VTechWorks Repository :: Browsing by Author "Cowell, Margaret M."

Browsing by Author "Cowell, Margaret M."

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Barriers and Drivers to Accessing and Using Workforce and Technical Assistance Resources for Small and Medium Manufacturers (SMMs) in Rural Regions
Lyon-Hill, Sarah; Cowell, Margaret M.; Tate, Scott; Alwang, Albert (2018-12-14)
Workforce shortages and market shifts have left many small and medium manufacturers (SMMs) struggling to maintain their operations. Still some SMMs tend not to utilize the workforce development and technical assistance resources available to them. This is particularly true of those in more rural regions where manufacturing is even more essential to the sustained vitality of these economies. This study explores the factors preventing these firms from pursuing and accessing these services. The authors used surveys and interviews to engage manufacturers with fewer than 500 employees in rural Southwestern Virginia and identify factors limiting their participation in these services. Findings indicate constant and consistent outreach to SMMs, regular engagement in social and economic networks, and a diverse array of services tailored to rural SMMs’ needs to play key roles in developing productive partnerships between SMMs and resource providers.
Building Stories: Critical Geography of Architecture and the Study of Everyday Practice in Detroit, Michigan
Gabriele, Rachel Victoria (Virginia Tech, 2023-01-23)
In Loretta Lees's study of a new public library in Vancouver in the late 1990's, she began to explore the ideals of non-representational theories, or those everyday practices that provide evidence not just of what symbolic meaning one may assign to a space, but rather what that space does—how it is enacted through everyday practice. This exploration provided Lees with another way to think about the built environment, one that she believed could open up a new direction for architectural geographers. Lees, building on the work of Jon Goss and other contemporary scholars in the field, described this new direction as a move towards a critical geography of architecture. This dissertation explores the use of a non-representational framework to study everyday practices through a single case study in the Avenue of Fashion in Detroit, Michigan. This research considers the historical evolution of Detroit through bankruptcy to present day using two common narratives of the city, one of rise/rebirth and one of Two Detroits, to offer a critical lens through which to consider performances of everyday life in this recently redeveloped area of the city. Within a non-representational framework, this study pulls in direct observational methods such as counting, mapping/tracing, photo documentation, trace observation, and field notes derived primarily from public life studies to observe and consider how the built environment is shaped through these embodied practices. This study contributes both an example of alternative methods that may be used in non-representational research, as well as new way to think about spaces that complements findings from more representational research. The findings from this study inspire a curiosity about the unfolding of everyday life and contribute to the work of Lees and others in advancing a critical geography of architecture.
An Empirical Assessment of Richard Florida's Creative Class Theory in the United States from 2001-2020
Washington III, John A. (Virginia Tech, 2023-01-23)
Richard Florida's Creative Class Theory made a significant mark on economic geography. Upon initial publication in 2002, reviewers lacked sufficient data to test this theory in the contemporary economy. However, 20 years have elapsed. Statistical analysis of an operationalized creative class theory in relationship to growth in real per capita GDP does not show a statistically-significant, positive relationship. In fact, depending on the variable, most analysis shows either no statistically- significant relationship or a statistically-significant and negative correlation. Instead, in keeping with endogenous growth theory and the arguments of Glaeser, presence of non-manufacturing high-technology economic activity, overall levels of higher education, and immigration bear a substantial, positive, and statistically-significant relationship to growth in real per capita GDP. While Florida's theories consider these variables, Creative Class Theory depicts them as part of a broader construct with significant cultural components. The present analysis does not find evidence to support this theory in all of its details. However, the broader construct of "talent, technology, and tolerance" contributing to economic development remains valid. However, its components vary significantly from Florida's model. Findings suggest policy focus on generating creativity through culture may create less benefit than policies focused on increasing education supply, attracting and retaining educated workers, attracting and growing technology firms, and encouraging immigration. Additional research is needed to identify specific policies.
