Current Search: Sociology, Urban (x)
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- Title
- The social ecology of growth management: An analysis of Florida's urban communities.
- Creator
- Watson, Robert P., Florida Atlantic University, DeGrove, John M.
- Abstract/Description
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That growth management as a field of study is relatively young is observable in the lack of theory about the phenomenon. Not surprisingly, the literature contains numerous criticisms of the inadequacy of existing research and calls for the development of empirically-based decision-making models and theory in the field. This paper studies cities and counties in Florida with the objective of analyzing the "social ecology" of urban growth-managing communities. Here, the term social ecology is...
Show moreThat growth management as a field of study is relatively young is observable in the lack of theory about the phenomenon. Not surprisingly, the literature contains numerous criticisms of the inadequacy of existing research and calls for the development of empirically-based decision-making models and theory in the field. This paper studies cities and counties in Florida with the objective of analyzing the "social ecology" of urban growth-managing communities. Here, the term social ecology is used to represent social forces in the policy macroenvironment. At present there is no clear answer as to what community characteristics are associated with growth management policy and what are the social pressures underlying community growth-managing policy orientations. A dynamic and complex policy issue, growth management is conceptualized in this study both broadly and operationally in terms of five major policy issues pertaining to growth management: Economic development/redevelopment; housing; infrastructure; environmental protection; and urban design/community character. Governments of the 36 counties and 28 cities in Florida with populations of at least 50,000 were surveyed to obtain information on their growth management policy priorities. Of the approximately one dozen states currently employing statewide, comprehensive systems to manage growth, Florida is considered a national leader. Furthermore, as it has been experiencing one of the nation's highest growth rates over the past two decades, Florida is an important growth management data source to study. The research involved two stages. The first stage used bivariate statistical analyses and tests of association to identify those variables in the urban social ecology related to each of the growth management policy issues studied, from which descriptive models of association were constructed. The second stage used factor analysis to identify and analyze the principal factors characterizing the growth management policies, from which broad theory about the social ecology of growth management was developed. In summary, this study analyzes and explains growth management policy in terms of three principal factors characterizing the urban community. The study offers descriptive models and theory analyzing the forces that shape growth management policy and thus provides a conceptual framework for policy analysis to assist policy makers with decision making. Equally important, the findings provide direction for further study in the field.
Show less - Date Issued
- 1991
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/fcla/dt/12286
- Subject Headings
- Urban Ecology (Sociology)--Florida, Community Development, Urban--Florida
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- Title
- Community-Oriented Policing Implementation, Social Disorganization and Crime Rates in Small Cities.
- Creator
- Przeszlowski, Kimberly, Crichlow, Vaughn, Florida Atlantic University, College for Design and Social Inquiry, School of Criminology and Criminal Justice
- Abstract/Description
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Community-oriented policing implementation has been examined under the context of large agencies whereas the literature on smaller agencies has ultimately been lagging behind The purpose of this study is therefore to examine the degree of community policing implementation within these smaller agencies, controlling for characteristics derived from the theory of social disorganization, to gather further insight into what variables may be impacting crimes rates Pearson correlation and OLS...
Show moreCommunity-oriented policing implementation has been examined under the context of large agencies whereas the literature on smaller agencies has ultimately been lagging behind The purpose of this study is therefore to examine the degree of community policing implementation within these smaller agencies, controlling for characteristics derived from the theory of social disorganization, to gather further insight into what variables may be impacting crimes rates Pearson correlation and OLS regression analysis is employed to obtain the necessary results The findings indicate that although community-policing implementation does not significantly impact or explain the variation of crime rates in small cities, the statistically significant results of particular social disorganization characteristics should be an indicator of the need to incorporate theory with practice
Show less - Date Issued
- 2016
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/fau/fd/FA00004778
- Subject Headings
- Crime--Sociological aspects, Crime prevention, Crime analysis, Sociology, Urban
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- Title
- Examining the relationship between urban green space and sustainable cities.
- Creator
- Bloise, Gillian., Charles E. Schmidt College of Science, Department of Geosciences
- Abstract/Description
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Urban green space plays a vital role in the stability of the environment. Green spaces are increasingly becoming an integral part of the efforts to promote sustainability because of the different areas of benefits they provide. Sustainable city ranking systems were used to identify the most sustainable urban extents within the US. Landsat TM 4-5 imagery and textural classification are used as techniques in identifying, classifying and analyzing urban green spaces within nineteen urban extents...
