published_or_final_version / Social Work and Social Administration / Doctoral / Doctor of Philosophy

published_or_final_version / abstract / toc / Real Estate and Construction / Master / Master of Philosophy

published_or_final_version / Housing Management / Master / Master of Housing Management

Violence is a leading cause of death and disability worldwide. Drawing on the disciplines of Political Science and Public Health the purpose of this study is to understand the conditions that determine political traction for the issue of violence and facilitate the adoption of a strategy of prevention. Using multiple-case study methodology, it draws on data collected from 42 in-depth semi-structured interviews, eight weeks of direct observations and more than 200 pieces of documentary evidence to examine violence prevention policy development in the Western Cape Province of South Africa, Jamaica and the Republic of Lithuania. The Shiffman Public Health Policy Priority Framework is applied to identify the factors that influenced the advancement of violence prevention policy in each case and to draw cross-case comparisons. The employment of this public health specific framework in the field of violence prevention allows the study to reach conclusions as to the utility of this framework for broader public health policy analysis and to proffer some refinements. Further findings suggest that bringing together academics, advocates and policy- makers into networks, focused on a shared concept of violence, gains political traction for the issue of violence and a strategy of prevention. It is found that the conceptualisation of violence and perception of prevention are framed in a case specific historical context and that an examination of this context is necessary to understand the conditions that shape the status of violence prevention policy. The results suggest that the development of violence prevention policy in other countries would be expedited by the coalescing and informed engagement of the violence prevention policy community in the web of institutions, interests and ideas that underpin the public health policy process.

The federal Low Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC) program, authorized in 1986, has gained recognition over the last decade as America's largest place-based subsidized housing production program. The Qualified Census Tract (QCT) provision of the LIHTC program awards developers for projects built in high-poverty neighborhoods. This research examines whether the QCT provision is deconcentrating poverty or instead perpetuating it by comparing QCTs with LIHTC projects against QCTs with no LIHTC projects. In this study, a socioeconomic index is created to examine changes in socioeconomic variables (poverty, income, unemployment, and education) using 1990 Decennial Census data and 2005-2009 American Community Survey data for the twenty most populated MSAs in the United States to determine how LIHTC projects have changed the landscape of poverty in urban QCTs. Control and target groups were established to analyze the impact of LIHTC projects in QCTs. The control group consists of QCTs with no LIHTC projects and the target group contains QCTs with LIHTC projects. In order to determine how the socioeconomic variables have changed over the last fifteen years, the percent change from 1990 to 2005-2009 was calculated for each tract. Independent Sample T-tests were conducted at the national level, MSA level, and county level (when the sample size was large enough) using SPSS to determine if the difference in the target group's derived socioeconomic index and variables were significantly different from the control group. The findings indicate the target groups overwhelmingly outperformed the control groups for the socioeconomic index and every variable except unemployment. The results of this study may be valuable for policymakers to develop thresholds and guidelines for future LIHTC development in areas concentrated by poverty. / by Rebecca J. Walter. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2012. / Includes bibliography. / Electronic reproduction. Boca Raton, Fla., 2012. Mode of access: World Wide Web.

published_or_final_version / Politics and Public Administration / Doctoral / Doctor of Philosophy

As China has moved towards sustainable development, policies for wind energy have undergone rapid changes over the past two decades in this country. However, although wind energy is capable of making a significant contribution to more sustainable energy systems, it has yet to reach its full potential. There remain significant gaps in knowledge about how and why public policies may effectively facilitate the achievement of sustainability in general and with regard to specific sector-based initiatives. The objective of this study is to bridge this knowledge gap by studying governance for sustainable development with particular reference to wind energy policies in China. This study focuses on the role of Chinese provinces in facilitating the sustainability transition. It proposes a conceptual framework that adopts a policy capacity approach to understanding the sustainability transition process. Policy capacity is defined in this study as the ability to identify, assimilate and utilize resources both inside and outside the formal state apparatus to facilitate the policy-making process. The conceptual framework, which comprises three building blocks – context, process and outcomes – suggests that the interactions between provinces and other stakeholders are the factors that facilitate or constrain policy capacity. A comparative study of the evolution of wind energy policies in three provinces, Xinjiang, Shanghai and Guangdong is presented. The aim of the analysis is to provide a better understanding of the mechanisms that explain whether – and how – provinces represent a key actor in the policy capacity building process. The key findings are first, that while the Chinese provinces may differ in their governing modes, a common feature was that they were in a unique position to strengthen policy capacity through their interactions with the wider society both within and outside the state. Second, the conceptualization of the conducive and inhibitive mechanisms of policy capacity building suggests that there were important conducive conditions for policy capacity building found in the provinces in the form of resources (such as local leadership and trust), structures (such as social ties and bridging structures) and dynamics (such as market dynamics and double-loop learning). However, the provinces’ potential to enhance policy capacity was not fully utilized because of the presence of a set of inhibitive conditions that constrained the efforts. Third, through the conceptualization of the embeddedness of the policy capacity building process, this study reveals that contextual factors, at both the local and national levels, were the key to explaining why provinces differed in their response to the sustainability transition. This study concludes by suggesting that the sustainability transition needs to envision a new governance approach that places more attention on the role of Chinese provinces, to release and activate the enormous capacity in provinces that could in turn strengthen the central government’s own policy capacity for the sustainability transition. / published_or_final_version / Kadoorie Institute / Doctoral / Doctor of Philosophy

published_or_final_version / Politics and Public Administration / Master / Master of Public Administration

published_or_final_version / Public Administration / Master / Master of Public Administration

published_or_final_version / abstract / toc / Transport Policy and Planning / Master / Master of Arts in Transport Policy and Planning