Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Economic efficiency of urban areas'

The aim of the thesis is to analyse how to measure an economic pillar of sustainable urban development when it is understood in terms of qualitative city development. This principly means achieving economic prosperity which does not lead to damage of the city areas and decrease the quality of life for its residents. This approach requires the creation of an appropriate set of indicators that will cover qualitative aspects of sustainable economic development. The first section summarizes existing approaches to the definition of sustainable development and ways of measuring both on the Czech and the international level. There are also defined basic characteristics of the urban development which are appropriate to express a qualitative development of the city. The second part is focused on existing ways in which sustainable development is measured, i.e. especially in the context of indicator sets. These are under detailed assessment which aim is to show how useful is to measure the economic sustainability from the qualitative point of view. In this part, the limits of using economic macro aggregates (especially Gross Domestic Product) is emphasized because there are still regarded as one of the key economic indicators of sustainable development. In the next part the thesis deals with the definition of economic prosperity and focuses on the characteristics typical for short, medium and long term perspective. Measurement of sustainable urban development in the short term is based on assessment of financial situation. From the medium-term point of view, it is crucial to assess how the city handles its property, i.e. mainly buildings and land. These property components are substantial for a further direction of city development. In the next section are designed indicators aimed at measuring the ability of the city to maintain a skilled workforce which is one of the most important conditions of long-term economic prosperity. The final theoretical part of the thesis is focused on how the long-term sustainable urban development is to be expressed in an economic way through the assessment of investments in urban infrastructure and its operational efficiency. The designed set of indicators is verified on case studies of three medium-sized Czech cities.

Master of Regional and Community Planning
Department of Landscape Architecture/Regional and Community Planning
Jae Hong-Kim
The concept of Live-Work-Play has grown in popularity in the field of planning, as various strands of the planning literature increasingly have highlighted the potential benefits of providing places to live, work, and play in close proximity. This study explores the theoretical foundations of the Live-Work-Play concept and discusses its effectiveness as a strategy for creating vibrant urban areas by reforming the spatial arrangement of the built environments. More specifically, the present study empirically examines how the segregation or the mixture of places to live, work, and play may create differences in terms of growth, inequality, education, the built environment, and transportation by analyzing the Boston metropolitan region as an example. The empirical analysis with the use of census tract level socio-economic data shows that the Live-Work-Play mixes can encourage more desirable travel patterns, while the mixes may not significantly promote growth in small areas. However, the analysis also revealed racial and income inequalities exist in the provision of the mixes in the Boston region. These findings suggest planners carefully should consider the equity issues when adopting the Live-Work-Play concept and providing its potential benefits.

Thesis (M.C.P.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Urban Studies and Planning, 2009.
Cataloged from PDF version of thesis.
Includes bibliographical references (p. 95-100).
Energy efficiency is an important consideration in energy policy-making. So, a federal program aimed at funding "energy efficiency retrofits" for low-income households could be an important step in increasing the overall efficiency of energy use in America. If each eligible household reduces the amount of energy it currently wastes by weatherizing, the US could save 127 billion pounds of carbon dioxide. The Department of Energy's Weatherization Assistance Program, that performs energy efficiency retrofits for low-income households, has been funded by over a 20- fold increase due to Stimulus Funding (formally, the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009). This increase has caused a serious need for a labor ramp-up to meet the program implementation goals of 1 million to 2 million low-income homes weatherized per year, as compared with the previous level of 100,000 homes a year. This program will only work, however, if the necessary workers can be trained and deployed quickly. This need for labor ramp-up creates a puzzle though. The interests of expanding the weatherization effort quickly and effectively are often posed against the interest of creating quality jobs for marginalized workers. The stakeholders representing each interest-low-income energy efficiency advocates and Green Collar Job Advocates-are both working for the interests of the low-income people, creating some hope for a positive, mutually agreeable solution.
(cont.) This thesis attempts to bridge this gap by documenting how the need for thousands of weatherization workers might be handled in a way that not only stimulates the national economy-the primary goal of the current national economic stimulus effort--but also provides Auditor and Installer jobs for marginalized workers in a way that leads to fruitful long-term employment. Based on my review of ramp-up and weatherization efforts in Massachusetts, I find that collaborative efforts involving existing Community Action Programs, labor unions, Utility companies, neighborhood organizations and educational institutions that prioritize training for long-term skill development may well be possible to promote energy efficiency in a way that addresses both our long-term need to reduce the burning of fossil fuel and our urgent need to stimulate the US economy and improve the economic lot of the most marginalized in US society.
by Amit Sarin.
M.C.P.

Rapid urbanization, which is one of the major problems of contemporary era, created cities as the major destroying centers of nature and ecology by human beings. In this respect, urban agriculture takes place in urban areas as a new way to meet nature and urban for improving the quality of life in the last decades. Despite the belief that agricultural activities always take place in rural areas, agriculture in urban areas would provide citizens many opportunities in terms of social, economic and environmental aspects. This study aims to identify the notions of urban agriculture, and to investigate its economic, social and environmental impacts by exemplifying the different practices around world. It focuses on Black Sea Towns of Turkey in the case of Rize where agriculture is occupied in important parts of urban and rural areas. Unique features of agriculture in urban areas as they differ from other implementations in the world are examined. In this thesis, UA is considered as socio-economic and townscape value in the city. In the case of Rize, urban agriculture appears as an indispensable part of social life that bears the imprint of rural background of the cities.

The chapters of this dissertation examine efficiency failures in three areas of applied microeconomics: experimental economics, public finance, and game theory. In each case, we look at ways to resolve these failures to promote the public good. The first chapter, “An Experimental Test of the Pigovian Hypothesis,” looks at two different policies designed to reduce congestion in a common-pool resource (CPR). We present an experiment with training and a simplified decision task and find that subject behavior converges to the Nash prediction over a number of periods. A Pigovian subsidy effectively moves subject behavior to the pre-subsidy social optimum. Finally, we find a significant but non-persistent effect of information provision in moving subjects toward the social optimum. The second chapter, “Apples to Apples to Oranges,” looks at efficiency and equity failures across states resulting from public expenditure. This chapter introduces an extension of the Representative Expenditure System that uses regression methods and both state and metropolitan statistical area (MSA) level data, allowing for comparability of input costs, service requirements, and levels of need. The regression-based results are robust across state- and MSA-level formulations, although state-level approaches overestimate need for larger, less populous states. All regression-based results diverge from previous workload-based approaches. The third chapter, “Evading Nash Traps in Two-Player Simultaneous Games,” looks at efficiency failures in two-player simultaneous games. This chapter presents two new concepts: “détente” and “no-initiative,” in which players consider their own strategies and other-best-responses. We discuss their efficiency and descriptive properties across a set of simultaneous games.

Master of Regional and Community Planning
Department of Landscape Architecture/Regional and Community Planning
Jae Hong Kim
Professional sports stadium development projects are major civic endeavors, and city officials and sports franchises often promise stadiums will generate significant gains in the regional economy. This study examines the effectiveness of stadium development in inducing economic development and urban revitalization by conducting a secondary data analysis, and case study of PNC Park and Heinz Field in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Consistent with prior empirical studies, the secondary data analysis shows that stadium projects do not always produce significant regional economic benefits. A close investigation of the two stadium projects in the North Shore neighborhood of Pittsburgh, however, finds substantially positive effects on investment and physical development at the district level. The present research suggests that stadium developments can be a more powerful urban redevelopment catalyst when consideration is given to four essential factors – location, design, institutional structure, and history and timing.

Traffic congestion continues to be a growing problem for cities of all sizes in the United States. Transportation agencies in urban areas are facing the difficult challenges of providing an efficient and reliable transportation system for residents and businesses despite ever-diminishing resources. Agencies in these areas need the capability of determining the future benefits of transportation investments so they can communicate this information to the public. This capability is difficult for many agencies, especially some of the smaller ones, who may not have the resources to make these analyses without turning to expensive long-range models. This research uses readily available socio-economic, land use, and traffic congestion data from many of the Texas urban areas to create prediction models to estimate future traffic congestion levels. Many of the transportation agencies that could utilize this tool do not have the resources to deal with large complex databases. Thus, basic information such as income, employment, single family residences, or commercial properties, to name a few, is used to create the predictions models. Results from this research show that traffic congestion prediction models can be created from socio-economic and land use data. These models were created for eighteen individual Texas urban areas and several combinations of areas. Transportation agencies could use the results of this research to estimate future congestion in their respective areas.

