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Title: Investigation of racial and socioeconomic disparities in asthma hospitalizations in metropolitan Detroit, Michigan
Creator: Barnes, Lonnie
Date: 2018
Collection: Electronic Theses & Dissertations
Description: Racial health disparities are a consistent problem in the United States. Compared to whites, African Americans experience worse health outcomes both in terms of morbidity and mortality from various forms of chronic and infectious disease and continue to have lower life expectancy at birth. The causes of these disparities are not always immediately apparent, but previous literature on the topic indicates that they are rooted in larger structures of inequality which render disadvantaged...
Show moreRacial health disparities are a consistent problem in the United States. Compared to whites, African Americans experience worse health outcomes both in terms of morbidity and mortality from various forms of chronic and infectious disease and continue to have lower life expectancy at birth. The causes of these disparities are not always immediately apparent, but previous literature on the topic indicates that they are rooted in larger structures of inequality which render disadvantaged populations more exposed and susceptible to disease. This study investigates the racial and socioeconomic dimensions of morbidity due to asthma, an increasingly-common chronic condition of poorly-understood etiology in metropolitan Detroit, an urban area marked by high levels of racial segregation and economic inequality. Data on asthma hospitalizations from the Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project were used, along with socioeconomic indicators from the U.S. Census Bureau, to (a) ascertain the magnitude of racial disparities in asthma hospitalization, (b) identify risk factors for hospitalization, and (c) determine the extent to which these risk factors explain any racial disparities. Descriptive statistics indicate that even after controlling for ZIP code socioeconomic position, black hospitalization rates for asthma were considerably higher than white rates at all levels of the socioeconomic hierarchy. Results of logistic regression models indicate that factors such as type of insurance and having other conditions in addition to asthma affect the risk of hospitalization for the condition but are able to account for only a small portion of the increased odds of hospitalization in the study area’s African American population. The findings highlighted in this study are important, but also demonstrate the necessity for further research on this topic.
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Title: THE THEORY AND PRACTICE OF CONTEMPORARY PLACE RELATED CONCEPTS IN URBAN PLANNING
Creator: Salmistu, Sirle
Date: 2018
Collection: Electronic Theses & Dissertations
Description: Since the 1990s, planning theory has focused on the planning process and the engagement of stakeholders. With increasing technologies, attitudinal changes and transformations in lifestyles, new concepts and themes in planning profession seem to emerge at increasing frequencies. Most appear to evolve over a set of good planning principles that have withstood the test of time. Contemporary concepts usually have trendy labels such as New Urbanism, Livable Communities, Sustainable Cities, Smart...
Show moreSince the 1990s, planning theory has focused on the planning process and the engagement of stakeholders. With increasing technologies, attitudinal changes and transformations in lifestyles, new concepts and themes in planning profession seem to emerge at increasing frequencies. Most appear to evolve over a set of good planning principles that have withstood the test of time. Contemporary concepts usually have trendy labels such as New Urbanism, Livable Communities, Sustainable Cities, Smart Cities, Cool Cities and the latest trend of Placemaking. The overarching question that guides this research is what draws planners to continually redefine and market an age-old, fundamentally basic, concept of creating safe, comfortable and attractive places for people?The purpose of this research is to explore and understand the key characteristics of contemporary concepts in urban planning, through the lens of scholarship and theoretical literature and assess whether these concepts are impacting professional planning practice in Michigan. Hence, this dissertation explored answers to the following research questions: 1) How has professional language related to creating places for people evolved since 1990? 2) To what extent do emerging concepts in Urban Planning differ from one another? 3) What planning principles are targeted through contemporary planning concepts? 4) How often do practicing urban planners in Michigan use planning principles and contemporary concepts in their day to day work? and 5) Is there a gap between theory, as evidenced by the knowledge in scholarly literature, and practice within a Michigan context, as it relates to contemporary planning concepts? Methodology of grounded theory guided this research and qualitative research methods were employed. Content analysis of selected scholarly literature and a survey of practicing urban planners were conducted.Ten significant contemporary planning concepts were identified and explored within this study: Creative Cities, Healthy Cities, Livable Cities, New Urbanism, Placemaking, Resilient Cities, Safe Cities, Smart Cities, Smart Growth and Sustainable Cities. The findings from literature analysis demonstrate that each concept has different focus areas and nuances, however, there are also considerable similarities between concepts. A set of 20 planning principles were derived from the scholarly literature on the 10 contemporary concepts. The most pertinent planning principles are related to accessibility, transportation and mobility; citizen participation and collaboration; and green infrastructure. The survey of professional planners, on the other hand, revealed that the principles most often used in practice were considerably different. Only the principle of citizen participation and collaboration overlapped between theory and practice. The other most frequently used planning principles in practice are facilitation of public education and awareness, interdisciplinary collaboration and public-private partnerships and data driven planning. The survey of professionals also showed that the most frequently used contemporary concept is Placemaking, while some of the other popular concepts were Livable Cities, Sustainable Cities and Smart Growth. The gap between theory and practice is best illustrated by the fact that the planning principles most often used by practitioners were related to the least used concepts in practice, or the principles embodied in the most often used concepts were not cited as the most frequently used principles in practice. This suggests that practitioners may use the trendy concept label with little understanding of the premise or principles related to that particular concept. Interestingly, practitioners use planning principles far more frequently in describing their work than popular contemporary concepts. Furthermore, this research proves that the continuous occurrence and evolution of concepts appears to be more of a theoretical exercise and it is not planning practice that is driving the creation of trendy concepts. This two-stage research of examining the theory behind contemporary planning concepts and the survey aimed to reflect on professional planning practice clearly demonstrates the disconnect between planning scholarship and practice.
