This study is an exploration of land acquisition for Special Economic Zones (SEZs) in India. Land acquisition has become one of the most well known problems confronting the SEZ policy and other policies that encourage private investment in infrastructure. Land acquisition for SEZs has caused widespread popular mobilizations and resistance, which have in turn led to cost overruns, delays, and project failures. This study examines India's land acquisition framework, particularly the evolution of the Land Acquisition Act 1894, in order to understand the factors contributing to acquisition problems when the state uses its power of eminent domain, as well as when private developers attempt to acquire land through consensual market transactions. It uses two SEZs spanning over 14,000 hectares of land near Mumbai--Navi Mumbai SEZ and Mumbai SEZ--as cases through which to examine the land acquisition process. / Geography

published_or_final_version / Public Administration / Master / Master of Public Administration

Master of Arts / Department of Geography / Max Lu / Given the ongoing incidence of housing displacement related to the commercial redevelopment of neighborhoods, and its implications for the health and quality of life of affected households and communities, there is a need for insight into what factors influence the quality of a move and movers' chances of successful post-move adjustment. In this study, qualitative analysis of in-depth interviews with 26 men and women representing 18 households from three redeveloped eastern Kansas neighborhoods was employed to examine residents' experiences of displacement. Five factors were examined: attachment to home and neighborhood, community social ties, relative sense of control and mastery over the circumstances of relocation, opinions of the amount of monetary compensation or relocation assistance received, and support for a redevelopment project. The results show that attachment to home influenced feelings about having to move, although it did not preclude contentment with a post-move dwelling. Attachment to neighborhood had both social and environmental components. Neighborhood social ties were difficult to replicate for many residents in their post-move neighborhoods. Perceptions of control over the circumstances of a move were negatively affected by problems with communication and information-sharing between residents and relocation authorities, causing stress and difficulties finding replacement housing. Satisfaction with compensation was tied to perceptions of upward housing mobility, while dissatisfaction was influenced by perceptions of having been a victim of official graft. Expressed support for redevelopment projects was in the main grudging, and support for a project did not appear to greatly influence a positive disposition toward moving. Experiences connected with displacement are not monolithic, and neither are its outcomes. Householders forced to move may concede that relocation has had at once negative repercussions and benefits. Having achieved upward housing mobility or experienced improved quality of life subsequent to moving did not eradicate residents' wish to have been 'treated better,' monetarily or otherwise, by relocation officials. This oft-expressed desire calls attention to the need for greater awareness of, and sensitivity to, the nature of residential place attachment and the special problems of those forced to move.

The St. Paul Redevelopment Project was unique and touted as the first-of-its-kind to feature cooperation from all three levels of government. Several government agencies helped St. Paul accomplish an “impossible dream,” spending an estimated thirty million dollars to rechannel the Clinch River in the 1970s and 1980s. The small town of 1,000 residentsrelocated 100 families from South St. Paul to carry out the project, much to the dismay of many of the residents. A primary factor in enforcing the power of eminent domain in the St. Paul Redevelopment Project was the idea of “progress,” a commonality of many redevelopment projects. The St. Paul Redevelopment Project serves as a small case study of government intervention in the Appalachian region and of resistance. St. Paul as a community and “place” has been shaped by elected officials and government agencies, but ‘place’ also belongs to individuals. The example of redevelopment in St. Paul, Virginia, and the use of eminent domain exposes a complex system of power relations at work in Appalachia, that at least in the case under study, suggests how the response of one family, the Couches, reflected both participation in the dominant system of commodification and a rejection of it.

In this article, the author analyses the tort not only from a private view, but also from a public function as part of the legalpolitical- economic structure of a State. Likewise, he analyses the significance of the liability rule and how this social-democratic way of organizing law and entitlements fixes the size of the liability;however, it is an inaccurate description of what occurs in the world, as in the case of eminent domain. Therefore, he claims a more significant economic role for the liability rule. / En el presente artículo, el autor analiza la responsabilidad extracontractual no solo desde una visión privada, sino también desde una función pública como parte de la estructura legal-política-económica de un Estado. Asimismo, analiza el significado de la regla de responsabilidad y de cómo esta manera social-demócrata de organizar el derecho y las titularidades fijan el tamaño de la responsabilidad; sin embargo, esta es una descripción inexacta de lo que ocurre en el mundo como en el caso de las expropiaciones. Por ello, afirma un papel económico más significativode la regla de responsabilidad.

