Thesis (M.C.P.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Urban Studies and Planning, 2002. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 97-106). / In June 1996, the US and Mexican press announced a unique partnership that sought to address the dramatic housing shortage in Ciudad JuAirez, Mexico. This public-private partnership involved construction companies, a major US multinational corporation, and the national Mexican housing agency. General Motors and its subsidiary, Delphi Automotive, formed a partnership with INFONAVIT, the Mexican worker-housing agency, that would provide 7000 housing credits to Delphi employees in 7 Mexican cities. Grupo Condak, a Mexican construction company, would build the homes with the financial backing of Pulte Mortgage Company, the largest US homebuilder at the time. The Mexican government has attracted foreign direct investment through the maquiladora program because of low labor costs due not only to low wages, but also because of low levels of employee benefits. Why then, would a foreign company voluntarily choose to increase employee benefits, implicitly as a substitute for increasing wages? This thesis will analyze the underlying incentive structure that brought about this unique housing partnership, and ultimately examine if this program is a desirable way of mitigating worker housing shortages in Mexico. Analyzing how the benefits of the program accrue to different actors sheds some light on the motives for starting the program. Although an evaluation of the program is not the main purpose of this thesis, this study will examine the benefits of housing program from the perspective of all participants. In particular, this research examines the incentives that prompted General Motors to offer housing benefits. If Employer-assisted housing is to be replicable, and if there is a future for other public-private partnerships in social interest housing, then understanding the firm's motives for participating in such a program is of critical importance. There are two mainstream hypotheses of why a private firm like Delphi might offer housing benefits. The reduction of employee turnover and associated training costs are the main reasons that Delphi Automotive cites as its incentives for starting the program. Additionally, the desire to generate a positive corporate image and the importance of public relations is a second prominent theory. This research will also examine more closely two alternative hypotheses on the motives of General Motors and Delphi Automotive in offering employer-assisted housing benefits in Mexico: 1) to discourage labor organizing in Mexico and to counteract the US labor force's anti-Mexico propaganda and 2) external pressure from the construction industry and US sources of capital interested in using Mexican government subsidies to create housing markets in Mexico. / by Rossana Dudziak. / M.C.P.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Urban Studies and Planning, 2011. / Cataloged from PDF version of thesis. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 217-224). / Do business transactions between individuals of different ethnicities lead to social spillovers, in terms of building trust, friendship, and reducing prejudice? In this dissertation I interrogate that research question through a study of business transactions in four industries in Trinidad-print & packaging, food & beverages, construction, and consumer retail. I employ a mixed methods research design, which places emphasis on qualitative analysis of interview data, supplemented with quantitative analysis of that data-obtained from approximately 200 interviews plus 180 surveys. I find that business transactions do build trust and friendship between individuals, but tend not to lead to changes in individuals' wider social attitudes, particularly in terms of ethnic prejudices and opposition to intermarriage. / by Austin Kilroy. / Ph.D.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Urban Studies and Planning, 1988. / Bibliography: v.2, leaves 406-420. / by Paul Joseph Smoke. / Ph.D.

Thesis (M.C.P.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Architecture and City Planning, 1947. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 201-204). / by Robert Douglas Carpenter. / M.C.P.

Thesis: M.C.P., Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Urban Studies and Planning, 2018. / Cataloged from PDF version of thesis. / Includes bibliographical references (pages 87-90). / Transit oriented development (TOD) has been an emerging concept in Jakarta, particularly since the construction of the new Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) and Light Rail Transit (LRT). Besides the two incoming new transits, Jakarta operates an existing Commuter Line, which has a significant ridership, even compared to the forecasted ridership of the MRT Line and the LRT Line, and an extensive network coverage across the metropolitan area. The emerging TOD in Jakarta mainly focuses on producing typical vertical mixed-use development, though there are supposed to be many TOD approaches that encompass various scales in response to different contexts. This thesis seeks to provide a comprehensive approach to achieve a sustainable TOD, using the Commuter Line as the case study Two imperative studies in TOD planning are combined in this thesis. The first is to investigate TOD as a network of different node, place, and market values. This thesis adopts the Three Value (3V) Framework, which is developed by Salat and Ollivier (2017) for the World Bank. The interplay of the three values distinguishes the development potential of each station and helps create a series of TOD typologies. The second is to investigate station neighborhood as an area for development itself. From the first study, three stations are considered as TOD areas and are selected as case studies to understand the prevalent urban fabric around the stations and how future development could and should transpire on such fabric. The combination of the two studies could help decision-makers better allocate and prioritize different development approaches within the Jakarta transit network to achieve a sustainable TOD. / by Jonathan Todo Hasoloan. / M.C.P.

Thesis (M.C.P.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Urban Studies and Planning, 2005. / Includes bibliographical references (leaf 91). / Every evening over 20 women are bused to a basement of a schoolhouse, where they will spend the night and wake up at 5:00 a.m. to face the streets as a homeless woman. These women feel as if they are invisible and their life stories and experiences are not important. This thesis will provide an outlet for the women stories to be told and also examine the effectiveness of the services where the women are residing - Father Bill's Place in Quincy, Massachusetts. I used focus groups and in depth personal life sharing interviews to investigate the homeless shelter's services. This method enabled me to relate to the clients and to make them feel comfortable enough to share their experiences at the shelter. I used interviews to examine the staff at Father Bill's Place. The clients at Father Bill's Place are seriously affected by the quality of services that are being offered.. Each day that the women feel confused about case management, disrespected by a direct care staff worker, dissatisfied with the lack of healthy food options, sicken by the poor ventilation of the shelter's public space, and feel less than a human there is a crisis situation. The women do not demand luxury items, they only want to have the accurate information to be able to make inform decisions about their personal service plans and to be treated like women, not homeless women. / by Leslie Marie Mullins. / M.C.P.

Thesis (M.C.P.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Urban Studies and Planning, 2009. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 77-80). / As policy makers accept climate change as an irrefutable threat, adaptation planning has emerged as a necessary action for countries, states, and municipalities. This thesis explores adaptive responses to climate change in 17 cities, comparing municipal plans created to "battle" a global problem at the local level. Incorporating capitals and megacities from both the developed and developing worlds, this analysis studies whether municipal responses to the impacts of climate change adhere to the conventional understanding of who needs to adapt and how they are planning for adaptation. The three assumptions challenged in this analysis are (1) that mitigation is primarily a responsibility of the global north while adaptation is the primary response of the global south, (2) that adaptive action is planned in response to vulnerability, and (3) that mitigation action and groups pave the way for subsequent adaptation through the creation of knowledge and global networks on climate issues. Through a comparison of the levels of resource and hazard assessment, objective frameworks, levels of coordination, citizen involvement mechanisms, and concern for equity that city governments are using to develop climate action plans, I argue that municipalities are not using the resources and priorities ascribed to them by the global community. Instead, global networks and programs, as they are now, encourage the creation of perfunctory adaptation statements, rather than specific actions. / (cont.) Global mitigation relationships are effectively muddling and suppressing the creative development of local strategies for climate change adaptation. Keywords: climate change, adaptation, resilience, vulnerability, municipal adaptation plan, city adaptation plan, risk / by Kristina Noel Katich. / M.C.P.

Thesis (M.C.P.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Urban Studies and Planning, 1996. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 175-177). / by Risharng Chiang. / M.C.P.

Thesis (M.C.P.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Urban Studies and Planning, 1994. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 83-85). / by Jinraj Joshipura. / M.C.P.

Thesis (M.C.P.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Urban Studies and Planning, 1994. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 161-162). / by Bruce Kiernan. / M.C.P.