An Exploration of Resilient Nonprofit Organizations: How Human Services Providers in Virginia Survived and Thrived the Great Recession of 2007-2009
Fyffe, Saunji Desiree (Virginia Tech, 2014-04-25)
Nonprofits are primarily dependent upon external sources for funding and other critical resources; therefore during recessionary periods the nonprofit sector faces a crisis of its own as crucial resources become scarce. The Great Recession of 2007-2009 had widespread adverse impact on the nonprofit sector yet, some nonprofit organizations managed to not only restore their finances and operations to their pre-recession state, but also capitalize on the economic conditions and emerge stronger and more prosperous than before the recession began. Specifically, these organizations embody resiliency by realizing positive outcomes or exhibiting optimal performance during and after tough economic times. In the face of increasing demands, shifting funding streams, and operational challenges, organizational resilience is more important than ever for the sector. The purpose of this research was to develop a better understanding of the nature of organizational resiliency as it relates to nonprofits impacted by economic recession. The primary research question that directed this research was: What attributes are exhibited by resilient nonprofit organizations? Using a multiple case study approach, this study explored the essence and meaning of resilience through the experiences of seven nonprofit organizations in Virginia during and after the recession. Data were collected from pertinent organizational documents and semi-structured interviews with the executive director of each organization. Nine themes emerged from the data. Conclusions drawn from the findings suggest that resilient nonprofit organizations exhibit: positive disposition toward change; flexibility; timely and responsive decision making; deep social capital; intra and inter-organizational relationships; effective leadership; diverse revenue streams; sufficient assets, systems and infrastructure; and shared mission, goals and strategy.
Housing Provision through Real Estate Development: Adopting Public-Private Partnerships for Affordable Housing Delivery in Brazil
Izar, Priscila (Virginia Tech, 2018-03-28)
This dissertation analyzes contemporary transformations in urban policy and space production in Brazil; in particular, those associated with state efforts to attract the private sector to participate in the design, finance, development and long-term management of infrastructure and housing provision systems. While the study's focus is on adoption of the public-private partnership (PPP) mechanism in the affordable housing sector, empirical research is based on the case study analysis of Casa Paulista Program, the first PPP for affordable housing delivery in the country, sponsored by the State Government of São Paulo and implemented in the central districts of the city of São Paulo, the state's capital. Specific questions driving the research are twofold: in the first, I ask what were the characteristics of the Casa Paulista PPP model, and in the second, how public and private agents, including social groups, affected the evolution of the model. Permeating this analysis is the concern as to how housing provision through PPPs may affect the ability of local populations to access adequate housing and fully participate in city living, as demanded by social housing movements and urban reform advocates and predicted in Brazil's Federal Constitution, and rights-based urban policy at national and local levels. Findings indicate that the Casa Paulista model, while neither leveraging private capital nor scaling up housing production, facilitates rearrangements in the private local housing market, urban policy, and social relationships around housing provision. These efforts are successful only with support of the development and finance industries operating beyond the local scale. I argue that these new rearrangements support a publicly funded, privately managed model to support predominantly residential real estate development projects of large scale and which are debt financed through long term agreements. This dynamic generates risk to society's ability to control urban transformation in the central city area and support preservation of a stock of public and private land where affordable housing development is currently prioritized, an outcome I describe as 'privatizing planning and socializing risk'.
Illuminating Identities and Motivations in Public Participation: Public Administrators' Perspectives about Public Participation in Local Government
Daniels, Lorita Ann Copeland (Virginia Tech, 2019-12-05)
The U.S. Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Agency provides Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) funding to state and local governments, giving them broad flexibility to design and implement community projects. The CDBG program emphasizes that public hearings are a requirement to obtain federal funding at the state and local levels. Also, HUD lists several other public participation methods that can be used in addition to public hearings. Further, the extant literature on public participation emphasizes the prevalent use of one method, public hearings, compared to the use of other more engaging techniques. Despite the availability of different methods that may be more engaging, administrators continue to engage the public through the use of public hearings. This study explores the motivation and identity of public administrators in local government, implementing public participation programs. Using a multi-site case study based on fifteen interviews with officials from various localities across the Commonwealth of Virginia, I found that administrators held onto their identity as public servants but might have had difficulty staying motivated to do public engagement work when they perceived that there were impediments in the work environment. Another interesting finding is that these obstacles created tensions between the public servants and their respective organization, leading to fewer performance outcomes among the administrators. Further, the administrators' characteristics (identity) such as job tenure, rank, education, age, and gender, along with their public service motivation, might have impacted their actions and behavior in the public sector environment. I also found that administrators who wanted to do more, commonly reported they were situated in a work environment that limited their ability to do more. I found that the work environment and the identity (personal characteristics and public service motivation) could influence the public service behavioral outcomes of administrators. The interview data pointed out a complex picture of the tensions existing between the institution and the individual. The research revealed that public administrators often adhered to their role as public servants but were faced with dynamics that interacted with their performances. From these findings, administrators must look pass those informal and formal influences that prevent them from staying engaged with their roles as public servants and find ways to give citizens meaningful opportunities to have input into the government decision-making process.