Recent research identifies a number of factors associated with public support for or opposition to environmentally-contentious energy infrastructure projects. Much of that research documents the attitudes of populations surrounding projects where energy is produced, such as powerhouses, mines, or drilling operations. I use survey and interview data to argue that those factors do not adequately reflect the concerns of landowners distributed along the 303-mile path of a rural Appalachian natural gas project, which I identify as a site of energy transmission rather than production. I use social representation theory to elicit factors unrecognized in prior research. It provides a framework for the process by which resident rural landowners become aware of, interpret, evaluate, and then respond to the Mountain Valley Pipeline. Landowners express their sense of injustice when the pipeline developer, public policymakers, and permitting authorities are unaware of or indifferent to factors that are especially relevant to them as the pipeline is imposed on their rural environment. The study is based on a sequential mixed-methods approach. I conducted a secondary analysis of the Quality of Life in Rural Virginia and West Virginia Survey dataset (Bell et al. 2019), which consists of mail surveys completed by 783 residents living in 10 counties along the route of the Mountain Valley Pipeline. In 2021 and 2022 I conducted follow-up semi-structured interviews with 25 landowners in the blast zone, which is 1,115 feet on either side of this pipeline, who had completed the survey. The first aim was to test three factors that prior research suggested are associated with attitudes toward such projects. The first factor, economic self-interest, was statistically nonsignificant for these landowners. The interview data suggest that unlike sites of energy production, where jobs stimulate support, landowners saw few jobs available for local people. Any financial value from the sale of easements did not affect their support. The second factor, political ideology, was important in other studies, because conservative ideology is associated with pro-business attitudes. In contrast, even though 60% of the landowners in this study identified themselves as conservative, there was only a weak association between political ideology and support for the pipeline, due in part to the perception of inappropriate application of eminent domain law by the pipeline developer and the courts. Distance from the pipeline, the third factor, was moderately associated with attitude toward the project, with less support for pipeline construction among landowners in the blast zone. The second aim was to use social representation theory to reveal factors in addition to distance that influenced landowners' attitudes toward the project. Interviews revealed that landowners in the blast zone were as concerned with threats to cherished water supplies, for both domestic and agricultural uses, as they were with the danger of a pipeline explosion. The interviews also revealed participants' concern for the disruption of their attachment to and dependence on their properties. These factors were underrepresented in the planning and permitting for this project. The intuitive, common-sense structure for eliciting landowners' attitudes provided by social representation theory was effective at this microscale of inquiry, and may be useful for comparative studies that further distinguish between sites of energy production and sites of energy transmission. / Doctor of Philosophy / Recent research identifies a number of factors associated with public support for or opposition to environmentally-contentious energy infrastructure projects. Much of that research documents the attitudes of populations surrounding projects where energy is produced, such as powerhouses, mines, or drilling operations. I use survey and interview data to argue that those factors do not adequately reflect the concerns of landowners distributed along the 303-mile path of a rural Appalachian natural gas project, which I identify as a site of energy transmission rather than production. I use social representation theory to elicit factors unrecognized in prior research. It provides a framework for the process by which resident rural landowners become aware of, interpret, evaluate, and then respond to the Mountain Valley Pipeline. Landowners express their sense of injustice when the pipeline developer, public policymakers, and permitting authorities are unaware of or indifferent to factors that are especially relevant to them as the pipeline is imposed on their rural environment. The study is based on a sequential mixed-methods approach. I conducted a secondary analysis of the Quality of Life in Rural Virginia and West Virginia Survey dataset (Bell et al. 2019), which consists of mail surveys completed by 783 residents living in 10 counties along the route of the Mountain Valley Pipeline. In 2021 and 2022 I conducted follow-up semi-structured interviews with 25 landowners in the blast zone, which is 1,115 feet on either side of this pipeline, who had completed the survey. Survey data suggest that factors, including economic self-gain, political ideology, and proximity to the pipeline, differ from predictions reported in prior research. Interview data suggest that in this case study those differences are associated with landowner attitudes toward danger and disruption to their sense of place. These differences may be specifically applicable to rural populations exposed to sites of energy transmission rather than sites of energy production. A recognition of these differences has important implications for project developers, public policy planners, and permitting agencies.

