Thesis (M.C.P.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Urban Studies and Planning, 1996. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 107-112). / by Andreas Siemers. / M.C.P.

Thesis: M.C.P., Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Urban Studies and Planning, 2016. / 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 (pages 180-196). / Government institutions across the world are currently experimenting with randomized household-selection engagement methods designed to maximize the diversity and representativeness of their sampled citizen participants. Varieties of "mini-publics" have been asked to deliberate on topics as wide-ranging as electoral reform and health care policy. As they have become more widespread, the focus of randomly selected citizen bodies has also been moving from topics debated at the national and state level to more practical questions affecting specific cities and communities. In this thesis project, I examine what happens when a city planning agency develops its own "mini-public" that is neither a one-off event nor supervised by elected officials. The heart of my research is an investigation of the Toronto Planning Review Panel, a "civic lottery" initiative begun in fall 2015 by the City of Toronto Planning Division intended to cover a broad spectrum of city planning topics over the course of multiple years. I present initial analysis of not only what the Panel looks like in practice, but also how it performs as a deliberative body. Though I consider the outlook of both volunteer and professional participants, I place special emphasis on the convening agency's perspective. I make a contribution to the extensive theoretical discussion by assessing the potential long-term ramifications for governance when city agencies form "mini-publics." While I present evidence to show that the Panel's contributions toward social justice and effectiveness immediately strengthen the legitimacy of the Planning Division's staff reports, I also argue that the Panel's popular element could eventually serve to validate the entire Planning Division within Toronto's larger "deliberative system." / by Theodore Krolik. / 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 37-39). / This paper develops a Repeat-Sales Price Index on an unbalanced panel of residential real estate properties. Facilitated by price index creation, this study analyzes the change in housing price levels in South Boston, Massachusetts over the period of time of a major adjacent redevelopment, The Seaport. The main purpose is to determine the effect of large scale urban redevelopment projects on adjacent housing prices over time. Using comprehensive residential sales data from The Warren Group, this paper offers an analytical tool that can be utilized by stakeholders such as policy makers, investors, developers and homeowners. It informs a deeper understanding of the potential effects of large scale redevelopment on affordable housing and gentrification, investment returns, urban land theory and homeowner equity. During the study period from 1996 - 2017, results show that South Boston housing in the "Closest to the Seaport Redevelopment" distance quartile range earned an additional 6.21% in annual price growth than South Boston housing in the "Furthest from the Seaport Redevelopment" distance quartile range. This result is compared with a composite Boston housing benchmark of 15 zip codes (excluding South Boston and The Seaport). Results demonstrate that South Boston residential real estate located closer to the Seaport grew a total of 130% more than South Boston residential real estate located further away from 1996 - 2017, statistically significant with 95% confidence. / by Samuel Philip Weissman. / M.C.P.