The future mobile communication networks are expected to cope with growing local usage patterns especially in dense urban areas at more affordable deployment and operation expenses. Beyond leveraging small cell architectures and advanced radio access technologies; more radio spectrum are expected to be required to achieve the desired techno-economic targets. However, securing efficient radio spectrum resources remain a challenging task especially in the bands with favored propagation characteristics. Therefore, the research activity has been directed towards discussing the benefits and needs for more flexible and local spectrum authorization schemes. This thesis work is meant to be a contribution to this ongoing discussion from a techno-economic perspective  that aim to investigate three main questions: (i) how can the need for and benefit of local spectrum authorization schemes be valued from the perspective of established mobile network operators, and (ii) Will the shift towards more flexible and local spectrum authorization schemes impact the existing mobile service ecosystem and in what manner. In chapter three, the role and value of the different local spectrum authorization schemes in shaping an economic viable provision strategy for the targeted local mobile services in future dense urban areas are investigated. For this purpose, the opportunity cost approach is used to evaluate the elasticity of substitution between the spectrum resources and network infrastructure. The main results in chapter three indicate the economic incentives to deploy more small cells based on local spectrum authorization schemes are subject to the additional deployment and operation costs that can be avoided if a macro-cell layer is deployed instead. However, the backhaul links costs and additional radio equipment cost for aggregating spectrum resources in different bands at the small cell level will have high impact on the anticipated  engineering value. Nonetheless; in dense and very dense deployment scenarios of small cells, where the density of radio sites is equal or larger than the active mobile subscribers' density, access more spectrum resources based on local authorization schemes will have a key role in providing the targeted high mean instantaneous data rate per active end-subscriber. Moreover, established actors (e.g. incumbent MNOs) experiencing shortage in their licensed spectrum resources can evaluate the spectrum value base on their ability to offer the targeted mobile services in strategic spotty local areas. While in chapter four, the possible business and cooperation models around local shared spectrum authorization from the perspectives of established mobile network operators (MNOs) and emerging local network operators (LNOs) are identified. From the perspective of an established MNO, the strategic value of the flexible spectrum authorization option could be very high in certain local environments with potential high return on investment (ROI). On the other hand, emerging actors can benefit from the flexible spectrum authorization options to focus on the niche market in certain local areas. Other viable business models for an emerging actor rest with the possibility to enter into different cooperation agreements to deploy and operate dedicated local mobile infrastructure on behalf established mobile network operators; especially in situations where the deployment of mobile networks brings extra activities and overheads to the MNOs.  Moreover, by allowing other actors, rather than the traditional mobile network operators, to access spectrum resource at a reasonable or no cost, one of the major traditional investment barriers in mobile market will be relaxed and consequently more independent business models may emerge. As an example, actors with sufficient technical expertise such as network equipment vendors may exploit local shared spectrum resources to provide tailored local mobile services and enter into different roaming agreements with established mobile network operators.

QC 20170411

The future mobile communication networks are expected to cope with growing local usage patterns especially in dense urban areas at more affordable deployment and operation expenses. Beyond leveraging small cell architectures and advanced radio access technologies; more radio spectrum are expected to be required to achieve the desired techno-economic targets. Therefore, the research activity has been directed towards discussing the benefits and needs for more flexible and local spectrum authorization schemes. This thesis work is meant to be a contribution to this ongoing discussion from a techno-economic perspective.   In chapter three, the engineering value of the different flexible authorization options are evaluated from the perspective of established mobile network operators using the opportunity cost approach. The main results in chapter three indicate the economic incentives to deploy more small cells based on flexible spectrum authorization options are subject to the potential saving in the deployment and operation costs. Nonetheless; high engineering value can be anticipated when the density of small cells is equal or larger than the active mobile subscribers’ density.   While in chapter four, the possible local business models around different flexible authorization options are investigated from the perspective of emerging actors with limited or ’no’ licensed spectrum resources. In this context, dependent or independent local business can be identified according to surrounding spectrum regulations. On possible independent local business models for those emerging actors is to exploit the different flexible spectrum authorization options to provision tailored local mobile services. Other viable dependent local business models rest with the possibility to enter into different cooperation agreements to deploy and operate dedicated local mobile infrastructure on behalf established mobile network operators.

QC 20170510

In an urban context characterised by concentrated and persistent deprivation there has been a history of policy intervention albeit with limited impact. Michael Porter's US inspired City Growth Strategy (CGS) initiative presented an alternative approach to urban economic regeneration within the UK characterised by a focus on the competitive advantages of deprived urban areas and a leading role for the private sector within the policy making process. This thesis investigates the implementation of the City Growth Strategy in two areas of London (Haringey and the City Fringe) to explore wider issues of economic competitiveness and governance in relation to deprived urban areas. Drawing upon a range of institutional, regulationist and policy networks theoretical perspectives, this research adopted a case study qualitative approach based on a number of face-to-face interviews. An evaluation process based on implementation theory was used to unpack the differences between theory, policy and practice with an emphasis on uncovering policy-making processes. The study found that the application of Porter's vision in the UK context displays a number of weaknesses rooted both in its conceptualisation of the problems of deprived urban areas and the nature of its implementation. The emphasis upon the competitive advantages of deprived urban areas largely failed to translate into effective interventions due to problems of operationalising cluster policy locally, a lack of appreciation of the social dimension to urban problems and the particularities of the UK context. Private sector engagement has remained weak, although with notable exceptions in certain sectors and contexts, constrained by the limited local interaction with the public sector and wider issues related to the continued dominance of the central state in setting and funding the policy agenda. Implications from these fìndings are discussed including the need to think more precisely about différent types and styles of private sector involvement.

The Member States of EU27 need to accelerate the integration of energy efficient technology solutions to reach the 20% energy efficiency target set for 2020. At current pace, projections indicate that only half of expected primary energy reductions will be reached. To meet the energy demands of growing populations and a vibrant economy, while simultaneously reducing primary energy supplies, the European continent faces a new kind of challenge never previously encountered. The identification and application of feasible, competitive, and comprehensive solutions to this problem are of highest priority if the remaining gap is to be closed in time. How is this multi-dimensional and complex dilemma to be dissolved? In this work, expanded use of district heating technology is conceived as a possible solution to substantially reduce future primary energy demands in Europe. By extended recovery and utilisation of vast volumes of currently disregarded excess heat from energy and industry sector fuel transformation processes, district heating systems and combined generation of heat and power can improve the general efficiency of the European energy balance. To investigate the possible range of this solution, this thesis introduces a set of methodologies, theoretical concepts, and model tools, by which a plausible future excess heat utilisation potential, by means of district heat deliveries to residential and service sectors, is estimated. At current conditions and compared to current levels, this potential correspond to a threefold expansion possibility for directly feasible district heating systems in European urban areas and a fourfold increase of European excess heat utilisation.

This thesis studies the impact of labor markets on economic growth in both developed and developing countries and China's urbanization, by formalizing dual labor market characteristics and China's Hukou system in two theoretical models. The first is a unified growth model in an open economy environment that captures dual labor market characteristics. The mechanism involves economic growth driven by capital accumulation in the country with Lewisian labor market leading to increasing labor participation at a near constant wage. The model shows that surplus labor plays a critical role in explaining different economic growth paths and structural changes in developing and developed countries, such as China and the US. The second is a dynamic general equilibrium model with endogenous rural-urban migration to analyze the provision of rural and urban government services in China, with special emphasis on the role of the household registration (Hukou) system in shaping its urbanization process. It argues that China’s urban bias policy, which is enabled by the Hukou system restricting rural-urban migration, did not necessarily reduce economic efficiency, rather it might have only raised urban welfare at the expense of rural residents. As the Hukou system also ties people to particular geographical locations, our model argues that China's continuous bias towards coastal and big cities has started to cause economic inefficiency as well as inequality. It suggests that progressive Hukou reform reducing barriers to cross-region migration would improve economic efficiency and welfare.