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Title: Railroad investment and the development of the Chicago region, 1850-1910
Creator: Lown, Cody
Date: 2018
Collection: Electronic Theses & Dissertations
Description: "The purpose of this study is to examine railroad and streetcar development in the city of Chicago and its periphery, covering the years 1848 to 1910. The research explores how investment in rail during this period shaped suburban development and the expansion of the city. Data collection and mapping of railroad and streetcar lines in the Chicago region over these six decades emerges as a major component of this research. "--from the abstract.

Title: Geographic impacts of federally funded state-based obesity programs on adult obesity prevalence in the United States
Creator: Koh, Keumseok
Date: 2016
Collection: Electronic Theses & Dissertations
Description: Approximately one-third of adults in the United States are obese. Following a moderate increase in obesity during the 1970s, obesity prevalence in the U.S. has more than doubled since the 1980s. There are also large black and white disparities in obesity prevalence. Obesity is an important public health problem because it is related to many comorbidities, including heart disease and cancer that cause premature mortality. Since 2000, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)...
Show moreApproximately one-third of adults in the United States are obese. Following a moderate increase in obesity during the 1970s, obesity prevalence in the U.S. has more than doubled since the 1980s. There are also large black and white disparities in obesity prevalence. Obesity is an important public health problem because it is related to many comorbidities, including heart disease and cancer that cause premature mortality. Since 2000, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Division of Nutrition, Physical Activity, and Obesity (DNPAO) has funded 37 state health departments to reduce the rising obesity in populations within their states. Importantly to-date there have not been any national studies evaluating the impacts of these CDC-DNPAO funded programs on changing obesity prevalence within and across funded and non-funded states. This dissertation research therefore, investigated the impacts of CDC-DNPAO state-specific obesity intervention programs on the geography of adult obesity in the United States at the county level. The Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS) and census data comprised the data used for this research. Theoretical frameworks and techniques were applied from the fields of health geography, population geography and economics. This dissertation research included three independent and interrelated studies described below. The first study utilized a spatial microsimulation approach to indirectly estimate obesity prevalence at the county level. Obtaining a comprehensive obesity dataset across all counties is challenging because the BRFSS is designed to estimate obesity prevalence only at the national or state levels. There is a need therefore to apply spatial microsimulation modeling to virtually replicate the demographic characteristics of BRFSS survey respondents and allocate their BMI status at the county level. Obesity prevalence estimates—i.e., the number of obese cases/ population at risk from the spatial microsimulation modeling were mapped to visualize and explore the spatial patterns and detect obesity clusters. Counties in Southern states, especially along the Mississippi River and the Appalachian Mountains, and counties containing or in proximity to American Indian reservation sites had elevated obesity prevalence rates across time, 2000 to 2010. The output from the spatial microsimulation is also used in the subsequent two studies in this dissertation research. The second study evaluated the impact of the CDC-DNPAO programs on obesity prevalence in states with and without funding using an interrupt time series modeling technique to identify where state CDC-DNPAO programs were more or less protective of adult obesity and where to target future interventions. The third study partitioned the variance in obesity prevalence between blacks and whites into explainable and unexplainable portions of obesity using a reweighting decomposition technique to further understand these disparities.The findings from this research identified where programs have been successful in controlling obesity and where to target future interventions to reduce obesity, reduce racial disparities in obesity and improve population health. The translation of this knowledge will also be helpful to reduce obesity in other countries, particularly those countries experiencing a transition toward obesity in their populations.
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Title: Cartographic analysis of populations in Chicago
Creator: Perdue, Nicholas A.
Date: 2012
Collection: Electronic Theses & Dissertations
Description: "The goal of this project is to make the best maps to show how people are concentrated in urban spaces. The conventional methods of measuring density of populations in cities rely on calculations of quantities of people living within a surface boundary and fail to account for the multiple floor residential patterns of the contemporary urban landscape. Conventional population density measurements do not characterize the crowdedness or spaciousness of the lived experience of people within...
Show more"The goal of this project is to make the best maps to show how people are concentrated in urban spaces. The conventional methods of measuring density of populations in cities rely on calculations of quantities of people living within a surface boundary and fail to account for the multiple floor residential patterns of the contemporary urban landscape. Conventional population density measurements do not characterize the crowdedness or spaciousness of the lived experience of people within cities. To create an accurate representation of people in contemporary urban spaces, a move beyond the conventional conception of density is needed. This research aims to find a more appropriate solution to mapping humans in cities by employing a dasymetric method to represent the distribution of people in a city of vertical residential structures."--From abstract.
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Title: THE TOXIC TRUTH : ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE AND ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH OF MOTHERS AND CHILDREN IN MICHIGAN
Creator: Kreuze, Amanda
Date: 2021
Collection: Electronic Theses & Dissertations
Description: The Risk-Screening Environmental Indicators (RSEI) model estimates toxicity-weighted concentrations based on human health risks from modelled exposures to Toxic Release Inventory (TRI) chemicals. Numerous studies have reported on the inequitable distribution of TRI sites and pollutant exposures among minority and low-income populations, which may be leading to poorer health outcomes and contribute to health disparities. Population groups who are most susceptible to the untoward effects of...
