Browsing by Author "Dawkins, Casey J."

Now showing 1 - 15 of 15
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    Aging America: Essays on Population Aging and the Physical and Economic Landscapes in the United States
    Fisher, Mary Caperton (Virginia Tech, 2010-08-11)
    Major population shifts shape both economic and physical landscapes of nations because demographic and economic drivers are inextricably linked. This study follows a three essay approach focused on the impact of population aging on two broad categories, physical and economic development in the United States. Specifically, this dissertation investigates later life entrepreneurship, elder housing choices and the impact of aging on rural prosperity. It appears that age is a factor in later life labor force participation choices, with 61 to 70 year olds and those over 70 years of age exhibiting a greater tendency toward self-employment than their 50 to 60 year old counterparts. However, individuals over age 60 are more likely to retire than transition to self-employment. Still, economic developers should consider small business development programs that include even those ahead of the baby boomer cohort. Amongst recent mover households, age influences dwelling selection. Households headed by 50 to 69 year olds are more likely to move to single family dwellings of 1,000 to just under 3,000 square feet. Conversely, households headed by individuals aged 70 years or more, are more likely to select multi-family dwellings and in particular, smaller units (under 1,000 square feet). Thus, oldest individuals are more likely to relocate to the smallest, highest density units even after controlling for increased housing costs, shocks, income and children. These results suggest that older households are not homogenous in their housing preferences. As expected, population aging impacts rural prosperity. The effect is not significant for the proportion of the population aged 70 to 79 years. However, the greater the percentage of the population that is 50 to 59 years of old or 60 to 69 years old, the less likely a rural county is to be prosperous. Contrary to this finding, the greater the proportion of the population that is 80 years of age or older, the greater the likelihood of rural prosperity. It was originally hypothesized that rural areas may fall short of prosperity because of a mismatch between an aging labor force and the prevalence of physically demanding occupations - this is likely not the case.
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    Amenities, affordability, and housing vouchers
    Bieri, David S.; Dawkins, Casey J. (Blackwell Publishing Inc., 2018-06-19)
    Against the background of an emerging rental affordability crisis, we examine how the standard rule that households should not spend more than 30% of their income on housing expenditures leads to inefficiencies in the context of federal low-income housing policy. We quantify how the current practice of locally indexing individual rent subsidies in the Housing Choice Voucher (HCV) program regardless of quality-of-life conditions implicitly incentivizes recipients to live in high-amenity areas. We also assess a novel scenario for housing policy reform that adjusts subsidies by the amenity expenditures of low-income households, permitting national HCV program coverage to increase.
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    Assessing Housing and Redevelopment Strategies, Portsmouth, Virginia
    Dawkins, Casey J.; Koebel, C. Theodore; Cavell, Marilyn S.; Renneckar, Patricia L.; Schilling, Joseph M. (Virginia Center for Housing Research, 2007-07)
    The main report consists of two components 1) Housing and Redevelopment Opportunities and 2) Housing Redevelopment Strategies. The third component is a special analysis completed by Dr. Ted Koebel's graduate level planning studio class at Virginia Tech. This stand alone student report provides valuable information that will benefit the City's future planning efforts, particularly in the area of vacant land reclamation. This report shows that overall, Portsmouth offers strong, stable neighborhoods and a variety of housing options. However, the challenge for Portsmouth is how to attract and retain more middle to high income residents while continuing to serve the needs of all its citizens.
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    Bring the form back to planning: Using urban form characteristics to improve the predictability of transportation mode choice models
    Howard, Eric John (Virginia Tech, 2007-07-17)
    The financial and environmental effects of traffic congestion and automobile-centric air pollution continue to be problems that must be addressed within the United States. In response, travel demand management (TDM) has emerged as a potential way to reduce automobile-based travel in order to minimize these effects. TDM strategies are highly dependent on specific urban form characteristics such as bicycle lanes, sidewalks, or transit facilities. A current gap exists in the analytical tools available to transportation planners when evaluating TDM projects. The standard transportation models do not take into account urban form characteristics in a systematic way. These characteristics play an import role in an individual's selection of walking, bicycling, or transit based travel modes. This gap needs to be filled in order to evaluate TDM projects with the same decision-making rigor that is applied to road expansion projects. The purpose of this project is to develop an enhanced transportation mode choice model that presents a systematic approach for incorporating urban form characteristics. This approach determines which elements of urban form have the strongest influence on transportation mode choice behavior. This work is being done in conjunction with the Roanoke Valley Allegheny Metropolitan Planning Organization as a way to evaluate the potential of TDM projects in promoting non-automobile forms of travel within the Roanoke region. This approach to developing an enhanced transportation mode choice model is a step forward in address the gap between TDM strategies and the tools needed to evaluate them.