Thesis (M.C.P.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Urban Studies and Planning, 1999. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 120-121). / Hyde Square is an example of an inner city neighborhood turnaround that linked physical to social changes. In the past, planners, architects, and government have tried to transform distressed urban neighborhoods unsuccessfully through either social or physical agendas. Hyde Square is an important case study in that it shows a successful approach to linking physical to social changes to revitalize a distressed urban neighborhood. This thesis answers how physical interventions helped to build and reinforce the social fabric of Hyde Square. It concentrates on three physical interventions and two repercussions led by a local non-profit agency, the Neighborhood Development Corporation of Jamaica Plain beginning in the late 1980s. These include the Hyde Square Cooperative Housing, the Stop & Shop Supermarket, and Walden Garden, and two repercussions: the 1-4 Family Housing Program and the Hyde Square Main Street Program. These five interventions have stabilized the decline of the neighborhood, provided a physical manifestation of positive change, improved the image of the neighborhood, and spurred other development. They have reinforced and improved the physical and social fabric allowing for a sense of place, safety, and pride in the neighborhood. By paying special attention to elements of timing, design, and history, the physical interventions have reinforced the social-political work of neighborhood institutions and organizations. These physical interventions have stimulated and encouraged the revitalization momentum by producing physical, social, and economic benefits for the neighborhood. Each intervention's success created opportunities for other physical interventions to occur producing a cycle of events. Their collective results have revitalized the neighborhood. The analysis of the Hyde Square efforts shows that a conscious integrated revitalization effort that meshes government policies, good design, and a strong community organizational infrastructure is essential to successfully turning a neighborhood around. It is through the framework of collaborative efforts of residents, organizations, and institutions, in partnership with government and the private sector, that strategic physical interventions can be instrumental in revitalizing distressed urban neighborhoods. / by Geraldine Campos. / 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. 127-132). / In light of the growing challenges of planning for transportation in India, this thesis proposes that a set of indicators, sensitive to local conditions, developed, implemented and managed through a collaborative partnership with public and agency stakeholders can provide an effective framework to evaluate investments in transportation infrastructure. It analyzes the implications of following the Indian Ministry of Urban Development's (MoUD) Urban Transportation Service Level Benchmark indicators, and offers an alternative set of indicators with an eye towards expanding the set of capabilities and choices available to all transportation system users. In evaluating the MoUD's benchmarks and an alternative subset of Human Powered Transport (HPT) indicators, this thesis utilizes participant observation on four main corridors in the city of Ahmedabad, India, a tier I Indian megacity of 5.5 Million people. In light of historical transportation performance and development indicator practices, an alternative set of indicators is developed which attempt to reset the focus on the transportation needs of India's urban population. Finally, this thesis ends with a discussion of the ways that indicator creation can actually become an iterative and reflective process, used by stakeholders to provide equitable transportation outcomes. / by James Clark Osborne. / M.C.P.

Thesis (S.M.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Urban Studies and Planning, 2008. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 121-126). / Contribucion por Valorizacion is a form of value capture similar to Special Assessment, used in Colombia to complement Local revenues for major public infrastructure programs. SA's continued use countrywide and its resulting technical evolution has, despite some shortcomings, made it a value capture practice that is internationally recognized as a noteworthy experience. Participacion en Plusvalias is an instrument recently implemented to capture up to 50% of the increments on land values created by public actions, similar to betterment levies and unearned increment taxes. This newer, more complex form of value capture faces important implementation challenges, which need to be addressed. The purpose of this study is to evaluate both Special Assessment (SA) and Participation in Land Value Increments (PLVI), in order to understand what elements of the process of implementation and consolidation of SA, can inform a strategy to make PLVI a politically sustainable policy instrument. This study explores how local political economy has shaped and influenced the development of these two instruments, highlighting that despite their common conceptual origins, SA and PLVI are significantly different. Acknowledging these differences, the research unpacks the experience in Bogota with SA and sheds light on alternate approaches for PLVI's current managers to address the new instrument's challenging implementation arena. The findings of the study suggest that for PLVI to evolve and consolidate as a policy instrument in Bogota, strategic choices that reframe its management as a long term policy rather than a procedure, must be made. Complementary organizational strategies to enhance efficiency and to influence broader public support are amongst the valuable lessons from the experience with SA that underline the importance of a policy's responsiveness to its implementation arena for its political sustainability. The evolution of PLVI in Bogota is important, because it will strongly influence its debate in the rest of the country. For international scholars and decision makers, the comparative approach to understand the challenges this new chapter of the Colombian experience with value capture faces, can be useful to assess other policy environments; while the analysis of each instrument and its relation to the local political and legislative specificities, can be useful to temper these instrument's understanding. / by Patricia Acosta. / S.M.

Thesis (M.S.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Urban Studies and Planning, 1989. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 50-52). / by Francena Turner Brooks. / M.S.