Show moreUrban green space plays a vital role in the stability of the environment. Green spaces are increasingly becoming an integral part of the efforts to promote sustainability because of the different areas of benefits they provide. Sustainable city ranking systems were used to identify the most sustainable urban extents within the US. Landsat TM 4-5 imagery and textural classification are used as techniques in identifying, classifying and analyzing urban green spaces within nineteen urban extents. Patch analyst was used to analyze the location, structure and fragmentation green spaces within each urban extent. The aim is to determine to what degree urban green spaces can be considered to be an integral part of the sustainability of sustainable urban extents across the US and ascertain whether or not more sustainable urban extents do have more urban green spaces. The results of the study have shown that urban extents that are ranked highly v on sustainable ranking systems do not necessarily have to have large proportion of green spaces. Results have also shown that urban extents that are ranked high on sustainable rankings will not necessarily be affected by increase in population or decrease in urban green space. Finally human modified green spaces have simple geometric shapes compared to natural unaltered green spaces that have more complex geometric shapes.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2013
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/FAU/3360771
- Subject Headings
- City planning, Environmental aspects, Urbanization, Environmental aspects, Urban ecology (Sociology), Human ecology, Sustainable development, Urban beautification
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- Title
- Beyond sustainability: justice and complex systems thinking for just sustainable viability.
- Creator
- Best, Andrea Leigh., Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters, Department of Philosophy
- Abstract/Description
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The dominant definitions of sustainability are too various and neglect essential elements necessary for effective sustainability discourse. This project considers what current understandings of sustainable development mean to those who subscribe to them and how those understandings affect public policy for sustainable development. I begin by presenting a timeline on the evolution of the term 'sustainability'. Then, I offer narrative policy analysis as a methodological tool for investigating...
Show moreThe dominant definitions of sustainability are too various and neglect essential elements necessary for effective sustainability discourse. This project considers what current understandings of sustainable development mean to those who subscribe to them and how those understandings affect public policy for sustainable development. I begin by presenting a timeline on the evolution of the term 'sustainability'. Then, I offer narrative policy analysis as a methodological tool for investigating communities of meaning with contending views on sustainability. This provides a foundation for the analysis of case studies using Harrisonian Sustainability Narratives-efficiency, equity, and ethics-as lenses through which three corresponding U.S. case studies are explored, each representing different levels of analysis-corporate, state, and individual. First, the Business Roundtable, a lobbying organization comprised of the CEOs of top U.S. companies exemplifying the efficiency narrative, claims that the problem of sustainable development can be addressed through free markets, which continually increase eco-efficiency and encourage technological advancement. Next, the Environmental Protection Agency, a state organization mandated to protect water and air and to manage toxic and solid wastes and representing the equity narrative, sees the problem of sustainable development as ensuring the just distribution of natural limits so as to reduce the impact of those limits on individuals within communities. Lastly, the ethical anthropology of Anna Peterson, philosopher of religion, points to the power of ethical narratives in creating wide-scale changes to our ideas about humanness and human nature as they relate to our relationship with our environment for sustainability., What I found in common with both the efficiency and equity narratives, representing both the political and corporate perspective and having significant influence on policy formation, is that they are pro market-based solutions of ecoefficiency and technological advancement. What they blatantly lack is guidance on what we ought to do, ought to value. I conclude that a humanist ethic is missing from both these narratives. Neither narrative sees matters of justice as co-equal partners with sustainability for sustainable development. Policy resulting from these narratives may offer efficiency and process but fails to include a robust humanist ethics necessary for a true sustainability. The way we think about our relationship to the environment shapes our behavior towards it. Just Sustainable Viability combines a complex systems approach that views human societies as complex adaptive systems and aims at optimizing social adaptive capacity with notions of distributive and procedural justice. With the inception of this new vision for sustainability, a new narrative must follow that firmly places humanity within the context of complex social and environmental systems.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2010
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/FAU/2684310
- Subject Headings
- System analysis, Policy sciences, Sustainable development, Social structure, Urban ecology (Sociology)
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- Title
- Statistical correlation between economic activity and DMSP-OLS night light images in Florida.