The events of September 11, 2001, seemed to many to presage the end of the skyscraper as an urban form. Some 15 years later, the skyscraper is more prevalent than ever before, owing to its unique advantages over other building forms in an urban, environmental, and sociological context. Skyscrapers are rising ever higher, pushing the limits of architecture and engineering. In 2001 there were 23 buildings over 1,000 feet in height. As of this writing there are 173 buildings over 1,000 feet completed or under construction, with 300 more in various phases of proposal. Despite their enormous initial cost in both capital and energy, the skyscraper maximizes the use of constricted urban space and provides enormous opportunities for technological and sociological innovation which, despite more that 100 years of skyscraper construction, are only just beginning to be realized. This thesis will explore a number of as-yet unrealized possibilities for skyscraper development to prognosticate and articulate future typologies designed to address increasing problems of energy efficiency, population density and disaster preparedness. As the human population grows, and more people move to the cities, larger and larger buildings will be necessary to house them at densities sufficient to ensure energy efficiency and minimize sprawl. The skyscraper is uniquely suited to meet these demands. / Master of Architecture

LL. M.(With specialisation in Private Law))

This thesis is called "Bereavement of eminent personalities: Comparison of Media Representation of Václav Havel and Kim Jong-il in the Czech Media." Its focus is on the media coverage of Václav Havel's and Kim Jong-il's death in the Czech Republic National dailies. The theoretical part deals with how mass media use and process media events, especially the one's related to the death of publicly known persons. The thesis also addresses ritual function of media events and their role in society integration. Another chapter of the thesis explains how media inform the public about deaths of well-known people and what their function is in this context. As Václav Havel was and still is called a national hero, a phenomenon of a hero and its development from history up to date is also presented in the paper. The practical part consists of quantitative content analysis which provides concrete topics that were covered by Czech dailies in regards with Václav Havel's and Kim Jong-il's death. The analysis also answers the following questions: Were there any differences in quantity of articles on each leader and the type of topics in any particular media? Did the Czech media tend to compare the personalities of Václav Havel and Kim Jong-il during their coverage? The additional qualitative analysis also examines whether...

Law is a means to an end. The state has always claimed it uses law as a tool to promote social order and progress (the Brazilian National Flag is an example). The use of law to force social change to facilitate capital accumulation for elites in society flies in the face of what the takings clause is supposed to stand for. This research examines the connection between economic development and public good. It focuses on takings because takings lie at the intersection between economics, politics, and social relations. Takings are justified by necessity and public good, but the claim isn’t genuine. Takings condone displacement and cause harm. State-authorized condemnation juxtaposes civic duty with social obligation, ownership with license and privilege. The thesis developed here is the state is pushing the law of takings toward the satisfaction of private interests. To that end the public use concept was expanded. Kelo v. City of New London (2005) holds economic development is a public use and in making that fallacious claim the case has ruptured takings law. Public use shouldn’t be about private gain. Property should be creative and is when it facilitates productivity, but it’s destructive if it erodes personal autonomy. The state claims it promotes social good when it reorders uses, but the claim is false. Instead the state achieves an air of legitimacy, offering a sound rationale for acts of displacement and uses law to support the claim it promotes public good. If an individual doesn’t want to part with her property she shouldn’t be forced to do so. Taking is use of state power to accomplish ends that can’t otherwise be achieved. Taking is a lawful means to displace to benefit private interests. The proof of this is in the pudding of the transformation of law between Berman v. Parker (1954) and Kelo v. City of New London (2005). Berman (1954) required blight. Kelo v. City of New London (2005) eliminated that requirement. This thesis explains how law and state are captured by private interests. / Includes bibliography. / Dissertation (Ph.D.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2015. / FAU Electronic Theses and Dissertations Collection