The Impact of Advocacy Groups in Facilitating Policy Diffusion to Pass Paid Sick Leave Laws in New Jersey
Zobell, Anne Catherine (Virginia Tech, 2020-02-10)
This study of the adoption and diffusion of paid sick leave laws in New Jersey has been designed to examine the spread of the policy between local governments and then the subsequent adoption of the policy by the state. In New Jersey, PSL was first adopted by Jersey City in 2013. Following that adoption, 12 other New Jersey municipalities adopted PSL. In 2018, a law was passed by the state that then voided all the municipal laws and replaced them with a statewide policy. Through a mixed methods research design, this study seeks to better understand the circumstances surrounding PSL. First, a logistic regression model was used to determine the characteristics that are associated with PSL adoption on the local level. Second, case studies were conducted for three adopting cities, Jersey City, Newark, and Morristown to better understand the political forces that facilitated the adoption and diffusion of PSL. Lastly, this study examined the adoption of PSL on the state level to better understand how the actions of governments on the local level affected the actions of the state government. The logistic regression found that large cities, cities with a higher percentage of minorities, cities with a mayor-council form of government, and cities with a higher Gini coefficient were more likely to adopt PSL. In contrast to the findings of the logistic regression, the case studies revealed that the cities that adopted PSL were heavily Democratic and elected officials identified progressiveness as a motivator for adopting this policy. This research used qualitative methods to evaluate how policy diffusion occurred and who facilitated this process. Through interviews, this research revealed the influence of policy advocates in helping to spread PSL to many New Jersey municipalities. An advocacy coalition named New Jersey Time to Care pursued what they termed the municipal approach. The political dynamics in the New Jersey state government prevented a statewide law from being adopted. Given this fact, the coalition pursued multiple municipal laws in order to help New Jerseyans receive paid sick leave benefits and to help build momentum for a statewide law when a change in political dynamics would allow for it.
In Defense of a "Third Place": How Reassembling the Boundaries of an Urban Military Installation can Maintain Security while Uniting the Community
DeIuliis, Peter James (Virginia Tech, 2019-09-10)
"Regardless of the differences among their citizens, cities always define their community as against the outside world; a settlement with internal defense walls cannot be called a true community." Community Design and Culture of Cities, by Eduardo Lozano pg 5 Throughout the history of human civilization, no manmade structure has been used to defend territory more than the Wall. Walls have been used to delineate the edges of empires, separate communities, limit migration and provide protection from enemies. As a result, the Wall has become synonymous with imperialism, segregation, racism and isolationism. But what about instances when security outweighs all other concerns? Is there a way to use the wall to maintain defensible space without negatively impacting the greater community? In the case of a military installation located in an urban environment, this is a real issue. Walls which protect the sensitive content within, also serve to divide the community. These necessary physical barriers have the incidental consequence of segregating the servicemembers and government civilians within from the community which they serve. I contend that the thoughtful treatment of these barriers can create a "third place" ripe for interaction between the installation and the surrounding community. By designing retail, educational and cultural spaces along the border, the security of the installation can remain intact while also fostering an active relationship with its surroundings. After all, as Eduardo Lozano states, "a settlement with internal defense walls cannot be called a true community."
Intra-Regional Economic Connectivity: The Role of Industry Clusters in Bridging the Urban-Rural Divide
McFarland, Christiana K. (Virginia Tech, 2020-04-14)
This research explores an alternative path for economic development via local connections to regional economies. It presents new analysis of the potential and circumstances under which county level industry clusters can be strengthened by connecting to regional clusters – networks of businesses, labor pools, etc., whose linkages cross local and even state jurisdictional boundaries. Specifically, this analysis examines how different types of industry clusters and types of urban and rural communities within regions respond to intra-regional connectivity. Independent-samples t-tests are conducted to assess whether significant differences in the annualized county-cluster employment growth rate (2010-2016) exist between connected and not-connected county-clusters overall, in different types of communities (metropolitan, micropolitan, rural adjacent and rural remote) and across types of industry clusters. The results suggest that intra-regional economic connectivity has a strong, positive association with county-cluster employment growth. These results are particularly pronounced for more rural communities but are present across county types, including metropolitan. The magnitude of the economic impact derived from connectivity with the regional economy varies by industry cluster. The results suggest an alternative approach to cluster-based economic development strategies that more strategically accounts for and bolsters connectivity. Policy recommendations for how to apply an intra-regional connectivity framework to narrow the urban-rural divide, as well as several regional profiles, are offered.
