Thesis. 1979. M.C.P.--Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dept. of Urban Studies and Planning. / MICROFICHE COPY AVAILABLE IN ARCHIVES AND ROTCH. / Bibliography: leaves 233-236. / by Ramon C. Bacani. / M.C.P.

This dissertation explores Israeli architectural and construction aid in the 1960s – “the African decade” – when the majority of sub-Saharan African states gained independence from colonial rule. In the Cold War competition over development, Israel distinguished its aid by alleging a postcolonial status, similar geography, and a shared history of racial oppression to alleviate fears of neocolonial infiltration. I critically examine how Israel presented itself as a model for rapid development more applicable to African states than the West, and how the architects negotiated their professional practice in relation to the Israeli Foreign Ministry agendas, the African commissioners' expectations, and the international disciplinary discourse on modern architecture. I argue that while architectural modernism was promoted in the West as the International Style, Israeli architects translated it to the African context by imbuing it with nation-building qualities such as national cohesion, labor mobilization, skill acquisition and population dispersal. Based on their labor-Zionism settler-colonial experience, as well as criticisms of the mass construction undertaken in Israel in its first decade, the architects diverged from technocratic "high modernism" to accommodate the needs of African weak governments. Focusing on prestigious governmental and educational buildings such as the Sierra Leone parliament, Ife University in Nigeria, and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Ethiopia, as well as urban and national planning schemes, this study brings to the fore the performative capacities of these projects in relation to the national and international audiences they addressed as vehicles of governance and markers of a desired modernity. In other words, this study examines the role these projects played in the mobilization of workers, funds, lands, infrastructure and policy making. Cutting across North-South and East-West dichotomies, the study of this modality of transnational exchange sheds new light on processes of modernization and globalization and exposes their diverse cultural and political underpinnings.

Thesis. 1975. Ph.D.--Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dept. of Urban Studies and Planning. / Bibliography: p. 52-53. / Ph.D.

Typescript (photocopy). / Digitized by Kansas Correctional Industries

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My thesis project is to create a conservation plan for the Reservoir Canyon Natural Reserve (RCNR) in San Luis Obispo, California. It is a professional project for the City of San Luis Obispo with the goal of eventual adoption by the City Council. The plan was motivated by City policy, which advises creating conservation plans for open spaces, and by a particular need to address management issues in RCNR that include plant and wildlife conservation, trail access, erosion, electrical utility easements, and other legal matters. The project consists of two main components: the conservation plan and a companion paper. The paper is an overview of the theory and best practices involved in conservation planning, and is meant to be complementary to the conservation plan. Therefore, discussions found in the paper are not present in the plan itself, but instead serve as background. The paper consists primarily of a literature review and my reflections on how the literature applies to the process of planning and managing RCNR. The Draft Reservoir Canyon Natural Reserve Conservation Plan, attached as an appendix, explains the conditions of the reserve, and describes the goals and management strategies the City will employ.

Greyfield Development in Vallejo, California: Opportunities, Constraints, and Alternatives is a Project that determined that the regulatory framework and presence of underutilized commercial land make Vallejo, California the ideal community to facilitate Greyfield Development. The Project reviewed existing literature, determining that there are a number of causes for the proliferation of Greyfields, revitalization practices, and communities that have facilitated redevelopment. The Background Report analyzed existing conditions and illustrated that Vallejo contains several policies and programs that call for the redevelopment of underutilized commercial land. The Greyfield Study identified Springstowne Center, CVS Center, and Meadows Plaza as shopping centers that exemplify signs of maturation and/or decline. The Greyfield Study determined that Meadows Plaza experienced the most decline out of the three shopping centers based on the amount of vacant square footage through fieldwork and document analysis. The Project presented three conceptual alternatives that could spur revitalization of Meadows Plaza: (1) Adaptive Reuse; (2) Residential Development; and (3) Mixed-Use and Residential Development. The Project concludes by recommending that Vallejo implement the Underutilized Commercial Land Conversion Program as outlined in the Housing Element of the Vallejo General Plan as a way to redevelop underperforming sites like Meadows Plaza and facilitate greater community revitalization.

ABSTRACT Downtown Revitalization Strategy Report for Glenrock, WY Mary E. Phillips The following project submitted for the Master of City and Regional Planning Professional Project is the Downtown Revitalization Strategy Report for Glenrock, WY completed November 25, 2009. At the onset of the project, the Town of Glenrock, WY was recognized as an Aspiring Main Street Community, and sought guidance to become a Certified Main Street Community. This Strategy Report was prepared to provide an implementation plan for revitalization of the downtown following the Main Street Approach, as well as for achievement of a Certified Main Street Community status by the year 2014. The project included an interactive process, directly involving key representatives and stakeholders in the community. This included a public workshop and on-site strategy sessions with Town staff and the Glenrock Downtown Development Committee. The Strategy Report includes a basic assessment of existing conditions in downtown Glenrock based on information gathered at these meetings. From this initial assessment, issues, goals and objectives for downtown were identified. An overall strategy was then developed, in accordance with the Main Street Approach, which outlines the plan of action for the downtown revitalization and Main Street certification. The implementation section of the plan then takes the identified actions and prioritizes them based on a 5-year implementation schedule. The development and prioritization of these actions was based on the following factors: Requirements for the Wyoming Main Street Community certification status Community goals for development in the downtown Feasibility of implementation of plan components Access to resources (of all types) for implementation Players in the implementation of the plan The result of this methodology was a plan that addressed the community’s needs, with an implementation program specifically tailored for the community’s available resources.

This dissertation comprises two essays in the field of public finance and urban development. The first essay, 'Interdependence among Municipality, Firms and Households', tackles a contentious issue in local taxation and urban development--whether business development increases the residential tax burden. The second essay, 'Does Tax Competition Exist at the Municipality Level?', examines existence of tax competition at the municipality level Community planners and development officials tend to believe that business development would lower residential property tax burdens by drawing taxes from nonresident business owners. However, these beliefs have recently been challenged by some urban planners and other analysts of the suburban growth process. The first essay provides the first effort to assess relations between residential property tax rate and urban development in a simultaneous framework. It examines not only the impact of business and residential development on the residential tax burden, but also the effect of local fiscal decisions on the intra-metropolitan location of firms and households. Using the data collected from suburb Chicago, business development, especially manufacturing projects, is found decreasing the residential property tax burden while taxes are found detrimental to business development. The diagnostic testing results confirm that taxes, firm and household location decisions are simultaneously determined. That is, empirical studies without modeling them simultaneously would generate biased results It has long been recognized that local governments engage in fiscal competition either for resource or for political support. However, while we observe many cases of fiscal competition, we also notice that some seemingly highly-profit development projects are rejected by locals due to environment concerns. So far, few empirical efforts have been made to address the issue of fiscal competition and none of these studies used the data collected at the municipality level. Using the significance of Moran's I spatial autocorrelation coefficient as an indication of tax competition, the second essay examines property tax rate increases over last 10 years in 109 Chicago suburban municipalities. We find that, although tax rate movements among neighboring communities do cluster, the sources of the observed clustering are not physical proximity. That is, tax competition does not exist / acase@tulane.edu