Thesis (M.C.P.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Urban Studies and Planning, 1999. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 73-74). / This study utilizes data from a national-level survey conducted by the Aspen Institute to examine the strategy of microenterprise assistance and microcredit provision in the United States. Four program groups are analyzed: training programs that do not offer loans, lending programs that serve primarily low income individuals, lending programs that serve primarily minorities, and lending programs that report unusually large average loan sizes. Within each of these groups, this study identifies significant subgroups that are making specific contributions to the strategy or employing it in unusual ways. The data confirm a diversification of the field that provides strong evidence against data aggregation and universal performance measures for microenterprise programs. The study concludes that there is a place for microenterprise programs in economic and community development in the US, but that the strategy may have a different role to play than originally anticipated. Policy implications and avenues for future micro- and macro-level research are discussed. / by Jennifer A. Langer. / M.C.P.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Urban Studies and Planning, 1995. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 207-224). / by Abel Valenzuela, Jr. / Ph.D.

Thesis: Ph. D. in Urban and Regional Studies, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Urban Studies and Planning, 2014. / Cataloged from PDF version of thesis. / Includes bibliographical references (pages 296-314). / This dissertation examines how three Dominican hometown associations (HTAs) define, negotiate and practice transnational community development, by carefully analyzing the processes through which state, migrants and non-migrant actors engage in "messy" local projects. I identify two interrelated factors that explain the differences and commonalities in how the three organizations under study muddle through transnational community development processes: (1) the intra organizational dynamics that take shape as HTAs engage in cross border efforts, and (2) the types of project-based engagements between the associations, the state and other development actors. I also devised some stylized analytical categories that allow for a more refined analysis of how power is negotiated and exercised in cross-border development situations, and the ways in which the transnational relationships between diverse development actors are shaped. I argue that the more promising processes of transnational community development are those characterized by the coexistence of well articulated transnational cooperation networks that allow migrant and home country HTA chapters to contribute effectively to a common development agenda, together with empowered exchanges that enable the effective coproduction of projects while allowing local community leaders to play a protagonist role. More than a mechanistic cause and effect story, what the data confirms is a co-evolving relationship between the patterns of organizational politics and project-based engagements. By unpacking projects and processes, I also document the routines and tactics that HTAs employ to achieve their goals. In general, all the organizations studied have a tendency to seek answers to complex development issues through experimentation and problem-oriented strategies. Being able to experiment and troubleshoot, these organizations sidestep the strictures of policy and programmatic "monocropping", which, in turn, provides them with increased opportunities to learn from practical experience. That is, in the absence of formal structures, learning becomes a continuously evolving exercise. Nevertheless, learning opportunities come in many guises, so development trials can lead to important process innovations, but also costly mistakes. In light of this, the ability to identify and make the most out of unforeseen or unintended development consequences stemming from experimental projects becomes a fundamental skill for HTAs. / by Deepak Lamba-Nieves. / Ph. D. in Urban and Regional Studies

Thesis (M.C.P.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Urban Studies and Planning, 2010. / This electronic version was submitted by the student author. The certified thesis is available in the Institute Archives and Special Collections. / Cataloged from student submitted PDF version of thesis. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 56-59). / This thesis examines two approaches to housing the urban poor in the city of Ahmedabad in the Indian state of Gujarat - the Slum Networking Project, an attempt to institutionalize slum upgrading at the city-level and the Development Plan-Town Planning Scheme mechanism, an enabling approach similar to land readjustment that seeks to deliver serviced land to the urban land market and contains a provision to reserve some of this land for housing for economically weaker sections of society. Given the shifts in thinking in the past three decades around housing policies in developing countries, and particularly in India, from project-level approaches to enabling approaches that attempt to tackle housing shortages and substandard quality at a broader scale, this thesis asks the question: What is the appropriate role of cities in adequately housing their poor populations? In conjunction with this, additional questions explored include: What has been the history of housing strategies in India? What are some relatively successful efforts that are not national-level policies or small community-level projects, but instead use the scale of the city to address this pressing issue? What are the barriers to bringing these methods to scale?This thesis finds that while upgrading approaches may provide basic services to slum dwellers at the project level, attempts to take upgrading to scale must carefully consider the prevalence and implementation capacity of NGO or other intermediaries, the demand of residents for the services offered, the incentives for participation by private sector entities and the pace of urbanization in the city in question.With respect to the Town Planning Scheme mechanism, there has been considerable success in converting agricultural land to serviced urban land and in appropriated land for housing for the urban poor, but concerns remain about the overly centralized nature of the process, its openness to corruption, and its neglect to consider informal or tenants claims on the land to be developed. Finally, it is found that the mere designation and availability of urban land for housing for the poor is not sufficient to instigate housing production and more research is needed to determine appropriate policies to encourage affordable housing development on this land. / by Sunaree Marshall. / M.C.P.

Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dept. of Urban Studies and Planning. Thesis. 1969. Ph.D. / Vita. / Bibliography: leaves 425-444. / Ph.D.

