Many rural communities utilize heritage resources as a tourism strategy to attract urban residents who desire the amenities found in historic communities. Current research finds that increased investment and popularity may cause these places to evolve through three phases (town-scape, heritage-scape and leisure-scape); a process referred to as creative destruction (Mitchell 1998). The purpose of this study is to determine if changes to the built form accompany this evolutionary sequence. A comparative analysis of two small Ontario communities at different stages of development (St. Jacobs and Creemore) is undertaken. Three objectives guide the research. The first objective is to assess the changes that have occurred to built form in a heritage-scape (Creemore) and leisure-scape (St. Jacobs) setting. To meet the first objective, three research methods, townscape assessment, individual building evaluation, and business survey are used. This study found that today, significantly more buildings have heritage value in Creemore, a heritage-scape, than in St. Jacobs, a leisure-scape. More new development that is not sensitive to the heritage character of the area has taken place in St. Jacobs than in Creemore. Therefore, heritage buildings are compromised as villages move through the stages of creative destruction and experience the conditions associated with the landscapes of heritage-scape and leisure-scape. During the landscape of heritage-scape, community members are aware of the heritage character and the importance of the historical built environment. Here, most business owners take initiatives to maintain and even enhance the built environment. The second objective is to understand the factors responsible for the identified heritage structure in each village. The role of the private sector, public and civic sectors is assessed to meet this objective. The study found that community involvement is integral to retaining the heritage character of the area and had tremendous impact on the conservation of heritage resources and the enhancement of the small town Ontario character. As important are the County and Township policies which define how and where the community will grow. Both the County and Township policies guiding land use in Creemore are more detailed and focused on heritage protection than are those pertaining to St. Jacobs. Both of these factors were stronger in Creemore, a heritage-scape than St. Jacobs, a leisure-scape. The final objective is to provide recommendations for future development on the assumption that both towns will continue to face growth pressures. The research offers five recommendations: strengthen policy and enhance its implementation, devise design guidelines and ensure documentation of resources, educate community members on heritage resources and ways to protect them, strengthen community ties to foster greater appreciation for heritage resources and the streetscape, and devise a balanced tourism strategy to maintain the resources that ultimately draw tourists to the villages.

Many rural communities utilize heritage resources as a tourism strategy to attract urban residents who desire the amenities found in historic communities. Current research finds that increased investment and popularity may cause these places to evolve through three phases (town-scape, heritage-scape and leisure-scape); a process referred to as creative destruction (Mitchell 1998). The purpose of this study is to determine if changes to the built form accompany this evolutionary sequence. A comparative analysis of two small Ontario communities at different stages of development (St. Jacobs and Creemore) is undertaken. Three objectives guide the research. The first objective is to assess the changes that have occurred to built form in a heritage-scape (Creemore) and leisure-scape (St. Jacobs) setting. To meet the first objective, three research methods, townscape assessment, individual building evaluation, and business survey are used. This study found that today, significantly more buildings have heritage value in Creemore, a heritage-scape, than in St. Jacobs, a leisure-scape. More new development that is not sensitive to the heritage character of the area has taken place in St. Jacobs than in Creemore. Therefore, heritage buildings are compromised as villages move through the stages of creative destruction and experience the conditions associated with the landscapes of heritage-scape and leisure-scape. During the landscape of heritage-scape, community members are aware of the heritage character and the importance of the historical built environment. Here, most business owners take initiatives to maintain and even enhance the built environment. The second objective is to understand the factors responsible for the identified heritage structure in each village. The role of the private sector, public and civic sectors is assessed to meet this objective. The study found that community involvement is integral to retaining the heritage character of the area and had tremendous impact on the conservation of heritage resources and the enhancement of the small town Ontario character. As important are the County and Township policies which define how and where the community will grow. Both the County and Township policies guiding land use in Creemore are more detailed and focused on heritage protection than are those pertaining to St. Jacobs. Both of these factors were stronger in Creemore, a heritage-scape than St. Jacobs, a leisure-scape. The final objective is to provide recommendations for future development on the assumption that both towns will continue to face growth pressures. The research offers five recommendations: strengthen policy and enhance its implementation, devise design guidelines and ensure documentation of resources, educate community members on heritage resources and ways to protect them, strengthen community ties to foster greater appreciation for heritage resources and the streetscape, and devise a balanced tourism strategy to maintain the resources that ultimately draw tourists to the villages.

