Thesis (M.C.P.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Urban Studies and Planning; and, (M.S.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Architecture, 1993. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 155-166). / Today, the notion of the melting pot can no longer explain the process of assimilation in American society. The current cultural scene is comprised of a mainstream group and a large number of subcultural enclaves. The coexistence of these groups leads to tensions between the mainstream culture and the various subcultures, in this case, the immigrant ones. Transformation of the ethnic enclaves occurs over generations of interchange with the mainstream environment and results in specialized communities that are a hybrid of the immigrant's culture and the prevailing American one. This thesis explores the dialectical relationship between culture and city form by analyzing the evolution of the Islamic community of Dearborn, Michigan, which has the densest concentration of Arab Muslims in America. It traces the original Southend community, which has an irregular, agglomerate city form, to the later developed Eastend community, which has a grid-like city form. This thesis then examines a vision to design a new Islamic community at a proposed site in Plymouth, Michigan. How and to what extent ethnicity is expressed in the physical form of all three communities is examined. Issues of self-image and representation are also explored. The proposed Plymouth project exemplifies three architectural and urban planning trends: the building of state mosques in the Islamic world, the development of American suburbs, and the creation of subcultural enclaves by design. If it is built, the new Islamic community in Plymouth will be a compromise between the maintenance of self-identity and integrity of the immigrant subgroup and total assimilation and integration with the mainstream. . The architectural message sent by these designed ethnic enclaves to the mainstream culture represents new attitudes of the enclave members about their own identity and role in American society. The melting pot model of assimilation is being replaced with a model of distinct but open subcultures. The result will be a culturally pluralistic urban form, where group interchange diffuses polarization and promotes understanding. / by Rula Habal. / M.S. / M.C.P.

Thesis (M.C.P.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Urban Studies and Planning, 1994. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 67-68). / by Penny Kusumastuti Lukito. / M.C.P.

Thesis (M.C.P.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Urban Studies and Planning, 1994. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 128-133). / by Maria Beatrice Medioli / M.C.P.

Thesis (M.C.P.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Urban Studies and Planning, 2000. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 116-120). / A popular movement against urban sprawl and its attendant problems has emerged in the U.S. over the last several years. The problems associated with sprawl are caused, at least in part, by local government fragmentation and uncoordinated land use decision making. Recognizing that local control has failed to manage growth in a coordinated and effective way, state governments have stepped in to intervene. Loosely organized under the banner of "Smart Growth," states are reasserting some of their power to encourage more orderly development and to resolve inter-local conflicts. Yet Americans also have a longstanding passion for local government and distrust of state intervention in land use decisions. Despite the failure of local governments to manage regional patterns of growth, citizens are reluctant to give back land use regulatory power to states. This project explores state growth management programs in the context of this central tension: the desire for local control and the need for greater-than-local solutions. Maine, New Hampshire, and Vermont have similar demographic profiles but substantially different statewide land use planning programs. This study describes the history and politics of state-level planning in each state. Further, this study examines the effect of state policies by looking more closely at state planning's influence on one city in each of the states: Portland, Maine; Portsmouth, New Hampshire; and Burlington, Vermont. The case studies reveal that statewide planning programs in all three states are actually quite weak, and have suffered from inconsistent political support, erratic funding, and sporadic citizen opposition. Local control is an important counterweight to state action, but does not preclude effective state intervention. Besides land use planning, state tax and infrastructure policy play the most important role in influencing development patterns. / by Benjamin Schonberger. / M.C.P.

Thesis: M.C.P., Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Urban Studies and Planning, 2017. / Cataloged from PDF version of thesis. / Includes bibliographical references (pages 61-66). / The striking contrast between two Chicago neighborhoods Hyde Park and Englewood which exist side by side is a prime example of what Edward Soja calls socially produced geographies of institutionalized racial segregation and what David Harvey terms as territorial injustice. Hyde Park with about 26,705 mostly white residents is a thriving economic center that has realized gains in property values and commercial investment. Nearby Woodlawn and Englewood have experienced declining populations, lower densities, lower property values, and increased vacancies that border Hyde Park, creating clear spatial lines of uneven development. Englewood and Woodlawn have one asset that Hyde Park does not: two public transit rail lines, the Green Line and the Red Line. In this thesis, I ask the question, can rapid transit be used to challenge uneven development and segregation in low income communities? I argue that public transit does not create growth, it merely redistributes it, and without the necessary development preconditions, the maximized benefits of public rapid transit in segregated communities will be hindered by persistent racial and residential segregation. I provide evidence to support that unless there is an intentional effort in conjunction with the proposed Red Line Extension to minimize residential and economic segregation, the expected benefits of transit-oriented development and economic revitalization in Chicago's African-American neighborhoods will be greatly limited. Such a plan might include developing transit stations into economic anchors through public and private partnerships, creating a coalition of community partnerships to develop land use plans that respond to the needs of the neighborhood, and working to secure investment for rapid transit infrastructure alongside investment for economic development. / by Alaa Mukahhal. / M.C.P.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Urban Studies and Planning, 1996. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 376-381). / by Sara Eve Wermiel. / Ph.D.

Thesis (M.C.P. and S.M.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Urban Studies and Planning, February 2003. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 150-158). / When the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) was passed in 1990, transit agencies saw a fundamental shift in the requirements of service for the disabled. Among other obligations, they were required to provide door-to-door service (paratransit) for those unable to use fixed route services. The disabled community viewed this as a basic entitlement. Public transit saw this as another responsibility. A decade later, transit agencies are struggling to provide the service to a growing number of users under greater financial pressures and the disabled community is still awaiting a basic level of mobility. This thesis reviews how mobility and accessibility came to be viewed as a right by summarizing US legislation since 1964 with regards to transportation and disabilities; examines the current state of paratransit and its funding levels; identifies and evaluates paratransit's costs throughout the US and their implications; and proposes a three pronged approach of institutional, financial and internal strategies that transit agencies can invoke to manage the delivery and finances of paratransit. There is no single strategy that can completely alleviate the financial pressures of paratransit services and provide improved services. First and foremost, with the reauthorization of TEA-21 approaching, transit agencies and disabled advocates should mobilize a coalition of paratransit stakeholders to approach the federal government and make a case for federal funding of paratransit services. By acknowledging that paratransit is a fundamental part of the surface transportation system and funding it as such, this would effectively spread its responsibilities over the entire transportation system, instead of only public transit. This could be funded, in part, by modifying the federal gasoline tax or other inputs to the Highway Trust Fund. Additionally, from a regional or state perspective, gas and parking taxes can be modified to help fund paratransit services. Thus, in order to provide the level of mobility that was promised to the millions of disabled citizens in the ADA, the federal government must step in and assist transit agencies in operating the service. Without this support, transit agencies will continue to provide low quality paratransit services under immense financial stress and the disabled community's mobility needs will constantly be placed on a second tier when compared to that of nondisabled citizens. / by Allison H. Davis. / M.C.P.and S.M.

Thesis (M.S.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Urban Studies and Planning, 1997. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 88-92). / by Michael T. Jammen. / M.S.

Thesis (M.C.P.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Urban Studies and Planning, 1997. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 71-73). / by Cliff Lee. / M.C.P.

Thesis (M.S.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Urban Studies and Planning, 1997. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 58-59). / by Robert L. Rosenfeld, Jr. / M.S.