Thesis (M.C.P.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of City Planning, 1963. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 106-108). / by Nathan Louis Jaschik. / M.C.P.

Thesis (M.C.P.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of City Planning, 1963. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves [54]-[57]). / by Mark Lawner. / M.C.P.

Thesis (M.C.P.) Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dept. of City Planning, 1947. / Bibliography: leaves 123-124. / by Herbert C. Wieland. / M.C.P.

The dissertation is an international comparative project examining metropolitan regional economic development. Focused on the connection between economic geography and economic learning, the study examines the locus of regional innovation in the information and communications technology (ICT) sector in each region (Dublin and Beijing) through small sample survey methodologies. An applied theory project, this dissertation relies on transaction cost and evolutionary economic theory to examine the micro-foundations of how regions are being touted for their "collective learning systems" and how this is an important aspect of understanding how rapid economic change occurs. Among some of the most influential arguments in this area are those often made by regional planners, industrial geographers, and economic sociologists which perceive of such dynamic regions as constituting a "nexus of un-traded interdependencies." Based on a small sample of twenty indigenous firms ICT firms in each region, the project takes aim at the often unspecified ways firm-specific capability development is argued to result from the interplay between industrial knowledge and issues of spatial clustering. Goal-seeing behavior of firms is seen through the lens of evolutionary notions of search, while transaction cost principles are regarded as fundamental to structuring pool effects, especially in labor supply and local knowledge pool issues linked to agglomerated industrial forms. Three inter-related propositions guide the analysis of the survey work. The first is that an assessment of how knowledge-based assets are developed through territorialized concepts of learning must focus on evolutionary properties of firm search strategies and differentiate between more and less advanced firms since they are likely to draw upon regional assets in different ways. The second is to examine the process of innovation itself in its traded and un-traded aspects by analyzing patterns in R&D decision-making, strategic networking, and contracting behavior. The third is how some seemingly similar development outcomes in each region are based in differentiated processes and modes of social regulation, and stresses the underlying conventions in social, political, and historical motivations of strategy and political economy constraints linking firm and industry developments to their broader institutional systems. This latter is centered on science and technology policy, on one hand, and urban redevelopment and governance of the property markets, on the other, and underscores the international comparative scope of the project.

Thesis (M.C.P.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of City Planning, 1964. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 69-71). / by Herbert Martin Hekler. / M.C.P.

Neighborhood walk-friendliness has become a focus for researchers and practitioners who wish to improve the health of older adults by incentivizing and providing opportunities to walk as part of daily routines. However, most research has been carried out in larger urban areas (Leslie, et al., 2005; Bracy et al., 2014; Cole, Dunn, Hunter, Owen, & Sugiyama, 2015) with an emphasis on walking for transportation and the general population. With the rapid increase in the US older adult population, most of whom live in suburban low-density residential areas, a better understanding of walk-friendliness in such a context is needed. This study investigates the associations between objective walkability and perceived neighborhood walk-friendliness, and walking behaviors among older adults in Tallahassee, Florida and surrounding county. To better understand this relationship this dissertation uses the GIS Walkability Index (Frank et al., 2010) and the Walk Score™ as measures of objective walkability. Quantitative data from a neighborhood survey and qualitative data from walk along interviews were used to capture older adult’s perception of neighborhood walk-friendliness. This dissertation seeks to determine; i) the relationship between objective walkability and the perceptions of neighborhood walk-friendliness of older adults themselves; ii) the extent to which objective walkability and perceived neighborhood walk-friendliness influence walking behaviors, and iii) how micro-environmental factors influence older adult’s walking activities. A multiple methods approach is used in this study, where the main approach is quantitative, and the qualitative inquiry provides a deeper understanding of older adult’s perceptions of neighborhood walk-friendliness at the micro-environmental level. The findings of this dissertation show that the walkability indexes are significant predictors of walks for transportation but do not predict whether older adults engage in any brisk or leisure walking. The perceived count of destination types was found to be a strong predictor of any destination walking and played a mediating role between the GIS Index and any destination walking. However, perceived walk-friendliness did not show the same significance as the perceived count of destination types. Finally, the walk-along interviews revealed that the micro-environmental factors influence the older participants’ decision about when and where to walk rather than whether they walk at all. It also provided deeper understanding of the perceived walk-friendliness variable. / A Dissertation submitted to the Department of Urban and Regional Planning in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. / Fall Semester 2018. / December 10, 2018. / Older adults, Perception, Walkability, Walking / Includes bibliographical references. / Rebecca Miles, Professor Directing Dissertation; Jean Munn, University Representative; Michael Duncan, Committee Member; Christopher Coutts, Committee Member.

Thesis (B.Sc)--University of Hong Kong, 2004. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 111-132)

Thesis (B.Sc)--University of Hong Kong, 2005. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 119-124) and index.

Thesis (B.Sc)--University of Hong Kong, 2005. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 48-63) and index.

Thesis (B.Sc)--University of Hong Kong, 2005. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 31-42)