Thesis (M.C.P.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Urban Studies and Planning, 2011. / Cataloged from PDF version of thesis. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 113-118). / This thesis recognizes the social costs created by privately driven urban development while also acknowledging cities' fiscal dependence on local property taxes. This study is based on the premise that equitable spatial distribution of affordable housing can alter existing social perceptions and norms while providing a better quality of life to residents with less income capacity. Using as case studies the linkage and inclusionary policies in Boston, this thesis advocates for the need to include spatial emphasis in policies related to urban development. This proposal derives from an analysis and findings that show the concentration of affordable housing in some of the city's most impoverished neighborhoods. Based on the goals of income integration and poverty deconcentration as framed by the US Department of Housing and Urban Development and by the Mayor's agenda for the City of Boston, I examine income integration patterns in the city through time and analyze how affordable housing created with the assistance of linkage funds and though the inclusionary policy has supported or refuted prevailing spatial income patterns in the city. Although this thesis ultimately questions whether income integration is the appropriate goal for fostering spatial equity, it offers policy reform suggestions that could support a greater "geography of opportunity" for the city's lower and middle- income residents. The recommended policy reforms extend beyond these two policies in order to question the larger urban development regime and the role of local level government interventions. / by Aspasia Xypolia. / M.C.P.

Thesis (S.M.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Urban Studies and Planning, 2011. / Cataloged from PDF version of thesis. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 77-80). / The state-owned electric utility, Korea Electricity Power Cooperation (KEPCO), privatization has been a key word in South Korea since 1997, when the government received $55 billion from the International Monetary Fund in exchange for a tough economic restructuring that included massive privatization. The Korean government separated KEPCO's six generation subsidiaries from KEPCO in 2001 in the initial process of the privatization. However, the government has not taken any further action since then. While there have been debates about the privatization of KEPCO, the debates were political rather than economic. This thesis will investigate whether or not Korea should continue to privatize KEPCO. First, it will examine how much revenue the government can make by selling its shares of KEPCO. Second, this thesis will study how much investment a privatized electricity industry will attract after privatization. Third, it will identify whether the electricity price will go down if the government privatizes KEPCO. Fourth, it will assess how the relationship between the government and the industry will change after privatization. Finally, it will identify how much does the government and people have to pay for the transition, which is caused by the change from a monopoly to a competitive market. By comparing the advantages and the disadvantages, this thesis will decide whether the advantages outweigh the disadvantages. This thesis will discuss only economic aspects; it will not examine the political, social and cultural aspects which are difficult to measure objectively. / by Sungmin Lim. / S.M.

Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dept. of Urban Studies and Planning. Thesis. 1973. M.C.P. / Includes bibliographical references. / M.C.P.

Thesis (M.C.P.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Urban Studies and Planning, 2011. / Cataloged from PDF version of thesis. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 101-108). / Since the onset of the current U.S. foreclosure crisis, a variety of strategies have been developed at the federal, state, and local levels to respond to the negative effects of foreclosures on households and neighborhoods. To date, the impact of these prevention and mitigation programs has been small compared to the scale of the problem, presenting a substantial opportunity for new models for addressing foreclosures. In 2009, Boston Community Capital (BCC), a non-profit community development financial institution, established the Stabilizing Urban Neighborhoods (SUN) Initiative, a $50 million pilot program targeted at distressed homeowners in Boston and Revere, Massachusetts who are at risk of losing their homes to foreclosure. In partnership with several Boston-area community organizations, BCC acquires occupied homes at discounted prices, often after foreclosure, and resells them to their existing occupants, providing residents with fixed-rate mortgages that enable them to keep their homes at affordable prices. In its short history, the SUN Initiative, which is funded almost entirely by private capital, has shown promise as an innovative model for preventing resident displacement in the wake of the foreclosure crisis; consequently, groups across the country have expressed interest in establishing similar programs in their own communities. In light of this attention, this thesis seeks to identify the critical factors that enable the SUN Initiative to work. Through interviews with SUN Initiative staff and other key stakeholders, as well as archival research, I argue that five organizational factors (fundraising ability; a strong balance sheet; an understanding of low-income borrowers and communities; effective community organizing and legal defense; and trust among partner organizations) and five structural and market factors (local presence; adequate loan loss reserves; a significant decline in housing prices; flexible capital; and management of moral hazard) are integral to the program's ability to keep residents in their homes. Based on these findings, I explore how BCC could replicate the program in other locations. Given that replication depends heavily on BCC's ability to sell a portfolio of seasoned SUN Initiative mortgages, I suggest ways that government entities can support such a transaction. While the SUN Initiative may not be a panacea for the mortgage crisis, I conclude that it is an important model that shows how private capital can be leveraged to address the foreclosure problem in the U.S. / by Brian P. Valle. / M.C.P.