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    The Diffusion of Climate Protection Planning among U.S. Municipalities
    Pitt, Damian Rogero (Virginia Tech, 2009-06-10)
    Many U.S. municipalities are engaged in climate protection planning, or efforts to reduce their communities' greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions through land use, transportation, and energy planning. However, they face a number of procedural and institutional obstacles that limit the adoption and implementation of those plans. The literature on climate protection planning identifies some of the factors that lead municipalities to join relevant policy networks, but provides little guidance for overcoming the aforementioned obstacles and adopting policies to reduce community-wide GHG emissions. This dissertation increases the understanding of climate protection planning by examining whether the adoption of these plans and policies is driven primarily by local demographic, economic, environmental, or political characteristics. It also contributes to the literature on local government policy diffusion by examining whether the spread of climate protection policies is dictated primarily by internal or external determinants. The research for this report includes a survey with responses from 255 U.S. municipal leaders. These responses are combined with secondary data and analyzed using multiple regression techniques to estimate the impact of 15 demographic, political-institutional, economic, and environmental variables on the adoption of climate protection plans and policies. A series of follow-up telephone interviews provides a more detailed understanding of how these factors influence the extent of climate protection planning. The quantitative findings indicate that the influence of neighboring jurisdictions, the presence of staff members assigned to energy or climate planning, and the level of community environmental activism have the greatest impact on climate protection policy adoption. The interviews reveal that the most successful municipalities tend to coordinate with their neighbors on energy and climate issues and incorporate meaningful community participation in their climate protection planning processes. This supports the conclusion that the extent of climate protection planning is driven primarily by internal processes, and municipalities that are successful in this area do not fit any one profile according to their demographic, economic, or environmental characteristics. Therefore, most if not all municipalities have the potential to adopt climate protection policies if sufficient resources, support, and initiative are in place.
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    Housing Demand Analysis, Northampton County, Virginia
    Koebel, C. Theodore; Dawkins, Casey J.; Cavell, Marilyn S.; Renneckar, Patricia L. (Virignia Center for Housing Research, 2007-06)
    This report assesses the demand for affordable housing in Northampton County, Virginia. The assessment includes an analysis of the gap between the supply of affordable housing and the demand (or need) for such housing as of April 1, 2000; an assessment of post-2000 growth trends; projections of housing demand for 2010 and 2020; and a discussion of strategies to promote the development of affordable housing. Housing in Northampton is generally affordable; however, the demand for second homes and retirement homes has resulted in exceptionally high housing prices for desirable waterfront locations. The more affordable prices are available for in-land locations.
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    Housing Needs and Market Analysis, Thomas Jefferson PDC
    Cavell, Marilyn S.; Koebel, C. Theodore; Dawkins, Casey J.; Renneckar, Patricia L. (Virginia Center for Housing Research, 2006-10)
    The need for affordable housing in the Thomas Jefferson PDC is a consistent theme throughout this report. The strong sales market in this area is driven by higher income households and previous homeowners taking advantage of low mortgage rates to "trade up" in the market. However, for many others in the area, homeownership is out of reach. Also in this area, renting is not a more affordable alternative to ownership. Workers in occupations vital to the community have difficulty finding affordable housing in the PDC.
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    Housing Needs Assessment, James City County and Williamsburg, Virginia
    Dawkins, Casey J.; Koebel, C. Theodore; Cavell, Marilyn S.; Renneckar, Patricia L. (Virginia Center for Housing Research, 2007-12)
    This report provides information to help policy makers make informed decisions related to housing issues as they face the challenges of rising housing costs and search for ways of providing affordable housing options for all of their citizens. The housing markets of James City County and Williamsburg are affected considerably by two factors: (1) the College of William and Mary has a substantial impact on rental demand; (2) the area's historical resources create a need for preservation in the face of growth.
