This master thesis in human geography explores how neighborhoods are represented and perceived on the popular social media platform Instagram. By analyzing user-generated content, both visually and textually, this study aims to uncover the predominant themes, characteristics, and subjective perspectives associated with neighborhood representation on Instagram. Through a systematic analysis of the content shared by Instagram users, the research identifies recurring themes, visual motifs, and distinguishing features that emerge when portraying and expressing experiences of different neighborhoods using topic modelling and sentiment analysis in Orange. The study specifically focuses on Umeå, allowing for a deeper understanding of how Instagram users perceive and portray the various neighborhoods within the city. The findings of this research hold potential implications for urban planning practices, as they shed light on the factors influencing neighborhood representation on Instagram and their relevance to decision-making processes related to urban development, community engagement, and social well-being. Overall, this study provides valuable insights into the interplay between social media and neighborhood representation.

Form-based codes are evaluated with criteria often requiring additional clarification. To better identify form-based code evaluation criteria, this thesis identifies the major intentions of form-based codes from the literature and focuses on the first intention, quality of life. The form-based code literature relates quality of life to three principles with underlying parameters: neighborhood with a center and edge, proximity to daily needs, and walkability. Neighborhood refers to the identification of walkable districts of about .25 mile radius with a clear center and edge. Proximity to daily needs requires diversity of uses in proximity to residential uses so that residents travel short distances to address daily needs. Walkability is a more complex principle with numerous impacting parameters effective only when working in tandem with each other. A selection of six case studies from award-wining form-based codes test the presence of the three quality of life principles in form-based code practice and the findings are discussed. All six case studies incorporated the three quality of life principles with some differences in all form-based planning process phases. Neighborhood is used as equivalent to a .25 mile pedestrian shed. The value of the concept of neighborhood edge in from-based codes remains unclear, however, since few case studies included it and needs to be explored further. Neighborhood with a center and edge therefore can be rephrased to a .25 mile pedestrian shed with a center. The .25 mile pedestrian shed alone is a fundamental parameter in all 3 quality of life principles and all case studies incorporated this parameter. Proximity to daily needs parameters as identified are also incorporated in all case studies. Walkability parameters that require building adaptations to walkable environments were present in all case studies. Walkability parameters, however, addressing standards for sidewalks and streets, were uncommon in some studies and, as a result, application of walkability parameters varied across case studies. Therefore, satisfying the quality of life form-based code intention, the 3 principles of pedestrian shed with a center, proximity to daily needs, and walkability can be used as part of the set of criteria to assess form-based codes. All 3 principles point to the direction of sustainability in an effort to create cities that are efficient to manage and highly appropriate for daily human function.

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Located on floodplains of the Potomac River in Old Town Alexandria, Ford's Landing boasts a rich history, once known as the Ford Plant. Evolving from its industrial past, it underwent a transformative development in 1996, emerging as the rowhouse neighborhood that we now know today. Developed for a wealthy living in Old Town Alexandria, the neighborhood Ford's Landing now confronts geographical challenges exacerbated by the evolving impacts of Climate Change. In response to these challenges, 'Resilient Ford's Landing' is a project that focuses on three pivotal topics: stormwater management, urban heat island mitigation, and energy production. It strives to redefine Ford's Landing as a sustainable and resilient place by retrofitting, innovating, and tailoring solutions to the site as well as improving the quality of life for its residents while being a better, model neighbor against the adverse effects of a changing climate. / Master of Science / Ford Landing is a wealthy neighborhood of rowhouses in Old Town Alexandria that was developed in 1996. The site was originally known as the Ford Plant. Due to its location near the waterfront, the neighborhood is facing problems relating to flood, water, and climate change issues. 'Resilient Ford's Landing' is a project that focuses on tackling these challenges. It is about managing stormwater that runs through the streets of the neighborhood, creating better shade and infrastructure to reduce the presence of heat, and using renewable energy to become energy efficient. With these methods, the project's intention is to redefine Ford's Landing as a sustainable and resilient neighbor.

