Thesis (M.Arch.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Architecture, 1980. / MICROFICHE COPY AVAILABLE IN ARCHIVES AND ROTCH. / Bibliography: p. 87-88. / by Kimberly Ann Weller. / M.Arch.

Thesis. 1979. M.C.P.--Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dept. of Urban Studies and Planning. / MICROFICHE COPY AVAILABLE IN ARCHIVES AND ENGINEERING. / Bibliography: leaves 206-207. / by Dana R. Driskell. / M.C.P.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Architecture, 1988. / Includes bibliographical references. / The "skyscraper problem" challenged the thought and practice of civic designers and architects prior to World War I. It referred to the incompatibility of City Beautiful principles with economically propelled land development, and to the contradiction between the notion of architecture as an art and the skyscraper's programmatic and technical requirements. Civic designers in New York had difficulty accommodating the skyscraper in their large-scale plans. They also found that it intruded on their vision for the business street, hindered their attempts to plan City Hall Park as New York's civic center, and created a chaotic skyline. Bruce Price, Louis Sullivan, Thomas Hastings, Cyrus L.W. Eidlitz, and other architects suggested alternative proposals for subjecting the skyscraper to the constraints of design . Prior to the design of the Woolworth Building, however, architectural critics did not unanimously endorse any single approach. Frank Woolworth chose a site for his proposed headquarters at the intersection of City Hall Park, New York's civic center, with lower Broadway, the spine of its business district . Woolworth commissioned Cass Gilbert to design the Woolworth Building in 1910. Gilbert shared the City Beautiful vision of McKim, Mead & White and Daniel Burnham. He also accepted the skyscraper's pragmatic requirements. Woolworth intended his headquarters to function as a speculative office building, but also to look like a civic institution. The imagery of a civic institution would represent the capitol of his commercial "empire" as well as display his civic-mindedness, wealth, and cosmopolitanism. The Woolworth Building's siting at New York's civic center, its composition, its arcade, and its sculptural and mural decoration identified it with the prevailing concept of the civic building. The soaring vertical piers of its exterior recalled Gilbert's earlier design for the West Street Building, which was influenced by the functionalist ideas of Louis Sullivan. The Woolworth Building convinced critics that a suitable architectural expression could be found for the skyscraper. Zoning reformers regarded it as a benign skyscraper. Contemporary observers attuned to City Beautiful aesthetic principles thought that the Woolworth Building strengthened the order and image of New York's civic center and enhanced the view of the city from afar. / by Gail Fenske. / Ph.D.

Drawing on standpoint and intersectionality theories, this study explores the degree to which New York State’s Rockefeller Drug Laws and interactions between criminal, educational, and welfare policies have contributed to the maintenance of a culture of surveillance in which the lives of African American women in distressed households are overseen and influenced by oppressive policies and governmental institutions. Qualitative secondary analysis of longitudinal ethnographic data was conducted. Two detailed family cases are the focus of the study. Findings demonstrate multiple disadvantages that impoverished African American families struggling with alcohol and/or other drugs (AOD) use and/or sale experience. These disadvantages accumulated intergenerationally, in a snowball effect making it difficult for participants to maintain stable lives. For instance, oppressive policies, discrimination, poverty, AOD use, and violence hindered many participants’ ability to obtain a high school degree which in turn contributed to the obstacles they faced finding meaningful employment. Findings explored the tension between participants’ experiences with oppression and the multiple ways they either assimilated or resisted their oppression. While the Rockefeller Drug Laws assume that harsh sentences deter people from AOD use/sale, none of the participants mentioned imprisonment as a motivator to avoid AOD. Participants’ classification of crack, cocaine, and heroin as the most dangerous AOD were congruent with the Rockefeller Drug Laws’ classification of AOD. However, the way the law dispensed prison sentences reduced people to their AOD use because it disregarded all other aspects of their lives. Unlike the Rockefeller Drug Laws, participants found drug use to be sometimes a functional activity insofar as it was an additional source of income and a coping strategy in dealing with oppression. Findings indicate that simply addressing problematic AOD use among impoverished African American families in New York at the micro level is not sufficient or feasible. While it is important to examine and address individual needs and problems associated to AOD use, macro forces such as lack of meaningful employment for unskilled workers must be addressed. Social workers must foster critical thought, support an operational definition of AOD abuse/dependence, and advocate for social justice within the field of AOD use. / text

Mexican migrants living in New York City have not uprooted themselves from their homeland as did migrants from previous generations. These contemporary migrants have engaged themselves in the phenomenon of transnationalism, which is characterized by the building and maintenance of simultaneous linkages in both the migrants' country of settlement and their country of origin. New York City is the destination of a large number of Mexican migrants from different regions of the state of Puebla. Leaders of this Mexican state are increasingly engaging in new practices so that the Poblano (people from Puebla) population abroad remains socially, politically, culturally and economically part of the state from which it originated. This thesis is an ethnography of Casa Puebla, an organization in New York created conjointly by the Poblano migrants and their state government. It explores and describes the practices and activities employed by the leadership of this organization for involving migrants in a transnational experience. It also explores the role of this organization as a venue for the construction of a deterritorialized state of Puebla in New York and an "imagined" Poblano community. By strengthening the migrants' identification with their state of origin, the state can make new claims for their loyalty and sustain political, social and economic relationships between the Poblano migrants and their state of origin despite their living in another country. The creation of transnational organizations sponsored by the state of origin reflects the growing institutionalization of migration orchestrated by the sending regional states and highlights the role of the middle entity--the regional state— in the construction of the transnational experience.