This study determines if participatory tourism planning has played a role in the creative destruction process on Salt Spring Island. This is important because it links together two bodies of literature that have formerly only been studied separately. Three objectives are identified. The first is to determine Salt Spring’s stage in the model of creative destruction. The second is to assess the role played by planning in the development of the Island. The third is to provide recommendations to ensure that the Island does not evolve any further along the creative destruction path. These objectives were met using a mixed methods approach. Data collection included two questionnaires (one for residents and one for tourists), semi-structured interviews with key informants, and content analysis of the local newspaper and planning documents. Results suggest that Salt Spring is in the stage of advanced commodification. This state has been achieved in the absence of any participatory tourism planning. The tourism planning that has taken place, has been motivated by a preservationist discourse. This partially explains why the Island has maintained its current position in the model of creative destruction. It is recommended that the tourism plan currently being developed include local participation and be used to create a policy to guide future development.

This study determines if participatory tourism planning has played a role in the creative destruction process on Salt Spring Island. This is important because it links together two bodies of literature that have formerly only been studied separately. Three objectives are identified. The first is to determine Salt Spring’s stage in the model of creative destruction. The second is to assess the role played by planning in the development of the Island. The third is to provide recommendations to ensure that the Island does not evolve any further along the creative destruction path. These objectives were met using a mixed methods approach. Data collection included two questionnaires (one for residents and one for tourists), semi-structured interviews with key informants, and content analysis of the local newspaper and planning documents. Results suggest that Salt Spring is in the stage of advanced commodification. This state has been achieved in the absence of any participatory tourism planning. The tourism planning that has taken place, has been motivated by a preservationist discourse. This partially explains why the Island has maintained its current position in the model of creative destruction. It is recommended that the tourism plan currently being developed include local participation and be used to create a policy to guide future development.

Thesis advisor: Joseph Quinn / The creation of ridesourcing firms Uber and Lyft greatly disrupted the taxicab marketplace in the United States over the past four years. By examining the taxicab marketplace, as well as the ridesourcing firm’s aspects of creative destruction, the marketplace’s drastic changes become apparent. Thus, 21st century technology disrupts the marketplace, and creates a real time market based on supply and demand factors. Furthermore, disruption impacts all actors within the previous taxicab marketplace as well as the newly created ridesourcing marketplace; therefore, ridesourcing’s widespread effects are examined in detail. / Thesis (BS) — Boston College, 2015. / Submitted to: Boston College. College of Arts and Sciences. / Discipline: Departmental Honors. / Discipline: Economics.

The Marshall Plan and post-2003 Iraq represent the two largest US-led, post-war reconstruction projects in history, yet the two cases embody the implementation of two nearly opposite political ideologies. Whereas proponents of the Marshall Plan emphasized the supremacy of the state in reconstruction, Bush administration officials felt that neoliberal market reforms, aided by the opportunistic nature of Schumpetarian creative destruction, were the only legitimate steps required in post-war Iraq. Such discrepancies were largely due to the changing role of the US in the international arena; by the end of the Cold War, Washington was able to take a unilateral approach abroad and more actively push for political and free market reforms. Yet the sectarian chaos that quickly engulfed Iraq and the economic rise of China have all but delegitimized neoliberalism and effectively reopened the issue of the role of the marketplace versus the state in the 21st century.