Investigating Student Experiences of Engineering Culture During COVID-19: A Comparative Case Study
Deters, Jessica Rose (Virginia Tech, 2022-04-21)
The COVID-19 pandemic sparked rapid shifts to engineering education, causing changes to course formats and student experiences. The culture of undergraduate engineering programs undoubtably affected this transition online and affected how students interpreted their experiences. To date, research on engineering culture has explored the values, beliefs, and underlying ideologies of the culture. However, what we know about engineering culture was captured predominantly during periods of stability. Because COVID-19 provides an opportunity to either challenge or uphold aspects of engineering culture, it was imperative to capture the experiences of students undergoing an engineering education during this time. In order to understand what facets of engineering culture were salient in students' interpretations of their classroom experiences during the COVID-19 pandemic, I conducted a multiple case study exploring mechanical engineering students' constructions of their experiences taking second and third year courses during the pandemic. I compared two mechanical engineering programs – one in the United States and one in South Africa – by conducting semi-structured interviews with 10 to 11 mechanical engineering undergraduate students at each site as well as 1 to 2 key informants. My analysis identified the following cultural features that emerged as salient from students' perspectives during the pandemic at both sites: intrinsic hardness, differential access to resources, and application and design. Additionally, my analysis identified the following cultural features that emerged as salient at only one site: seeking help, job market, and scientific way of thinking. The key difference between sites appeared with respect to differential access to resources. This study captures and reports critical data about students' constructions of their experiences during the COVID-19 pandemic. By investigating engineering culture during a time of stress, this research identifies the most salient features of engineering culture that remained constant through the pandemic as well as the features that changed due to the pandemic. Further, the global comparative aspect of this work highlights which features of engineering culture are universal and which are influenced by national context. Overall, this research aims to inform future educational responses to disasters as well as future change efforts in engineering.
Investigating the Future and Image of Leesburg, VA
Shayer, Ryan Robert (Virginia Tech, 2023-01-23)
Over the past several decades, the Washington metropolitan area (Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV) has experienced extraordinary levels of growth, facilitating the region's emergence as not only a center of national governance but increasingly a nationally and internationally significant location for population and economic development. Leesburg, Virginia, located approximately forty miles northwest of the downtown core, has historically avoided the sprawling suburbanization characteristic of more proximate locations such as Fairfax and Arlington, instead serving as a distinct economic center for Loudoun County. However, as the Town of Leesburg has grown in both population and landmass over the past approximately fifty years, it has also become increasingly incorporated into an outward-pushing Northern Virginia region, dramatically reducing the once-evident buffer physically and psychologically separating those two entities. The increasing interconnection between Leesburg and the Washington metro region raises questions about the futures of both, with impacts for ongoing conversations regarding urban and regional-scale growth dynamics, governance, and place-making, as well as their intersections with local economic development. This thesis seeks to understand the methods by which Leesburg navigates the challenge to retain a unique and distinctive character while acknowledging the new spatial reality of its connections to the larger region. To better understand this complex situation, we conducted semi-structured interviews with fourteen individuals having strong understanding and expertise regarding economic development, governance, and place making in Leesburg and the rest of the Northern Virginia region. The interviews suggest that Leesburg is becoming a destination for outside visitors and tourists, while also crafting a 'complete community' in which residents can live, work, and enjoy recreational activities; Leesburg increasingly serves a number of distinct purposes for growing and varying audiences. While interesting in itself for observers of the Washington metro region, the Leesburg case also presents relevant implications for the future of large-scale urban and regional growth and change, as well as the continued validity of heritage-based place images given contemporary economic and development imperatives.