Show moreThe Risk-Screening Environmental Indicators (RSEI) model estimates toxicity-weighted concentrations based on human health risks from modelled exposures to Toxic Release Inventory (TRI) chemicals. Numerous studies have reported on the inequitable distribution of TRI sites and pollutant exposures among minority and low-income populations, which may be leading to poorer health outcomes and contribute to health disparities. Population groups who are most susceptible to the untoward effects of pollutants are pregnant women and infants, with minority and poorer women at greatest risk. The goal of this research is to investigate maternal and infant health outcomes associated with TRI chemical exposures in Michigan from 2008-2017 from an environmental justice perspective using an ecosyndemic theoretical approach. The objectives of this research are: 1) To outline the ecosyndemic theoretical approach as a holistic lens by which to conceptualize maternal exposures to multiple toxic chemicals. 2) To investigate the spatial and temporal patterns and clusters of RSEI toxicity-weighted concentrations and the degree to which these human health risks are more elevated in minority and low-income communities. 3) Estimate the impact(s) of maternal exposure to RSEI toxicity-weighted concentrations on adverse birth outcomes, including lethal congenital anomalies, controlling for potential maternal level confounding variables. U.S. Census data was used to measure racial composition and poverty at the census tract level. The annual RSEI toxicity-weighted concentrations across census tracts were sub-divided into exposure quartiles and these were spatially and temporally assigned to each mother’s pregnancy. The analyses were conducted using geographic information systems (GIS) and spatial epidemiological methods including cluster detection techniques. This study found that building upon the ecosyndemic framework the urban areas of Detroit and Grand Rapids were found to contain 80% of the census tracts with the highest RSEI toxicity-weighted concentrations. African Americans, Hispanics and residents living near and below poverty were most likely to live in these census tracts. These inequities persisted over time for African Americans living in Detroit and Grand Rapids and more recently for Hispanics living in Detroit, demonstrating on-going and emerging environmental injustices. Mothers exposed to the highest RSEI quartiles were at higher odds of low birth weight and preterm birth controlling for other known risk factors. The interactions between exposures to highest RSEI quartile and other behavioral and medical risks exacerbated the likelihood of these adverse birth outcomes. Finally, space-time analysis revealed several areas in Michigan with persistent clusters of lethal congenital anomalies. Clusters in Detroit and Muskegon that were in part explained by proximity to RSEI toxicity-weighted concentration values requires further investigation. Based on the study findings, recommendations include increased monitoring of TRI sites, incentivize companies to reduce their use of highly toxic chemicals and add additional environmental justice evaluations when approving new industrial facilities and targeting areas for pollution reduction, particularly census tracts in the highest RSEI quartile where mothers are at greatest risk of adverse birth outcomes. Future research should investigate possible interaction and mediating effects between chemical exposures and maternal behavioral and medical factors, further investigate the clusters of lethal birth defects in Michigan and investigate the upstream forces that contribute to environmental injustices and adverse birth outcomes in Michigan.
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Title: QUALITY OF LIFE IN CONTEMPORARY NEIGHBORHOOD DESIGN INITIATIVES : AN EMPIRICAL STUDY TO ASSESS QUALITY OF LIFE THROUGH SPATIAL DIMENSION IN NEW URBANIST AND LEED-ND CERTIFIED NEIGHBORHOODS
Creator: Shaaban, Amal Hamdy
Date: 2022
Collection: Electronic Theses & Dissertations
Description: The overarching purpose of this study is to analyze qualitatively and quantitatively the spatial characteristics of two types of neighborhoods, namely New Urbanist (NU) neighborhoods and Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certified neighborhoods. LEED certified neighborhoods are commonly referred to as LEED for Neighborhood Development (LEED-ND). In this research study, the spatial quality of these two types of neighborhoods was examined through assessing the quality of five...
Show moreThe overarching purpose of this study is to analyze qualitatively and quantitatively the spatial characteristics of two types of neighborhoods, namely New Urbanist (NU) neighborhoods and Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certified neighborhoods. LEED certified neighborhoods are commonly referred to as LEED for Neighborhood Development (LEED-ND). In this research study, the spatial quality of these two types of neighborhoods was examined through assessing the quality of five dimensions of a neighborhood’s urban form, which are: safety, comfort, connectivity, place making and aesthetic quality. Three types of neighborhoods were selected and examined using two main analytical tools: neighborhood scorecard, and residents’ survey. Two neighborhoods were selected to examine NU neighborhoods in Michigan in the United States, which are Cherry Hill Village (CHV) a greenfield residential development, and Mason Run (MR) a brownfield residential development. The third neighborhood was selected to examine LEED-ND certified neighborhoods, which is Saint Luke (SL) neighborhood in Ohio in the United States. The neighborhood scorecard included a total of 150 design guidelines that yield better Quality of Life (QoL) in residential developments through urban form. The residents’ survey included a set of questions that examined the residents’ perceptions regarding the five physical characteristics necessary to yield better QoL. A total of 154 surveys were collected for data analysis that used one-way ANOVA tests, Tukey’s post-hoc tests, and multiple regression models. The major findings from the neighborhood scorecard are that CHV neighborhood provides was safer than the brownfield NU residential development and the LEED-ND certified neighborhood. Both NU neighborhoods provided more comfortable environments of their residents to live in more than the LEED-ND certified neighborhood. The greenfield NU neighborhood earned more points than the other two neighborhoods in terms of the internal and external connectivity degree of the neighborhood. In terms of fulfilling the recommended design guidelines for place making and aesthetic quality, again the Greenfield NU neighborhood had earned higher points than the other two neighborhoods. The major findings from the survey are: Survey participants living in both NU neighborhoods were more satisfied with their QoL more than the participants living in the LEED-ND certified neighborhood. Also, respondents living in NU neighborhoods perceived their neighborhoods as safer places to live in more than participants living in the LEED-ND certified neighborhood. On the other hand, respondents living in the NU brownfield development perceived their neighborhood as the least comfortable neighborhood. In terms of the internal connectivity of the neighborhood, respondents living in NU greenfield development identified the internal connectivity of their neighborhood as the highest compared to the other two neighborhoods. On the other hand, the perception of the internal connectivity perception was the lowest amongst respondents living in the LEED-ND certified neighborhood. Respondents living in the LEED-ND certified neighborhood had the highest mean in terms of their perceptions of sense of belonging. On the other hand, respondents living in the NU brownfield development had the lowest mean in terms of their perception of sense of belonging. The perception of the aesthetic quality of the neighborhood was the highest among respondents living in the NU greenfield development. On the other hand, the perception of aesthetic quality of the neighborhood was the least among respondents living in NU brownfield development.This research study concludes by suggesting recommendations to improve the principles and design guidelines of NU and LEED-ND certified neighborhoods to achieve better QoL. The recommendations suggest emphasizing certain spatial characteristics that yield better QoL in Greenfield, and brownfield residential developments.
