Thesis: M.C.P., Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Urban Studies and Planning, 2018. / Cataloged from PDF version of thesis. / Includes bibliographical references (pages 95-101). / Autonomous vehicles (AV) have captured the collective imagination of everyone from traditional auto manufacturers to computer software startups, from government administrators to urban planners. This thesis articulates a likely future for the deployment of AVs. Through stakeholder interviews and industry case studies, I show that there is general optimism about the progress of AV technology and its power to positively impact society. Stakeholders across sectors are expecting a future of autonomous electric fleets, but have divergent attitudes toward the regulation needed to facilitate its implementation. I demonstrate that, given the immense upfront capital investments and the nature of network effects intrinsic to data-intensive platforms, the autonomous mobility-as-a-service system is likely to tend toward a natural monopoly. This view is corroborated by key informants as well as recent industry trends. In order to better anticipate the characteristics of this emerging platform, I look back at the developmental trajectories of two classic public utilities - telecommunications and the electricity industry. I argue that the aspiring monopolists in autonomous mobility, like icons in these traditional industries, will succeed in supplanting a legacy technology with a new, transformative one, and use pricing and market consolidation tactics to gain regional dominance. The discussion on monopoly power is then adapted to the new business models of internet-enabled technology giants, and I examine two additional industry case studies in Google and Amazon. I argue that the autonomous mobility platform will first be designed to prioritize scale over everything else, including profits, and that firms are likely to pursue both horizontal and vertical integration strategies to achieve sustained market leadership. I conclude by recommending next steps for reining in platforms that may harm the public interest, and encourage planners to traverse disciplinary boundaries to better facilitate discussions between innovators and regulators. / by Joanne Wong. / M.C.P.

Thesis (M.C.P.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Urban Studies and Planning, 2005. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 86-88). / Foreign-Trade Zones (FTZs) are defined as designated areas in the United States where foreign merchandise is considered to be international commerce and not subject to U.S. customs duties unless or until it enters into the U.S. market. The original purpose of the FTZ program was to generate new business and employment in the United States by encouraging foreign trade, especially export and transshipment trade. Since the early 1980s, the program has grown in popularity in terms of the number of FTZs established and the value of goods traded through them. Meanwhile, the program has shifted its primary function from export promotion to import promotion. Today, offshoring manufacturers, such as oil refineries and auto-assembly plants, are the major beneficiaries of the program. They can reduce the payment of customs duties by converting high-duty imported materials into low-duty finished products under FTZ procedures. This import-oriented activity is enabled by the liberality of the FTZ Act and administrative support from the FTZ Board. FTZ #27, located around Boston Harbor, is not an exception. Since the late 1990s, this zone has amplified its function in import promotion by accommodating several distributors, including BOSFUEL and Reebok. Under FTZ procedures, these firms can benefit considerably from duty exemption and deferral. I estimated that the cost savings reach 940,000 dollars at BOSFUEL and 1.1 million dollars at Reebok. However, FTZ #27 has failed to generate employment both at the local and regional levels. The number of workers in the zone has declined by 61% since 1999 because employment loss at existing manufacturers has outpaced the increase at BOSFUEL and Reebok. / (cont.) Also, I estimated that the import promotion of jet fuel and footwear creates only limited employment in Greater Boston. This is mostly because FTZ #27 lacks locational incentives and supply-chain linkages that would initiate regional economic growth. This case study indicates that, through the functional shift, the FTZ program is losing its economic significance for regional economies. This suggests that the program requires substantial modifications in policy and administration to improve its efficacy. / by Hirotoshi Otsubo. / M.C.P.

Thesis (M.C.P.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Urban Studies and Planning, 2009. / This electronic version was submitted by the student author. The certified thesis is available in the Institute Archives and Special Collections. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 159-171). / In globalizing cities around the world, middle class women are departing from their traditional domestic roles in child rearing and home management. This activity change creates a large influx of young, single and lower income female workers from developing nations such as the Philippines, Indonesia, Cambodia and others into Hong Kong, Singapore and Kuala Lumpur to serve as domestic workers. Because most female domestic foreign workers reside in the employers' homes, they seek a space elsewhere to meet their needs for privacy, familiarity and companionship on non-working days. As a result, there is an emerging phenomenon where large numbers of female foreign domestic workers gather in public spaces around the city to socialize and to enjoy a brief moment of privacy away from their employers. In these spaces, domestic workers form ephemeral cities. They transform public spaces by assigning areas for food consumption and production, areas to conduct recreational activities such as dancing and singing, places to exchange currencies to send back to their homes abroad and other spaces to fulfill their needs in a foreign city. Unfortunately, this phenomenon is often seen by local citizens as a form of nuisance, inconvenience or even threat, thus causing tension and sometimes conflict between locals and foreign workers. In this thesis, I carried out observation studies on FDW gathering sites in Hong Kong, Singapore and Kuala Lumpur. / (cont.) Through this observation study, I found similar and different physical spatial characteristics across all three cities. Stakeholders also play varying roles in influencing the FDW gathering spaces in these cities. From this comparative study, I learned that the accommodation of FDWs in public spaces varies depending on various factors such as culture, demographics and city branding in each city. With the current exponential growth of transnational foreign domestic labor in the region and world, I hope that this study will inform sustainable humanitarian strategies in accommodating female foreign domestic workers around the world. / by Cha-ly Koh. / M.C.P.

