Without change, stagnation is inevitable. Never has this truth been more obvious than during the current epoch of industrial decline in North America. This research provides two economic narratives that exemplify the struggles of industrial communities as they strive to regenerate. The research involves a comparative analysis of the transformation of two steel cities, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and Hamilton, Ontario, from 1970 to 2008. For cities in which one major industry has formed the foundation of the local economy, job losses can result in massive dislocation and devastating consequences for individuals, families, and communities. Pittsburgh and Hamilton are among many cities striving to diversify and strengthen their economies as manufacturing diminishes and Western sunset industries rise in the East. Transformation has been much more extensive in Pittsburgh than in many cities because Pittsburgh was so largely dominated by the steel industry and faced a virtual collapse of that industry. Hamilton has also experienced a steep decline in steel and related manufacturing jobs. Based on 55 interviews with city leaders, including a pilot study in Welland, Ontario, this research examines eight critical factors that collectively influence development: transformational leadership, strategic development planning, civic engagement, education and research, labor, capital, infrastructure, and quality of life. The study looks at how city leaders drive these factors in the context of global economic forces to revitalize their communities. Together, these elements combine to create the new economy of cities. To achieve successful transformation, the elements must function as part of an integrated system─a community economic activity system (CEAS). This research is grounded in MacGregor-Burn’s (1978; 2003) transformational leadership theory and positions local leadership as the central driver of economic regeneration. It highlights the importance of enduring social relations among leaders for creating an organized, yet dynamic, base of power that is necessary to mobilize resources and execute development policies to achieve qualitative change. Moreover, it points to the importance of inclusiveness and openness in engaging local citizen groups in order to build trust and confidence that recovery will happen. Pittsburgh and Hamilton offer many examples of successful partnerships that increasingly involve public-private-nonprofit-academic collaboratives.

New Orleans's extreme flood risk is not entirely inherent in its physical site. Rather, the city's flood vulnerability has been manufactured over time via the efforts of its growth machine to expand the Port of New Orleans and the city's footprint via a series of drainage and shipping canal megaprojects. These canals were created largely at the behest of elite members of the Levee and Dock Boards, who sought to capitalize on New Orleans' strategic location during wartime---particularly World War II---in order to further their own business interests by creating an 'Inner Harbor' facility out of the swampland between the Mississippi River and Lake Pontchartrain. Unable to pursue their desired 'improvement' projects with local resources alone, these elites lobbied for and eventually won authorization and funding for their projects from the state and federal governments, with help from allies throughout the Mississippi Valley. As a result, the city's outfall canals along with the Industrial Canal, the Intracoastal Waterway, and the Mississippi River-Gulf Outlet have repeatedly allowed flood waters to penetrate the city during hurricanes. While New Orleanians properly blame the Corps of Engineers for the levee and floodwall failures during Hurricane Katrina, the impact of this catastrophic storm cannot be completely understood without an acknowledgment of the role that local elites of decades past have played in continually putting economic growth ahead of public safety, a process which has created New Orleans' near-complete dependence on structural mitigation flood control projects that are never enough to truly protect the city / acase@tulane.edu

The implementation of neo-liberal policies in Mexico during the administrations of Miguel de la Madrid (1982-1988) and Carlos Salinas de Gortari (1988-1994) severely impacted the rural sector, especially areas of rainfed agriculture. In the framework of these policies, the institutional services provided by key state institutions in terms of technical assistance, crop insurance and agricultural credit was significantly diminished In light of such situation, farmers (especially low-resource farmers) were faced with great difficulties to carry out their agricultural activities. Their situation called for definition and implementation of new alternatives to provide the necessary means to return services to the countryside One of these alternatives was the foment of local organizations to provide credit services, mainly in the form of credit unions. This type of financial institution grew despite the obstacles created by certain public institutions (i.e. The National Bank and Stocks Commission-CNBV) which continuously increased the capital base legally needed to constitute a credit union One credit union that was created in the midst of this process in 1992 was the Union de Credito Mixta 'Plan Puebla-UCMPP.' The UCMPP is comprised of more than 3000 members and operating 8 branches in 12 Mexican States This study describes and analyzes the UCMPP experience, from its early stages of organization to its current situation. The underlying principle of this study is the contention that joint efforts by institutions of higher learning (Colegio de Posgraduados) and Mexican campesinos to provide rural populations with affordable credit is a viable alternative for (furthering) development in rural Mexico The investigator utilizes several methodological approaches to collect and analyze data. To collect information he relied on archival research and fieldwork using surveys, case study guides and focus groups. To analyze the data he uses primarily qualitative methods / acase@tulane.edu