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Title: The augmentation, potential, and practicality of Twitter data for predicting influenza emergency room admissions
Creator: Vertalka, Joshua J.
Date: 2018
Collection: Electronic Theses & Dissertations
Description: Every year, millions of people become infected with one of the many seasonal influenza viruses. These infections may have dire consequences as local hospital Emergency Rooms (ERs) experience sudden surges of influenza patients, causing ambulance diversions and shortages of medical supplies. Current influenza surveillance techniques lack the necessary spatial and temporal fidelity to benefit local hospital systems. This dissertation helps correct that issue through three chapters. Chapter one...
Show moreEvery year, millions of people become infected with one of the many seasonal influenza viruses. These infections may have dire consequences as local hospital Emergency Rooms (ERs) experience sudden surges of influenza patients, causing ambulance diversions and shortages of medical supplies. Current influenza surveillance techniques lack the necessary spatial and temporal fidelity to benefit local hospital systems. This dissertation helps correct that issue through three chapters. Chapter one identifies an approach to augment social media data using the Digital Interaction Program (DIP). DIP uses application program interfaces to digitally converse with and seek social media users' participation in an online questionnaire. This questionnaire is designed to collect spatial and temporal data and augment social media data, such as demographic information. Chapter two uses DIP to identify where and when influenza tweets posted across New York City and London at fine spatial and temporal scales. It was found that on average influenza tweets tend to occur closer to a user's home ZIP Code, in comparison to those users' non-influenza tweets. Therefore, this information suggests that influenza tweets can predict influenza cases at a finer geographic scale than current research suggests. Influenza tweets are most often posted when a user is experiencing peak symptoms, not symptom onset. Finally, Chapter three of this research tests if, when, and to what degree influenza tweets can predict local hospital ER admissions. It was found that most hospitals can use influenza tweets to predict influenza ER admissions on average of about eight days advanced. Chapter three speculates that influenza tweets have the potential to identify influenza propagation between the different age groups in New York City. Therefore, Twitter has the spatial and temporal potential to provide a more timely and spatially accurate influenza surveillance system that is focused on local hospital systems.
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Title: MODELING THE JOINT IMPACTS OF SOCIAL NETWORK AND BUILT ENVIRONMENT ON ADOLESCENTS’ PHYSICAL ACTIVITY
Creator: Liu, Wei
Date: 2021
Collection: Electronic Theses & Dissertations
Description: This research stems from the worldwide public health problem of childhood obesity and insufficient physical activity (PA) among adolescents. Studies have shown that both social networks and the built environment could affect PA, but how do they jointly exert influence? Understanding the scale and mechanism of this joint impact could shed light on developing an effective intervention to promote PA. The goal of this dissertation is to try to disentangle the joint influence of social networks...
Show moreThis research stems from the worldwide public health problem of childhood obesity and insufficient physical activity (PA) among adolescents. Studies have shown that both social networks and the built environment could affect PA, but how do they jointly exert influence? Understanding the scale and mechanism of this joint impact could shed light on developing an effective intervention to promote PA. The goal of this dissertation is to try to disentangle the joint influence of social networks and the built environment on changes in PA through social network analysis and test a novel intervention based on the findings from the social network models. This study uses two waves of Add Health data from two sample schools. Chapter Two investigates how school-based friendship networks could influence Physical Education (PE) class enrollment. Chapter Three examines the influence of home location, neighborhood characteristics, as well as the demographic characteristics and change in PA of peers who were nominated as friends in the Add Health social survey on high school student’s friend selection and PA dynamics between two academic years. Chapter Four presents a spatial agent-based model that was derived from the social network model and integrates a location-based mobile game similar to Pokémon Go as a PA-promoting intervention to test different intervention scenarios. Through this research, I demonstrate that friends’ PE enrollment status has a weak influence on the change of individual’s PE enrollment in two consecutive years. Another observation is that student’s total PA change can affect their PA behaviors. Contrarily, the built environment of the neighborhood did not prove to exert significant influence. Due to social influence, students participating in an intervention program may cause a change in PA of non-participants, i.e., we can observe a spillover effect of the intervention program. This dissertation enriches the field of health geography by integrating social network analysis and spatial thinking to jointly investigate the influence of environmental and social spaces and to facilitate a more comprehensive understanding of the complex system of childhood obesity. It also extends existing models and provides a spatial agent-based model as an intervention exploration tool that can be calibrated for research and education by other scholars.
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Title: A POST-CONSTRUCTION EVALUATION OF LONG-TERM SUCCESS IN LEED-CERTIFIED RESIDENTIAL COMMUNITIES
Creator: Goodarzi, Mohsen
Date: 2021
Collection: Electronic Theses & Dissertations
Description: Project success has been the focus of several studies and traditionally, the iron triangle factors (time, cost, and scope) have been the focus in evaluating project success. However recently, the importance of the long-term evaluation of project success has been highlighted, which evaluates the successful performance of the projects at the post-construction stage with a focus on three main aspects of sustainability, satisfaction, and life cycle performance. This study evaluates multiple...