Thesis (M.C.P.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Urban Studies and Planning, 2000. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 140-147). / In this thesis, we argue that national policies (of housing and decentralization) when applied indiscriminately, without regard to the political, institutional, and capacity constraints of local governments, can have negative consequences, and sometimes end up being a regressive. This is particularly true when policies, designed in response to problems of large metropolitan areas, are applied randomly across entire nations. Our study analyzes the housing sector of the city of San Fernando, in the La Union Province of the Philippines, to draw lessons about the constraints that decentralized local government units face in practice. Our findings support the arguments for the differential treatment of local governments, in the implementation decentralization and housing policies. The Philippines decentralized its governance structure in 1991, with the passage of the Local Government Code. With this law, the responsibility of implementing housing projects was devolved to the local government level. Soon thereafter, in 1992, the Urban Development and Housing Act (UDHA) was adopted with the intent of transforming the role of government in the housing sector from that of a "provider" to one of an "enabler." These reforms have been hailed as successful and revolutionary by many. Our findings challenge the alleged success of efforts to decentralize the housing sector of the Philippines. We found a conflict between some of the policies set forth in the Local Government Code and the UDHA. This conflict, combined with the limited technical and administrative capacity of local government units, such as that of San Fernando, are resulting in the implementation of housing projects reminiscent of the failed public housing schemes of the 1950s and 1960s. Through our analysis of the case, we identify the various political, social, administrative, and institutional limitations that constrain the local government of San Fernando in its approach to the housing sector. Our study suggests ways to deal with these constraints, and highlights the need for the differential treatment of local governments, in order to successfully implement decentralization, and other policy reforms in the developing world. / by Ashna S. Mathema and Nayana N. Mawilmada. / M.C.P.

Thesis (M.C.P.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Urban Studies and Planning, 1991. / Title as it appears in the June, 1991 M.I.T. Graduate List: An evaluation of the current and potential use of Pajak Khusus Dan Pungutan Tambahan (betterment levy) in Jakarta. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 86-89). / by Hendi K. Sukarman. / M.C.P.

Thesis (M.C.P.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Urban Studies and Planning, 1989. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 88-90). / by Antoinette P. Roise. / M.C.P.

Thesis: M.C.P., Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Urban Studies and Planning, 2015. / Cataloged from PDF version of thesis. / Includes bibliographical references (pages 97-99). / This thesis proposes that social capital, as the vehicle for community-building at a community-based scale, can address the strains placed on a neighborhood from revitalization. This strategy can play a vital role in the urban design process of the local neighborhood. My thesis presents a case study of the Dudley Greenhouse in Dudley Square, Boston, Massachusetts, which plays a role in revitalizing the local neighborhood by building social capital in the space. Residents are suffering from unsustainable development, poverty, unemployment, crimes, and investment isolation. After many years of grass-roots efforts, the Dudley neighborhood revitalization is gathering momentum. The Dudley Greenhouse is a result of very deliberate organization and community-building strategies. It builds social capital to support the people in this low-income neighborhood. The structure and relationships in the Dudley neighborhood are rebuilt to reconnect the isolated community with resources of the city and region. Other than simply offering financial benefits and/or services to the low-income people, the Dudley Greenhouse builds up the networks of local residents through a process that supports their common values and contributions in the improvement of the local community. The reputation of the Dudley Greenhouse is overwhelmingly positive. The users of the greenhouse are excited to describe the progress they have made toward the goals in different stories, and expressing the desire of the continuous participation. Participants are gaining increased food produces and access to them, building community through networking with others in the communal gathering space with multiple links to the outside areas. All the evidence point to the significance of the combination of physical construction as an incubator and storage, social capital creation as a community revitalization engine, and the mechanism of such non-economic, less costly forms of solutions which can be an important source and addition of power and influence in the urban design process. / by Longrui Peng. / M.C.P.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Urban Studies and Planning, 1991. / Vita. / Includes bibliographical references (v. 1, leaves 296-331). / by Richard Steven Konkel. / Ph.D.

Thesis (M.C.P.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Urban Studies and Planning, 1988. / Includes bibliographical references. / by Ricanne Annik Hadrian. / M.C.P.

Thesis (M.C.P.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Urban Studies and Planning, 1992. / Title as it appears in the June 1990 MIT Graduate List: A case for a "watershed approach" to water resources management. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 157-161). / by Judith L. Boshoven. / M.C.P.