- Creator
- Forbes, Dolores J., Charles E. Schmidt College of Science, Department of Geosciences
- Abstract/Description
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The Defense Meteorological Satellite Program (DMSP) Optical Line Scan (OLS) instruments collect data from an altitude of approximately 830km above the surface of the Earth. The night light data from these instruments has been shown to correlate by lit area with national level Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and to correlate with GDP at the State level by total radiance value. Very strong correlation is found between the night light data at a new, larger scale, the Metropolitan Statistical Area ...
Show moreThe Defense Meteorological Satellite Program (DMSP) Optical Line Scan (OLS) instruments collect data from an altitude of approximately 830km above the surface of the Earth. The night light data from these instruments has been shown to correlate by lit area with national level Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and to correlate with GDP at the State level by total radiance value. Very strong correlation is found between the night light data at a new, larger scale, the Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA) within the state of Florida. Additional statistical analysis was performed to determine which industries within each MSA explain the greatest amount of variance in the night light data. Industrial variables exhibited strong multi-collinearity. It is therefore impossible to determine which industries explain the greatest variance in the night light image data.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2011
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/FAU/3175019
- Subject Headings
- Earth, Rendering (Computer graphics), Urban ecology (Sociology), Sustainable development
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- Title
- The cities, crowds, and masks of James Ensor: a critique of urbanization and modern city space.
- Creator
- Carney, Jeanette., Harriet L. Wilkes Honors College
- Abstract/Description
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James Ensor's depictions of Belgian cities and their inhabitants offer a derisive critique of modern urban space, and the resulting societal transformations, that developed during the nineteenth century. His illustrations of the contemporary urban societies of Brussels and Ostend generally always include images of crowds and masks, elements which represent the horror and emptiness of the modern city.
- Date Issued
- 2007
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/FAU/41006
- Subject Headings
- Criticism and interpretation, Modernism (Literature), Sociology, Urban, Cities and towns, Effect of technological innovations on
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- Title
- A Baudrillardian examination of municipalities as public relations and marketing firms.
- Creator
- Zavattaro, Staci M., College for Design and Social Inquiry, School of Public Administration
- Abstract/Description
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Local governments are adopting both the rhetoric and practices of market-based governance interventions. Imported into these cities are public relations and marketing tactics to sell cities to internal and external audiences alike. Public communication in these cities went from a public information focus hinging on a just-the-facts approach to a public relations and marketing focus on selling and image generation to please customers. Acute attention to image generation leads to the metaphor...
Show moreLocal governments are adopting both the rhetoric and practices of market-based governance interventions. Imported into these cities are public relations and marketing tactics to sell cities to internal and external audiences alike. Public communication in these cities went from a public information focus hinging on a just-the-facts approach to a public relations and marketing focus on selling and image generation to please customers. Acute attention to image generation leads to the metaphor of municipalities presented in this research - as public relations and marketing firms. Private sector public relations (PR) and marketing firms gain results for their clients, usually in the form of consumer consumption. A city acting as a public relations and marketing firm puts priority on the image-generation potentials of nearly all its governance functions to sell a commodity to customers. To illustrate this, a six-point model was devised of PR and marketing tactics used in cities operating as public relations and marketing firms: branding, media relations, in-house publications, use of volunteers and outside organizations as PR tools, aesthetic and affective appeal, and sustainability and going green. A city using all six is a fully realized PR and marketing firm, as it adopts, adapts and executes the tactics in meaningful ways. An over-reliance on image-generation (PR and marketing) versus substance (information) pushes public organizations through Baudrillard's four phases of the image. The image of the city becomes dissociated with reality, and the government operates in a simulation of itself. This research uses Qualitative Media Analysis (Altheide, 1996) supplemented by a discourse analysis method created for this research - Baudrillardian Discourse Analysis., Baudrillardian Discourse Analysis examines market-based, consumer-driven, postmodern language found in public organizations because of the governance changes mentioned earlier. Implications for public administration include: developing a model of organizations for other scholars to examine; introducing a discourse analysis method; and showing realizations of postmodern critiques and impacts of market models on cities.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2010
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/FAU/1927610
- Subject Headings
- Influence, City and town life, Social aspects, Sociology, Urban, Place marketing
- Format
- Document (PDF)