Thesis (M.C.P. and S.B.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Urban Studies and Planning, 2007. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 114-117). / Automobile systems and public transportation are often organized separately within government structure inhibiting a comparative analysis between the two modes. Further complicating the comparison is that in public transportation systems, not only is infrastructure but vehicles and operators are usually provided by government or contracted private sector partners, while in the automobile system, infrastructure is normally government owned but costs of vehicle ownership and operation and parking are private. However, these private actions have enormous costs. In total in FY 2004-05 in London, private automobile spending was over 14 times greater than public automobile spending, as public spending on the automobile was about £1.4 billion while private spending on the automobile was about £20.9 billion. For public transportation, public spending was about £2.0 billion while private spending was about £2.3 billion. On a normalized basis, when not including time costs, the automobile was 3.7 times more expensive than public transportation on a per trip basis, and 2.0 times more expensive on a per passenger-kilometer basis. When including time costs and segmenting trips by travel zone, we found that public transportation enjoys an advantage for all travel zone combinations, with the advantage being the greatest for trips between outer London and inner London and for trips within inner London. At the household level, we estimated that households well-served by public transportation spend 15 to 18 percent less out-of-pocket on transportation than the average London household, although these savings are outweighed by additional time costs. From our findings in this research, we see significant opportunity for the London region to achieve a more cost-efficient transportation system. First, measures should be pursued to increase the share of variable automobile costs as a percentage of total costs. Policy such as pay-as-you-drive insurance and road pricing or policy inducing greater awareness of parking costs would help shift the burden. Second, public authorities should consider the private expenditures on automobiles and parking, as they are relatively large compared to the public spending on automobiles, when allocating resources between transportation modes. / by Tejus Jitendra Kothari. / M.C.P.and S.B.

Thesis (S.M.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Urban Studies and Planning, 2001. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 81-85). / The ecological effect of urban form has been an important issue in 20" century planning history. The inadequate relationships between development patterns of modern cities and their natural surroundings had been discussed in Geddes's Cities in Evolution, McHarg's Design with Nature, Lynch's Good City Form, Forman's "ecologically optimum spatial form" in Land Mosaics, and Mitchell's "fine-grain urban pattern" in City of Bits and Etopia (Geddes, 1915; Lynch, 1961, 1981; McHarg, 1969; Forman, 1995; Mitchell, 1995, 1999). However, these normative theories have almost never been tested by empirical studies and quantitative analysis. The thesis is about ecological effects of a twenty-year period urbanization in the fringe area of eastern Taipei metropolis. Using the technology of GIS and the principles of landscape ecology, some quantitative and spatial analyses are applied here to verify the complicated non-linear relationship between city form, forest patch shape and hydrological effects in the case study of eastern Taipei. Some landscape ecological indices like forest patch numbers, corridor connectivity, compactness of city form, landscape fragmentation and landscape heterogeneity are measured across different spatial scales and over twenty years period. Some correlations between the landscape indices and the hydrological change are verified. The following are the main findings of the study: 1. The empirical study provides an operational approach to large-scale metropolitan spatial analysis. The integration of GIS technologies and landscape ecological analysis shows the potential for the future development of a GIS based ecological design and planning tool. 2. A holistic framework is proposed for the purpose of integrating consideration of urban development, landscape change and hydrological processes. The evidence shows that there exist some correlations among the three processes. 3. Some landscape ecological indices are highly correlated with hydrological effects, including the number of 10 hectare or larger forest patches, the compactness index K and the fractal dimension D of city form, and the evenness index E of the landscape heterogeneity. 4. The data show a 10 year "time lag" phenomenon between urban development and hydrological effect in eastern Taipei. The differences of the runoff effect between 1980s and 1990s support the hypothesis that there exists a threshold point or limitation of the natural system. When the magnitude of urban development goes beyond that limitation, the original hydrological system became "irreversible" or "less reversible". 5. The evidence of the threshold point indicates that the strategic timing point and spatial points could become the basis for design and planning intervention. Using scenarios planning procedure, a sustainable urban environment could be achieved gradually by applying landscape ecological principles. / by Perry Pei-ju Yang. / S.M.

Thesis (M.C.P.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Urban Studies and Planning, 1983. / MICROFICHE COPY AVAILABLE IN ARCHIVES AND ROTCH. / Includes bibliographical references. / by Yong Kong. / M.C.P.