Mexican migrants living in New York City have not uprooted themselves from their homeland as did migrants from previous generations. These contemporary migrants have engaged themselves in the phenomenon of transnationalism, which is characterized by the building and maintenance of simultaneous linkages in both the migrants' country of settlement and their country of origin. New York City is the destination of a large number of Mexican migrants from different regions of the state of Puebla. Leaders of this Mexican state are increasingly engaging in new practices so that the Poblano (people from Puebla) population abroad remains socially, politically, culturally and economically part of the state from which it originated. This thesis is an ethnography of Casa Puebla, an organization in New York created conjointly by the Poblano migrants and their state government. It explores and describes the practices and activities employed by the leadership of this organization for involving migrants in a transnational experience. It also explores the role of this organization as a venue for the construction of a deterritorialized state of Puebla in New York and an "imagined" Poblano community. By strengthening the migrants' identification with their state of origin, the state can make new claims for their loyalty and sustain political, social and economic relationships between the Poblano migrants and their state of origin despite their living in another country. The creation of transnational organizations sponsored by the state of origin reflects the growing institutionalization of migration orchestrated by the sending regional states and highlights the role of the middle entity--the regional state— in the construction of the transnational experience. / Arts, Faculty of / History, Department of / Graduate

The breeding ecology of Piping Plovers (Charadrius me/odus) was examined on the central barrier islands of Long Island, N.Y. during the 1992 and 1993 breeding seasons. The estimated breeding populations were 79 pairs in 1992 and 82 pairs in 1993. Productivity was 1.08 chicks fledged per pair. The population appeared stable, but below carrying capacity. Predation was the leading cause of nest loss (300/0), and crows (Corvus brachyrhynchos and/or C. ossifragus) accounted for 71% of nests lost to predation. Probability of survival was greater for nests with predator exclosures than for nests without (64% vs. 20%). Evidence supported the hypothesis that ephemeral pools were of greater quality for brood-rearing than other ocean beach habitats (intertidal zone, intertidal zone wrack, berm, berm wrack, and open vegetation). Broods with access to ephemeral pools spent more time in them, and when in them had greater foraging rates and were exposed to greater arthropod abundances than in other ocean beach habitats. In 1992 (though not 1993), survival was greater for broods with access to ephemeral pools than for those without. On beaches without ephemeral pools and bay habitats, intertidal zone wrack and open vegetation were important brood foraging habitats. A non-nesting beach in 1992 was breached in winter 1993; a recurved sandspit and mudflats formed on the bay side west of the new inlet. Five pairs nested near the mudflats. Brood-rearing quality of bay mudflats appeared greater than that of ocean intertidalal zone wrack (and other ocean beach habitats) based on colonization by adults and on use by broods, but similar to ocean intertidal zone wrack based on foraging rates, arthropod abundance, and survival. Pedestrian disturbance probably contributed to low brood survival in 2 locations, and off-road vehicles killed 2 chicks. Effects of predation on brood survival could not be quantified and may have confounded effects of foraging habitat quality and disturbance. A logistic regression model for Jones Beach indicated that the probability of plover nesting diminished with increasing pedestrian disturbance. A model of Fire Island and Westhampton Beach indicated that the probability of plover nesting increased with increasing open vegetation width. Beaches with suitable brood-rearing habitat (the storm-maintained habitats of open vegetation, ephemeral pools, breaches, and overwash fans) were scarce on Fire Island National Seashore. Frequency of overwashes and breaches on Fire Island has decreased since 1939, apparently due to anthropogenic barrier island stabilization. / Master of Science

This study examines the impact of white ethnic concentration on robbery and homicide in Chicago and New York City. As one of the first to disaggregate white ethnic populations, this study has the expectation that Italian-American concentration will have a stronger influence on robbery and homicide than any other white ethnic concentrations. This study is founded on prior qualitative research suggesting that the reputation of Italian-Americans influences the behavior of outsiders in their communities. The data show there is a significant and negative relationship between Italian-American concentration and the violent crimes robbery and homicide. This relationship only exists for white ethnic concentration with robbery. These patterns occur across both cities at three different aggregate levels. The results indicate that there may be particular characteristics about Italian-American ethnic concentrations which have dampening effects on the frequency of homicide and robbery in their communities; it is speculated that a reputation for Mafia involvement is one of the protective factors.

The Urban Renewal Program was an offshoot of the Federal housing Act of 1949, which alloted Federal funds to cities for redevelopment and slum clearance. Critics of urban renewal believe that the real intent of this program was redevelopment of the Central Business District, although officially the goal of the program was to provide a decent home and a pleasant living environment for the people. The result was improvement of inner city areas at the cost of uprooting and displacement of its residents.The Federal Urban Renewal Program ended in 1973, but local governments retained the option to use this strategy to revitalize neighborhoods. The politicians and planners of New York City have retained their faith in the Urban Renewal Program. They have modified the original program and concepts and are currently using it successfully to increase the housing stock and improve neighborhoods.The approach to urban renewal in New York City is very different from the preconceived notion that large scale demolition is the only method of implementation of an urban renewal plan. The scale and type of action varies according to specific needs of an area. Demolition is done only when necessary so that minimal relocation is required.Although provision of housing is the main thrust of the Urban Renewal Program, urban design issues are considered when preparing an urban renewal plan. This is a jointeffort by Federal, City and State agencies together with citizen input to create a better living environment for the people.This thesis analyses the reasons for this success through a discussion of case studies of current urban renewal projects in New York City. The focus of this research is on the neighborhoods of Arverne and Edgemere located in the Rockaway Peninsula in Queens. This study traces the planning process for these two urban renewal areas from their inception to the current status and identifies how urban renewal can be beneficial for the social and physical environment, and how it can be used as an effective planning tool. / Department of Urban Planning

No description available.