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    Location Choice, Linkages and the Spatial Economy: Essays on Theory, Evidence and Heterodox Assessment
    Bieri, David S. (Virginia Tech, 2010-08-12)
    The essays in this dissertation represent theoretical and empirical contributions to urban economics and regional science, focusing on the growing importance of nonmarket interactions. There is increasing evidence that the process of globalization is rendering the world "spiky" rather than "flat". Nonmarket interactions, such as knowledge spillovers, innovation or amenity-based externalities, play a central role in this process. As economic activity is not evenly spread across space, a detailed understanding of the economic linkages between regions is key to the design of effective public policy. This is particularly important in the context of economic linkages between regions or cities, highlighting the key adjustment mechanisms -- via both market and nonmarket transactions -- and their long-run implications for incomes, the cost of living, and the spatial distribution of population. Both the neoclassically-grounded field of urban economics and the rapidly expanding New Economic Geography (NEG) literature pioneered by Krugman offer a variety of models and (not infrequently competing) predictions about the factors and processes that shape the spatial structure of the economy. At the same time, the dialogue between qualitative and quantitative discourses in regional science has been marred by an increasingly embittered dispute over methodology. While acutely pronounced in economics, this development has re-shaped large parts of its sister disciplines as well, particularly sociology and geography. Across the board, proponents of quantitative science methodology increasingly likened themselves to their natural science counterparts, whereas qualitative methods had become the last bastion of "true social scientists". Today, these so-called "science wars" have rendered "qualitative" and "quantitative" analysis into almost mutually exclusive concepts.
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    Locational Distribution of Global Advanced Producer Service Firms in the Polycentric US Metropolis
    Oner, Asli Ceylan (Virginia Tech, 2008-01-30)
    This study is generally concerned with the assumption that the contemporary global flows of people, capital, and commodities, which accelerated dramatically in the age of globalization, have significant impacts on the land use patterns of global cities. With this assumption, the study further questions in the context of polycentric US metropolis, whether or not the distribution of transnational advanced producer service firms define a new form of centrality, in which the traditional central business districts and suburban centers differ from each other in terms of spatial clustering patterns and sectoral distributions of transnational advanced producer service firms. Spatial clustering patterns of advanced producer service firms are evaluated according to high-rise and high-density criteria. In ten selected cities, clusters of advanced producer service firms and high-rise office buildings are identified through the Nearest Neighbor Hierarchical Clustering Method in CrimeStat. To define the polycentric US metropolis, the research employs Lang et al's (2006) classification of metropolitan office space. The results show significant differences between former manufacturing belt cities and Sunbelt cities.
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    Modeling land-cover change in the Amazon using historical pathways of land cover change and Markov chains. A case study of Rondõnia, Brazil
    Becerra-Cordoba, Nancy (Virginia Tech, 2007-05-09)
    The present dissertation research has three purposes: the first one is to predict anthropogenic deforestation caused by small farmers firstly using only pathways of past land cover change and secondly using demographic, socioeconomic and land cover data at the farm level. The second purpose is to compare the explanatory and predictive capacity of both approaches at identifying areas at high risk of deforestation among small farms in Rondõnia, Brazil. The third purpose is to test the assumptions of stationary probabilities and homogeneous subjects, both commonly used assumptions in predictive stochastic models applied to small farmers' deforestation decisions. This study uses the following data: household surveys, maps, satellite images and their land cover classification at the pixel level, and pathways of past land cover change for each farm. These data are available for a panel sample of farms in three municipios in Rondõnia, Brazil (Alto Paraiso, Nova União, and Rolim de Moura) and cover a ten-year period of study (1992-2002). Pathways of past land cover change are graphic representations in the form of flow charts that depict Land Cover Change (LCC) in each farm during the ten-year period of study. Pathways were constructed using satellite images, survey data and maps, and a set of interviews performed on a sub-sample of 70 farms. A panel data analysis of the estimated empirical probabilities was conducted to test for subject and time effects using a Fixed