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Thesis. 1976. M.Arch.--Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dept. of Architecture. / MICROFICHE COPY AVAILABLE IN ARCHIVES AND ROTCH. / Bibliography: leaves 118-122. / M.Arch.

This dissertation contributes to the literature on urban development politics. It takes a normative ideal, democratic urban governance, out of the esoteric realm of academic debate and applies it to a critical case study which concerns the most financially consequential area of urban policy, that of urban economic development. The principal elements of democratic urban governance are described, examined, and reconstructed as a framework for evaluating the policy making potentials in the present case. Beyond its academic contribution, this dissertation provides developmental policy makers with an intellectually sound basis for considering, more candidly and more directly, issues concerning democracy and governance. / Ph. D.

Thesis. 1975. Ph.D.--Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dept. of Urban Studies and Planning. / Bibliography: leaves 353-361. / Ph.D.

This dissertation examines the effects of tax and expenditure limitations (TELs) stringency and its interaction with revenue diversity and the council-manager form of government on municipal general fund expenditure. TELs are explicit rules that states impose to reduce local government spending. TELs stringency varies from state to state, leading to difficulties in assessing their impact across the nation. This dissertation proposes a new means for measuring the stringency of TELs imposed on local governments. Factor analysis is utilized, and then factor scores are calculated to identify degrees of TELs stringency. This study contends that higher levels of TELs stringency are associated with lower local government spending. However, the effectiveness of TELs is dependent on revenue diversity and the form of government. This study suggests that both revenue diversity and the council-manager form of government mitigate the impacts of TELs stringency on local government spending. Panel data from 2007 to 2011 from 1,508 municipalities are utilized. This study finds that higher levels of TELs stringency are associated with lower levels of municipal general fund expenditures per capita. However, TELs stringency is effective only when revenue diversity is low and when cities have a form of government other than council-manager. These results are generally consistent with the theory presented in this dissertation.

David Rusk claims in Cities Without Suburbs that elastic American cities are less segregated than other American cities. I demonstrate through statistical analyses that there is a strong correlation between Rusk's elasticity (an index comprised of a central city's annexation history since 1950 and its population density) and his income segregation index. The statistical correlation between these two variables is stronger than between Rusk's segregation index and any other variable I test, including city age, size, regional location, and black population percentage. I then consider several hypotheses that may explain these correlations and propose that the continuous annexation of peripheral, developing land by a central city prevents the incorporation of affluent suburbs. Suburban boundaries, especially those of affluent suburbs, function as population sorting mechanisms, which segregate migrant households by socioeconomic status and life-style. I ascertain that only rapidly growing, unbounded central cities prevent or ameliorate segregation by being elastic. / Department of Urban Planning

This dissertation investigates the effects of natural disasters and political institutions on municipalities' climate change policies. Although most theoretical frameworks on policy adoption highlight the roles of extreme events as exogenous factors influencing policy change, most studies tend to focus on the effects of extreme events on policy change at the national level. Additionally, the existing theoretical frameworks explaining local policy adoption and public service provision do not pay attention to the roles of extreme events in local governments' policy choices. To fill those gaps, this dissertation explores the roles of natural disasters and political institutions on municipal governments' climate change policies. It does this by applying the theory of focusing events to local climate mitigation and adaptation actions. Based on the policy change framework, the political market model, and the institutional collective action frameworks, this dissertation develops and tests hypotheses to examine the effects of natural disasters and political institutions on municipalities' climate mitigation and adaptation policies. The dissertation uses 2010 National League of Cities (NLC) sustainability surveys and the 2010 International City/County Management Association (ICMA) sustainability survey to test the hypotheses. Analytical results show that floods and droughts influence local climate change policies and suggest that local governments can take advantage of extreme events when initiating a policy change. The results also suggest that political institutions can shape the effects of natural disasters on municipalities' climate mitigation and adaptation actions.