El creixement de les ciutats arreu del món porta associat un increment en la demanda d’infraestructures de sanejament i drenatge. Combinat amb els efectes del canvi climàtic, la situació d’aquests sistemes en entorns urbans és crítica. Bona part dels sistemes de clavegueram existents requereixen una renovació urgent, d’altres han de ser construïts en zones en creixement, mentre que l’escolament superficial d’aigua pluvial esdevé una amenaça quant a inundacions degut a la impermeabilització del sòl. En aquest context, cal determinar quines són les millors pràctiques per reduir aquestes problemàtiques i al mateix temps adaptar les ciutats al canvi climàtic. En resposta a aquestes demandes, aquesta tesi estudia l’ecoeficiència dels sistemes de sanejament i drenatge urbà per determinar les millors alternatives en diferents contextos urbans. Així, es fa ús del marc de l’ecologia industrial, tot aplicant mètodes específics com l’anàlisi del cicle de vida (ACV), l’anàlisi dels costos del cicle de vida (ACCV) i l’ecoeficiència. Aquesta recerca interdisciplinària requereix mètodes addicionals, com ara estudis estadístics o anàlisis experimentals. El cicle de vida de les xarxes de clavegueram ha estat àmpliament analitzat i s’ha pogut observar que els materials de la canonada no són els únics determinants de l’impacte ambiental d’una solució constructiva per clavegueram. En alguns casos, la contribució de la rasa pot representar fins un 80% dels impactes ambientals de l’etapa constructiva, fet rellevant de cara a la presa de decisions. Mitjançant un estudi estructural paramètric s’han trobat les solucions constructives equivalents amb menor impacte ambiental. Així, reduir l’ús de formigó en les rases i reutilitzar els materials del sòl excavats pot significar una millora ambiental. Per altra banda, l’etapa d’operació mostra reptes en l’àmbit del planejament urbà. S’han comparat el municipi costaner de Calafell (Espanya, clima mediterrani) i Betanzos (Espanya, clima atlàntic). La ubicació de l’estació depuradora de Calafell a una cota més elevada que el municipi fa que el consum d’energia de bombeig (0.47 kWh/m3) sigui major que a Betanzos (0.11 kWh/m3), on l’aigua circula per gravetat. A més, s’han observat emissions gasoses al clavegueram a través de campanyes de mostreig. Principalment es van detectar majors emissions durant l’estiu associades a les elevades temperatures i en zones de turbulència del clavegueram. A més, mitjançant un estudi d’ecoeficiència, es van comparar els resultats ambientals i econòmics del cicle de vida del clavegueram i es va trobar que, independentment del clima i l’estructura urbana del municipi, l’etapa d’operació és la que genera més impactes ambientals (fins el 74% dels impactes), mentre que la instal·lació (és a dir, la rasa) contribueix als costos econòmics (70-75%). El debat de la centralització vers la descentralització de les infraestructures s’ha estudiat en un entorn insular (Menorca, Espanya) amb problemàtica turística. Ambientalment, sembla que un escenari centralitzat en què es connecta l’assentament a una depuradora de gran capacitat és beneficiós degut a les economies d’escala. Aquest escenari generaria un 12% menys impacte que descentralitzar parcialment amb fosses sèptiques o un 36% respecte a tractar el flux estacional en uns aiguamolls construïts. En general, els resultats depenen de la duració de l’època turística. En l’àmbit de la prevenció d’inundacions, s’aporta una nova visió, doncs es tracta d’un dels primers estudis que integra l’impacte ambiental i econòmic d’invertir en mesures preventives amb els danys evitats. Aquests són de gran interès per a la planificació urbana. En base a dos climes i sistemes diferents, s’han analitzat les rieres del Maresme (Catalunya) i un sistema verd implantat al Brasil. Des d’una perspectiva metodològica, els estudis d’inundacions aporten una discussió en l’àmbit de les metodologies d’ACV i en com abordar les conseqüències de les inundacions des d’un punt de vista integrador.
El crecimiento de las ciudades alrededor del mundo lleva asociado un incremento en la demanda de infraestructuras de saneamiento y drenaje asociadas al ciclo del agua. Combinado con los efectos del cambio climático, la situación de estos sistemas en entornos urbanos es crítica. Buena parte de las redes de alcantarillado existentes requieren una renovación urgente, otras han de ser construidas en zonas en crecimiento, mientras que la escorrentía superficial de agua pluvial es una amenaza en cuanto a inundaciones debido a la impermeabilización del suelo. En este contexto, se debe determinar a través de una nueva visión ambiental y económica cuáles son las mejoras prácticas para reducir estas problemáticas y al mismo tiempo adaptar a las ciudades al cambio climático. En respuesta a estas demandas, esta tesis estudia la ecoeficiencia de los sistemas de saneamiento y drenaje urbano para determinar las mejores alternativas en diferentes contextos urbanos. Así, se usó el marco de la ecología industrial, aplicando métodos específicos como el análisis del ciclo de vida (ACV), el análisis de costes del ciclo de vida (ACCV) y la ecoeficiencia. Esta investigación interdisciplinaria requiere métodos adicionales, como estudios estadísticos o análisis experimentales. El ciclo de vida de las redes de alcantarillado fue ampliamente analizado y se observó que los materiales de la tubería no son los únicos determinantes del impacto ambiental de una solución constructiva. En algunos casos, la contribución de la zanja representa hasta un 80% de los impactos ambientales de la etapa constructiva, hecho relevante para la toma de decisiones. Mediante un estudio estructural paramétrico encontraron las soluciones constructivas equivalentes con menor impacto ambiental. Así, reducir el uso de hormigón en las zanjas y reutilizar los materiales del suelo excavado puede significar una mejora ambiental. Por otro lado, la etapa de operación presenta retos en el ámbito del planeamiento urbano. Se compararon el municipio costero de Calafell (España, clima mediterráneo) y Betanzos (España, clima atlántico). La ubicación de la estación depuradora de Calafell a una cota más elevada que el municipio hace que el consumo de energía de bombeo (0.47 kWh/m3) sea mayor que en Betanzos (0.11 kWh/m3), donde el agua circula por gravedad. Además, se observaron emisiones gaseosas del alcantarillado a través de campañas de muestreo. Principalmente se detectaron mayores emisiones durante el verano asociadas a las elevadas temperaturas y en zonas de turbulencia del alcantarillado. Adicionalmente, mediante un estudio de ecoeficiencia se compararon los resultados ambientales y económicos del ciclo de vida del alcantarillado y se encontró que, independientemente del clima y la estructura urbana, la etapa de operación es la que genera más impactos ambientales (hasta el 74% de los impactos), mientras que la instalación (es decir, la zanja) contribuye a los costes económicos (70-75%). El debate de la centralización frente a la descentralización de las infraestructuras se estudió en un entorno insular (Menorca, España) con problemática turística. Ambientalmente, parece que un escenario centralizado en el que se conecta el asentamiento a una depuradora de gran capacidad es beneficioso debido a las economías de escala. Este escenario generaría un 12% menos impactos que descentralizar parcialmente con fosas sépticas o un 36% respecto a tratar el flujo estacional en un humedal construido. En general, los resultados dependen de la duración de la época turística. En el ámbito de la prevención de inundaciones, se aporta una nueva visión, pues se trata de los primeros estudios que integran el impacto ambiental y económico de invertir en medidas preventivas con los daños evitados. Estos estudios son de gran interés para la planificación urbana. En base a dos climas y sistemas diferentes, se analizaron las rieras del Maresme (Catalunya) y un sistema verde implantado en Brasil. Desde una perspectiva metodológica, los estudios de inundaciones aportan una discusión en el ámbito de las metodologías de ACV y en cómo abordar las consecuencias de las inundaciones desde un punto de vista integrador.
The growth of cities worldwide is associated with an increasing demand for sanitation and drainage infrastructure in the context of the water cycle. Combined with the effects of climate change, the situation of these systems in urban environments is critical. Part of the existing sewer networks require an imminent renovation, others must be constructed in developing areas, whereas stormwater runoff becomes a threat in terms of flooding because of the soil imperviousness. In this context, we must determine the best practices aimed at reducing these issues from an innovative environmental and economic viewpoint and at the same time adapt cities to climate change. In response to this demand, this dissertation assesses the eco-efficiency of urban sanitation and drainage systems to determine the best alternatives in different urban contexts. To this end, the industrial ecology framework is used by applying specific methods such as life cycle assessment (LCA), life cycle costing (LCC) and eco-efficiency. This interdisciplinary research requires additional methods, such as statistical studies or field experimental analyses. The life cycle of sewers was widely analyzed and it was observed that pipe materials are not the only factors that determine the environmental impacts of a sewer constructive solution. In some cases, the trench might contribute to 80% of the environmental impacts of the construction phase, which is a relevant issue to consider in decision-making. Through a structural parametric study, we found the equivalent constructive solutions that generate the lowest environmental impact. Reducing the use of concrete or reusing the excavated soil might entail environmental improvements. On the other hand, the operation stage is challenging in the context of urban planning. The coastal city of Calafell (Spain, Mediterranean climate) was compared with the city of Betanzos (Spain, Atlantic climate). The location of Calafell’s wastewater treatment plant at a higher elevation than the city resulted in Calafell consuming more pumping energy (0.47 kWh/m3) than Betanzos (0.11 kWh/m3), where wastewater flows gravitationally. Additionally, gas emissions were found in the sewer through sampling campaigns. The largest emissions were mainly detected during the summer due to high temperature, and in turbulent areas of the sewer. Furthermore, through an eco-efficiency assessment, the environmental and economic results of a sewer’s life cycle were compared. Regardless of climate and urban form, results show that the operation stage generates the largest environmental impacts (up to 74%), whereas the installation (i.e., the trench) mostly contributes to the economic costs (70-75%). The infrastructure centralization versus decentralization debate was studied in an insular context (Minorca, Spain) with a tourist-related issues. It seems that a centralized scenario that connects the settlement to an existing treatment plant with a large treatment capacity is environmentally beneficial due to economies of scale. This scenario entails a 12% impact reduction with respect to partial decentralization through septic tanks, or 36% reduction with respect to treating seasonal wastewater at a constructed wetland. In general, results depend on the duration of the seasonal period. In the field of flood prevention, this thesis provides a new vision, as these are the first studies that integrate the avoided impacts of damage prevention into the environmental and economic effects of investing in preventive measures. These analyses are of interest in the framework of urban planning. Based on two different climates and systems, ephemeral streams in the Maresme region (Catalonia, Spain) and a green system implemented in Brazil were assessed. From a methodological perspective, flooding analyses provide some ideas in the field of LCA methods and discuss how to deal with the consequences of flooding from an integrated viewpoint.