Show moreProject success has been the focus of several studies and traditionally, the iron triangle factors (time, cost, and scope) have been the focus in evaluating project success. However recently, the importance of the long-term evaluation of project success has been highlighted, which evaluates the successful performance of the projects at the post-construction stage with a focus on three main aspects of sustainability, satisfaction, and life cycle performance. This study evaluates multiple aspects of long-term project success by setting sustainability as the baseline and finding the relationships between the performance of the built environment and residential satisfaction in sustainable residential communities. This study was conducted in two phases; in the first phase, the relationship between the actual performance of infrastructure and sustainability of LEED-certified residential communities was evaluated to compare the consistency of sustainability evaluation criteria in theory and practice. In the second phase, the perceived performance of the discussed infrastructure attributes as well as several building and neighborhood attributes were evaluated to understand their relationships with residential satisfaction and test the consistency of sustainability evaluation criteria with people’s perception and judgments in determining the long-term success of these projects. The data for the first phase of the research was collected from www.usgbc.org and walkscore.com and in the second phase, an online survey was conducted to collect data from the residents of LEED-certified residential communities as the experiment group (n=192) and the residents of conventional residential communities as the control group (n=183). The first phase of this study used a multiple regression analysis to evaluate the relationship between infrastructure performance and sustainability. In the second phase, a confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was performed to validate the measurement model. A structural equation modeling (SEM) was then conducted to evaluate the relationships between the perceived performance of the built environment and residential satisfaction. The most influential attributes in determining residential satisfaction were then determined through path analyses and finally, a multiple-group CFA (MGCFA) was carried out to evaluate the effect of sustainability on the perceived performance of the built environment and residential satisfaction. As one of the important findings of this study, it was indicated that evaluation of factors such as walking infrastructure that is considered as an important criterion in determining sustainability shows discrepancy in theory and practice. Besides, LEED-certified community residents illustrated the very high importance of this factor in determining satisfaction. This finding highlighted the importance of considering the users' perceptions and judgments in developing sustainability standards. This study contributes to the body of knowledge by developing a comprehensive post-construction evaluation model that considers multiple aspects of the long-term project success by including the feedback and judgments of residents regarding their living environment. The findings of this research can be beneficial for the improvement of housing and community sustainability standards by including the users' opinions in decision-making.
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Title: GEOGRAPHIC APPLICATIONS OF KNOWLEDGE-RICH MACHINE LEARNING APPROACHES IN SPATIOTEMPORAL DATA ANALYSIS
Creator: Hatami bahman beiglou, Pouyan
Date: 2021
Collection: Electronic Theses & Dissertations
Description: In the modern realm of pervasive, frequent, sizable and instant data capturing with advancements in instrumentation, data generation and data gathering techniques, we can benefit new prospects to comprehend and analyze the role of geography in everyday life. However, traditional geographic data analytics are now strictly challenged by the volume, velocity, variety and veracity of the data requiring analysis to extract value. As a result, geographic data science has garnered great interest in...
Show moreIn the modern realm of pervasive, frequent, sizable and instant data capturing with advancements in instrumentation, data generation and data gathering techniques, we can benefit new prospects to comprehend and analyze the role of geography in everyday life. However, traditional geographic data analytics are now strictly challenged by the volume, velocity, variety and veracity of the data requiring analysis to extract value. As a result, geographic data science has garnered great interest in the past two decades. Considering that much of data science’s success is formed outside of geography, there is an increased risk within such perspectives that location will remain simply as an additional column within a database, no more or less important than any other feature. Geographic data science combines this data with spatial and temporal components. The spatial and temporal dependence allow us to interpolate and extrapolate to fill gaps in the presence of inadequate data and infer reasonable approximations elsewhere by incorporating information from diverse data types and sources. However, within scientific communities there exist arguments regarding whether geographic data science is a scientific discipline of its own. Because data science is still in its early adoption phases in geography, geographic data science is required to develop its unique concepts, differentiating itself from other disciplines such as statistics or computer science. This becomes possible when geographers, within a community of practice, are enabled to learn and connect the current tools, methods, and domain knowledge to address the existing challenges of geographic data analysis. To take a step toward that purpose, in this dissertation, three knowledge-rich applications of data science in the analysis of geographic spatiotemporal big datasets are studied, and the opportunities and challenges facing this research along the way are explored. The first chapter of this dissertation is allocated to review the challenges and opportunities in the era of spatiotemporal big data, followed by tackling three different problems within geography, one within the subfield of human geography, and two within physical geography. Finally, in the last chapter, some final thoughts on the current state of geographic data science are discussed and the potential for future studies are considered.
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Title: Governmental narratives of health, gender, and place in the early Turkish republic
Creator: Baylis, David Lee
Date: 2015
Collection: Electronic Theses & Dissertations
Description: The narrative production of healthful and diseased environments and populations was a central feature of the nascent Turkish republic’s efforts to distance itself from its Ottoman legacy. In this dissertation, I explore the production of these narratives while paying particular attention to gendered tropes of health and place. This work builds on prior studies in geography that recognize certain spatial sensitivities in Foucault’s approaches to history, knowledge, and power. The...
Show moreThe narrative production of healthful and diseased environments and populations was a central feature of the nascent Turkish republic’s efforts to distance itself from its Ottoman legacy. In this dissertation, I explore the production of these narratives while paying particular attention to gendered tropes of health and place. This work builds on prior studies in geography that recognize certain spatial sensitivities in Foucault’s approaches to history, knowledge, and power. The archaeological and genealogical methods, applied by Foucault to the spatial dispersions of power/knowledge implicated in the production of subject forming discourses ranging from ‘discipline’ and ‘madness’ to ‘sexuality’ and ‘biopolitics’ reached their zenith for geographers in the so-called “governmentality lectures”. This dissertation builds on insights from Foucault and his geographic legacy to assess the production of governmental discourses pertaining to health, gender, and place in the early Turkish republic. Specifically, I address the production of “sanitary citizenship” and “scientific motherhood” as they emerged from various discursive formations dispersed throughout Anatolia: the Ministry of Health and Social Welfare’s “Medical and Social Geographies”, the novels of Yakup Kadri Karaosmanoğlu, the writings of Dr. Besim Ömer (Akalın), and the journal published by theTurkish Red Crescent Society. This historical study adds insight to contemporary debates about body politics and public health in Turkey.