No abstract available. / Thesis (M.U.R.P.)-University of Natal, Durban, 2002.

Humans have a profound impact on ecosystems, and land-use change constitutes a primary driving force in the loss of biodiversity. Habitat loss and fragmentation are key factors in this process by seriously impeding the habitat availability and movement of species, leading to a significant decrease in population viability. Landscape connectivity management able of crossing administrative and ecological spatial and temporal scales has been identified as one of the most important measures to counteract these negative impacts. The use of graph-theory and network-based landscape-ecological tools has become established as a promising way forward to address these issues. Despite urgent needs to adapt and implement such tools in planning, assessment and decision-making, surprisingly little attention has been paid to developing approaches for their effective practical application. This thesis presents the development of a toolbox with network-based, landscape-ecological methods and graph-theoretic indicators, which can be effectively implemented by practitioners within environmental assessment, physical planning and design, to analyze landscape connectivity. Recent advances in network analysis and landscape ecology are brought together and adapted for practical application, bridging the gap between science and practice. The use of participatory approaches was identified as key to successful development, and several workshops, meetings, interviews, as well as prototype testing of the developed software were conducted throughout the study. Input data and selection of species were based on the experience gained through seven real-world cases, commissioned by different governmental organizations within Stockholm County. The practitioners’ perspectives on effective practical application of the proposed toolbox were then assessed through an interview-study. The respondents anticipated improved communication with other actors in addition to being able to better assess critical ecological structures within the landscape. The toolbox was finally tested in a large-scale network analysis of impacts of the regional development plan (RUFS 2010), leading to important insights on the planning of connectivity in an urbanizing region. / <p>QC 20111125</p>

Without change, stagnation is inevitable. Never has this truth been more obvious than during the current epoch of industrial decline in North America. This research provides two economic narratives that exemplify the struggles of industrial communities as they strive to regenerate. The research involves a comparative analysis of the transformation of two steel cities, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and Hamilton, Ontario, from 1970 to 2008. For cities in which one major industry has formed the foundation of the local economy, job losses can result in massive dislocation and devastating consequences for individuals, families, and communities. Pittsburgh and Hamilton are among many cities striving to diversify and strengthen their economies as manufacturing diminishes and Western sunset industries rise in the East. Transformation has been much more extensive in Pittsburgh than in many cities because Pittsburgh was so largely dominated by the steel industry and faced a virtual collapse of that industry. Hamilton has also experienced a steep decline in steel and related manufacturing jobs. Based on 55 interviews with city leaders, including a pilot study in Welland, Ontario, this research examines eight critical factors that collectively influence development: transformational leadership, strategic development planning, civic engagement, education and research, labor, capital, infrastructure, and quality of life. The study looks at how city leaders drive these factors in the context of global economic forces to revitalize their communities. Together, these elements combine to create the new economy of cities. To achieve successful transformation, the elements must function as part of an integrated system─a community economic activity system (CEAS). This research is grounded in MacGregor-Burn’s (1978; 2003) transformational leadership theory and positions local leadership as the central driver of economic regeneration. It highlights the importance of enduring social relations among leaders for creating an organized, yet dynamic, base of power that is necessary to mobilize resources and execute development policies to achieve qualitative change. Moreover, it points to the importance of inclusiveness and openness in engaging local citizen groups in order to build trust and confidence that recovery will happen. Pittsburgh and Hamilton offer many examples of successful partnerships that increasingly involve public-private-nonprofit-academic collaboratives.

No description available.

No description available.

No description available.

No description available.