Dissertation (PhD)--Stellenbosch University, 2003.
ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The dissertation firstly outlines the findings of recent studies that have recorded the relationship between transport and economic development. This includes the assessment of a number of economic evaluation techniques that are available to predict the impact of improvements in transport on economic development. An historic overview is provided of the role that transport has played in the development of Cape Town. Due to the fact that the phases of development followed international development trends, it is concluded that development in Cape Town will follow the global trend. A number of economic growth scenarios are developed for Cape Town to assess how the City will be able to cope with the socio-demographic challenges facing it in the next century. The relationship between land price and the economic development potential of land is outlined, as are the factors that determine industrial land price, namely the demand and supply of industrial land. The process of determining the economic value of industrial land is described. This includes the collection and analysis of occupation rent of industrial townships in Cape Town, the calculation of property values and the calculation of the shadow price of land. A procedure of determining accessibility to industrial townships in Cape Town was developed. Firstly, accessibility was defined in broad terms. This was followed by a discussion of each of the elements of accessibility namely proximity, access and mobility in order to understand the factors that may impact on the level of accessibility. Finally, the level of accessibility is quantified in terms of generalised cost. A regression analysis was undertaken to establish a statistical relationship between the economic value of industrial land and accessibility to the industrial townships. The development of a numerical model was based on the regression analyses to forecast changes in industrial land price given a change in accessibility. The model was then tested on a case study. The main conclusions of the study are as follows: (a) The accessibility of industrial land in Cape Town is linked closely to its CSD I Port (it was not possible to separate the CSD and the port), which is typical of a monocentric city structure. (b) There is a positive, significant, quantifiable relationship between accessibility as quantified by means of generalised cost and the economic value of industrial land, which was calculated by means of the shadow price technique. (c) There are a number of conditions that should be met for an increase in local industrial production potential to be translated into an equal amount of economic output.
AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Die proefskrif som eerstens die bevindings van onlangse studies op wat die verwantskap tussen vervoer en ekonomiese ontwikkeling dokumenteer. Dit sluit die taksering van 'n aantal ekonomiese evaluasietegnieke in wat beskikbaar is om die impak van vervoer op ekonomiese ontwikkeling te voorspel. 'n Historiese oorsig word verskaf van die rol wat vervoer gespeel het in die ontwikkeling van Kaapstad. As gevolg van die feit dat die fases van ontwikkeling in die verlede internasionale ontwikkelingstendense gevolg het, word tot die gevolgtrekking gekom dat Kaapstad die globalisasie markera, wat tans internasionaal gestalte kry, sal navolg. 'n Aantal ekonomiese groeiscenarios word vir Kaapstad ontwikkel ten einde te bepaal hoe die stad die sosiodemografiese uitdagings van die volgende eeu sal hanteer. Die verwantskap tussen grondprys en die ekonomiese ontwikkelingspotensiaal van grond word omskryf, asook die faktore wat industriële grondprys bepaal. Die proses van die bepaling van die ekonomiese waarde van industriële grond word beskryf. Dit sluit die insamel en analise van besettingshuurdata van industriële dorpsgebiede, die berekening van eiendomswaarde en die berekening van die skaduprys van grond in. 'n Prosedure is ontwikkel vir die berekening van die toeganklikheid van industriële dorpsgebiede in Kaapstad. Eerstens is toeganklikheid in breë trekke gedefinieër. Dit is gevolg deur 'n bespreking van elk van die elemente van toeganklikheid, naamlik nabyheid, aansluiting en mobiliteit ten einde die faktore wat op die vlak van toeganklikheid mag impakteer te verstaan. Laastens is die vlak van toeganklikheid gekwantifiseer in terme van veralgemeende vervoerkoste. 'n Regressie-analise is onderneem ten einde die statistiese verwantskap tussen die ekonomiese waarde van industriële grond en toeganklikheid na industriële dorpsgebiede te bepaal. Die ontwikkeling van 'n numeriese model is op die regressie-analise gebaseer ten einde veranderinge in industriële grondpryse te voorspel, gegewe 'n verandering in toeganklikheid. Die model is op 'n gevallestudie toegepas. Die vernaamste gevolgtrekkings van die studie is : (a) Die toeganklikheid van industriële grond in Kaapstad is nou gekoppel aan die sentrale sakekern I hawe (dit was nie moontlik om die sentrale sakekern en hawe te skei nie), wat tipies is van n monosentriese staduitleg. (b) Daar is n noemenswaardige positiewe kwantifiseerbare verwantskap tussen toeganklikheid, soos gekwantifiseer in terme van veralgemeende koste, en die ekonomiese waarde van industriële grond wat deur middel van die skaduprystegniek bereken is. (c) Daar is 'n aantal voorwaardes waaraan voldoen moet word alvorens 'n toename in plaaslike industriële produksiepotensiaal tot 'n soortgelyke toename in ekonomiese ontwikelingspotensiaal sal lei.

Le fait que les activités d'innovation soient très concentrées dans l'espace, et en particulier dans les villes, a motivé un effort de recherche important pour comprendre les dynamiques spatiales de l'innovation. Si les flux de connaissances sont largement reconnus comme un facteur déterminant de la géographie de l’innovation, les mécanismes par lesquels ils se diffusent dans l'espace demeurent méconnus. En particulier, la littérature souligne l'importance de la mobilité des travailleurs qualifiés et des réseaux de collaboration scientifique. Cette thèse examine le rôle de la mobilité qualifiée dans la diffusion des connaissances, ainsi que la distribution spatiale des activités d’innovation qui en résulte. Pour répondre à cette question, cette thèse procède en trois étapes. Le premier chapitre fournit un cadre conceptuel articulant trois courants de littérature dont la nouvelle économie géographique, les modèles de croissance endogène, ainsi que les contributions empiriques sur la géographie de l’innovation. Une des conclusions principales de ce chapitre est que les modèles alliant économie géographique et croissance endogène fournissent un cadre théorique pertinent, puisqu’ils reconnaissent le rôle de la mobilité qualifiée et des externalités de connaissances dans la répartition des activités d’innovation. Cependant, leurs conclusions demeurent incomplètes pour au moins deux raisons.Premièrement, les dynamiques de migration sont très simplistes, et l’introduction de travailleurs avec des caractéristiques et des préférences de localisation hétérogènes altère le mécanisme cumulatif à la base de l’agglomération. Le second chapitre analyse les trajectoires de mobilité des inventeurs entre les villes Européennes, ainsi que leur dimension spatiale. En utilisant ces résultats, un modèle de gravité avec filtres spatiaux est utilisé pour estimer formellement comment le marché du travail, les réseaux de collaborations ainsi que les aménités, influencent les flux de mobilité des inventeurs.Deuxièmement, ces modèles ne considèrent pas la mobilité qualifiées comme un mécanisme de diffusion des connaissances. La littérature empirique a établi que les individus qualifiés influencent les flux de connaissances par leur mobilité professionnelle, ainsi que par les réseaux de collaboration et la capacité d’absorption qui en résulte. Le troisième chapitre estime un modèle spatial de Durbin pour étudier ces trois mécanismes dans un cadre unifié. L'hypothèse sous-jacente est que la mobilité et les réseaux donnent accès aux connaissances externes, mais la proportion de ces connaissances utilisée pour l'innovation dépend de la capacité d'absorption.Ces résultats ont de nombreuses implications pour la géographie de l'innovation. Alors que la mobilité de long terme devrait constituer une force d'agglomération importante, le développement des mobilités de court terme ou circulaires constituent une force de dispersion. L'importance relative de ces deux effets demeure incertaine, car les choix de localisation sont hétérogènes, de sorte que les trajectoires de mobilité varient considérablement. Ces éléments pourraient fournir une explication partielle aux écarts de croissance entre les zones urbaines, et dans une perspective plus dynamique, si cette différence tend à s’accroître ou à se résorber au cours du temps
The fact that innovative activity is remarkably concentrated in space, and in particular in cities, has motivated an important research effort to understand the spatial dimension of innovation, and the underlying mechanisms at work. While the literature has established the importance knowledge flows for location of innovation, the mechanisms through which they diffuse in space remain largely understudied. In particular, studies have insisted on the importance of skilled workers' mobility and the networked nature of knowledge production for innovation. Building on these considerations, this thesis investigates the role of skilled mobility in the diffusion of knowledge, and the resulting distribution of innovative activity. To answer this question, the thesis proceeds in three steps. The first chapter sets the conceptual framework and surveys the related literature. One of the main conclusion of this review is that some new economic geography and growth models provide a useful theoretical framework, because they recognize the importance of skilled mobility and knowledge externalities for the distribution of innovation. However, they fail to provide a reasonable answer to our research question for at least two reasons. First, the migration dynamics are very simplistic, and introducing heterogeneity in workers' characteristics and location preferences alters the cumulative mechanism of agglomeration. The second chapter provides a descriptive analysis on the patterns of inventors' mobility across urban areas, and their spatial dimension. Using these results, a spatial filtering gravity model is used to analyse formally how employment opportunities, professional networks and urban amenities, influence inventors' mobility flows. Second, these models do not consider workers' role in the diffusion of knowledge. The literature has established that skilled individuals influence the diffusion of knowledge by moving across organisation, creating network relationships and building absorptive capacities. The third chapter implements a spatial Durbin model to study these three mechanisms in an integrated framework. It is assumed that that mobility and networks provide access to knowledge, but the proportion of accessible knowledge used for innovation depends on absorptive capacity. These results have implications for the geography of innovation. While long-term mobility acts as a strong agglomeration force, the development of short-term, circular patterns of mobility should give rise to dispersion. The relative importance of these two effects is uncertain, because workers have different propensities and motivation to move, so that mobility patterns differ considerably. This should help explaining the persistence of long-run growth differentials among urban areas, and in a more dynamic setting, whether these gaps tend to widen or fall over time