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Title: Technology development under uncertainty : assessing the impacts of covid-19 on autonomous vehicle development
Creator: Parcell, John
Date: 2020
Collection: Electronic Theses & Dissertations
Description: The introduction of new, transformative technologies into societies has the potential to change nearly all aspects of contemporary life. Existing literature has focused on the presumed benefits that this technology will have for communities using data from community surveys, simulated models, and small pilot programs. However, there is little written about how a large-scale disruption, such as a pandemic, may slow down or accelerate the development of new technology. This dissertation...
Show moreThe introduction of new, transformative technologies into societies has the potential to change nearly all aspects of contemporary life. Existing literature has focused on the presumed benefits that this technology will have for communities using data from community surveys, simulated models, and small pilot programs. However, there is little written about how a large-scale disruption, such as a pandemic, may slow down or accelerate the development of new technology. This dissertation explores how a pandemic influences the speed of the deployment of new technology and the decision-making associated with those processes. Phase one of this research explores how this pandemic impacted technology deployment using key stakeholder interviews completed with individuals associated with the development process of NAIAS 2020 autonomous shuttles. Phase two of this research used the interview data to create a survey tool for a Delphi Study to gain consensus among international autonomous vehicle experts using surveys to determine the extent to which the pandemic response policies benefitted or hindered the technology development process. The findings of the dissertation indicate that the pandemic hindered technology development, however, the development process is long-term, and this topic should be revisited in the coming decade. The legacies of this event will provide guidance that will shape policy formation for managing the impacts of large-scale disruptions.
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Title: KNOWLEDGE SPILLOVERS AND SAFE DRINKING WATER ACT COMPLIANCE
Creator: Redican, Kyle James
Date: 2022
Collection: Electronic Theses & Dissertations
Description: In the wake of the 2014 Flint Water Crisis, researchers, regulators, and utility professionals have given increased attention to understanding drivers of (CWS) Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA) compliance by community water systems (CWSs). Most of this research has only explored system traits while ignoring the vital role of human capital, especially the operator. The status of CWS operators can vary widely between different systems. More critically, scholars have not investigated how effective...
Show moreIn the wake of the 2014 Flint Water Crisis, researchers, regulators, and utility professionals have given increased attention to understanding drivers of (CWS) Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA) compliance by community water systems (CWSs). Most of this research has only explored system traits while ignoring the vital role of human capital, especially the operator. The status of CWS operators can vary widely between different systems. More critically, scholars have not investigated how effective external linkages between CWS operators have impacted SDWA compliance. Drawing from the theories of Organizational Learning’s inter-organizational learning, Innovation Systems’ knowledge transfers, and Agglomeration Economics’ knowledge spillovers, I hypothesized that increased interactions between CWS operators, facilitated in part by geographic proximity, would lead to more information sharing, increased CWS performance, and fewer SDWA violations. Remarkably little is known about the drivers of inter-operator interactions or whether such interactions improve SDWA compliance, and this research helped fill the data gap through a large-sample survey of CWS operators in Michigan to capture the frequency of interactions along with a range of operator and system characteristics which may explain why some operators participate in more inter-operator interactions than others. With this novel dataset, along with publicly available system and community data, this research first investigated what endogenous operator characteristics were associated with more reported inter-operator interactions. Through multiple methods on reported operator interactions, the Utility and Contract operators and operators with memberships in professional organizations appear more likely to report more interactions than Non-Affiliated operators and all operators who were not members of professional organizations. Second, based on Tobler’s first law of geography, there should be some spatial autocorrelation in the number of reported interactions, and this was tested using variogram modeling. Observed spatial autocorrelation indicated location-based differences in the number of reported interactions. Third, we used multiple methods to explore the primary research question to identify endogenous and spatial drivers of reported inter-operator interactions. Multiple models found that rural districts had a higher probability of fewer SDWA violations with increased interactions, while the urban districts had the inverse relationship. Fourth, the research incorporated CWS-specific and operator-specific variables, as the operator-specific data were not independent of the CWS observations (since some operators run multiple CWSs). I used a Generalized Linear Mixed-Model to estimate these relationships accounted for the multiple levels and found that more interactions increased the probability of SDWA compliance for certain types of operators. The broader implications of this research encourage stakeholders to pursue more inter-operator interactions as a low-cost mechanism to increase SDWA compliance. Seven avenues to increase interactions are outlined, ranging from open operator contact lists to operator focus groups to identify common problems and solutions to creating a state-level operator mentorship program to support new operators.
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Title: Entrepreneurial propensity : the constraining and enabling factors of institutional environments on women faculty in engineering
Creator: Pierre, Lisa-Marie
Date: 2019
Collection: Electronic Theses & Dissertations
Description: Research on women entrepreneurs over the last 40 years has centered on comparative studies between men and women related to sociodemographic, perceptual, and contextual factors. An emerging area for research is studying contextual factors such as corporations, households, family businesses, and universities. Using an institutional theory framing, this study explored the constraining and enabling factors institutions have on the entrepreneurial propensity of women faculty at Michigan State...
