Thesis (M.C.P.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Urban Studies and Planning, 2006. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 61-62). / This thesis investigation explores the relationship between city design and social exclusion, and more specifically, how modernist principles of urban design and development policy have contributed to social exclusion in Abuja - the capital city of Nigeria. This study is facilitated through reading the city and its unique and common characteristics. Based on my experiences in the city over a three month period, I use my understanding of urban development, and relevant documents to examine the nature of exclusion in the Abuja plan and process of development. Front the results of this analysis the presence of exclusion in Abuja is enhanced by the use of colonial policies and selective use of modernist planning/processes of development. Furthermore, the relationship between social exclusion and city design in Abuja is the continuation of a legacy of colonial urban development and divisive urban form in traditional Nigerian cities. / by Ifeoma N. Ebo. / M.C.P.

Thesis (M.C.P.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Urban Studies and Planning, 1992. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 92-106). / by Jeffrey B. Litwak. / M.C.P.

Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dept. of Urban Studies and Planning. Thesis. 1973. M.C.P. / Bibliography: leaves 122-125. / M.C.P.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Urban Studies and Planning, February 2004. / Includes bibliographical references (v. 2, leaves 312-317). / This electronic version was submitted by the student author. The certified thesis is available in the Institute Archives and Special Collections. / Set in the context of labor market restructuring, public policy reform, and blurring government/nonprofit boundaries, this study examines the functions, adaptation, and performance of Boston's three One-Stop Career Centers between 1996 and 2002-a time period encompassing distinct eras of changing policy and labor market conditions. Along with other types of labor market intermediaries (LMIs), One-Stop Career Centers have arisen as sites of organizational and institutional innovation in mediating the labor matching process. However, compared to other LMIs, much less is known about career centers' employment brokering operations. This study helps address this research gap by providing a detailed analysis of three career centers. This investigation answers three research questions related to the 1) functions; 2) adaptation; and 3) performance of career centers with differing organizational sponsorships. In doing so, the study develops a conceptual framework based on three strategic orientations-community, bureaucratic, and entrepreneurial-that helps to clarify and categorize organizational processes, change, and outcomes. / (cont.) The study finds that different strategic orientations are related to variation in organizational planning, practice, networks, and performance. Strategic orientation is also found to influence organizational adaptability during both a tight labor market and an economic recession, as well as during implementation of major federal policy changes related to welfare reform and workforce development reform. The study contributes to scholarship on employment brokering and labor market institutional change by offering an empirical analysis and theoretical framework that highlights the emergent role of One-Stop Career Centers as publicly-funded labor market intermediaries. The study is also immediately relevant to policymakers and practitioners involved in the more than 1,900 career centers across the country. For them, this study provides a better understanding of the programmatic trade-offs associated with career center operations and therefore may help them improve the labor matching process for both employers and job-seekers--especially those with barriers to employment. / by Joaquín Herranz, Jr. / Ph.D.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Urban Studies and Planning, 2004. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 216-227). / The Indian pharmaceutical and biopharmaceutical sectors have been characterised by three features considered analogous to technological stagnation: low R&D investments, "copying" on-patent drugs (legal in India if a novel process is found) and manufacturing off-patent, generic drugs. Yet, some firms are innovating in drug discovery and development and the total number of firms is among the most numerous and export-oriented in the developing world. This dissertation looks at patterns of technological capabilities using sector-wide indicators and firm-level cases in synthetic and biological pharmaceuticals. Common explanations for the sectoral capabilities are the country's process patent regime. However, a more detailed analysis shows this cannot be the sole cause. Although the patent regime was critical in helping firms develop skills early on, their process capabilities were honed by a variety of selection environments, of which the patent regime was one type. There were at least three distinct selection environments and at least three broad types of associated learning. The findings of external environmental influence and selection do not weaken the importance of national policy, far from it. However, studies that assign explanatory power for the sectors' advance entirely to national patent policies or rational firms miss the significance of the Indian story to date. The research also shows that there is scope for broadening debates on public health medicines to address technological learning opportunities in developing countries. / by Smita Srinivas. / Ph.D.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Urban Studies and Planning, 2008. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 217-230). / There is growing recognition that transportation or infrastructure improvements can have longer-term catalytic impacts economic productivity, which are in addition to the direct, indirect, or induced household spending impacts. These economic catalytic effects are fundamentally different from traditional measures of the impacts from spending in the air transport sector. In contrast to the generally positive regional economic benefits of aviation, however, aircraft noise has emerged as a major negative externality of the air transportation system and continues to be a controversial issue in communities around airports. In this analysis, I develop a methodology to highlight interrelationships between airport flight operations and noise impacts on surrounding communities, and between air transport industry and regional economic growth. I calculate the noise-damage costs under different airport growth scenarios at London Heathrow and the East Midlands airport, and then apply an econometric input-output model to estimate the regional catalytic economic impacts associated with the growth of the air transport industry under these same scenarios. I find that the local airport noise damages are very small compared to the regional economic impacts from aviation. Furthermore, I find that the wider catalytic economic impacts due to increased productivity and accessibility are greater than the economic impacts from aviation sector itself at the regional level. / by Ryan Aung Min Tam. / Ph.D.