Rapid urbanization brings an increasing pressure on current waste collection and transportation methods to cope with ever-increasing waste streams in urban environments. Pneumatic Waste Conveyance Systems or PWCS is often seen as an alternative for replacing open-handling of waste in narrow and congested town environments.  This research intends to find out when, where and why such systems would be implemented, and the entirety of stationary PWCS implementation and usage is being investigated, from government, experts, developers, suppliers, system owners/ operators, users to the general public. The findings are reported and analyzed using a variety of methods including but not limiting to a case study for public- housing retrofit-projects in Singapore.  Results affirm that PWCS is useful for waste collection in densely populated urban areas while offering both advantages and disadvantages as noted in this study. That which is remarkable is however spotting more concerns than opportunities and some of these concerns are highlighted and discussed in this paper. Although some parts of the study proved to be challenging and thus inconclusive, strong consensus are found regarding the need for long-term planning and strategic conception to reap the intended benefits that PWCS can offer.
Den fortlöpande urbaniseringen bidrar till att dagens metoder för hämtning och transport av avfallsmängder blir allt mer utmanande och svårhanterlig i förorter och stadsbebyggelse. Sopsugssystem betraktas därför allmänt som en alternativ lösning i urbana miljöer eftersom tekniken tillåter att byta ut rådande öppen sophantering i skrymmande och trafikerade stadsmiljöer.  Denna forskningsinsats avser att få bättre visshet om när, var samt varför sopsugssystem bör användas utifrån ett vidvinkelsperspektiv som försöker belysa och klarlägga helheten kring implementeringen och användandet av dylika system. För att uppnå detta syfte har statliga myndigheter, experter, bostadsbyggare, entreprenörer, ägare/ operatörer för system samt användarna kontaktats och hörsammats. De viktigaste inläggen har därefter rapporterats och analyserats med underlag av ett flertal metodologier som även innefattat en fallstudie för allmännyttiga fastigheter där sopsug installeras i en befintlig stadsarkitektur i Singapore.  Resultaten verifierar att sopsugssystem är användbara för avfallshantering och transport i tätbebyggda stadsområden samt att systemen offererar både fördelar och nackdelar. Det som är anmärkningsvärt är att fler aktsamhetsområden än möjligheter har upptäckts för vilka ett urval av dessa har tagits upp samt diskuterats mer ingående i denna rapport. Trots att delar av studien inbjöd till diverse utmaningar, vilket har föranlett till att resultatbilden inte kan ge klara och tydliga svar, så fanns fortfarande stor samstämmighet beträffande behovet av långsiktig planering och strategisk insiktsfullhet för att säkerställa de åtråvärda nyttor som sopsugssystem i stort kan erbjuda.

This professional project estimates the upfront costs and utility savings expected from greening an approximately 1,100 square foot home built in the 1950s in the San Francisco Bay Area. Two sets of upgrades (alternative and original) were compared for costs and benefits. The alternative set (which included ceiling insulation and omitted upgrading to dual-pane windows) clearly out performed the original set. The alternative set would be expected to reduce resident utility bills by 28% annually, and to prevent approximately 2,700 lbs of carbon dioxide emissions annually. The water efficiency upgrades were the best performing group of upgrades, as they had the lowest upfront cost and shortest payback period. (These water efficiency upgrades consisted of modifying toilets, faucets, and showerhead, as well as upgrading the dishwasher and clothes washer to efficient models.) Future very low-budget greening programs, in nearly all cases, should include a full-set of water fixture modifications, weatherstripping, and clotheslines. As budgets allow, other upgrades from alternative upgrades list are recommended, such as ceiling fans, programmable thermostats, and ceiling insulation. Whenever possible, workforce development labor should be used to simultaneously reduce labor costs and multiply the social benefit of each project dollar by providing entry-level green collar jobs.

Census operations are very important events in the history of a nation. These operations cover every bit of land and property of the country and its citizens. Census data is also known as demographic data providing valuable information to various users, particularly planners to know the trends in the key areas. Since 2006, Turkey aims to produce this census data not as &ldquo
de-facto&rdquo
(static) but as &ldquo
de-jure&rdquo
(real-time) by the new Address Based Register Information System (ABPRS). Besides, by this new register based census, personal information is matched with their address information and censuses gained a spatial dimension. Data obtained from this kind of a system can be a great input for the creation of &ldquo
small statistical areas (SSAs)&rdquo
which can compose of street blocks or any other small geographical unit to which social data can be referenced and to establish a complete census geography for Turkey. Because, statistics on large administrative units are only necessary for policy design only at an extremely abstracted level of analysis which is far from "
real"
problems as experienced by individuals. In this thesis, it is aimed to employ some spatial clustering and districting methodologies to automatically produce SSAs which are basically built upon the ABPRS data that is geo-referenced with the aid of geographical information systems (GIS) and thus help improving the census geography concept which is limited with only higher level administrative boundaries in Turkey. In order to have a clear idea of what strategy to choose for its realization, small area identification criteria and methodologies are searched by looking into the United Nations&rsquo
recommendations and by taking some national and international applications into consideration. In addition, spatial clustering methods are examined for obtaining SSAs which fulfills these criteria in an automated fashion. Simulated annealing on k-means clustering, only k-means clustering and simulated annealing on k-means clustering of Self-Organizing Map (SOM) unified distances are deemed as suitable methods. Then these methods are implemented on parcel and block datasets having either raw data or socio-economic status (SES) indices in nine neighborhoods of Keç
iö
ren whose graphical and non-graphical raw data are manipulated, geo-referenced and combined in common basemaps. Consequently, simulated annealing refinement on k-means clustering of SOM u-distances is selected as the optimum method for constructing SSAs for all datasets after making a comparative quality assessment study which allows us to see how much each method obeyed the basic criteria of small area identification while creating SSA layers.

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This study aimed to analyze the economic feasibility analysis for power generation at the headquarters of the Salto River district, for the implementation of an energy efficiency system in a rural urban cell, located in the rural area of the municipality of Cascavel, west of the state Parana, located 32 kilometers from the city center, next to the highway Horace R. Dos Reis (PR-180) towards the city of Boa Vista da Aparecida. The urbanized area / Jump River allotment was approved on the date of January 24, 1978, according to the Municipal Profile 2015, the perimeter of the Salto do Rio district is 265.05 sq km, and inserted in this context the perimeter urban has an area of 402,367.84 square meters, having now regulated 19 blocks with a total of 241 lots, and of these, 45 lots are not built, and the block No. 10 that has the largest amount of vacant land, 09 lots in total and the block No. 14 with the lowest number, 01 in total. All the buildings in the block 11 were analyzed by photographic and visual survey, and later the information was cross-checked with those available in the Geoportal. As in the calculations, there was the budget of the equipment to be installed for each of the consumer units of the sampling area, supplying its energy demands. After the study to the relevant buildings the sample area, there was an equivalence for the entire urban area of the Jump River District for installation of the photovoltaic power generation system. The parameters used for the feasibility analysis are the ABRAVA, 2008 where the project is considered viable if the pay back period of return on investment happens on schedule, that is, during the lifetime of the power generation system PV, and the IRR exceeds the expected / desired TMA for the enterprise. It is concluded that to ensure the viability of this power generation system, the average consumption in the 12-month period must be greater than the rate of availability of the utility that the customer must pay, this amount varies depending on the type of your connection (monophasic: 30kWh, biphasic: 50 kWh and three phase: 100 kWh). The lot number 09 was the only lot of all who did not provide conditions for the implementation of photovoltaic system does not reach the minimum rate of the utility connection
Este estudo objetivou realizar a análise de viabilidade econômica na geração de energia na sede do distrito de Rio do Salto, para a implantação de um sistema de eficiência energética em uma célula urbana rural, localizada na área rural do Município de Cascavel, região oeste do estado do Paraná, situada a 32 Km do centro da cidade, junto à Rodovia Horácio R. Dos Reis (PR-180) sentido o Município de Boa Vista da Aparecida. A área urbanizada/loteamento de Rio do Salto foi aprovada na data de 24 de janeiro de 1978, de acordo com o Perfil Municipal 2015, o perímetro do distrito de Rio do Salto é de 265,05 Km², e inserido dentro deste contexto o perímetro urbano possui uma área de 402.367,84 m², possuindo hoje regulamentado 19 quadras num total de 241 lotes, sendo que destes, 45 lotes não são edificados, sendo a quadra nº 10 a que possui a maior quantidade de terrenos vagos, 09 lotes no total, e a quadra nº 14 com o menor numero, 01 no total. Todas as edificações da quadra 11 foram analisadas através de levantamento fotográfico e visual, e posteriormente as informações foram cruzadas com as disponíveis no Geoportal. Como nos cálculos, realizou-se o orçamento dos equipamentos a serem instalados para cada uma das unidades consumidoras da área de amostragem, suprindo suas demandas energéticas. Após a realização do estudo para as edificações pertinentes a área de amostra, realizou-se uma equivalência para todo o perímetro urbano do Distrito de Rio do Salto, para instalação do sistema de geração de energia fotovoltaico. Os parâmetros utilizados para a analise de viabilidade são os da ABRAVA, 2008, onde o projeto é considerado viável, se o Pay Back período de retorno do investimento aconteça dentro do prazo previsto, ou seja, durante a vida útil do sistema de geração de energia fotovoltaico, e a TIR seja superior a TMA prevista/desejada para o empreendimento. Conclui-se que para garantir a viabilidade deste sistema de geração de energia, o consumo médio no período de 12 meses deve ser superior a taxa de disponibilidade da concessionária que o cliente deverá pagar, valor este que varia conforme o tipo da sua conexão (monofásico: 30kWh, bifásico: 50 kWh e trifásico: 100 kWh). O lote número 09 foi o único lote dentre todos que não apresentou condições para a implantação de sistema fotovoltaico por não atingir a tarifa mínima de ligação da concessionária.

