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published_or_final_version / Urban Planning / Master / Master of Science in Urban Planning

Structural differences between communities which exhibit a tendency toward innovation and communities which fail to exhibit this tendency are studied. The Model Cities program is used as a test case for the tendency toward innovation, and two samples (applicants and non-applicants) are matched on the basis of population size. Four structural elements are examined as related to applicant status: community differentiation, community poverty, community social-human resource commitment, and the centralization of local governmental structure. Each of the structural elements is further refined by operationally defining specific measures. Community differentiation is measured by occupational and racial/ethnic differentiation. Community poverty is reflected by economic and educational poverty. The variable of community social-human resource commitment is developed using the following measures: per capita community fund goals, per capita amounts raised, per cent of goal raised, and the number of private social agencies in a community that are devoted to social-human resource needs. The centralization of local governmental structure is measured by the presence or absence of the city manager form of government, the presence or absence of non-partisan election, the size of city councils, and the per cent of the city council elected at-large.

Thesis. 1975. M.Arch.--Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dept. of Architecture. / Bibliography: leaves 150-155. / M.Arch.

Bernard J. Frieden and Marshall Kaplan. / Includes bibliographical references and index.

Historically in the United States people have sought perfection in society. In the 1700 and 1800s America's immigrants attempted to create utopian communities. In the 1960s and 1970s people formed cults in which, like this country's first Utopian communities, they have been unable to isolate themselves from reality and create a society without problems.During the 1980s and 1990s emerging militias signaled a dissatisfaction with the political and moral structure of the country. At the same time a second group of people began to escape to gated communities. Gated communities are often promoted as a means of escaping from the problems plaguing many communities today, especially crime.The results of the gated community escape movement are that America has a large portion of its population removing itself from taking any responsibility for America's social ills. This isolation is going to affect not only the "gated escapists", but local governments and society overall. If municipalities address the reasons driving people to live behind walls the walls will no longer be needed. / Department of Urban Planning

Challenging a long-held attachment to the medical model, this research develops a cultural model placing local governments at the center of policy making and refocusing policy attention on mobility, housing, the built environment and services. To examine the phenomenon of age friendly policy adoption by cities and the magnitude of adoption, a 21-question web-based survey was administered to a sample of 1,050 cities from the U.S. Census having a population over 10,000 and having at least 14% of their population aged 65 years and over. The goal of the questionnaire was to help identify what kind of policy objectives cities establish to facilitate the opportunity for older adults to live healthy and independent lives in their communities as they age. Multiple linear and ordinal regression models examined the likelihood of policy action by cities and provide evidence as to why some cities support more age friendly policy actions than others. Evidence illustrates theoretical advancement providing support for a cultural model of aging. The cultural model includes multiple factors including bureaucratic responsiveness reflected in the management values of the administration. Findings show variation in the integration of a cultural awareness of aging in the municipality's needs assessment, strategic goals, citizen engagement strategies, and budgetary principles. Cities with a cultural awareness of aging are more likely to adopt age friendly policies. Findings also provide support for the argument that the public administrator is not the driving sole factor in decision making. A shared spaced with mobilized citizen need of individuals 65 and over is identified.