Thesis (M.Arch.)--University of Detroit Mercy, 2009. / "24 April 2009". Includes bibliographical references (p. 125).

Thesis (M.S.)--University of Michigan, 1997.

Thesis (M.S.)--University of Michigan, 1997.

This project provides a method to improve the urban environment of Indianapolis by developing vacant lots currently used for parking lots. Redesigning vacant lots as public open spaces can enrich the downtown environment both culturally and economically.This project is comprised of four sections. The first section is the introduction of the project. The second section addresses the problems caused by vacant lots in cities and the influence of public open spaces on public life and the city environment. The third section consists of developing a plan for public open spaces by redesigning selected vacant lots in downtown Indianapolis, Indiana. The third section will present a model of development of public open spaces for the city and will legitimize the necessity for revitalization. The last section will conclude the project.The goal of the project is to present critical aspects regarding existing vacant lots in downtown areas and to develop new types of public open space that can benefit the citizens and environment of Indianapolis, Indiana. The design new types of public open space that can benefit the citizens and environment of Indianapolis, Indiana. The design strategy will integrate reevaluation of vacant lots, creation of new types of public open space, and improvement of the city environment. / Department of Landscape Architecture

Thesis (M.Arch.)--University of Detroit Mercy, 2008. / "28 April 2008". Includes bibliographical references (p. 107).

Thesis (M.Arch.)--University of Detroit Mercy, 2007. / "30 April 2007". Includes bibliographical references (p. 191-192).

This thesis consists of two essays on applied microeconomics issues. The first essay presents a hedonic price econometric model of vacant commercial land. The second essay presents cost frontier analysis on the industry and firm's performance of the U.S. Motor Carrier industry. Our hedonic price econometric model includes two new developments in estimating land values in a multicentric urban area First, two composite indexes of market accessibility and highway accessibility are developed to account for the impacts of different characteristics of different regional nodes on land value at a particular site. Second, we use nonlinear least squares to estimate the decay parameters of the accessibility indexes within the model. We found that market accessibility is the dominant land value determinant. The estimated market accessibility decay parameter is different in value from the ones that are commonly assumed in hedonic models. The effect of access to highway interchanges is insignificant. Corner lots are of higher value. Finally, under Seattle's zoning policy, zoning classification of neighborhood commercial and community commercial land does not have significant effect on land value. The second essay uses the stochastic cost frontiers to analyze the performance of the U.S. motor carrier industry in the pre- and post-MCA periods. The average industry inefficiencies were between 14 and 27 percent during studied period. Our results indicate that the deregulation has no impact on industry efficiency. After a short adjustment period, the average industry inefficiency in the post-MCA years falls back to its pre-MCA level of around 14 to 16 percent. We analyzed the firm-specific inefficiencies by tobit regression. Our result shows that union firms are 1.5 and 4 percent less efficient than non-union firms in the pre- and post-MCA years, respectively. Firms located in the southern region are relatively efficient and the ones in the northern regions are relatively inefficient. Our result supports Stigler's Survivor Principle that survivor firms are relatively efficient. / Graduation date: 1998

Thesis (M.Arch.)--University of Detroit Mercy, 2009. / "24 April 2009". Includes bibliographical references (p. 160-161.).

Thesis (M.Arch.)--University of Detroit Mercy, 2008. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 8).

Au début des années 2000, on assiste en France au développement de vacants jardinés : des espaces interstitiels, dont les anciennes utilisations du sol sont caduques, temporairement conquis et végétalisés par les habitants. L’institutionnalisation de ces initiatives par les municipalités donne naissance au jardin partagé, dont le vacant jardiné constitue un type spécifique installé sur un terrain vacant et temporaire. Cette thèse vise à appréhender le vacant jardiné comme un outil d’analyse privilégié du « faire » et du « vivre » la ville contemporaine grâce à une étude, combinant méthodologies qualitatives et quantitatives, fondée sur 48 sites du nord-est de l’Île-de-France. Nous montrons ainsi que l’encadrement de jardins associatifs par les municipalités est un fait inédit. Toutefois, bien que ces territoires soient coproduits et que les usagers participent pleinement à la gestion du vacant jardiné, ils ont un rôle limité dans la prise de décision. Si le développement des vacants jardinés institutionnalisés témoigne d’un engagement politique, il s’inscrit aussi dans des stratégies de rentabilisation accrue des espaces urbains qui présentent des bénéfices certains pour les municipalités en termes d’embellissement, de sécurisation et d’image politique. Enfin, les impacts sociaux et environnementaux sont à relativiser. D’une part, la création de liens sociaux est circonscrite à l’espace du jardin, en raison de son statut hybride relevant du « club ». D’autre part, les vacants jardinés sont davantage envisagés comme des outils d’amélioration du cadre de vie et de sensibilisation à l’environnement que comme des territoires écologiques et biodiversité effectifs. / Since the early 2000’s, gardened vacant lands – i.e. interstitial lots characterized by obsolete land-use, temporarily taken over and vegetalised by inhabitants – have emerged in France. The regulation by municipalities of such initiatives yields an institutional construct designated as jardin partagé. Gardened vacant land constitutes a specific type of jardin partagé because they are developed on a temporary and vacant lot. The thesis addresses gardened vacant land as territorial marker of social and political processes of “producing” and “living” the contemporary city. The thesis combines qualitative and quantitative methodologies based on 48 case-studies, located in the north-eastern Île-de-France. As argued, the institutionalization of associative gardened areas is an unprecedented fact. Yet, while theses spaces are co-produced and then users are fully involved in the management of vacant gardened, they have a limited role in the decision making process. If the diffusion of institutionalized gardened vacant lands certainly reflects a political commitment, it also emphasizes the increasing profits produced by such negotiated land-use, that are instrumental for municipalities, in order to promote increased safety, enhanced political outreach, and beautification. Finally, social and environmental impacts vary depending on several conditions. On the one hand, the emergence of social bonding is limited to the space of the garden, due to its hybrid status of “club”. On the other hand, gardened vacant lands are rather understood as a toolbox, in order to enhance the quality of life, the environmental education, as well as territories dedicated to ecology and biodiversity.