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This report examines how the neighborhoods along the Metro Blue line have changed over the past two decades, and reflects on the current emerging issue in Transit oriented development (TOD), which is promoting equitable transit neighborhoods. The primary study area includes the route of the Metro Blue line through Los Angeles County where the most economically disadvantaged and marginalized communities are located in the county. In order to investigate the impact of the rail line effectively, the concept of Walksheds are used as the units of analysis, which is defined as the area within a half-mile walking distance from the transit station. Focusing on social equity impact of the transit system operation, the comparison analysis between Los Angeles County and the twenty-two Walksheds of each station in the line evaluates the changes in the close-by neighborhoods while also looking at various social demographic indicators that can reflect demographic shifts using decennial Census data of 1990, 2000, and 2010. While looking at the change through time series data analysis vertically, the performance of each station area is examined horizontally. Therefore, comparative analysis is conducted in four stages to figure out the extent to which the neighborhoods have changed, how rapidly the change occurred and whether the neighborhood change occurred in a positive way or not. The result from the four comparative analyses indicates that the Metro Blue line did not work as a catalyst for promoting economic opportunity in the region in spite of the initial expectations of its advocates. In the beginning of the rail operation of 1990, the neighborhoods along the rail line were excluded and poverty was widespread in the region. However, even after two decades, the twenty-two Walksheds along the Metro Blue Line still remain as undesirable places to live and marginalized as compared to the rest of the county. Moreover, the neighborhood change in the twenty-two Walksheds is negatively linked to the Walksheds based on the result of the comparative analysis. / text

Research from multiple domains has provided insights into how neighborhood design can be improved to have a more favorable effect on physical activity, a concept known as walkability. The relevant research findings/hypotheses have been integrated into a Walkability Framework, which organizes the design elements into nine walkability categories. The purpose of this study was to test whether this conceptual framework can be used as a model to measure the interactions between the built environment and physical activity. We explored correlations between the walkability categories and physical activity reported through a survey of residents of Tucson, Arizona (n=486). The results include significant correlations between the walkability categories and physical activity as well as between the walkability categories and the two motivations for walking (recreation and transportation). To our knowledge, this is the first study that reports links between walkability and walking for recreation. Additionally, the use of the Walkability Framework allowed us to identify the walkability categories most strongly correlated with the two motivations for walking. The results of this study support the use of the Walkability Framework as a model to measure the built environment in relation to its ability to promote physical activity. (C) 2017 The Authors.

The U.S.-American foreclosure crisis and related economic crises have had severe and wide-reaching effects for the global economy, homeowners, and municipalities alike. These negative changes led to federal, state, regional, and local responses intended to prevent and mitigate foreclosures. As of yet, no research has examined the community- and neighborhood-level impacts of local foreclosure responses. This research seeks to determine the economic, physical, social, and political changes that resulted from these responses. A mixed methods case study of Cuyahoga County, Ohio, home to Cleveland, was used to identify local level foreclosure responses—i.e. those carried out at the county level and below—and their effects. The qualitative component was comprised of semi-structured stakeholder interviews, including local governmental representatives, advocacy groups, and neighborhood representatives. Two community subcases were investigated in depth to further examine the mechanisms and effects of foreclosure responses. The quantitative component supplements the qualitative component by means of a quantile regression model that examines relationships between foreclosure responses and changes in property value at the Census tract level, used to approximate communities. The model integrates data for the entire county and estimates coefficients at various quantiles of the dependent variable, which uncovers variations in the associations between the variables along the dependent variable’s distribution. That is, with quantile regression it is possible to determine whether foreclosure responses have different effects depending on community conditions. The results indicate that the national and local context are of particular importance when responding to the foreclosure crisis. Lackluster national level responses necessitated creative and innovative responses at the local level. The Cleveland region is characterized a weak housing market and its concomitant vacancy and abandonment problems. Thus, post-foreclosure responses that deal with blighted property are essential. A wide variety of foreclosure responses took place in Cuyahoga County, in the form of systems reform, foreclosure prevention, targeting, property acquisition and control, legal efforts, and community- and neighborhood-level efforts. Several strategies used in these responses emerged as themes: targeting, addressing blight, strengthening the social fabric, planning for the future, building institutions and organizational capacity, and advocacy. Physical and economic impacts are closely linked and are brought about especially by responses using targeting and blight reduction strategies. Social impacts, such as increased identification with, investment in, and commitment to the community occurred as the result of responses that used the strategies of strengthening the social fabric and planning a shared future for the community. Finally, the strategies of building institutions and organizational capacity and advocacy resulted in increased political power in the form of more local control and additional resources for neighborhoods and communities. These results provide deeper insight into the effects of the foreclosure crisis and local responses to it on neighborhoods and communities. This case study identifies the importance of targeting, blight removal, strengthening social bonds, planning for a shared future, increasing organizational capacity, and advocacy in addressing the foreclosure crisis on the community and neighborhood levels, especially in weak housing market cities where need far outstrips the available resources.