City governments across the United States are struggling to keep housing and services affordable for lower-income households as neighborhood conditions improve in previously disinvested areas. Despite considerable fiscal and political constraints, numerous cities are tackling this challenge through policy tools that protect the stock of low-cost housing and support lower-income residents’ ability to remain in place when reinvestment raises the threat of displacement. Drawing on a framework informed by theories of equity planning, the Just City, and redistributive policy action, this study examines how cities are mitigating displacement in neighborhoods at risk of gentrification and analyzes the conditions that motivate, facilitate, and shape their policy responses. Data were collected through an original survey of housing, planning, and community development officials, a systematic review of policy documents, and semi-structured interviews with city officials and community advocates. Through sequential quantitative and qualitative analyses, I show that although city governments possess and are using diverse tools to create more equitable outcomes in neighborhoods at risk of gentrification, their tendency to delay action until market appreciation is advanced, dependence on market-based tools amid fiscal constraint, and need to balance neighborhood-based and city-wide goals weaken their capacity to tackle displacement. This study concludes that proactive approaches that address reinvestment and long-term affordability concurrently would minimize the tensions associated with the timing, form, and scale of intervention. Cities’ demonstrated responsiveness to community organizing suggests one key channel through which such a policy shift could be activated.

The purpose of this report is to analyze the zoning change process in Austin, Texas. The report examines Austin's type of city government followed by an overview of zoning in the United States and Austin. The report chronicles the evolution of the Austin Tomorrow Comprehensive Plan and the Neighborhood Planning Area during the time period 1979-1997. Since 1997, zoning change protocol has become intertwined with neighborhood planning such that both must be discussed in detail. The extreme real estate cycles from 1982 to the present are also discussed. Economic conditions played a key role in the slow enactment of neighborhood planning in Austin. The report examines the jurisdictional boundaries of Austin and the governmental bodies charged with hearing zoning cases. After discussing the motivations of the market participants seeking zoning changes, the report analyzes four case studies to illustrate the basic types of zoning cases today. Finally, the report draws conclusions and offers suggestions for improving the efficiency and fairness of the zoning change process in Austin, Texas. / text

Ecological succession is the process of how natural communities change over time. Succession of the built environment occurs through the transition of neighborhoods. Early examples of parallel transitions include the conversion of wilderness land to agriculture and of agricultural land to urban centers. Energy development or the lack thereof, remains the biggest factor driving succession of the built environment. The following document creates a parallel symbiotic dialogue for applying scientific laws of the natural world to the built environment. This is achieved by examining factors driving primary and secondary succession, in the natural world and the built environment. By analyzing means of succession, it is possible to negate adverse effects through effective planning. Case studies are provided as evidence of possible implications. This paradigm will serve as a blueprint for creating a comprehensive preservation plan which will foster positive economic growth, environmental stewardship, and a strong sense of cultural identity. / Natural laws governing development of the paradigm -- Factors driving succession -- Historic context -- The role of historic preservation -- The case for preservation planning -- Implications of primary succession -- Implications of secondary succession. / Department of Architecture

The consumerism of Western culture has allowed the prevailing suburban development pattern of the latter half of the twentieth century to evolve from a pedestrian-friendly canvas for the American Dream into an iconographic realization of commuting motorists decentralized from social interaction. Symbolizing solitude and privatization. this sprawling environment has become an epidemic deteriorating the social network in the United States: a condition that requires a remedy.With the popularization of traditional neighborhood development. a large majority of newly constructed communities find themselves located away from the realities of the modern bait environment. Like a bomb shelter. occupants have been allowed the opportunity to escape to a time before sprawl. consequently ignoring the problem. In order to address this condition. these issues can no longer go unaddressed they must be healed. This study depicts suburbia as an evolving network requiring a reinsertion of a mixed-functionality into its failed developments in order to reengage the occupant and revive suburbia's communal identity: in turn allowing the resolution to evolve from a bomb shelter to a Band-Aid.With research methods including qualitative assessments of numerous case studies. writings and diagrammatic theories regarding the social realm. interviews. and the consideration of numerous texts regarding interdisciplinary concerns as well as popular culture and sociological understandings. the study defines suburbia as a poachable territory — a construct that harvests opportunities for the occupant to reengage their context. By reversing the evolution from pedestrian to motorist. these interventions allow communities to embezzle the environment in an effort to establish a collective identity and reintroduce a social ream. Furthermore. these theories are then inserted in a generalizable residential development in Carmel. Indiana named Village Park Estates. By analyzing the potential found in these developments this epidemic can begin to be diagnosed allowing the author to establish a solution grounded in the routine of the everyday. / Department of Architecture

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The Adair Park neighborhood in southwest Atlanta was designed as a residential enclave for working class whites that has evolved to what it is today: an area primarily inhabited by low-income minorities. Many of its residents have worked to preserve the area's distinctive architectural heritage. Low housing values and vacancies have attracted affordable housing developers such as the Atlanta affiliate of Habitat for Humanity. In response to specific plans for the development of affordable housing in the area, members of Adair Park organized themselves to petition the City of Atlanta to adopt architectural standards that preserved the existing housing stock, and ensured that any new construction would be compatible with the neighborhood's architectural character. This study explores the tensions between inner-city communities and affordable housing developers in the quest for affordable and architecturally significant neighborhoods. The conclusions from this research suggest that the desire of predominately low-income neighborhoods to preserve the architecture character of historically significant neighborhoods may be firmly rooted in middle class aspirations and values. Moreover, the conclusions from this research also suggest non-profit housing developers should consider these attitudes prior to constructing affordable housing in predominately low-income neighborhoods.

The City of New Orleans (CNO) Office of Community Development approved funding to rehabilitate 81 properties (73 of which were actually used in the project) that were moved from the site of the VA/LSU Medical complex to scattered sites city-wide. These homes, which were located in a proposed historic district, were chosen to be part of a blight remediation initiative monitored by the CNO Office of Performance and Accountability “BlightSTAT” meeting. This research examines the impact of this U.S. Housing and Urban Development (HUD) sponsored affordable housing program on the New Orleans blight remediation plan. The case study on the properties moved from the site of the VA/LSU Medical complex provides a lens to examine the progress of the CNO Blight policy and analyze various pitfalls and/or successes. Although the affordable housing plan is in progress as of March, 2017, a total of 39 out of 81 properties have been renovated and 29 of those are now occupied. Focusing on the intersection of affordable housing development, historic preservation and blight remediation in this project creates a model for organizations looking to influence public policy through community development. This study examines if and how an integrated planning process, (using the intersection of affordable housing, blight remediation and historic preservation) reshapes public policy and economic development. The study further looks at the CNO BlightSTAT program and how public administration of city resources post Hurricane Katrina has contributed to economic development and neighborhood stabilization in New Orleans.

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