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This study focuses on how real estate developers in Philadelphia view their responsibility to build housing units that are accessible to people living with disabilities. It relies on data collected by interviewing major developers who build several different types of housing, including high-end condominiums, university residential housing, mid-price townhouses, loft conversions, rehabilitation of historic properties, and affordable housing projects. The researcher finds that developers possess only limited knowledge about accessibility requirements. They do not regard people with disabilities as a submarket of consumers to whom they could sell their units. Interestingly, virtually all of them cited a family member or close friend with a significant disability, creating both awareness and an emotional connection to disability issues. Yet such personal connections did not necessarily prompt them to voluntarily add accessible features to their housing units. Instead, the developers acknowledged that government regulations are the spur that can oblige them to build more accessible housing. Surprisingly, they expressed less antagonism toward such regulations than the researcher expected. In general, their view was that if such regulations force all developers in the greater Philadelphia market to incorporate accessible features and costs into their developments, then their individual firms will not be placed at a competitive disadvantage in the marketplace. / Urban Studies

Master of Regional and Community Planning / Department of Landscape Architecture/Regional and Community Planning / Sheri L. Smith / This paper suggest that a force, when encompassed in a tripod body, the host town, the area community, and the University, can succeed in making necessary improvements to a struggling community, provided this effort is embedded in a shared conceptualization of revitalization planning that will enliven, regenerate, and produce. The result of this effort depends on the balanced exchange between the various stakeholders of higher education within the host communities, and local governments who can all share mutual responsibilities as planners while applying the concept of university community partnership to the City of Fort Valley, a target area and Fort Valley State University. The exchange between stakeholders is used to establish why they, as an inclusive community, should apply this model to distinguish each party's roles then determine the concepts and recommendations that could be utilized to accomplish the ultimate goal of revitalization.

<p> With rapid urbanization and population growth, the severity of environmental and social issues in Shanghai, China is increasing, threatening the health and safety of human and ecological populations. Increased production through urban farming can help alleviate some of these problems. This body of research is a study of the existing practice and future potential of urban farming in Shanghai. Space limitations, rapid urbanization, an influx of immigrants, both from rural China as well as foreigners, make Shanghai an interesting context for a study of urban agriculture potential. Survey analyses reveal that the vast majority of people living in Shanghai are interested in growing their own food, and have an interest in seeing a growth in the urban farming movement. I have explored and analyzed public perceptions of potential design strategies to accommodate urban farming, as well as understandings about, reasoning of, and motives for growing food within the city limits. Through research and integrated methodologies, I begin to reveal who the urban farmers in Shanghai are, narrating pieces of their stories. This research also includes an introductory study of the potential for incorporating urban farming into the existing urban fabric in Shanghai based on availability of vacant, developing, or existing vegetated surface area. The goal of this portion of the study is to begin to develop an understanding of the spatial potential for increased urban farming opportunities. Based on this research, which illustrates the scope and character of urban farming in Shanghai and the quantity of available land, proposed strategies are outlined to encourage the growth of urban farming in Shanghai.</p>

<p> The National Fallout Shelter Survey and Marking Program (NFSS) was a 1961 Kennedy Administration program that, with the help of local architect and engineering companies, located public community fallout shelters in the existing built environment. The shelter spaces were marked, stocked, and mapped. Community Shelter Plans showing the location of available shelters in the area were made with the help of local and state planning personnel. These civil defense shelters were thought to be not only essential to the survival of Americans but an important part of the United States National Defense policy. The public shelters represent a unique part of America's Cold War history and the civilian Cold War experience. Though many public shelters were located in buildings constructed during the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, this thesis argues that these buildings are a type of Cold War-era resource, one that is distinguished by its use and not its appearance. The thesis includes an examination of the NFSS program nationwide as well as a focused historic context of Denver, Colorado's civil defense program; an analysis of NFSS types; and a case for the preservation of public community fallout shelters.</p>

The River Bend neighborhood should be preserved as Binghampton Rural Historic District because it is a vestige of the Mormon colony of Binghampton and because it preserves part of the farming history of the Tucson basin. It reflects the pattern of both Mormon agrarian colonization and western settlement. Reminders of the original Mormon farmers exist in the form of fence lines, tree lined roads, orchards, and irrigation ditches. Unpaved, straight streets are aligned with the cardinal directions. The clustering of buildings in a comparatively large open space is characteristic of the spatial arrangement of rural Mormon landscapes. A survey of residents indicates a majority support the petition to become a historic district, but rezoning is a political process which will require the neighborhood to use a multi-faceted approach to achieve protection.

East Africa, a region in Africa south of the Sahara, is faced with many environmental and urban problems due to development and population growth impacting on the land, vegetation and wildlife. This region, at present, does not have its own trained manpower able to plan and manage the natural resources but also to minimize man's impact on these resources in order to achieve sustainable development in the region. The thesis of this study is that a regional institute of resource planning and management be established in one of the three countries in the region to meet this pressing need.

Despite a wide assortment of problems that cover a broad range of topics, from questions and doubts about its theoretical underpinnings, to a host of application difficulties, economic base analysis still figures prominently in the geographic literature. This thesis uses the Arizona Community Data Set to examine two important issues that remain unresolved or inadequately addressed in the literature. The results presented support Tiebout's hypothesis that the Keynesian macroeconomic approach, emphasizing the role of all the sectors in an economy produces more reliable multipliers estimates than Hoyt's traditional approach. Additionally, it is shown that, through disaggregation, it is possible to use the relationships between sectoral basic and nonbasic employment to produce multipliers that resemble those obtained through input-output analysis. Overall the results suggest that with the use of reliable survey data the economic base concept can still produce valuable information on the effects of an impact in a small community.