This study contributes a critical geographic perspective to understanding possibilities and constraints for achieving more sustainable and just urbanization through New Urbanism, a market-oriented, Smart Growth approach consistent with the trend of deregulation of growth management in the US in recent decades. Six master-planned Florida New Urbanist developments were evaluated using mixed methods. Empirical analyses were conducted using geographic information system (GIS) tools to assess the "locational sustainability" of the developments in relation to the surrounding regional fabric, and census data were used to evaluate the racial and ethnic composition of residents. In addition, the study investigates whether greater public participation is linked to stronger sustainability outcomes and how a New Urbanist "brand" affected development processes. Finally, archival research is employed to uncover development histories to enrich understandings of development processes and the role of New Urbanism from pre-development through siting and actual development. The findings show generally poor and patchy fulfillment of sustainability outcomes for the New Urbanist communities studied, with no single community scoring well for both locational sustainability and racial and ethnic population diversity. Communities where the strongest participatory processes were in effect prior to development exhibited better sustainability outcomes; however, for all six cases, siting and development decisions were driven by economic factors similar to those for conventional suburban developments. The findings suggest that rather than focusing on particular styles of built forms, efforts be directed at promoting political and economic processes and policies that lead to more just and sustainable outcomes. / A Dissertation submitted to the Department of Geography in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. / Summer Semester 2016. / July 12, 2016. / Florida, growth management, New Urbanism, sustainability, urbanization, Urban Political Ecology / Includes bibliographical references. / Joseph Pierce, Professor Directing Dissertation; Christopher Coutts, University Representative; Victor Mesev, Committee Member; Xiaojun Yang, Committee Member.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:fsu.edu/oai:fsu.digital.flvc.org:fsu_366146 |
| Contributors | Ziewitz, Kathryn Louise (authoraut), Pierce, Joseph (professor directing dissertation), Coutts, Christopher (university representative), Mesev, Victor (committee member), Yang, Xiaojun, 1965- (committee member), Florida State University (degree granting institution), College of Social Sciences and Public Policy (degree granting college), Department of Geography (degree granting department) |
| Publisher | Florida State University, Florida State University |
| Source Sets | Florida State University |
| Language | English, English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Text, text |
| Format | 1 online resource (335 pages), computer, application/pdf |
| Rights | This Item is protected by copyright and/or related rights. You are free to use this Item in any way that is permitted by the copyright and related rights legislation that applies to your use. For other uses you need to obtain permission from the rights-holder(s). The copyright in theses and dissertations completed at Florida State University is held by the students who author them. |
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