Le littoral algérien est caractérisé par une grande richesse en ressources naturelles et offre d’importantes potentialités économiques. Néanmoins, cette portion du territoire est victime de son succès et se trouve confrontée, par conséquent, à une multitude de problèmes tels que la surexploitation de ses ressources amplifiés par une urbanisation massive qui s'accélère de plus en plus mais également par une pollution et une dégradation des zones côtières. Afin de répondre au mieux aux nombreuses incohérences résultant de ces divers problèmes qui frappent le littoral algérien, l’État doit veiller à mettre en place les mesures nécessaires pour trouver un juste équilibre entre l’utilisation de cet espace et sa préservation. L’analyse approfondie du dispositif institutionnel et législatif mis en place par les pouvoirs publics algériens démontre qu’il y a une réelle insuffisance en matière de gouvernance côtière et que les textes juridiques sont lacunaires en ce qui concerne la préservation et l’aménagement du littoral. Le principal défi de l’État est de pallier ces carences en mettant en place une politique de gestion intégrée et globale du littoral qui en permettrait un développement équilibré et durable
The Algerian coastline is characterized by rich natural resources which offer important economic potential. Nonetheless, this part of the country finds itself victim of its own success and have to face a multitude of problems, especially the over-exploitation of its resources which have been amplified by a massive urbanization that is accelerated more and more, but also by pollution and a deterioration of the coastal areas. Moreover, and to best answer the numerous incoherencies that result from these multiple problems that hit the Algerian coastline, the state has to take necessary measures to find a right balance between the use of this space and its preservation. The thorough analysis of the institutional and legal framework put in place by the Algerian public authorities, proves the existence of a real inadequacy in terms of coastal governance, as well as incomplete judicial texts with regards to coastal preservation and development. The primary challenge of the government is to redress these shortcomings, by putting in place an integrated and global management policy of the coast that will allow a balanced and sustained development of this space

Cette thèse s'intéresse à la réconciliation entre le défi mondial du changement climatique et les solutions locales et sectorielles qu'il convient de bien articuler pour contribuer, efficacement, équitablement et de la manière la plus acceptable, à la réduction des émissions de CO2. Plus précisément, nous étudions les conditions pour une mise en place réussie de la politique climatique à l'échelle de la mobilité urbaine des personnes
This PhD thesis deals with the reconciliation of the global challenge that is climate change and the local and sectoral solutions that need to be accurately designed to remedy to it the most efficiently, equitably and acceptably possible. More specifically, we investigate the conditions for a successful implementation of climate policy at the scale of the urban mobility of passengers

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The Brazilian Constitution of 1988 and the Statute of the City have improved the development and urban expansion policies establishment, but only the issue of the Federal Law No. 12.608, of April 10, 2012, introduced standards directly related to the process of urban expansion and the role of municipalities in the respective legal regulation. The current legal landscape has important consequences in the Brazilian municipalities located in the coastal zone. In the last decades these regions, especially the northern coast of São Paulo State, have subjected to land use conflicts and economic pressures that led to a chaotic urbanization. Indeed, the region still facing geographical, environmental and legal barriers when considering the processes of urban expansion planning, as it comprises areas especially protected by federal and state legislation (the Brazilian National System of Conservation Units, State Park Serra do Mar and the Atlantic Forest Law), as well as it undergoes the Coastal Ecological Economic Zoning, established by the Union and by Member State. The present work was conduced by employing an integrated approach which considers the legal standards related to coastal zone, derived from the legislative powers exerted by the different instances and their reflexes in the municipalities competences for the regulation of legal policy towards urban expansion, also linked with data and correlated aspects of the North Coast of São Paulo State. By adopting the referred method, we approached the following aspects: a) From the analysis of the possible conflicts arising from the application of regulatory rules issued by the Union and the Member State, overlapping or opposing the municipal master plan, we proposed some measures to ensure legal federal cooperation and minimize these potential incompatibilities; b) by analyzing the standards and guidelines of the Brazilian Constitution of 1988 and of the City Statute, in particular the legal rules introduced by Federal Law No. 12.608/2012, we exposed the minimum content required by municipal urban expansion policies, as well as outlined the role of the master plan and traced the outlines of the legislative competence for the municipalities
A Constituição Federal de 1988 e o Estatuto da Cidade avançaram na disciplina da política de desenvolvimento e expansão urbana, mas apenas com a edição da recente Lei Federal nº 12.608, de 10 de abril de 2012, foram introduzidas normas diretamente associadas ao processo de expansão urbana e ao papel dos Municípios na respectiva regulação jurídica. Este atual panorama jurídico tem reflexos importantes nos Municípios abrangidos pela zona costeira brasileira. Nas últimas décadas estes territórios, especialmente o Litoral Norte do Estado de São Paulo, têm sido submetidos a conflitos de uso e a pressões econômicas que geraram uma urbanização desordenada. A análise da realidade aponta que esta região encontra entraves de natureza geográfica, ambiental e jurídica para a delimitação de áreas de expansão urbana, pois nela se localizam espaços territoriais especialmente protegidos pela legislação federal e estadual (Sistema Nacional de Unidades de Conservação, Parque Estadual da Serra do Mar e Lei da Mata Atlântica) e, ainda, submete-se ao Zoneamento Ecológico Econômico Costeiro estabelecido pela União e pelo Estado-Membro. A análise empreendida propõe a abordagem integrada das normas jurídicas de ordenamento territorial incidentes na zona costeira, advindas das competências legislativas exercidas pelos três entes federativos e seus reflexos na competência dos Municípios para a regulação jurídica da política de expansão urbana, sempre relacionando os aspectos e dados da realidade do Litoral Norte paulista. Adotado o método analítico e propositivo, enfrentamos as seguintes questões: a) A partir da análise dos possíveis conflitos normativos decorrentes da aplicação das normas editadas pela União e Estado-Membro, sobrepostas ou contrapostas ao plano diretor municipal, propusemos alguns caminhos que assegurem a cooperação federativa e minimizem estes potenciais desajustes; b) E partindo da análise da Constituição Federal de 1988 e das normas e diretrizes do Estatuto da Cidade, em especial as regras legais introduzidas pela Lei Federal nº 12.608/2012, expusemos os conteúdos mínimos necessários para a disciplina da política municipal de expansão urbana, delineamos o papel do plano diretor e traçamos os contornos da Competência legislativa dos Municípios

Il concetto di rete dell'informazione può diventare uno schema logico con cui descrivere l'evoluzione delle politiche sulle energie rinnovabili e sulla sostenibilità? La ricerca è stata svolta analizzando l'architettura delle due reti (internet e reti energetiche) e l'evoluzione del bene prodotto e distribuito nella rete energetica, l'energia, esplicitando l'accessibilità da parte della distribuzione mondiale delle risorse petrolifere tradizionali e delle risorse rinnovabili. La struttura metodologica del progetto di ricerca si basa due tipi di analisi teorica: 1) l'analisi della nascita delle società in rete attraverso le teorie di Manuel Castells (concetto di spazio di flussi) e di Saskia Sassen e l'evoluzione delle città (cap.2 e cap.5) 2) le analisi dei flussi dei materiali e delle energie avendo come riferimento metodologico l'approccio ecologico ideato dai ricercatori dell'istituto per il Clima, l'Ambiente e l'Energia di Wuppertal, Germania (cap.3 e cap.4) La contraddizione tra città innovative e città che sono ai livelli di enormi discariche o di baraccopoli è esposta nel cap.6 attraverso casi studio e progetto dei Programmi Europei. Nell'ultimo capitolo (cap.7) si riassumono le ipotesi di partenza e i risultati della ricerca e si espongono le questioni aperte.
Can internet logic scheme be used as a basis to describe public policies evolution on renewable energies production and sharing in urban areas all over the world? The research project analyses the two networks (internet and energetic grids) architectures in actual and future urban areas. This analysis is connected with present and future forecasts energy productions from traditional fuels and from renewable sources. Theoretical analysis is conducted following a double conceptual pathway: - societal networks (Manuel Castells theory) and urban areas evolution (Saskia Sassen and Mike Davis) in order to picture the evolution of cities and towns in modern economies and in developing countries (Chapters 2 and 5); - Material and Energy Flow Analysis (approach by Wuppertal Institute for Climate, Environment and Energy) applied to renewable energy (Chapters 3 and 4) In Chapter 6 case studies are exposed on the deep cleavage between two different worlds: innovative, rich towns on a side and the landfills cities, slums on the other side. In the last part hypothesis and thesis are put together and open questions are explained (Chapter 7).

