated with higher alcohol, marijuana, and cigarette use, as well as alcohol-related problems. Conversely, parental monitoring and peer negative alcohol use attitudes were associated with lower alcohol, marijuana, and cigarette use, as well as alcohol dependence. Moderation analyses demonstrated that among older adolescents&rsquo; social risk and protective factors were associated with higher or lower substance use, respectively. However, younger adolescents&rsquo; reported lower substance use, regardless of the level of the social influence. Implications regarding prevention programs are discussed.</p>

<p> This dissertation explores the interface between reflecting on ideals and the action or physical transformation that occurs in the world. Rephrased as a question: What are the appropriate and necessary epistemological pre-requisites for scholars that will increase the likelihood that their praxis succeeds in transforming society away from capitalism towards something that does a better job of assuring social justice? This question is good to organize around but makes for a poor research question because its answer is near infinitely debatable. My research questions then, come down to the following: In what ways can a researcher participate in a deliberate cultural intervention through the utilization of technological systems? What makes these interventions successful and what makes them fail? How does a researcher &ldquo;step back&rdquo; from such a project and draw out lessons for future interventions?</p><p> In service of answering these questions I have developed three &ldquo;sense-making tools&rdquo; to work through this difficult position. A sense-making tool is an epistemological framework that comes short of a theory of causation and instead prioritizes a change in perspective on the part of the individual engaging in praxis.</p><p> Those three tools are 1) capitalism is an emergent phenomenon, 2) recursivity is an epistemology that prioritizes organized complexity over rationalized efficiency, and 3) once decoupled from its main usage in reference to the Internet, the term &ldquo;online&rdquo; is a useful means of describing and understanding humans&rsquo; relationships to networks of communication and economic exchange. These three sense-making tools are applied to two case studies, an open source condom vending machine and a mesh Wi-Fi network. Both projects employed an &ldquo;inverted critical technical practice&rdquo; methodology that brought together engineering&rsquo;s tacit ways of knowing and critical theory&rsquo;s analytic tools to foster a symbiotic working relationship between the two. I fortify this experimental approach with some classic interview and participant observation techniques to ensure sufficient data collection. Taken together, this work tells a story about the importance of thinking deeply about what we as researchers bring to our field sites, both metaphorically and literally.</p><p> By evaluating my own projects and sharing what worked and what didn&rsquo;t I aim to increase the likelihood of achieving successful projects in the future. I have prioritized understanding my case studies and subject position in terms of how to do better work in the future, not necessarily painting a perfect picture of how the world works or even should work.</p>

<p> This paper utilizes survey data to compare several non-survey methods of modeling the economic impacts of biofuels plants. It examines differences in the input coefficients derived from the survey versus the trade coefficients generated through the non-survey methods. It finds that of the three non-survey methods examined, the Swenson (2006) scenario input coefficients most closely represent those found in the survey based on the performance of the non-survey scenario input coefficients in a variety of statistical tests. Further, it examines the economic impacts (multipliers) generated by these scenarios compared to those generated from the survey. Based upon statistical tests of the multipliers, the Swenson scenario&rsquo;s estimated impacts most closely represent the impacts derived from the survey.</p><p>

<p> Small farms and ranches are extremely important to local economies and food systems. Yet, small farms and ranches are known to struggle financially. A review of the literature and this research project revealed agritourism is a promising practice that can improve the viability and financial stability of small farms and ranches. Five farmers were interviewed in a qualitative study that used a modified gap analysis to reveal the knowledge, motivation, and organizational (KMO) influences impacting agritourism participation. The findings are summarized with recommendations to further improve this promising practice, as well as ideas for future research and a plan to implement and evaluate an agritourism program that could change how farmers approach this promising practice.</p><p>

