Thesis (S.M.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Urban Studies and Planning, 2004. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 37-39). / The decline in rice production in Haiti corresponds directly with the trade liberalization that began during the mid 1980s. Before 1986, Haiti was self-sufficient in rice production even in the midst of low yields and traditional farming practices. An influx of rice imports from the United States priced lower than domestic rice has slowly displaced Haitian rice. Producers have found that they are unable to compete with the cheaper imported rice. The low tariffs on rice in Haiti prevent Haitian producers from being able to compete with lower priced imported rice. In 1995, tariffs on rice were decreased from 35 percent to 3 percent. The majority of the rice imported into Haiti originated from the United States, where farmers receive heavy subsidies from the government. As a result, the price of the imported rice does not reflect true production costs. Since Haitian producers are not subsidized, Haitian producers are at disadvantage. / by Paul Altidor. / S.M.

Thesis: M.C.P., Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Urban Studies and Planning, 2018. / This electronic version was submitted by the student author. The certified thesis is available in the Institute Archives and Special Collections. / Cataloged student-submitted from PDF version of thesis. / Includes bibliographical references (pages 77-83). / Recent U.S. hurricanes such as Hurricane Harvey in 2017 have raised urgent questions about the role of data providers in disaster response and recovery. Digital tools such as maps that display emergency shelter locations or levels of E.Coli contamination in floodwaters are typically created and managed by a local data intermediary. A data intermediary is defined by the National Neighborhood Indicators Partnership as a mediator between data and local stakeholders such as community groups and residents who use data from advocacy to program planning and policymaking. Currently, the Data Services department at the Metropolitan Area Planning Council (MAPC), the regional planning agency for Metro Boston, serves as a data intermediary for the region. This research will argue that in addition to their daily functions, MAPC should assume new roles as the 'disaster data intermediary' during times of crisis given their technical capacity and ability to be more localized than their federal and state counterparts. Natural disasters impact regionally as they tend to cross jurisdictional boundaries and require coordination amongst many municipalities and players who could benefit from shared resources. Drawing conclusions from interviews of data entities who experienced Hurricanes Katrina, Sandy, and Harvey, this thesis will propose new tasks for MAPC. From enacting an internal protocol during emergencies to long-term advocacy for open data policies and portals, these recommendations are organized in the context of disaster mitigation, preparedness, response, and recovery. / by DeeDee Kim. / M.C.P.

Thesis (S.M.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Urban Studies and Planning, 2000. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 72-73). / This thesis examines the historical financial data for publicly traded securities issued by Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITS). The inquiry isolates certain quantifiable firm specific financial data and organizes that data into pooled, time-series cross-sections. Annual returns to capital are determined for certain equity REITS from 1990 to 1999 and are used as the dependent variable in a statistical regression analysis. The analysis includes independent variables drawn from a database and includes variables to adjust results for the impact of macroeconomic factors. In addition, indexes for the broader markets are identified and included in the regressions to adjust for the impact of trends in the general market. Following adjustments for macroeconomic factors and general market trends the regression results identify various firm specific variables that display a statistically significant relationship to relative returns to capital in REIT securities over time. Negative impacts on returns are observed for increases in firm size and for certain debt features such as variable rate debt, unsecured debt, and total debt. Positive impacts on returns are associated with higher levels of asset growth as well as relatively higher levels of secured debt and preferred stock. The expected positive correlation of returns with increases in broader stock market indexes and negative correlation with increasing short-term interest rates is not displayed. For the period from 1993 to 1999, the data indicate an inverse correlation of REIT returns to the stock market as represented by the S&P 500 index and a direct relation with short-term interest rates. Interpretations of the results are provided in a form that relates the firm level determinates of returns to capital with the history of REITS and their organizational and tax characteristics. Alternatives for further inquiry are identified and implications for investors and REIT managers are discussed. / by William B. Strange, III and Duo Tang. / S.M.

Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dept. of Urban Studies and Planning. Thesis. 1970. M.C.P. / One unnumbered leaf inserted. / Bibliography: leaves 127-135. / M.C.P.

Thesis: M.C.P., Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Urban Studies and Planning, 2017. / Cataloged from PDF version of thesis. / Includes bibliographical references (pages 151-156). / At the close of 2016, the United States finds itself deeply fractured, caught between clinging to a nostalgic past and pushing for progressive possibility. As we stand divided, a set of emerging great challenges threaten to rapidly change the world as we know. At such a juncture, I argue that the practice of imagination can help us to break out of habitual thinking and routine practice to see our challenges, and ourselves within them, more fully and clearly. By imagining alternative futures, and communicating them to a broader audience through fiction, I propose we may better understand, collectively, how to enact our agency in the present to address these challenges head-on. In this thesis, I argue for the practice of imagination through the lenses of three great challenges that we face as a nation: politics, the Anthropocene, and a culture of white supremacy. In an effort to identify and bridge the divides that exist within our current political and cultural moment, I propose a 'rural futurism' that centers the experiences, settings, and lives of rural America in imagined futures. I then operationalize the concept of 'rural futurism' on two levels; 1) the realizable potential of local democratic institutions, the rural electric cooperatives, as sites for democratic discourse and self-determination, and 2) speculative futures, communicated through fictional narratives, as a tool for developing critical consciousness in addressing the three great challenges imperative to re-imagining America. I present eight speculative fiction stories of alternative rural futures set in the American south to 'test' the concept of 'rural futurism' as a tool for addressing these challenges. The stories were reviewed by a focus group of southern writers and organizers, who provide the analysis, as well as my personal evaluation, of the stories effectiveness in addressing the challenges described and their resonance with the experience and context of the rural American south. / by Grant Tank Williams. / M.C.P.