Group Effects Model (FGEM), specifically the Least Square Dummy Variable (LSDV1) fixed effects technique. Finally, the two predictive modeling approaches are compared. The first modeling approach predicts future LCC using only past land cover change data in the form of empirical transitional probabilities of LCC obtained from pathways of past LCC. These empirical probabilities are used in a LSDV1 for fixed–group effects, a LSDV1 for fixed-time effects, and an Ordinary Least Square model (OLS) for the pooled sample. Results from these models are entered in a modified Markov chain model's matrix multiplication. The second modeling approach predicts future LCC using socio-demographic and economic survey variables at the household level. The survey data is used to perform a multinomial logit regression model to predict the LC class of each pixel. In order to compare the explanatory and predictive capacity of both modeling approaches, LCC predictions at the pixel level are summarized in terms of percentage of cells in which future LC was predicted correctly. Percentage of correct predicted land cover class is compared against actual pixel classification from satellite images. The presence of differences among farmers in the LSDV1-fixed group effect by farmer suggests that small farmers are not a homogeneous group in term of their probabilities of LCC and that further classification of farmers into homogeneous subgroups will depict better their LCC decisions. Changes in the total area of landholdings proved a stronger influence in farmer's LCC decisions in their main property (primary lot) when compared to changes in the area of the primary lot. Panel data analysis of the LCC empirical transition probabilities (LSDV1 fixed time effects model) does not find enough evidence to prefer the fixed time effects model when compared to a Ordinary Least Square (OLS) pooled version of the probabilities. When applying the results of the panel data analysis to a modified markov chain model the LSDV1-farmer model provided a slightly better accuracy (59.25% accuracy) than the LSDV1-time and the OLS-pooled models (57.54% and 57.18%, respectively). The main finding for policy and planning purposes is that owners type 1—with stable total landholdings over time—tend to preserve forest with a much higher probability (0.9033) than owner with subdividing or expanding properties (probs. of 0.0013 and 0.0030). The main implication for policy making and planning is to encourage primary forest preservation, given that the Markov chain analysis shows that primary forest changes into another land cover, it will never go back to this original land cover class. Policy and planning recommendations are provided to encourage owner type 1 to continue their pattern of high forest conservation rates. Some recommendations include: securing land titling, providing health care and alternative sources of income for the OT1's family members and elderly owners to remain in the lot. Future research is encouraged to explore spatial autocorrelation in the pixel's probabilities of land cover change, effects of local policies and macro-economic variables in the farmer's LCC decisions.
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    The Sound of Silent Partners: A Study of Charitable Choice and the Perceptions of Nonprofit Leaders Regarding the Effects of Government Funding on Religiously-Based Nonprofit Organizational Mission
    Reany, Candace Hall (Virginia Tech, 2008-07-29)
    This study examines the relationship between government funding and faith-based nonprofit organizational development and professionalization. By conducting an online survey of 1,632 executive directors at Habitat for Humanity affiliates in the United States, followed by telephone and email interviews with selected leaders from the organization, this mixed-method case study examined the organizational tensions, opportunities, bureaucratization, and professionalization of a religiously-based nonprofit as it transitioned from primarily private funding to broad acceptance of public monies. Habitat for Humanity provided an excellent prospect for this research, as the organization announced one year before the study began that its 27-year tradition of not seeking or accepting government funding (with the exception of grants for infrastructure) would change in July 2006. The study utilized Barry Dym and Harry Hutson's stages of organizational development, particularly their concept of professionalization, as an analytical framework for the study, with particular emphasis on the potential effects government funding may have on Habitat's organizational structure. The study suggested a close relationship between increasing professionalization at the organization's national office and the decision of national leadership to allow local affiliates to pursue government funding for construction. In addition, survey and interview data indicated that this change has been accompanied by a corresponding decrease in emphasis on religious mission, or at least a less conservative (and in some cases more pluralistic) approach to religious aims, than was evident in a 1995 International Partner training session in which the researcher participated.
