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Starbucks' success following Howard Schultz's purchase of the company in 1987 was largely the product of a particular historical moment, one rooted in the social and economic changes that manifested themselves in the built environment of the American metropolis from the 1970's to the present. Most contemporary observers saw Starbucks as a symbol of these changes – particularly those that fell under the complicated heading of gentrification – rather than recognizing it as an agent of change. This thesis reveals the development of Starbucks' character and expansion model from its humble beginnings in 1971. It offers an overview of the various theories of gentrification and neighborhood change, relating them to Seattle, and placing Starbucks within this narrative. Chapter three examines Starbucks as a commodity, a place, and a neighbor. As a commodity, the history and preparation of specialty coffee made it a de facto consumption choice for the rich, famous, and educated. Starbucks appropriated, packaged and marketed the drink's sophisticated characteristics toward its own ends. Meanwhile, Starbucks' claims of community centered on its perception and presentation as a "third place" – the public place of a new age. Finally, as a neighbor, Starbucks has been courted and rejected by communities, developers, and city governments seeking or spurning the changes – increased foot traffic, wealthier clientele, etc. – that often accompany the coffee giant's arrival to a neighborhood. Lastly, this thesis focuses on metropolitan areas, perhaps the most tangible places to think about capitalism and capitalist enterprises, with an emphasis on Seattle, Starbucks' native city.

The aim of this thesis is to explore the evolving relationship between neighborhood change and public housing in the historically black neighborhood of Rosewood in Austin, Texas. In October 2010, the Housing Authority of the City of Austin was awarded a grant to begin the process of redeveloping one of the nation’s oldest federally funded public housing facilities – Rosewood Courts. As the once segregated public housing complex is slated for redevelopment, community members representing an assortment of interests have engaged in a series of heated exchanges and elevated discourse surrounding the legacy of public housing in Austin, Texas. At the same time, the Rosewood Neighborhood has witnessed a dramatic transformation in recent decades, losing much of its long-standing black community to an ever emergent gentrifying population. This research evaluates the relationship between neighborhood change and public housing (re)development, highlighting the position of Rosewood Courts within larger processes of policy and political economy transformation. / text

This dissertation seeks to explore the association between natural disasters and neighborhood change and further to examine the differential impact of natural disasters on neighborhood change according to the disaster itself, the rehabilitation efforts of local jurisdictions, and the characteristics of the affected neighborhoods. Using the longitudinal model, it examines the shifts in neighborhood change trajectory before and after natural disaster for three indicators (home values, poverty rate and racial diversity). The results find that natural disasters have a significant impact on the trend of neighborhood change, reducing variation in the indicators within neighborhood. Home values and racial diversity of neighborhoods are likely to immediately decrease after natural disasters but not to shift in subsequent rate of change,while poverty rates are likely to instantly increase in the aftermath of the disasters and to annually decline over time. This dissertation also explores the differential effects on neighborhood change according to intensity of natural disaster, neighborhoods? average income and the location. The results of the analyses are like the following: 1) the neighborhoods which the more intense disasters hit are more likely to experience the rapid decline in home values and an instant increase in their poverty rates than those which the less intense disaster hit. On the other hand, the more intense natural disasters are more likely to increase neighborhoods? racial diversity than the less intense natural disasters, while natural disasters themselves are likely to decrease it. 2) natural disasters might have the more adverse impacts on low- and high-income neighborhoods than moderate-income neighborhoods and that the impacts on low-income neighborhoods are most severe. More importantly, the adverse impacts in low-income neighborhoods might be long lasting. 3)neighborhoods in suburban areas, compared to neighborhoods in the central cities, are likely to decrease in their home values after natural disasters and to increase in their poverty rates. Finally, the findings of this dissertation confirms its main arguments that a natural disaster affects the trend of neighborhood change and intervenes in the path of change over time and that natural disasters differentially shift neighborhoods according to their characteristics. Further it suggests that these neighborhood changes, once accelerated by a natural disaster, further polarize residential populations on a metropolitan neighborhood scale.

