Gaining access to transportation is essential for obtaining employment, education, healthcare, and social interaction. Individuals who face difficulties in gaining this access are considered ‘transportation disadvantaged’ and include individuals of lower socioeconomic status, aging individuals, and persons with disabilities. In our autodependent society, individuals with disabilities face even fewer opportunities to interact within their communities. In order to better understand how individuals with disabilities are limited by their access to transportation, two studies were conducted. The first study specifically seeks to examine how individuals with disabilities gain access to transportation and the interpersonal relationships that affect opportunities for social participation in the community. A self-administered online questionnaire was disseminated to individuals residing in the Rocky Mountain region of the United States. Individuals with disabilities were found to have less access to private vehicles and to utilize public transportation more than previously reported. The majority of individuals with disabilities feel that their access level to transportation hindered their social life. The second study, using the same survey as the first study with some variation of the questions and a larger sample size, sought to understand the needs of individuals with disabilities from a national perspective. Individuals were found to use private vehicles less and more public transportation than previous studies have shown. Individuals with more significant disabilities were more likely to face transportation-related exclusion.

This dissertation examines the turnaround of labor force migration patterns in the states of California, Oregon, and Washington in the 1970s. The focus of the dissertation is the simultaneous phenomena of economic deconcentration and employment migration in nonmetropolitan counties during the turnaround period. The theoretical approach of the research draws from the disciplines of economics, geography, and sociology to develop a model that addresses what attributes of areas attract labor migration flows. The study specifies that labor migration is a function of economic activities, the environment, and accessibility. The research focus is the role that economic and noneconomic factors play in attracting labor migration flows. The spatial focus is the counties in the states of California, Oregon, and Washington. The temporal focus of study is the period between 1965 and 1975. The results of the research affirm the complexity of migration modelling. A test of equality of coefficients of the different periods investigated show significant differences between the turnaround and preturnaround models. The data results show just a few of the noneconomic factors are a major determinant of the nonmetropolitan turnaround. The model results show several unexpected results. Several of the coefficients in the models have the opposite sign of what originally was expected. Another unexpected outcome of the research is the apparent symmetry of labor in-migration and labor out-migration coefficients. A formal test for symmetry, however, shows the models are significantly different. This study finds that the economic deconcentration process in the Pacific states is not one in which metropolitan growth spilled over into the nonmetropolitan counties. Rather both the metropolitan and nonmetropolitan counties simultaneously experienced deindustrializing (a decline of manufacturing employment and growth of service employment). The service related employment activity has a major influence on employment growth in the Pacific states. Although employment change does not show a significant influence on labor migration flows, labor migration does show a significant influence on employment growth in several of the model results.

Many local planning departments have acquired and put into use advanced automated geocoding and Geographic Information Systems (GIS) to store, process, map and analyze geographic data. GIS technological advancements in hardware, software, and geographic databases - specifically, in geocoding methods to reference street address data to geographic locations - enable data to be integrated, mapped, and analyzed more efficiently and effectively. Also, technological advancements depend on organizational and institutional environments. The relationships between technological advancements and technical (data mapping and analysis), organizational, and institutional environments are not clear. The purpose of this study is to explain these relationships to help planning and development directors make better decisions in acquiring and using advanced geocoding and GIS technology. The findings are based on a mail survey of planning and development departments in cities with populations of 50,000 or more in the United States. The study found that planning departments with advanced geocoding and GIS technology are capable of conducting advanced geocoding applications. Data can be tabulated, aggregated, linked, and modeled for mapping and planning. Geocoding to aggregate data to small geographic areas helps by providing required and up-to-date information to solve urban problems. However, the study did not find that advanced geocoding systems enhance data quality as measured by spatial resolution and volume. Further studies are needed to explore this issue. The adoption and implementation of advanced geocoding and GIS technology are influenced by organizational and institutional environments. Large cities have more experience with hardware, software programs, computer professionals, and training programs, but they are dependent on centralized systems from an earlier computer era. Consequently, more recent entrants to using computers for geographic data processing are emerging rapidly. As technology is becoming more advanced, hardware and software costs are declining. Some of the organizational and institutional issues are eliminated while new ones are emerging. As a result, small area cities are adopting advanced geocoding and GIS technology more rapidly than they were previously, and sometimes they surpass large cities. This study improves understanding of automated street address geocoding methods and how these methods are related to advancements in GIS technology. The study also examines how technical, organizational, and institutional environments are interrelated in adopting and using geocoding and GIS technology. The challenge in the 1990s will not be how to fund and acquire a GIS, but how to integrate all of the pieces in order to make the technology work properly.

This thesis explores the relationship between urban tree canopy and physical health measures between different Springfield, Massachusetts neighborhoods. The study hypothesis was that there would be a correlation between urban tree canopy and human health. Statistical analysis was used to examine the correlation between available health data and urban trees. The existing neighborhood health data that was available comprised of asthma rate, infant mortality, and low birth weight. It also examined other data such as median household income, demographic percentages, home ownership, and green space. The research questions guiding this study were: Are there any correlations between urban trees canopy and the asthma rates, infant mortality rates, and low birth weight in Springfield neighborhoods? Do local residents have equal access to resources such as urban tree canopy and green space? Previous research reviewed in the literature shows that urban tree canopy provides social, environmental, physical benefits to their surroundings and to the residents of urban neighborhoods, such as those in Springfield. The literature review also discussed some challenges with regard to unequal access to urban trees in other cities, such as Boston that show environmental justice issue may be an influence. The current study used data on health, demographic, and urban tree canopy data that was primarily collected by the Pioneer Valley Planning Commission, the US Forest Service and ReGreen Springfield. The major findings showed correlations between urban tree canopy and median household income, low birth weight, and demographics percentages. Those correlations indicated that there are signs of environmental justice issues in the City of Springfield. This correlation results verifies prior that was reviewed in the literature. One recommendation to offset the issues of environmental justice would be to invest in organization such as ReGreen Springfield and other organizations that promote planting trees by neighborhood groups.

