Thesis (M. Sc.)--University of Hong Kong, 1999. / Includes bibliographical references.

I grew up in the suburbs, and perhaps I am embarrassed to admit it. But there is no use denying it. It???s written all over my face. Even though I have been away for nearly a decade, the residue of that past life still lingers. I am civilized, programmed to perform in a manner that best suits society at this present time. I move in unison with the other bodies around me, abiding by the unwritten suburban rules of conduct to avoid any confrontation, as our daily routines follow our individual agendas. Suburbia follows me wherever I go. It is the only kind of person I know how to be. For fear of breaking any rules I retaliate only in my dreams. I hate this life. I was Growing Up Absurd, like all the young boys, and all the young men social critic, Paul Goodman, describes in his book of the same title; a dilemma preventing these young boys from growing into real men with honor, purpose, without a real understanding of the society in which he is living, but rather, is conditioned to participate in a way that best suites his society. In Walden, Henry David Thoreau states, ???The greater part of what my neighbors call good I believe in my soul to be bad, and if I repent of anything, it is very likely to be my good behavior. What demon possessed me that I behaved so well???? What demon indeed. The suburb, an invention of postwar culture that articulated a generation???s need for security, peace, and privacy after a time of great tragedy, embodied a marketable product based on an illusion, the Dream Life, an artificial empire that has suppressed the imaginative possibilities for human existence. As an instrument to understand my own dissatisfaction with the suburbs, this thesis investigates the Psychogeography of this suburban landscape. It is as much a reflection of my own struggle to cope with such a lifestyle as it is an account of how the behavior of a suburban population can be conditioned to submit to the authority of their immediate built environment.

The ubiquitous settlement pattern of the American suburb is in fact a carefully constructed reality. Because the vision of the home in the suburbs is very deeply rooted, any development which is considered threatening to this image is met with a defensive reaction. Too often, however, when these NIMBY ("Not In My Back Yard") sentiments are permitted to dictate what is acceptable in a community, housing affordable to low- and moderate-income households is purposely excluded. / This thesis explores the processes by which discriminatory NIMBY sentiments are realized as legal development regulations in contemporary suburbs. The historic evolution of the suburbs and the psychological foundations behind their typical characteristics are presented as the sources of a suburban value structure which esteems NIMBY. Suburban governments are mandated to represent their constituents' values, but exclusionary development controls are a complex product of constituent demands, fiscal constraints, and constitutional limits. / This analysis reveals that legislative responsibility often bows to political weakness. NIMBY groups use political pressure to manipulate municipal governments into using their vast discretionary powers over development as a weapon for exclusion. In response to either political or fiscal motivations, legislators pressure planners to validate discriminatory legislative agendas with their plans, thus undermining their abilities to guide growth effectively. Although the process of development regulation is well-grounded in historic and legal precedents, when legislation is used for discriminatory ends, citizens' civil and property rights are jeopardized. This thesis explains how regulations such as zoning ordinances can be used for exclusion when municipal government disregards its mandate to be the guardian of the general welfare. / Increased awareness of both the motivations and the manifestations of the NIMBY phenomenon may enable individuals as well as lawmakers to create a more equitable suburbia.

Thesis (Ph.D.). / Written for the School of Urban Planning. Title from title page of PDF (viewed 2008/08/04). Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Texas at Austin, 1999. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 93-100). Available also in a digital version from Dissertation Abstracts.

Thesis (M.A.)--Ohio University, November, 2005. / Title from PDF t.p. Includes bibliographical references (p. 165-171)

Thesis (M.A.)--University of Akron, School of Communication, 2006. / "December, 2006." Title from electronic thesis title page (viewed 06/27/2007) Advisor, Mary E. Triece; Committee members, Patricia S. Hill, N. J. Brown; Interim Director of the School, Carolyn M. Anderson; Interim Dean of the College, James M. Lynn; Dean of the Graduate School, George R. Newkome. Includes bibliographical references.

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abstract: Historians typically view the postwar suburban metropolis from one of two vantages: from the vantage of urban capital as it flowed out of central cities into new automobile suburbs, where a new suburban culture emerged and flourished after 1945, or from the vantage of central cities, which become progressively hollowed out, leaving behind badly deteriorated inner-city services and facilities. Rarely, however, do historians view the postwar suburban metropolis from the vantage of peripheral small towns and rural countrysides. This study looks at the “metropolitan revolution” from the outside in, as the metropolis approached and then absorbed a landscape of farms and ranches centered on a small farm-service town. As a case study, it focuses on Tempe, Arizona, a town and rural countryside eight miles east of Phoenix. During the postwar period, Tempe became part of the Phoenix metropolitan area. Agricultural production in Tempe yielded to suburban development, as a producer-oriented landscape of farms and ranches became a consumer-oriented landscape of residential subdivisions and university buildings. Intangible goods such as higher education eclipsed tangible goods such as grain, dairy, and cotton. Single-family houses supplanted farmland; shopping centers with parking lots undermined main street businesses; irrigation water became domestic water; and International-style university buildings displaced vernacular neighborhoods rooted in the early history of the settlement. In Tempe, the rural agricultural landscape gave way to a suburban landscape. But in important ways, the former shaped the latter, as the suburban metropolis inherited the underlying form and spatial relationships of farms and ranches. / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation History 2016

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