Thesis (S.M.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Urban Studies and Planning, 2002. / Includes bibliographical references (leaf 62). / The condominium has become a popular form of ownership in Cambridge as it provides attractive benefits of homeownership without the physical responsibilities of maintaining a detached single-family home. Furthermore, as it is often a less expensive form of homeownership than single-family housing, it enables moderate income, first-time home buyers to have comparatively easier access to homeownership. During the time when much of the rental housing was under the rent control, condominium conversions were a means of releasing housing from the controls. Many of the landlords sought to convert their housing to condominium units even after strict ordinances were passed to limit the sales of such condominiums. This study seeks to investigate and explain the condominium conversion market after the termination of rent control, during the years of 1995 through 1998. The first objective of this study is to investigate the spatial pattern of Cambridge and its neighborhoods with regard to distributions of rentcontrolled housing, converted condominium units, rent-controlled units that were converted to condominiums and the median sales prices of condominium units. The second objective is to examine further the neighborhoods and better understand the condominium market of each neighborhood. Using the data on rent controlled residential units in 1994 and residential condominium units assessed for the fiscal year 2000, we employed Geographic Information System to visually present the spatial housing patterns in Cambridge. Most importantly, we analyzed the phenomenon of condominium conversions after rent deregulation and the findings indicate that less than 2 percent of the rent controlled units in 1994 were converted to condominiums during the period of 1995 through 1998. Most of the conversions and new construction of condominiums were in five of the neighborhoods whose residents have relatively high income levels, and in which there are greater number of non-family households, young professionals, and owner-occupied dwellings. The pattern of sales price by neighborhood is also examined during the 1995-1998 period. / by Yoon-jung Kim. / S.M.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Urban Studies and Planning, 2007. / Some pages folded. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 163-182). / Since the 1920s, participatory approaches to urban upgrading in developing nations have demonstrated that involving the urban poor in the physical, social, and economic development of their settlements could improve their living conditions. These housing policies and projects have since been central to urban poverty reduction. Yet, while participatory upgrading is still used on a limited scale, it has failed to become a mainstream component of urban development. This dissertation analyzes some reasons for that failure by investigating the trajectory of an urban poverty reduction program that had much potential for success in Cambodia, but whose results yet surprisingly fell short of expectations. It connects the results to a critical analysis of international experience with policies and programs for urban poverty reduction. It explores the issue in two steps: First it analyzes the historical evolution of the policies and practices of urban poverty reduction in developing nations. This highlights the apparently weak link between lessons from experience, international policy recommendations, and the programs actually implemented by governments. Second, it presents a narrative analysis of how a participatory urban poverty reduction policy originated, was implemented, and evolved in Phnom Penh from 1996 to 2004. That story provides a micro-level understanding of the shape and constraints of the evolution of policies and practices, complementing the macro-historical analysis. The findings illustrate that three main issues have prevented international and local agencies from promoting urban development assistance, using lessons learned from concrete experience over time, and thus kept them from adopting a more continuous use of proven practices. / (cont.) First, a conflict of frames between agencies over the meaning of development as human-centered versus growth-led, and of the meaning of participation as an end of development vs. a means to implement centrally-decided projects at a low-cost. Second, the lack of consideration for local institutions and politics in helping them understand why and how new approaches could be absorbed, or instead resisted. And third, an apparently lack of consistency in policy directions over time, with the abandonment of proven participatory practices, and the adoption of single-sided market-based approaches to development, when history had shown that both were needed together. / by Pierre Fallavier. / Ph.D.

Thesis (M.S.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Urban Studies and Planning, 1993. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 53-54). / by Robert A. Brown. / M.S.

Thesis (M.C.P.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Urban Studies and Planning, 2000. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 43-44). / In 1920, the state of New York enacted the first rent control laws in the nation. Leading up to these laws were three years of tenant agitation and activism during a housing crisis of unprecedented proportions. Tenants worked collectively, employed the techniques of labor unions, and lobbied their state legislature, governor, and even the president for relief. This thesis examines in more detail the tenant activism of this period, through informal groups of tenants, city-wide associations, action in court and in front of city bodies, and on the state and federal level. / by Sara Katherine Copeland. / M.C.P.

Thesis (M.C.P.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Urban Studies and Planning, 1986. / MICROFICHE COPY AVAILABLE IN ARCHIVES AND ROTCH / Bibliography: leaves 105-117. / by Nicole R. Faghin. / M.C.P.

Thesis (M.C.P.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Urban Studies and Planning, 2012. / Cataloged from PDF version of thesis. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 171-181). / Over the past decade, local transportation agencies have increasingly re-designed urban arterials, their cities' major surface streets, to better accommodate a wide range of users. At the same time, a growing number of agencies are using performance measurement, the tracking and reporting of specific transportation-related variables, to evaluate and document their impacts. This report attempts to understand the role that performance measurement plays in design decision-making for urban arterial streets. First, the report examines how the selection and prioritization of performance measures shape urban arterial forms. While agencies in the mid-20th Century prioritized automobile performance in arterial design, present-day agencies attempt to balance performance across a broader range of street users and performance goals. Second, the report explores how local agencies can use performance-based planning for urban arterial projects at the same time as they engage in community-focused design processes. Research in transportation policy defines performance-based planning as a framework for agencies to use performance goals and measurement to guide decision-making. Existing research largely neglects the use of performance-based planning for project-level decisions and local transportation agencies. Since performance measurement systems hold agencies accountable to well-defined goals, performance-based planning may have value for both stakeholders and local officals in urban arterial design processes. To understand the potential role of performance-based planning for project-level design, this report examines four cases of urban arterial design: two in New York City (Prospect Park West in Brooklyn and 34th Street in Manhattan), and two in Portland, OR (North Williams Avenue and East Burnside). The cases were chosen because, in each, local officials faced community conflict about design and employed some form of performance measurement. The case study analysis finds that agencies can use performance-based planning to both guide design decisions and to actively engage community stakeholders. Among the cases considered, most employed only some features of performance-based planning, primarily to evaluate impacts and to make modifications to preliminary designs. One case, North Williams in Portland, was unique, however, in using a complete form of performance-based planning as a tool to increase participation by community stakeholders in the design process. Building upon the lessons from North Williams and the other cases, this report recommends a new framework for performance-based planning that attempts to empower stakeholders to participate in design decision-making, but recognizes that performance-based planning alone cannot resolve community conflicts. / by Jeremy R. Steinemann. / M.C.P.