Since 2000, gentrification has accelerated in many U.S. metropolitan areas. Nearly 20 percent of US cities have experienced this phenomenon. It has been the cause of painful conflicts in many American cities, often along racial and economic fault lines. Neighborhood change is often viewed as a miscarriage of social justice, in which wealthy, usually white, newcomers are congratulated for "improving" a neighborhood whose poor, while minority residents are displaced by skyrocketing rents and economic change. Though, there hasn’t been much agreement on the causes of gentrification, the government is often blamed for its policy decisions made in regards to urban revitalization. This paper examines the extent to which gentrification in four U.S. metropolitan areas, Washington D.C., Portland, Minneapolis and Philadelphia is associated with local government urban revitalization policies. In my study, I examine the neighborhoods that were affected by government revitalization efforts. Then I analyze data from the U.S. Census Bureau comparing the neighborhoods that gentrified with those that didn’t using a set of gentrification criteria. The results suggest that government policies is not the main driving force behind gentrification. In addition, these policies do not significantly improve conditions in non-gentrified tracts. Overall, neighborhoods that experienced gentrification experience tremendous neighborhood improvements.

Thesis advisor: Rebekah L. Coley / Recent decades have witnessed the increasing spatial concentration of poverty and affluence in the United States (Biscoff & Reardon, 2013). Given well-documented links between neighborhood economic contexts and wellbeing (Chow et al., 2005), this has the potential to exacerbate disparities in health, particularly for people with limited neighborhood choice. However, limited research has systematically examined the neighborhood features underlying these links. A more nuanced understanding of why neighborhood poverty matters is essential for promoting equitable neighborhood development. Using rigorous analytic techniques that account for the dynamic nature of neighborhoods and help adjust for selection bias, I considered two complementary questions: 1) do observed neighborhood resources and stressors mediate associations between neighborhood poverty and wellbeing within and between individuals; and 2) how do observed versus perceived changes in neighborhood features mediate links between neighborhood poverty and wellbeing? I combined individual-level longitudinal data from the Post-Katrina Study of Resilience and Recovery with administrative neighborhood data drawn from the Census Bureau, FBI, and EPA. Analyses focused on a sample of 606 participants – primarily young Black mothers with low levels of income – who were affected by Hurricane Katrina, most of whom experienced some period of forced relocation. Participants were surveyed once before (2003/04) and twice after (2006/07; 2009) the hurricane. Results paint a complex picture. Contrasting with prior research, total effects of neighborhood poverty on wellbeing were limited. However, changes in neighborhood poverty were linked to wellbeing indirectly through intermediary neighborhood features, with results pointing to benefits and detriments of rising neighborhood poverty. Results were driven by those who changed neighborhoods over the course of the study. For participants that lived in the same New Orleans neighborhood across waves, changes in neighborhood poverty proved less consequential. Overall, results suggest that rather than treating neighborhood poverty as uniformly problematic for wellbeing, efforts to promote health equity should identify and build upon existing assets of neighborhoods, like affordability and amenity access, while also reducing stressors. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2021. / Submitted to: Boston College. Lynch School of Education. / Discipline: Counseling, Developmental and Educational Psychology.

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.

This master’s thesis identifies the potential impacts of planning policies and key stakeholder groups on Red Hook, Brooklyn given current development trends and the neighborhood changes such as gentrification. The premise of this thesis is that through understanding the catalysts and impacts of social and economic change in similar neighborhoods, together with the analysis of current zoning, planning policies, and neighborhood culture and demographics in Red Hook, it is possible to identify how future changes may generate positive outcomes for the neighborhood. A review of planning literature provides a perspective on the disinvestment to reinvestment process seen in many New York City neighborhoods during the second half of the 20th century. The case study research method relying primarily on qualitative data is applied to gain a contextual analysis of the complex urban planning issues in Red Hook. A study of the planning and development impacts on three waterfront neighborhoods in New York City – Battery Park City, the Lower East Side, and Williamsburg – reveals the catalysts of neighborhood change in those neighborhoods and suggests the potential socio-economic impacts of future redevelopment in Red Hook.