Local Fiscal Sustainability within American Federalism
Wei, Rongrong (Virginia Tech, 2019-06-27)
Unfunded public pension and Other Post Employment Benefits (OPEB) liabilities impose major threats to local fiscal sustainability, which increases governments' default risk and crowds out funding for essential local services. To close the funding gaps, localities may apply a wide range of fiscal instruments, including increasing taxes, fees, and user charges, issuing debt and bonds, obtaining grants and/or decreasing expenditures. This research compares the US local fiscal choice behavior in the context of the fiscal federalism framework. The goal is to identify the ideal mix of constitutional fiscal rules to preserve local fiscal sustainability. Not only should the rules aim to minimize local adverse fiscal behavior pre-crisis, which may include excessive spending, large accumulations of unfunded liabilities, and over-reliance on external grants, but also allow strong local fiscal adaptive capacity post-crisis. The findings help localities identify any effective and prudent fiscal options available to close their pension funding gaps and contribute to the overall sub-national fiscal institutional reforms. Theoretically, this research introduces a novel analytical framework pertaining to local fiscal sustainability by separating pre-crisis and post-crisis institutional analysis and by consolidating two historically viewed as two competing paradigms, public choice and public finance. I argue that the two approaches are complementary rather than contradictory since public choice theory sets up an institutional prerequisite for normative outcomes to be realized and prevents the occurrence of extreme circumstances. The ideal mix of formal fiscal rules, thus, should induce the balanced budget rule that applies to all budget items, stringent spending and debt limits, and institutionalized local tax authority and stable tax structure, but not tax limits. Tax limits are less effective in constraining government than spending and debt limits due to fiscal gimmicks. Moreover, stringent tax limits could significantly limit local governments' ability to bounce back on their own. This research also found that cities do apply different fiscal strategies to reduce exogenous shocks, given their unique fiscal institutions in place. Furthermore, cities with fewer institutional constraints exhibit a faster speed of adjustment. However, certain institutional variables, such as public union size and tax authority, might not have the same fiscal implications as predicted by the theory. Cities often manage to cut their short-term spending regardless of the size of their public unions. A broad range of tax authority does not imply greater local revenue-generating capacity. Own source revenue autonomy might be a better indicator of local fiscal adaptive capacity.
Measuring and Enhancing the Resilience of Interdependent Power Systems, Emergency Services, and Social Communities
Valinejad, Jaber (Virginia Tech, 2022-01-28)
Several calamities occur throughout the world each year, resulting in varying losses. Disasters wreak havoc on infrastructures and impair operation. They result in human deaths and injuries and stress people's mental and emotional states. These negative impacts of natural disasters induce significant economic losses, as demonstrated by the $ 423 billion loss in 2011 in Tohoku, Japan, and the $ 133 billion loss in hurricane Harvey, U.S.A. Every year, hurricanes and tropical storms result in 10,000 human deaths worldwide. To mitigate losses, communities' readiness, flexibility, and resilience must be strengthened. To this end, appropriate techniques for forecasting a community's capacity and functionality in the face of impending crises must be developed and suitable community resilience metrics and their quantification must be established. Collaboration between critical infrastructures such as power systems and emergency services and social networks is critical for building a resilient community. As a result, we require metrics that account for both the social and infrastructure aspects of the community. While the literature on critical infrastructures such as power systems discusses the effect of social factors on resilience, they do not model these social factors and metrics due to their complexity. On the other hand, it turns out that the role of critical infrastructures and some critical social characteristics is overlooked in the computational social science literature on community resilience. Thus, this dissertation presents a multi-agent socio-technical model of community resilience, taking into account the interconnection of power systems, emergency services, and social communities. We offer relevant measures for each section and describe dynamic change and its dependence on other metrics using a variety of theories and expertise from social science, psychology, electrical engineering, and emergency services. To validate the model, we used data on two hurricanes (Irma and Harvey) collected from Twitter, GoogleTrends, FEMA, power utilities, CNN, and Snopes (a fact-checking organization). We also describe methods for quantifying social metrics such as anxiety, risk perception, cooperation using social sensing, natural language processing, and text mining tools.
Metropolitan Areas in 1990 vs. Today- How Different Are They? An Examination of Changes in Built Form and Resident Characteristics
Walter, Caitlin Siobhan (Virginia Tech, 2018-06-05)
The metropolitan area form has changed over time, transitioning from one central city surrounded by suburban bedroom communities to regions that possess several self-sufficient centers of activity. While these changes have occurred, metropolitan areas are commonly compared using the simple city-suburb distinction. The changing nature of the suburbs has been discussed in terms of changes in the built environment as well as changes in the residents; most recently, anecdotal media reports have suggested that preferences of the Millennial generation (now roughly 25-to-34-year-olds) may be influencing this shift. There are two main goals of this dissertation: to explore how density has changed in the context of the overall metropolitan area, as well as to explore whether the characteristics of residents in metro areas have changed. A quantitative approach is used, with an analysis that explores changes in density over time as well as a potential relationship today between density and the characteristics of the residents, including whether the Millennial generation has any relationship to changes, if they exist. Findings from the analysis indicate that the suburbs-city distinction is no longer relevant, and density is changing at a similar rate in both types of geographies. This suggests that density is a more appropriate metric to gauge metropolitan form changes. Further, characteristics of the population related to density have not changed since 1990, suggesting that changes in density do not have a relationship to an increase in influence by members of one generation.
