Thesis (M.Arch.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Architecture, 1982. / MICROFICHE COPY AVAILABLE IN ARCHIVES AND ROTCH. / Bibliography: p. 216-224. / This thesis attempts to present the structure of Japanese towns as the connection between physical amenity and use, and the meaning of spatial structure as it is formed and textured by the people who inhabit it. This is organized into four sections, the first, a discussion of Japanese culture and worldview as it relates to a sense of space. This section develops a framework and conceptual model for the later parts: a presentation of six towns in different parts of Japan; an analysis of these places as town, house, and street as they rela·te to this conceptual/ cultural model; and, the development of a language of form and structure of one of these towns through a series of design explorations. / by Patricia A. Seitz. / M.Arch.

La presente investigación se fundamenta en la evaluación de un Plan de Marketing de Ciudades, basado en la imagen e identidad de la ciudad, con el fin de impulsar el potencial turístico del Distrito de San Pedro de Mala. Para dicho fin, se realizó la evaluación de la imagen percibida y la identidad ciudadana así como el inventario de los recursos y atractivos turísticos, la planta turística y los servicios complementarios. This research is based on the evaluation of a Cities Marketing Plan, based on the image and identity of the city, in order to boost the tourism potential of the District of San Pedro de Mala. For this purpose, the evaluation of the perceived image and the citizen's identity as well as the inventory of the resources and tourist attractions, the tourist facility and the complementary services were carried out.

The city of Seattle, Washington made headlines in 2014 when its city council enacted the highest minimum wage in the history of the United States. The ruling appeared to begin a trend as similar policies began diffusing in cities across the country. In reality, however, municipal minimum wage ordinances have existed since the early 1990’s. Yet, despite over two decade’s worth of data on the subject, little research has been conducted to understand the characteristics that influence cities to enact minimum wages in the first place. This study contributes to our understanding of the predictors of minimum wage ordinances by retesting prior variables of significance over a more recent time period, while also introducing a new set of variables to the literature. I find that cities with an increased percentage of residents with bachelor’s degrees face an increased likelihood for future policy adoption. Additionally, I find that some age demographics may be significant predictors in future studies of minimum wage.

The primary goal of this research is to help any organization, which is planning to transform to the big data analytics era, by providing a systematic and comprehensive model that this organization can use to better understand what factors influence big data projects. Also, the organization's current status against those factors. Finally, what enhancements are needed in the organization's current capabilities for optimal management of factors influencing an upcoming big data project. However, big data applications are vast and cover many sectors, and while most of the factors influencing big data projects are common across sectors, there are some factors that are related to the specific circumstances of each sector. Therefore, this research will focus on one sector only, which is the smart city sector, and its generalizability to other sectors is discussed at the end of the research. In this research, literature review and experts feedback were used to identify the most critical factors influencing big data projects, with focus on smart city. Then, the HDM methodology was used to elicit experts' judgment to identify the relative importance of those factors. In addition, experts' feedback was used to identify possible statuses an organization might have regarding each factor. Finally, a case study of four projects related to the City of Portland, Oregon, was conducted to demonstrate the practicality and value of the research model. The research findings indicated that there are complicated internal and external, sometimes competing, factors affecting big data projects. The research identified 18 factors as being among the most important factors affecting smart-city-related big data projects. Those factors are grouped into four perspectives: people, technology, legal, and organization. Furthermore, the case study demonstrated how the model could pinpoint shortcomings in a city's capabilities before the project start, and how to address those shortcomings to increase chances of a successful big data project.

This thesis tests the theories of Porosity which are part of my ongoing investigation into the revision and extension of public space in the city. Porosity Research seeks to classify spaces which exist deep within the skin or fabric of privately owned city buildings. The primary vehicle for this interrogation is the use of public art in the form of a set of games called Porosity Games ??? Snakes and Ladders, Hide and Seek and Jenga. These games are played out or performed within the territory of my Australian Research Foundation Discovery Grant outcomes. Their aim is to prove the validity of the research and to provoke interrogation of that research. The marginality of public art makes it ideally suited to the task of commenting on or contradicting the main body of the text of public space in the city. This contradiction is central to the work of this thesis. One of the vital needs or reasons for this work lies in finding ways of preventing cities from being shut down as a result of rampant capitalism in the ???Age of Terror???. Porosity as a strategy attacks this trend. It seeks the dissolution of architecture through a type of mapping which dissolves existing boundaries associated with rights of access. Capitalism needs to be continually measured by mapping or defining what is public against what is private. It can be argued that the social construction of a city is as important as its physical manifestation as buildings. It can also then be argued that a city which allows public space to penetrate its private space enables a healthier social construction. Fundamental to this thesis is the idea that the survival of the Western city depends on an increased density of public space and multiple ground planes as opposed to one. This creates three dimensional public access and alleviates congestion at the level of the street both for cars and for pedestrians. The Porosity Games are a first step in the transformation of the city through their successful reinvention of internal circulation spaces as game space. Game 1: Snakes and Ladders and Game 2: Hide and Seek both operate without interruption by the propriety of the buildings. Game 3: Jenga then intentionally heightened the risk of capture and eviction of the players for transgression within the climate of fear. Both the framework of surveillance and the intention to claim private space for public use, make the performances and the Porosity Research a useful progression in the project of transformation and the city as a plastic medium for the artist to interrogate.

"March 2002." Bibliography: leaves 145-150. This thesis surveyed whether a "common-view' of tree care policy existed in Australia, and compiled a range of current tree-care practices and costs. Responses were compared with similar studies in Britain and Ireland. It found there were no uniform guidelines for determining a tree's function, status, health and safety or value, and no general risk identifying criteria by which trees can be managed. It proposes a draft tree management plan for use by local government to establish the number of trees that need to be managed, their condition, risk status and amenity value. It also contains recommendations about policy, strategies and performance criteria to guide management and operational staff.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Texas at Austin, 2001. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references. Available also from UMI/Dissertation Abstracts International.

Thesis (M.A.)--Guo li zhong xing da xue. / Mimeo. copy. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Washington, 2001. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 88-96).

Thesis (M. Sc.)--University of Hong Kong, 2001. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 138-142).