Zoning map for the city of Johnson City and the outlying areas. Original map was drawn January 11, 1972 and was originally adopted by the city April 20, 1972. This revised map is a duplicate of the original and was produced September 27, 1983. This was likely when the hand drawn lines were added to update the zoning districts. Most main streets are also labeled with arterial streets notated by dotted lines. While not included in the legend, it is likely that R stands for residential and I for industrial. East Tennessee State University can be found in zone R-6 located next to Greenwood Drive. The left portion of the map has been cut as you can see by the title Johnson City partially missing. No accompanying maps are found in the collection. Physical copy resides in the Government Information, Law and Maps Department of East Tennessee State University’s Sherrod Library. / https://dc.etsu.edu/rare-maps/1002/thumbnail.jpg

City map of Bristol, Virginia. While date is not printed on map, "1962" is written in pencil on the back. This is the assumed publication date. Sullins College, which closed in July 1976, being included confirms that publication at least predates the mid 1970s. The legend includes the scale - 1"=500'. Road, railways, and large cemeteries are labeled. A few streets such as Midway Street and Memorial Drive are written by hand in blue ink. These additions were made at an indeterminate time post publication. Physical copy resides in the Government Information, Law and Maps Department of East Tennessee State University’s Sherrod Library. / https://dc.etsu.edu/rare-maps/1008/thumbnail.jpg

Produced by the Johnson City GIS Division on May 8, 2006, this map denotes the annexations of Johnson City and the surrounding area from 1960 to 2006. The map scale indicates a ratio of 1:24,000. In the text box on the left side, the ID, date, and annexation names are listed. As part of the legend, each 5 year annexation period is color coded. Physical copy resides with Johnson City, Geographic Information Systems Division. 1 in= 2000’ / https://dc.etsu.edu/rare-maps/1057/thumbnail.jpg

Zoning Map for Erwin, Tennessee published in 1967 by the Tennessee State Planning Commission. Base map prepared in September 1965 from subdivision plats and soil conservation Aerial Photographs. Includes downtown Erwin and some surrounding areas. Some numbers were added by hand to individual properties in black ink at an indeterminate time post publication. Physical copy resides in the Government Information, Law and Maps Department of East Tennessee State University’s Sherrod Library. / https://dc.etsu.edu/rare-maps/1000/thumbnail.jpg

This thesis examines the relationship between architecture and planning in Detroit. The relationship between these two disciplines has reinforced gross inequality in socioeconomic status over many decades. It has been compounded by racism which planning policy and Architecture exploited during the 20th Century for private interests. This impacts the built environment at all scales. Today division is reinforced through small details such as how handrails are placed on benches, but it extends to planning metropolitan areas, and how they are divided up into city and suburb. At the scales between, both architecture and planning reinforce the segregation within their own disciplines, but the stage is set at this intersection. The scale of 1”=100’ has a history of being a scale at which both architectural form, and planning, can be expressed simultaneously. This is famously seen in the scale model of San Francisco which was commissioned by the City during the Great Depression. Architecturally, the prevalence of skywalks between major buildings in urban areas has greatly increased. These networks grow organically, responding to a market demand for division, a city within a city. In Detroit, neighborhoods have edges, and within a few blocks, there is emptiness and abandonment. It is one of these edges that is explored in the intervention. The edges are oftentimes reinforced by the built environment with walls, traffic regulations, and pedestrian access carefully controlled at the scale of the neighborhood. Therefore, the thesis proposes a new form of development and is interested in this scale where architecture and planning are supposed to meet. Through this interdisciplinary approach, more problems are addressed simultaneously. The intervention identifies an educational district just outside of downtown Detroit and greatly expands it over several decades. 3 focus buildings were developed in more detail to sketch possible formal outcomes of the exercise in the built environment. The intervention proposes greater community input which informs this reimagining of neighborhood. The idea also draws on the concept of a “15-minute neighborhood,” which has been proposed by the mayor of Detroit as a solution to urban blight in Detroit.

Environmental Justice is an issue that has been relevant in the mind of the federal government for the past 18 years. Within society, the goal of Environmental Justice looks to prevent the exploitation of vulnerable populations through the siting of environmentally hazardous sites. Instead of over burdening specific vulnerable populations, fair distribution of hazards throughout the population is desired. Although there is a large body of research that study the location and impact of hazardous sites on the surrounding communities, there are few existing models which look to locate vulnerable populations through the use of quantitative data. Of the existing models none implement an intensity scaling method based upon the percent of the population that exist within certain study area dependent thresholds. The purpose of this study is to develop a multi level index that examines a study area based upon intensity scaling of census data as well as hazard siting proximity analysis. A gap in the current literature is filled by the creation of the index and introduction of intensity scaling. The final output of the index presents a method that is modular allowing for the application of each level of the index to be applied individual of the other level. The index can be used to support and facilitate decision making performed by local, state, or federal agencies, to prevent the over burdening of a community. A second use is as a predictive model, providing a base upon which a better understanding of the local impacts of future siting and/or removal of a hazardous site can be evaluated. A final use of this index is as a foundation upon which future research can be conducted, providing an environmental justice understanding of a region, allowing for targeted research to be performed.