Thesis (M.S.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Urban Studies and Planning, 1992. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 54-56). / by Paul E. Adornato. / M.S.

Thesis (M.C.P.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Urban Studies and Planning, 1997. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 115-119). / by Manuel A. Orejuela. / M.C.P.

Thesis: M.C.P., Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Urban Studies and Planning, 2016. / Cataloged from PDF version of thesis. / Includes bibliographical references (pages 146-154). / This thesis explores the possibility of reducing transportation emissions by reducing the growth of demand for travel in the United States light-duty vehicle fleet. Many government agencies seek to reduce the environmental and social ills associated with excess travel demand (e.g. congestion, reduced safety during travel, local pollution and noise, energy consumption, and climate change). These agencies have many tools at their disposal to reduce vehicle miles traveled (VMT) per capita - including encouraging compact mixed-use development, providing alternatives to single occupancy vehicle travel such as transit and biking and walking infrastructure, and restricting/regulating driving alone for instance by providing less parking. But the fastest way to reduce travel demand is through higher pricing that accounts for the externalities that drivers impose upon each other and society more broadly. The degree to which higher pricing can reduce travel demand is a function of two interrelated factors: 1) how high of a price increase is politically feasible to implement, and 2) the degree to which the driving public responds to the higher cost of driving. Both these factors vary over time. Given that carbon pricing and/or higher gas taxes are likely to take years to gain broader political acceptability, the future price elasticities of travel demand are just as relevant as today's elasticities. Therefore, this thesis focuses on the variability of price elasticity, the factors that explain this variation, and how these factors might change in the future. Using a diverse set of methods including literature review, semi-structured interviews, and odometer data, I find evidence that the magnitude of price elasticity is lower for vehicles of higher fuel economy, for vehicles further from the urban center, and for vehicles in lower income zipcodes. This is the first analysis I am aware of that evaluates the variation of the price elasticity of travel demand within a metro area, an approach that is important to the understanding the political feasibility of pricing and as a lens to the future effectiveness of pricing. It suggests that gas price increases will affect certain households in very different ways, with the most inelastic households simply paying more to maintain their lifestyle and the most elastic households pushed to make significant changes to their daily travel patterns and opportunities. These two types of impact may lead to different types of resistance to the policy. As for the future, the findings regarding fuel economy and distance to the urban center are particularly relevant, as we foresee society continues to become more metropolitan and the vehicle fleet is increasingly comprised of high fuel economy vehicles. Finally, the magnitude of price response suggested by both my interviews and my odometer data analysis suggests that price is still a significant determining factor in distance driven; therefore, policy that increases the cost of driving remains an important emissions reduction strategy. / by Philip W. Kreycik. / M.C.P.

Thesis (M.C.P.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Urban Studies and Planning, 1991. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 248-253). / by Christina C. Chiu. / M.C.P.