Mission impossible? Routinizing the anticipation of emergent collaboration in disaster management networks: A study of emergence in the COVID-19 pandemic
McKeague, Lauren Kelly (Virginia Tech, 2022-08-23)
When disasters occur, new or informal groups often emerge to assist with the response or have resources that can aid professional disaster managers involved in the crisis. Historically, incorporating these groups into the formal disaster response system under conditions of urgency and uncertainty has been difficult. This mixed-methods, three-article dissertation explores two cases of interorganizational collaboration in which public administrators working to manage the COVID-19 pandemic facilitated and integrated emergent actor participation in the response. The findings of the study point to the potential for disaster managers to routinize the anticipation of emergence by considering those organizations that may be best positioned to facilitate different emergent actors, ways of engaging them before crises occur, and mechanisms that might break down barriers to formal/informal responder collaboration during an acute response. The results of this study have implications for public administration, interorganizational collaboration, and disaster management.
Operational, Tactical, and Strategic Planning for Effective Pandemic Response
Malmir, Behnam (Virginia Tech, 2023-07-27)
This dissertation comprises three papers introducing strategies, models, and frameworks to guide pandemic response. The first paper uses a novel mathematical model to analyze the coordination between government and humanitarian non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in response to pandemics. This is a vital form of public-private partnership between governments as the primary source for the humanitarian supplies required during a crisis and aid organizations. This coordination involves the equitable distribution of personal protective equipment, including face masks and face shields among health workers, patients, and the public in hospitals. Considering social costs such as deprivation and equity costs in the model, in addition to the other important classic cost terms, enables managers to organize the best possible response when such outbreaks happen. The second paper introduces a decision support framework designed to assist healthcare managers, and clinical informatics specialists in analyzing and selecting the most appropriate consensus algorithm for their organization's blockchain-based health platforms, with a specific focus on managing pandemic-related information. Blockchain technology holds great potential in addressing pandemics by enhancing security and transparency in various aspects of pandemic tracking and mitigation while promoting public engagements by facilitating real-time exchange of electronic health information. By improving information sharing and coordination among healthcare organizations, it offers more effective response efforts and helps reduce the spread of viruses. However, the performance of consensus algorithms, which are a crucial component of blockchain architecture, can vary, posing a challenge in selecting the appropriate algorithm. To address this, the framework incorporates two techniques: data envelopment analysis (DEA) and the ranking distribution technique. DEA enables the analysis of efficiency without relying solely on expert judgment, providing a more objective assessment. The ranking distribution technique enhances differentiation among algorithms, providing decision-makers with a robust basis for selecting the most suitable blockchain architecture and its associated properties. The third paper focuses on the challenges of disseminating guidance-related information to the public during a pandemic, specifically the role of opinion leaders as reliable sources of information. The study determines the practical characteristics of pandemic opinion leaders on public attitudes using surveys and identifies domain-sensitive pandemic opinion leaders on Twitter based on the discovered characteristics using social network analysis and text mining. The framework's results show that pandemic opinion leaders are active in eight different domains on the Twitter platform. Results also demonstrate that trust is the most influential characteristic of pandemic opinion leaders, while expertise, uniqueness, innovation, and reputation also play important roles.