Thesis (S.M.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Architecture; and, (M.C.P.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Urban Studies and Planning, June 2005. / Leaf no. 104 repeated twice. Leaf 113 [i.e. 114] blank. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 97-104). / A compact city form is one that espouses high intensity development within a restrictive geographic area. Its perceived benefits include (a) saving agricultural land (b) inducing shorter commute trips, thus less consumption of fuel and lower emission of harmful gases (c) bringing about a better quality of life through greater social interaction and (d) causing economic benefits through economies of agglomeration. In this thesis I analyze these claims based on literature review, economic models, statistical tools, and by generating hypothetical transport scenarios. Based on this analysis, I conclude that high-density development by itself has little significant association with the benefits claimed above. Further growth control mechanisms have negative externalities such as increasing land rents and causing an immense strain on congestible amenities. The thesis is divided into three parts. The first section is treated as an introduction to the concept of a "compact city". In the second section I analyze whether a compact city can deliver the benefits that its proponents claim. I look at issues such as, (i) the effect of density on urban travel behavior factors like commute distances and public transit usage; (ii) the economics at the urban edge; (iii) the claim that sprawl is inevitable, (iv) effect of growth restrictions on land rent and (v) the relevance of compaction in developing countries (most of which are already highly dense). The third section analyzes the growth management regulations and policies being implemented in Delhi. I use the conclusions drawn from the second part to comment on the appropriateness of these policies, and suggest ways in which the city could better enforce these regulations. / (cont.) I chose Delhi as the case study, in part due to my familiarity with the city, but also because it offers a unique urban laboratory. Delhi's urban form could be described as the antithesis of the compact city form. Unlike most other cities, Delhi displays a positive (upward sloping) density gradient. The city is characterized by low- density development in the center and high-rise high-density at the periphery. The city owes this as much to its past as it does to its present political circumstances and planning policies. The city faces massive strains on its infrastructure due to the high in-migration rates. To accommodate the growing population, the city in the past five decades has quadrupled in area. I evaluate the urban growth management tools such as taxation policy land use policy, development of satellite towns and physical restrictions, used by the city to deal with its problem. / by Amit Oberoi. / M.C.P. / S.M.

Thesis: M.C.P., Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Urban Studies and Planning, 2014. / Cataloged from PDF version of thesis. / Includes bibliographical references (pages 63-67). / In recent years, there has been substantial interest in understanding urban systems at the national and global scales: what are the economic and social ties that link cities together, and what is the network structure formed by such ties? At the same time, human capital accumulation is increasingly seen as a, primary driver of regional economic growth. Domestic migration patterns have the potential to illuminate the social and economic connections among cities, while also highlighting economically significant flows of human capital. In this thesis I examine the US city system through the lens of gross migration flows, taking advantage of unusually complete data on county-to-county migration compiled annually by the IRS. I compare the observed flows to those predicted by the radiation model. Finding most notably that there are far more long-distance migrants than would be predicted based on the spatial distribution of population alone. I then use reciprocal migration patterns to construct a migration network connecting metro areas in the United States. I utilize current-flow centrality measures to identify the most prominent nodes in this weighted network. Additionally, I use repeated applications of the Louvain community detection algorithm to identify reasonably robust communities within the migration network. These exhibit a striking degree of spatial contiguity. / by Robert Allen Manduca. / M.C.P.

Thesis (M.C.P.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Urban Studies and Planning, 1996. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 85-87). / by John C. Powers, Jr. / M.C.P.

Thesis (M.C.P.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Urban Studies and Planning, 2006. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 112-117). / Although small towns, rural areas, state organizations, and federal programs are all pursuing the redevelopment of the Route 66 corridor, this paper focuses on how four urban communities currently are engaging with this cultural resource: Albuquerque, New Mexico; Tulsa, Oklahoma; Rancho Cucamonga, California; and Flagstaff, Arizona. More specifically, the paper answers two central questions; have urban places along the Route 66 corridor engaged in the preservation, development, and interpretation of the route, and if so, how and why have those forms of engagement differed from one another. Four case study chapters describe how engagement has taken different forms in different cities depending upon the city's overall economic and political context, the city's other redevelopment efforts, and the degree to which the city's built fabric has survived the last twenty to thirty years of the corridor's economic decline. Each chapter concludes with site-specific recommendations for each city. After examining several local contexts for corridor redevelopment, the paper analyzes Route 66 as a national cultural resource and recommends strategies for local and interstate development and interpretation. / (cont.) Currently, Route 66 preservationists, advocates, and planners view states and cities as the route's primary "units of preservation", since these are the units in which preservation activity most often occurs. An alternative approach encourages Route 66 advocates to focus on regional and cultural themes as units for corridor redevelopment. This approach would emphasize the corridor's connectivity by treating Route 66 as an interconnected network of places that interpret a common history. For the Route 66 corridor to reach its fullest potential both on the local and national level, it must be developed as a continuous place, in which each of its components contributes to the overall corridor's success. / by Anne Clayton Dodge. / M.C.P.

Thesis (M.C.P.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Urban Studies and Planning, 2008. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 38-40). / This thesis explores how organizations competent at harnessing the collective power of low-income immigrants might successfully combine their strategies to advance the well-being of their mutual constituencies. Based in Durham, North Carolina, the LCCU is a successful community development credit union that delivers financial products and financial education programs to a fast growing low-income Latino community. Based in New York City, New York, 1199SEIU is a successful local labor union that organizes low-income workers to negotiate fair wages and benefits. The LCCU and 1199SEIU represent two dissimilar models of harnessing collective power in different geographic areas in the U.S. Yet, an in-depth analysis at the history of these organizations finds certain elements of common ground upon which they could base a potential partnership. The LCCU and 1199SEIU serve a mutual constituency of low-income immigrants and share the mutual goal of improving their lives. Furthermore, an analysis of their unique competences exposes complementary sets of skills and resources. Given the existence of common ground and a subsequent interest from each organization in exploring a potential partnership, this thesis attempts to answer the following question: Can the LCCU and 1199SEIU be partners? This thesis argues that the LCCU and 1199SEIU can generate synergistic possibilities of collaboration by combining their unique competences to pursue mutual interests. However, this synergy also exposes challenges to the implementation of such possibilities. This thesis concludes by recommending a series of next steps for the LCCU and 1199SEIU to follow in order to overcome these challenges and make their potential partnership a reality. / by Carlos J. Espinoza-Toro. / M.C.P.