Miami is no longer just known as the playground for Latin America's wealthy, rather, it has become increasingly identified as the business, commercial and cultural center of South Florida and the Americas. This increasing importance and global scope has led to the idea of making Miami into a "new" world city a development priority. The city's geographical proximity to Latin America and the Caribbean makes it an ideal city within the United States to form transnational ties and to attract more business from the region and hopefully the rest of the world. How does the idea of being a "world city" affect the types of projects that have taken place or will be taking place in recent years? Does this idea cater only to Latin American elites and the global sphere while ignoring the needs of local residents in adjacent areas? Megaprojects such as Museum Park and the Miami World Center are set to solidify MiamiÕs position as a global node and a greater regional hub. These projects will be built in the two areas of Downtown that do not enjoy the same cosmopolitan lifestyle as the Central Business District and the Brickell areas, in hopes of creating a different identity or a brand for these generally lower-income areas. Adjacent Overtown does not receive this kind of attention. This paper will examine how Downtown Miami is aiming at "world city" status, attempting to attract foreign capital--both economic and social--while neglecting to place a greater importance on homegrown talent and low-income locals living in neighborhoods adjacent to "developing" areas.

Miami’s marketers have a long and successful history of creating and recreating imagery that draws visitors towards the "magic city" or the "tropical playground". This thesis investigates Miami’s marketing and its roots by analyzing the role and legacy of segregation in order to examine how tourism and its image relate to issues of exclusion and inequality. An inclusive rethinking of the definitions and usage of culture is then advocated as an important theoretical shift that could benefit development and revitalization in the city’s economically poorest neighborhoods. Analysis (through case studies, semi-structured interviews and GIS analysis) then shows how historic patterns of exclusion and adverse incorporation, especially in regard to tourism, are reproduced in much of Miami’s contemporary marketing, with the Greater Miami Convention and Visitors Bureau (GMCVB) playing an important role in this process. The Black community especially suffers greater levels of exclusion from Miami’s tourism and marketing and therefore has the most to gain from a shift in policy and perception. Community-based cultural tourism has functioned in various US cities as a tool to assist urban revitalization however Miami has yet to implement such a program. The results of this research suggest a number of recommendations for cultural tourism’s implementation in Miami, emphasizing the need for a community-based coalition of non-profit organizations utilizing governmental, marketing and creative/artistic partnerships.

This dissertation explores the spatial patterns and place-based characteristics of colorectal cancer (CRC) late stage incidence and CRC-specific mortality in Miami-Dade County. Because CRC is the second leading cause of death among all cancers and is almost 90 percent preventable through medical screenings, investigations of CRC disparities across groups and communities are extremely relevant in the fight against cancer. This paper analyzes the geographic distribution of CRC cases in Miami-Dade County between two periods, 1988-1992 and 1998-2002 to: a) identify significant "hot spots" or clusters of disease; b) investigate associations of CRC patterns with neighborhood level characteristics such as socio-economic status, race/ethnicity, and poverty; and c) explore the policy implications of the spatial trends identified for the disease, with particular reference to the Welfare Reform Act of 1996. This dissertation analyzes data from the Florida Cancer Data Registry and tract level U.S. Census data, to identify the spatial distribution of CRC and study its relation to place-based variables using Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and spatial statistical modeling. Identifying spatial clusters of disease can assist in targeting public health interventions and improving social service delivery, particularly for uninsured populations. Identifying communities facing greater obstacles to screenings and quality medical care through the use of spatial analysis is an effort to mitigate these barriers while simultaneously providing empirically based evidence linking neighborhood-level social and economic conditions to health disparities.

Thesis (M.A.)--Miami University, Dept. of History, 2003. / Title from first page of PDF document. Document formatted into pages; contains 59 p. Includes bibliographical references (p. 55-59).

Telecenters are alternate work locations and are used as a means to reduce the commute discomfort to employees. Telecenters provide advantages to both the employees and the employers and are a good Travel Demand Management measure. The history of telecenters is relatively new. Many telecenters were established in the early 1990's with the support of the Federal and State Governments. While initial signs were encouraging, the inability of these telecenters to carry on running in the absence of continued funding made them cost intensive unsuccessful experiments. There have been fewer attempts by private individuals/ Governments to work with the concept of telecenters, since these failures; with home-based telecommuting being a more viable alternative to working from the office. There has been a recent revival of interest in telecenters owing to their ability to provide employees with more choice with their work place location. Also,extremely high congestion and long commute trips in many major cities are forcing authorities to look at alternate means to reduce trip lengths (and durations).Authorities in Miami are looking at alternate means to reduce congestion in the city and the possibility of establishing a telecenter is one such idea. This study evaluates the feasibility of establishing a telecenter in Miami. The site chosen is a stretch along SR 836 (Dolphin Expressway). Various conditions that must be met before the telecenter can be established are discussed, and the site is assessed on its ability to attract employees to the center.

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The purpose of this research endeavor was to determine the extent of genetic relatedness between an ancient and modern Miami Indian population. The modern Miami Indian nation in Indiana is currently in the process of regaining the federal recognition which was lost in the mid 1800's when part of the tribe was forced to relocate. A close genetic relationship between a modern and known ancient population could considerably strengthen the case to regain federal recognition. The human skeletal remains used for this experiment were excavated after partial exposure by flooding between 1989-1993 along the banks of the Mississinewa River in Wabash County. Through ethnohistoric dating techniques, the remains have been shown to represent a Miami Indian population living between 1790-1820. In order to yield amplifiable DNA several methods of isolation were attempted and compared. CTAB and phenol/chloroform/isoamyl alcohol (24:24:1) and a silica based purification method provided the best results yielding approximately 50-100 ng of amplifiable DNA from 3 of the 4 individuals. Purification of the DNA was found to be necessary following both isolation (Elu-Quik) prior to PCR amplification and after PCR but prior to sub-cloning(Gene-Clean). Regions of the mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) genome of isolated DNA were amplified using primers which are specific for the HIizcIl and AIui regions of the mtDNA genome. Although the mtDNA proved to be somewhat amplifiable, it was still too fragmented to be cloned, which prevented genetic analysis and comparison of the two populations. As a result, a discussion of alternative methods for looking at relatedness between populations has been included. / Department of Biology

Museums have been intimately connected to the discipline of anthropology since the colonial era when curiosity cabinets were created to house "exotic" items from afar that were used to represent "exotic" people and their cultures. However, with the postmodern debates in anthropology, both the discipline and museums have begun to realize that most displays reveal more about those who create them than about those who are on display. This realization combined with the rise in Native American concern for the control of material culture that was taken from them and their involvement in civil rights activism has brought Native objects and their display to the forefront of these debates. This has resulted in a push for true collaboration in the discipline as well as museums, which is forcing museums to work with Native Nations in developing displays that fulfill the museums' needs and that relinquish power to Native Nations in the exhibit development process. This project involved the collaboration between the Miami Indians of Indiana and the researcher to create an exhibit that will be displayed in the Miami community. This thesis follows that intimate connection between museums and anthropology and looks at the exhibit to examine what it reveals about Miami community identity. / Department of Anthropology

Thesis (D.Min.)--South Florida Center for Theological Studies, 1999. / Includes bibliographical references.