Thesis (Ph. D.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Urban Studies and Planning, 1987. / Bibliography: leaves 258-261. / by Sarah Kuhn. / Ph.D.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Urban Studies and Planning, 1992. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 372-387). / by Jonathan David Raab. / Ph.D.

Thesis (S.M.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Urban Studies and Planning, 2003. / "September 2003." / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 29-30). / Developers and investors commonly target neighborhoods close to the urban core and with low median incomes as potential growth markets. Investments in these areas however are often perceived by private sector capital as being high risk and low return. An understanding of the predictors of investment volatility and return is critical to investors and homeowners who wish to maximize investment returns and portfolio growth. Moreover, for mortgage lenders who are obligated to invest in a wide spectrum of communities, volatilities in house prices may affect the distribution of their collateral values, the probability of default, and the profitability of lending in certain areas. This paper addresses the following questions: Does appreciation return and volatility in metropolitan house prices vary significantly among zip code areas? Can the variation in appreciation return and volatility among these areas be explained by additional data? This paper uses appreciation and volatility statistics calculated from a repeat sale index of house prices in metropolitan Boston compiled biannually by Case Schiller Weiss (CSW) as well as data gathered from the 2000 U.S. Census and the 1997 Economic Census. / by Jay Valenta. / S.M.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Urban Studies and Planning, 1986. / MICROFICHE COPY AVAILABLE IN ARCHIVES AND ROTCH. / Bibliography: leaves 468-475. / by Ebelechukwu Godwin Agba. / Ph.D.

Thesis (M.C.P.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Urban Studies and Planning, 1994. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 86-94). / by John D. Amaral. / M.C.P.

Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dept. of Urban Studies and Planning. Thesis. 1971. M.C.P. / Bibliography: leaves 122-126. / M.C.P.

Thesis (M.S.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Urban Studies and Planning, 1998. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 55-58). / by Brent L. Carrier. / M.S.

Thesis (M.C.P.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Urban Studies and Planning, 2000. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 92-95). / Communities often find difficulty in organizing against the siting of locally unwanted land uses. While residents find ease in expressing what they do not want, they often fail to express what they do want, causing their ultimate exclusion from land use decision. This thesis examines how communities can use urban design as a process and a product to move from reactive organizing to proactive organizing in order to build more complete and effective campaigns for land use and community visions. To detail how communities can use urban design for proactive organizing, this thesis outlines several case studies. The major case, the Mystic View planning and design effort, is outlined in detail. As comparison I used brief descriptions of five other cases where community organization used urban design for proactive organizing. Urban design as a process and a product has flaws as a community-organizing tool. This thesis points out these flaws and shortcomings and explores ways that community organization can better make use of urban design to impact land use decisions. / by Daniel DeLisi. / M.C.P.

Thesis (M.C.P.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Urban Studies and Planning, 2002. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves [71]-74). / This thesis is concerned with the relationship between urban land reform and large-scale slum improvement in Hyderabad, India. It forges a link between citywide slum improvement in the 1980s and efforts to guarantee the occupancy rights of squatters a decade earlier. More than twenty-five years have passed since the city undertook land reform. This distance offers an opportunity to re-examine the history of land reform and its impact on slum improvement and the city in general. Studies interested in learning from Hyderabad's experience often credit the "political will" of the Government of Andhra Pradesh or the Municipal Corporation of Hyderabad for the success of urban land reform in the city. In contrast, this thesis argues that Communist-led social movements, beginning as early as the 1940s, were a major influence in convincing the polity to acknowledge the land rights of the poor. In this way, political will is not equivalent to public benevolence or the charisma of a handful of decision makers; instead it emerges from challenging the political status quo. With the historical antecedents of land reform in mind, the thesis then investigates the current status of slums in the city. It concludes by enumerating conditions and caveats for cities contemplating the replication of Hyderabad's model for slum improvement and land reform. / by Shahid Punjani. / M.C.P.

Thesis (M.C.P.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Urban Studies and Planning, 1989. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 224-226). / by Laura Epstein Lebow. / M.C.P.