Ontario, Canada’s most populous province enacted its Heritage Act in 1975. The Ontario Heritage Act enables municipalities to conserve built heritage in a number of ways, including instituting heritage conservation districts. Heritage districts recognize and conserve built heritage that extend beyond the special architectural qualities of individual buildings. Port Dalhousie is a quaint community located on the south shore of Lake Ontario, and inextricably linked to the first three Welland Canals. Now a part of the City of St. Catharines, it was designated a heritage conservation district in 2003. However, after the designation an ambitious and controversial re-development plan was proposed for the community’s historic commercial core. The re-development aimed to revitalize the area, but in doing so also threatened to destroy the heritage. This case study used historical research, semi-structured interviews, and questionnaires to investigate the cycle of heritage commodification, the effectiveness of public participation and the exercise of power as the various stakeholders in the community of Port Dalhousie deliberated over the future of its built heritage. Findings from this study reveal that sound governance and effective planning policies promoted public participation. The results also confirm that active civic involvement from local residents plays an integral role in heritage conservation, and influences developments that threaten heritage. This study recommends that heritage planning should be more proactive in municipal land use planning, and heritage guidelines for conservation areas should be part of broader heritage management programs where power sharing, participation, and decision making reflect social equity. The findings and recommendations from this study are intended to assist communities, managers and planners in future efforts to conserve built heritage.

Ontario, Canada’s most populous province enacted its Heritage Act in 1975. The Ontario Heritage Act enables municipalities to conserve built heritage in a number of ways, including instituting heritage conservation districts. Heritage districts recognize and conserve built heritage that extend beyond the special architectural qualities of individual buildings. Port Dalhousie is a quaint community located on the south shore of Lake Ontario, and inextricably linked to the first three Welland Canals. Now a part of the City of St. Catharines, it was designated a heritage conservation district in 2003. However, after the designation an ambitious and controversial re-development plan was proposed for the community’s historic commercial core. The re-development aimed to revitalize the area, but in doing so also threatened to destroy the heritage. This case study used historical research, semi-structured interviews, and questionnaires to investigate the cycle of heritage commodification, the effectiveness of public participation and the exercise of power as the various stakeholders in the community of Port Dalhousie deliberated over the future of its built heritage. Findings from this study reveal that sound governance and effective planning policies promoted public participation. The results also confirm that active civic involvement from local residents plays an integral role in heritage conservation, and influences developments that threaten heritage. This study recommends that heritage planning should be more proactive in municipal land use planning, and heritage guidelines for conservation areas should be part of broader heritage management programs where power sharing, participation, and decision making reflect social equity. The findings and recommendations from this study are intended to assist communities, managers and planners in future efforts to conserve built heritage.

This research, while centered upon capital development, will concentrate its efforts on explaining the urgent contingencies behind its destructive aspects. If capitalism in order to advance must destroy the past, what are the sources and effects of this inexorable tension between creation and destruction? Moreover, what are the principles of this contradictory logic that determines destruction in order to make progress? This research will not investigate the totality of the destructive history behind capitalism. The time frame in analysis only covers the emergence of neo-liberalism at the beginning of the 1970s until today. This particular choice responds to the fact that neo-liberalism in itself is a strong example of the more destructive aspects of capitalist practice. I will not focus this research on a particular place, or a particular society. Instead, I will treat the topic from two theoretical perspectives, Joseph Schumpeter's notion of creative destruction and David Harvey's theory of geographical uneven development, along with his theorization of the spatial/temporal fix. Questions of space and development associated with capital will also integrate this research. What this research will show is that the inexorable confluence between creation and destruction in capitalist practices to counter the overwhelming perspective of capitalism, as a progressive force in social terms, is an eminently political task that requires, not only imagination, but also, the necessary connection between apparent unconnected issues in order to unravel the perplexities of contemporary political and social thought. / Master of Arts

The purpose of this study is to find how managers make sense of a future threat that does not have an urgent trigger. The method applied in this study is qualitative case study. Nine semi-structured interviews were conducted of managers at the case company. In the context of the case company facing a threat of creative destruction, we study the sensemaking process of the managers we interview. Special focus is dedicated to prospective, future-oriented sensemaking. We apply a Weickian approach in the operationalization of the research. We found that the managers shared a collective sense of the past, but that there was a loss in shared collective sense of the future. The lack of collective sensemaking of the future is caused by the ambiguous nature of the case company’s future. We further found that emotional dedication impeded prospective sensemaking for some of the managers resembling wishful thinking about the future.