Show moreResearch on women entrepreneurs over the last 40 years has centered on comparative studies between men and women related to sociodemographic, perceptual, and contextual factors. An emerging area for research is studying contextual factors such as corporations, households, family businesses, and universities. Using an institutional theory framing, this study explored the constraining and enabling factors institutions have on the entrepreneurial propensity of women faculty at Michigan State University and the University of Michigan. Given the gaps in the women's entrepreneurship knowledge base, the following research question was asked: how do university policy, support measures, and reward systems constrain or enable the entrepreneurial activity of white women faculty in engineering? A qualitative case study approach was used to collect and analyze the data. Interviews were the primary data source and documents were the secondary data source. Pattern matching was used to analyze the data. Findings show that university promotion methods and the number of faculty job responsibilities were constraining factors. The factor that was enabling to white women engineering faculty at both universities, was the ability to act as a change agent who shapes new institutional environments.
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Title: Exploring the diversity of gentrification and the role of gender in Hong Kong, 1986 to 2006
Creator: Ye, Minting
Date: 2014
Collection: Electronic Theses & Dissertations
Description: Gentrification is restructuring the geography of cities all over the world (Clark, 2005; Hackworth and Smith, 2001; Lees, 2000; Smith and Defilippis, 1999; Wyly and Hammel, 1999). As a global city, Hong Kong experienced a transformation from an industrial to a specialized services and high-tech economy in the late 20th century (Ho, 1992; Lo, 1997; 2005). Accompanying this shift, there has been a notable drive for urban redevelopment that has fundamentally altered the physical and social...
Show moreGentrification is restructuring the geography of cities all over the world (Clark, 2005; Hackworth and Smith, 2001; Lees, 2000; Smith and Defilippis, 1999; Wyly and Hammel, 1999). As a global city, Hong Kong experienced a transformation from an industrial to a specialized services and high-tech economy in the late 20th century (Ho, 1992; Lo, 1997; 2005). Accompanying this shift, there has been a notable drive for urban redevelopment that has fundamentally altered the physical and social characteristics of Hong Kong's neighborhoods. Despite the economic and built environment transformations in Hong Kong, not much attention has been given to neighborhood displacement of the poor, including women. With a focus on gentrification, I examine the various types of physical and social upgrading processes in Hong Kong from 1986 to 2006 and explore how women were involved in or affected by these redevelopment processes. This research answers the following four major questions: 1) How extensive have gentrification processes been within Hong Kong between the years 1986 and 2006? 2) What is the degree of displacement that has resulted from gentrification in Hong Kong during these years? 3) Have redevelopment efforts in Hong Kong resulted in a diversity of gentrification processes and what are some of their basic characteristics? 4) What is the role of women in Hong Kong's gentrification? Principal component analysis and K-means clustering are used to identify areas within Hong Kong that are experiencing physical and social upgrading. From the quantitative analysis, three neighborhoods--Tiu Keng Leng, Kennedy Town, and Yuen Long--are selected for a qualitative study of neighborhood change, and an examination into the complexity and the diversity of capital reinvestment, social conflict, and displacement. These three neighborhoods are also used to show the diversity in the role of women in gentrification.Results shows that in different parts of Hong Kong, gentrification is driven by different agents and diverse redevelopment processes that have resulted in a range of displaced income groups. The case study of Hong Kong reaffirms the importance of the extra-ordinary powers of the state in driving gentrification. It also reveals the increasing importance of the private sector initiating large-scale redevelopment and displacement. In addition, women are involved in or affected by gentrification in different ways in different parts of the city. Besides being an agent of gentrification, women are also the prominent segment of the urban population who are most vulnerable to displacement. The scale of gentrification and displacement is extensive in Hong Kong. The criticism by some researchers that gentrification is a highly limited process within small areas of the inner city is challenged by this research. This study of gentrification across an entire city shows that capital reinvestment and displacement is extensive and affects large areas of the city.
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Title: Examining the preferences and perceived pyschological benefits of urban parks by socioeconomic status : a case study in Lansing, Michigan
Creator: McWhorter, Jeremy
Date: 2013
Collection: Electronic Theses & Dissertations
Description: "Few studies have investigated the relationship between socioeconomic status/social class and landscapes, both natural and developed, and how they are perceived. In this study, perceptions of resident visitors were surveyed in three socioeconomically (SES) stratified (high, medium, and low) neighborhoods in Lansing, Michigan in the summer of 2013."--From abstract.

Title: Governance, commodification, and urban development : metropolitan Detroit residential associations as a vehicle for governance commodification
Creator: Wray, Jennifer Elizabeth
Date: 2017
Collection: Electronic Theses & Dissertations
Description: Governance is defined as creating conditions for ordered rule and collective action but is not limited to the formal institutions and actors defined by government (Stoker 1998). Exercising governance requires governing capacity, the formal and factual capability of public or private actors to define the content, delivery, and consumption of public goods and to shape the social, economic, and political processes by which these goods are provided (Knill and Lehmkuhl 2002). American local...