Producing Authenticity: The Process, Politics and Impacts of Cultural Preservation in Washington, DC
Heck, Allison Jane Abbott (Virginia Tech, 2013-08-15)
This dissertation investigates how the process, politics, and impacts of culturally-framed redevelopment balance growth and equity within inner-city neighborhoods experiencing change. Redevelopment programs that draw upon existing arts and cultural assets have been supported and identified by planners as a strategy of local economic development. However, critiques of cultural preservation as a form of economic development argue that the norms and goals of such planning efforts and their impact on existing residents require further evaluation. For example, planning scholars find that cultural preservation may reinforce both existing spatial divides and forms of social exclusion. At the same time, the recognition of ethnic and minority heritage by non-local forces has been identified by some scholars as an opportunity to further the multicultural transformation of public history as well as locally sustainable community development that benefits the neighborhood's original inhabitants. I employ an extended case study research design and ethnographic methods to analyze how the process of producing authenticity contributes or impinges on development and market potential as well as social preservation efforts in a historic African American neighborhood, U Street/Shaw, within Washington, DC. An analysis of the implementation of the guiding vision for the neighborhood's cultural redevelopment, The DUKE Plan, occurs on three scales: neighborhood, anchor institutions, and individual (residents and visitors). Pro-growth strategies that bolstered the marketable "Black Broadway" place brand were supported at each scale rather than opportunities to preserve the neighborhood's identity through the retention of long-term residents and interpretation of the breadth of the community's identity. As a result of culturally-framed redevelopment, the U Street/Shaw neighborhood continues to gentrify causing a loss of belonging and ownership of cultural heritage among long-term residents. Solutions to ensuring that social equity provisions are delivered in culturally-framed redevelopment requires the adoption of accountability measures defined by existing residents during the planning process that commercial and government stakeholders must continually adhere to throughout and after implementation.
Same Ecosystem, Different Entrepreneurs: An assessment model for measuring diverse entrepreneurial ecosystems
Lyon-Hill, Sarah; Tate, Scott; Cowell, Margaret M.; Gupta, Khushboo; Keneshlo, Yaser (Virginia Tech. Office of Economic Development, 2017)
This paper explores how to measure entrepreneurial ecosystems with an urban-rural mix by using Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation’s four indicators framework and while accounting for the needs of different types of entrepreneurs from main street to high growth firms.
Toward a Convergent Evidence-Based Urban Design Approach
Carney, Mackenzie Amelia (Virginia Tech, 2023-06-05)
Urban designers do not typically include research or evidence in practice, though the need for an evidence-based approach is becoming increasingly apparent. The way our built environment is constructed affects our health, well-being, and sense of place, as prior research has uncovered. Historically, urban design practice has negatively affected the well-being of urban residents by reinforcing inequitable social and power structures through the design of public space. Some theorists and designers have proposed evidence-based approaches as a response to these concerns. However, the emerging approaches can be disjointed. Tensions arise when deciding between the many types of evidence urban designers can use, and the different ethics they represent. In this thesis, I analyze three existing approaches to evidence-based urban design, including their benefits and their concerns, and ultimately argue that a convergent method is necessary. The conceptual framework I develop is one that responds to concerns of equity and accountability in the built environment, while also maintaining the significance of good design and acknowledging the inevitable integration of technology into society today.
A Transport Justice Evaluation of Employer-Based Transit Subsidies
Hamre, Andrea Katherine Marie (Virginia Tech, 2018-01-24)
National statistics regarding subsidized commuting suggest that employer-based transit subsidies may be inaccessible to the vast majority of the working poor. My main purpose with this study is to increase our understanding of employer-based transit subsidies from a transport justice perspective. I apply the theory of transport justice developed by Karel Martens to evaluate whether the provision of transit subsidies varies significantly by income, and whether the subsidies are significantly associated with accessibility as measured by daily trip levels. I use worker-level data from household travel surveys for 10 of the 22 largest MPOs in the U.S., organized into 7 cases: 1) Atlanta; 2) Baltimore and Washington, DC; 3) Denver; 4) Los Angeles and San Diego; 5) New York and Newark; 6) Philadelphia; and 7) San Francisco. In each of the 7 cases, the odds of being offered a transit subsidy were significantly lower for workers in the 1st income quintile compared to workers in the 4th and 5th income quintiles, even after controlling for other relevant worker and employer characteristics. I found a lack of evidence, in most cases, that transit subsidies are significantly associated with accessibility, both in terms of daily trip levels for low-income workers and daily trip differentials between income groups. Given my finding that low-income workers are the least likely to have access to employer-based transit subsidies, policymakers may consider reform alternatives, such as commuter benefit ordinances, a refundable tax credit for commuting expenses, or alternatives such as income- and location-based subsidies for transit that may support all trip purposes. I hope this study will serve as a reference for policymakers deliberating commuter benefit reforms as well as strategies to support affordable access to opportunities for the working poor.

Browsing by Author "Cowell, Margaret M."

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