碩士
健行科技大學
國際企業管理研究所
101
This study evaluated the relative efficiency of 47 international tourist hotels (ITHs) in scenic and urban areas in 2012 by Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA). It is important to keep competitive nowadays, especially when the cost of labor, land, buildings and salaries have been rising. Hotels must run more efficiently to maintain their competences. The results showed that there are six ITHs reached both technology and scale efficiency. Five ITHs of the efficient ones are sited in Taipei area, and one ITH located in scenic area. For all ITHs, hotels in Taipei are relatively more efficient than ITHs in other areas. It is found that the major part of revenues comes from the restaurant department in the most efficient ITHs. The other inefficient ITHs could improve their efficiency either by reducing amount of rooms or employees or increasing the revenues of the restaurant department.

碩士
開南大學
商學院碩士在職專班
107
In order to investigate the performance of economic development and environmental protection, this study applies the data envelopment analysis to assess environmental efficiency and economic efficiency. The empirical data collects economic and environmental information of 19 Taiwan regions in 2017, and we choice the slacks-based measure mothed as the main empirical methodology. The results indicate that: (1) Economic efficiency in the most municipalities perform lower than non-municipal areas. (2) Hualien County, Taitung County, Nantou County and Changhua County, which are mainly based on agriculture and tourism, have better performance on environmental efficiency. (3) Most of the municipalities are not efficient in power consumption. (4) Excess emission rate of particulate matter in the municipalities are higher than non-municipal areas of 14%. This is the main source of low environmental efficiency in the municipalities. (5) The reason for the low environmental efficiency in the municipalities is mainly due to the 3 rates of excessive emissions except Taipei City.

碩士
國立政治大學
中山人文社會科學研究所
89
This essay is related to research the unemployment of labor force in urban areas of Mainland China after the reform in 1979. It includes urban’s labor resources, open unemployment, laid-off workers, supernumerary, disguised unemployment, labor utilized inadequately problems, and idleness as well as the economic analysis of GDP loss caused by these above problems. Human resource is the most important factor in economic developing process. Sufficiently utilizing human resource is not only the demand of social economy, but also that of labors’ existence and development. Human resource in urban areas of Mainland China is the steady rising trend so that the number of employed population archived 206,780,000 till the end of 1998, 29.6 percent of the total employed population. According to the request of sufficiently utilizing human resource, it is a quite gap, the existence of idleness in human resource, in urban areas of Mainland China. There are two main points detailed below: First, there are most unemployed population occurred in urban areas. From 1992, the registered unemployed people in urban areas still remain the rising trend. For example, the number of the registered unemployed people is 5,710,000 as well as the rate of the registered unemployed people is 3.1 percent in 1998. In addition, based on the outcome of the random sampling of one percent of people in 1995, the examined unemployed people in 1998 is 6.2 percent, equaled to twice of the registered unemployed rate. Thus, if calculated with laid-off workers, the number of the real unemployed population in urban areas in 1998 is approximately 15,280,000 and the real unemployment rate is 6.9 percent around. Secondly, there are fairly disguised unemployment happened in urban’s labor, included supernumerary, laid-off workers, and prematurely retired workers in enterprises. According to measure corporations in urban corporation of Mainland China, most is state-owned enterprise; the disguised unemployment is 32,070,000; the disguised unemployment rate is 15.1 percent. To summarize, the amount of the idleness of human resource caused by unemployment, included open and disguised ones, archives 37,780,000 and the rate of labor resources idleness is 17.8 percent. Moreover, the rate of GDP loss reached 13 percent under the real unemployed rate, 6.9 percent, in 1998 calculated by Okun’s law. Hence, the unemployed question brings the huge economic load for people and state of Mainland China. Recently, the state of Mainland China aggressively pushes “re-employment engineering“ policy. It tries to care and settle the unemployment and laid-off workers to re-employ in enterprise. Since accomplishing this policy, the outcome doesn’t very outstand obviously although it got some effects in fact, because there are many obstructions from policy, capital, society, and labors’ selves during the performing process. Consequently, this essay provides three ways, the expanding labor demand, the lowering labor supply, and establish labor market, to mach the social security system in order to perfectly solve the unemployed questions in urban areas of Mainland China. Any change of politic and economic environment must bring the development of cross-strait economy. Further, the factors from labor sides, such as the employed policy, the wage structure, and the strife discipline of labor relation, are main incentives of Formosan businessmen to invest in Mainland China since they are related to the cross-strait plan from Formosa to Mainland China. Thence, it’s one of the most courses to acquaint the current and trend of employed labors in urban areas of Mainland China upon the frequent cross-strait economy.

The forces which led to widespread suburbanization resulted in the migration of job opportunities, especially in retailing and in industry. This migration in part led to public transit service decline since a substantial share of transit trips in urban areas consisted of work trips, particularly to the CBD. Most planning agencies in small and medium urban areas include transportation improvements as an integral part of their efforts to stimulate economic development in the central city. The extent to which transportation improvements impact the central city in such areas is an important issue for urban planners, transportation engineers, and other professionals involved in attempts to enhance the local economy. While it is extremely difficult to attribute changes in demographic and economic activity to specific transportation improvements, it is posited in this research that general conclusions regarding such changes can be drawn and related to transportation improvements if consistent patterns of changes can be observed in demographic and economic activities among a large number of cities. The objective of this research is twofold: (1) to examine the relationship between transportation, central city and CBD development, and (2) to develop an econometric model that will depict such relationships. This research depicts selected relationships between employment, population, economic activity and transportation using a system of equations in a recursive model. The models are based on a sample of 112 small and medium sized cities with a 1980 population between 50,000 to 500,000, located in 36 different states. The models were tested using data from 11 cities with a 1980 population of 500,000 to 1,000,000 from 10 different states. The consistent results suggest that growth in the basic manufacturing sector is an important factor for central city growth. Increases in manufacturing employment attract more people to the cities, which in turn changes the retail sector. Also transit service improvements help to improve the downtown economy, since a relatively large share of peak trips are by transit and most of these transit trips are work trips, particularly to the CBD. Increased work trips to the CBD will have a positive (although small) impact on CBD sales. (Abstract shortened with permission of author.)

The video game industry is a billion dollar industry with an ever-growing fan base. Massachusetts, along with other states, has begun to take an interest in further developing this dynamic industry. A problem facing many policy makers and economic developers is accurately defining the video game industry, determining the types of workers that form of human capital within its workforce and where these businesses are located. This study helps to solve this problem by converting video game credits, found in all video games, into Standard Occupational Codes to identify the types of workers who comprise the industry and by conducting spatial analysis using Public Use Microdata Samples (PUMS). It also uses the Occupational Information Network to evaluate what forms of human capital comprises the video game industry. The results show the video game workforce comprises both creative workers such as artists and musicians, but also computer programmers, engineers, and business management and marketing professionals. This workforce tends to be concentrated not only in larger U.S. metropolitan areas but also in regions with a significant high-technology workforce, college towns, and government laboratories. Also, as this diverse workforce contains a wide variety of skills and abilities, a common theme is being able to work together as a team to develop a product. This study is part of a growing body of research and initiatives to identify and to locate new, creative industries within metropolitan regions. This research will contribute to future research using occupational analysis to identify new and growing industries.

