Thesis (M.B.A.)--Boston University

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Debate over land development continues to be an issue of dissension between developers and designer. Of particular contention is the issue of neighborhood design. A sector of the design profession has developed a paradigm primarily based on neighborhood design/development of the early twentieth century. This paradigm is known as New Urbanism. While some feel strongly that New Urbanism is the answer to questions related to neighborhood design, others feel that Conventional Suburban Development is what people want. This study aims to determine what the consumer wants in suburban neighborhood design through the means of survey research. The survey employed was based on a previous study conducted by the Conservation Fund in conjunction with Robert Charles Lesser Company (RCLCO) of the Atlanta housing market. The survey asks respondents to choose between attributes associated with New Urban design and those associated with Conventional Suburban Development. This study is focused on the Borough and Township of Doylestown, Pennsylvania. Neighborhoods from the Borough and Township were surveyed. The Borough neighborhood is a proxy for a New Urban neighborhood. The Township neighborhoods are Conventional Suburban Neighborhoods. The results between the two groups of respondents are compared to give further insight to consumers' preferences. Results indicate that residents of neighborhoods with New Urban attributes prefer this neighborhood style to Conventional Suburban Development. Residents of Conventional Suburban Neighborhoods are divided on their preference for neighborhood design. The findings show that approximately 25% of the Doylestown housing market desires something other than the predominant Conventional Suburban Development style. / Master of Landscape Architecture

The legal orders of almost all countries strive to create suitable conditions to ensure basic human need of housing. The aim of this work is to provide analysis and comparison of the protection of rights of members of housing cooperatives and owners in the homeowner asscoiation, both in relation to members of those bodies mutually and among members and the entity. At the beginning I briefly deal with the historical development of the legislation of both institutes, which shows the long tradition of co-operatives in the Czech Republic in comparison with modern regulation of homeowner associations. Subsequently I studied their legal status under current law. The main part of this thesis is contained in Chapter III which provides an overview and analysis of basic rights and their protection. Namely, Section 2 of the same chapter concerns with the rights associated with the creation and termination of membership in the legal entity, where the basic difference is that membership in the housing cooperative is voluntary, while in the homeowner association it is established by law. The issue of transfers of cooperative apartments to private ownership of former cooperative members is outlined. Section 3 is devoted to the method of forming entities will, therefore, the manner of appointment and...

South Louisiana regularly experiences effects from flooding. This study looks at what homeowners are doing to reduce their losses from floods through the practices of flood mitigation. I developed four hypotheses to predict homeowners' mitigation behavior. (1) Homeowners with a history of flooding are likely to mitigate more than those without previous flooding. (2) High-disposable-income homeowners are more likely to mitigate than lowdisposable- income homeowners. (3) The stronger the place attachment among homeowners, the higher the likelihood they will mitigate. (4) Homeowners who have experienced effective mitigation measures in the past are more likely to mitigate than those who have not. To test these hypotheses, a survey was administered in five different neighborhoods throughout Orleans and Jefferson parishes having high concentrations of repeatedly flooded homes. The findings suggest severity of past flooding, disposable savings, strong relationships with neighbors, and discussion of flooding with neighbors are the strongest predictors of flood mitigation.

A large Canadian financial services institution (FSI) is planning to develop a web-based application aimed at helping homeowners calculate the financial and environmental impacts of potential energy conserving upgrades to their dwellings. The algorithm for this calculator, the questions to be posed to the homeowners, and how the homeowners can access some of the scientifically-inclined energy-related information is presented. The potential upgrades considered were: furnace efficiency, heat-pump efficiency, programmable thermostats, window-efficiency, building insulation, lighting efficiency, and refrigerator efficiency. The algorithm developed was used to demonstrate that changing just one of the input variables can, in certain cases, have a drastic effect on the resulting output: upgrades with positive net present values (NPV) can drop to negative NPV, and in certain cases CO2 emissions can increase as a result of the upgrade considered. The effect of future changes in fuel prices, and the price levied on CO2 emissions is also demonstrated.

A large Canadian financial services institution (FSI) is planning to develop a web-based application aimed at helping homeowners calculate the financial and environmental impacts of potential energy conserving upgrades to their dwellings. The algorithm for this calculator, the questions to be posed to the homeowners, and how the homeowners can access some of the scientifically-inclined energy-related information is presented. The potential upgrades considered were: furnace efficiency, heat-pump efficiency, programmable thermostats, window-efficiency, building insulation, lighting efficiency, and refrigerator efficiency. The algorithm developed was used to demonstrate that changing just one of the input variables can, in certain cases, have a drastic effect on the resulting output: upgrades with positive net present values (NPV) can drop to negative NPV, and in certain cases CO2 emissions can increase as a result of the upgrade considered. The effect of future changes in fuel prices, and the price levied on CO2 emissions is also demonstrated.

The purpose of this research was to investigate the housing satisfaction of rural, self-help homeowners with respect to the interior of their houses. This research surveyed households' satisfaction with respect to housing quality and residential space plan design. Aspects of housing quality included: durability and maintenance of interior building materials; appliances (range, heating and cooling units); plumbing and electrical; and furnishings (cabinet, flooring, countertops). Aspects of residential space plan design included: storage areas, size of areas, and location of rooms and features. The sample for this research included 303 homeowners who built their homes through the Community Housing Improvement Program's (CHIP) Rural Self-Help Program between years the 1991 and 1997. These households came from the California counties of Butte, Glenn, and Shasta. Elements from the mail and drop off survey methods were used; 121 respondents returned the survey. This yielded a 40% return rate. The data were analyzed using descriptive statistics (frequencies, percentages and means), chi-square, one-way ANOVA, independent samples t-test, and regression analyses. The mean age of respondents was 38 years and 78% were Hispanic. Of those who completed the survey, 57% of the respondents were female and 42% were male. The findings revealed that the respondents were moderately satisfied with the interior of their houses with respect to storage areas, size of rooms, location and features, and housing quality. There was overall satisfaction with the interiors of their houses. Analysis of all of the characteristics researched showed that respondents' overall opinion of housing quality, size of area, and storage area aspects were more important indicators of overall housing satisfaction than their overall opinion of location of rooms and features. Further analysis revealed that the location of the subdivisions, number of bedrooms, number of bathrooms, and demographic characteristics of the respondents were not a significant determinate of overall housing satisfaction. With respect to skills learned during the self-help training process and the respondents' completion of their own alterations and modifications, both skills learned and the performance of alterations and modifications were correlated with overall housing satisfaction. For respondents who completed simple and/or inexpensive improvements, the ability to complete the improvements was influenced in whole or in part by the training they received in the self-help training process. Furthermore, the respondents who completed alterations or modifications were no more likely to be satisfied with the interiors of their houses than those respondents who performed no alterations or modifications. Based upon the findings from this research, recommendations for both design of CHIP's future Rural Self-Help Housing developments and recommendations for policy development were formulated. / Ph. D.

One perceived deficiency in the tax system is its unfairness (inequity). One area in which unfairness has been alleged is the favoritism shown toward homeowners. The focus of this study was on the effects of homeowner preferences on the Federal tax system. The overall impact of homeowner preferences can be said to produce three major results—loss of revenue, reduction in horizontal equity, and reduction in vertical equity.

2 pp. / Camelthorn is an invasive weed classified as a noxious weed in Arizona. The weed has the potential to cause serious damage for private landowners and their property. This fact sheet provides the means for landowners to identify and take steps to control and eliminate this weed.