Thesis (M.C.P.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Urban Studies and Planning, 2001. / Some maps folded. / Includes bibliographical references (p. [157]-161). / Alternative forms of urban development such as high-density or in-fill development are often promoted for their significant environmental benefits. South Florida presents an excellent testing ground for this assumption, as the region grapples with issues of rapid urbanization and degradation of the Everglades, a unique ecosystem containing the largest freshwater wetlands in the United States. Resolving the competition for water between growing urban populations, the agriculture sector, and the plants and animals of the Everglades is one of the fundamental challenges of Everglades restoration. Hydrologists claim that sufficient water is available for all three if the water is managed properly and sufficient water storage can be found. In recent years, South Florida has adopted compact development as a means of managing its urban growth and curbing the historical patterns of low-density urban sprawl, so that future urban growth is compatible with ecosystem restoration. However the hydrologic benefits of compact development have yet to be quantified and proven. By using Palm Beach County as an example, this study evaluates the impact of compact development on aquifer recharge, which is an important means of storing water for the region. This analysis models the spatial distribution of future urban development under sprawl and compact development scenarios and evaluates potential aquifer recharge under the two development patterns. The results of this analysis indicate that while compact development confers some benefits to water storage, these benefits will pale in light of the growing water needs of the region's burgeoning population. Therefore, while the county should adopt compact development for its benefits, however small, policy makers should not count on this policy alone to ameliorate the negative environmental impacts of future population growth in the region. / by Ambika Anand Prokop. / 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. 142-149). / In recent years, governments in South America have turned to large-scale hydropower as a cost-effective way to improve livelihoods while addressing the energy 'trilemma': ensuring that future energy technologies provide effective solutions to climate change, environmental degradation, and security of supply. This work explores the rapidly-changing context for hydropower in South America by looking at three flagship projects: Ecuador's Coca-Codo-Sinclair (1,500MW), Chile's HidroAysen (2,750MW), and Perú's Inambari (2,000MW). Based on three months of fieldwork interviewing key actors in these countries, this thesis makes three primary claims. First, large-scale hydropower projects are evaluated against a small universe of alternatives. These three sample projects are considered not as the best option among a set of potential plants, but rather with respect to its possible iterations vis-à-vis a specific political goal, such as security and sovereignty, fast GDP growth, or regional integration. This approach has resulted in considerable social and environmental conflict. Second, state mediation of conflict has been further complicated by the presence of new sources of financing for large infrastructure development-what the thesis refers to as "south-south development ventures," through which national governments spearhead domestic infrastructure development that does not rely on 'traditional' financing sources from multilateral organizations. The prominence of these money sources denotes a clear historical departure away from universal standards and toward bilateral management of decisionmaking processes. Third, Ecuador, Chile, and Perú illustrate the overlap of diverse ecosystems and settlements on and around hydropower sites. Regardless of the regulatory framework governing energy planning in the case countries-it ranges from highly centralized in Ecuador to completely liberalized and market-based in Chile-the state has found makeshift regulatory or judicial solutions for this overlap. Large emblematic projects such as Coca-Codo-Sinclair and HidroAysen have the potential to turn these state responses into landmark decisions about future projects and the territories around them. Public opposition resulting from this overlap reveals clear inadequacies in the way these countries plan and develop high-interest infrastructure projects. The implication is that opportunities exist to make hydropower a credible option to meet the energy trilemma if state actors are willing to think beyond the "decide-announce-defend" model of decision-making and if South American countries can set up a regional, independent, third-party oversight body to mediate between the state, project sponsors, and civil society actors. / by Patricio Zambrano-Barragán. / 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 108-116). / Land acquisition is the primary policy tool used by Chinese local governments to meet land demand for urban expansion and economic development. This thesis focuses on the compensation implementation of a land acquisition case in a fourth-tier city, demonstrating the evolution of compensation and the interplay among farmers, real estate developers and local governments. Cash and in-kind compensation (a resettlement apartment that cannot be transferred) make up "tangible" compensation. "Non-tangible" compensation includes social security, education resources, everyday budgeting know-how and other factors that can help farmers adjust from rural to urban living. This thesis evaluates monetary and non-monetary compensation in terms of value, distribution and other aspects. The findings indicate that the monetary land acquisition compensation in the selected case is higher than regional standards. However, there were ambiguities in both the monetary compensation value and distribution. As the case study was analyzed in greater depth, the importance of non-monetary compensation gradually came to the surface. Regarding this type of compensation, in considering the perspective of relocated farmers, this thesis demonstrates that relocated villagers are still subject to various uncertainties in their lack of social security, appropriate skills to participate in the urban labor market, education resources and everyday budgeting know-how. On the basis of this case study, I suggest that to deal with the problems in land acquisition, Chinese local governments should allow landless farmers to participate in the compensation scheme design and should provide a more comprehensive compensation package to help farmers' transition to urban life. In addition, I also propose that the government should encourage more community engagement when carrying out land acquisitions. / by Wangke Wu. / M.C.P.