碩士
中國科技大學
建築研究所
97
Abstract Keyword：Urban renewal, Designation by oneself ,Redevelopment area,Renewal unit. Since Taipei City allowed private implementers to handle the processing of urban renewals in 1996, there were total 301 (including reconstructions after 921 earthquake) applications as of the end of October, 2007. Among these applications, there were 210 areas slated for redevelopment designated by the Government (total 327 hectares), 91 areas slated for redevelopment designated by private implementers. On the other hand, the promotion of areas related for redevelopment which have already been processed by Taipei City Government shows that as of the end of August, 2006, there were 238 cases of urban renewal areas ( including those designated by private implementers) designated according to relevant regulations of Urban Renewal Act. However, the cases which are currently being processed are only 19.44 % (65.15 hectare) of the total areas slated for redevelopment. It shows wide discrepancies in planning and implementation. Furthermore, the promulgation “ Urban Renewal Regulations for Taipei City “ amended on 25th, July, 2005 has loosen delimitation and definition norm of renewal unit which has once again revitalized the market for urban renewal. Although Government’s actively amending policies for urban renewal has been rather helpful in promoting it, it reveals no relative advantages of areas designated by the Government comparing to those designated by private implementers. The implementation efficiency of the Government is rather low compared to the efficiency of the private implementers. Therefore, there are still many problems waiting to be solved. As for the subjectivity of implementation conducted by private implementers, the ultimate goal for joining urban renewals is the profits gained from each case. Therefore, comparing to areas slated for redevelopment designated by the Government, the owners of lands or legal buildings of poor environment which are in dire need of redevelopment rather choose to designate the renewal units by themselves because these lands or buildings lack tangible development profits due to complicated property rights, low location prices. This research finds that urban renewal is still the driving force for improving the environmental quality within an area, and implementers ’ incentives for participating in urban renewals include floor area bonus and tangible profits they get at the end. However, giving too much floor area bonus will also increase environmental burdens to the city and too less development areas have no substantial help to improve the environmental quality. How to strengthen the review mechanism of conservation management legally, humanly and academically is the ultimate goal for processing urban renewal.

The traditional theories of development concentrated on stimulating economic growth and ignored the social aspects involved. Despite the massive injection of donor funds, the situation of the poor deteriorated. The projects in Tembisa are an example of this, as the community was not involved in the assessing of needs or designing of interventions and were only the implementers. The evaluation offers an alternative developmental paradigm that has been used with success in other similar circumstances – the sustainable livelihood approach (SLA). The SLA contends that urban communities should become planners, initiators and executors of local development in order for any transformation to occur. Urban communities have to change their behaviour and attitudes, be willing to accept change, and to take ownership of the projects. The facilitators, NGOs and government have to be willing to unlearn their traditional ways, listen, and accept that they are not the only experts in the field.
Development Studies
M.A. (Development Studies)

This study explores economic conditions among Iraqi refugee women living in urban areas of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan through open-ended interviews. The research aims to address coping mechanisms Iraqi refugee women use to adapt to their financial situation. The goal is to review the proactive efforts women make to turn family units from traditional consumers (buying goods) to producers (making goods) in order to find financial stability. The study incorporates three overarching themes: First, it establishes Iraqi refugee women’s financial status by surveying economic security and employment opportunities. Second, the study investigates how living in urban areas of Jordan affects Iraqi women’s economic status. Thirdly, the study explores how Iraqi refugee women approach their financial situation. How have Iraqi women taken steps to exercise control over their financial lives and improve their economic situation as refugees? The objective of this project is to promote women’s empowerment by creating an open dialogue about Iraqi women’s struggles and to highlight the steps that women take to improve their situation. The study suggests steps that can be taken to aid Iraqi refugees.
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In economics, new growth theory suggests that knowledge creation and innovation are key drivers of growth. As a result, the ‘new economy’ is increasingly reliant upon the knowledge, skills, and abilities embodied in its workforce, also known as human capital, that facilitate the stimulation and generation of new ideas (Romer 1986, 1990 and Lucas 1988). This research contributes to the understanding of the relationship between stocks of human capital and economic output. I construct metrics to measure concentrations of basic worker skills using the Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Information Network (O*NET) and employment estimates for 353 US metropolitan areas. In general, I find that basic skills are positively correlated with higher productivity. Specifically, I find that higher levels of the skills math and critical thinking partially explain higher levels of regional productivity. Science, though not statistically significant, has a negative correlation between higher levels of skill and regional output.

Urban sprawl is the uncontrolled and uncoordinated outgrowth of towns and cities. Noting the various studies, the pattern of urban sprawl is characterised by using spatial metrics based on the extent of paved surface or built-up areas. The process of urban sprawl can be described by change in pattern over time, like proportional increase in built-up surface to population leading to rapid urban spatial expansion. With an understanding of the patterns, processes and causes of urban sprawl, the consequences of sprawl can be explored which are reflected by the patterns, thus eventually aiding in the design of spatial planning support system. Following the sequence of patterns, process, causes and consequence, sets the research agenda as the framework for this research. The current research addresses the issue of urban sprawl in the context of Bangalore, India. We propose a theoretical framework to analyse the interaction of planning and governance on the extent of outgrowth and level of services. Reviewing the different indicator frameworks, we also propose urban sprawl indicators and operationalise the same for Bangalore. The indicators comprise spatial metrics (derived from temporal satellite remote sensing data) and other metrics obtained from a house-hold survey. The interaction of different indicators with respect to the core city and the outgrowth is determined by multidimensional scaling. The analyses reveal the underlying patterns -similarities (and dissimilarities) that relate with the different governance structures that prevail here. Subsequently, we attempt to understand the process of sprawl. This might help one to understand the dynamics that lead to such outgrowths. An attempt was made to capture the dynamics using systems approach and finally the insights gained were translated into agent-based land-use model. Noting the evolution of spatial planning support system (SPSS), the consequences of sprawl are explored. The SPSS developed on an agent-based modelling environment, is essentially a process-based land-use model. We highlight the need for an integrated SPSS, illustrating its development and evaluation. The policy analysis carried out using the SPSS offers insights into areas of concern. It is concluded by noting the drawbacks and challenges for future research for managing urban sprawl. In the present context, with the escalating problem of urban sprawl, the evolution of a SPSS in the form of the BangaloreSim model is the first step in this direction. The SPSS aids in undertaking policy analysis for certain policy measures and its consequences on urban land-use. The research concludes outlining the challenges in addressing urban sprawl while ensuring adequate level of services that planning and governance have to ensure towards achieving sustainable urbanisation.

Local festivals and cultural events, signage and streetscape improvements, and regional marketing efforts indicate that tourism is present in some Business Improvement Areas (BIAs). However, the extent and form of this relationship has never before been examined in the North America context. The purpose of this thesis is to explore the involvement of Ontario’s BIAs in tourism. It reports on the findings of a 2008 province-wide survey of approximately 260 BIAs, touching on a variety of topics, including: the proportion of BIAs that are involved in tourism, the factors prompting them to attract tourists, the ways that they promote themselves to tourists, the types of tourism experiences that they offer, the positive and negative impacts of their tourism efforts, and whether they partner with other stakeholders in tourism promotion efforts. The data are then used to propose a typology of Business Improvement Areas showing differing levels and forms of tourism involvement. The thesis concludes by considering four case studies of successful tourism-oriented BIAs (Downtown Kingston, Downtown London, Downtown Yonge and Creemore), which are examined to identify the characteristics that have led to their success. The findings show that the majority of Ontario’s Business Improvement Areas are involved in tourism, using diverse methods to promote themselves as destinations. Their tourism offering usually includes special events and festivals, but can also involve investments in other attractions. Although BIAs are aware of both positive and negative impacts from tourism, tourism management efforts are uncommon. Seven characteristics of successful tourism-oriented BIAs are identified: innovation, self-awareness, appearance, attractions, partnerships, experiences, and planning. BIAs that strongly manifest these characteristics are believed to be likely candidates to benefit from the tourism industry.

This research aimed to investigate an area of research that has largely been overlooked in the past, that is, the efficiency, profitability and sustainability of informal waste recycling in semi-urban areas. In exploring the research topic, a recycling buyback centre was used as a case study. The centre facilitates collection, sorting and selling of waste and is located in Senwabarwana, Northern Limpopo Province. Here the P.E.A.C.E (Planning, Education, Agriculture, Cooperatives and Environment) Foundation, an organisation looking at rural poverty alleviation in South Africa, initiated a flagship recycling buyback centre as a community project. This research picks up on prior research that was conducted on a similar project initiated by the same organisation in Ndumo, KwaZulu Natal. Even though the location is different from KwaZulu Natal, both Senwabarwana and Ndumo are faced with similar challenges affecting social, economic and environmental circumstances. Five objectives were identified to provide structure to this research. Through action research, the study assessed the sustainability of this recycling buyback centre with regard to the impact on social, economic and environmental factors within Senwabarwana. It also covered problems experienced in rolling out waste management initiatives within the semi-urban study location and assessed the municipal framework with regard to waste and how waste is managed and recycled. Furthermore, analyses of the waste data generated at the recycling centre was examined that culminated in offering solutions to the identified problems. Recommendations for acceptable practices in semi-urban waste management are made to enable further research and potentially up-scaling the project for application in other geographic areas. The study reports both qualitative and quantitative data collected through the investigation of the case study in the start-up phase. The data gathering was done through administering questionnaires to waste pickers associated with the case study centre. Telephonic and face-to-face interviews and secondary data were interchangeably used to address each of the five objectives. The results from the data gathered show that, if properly coordinated and structured, informal waste recycling in semi-urban communities is possible and can contribute positively to the socio-economic and environmental development of these areas. It is envisaged that this study would contribute to the body of knowledge already in existence, whilst also creating an opportunity for further academic research and input within this field to enable the scaling-up of such initiatives.
Environmental Sciences
M. Sc. (Environmental Science)