<p> Tribal governments&rsquo; capacity to implement land use controls within their Nations is limited by the United States Constitution and federal law; however, tribal governments have inherent sovereignty to protect, guide, and govern the lands under their jurisdiction to protect and enhance the safety, health, and welfare of their members.</p><p> The aim of this thesis was to investigate and identify (1) the extent to which tribal Nations have sovereignty over their lands and authority to regulate land use within their jurisdiction and (2) the present status and extent to which Native American tribal governments use their sovereignty over land use development concerning oil and natural gas development within their jurisdiction.</p><p> The study was qualitative in nature and focused on a comprehensive archival review and a one-case case study. Constitutional law, federal Indian law, environmental law, and tribal law were considered. The thesis first examines the results of the archival review, which demonstrates that tribes, while limited by federal law, have sovereignty and authority to control land use within their territories.</p><p> The Three Affiliated Tribes of the Fort Berthold Reservation were also examined. The Tribes were chosen based on location, level of oil and natural gas production, and accessibility of information. The most current information available was used for the study. The data for the study was obtained from the Internet. The research suggests that tribes are implementing land use controls and participating in land use and comprehensive planning; however, they are not doing so to the extent of their sovereignty.</p><p> This study demonstrates that tribal governments do indeed have authority over their lands and resources and cannot fully take advantage of their sovereignty without practicing self-governance over their natural, built, and human environments. Questions remain regarding the reasons that tribal governments are not implementing land use controls and engaging in land use planning to the extent of their sovereignty. Further research is needed to understand the reasons that tribal organizations are not taking full advantage of the existing sovereignty of their lands and resources.</p>

In 1974, seven previously separate categorical grants were combined in the newly authorized Community Development Block Grant Program and placed under the administration of the Department of Housing and Urban Development. One component of this program became known as the Small Cities Program. It involved discretionary, non-entitlement funds that are awarded on a competitive basis to municipalities of fewer than 50,000 people. The 1981 reauthorization included a provision allowing the states to administer the Small Cities Program. Beginning with the 1983 funding cycle, the New Hampshire Office of State Planning undertook this responsibility. The question that this dissertation set out to answer was whether this devolution has, as envisioned by its advocates, allowed for a more flexible, efficient and wide-spread disbursement of these funds. The focus has been on the effects on the program as administered at the local level. The evaluation was done in four steps: (1) Data on each grant application and award in New Hampshire from 1975 to 1990 was gathered and analyzed. (2) Changes in the program's major design features under both HUD and OSP were summarized. (3) People who had participated in the program under both administrations were interviewed. (4) Conclusions were reached based on an analysis of all available data. It was found that after the devolution: (1) A greater number and percentage of applications were funded. (2) The average size of municipalities receiving funds decreased significantly. (3) The types of activities funded changed, with a greater proportion of the money going toward economic development and public facilities projects rather than housing rehabilitation. These findings, and the other data obtained, led to the following conclusions: (1) The devolution accomplished its major goal. (2) Human resource capacity-building on the state and local level is vital. (3) New Hampshire's program design succeeded because it was flexible, utilized a straight-forward scoring system and had clear objectives.

The literature on industrial policy and managing economic development, typically, has focused on the role of the federal government, and more recently, on that of state governments. However, policies of the federal government and the specific development initiatives of state governments are not the whole story of economic management. Throughout the country, local government officials, working jointly with business and citizen groups, are actively engaged in local economic development, some more successfully than others. The hypothesis of this dissertation is that industrial policies at the national and state level have limited direct impact on local economic development in New England. The research is essentially exploratory in nature. The dissertation begins by examining the theoretical framework for the industrial policy debate at both the national and state levels. Industrial policies, implicit and explicit, are analyzed at the national, state and local levels. The case-study approach, involving one industrial community in each of the six New England states, formed the basis of the research. Each of the six communities chosen exhibited a similar industrial heritage as well as socio-economic characteristics. The expectation was that communities with like conditions, population growth, employment characteristics, industrial mix, education, skill levels and income characteristics, would react similarly to opportunities and change. This, however, was not the case. The principal research findings are that there are disconnections between industrial policies at the national, state and local levels. Although national and state industrial policies tend to address similar issues they approach them from very different perspectives, thereby achieving varied results. Furthermore, state and local policy makers are particularly conscious of political boundaries often leading to insular and parochial policies. Measurable indicators, such as unemployment rates, tax revenue, and income levels, offer only a limited explanation for economic strength within a community. Qualitative factors such as leadership, motivation, timely institutional responsiveness, local development capacity, sensitivity to labor force dynamics, positive attitudes toward development efforts and sensitivity to community history, and political and social culture, appear to play a more significant role in local economic development than do "top-down" industrial policies.