Show moreGovernance is defined as creating conditions for ordered rule and collective action but is not limited to the formal institutions and actors defined by government (Stoker 1998). Exercising governance requires governing capacity, the formal and factual capability of public or private actors to define the content, delivery, and consumption of public goods and to shape the social, economic, and political processes by which these goods are provided (Knill and Lehmkuhl 2002). American local governance noticeably changed in the early 1960's with the emergence of Homeowners Associations (HOAs). HOAs are established by developers when property is subdivided and become governing bodies responsible for upholding restrictions, providing services, and maintaining the commons after properties are sold (McKenzie 2005; McCabe 2011). HOAs are automatic, mandatory membership organizations, chartered under state law, and have a corporate structure and purpose (McKenzie 2005; McCabe 2011). Infrastructure, amenities, and aesthetic standards are legally governed by HOAs but enforced by state authorities. This dissertation focuses on urban change and governance transformations while recognizing that cultural, economic, and political globalization processes are embedded and institutionalized realities of urban life in a global capitalist system. Understanding how development and governance transformations can affect a metropolis requires examination of a metropolitan area that has experienced such transitions. Residential governance associations have had a strong presence in Detroit, neighborhood associations and deed restrictions have been documented long before HOAs emerged (Sugrue 2014). I explore spatial social inequality in metropolitan Detroit utilizing a governance commodification framework and by analyzing census and governance association data for Detroit and nearby suburb Troy, Michigan. Specifically, I ask what is the relationship between population characteristics and association development in Metropolitan Detroit? Since association governance structures are designed to protect property maintenance and values, what spatial relationships exist between population characteristics, and association development? Analyzing governance commodification through residential governance associations facilitates an in-depth understanding of governance and is worthy of sociological inquiry because governance commodification side-steps democracy while creating and defending inequality. Residential governance associations have the ability to create exclusive benefits and provide traditionally public services creating hierarchical classes of citizenship expressed spatially. Simply, residential governance associations are an additional level of governance created to provide exclusive benefits and subsequently create class differences between those with associations and those without.
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Title: Technology and place : a geography of waste-to-energy in the United States
Creator: Howell, Jordan Patterson
Date: 2013
Collection: Electronic Theses & Dissertations
Description: The adoption of technologies differs across space, for reasons attributed to economics, politics, and culture, but also due to limitations imposed by both the physical environment and the technology itself. This dissertation considers the case of waste-to-energy (WTE) incinerators in the United States, and asks why this technology is used in some places but rejected in others. The answer to this simple question is remarkably complex, as understandings and arguments about technology and the...
Show moreThe adoption of technologies differs across space, for reasons attributed to economics, politics, and culture, but also due to limitations imposed by both the physical environment and the technology itself. This dissertation considers the case of waste-to-energy (WTE) incinerators in the United States, and asks why this technology is used in some places but rejected in others. The answer to this simple question is remarkably complex, as understandings and arguments about technology and the environment are mobilized differently by various actors to champion, oppose, or in some cases remain ambivalent about the installation and operation of WTE facilities.In this dissertation I explore the geography of WTE incineration in the United States since the 19th century. Informed by the insights of actor-network theory and the social construction of technology school, I employ the tools of discourse analysis to examine published and unpublished statements, papers, project studies, policy briefs, and archival materials generated alongside the development of WTE facilities in the United States, considering the specific case studies discussed below but also WTE technology in general. I look at federal, state, and local environmental agency documents as well as the papers of consulting firms, environmental and industry advocacy groups, and private companies. I also devote significant attention to the analysis of news media outlets in communities where WTE facilities are located or have been considered. In addition to these literal texts, I examine non-written and visual materials associated with WTE facilities, including films, websites, signage and logos, advertising campaigns, facility architecture, and artwork, as well as more abstract `texts' such as industry conferences, trade-show handouts, promotional materials, and academic and industry research programs. I build on this textual analysis with observations of WTE facilities in action.After an introductory chapter, I offer a review of relevant literature in the fields of geography, science and technology studies, and allied disciplines focusing especially on topics of solid waste, energy, and infrastructure. I then trace the historical geography of WTE around the world but focusing on the United States and the role of the federal government (especially the Office of Solid Waste at the US Environmental Protection Agency), engineering consulting firms, and professional solid waste management organizations in shaping understandings of both waste management problems and solutions to those problems. Next, I move into two case studies, employing a critical realist perspective to de-compose the arguments made for and against WTE: first, in an instance where WTE has been considered several times but never adopted (Maui, Hawaii), and second, where the technology was deployed amidst great controversy (Detroit, Michigan). In the final chapter, I summarize my main arguments and findings before examining a more limited case study of a site where WTE is accepted as an integral part of solid waste management, the `ecomaine' facility in Portland, Maine. The case studies pay close attention to the unique environmental, political, cultural, and economic contexts surrounding the decisions made. While representing a wide array of circumstances, from these case studies I offer some conclusions about the processes of technological and environmental decision-making that have impacted WTE before making some policy recommendations for solid waste management in the US.
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Title: Creating public assets from brownfields : a comparison of practices in the United States and Germany
Creator: Meitl, Cassi Marie
Date: 2015
Collection: Electronic Theses & Dissertations
Description: Contaminated, vacant, or derelict lands, commonly known as brownfields, offer opportunities for economic growth, community revitalization, and increasing resident’s quality of life. Due to numerous social, economic, and political forces, brownfields are becoming increasingly concentrated in previously industrial cities and urban areas in the United States and Europe. Literature is readily available on brownfield definitions, policies that guide brownfield management, barriers and challenges...
Show moreContaminated, vacant, or derelict lands, commonly known as brownfields, offer opportunities for economic growth, community revitalization, and increasing resident’s quality of life. Due to numerous social, economic, and political forces, brownfields are becoming increasingly concentrated in previously industrial cities and urban areas in the United States and Europe. Literature is readily available on brownfield definitions, policies that guide brownfield management, barriers and challenges to remediation, and economic and environmental benefits of redevelopment. Research is limited on public sector brownfield redevelopment strategies. Many of the previous planning efforts and much of the existing literature is centered on private investment in brownfield sites and vacant land where the site remains commercial or industrial and the process excludes community involvement.This study focuses on public investment in the adaptive reuse of brownfields by assessing applicable policies and programs, exploring funding practices, and addressing misconceptions about public investment in brownfield redevelopment in the US and Germany. General and location specific information is gathered from scholarly journals and articles, and existing public documents and records, and details on current processes and experiences are revealed through case studies of redevelopment projects in Michigan and the Ruhr region.
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