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    Using Public Policy to Promote Community Economic Development
    Fields, Zenobia L. (Virginia Tech, 2004-04-23)
    This study is being conducted in the interest of discovering changes that can be made in transportation and workforce policy to promote economic development. These changes will revolve around the amalgamation of place-based and people-based strategies with an emphasis on investment in people. The people-based strategies will relate to transportation policy, while place-based strategies will pertain to workforce policy. The following research questions will be answered: What people-based policy changes need to occur through collaborative efforts to foster environments in urban areas that synthesize upward mobility through workforce development? What are the advantages of place-based and people-based strategies? How can transportation policy like Job Access and Reverse Commute grant programs, a people-based strategy, be changed to produce greater outcomes? What lessons can be learned from products of workforce development policy such as one-stop centers, a place-based strategy, in terms of performance? To answer these questions, the investigation uses case studies of Job Access and Reverse Commute grant and one-stop center programs, with the intent of deriving a framework for interagency coordination strategies. The case studies include the Northern Jersey Transportation, the Baltimore Metropolitan Regional Transportation and the Portland, Oregon Tri-Met Plans. In addition, one-stop centers within the same three regions were examined for potential connections. A comparative analysis of all the case studies will be performed focusing on six major components in order to propose a policy framework that includes federal influence, governance structure, mechanism to connecting with the marker, feedback mechanisms, incremental career step provisions, and accountability systems.
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    Whose Choice Is It Really?: The Impact of Property Profitability, Owner Strategies, & Perceived Majority Tenant Prejudices on Housing Choice Voucher Acceptance
    Mitchell, Kimberly Jean (Virginia Tech, 2008-06-03)
    This dissertation addresses the critical role of landlords in implementing the Housing Choice Voucher program. Housing choice vouchers provide tenant-based rental assistance to low-income families so that they can have greater opportunities to select apartments and locations than under other rental housing assistance programs. Vouchers provide a renter with more location, quality and housing type options than project-based subsidized housing. The program's ability to increase choice depends heavily on the decisions of private landlords to accept voucher tenants. This research examines the factors influencing housing choice voucher acceptance by owners, or their agents, specifically property profitability, owner strategies, and perceived majority tenant prejudices. One previous study attempted to identify the factors that affect landlords' acceptance of vouchers, and was restricted to landlords participating in the voucher program. This dissertation expands our understanding of landlords' decisions to accept voucher tenants in two key ways: empirical modeling of voucher acceptance using a national sample of rental properties; and qualitative studies of landlords within a single market area. This research has implications for improving the future performance of the voucher program and the housing quality of low-income renters. By understanding the factors influencing voucher acceptance, public policy makers can utilize this information and direct their efforts to successfully market the program, expand voucher knowledge, and increase non-participating owners' acceptance of vouchers. Furthermore, policy makers can determine if additional legislation is needed to enhance the protection of voucher holder's rights and maintain the supply of eligible units. Such efforts will enhance the effectiveness of housing agencies and thus, help achieve the goal of providing low-income renters with better housing options.
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    Zoning's Connection with Racial Distribution: A Case Study on the Washington, D.C. MSA
    Crampton, Jason P. (Virginia Tech, 2007-03-29)
    Zoning, as a public land-use tool, has several important goals. As zoning accomplishes these goals, however, zoning has had the unintended outcome of guiding high numbers of minorities into certain areas in which multi-family housing is permitted. This study attempts to understand the connection that zoning has with racial and ethnic distribution within and across jurisdictions in the Washington, D.C. MSA. By using GIS to spatially connect zoning districts to Census data, I analyzed correlations between minority populations and zoning district regulations. For all locations studied, I found that proportions of minority population generally increase as zoning districts permit higher-intensity residential uses. Minority populations often increased as the density permitted by zoning districts increased, although there were many exceptions to this trend, most notably in the central city where minority populations did not directly correlate with zoning density. In all cases, however, low-density, single-family zoning districts had higher white populations than other, higher-density zoning districts. Zoning was shown to have the greatest correlation with minority populations in jurisdictions undergoing significant population growth, particularly minority population growth. The study shows that racially-segregated neighborhoods exist across a variety of zoning types, including low-density, single-family districts, but that segregation is more abundant within zoning districts that permit higher-intensity uses and higher-densities. White isolation was found to be greatest in low-density, single-family zoning districts. Although there is a clear connection between zoning regulations and minority population settlement, zoning density does not perfectly correlate with minority population and racially-segregated areas. Many higher-density zoning districts throughout the study area have high white populations and high levels of white clustering. Conversely, high minority populations and minority clustering occur to significant extents in parts of single-family zoning districts, particularly in Washington and Prince George's County.