Thesis: M.C.P., Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Urban Studies and Planning, 2017. / Cataloged from PDF version of thesis. Page 105 blank. / Includes bibliographical references (pages 83-88). / Since the foreclosure crisis, a handful of private-equity backed real estate companies have purchased over 200,000 single-family rental homes throughout the nation. Originally, these companies planned to hold the properties until the real estate market improved and then sell the homes to individual buyers. However, they soon realized that they could generate higher returns for investors by operating the units as rentals, issuing debt securities backed by the rental incomes, and selling equity securities (stocks) in the global exchanges. As a result, the previously "mom and pop" industry of single-family rental housing is now, for the first time, financialized within the global market and institutionalized by an emerging oligopoly of large-scale rental companies. This research examines the rise of single-family rental housing as an asset class, with a particular focus on the construction, mitigation, and management of "risk." By analyzing investor disclosure documents, interviews with industry actors, quarterly earnings calls, and market reports, I show how the financial industry constructed a dominant discourse of financial risk focused on maximizing rental yields and home price appreciation, minimizing maintenance costs, and reducing political opposition. I argue that the ability of the financial industry to "self-regulate" access to capital through internally negotiated legal structures, disclosure requirements, and agreed upon norms of "trust", shifted the burden of risk from investors onto tenants, prospective homebuyers, and local communities. To contest the financial industry's dominant risk discourse, I use quantitative, qualitative, and geospatial analyses to propose alternative risk assessment tools and strategies that redefine whose risks should be mitigated and who should do the mitigating. Using Los Angeles County as a case study, I found that middle-income neighborhoods with higher percentages of African-American residents and lower home values are disproportionately impacted by the increasing institutionalization and financialization of single-family rental housing. Additionally, tenants renting from the largest single-family rental companies face aggressive rent increases and greater maintenance responsibilities. Reframing "risk" not only better protects tenants and prospective homebuyers, it also interrogates the intersection of financial regulation and community development, recognizes the contradictions of planning communities without attempting to plan economies, and helps advance a more proactive vision of economic justice and economic democracy. / by Meredith Abood. / M.C.P.

Thesis: M.C.P., Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Urban Studies and Planning, 2017. / Cataloged from PDF version of thesis. / Includes bibliographical references (pages 175-176). / Home is where the heart is, the saying goes. The quest for home is ever-present. When looking at the destructive nature of urban planning history - urban renewal, redlining, block busting, etc. - it is imperative to see urban planning's historical impact on the communities vulnerable populations, particularly communities of color, have fought to call home. Understanding the sense of home is crucial to begin humanizing the lived experiences city-dwellers have in places. These places move beyond being just places into being home. Using visual and narrative-based methods, this thesis investigates how residents of one neighborhood define home. Ascribing importance of the home and sense of home can lead to better understandings of the emotional impact processes of displacement have had on vulnerable communities, equipping planning and design practitioners with the capacity to sensitively approach the potential impacts on people's homes. The community of Watts in South Central, Los Angeles, California serves as a case study in understanding what meaningful content collecting narratives about home can reveal. As a study in my own home, the thesis also operates as a journey of self-discovery in rethinking preconceived understandings of this concept. This research is both a personal and political statement about the power of maintaining quality of life for vulnerable populations through sustaining the home. As an act to fight against displacement, the collected narratives reveal the important complexities of how individuals define home, ranging from individualistic, to relational, to spatial and beyond. / by Alexis A. Harrison. / M.C.P.

Thesis (M.C.P.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Urban Studies and Planning, 2001. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 87-90). / by Tunna E. Thrash. / M.C.P.

Thesis (M.C.P.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Urban Studies and Planning, 1999. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 101-104). / With the post-modern turn in planning theory, the public's input is now required in a wider variety of areas. Nevertheless, the discourse about planning has remained too technically oriented, depriving the general public from a real understanding of the issues at stake. The development of multi-media, web-based tools could provide the public with common concepts and a common vocabulary to discuss and elaborate a shared vision on planning-related issues. This thesis develops such a tool to educate the public about urban transportation auditory impacts. By combining movies, sounds and simulations, we offer multiple representations of sound in an interactive and interpretative way which could augment the social knowledge about those issues. Furthermore, the same framework could easily be expanded to encompass other technical elements. This tool prefigures one of the multiple ways by which information technologies will impact the planning practice. This thesis will also suggest some of the possible evolutions in the planner's role within this new technology-enhanced environment. / by Nicolas A. Ferrand. / M.C.P.

Thesis (M.S.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Urban Studies and Planning, 1995. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 97-99). / by Laurence David Rosoff. / M.S.