Thesis (S.M. in Real Estate Development)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Urban Studies and Planning, 2007. / This electronic version was submitted by the student author. The certified thesis is available in the Institute Archives and Special Collections. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 105-106). / Commercial real estate is an important asset class but it does not yet have a well-developed derivatives market in the United States. A derivative is a contract that derives its value from an underlying index or asset. Examples of the most well-known derivatives that have been widely used and traded for years are stock options, commodity futures and interest rate swaps. The advent of direct real estate equity derivative products has created the opportunity for similar applications in both the US and international commercial real estate markets. The United States is currently experiencing a convergence between real estate and finance and it appears that the real estate derivatives market might be ready to take off. The use of derivatives could improve the functioning of the real estate industry by allowing investors to gain or reduce exposure to the commercial real estate asset class without directly buying or selling properties. The increased liquidity and reduced up front capital requirements provide added flexibility in executing real estate investment strategies (i.e. speculating) and managing risk (i.e. hedging). This has resulted in significant interest in the development of commercial property derivatives by key players in all sectors. A number of barriers (e.g., indices, pricing, education, fund mandates, tax and accounting treatment) still exist that hinder the successful implementation and growth of real estate derivatives in the US commercial real estate market. It is crucial for the market to overcome these barriers in order to revolutionize the institutional world and allow investors to gain exposure to the real estate asset class and to hedge private real estate risk. This thesis analyzes these barriers to the development of a synthetic market that is on the brink of expanding. / (cont.) The US real estate sector is an eight trillion dollar market composed of real estate assets which has been managed until recently without pointed focus on the property specific risk. The size of this market presents a vast opportunity for risk hedging, asset allocation and portfolio rebalancing in a more efficient manner through the use of derivatives. / by Jani Venter. / S.M.in Real Estate Development

Thesis (S.M.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Urban Studies and Planning, 2010. / Cataloged from PDF version of thesis. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 86-90). / Disaster impacts human mobility and a rights-based approach to disaster response is needed to protect the human rights of those who seek migration as an adaptation strategy. This paper deals with returning to a place after a catastrophic environmental disaster when the dynamics of that place call into question the tenability of place. The overarching question of the research is "How is disaster socially constructed at the largest societal scales and how do differences in these interpretations interact in a crisis?" Specifically, I break down this broad framework into two main questions: How does the United States federal government situate itself it terms of taking responsibility for displaced persons to return to their home? How are international laws and customary norms socially constructed around rights and return? This paper takes as a case study the legacy of Hurricane Katrina. This paper argues that the right to return is an obligation to return displaced persons to a state of dignity, not necessarily a specific geographic location. / by Melissa Haeffner. / S.M.

Thesis (M.C.P.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Urban Studies and Planning, 1983. / MICROFICHE COPY AVAILABLE IN ARCHIVES AND ROTCH. / Includes bibliographical references. / by James Robert Milkey. / M.C.P.

Thesis (M.C.P.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Urban Studies and Planning, 2003. / Includes bibliographical references (p. [128]-135). / In this thesis I present a map, intended for the short-term, to begin the process of change in development and environmental policy in New York City with the promotion of green building practices. I focus on the low-income minority communities of the South Bronx to ensure all of NYC-even historically marginalized neighborhoods-is part of the journey towards sustainable development. This green building study of New York suggests the potential of new policies and organizations to further the green building movement. By including and supporting historically disinvested communities like the South Bronx in green building policies and projects, we will have moved beyond the mistakes of past environmental, social and economic policies to ones that integrate the three to create holistic tools to guide our journey. / by Ariella Rosenberg. / M.C.P.

Thesis (M.C.P.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Urban Studies and Planning, 1996. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 62-66). / by Fernando J. Hesse. / M.C.P.

Thesis (M.C.P.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Urban Studies, 1987. / Bibliography: leaves 109-114. / by Calvin James Champlin. / M.C.P.

Thesis (M.C.P.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Urban Studies and Planning, 2012. / Cataloged from PDF version of thesis. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 73-80). / Home energy upgrades can reduce residential energy consumption and improve indoor conditions, thereby realizing environmental, economic, health and other social benefits. Utilities, government and other actors have established numerous home upgrade programs, providing incentives, financing, marketing, and other support for the upgrade market. Unfortunately, upgrades have proven a "tough sell", with only a small fraction of eligible households engaging in these programs. To increase participation, many programs are experimenting with using formal and informal social networks as channels through which to promote upgrades, a process this thesis terms 'community based outreach' (CBO). Some analysts theorize that CBO can increase trust in programs, create social norms around undertaking upgrades, and improve the quality of information recruits receive; CBO may thereby persuade more households to participate in upgrades than could otherwise be achieved. However, questions remain regarding whether CBO can be delivered cost-effectively, and the extent to which it can increase total demand for upgrades. This thesis explores the use of CBO by six upgrade programs operating in five regions in the USA. Through interviews, it seeks program managers' and outreach personnel's qualitative impressions of the efficacy of different CBO methods, and the factors that contribute to this efficacy. It seeks answers to two questions: What specific CBO strategies have proven effective at increasing participation in programs? And what institutional arrangements dictating who organizes and delivers CBO can be sustained and scaled up, especially as Federal government subsidy wanes in the coming years? This research suggests that meeting-based formats provide a promising means of augmenting traditional marketing, capable of providing households a rich introduction to the concept of upgrade services and of leveraging social norms. It further finds that multiple network types are appropriate to promoting upgrades, and that marketers should seek to engage with a wide range of strong networks to deliver CBO. Coordinating closely with community organizations improves the delivery of program marketing, but marketers must be careful to use community groups' resources judiciously, to avoid 'burn out'. It concludes that CBO is not a panacea to the challenge of rapidly scaling upgrade programs. However, with community engagement and savvy administration, it can contribute to the cost-efficacy, sustenance and growth of upgrade programs. / by Brendan McEwen. / M.C.P.