Organizational Unit:
School of Public Policy

Permanent Link
https://hdl.handle.net/1853/70716
Research Organization Registry ID
Description
Previous Names
Parent Organization
Parent Organization
Includes Organization(s)
ArchiveSpace Name Record
https://finding-aids.library.gatech.edu/agents/corporate_entities/1033

Filters

2009 - 2009 2 2010 - 2013 3
5
4 1
5
5
Reset filters

Settings
search.filters.applied.f.advisor: Noonan, Douglas S. × Start date: 2009 ×

Publication Search Results

Now showing 1 - 5 of 5
Thumbnail Image
Item

An empirical study of attitudes towards green urban development

2013-08-28 , Chiang Hsieh, Lin-Han

This study focuses on how spatial circumstances affect property owners’ preference toward sustainable urban development, in the form of three-essays. In the first essay, property owners’ preference toward the concept of compact development is identified. Compact development is an increasingly popular concept that includes multiple aspects, such as mixed land use, high density, and pedestrian/transit-friendly options. Previous hedonic literature on the comprehensive effect of compact development is limited. Also, spatial dependence in the data, something likely endemic to compact development, has not yet been thoroughly addressed. This study uses a spatial fixed-effect model, a spatial-autoregressive model with auto-regressive disturbances (SARAR), and a spatial fixed-effect SARAR model to determine the price effect of “compactness” in a major U.S. metropolitan area. By analyzing of 47,000 sales records in Fulton County over a decade, this study indicates that home buyers prefer to have smaller, more diffuse greenspace nearby, rather than a large, concentrated greenspace at a longer walking distance. High parcel density and diverse land use is consistently disvalued, and the premium on accessing public transportation is not identified among all models. No specific trend over time has been observed, despite the recession starting in 2008. Finally, a comprehensive index of compactness shows relatively high willingness-to-pay for compact development. The second essay tests the spatial spillover of signaling within the pursuit of LEED certification. The benefit of pursuing green building certification mainly comes from two aspects: the cost-effectiveness from energy efficiency and the signaling consideration, including the premium on property values, benefits from a better reputation, morality values, or purely pride. By analyzing all new constructions that received LEED certification from 2000 to 2012 (LEED-NC v2.0 to v2.2) in the U.S., this study tries to identify the size of the signaling effects, and spillover of signaling, as building owners pursue LEED certification. The results show that the signaling effect affects decision making in pursuing LEED certification, especially at scores around thresholds. The size of signaling effects differs among different owner types and different certificate levels. For the Gold level or below, government and non-profit-organization owners value signaling more than do profit-seeking firms. At the Platinum level, there is no significant difference among owner types. This study also finds that the signaling effect clusters spatially for government and profit-seeking firms. Finally, the results show that the cluster of signaling is independent from the cluster of LEED buildings, indicating that mechanisms behind the cluster of signaling are different from those of LEED constructions. The third essay tests the distance effect on the support for Atlanta BeltLine. Atlanta BeltLine, a large urban redevelopment project currently underway in the center of Atlanta, transforms 22 miles of historical railroad corridors into parks, trails, pedestrian-friendly transit areas, and affordable housing. This study aims to determine the distance effect on the support of Atlanta BeltLine and whether the implement of Tax Increment Financing (TIF) affects the support. The contributions of this exercise are twofold. First, it demonstrates the risks and remedies to missing spatial data by solving the technical problem of missing precise spatial location values. Second, it tests underlying reasons why distance can help explain the level of support that Atlanta BeltLine has received, with striking implications for theories like the Homevoter hypothesis. Survey data used in this study was conducted in summer 2009, about three years after the declaration of the project. The support by both homeowners and renters significantly declines as distance from the BeltLine increases. However, when residents’ tendency to use BeltLine parks and transits is entered as a variable, the distance effect disappears. By indicating that the distance effect comes from homeowners’ and renters’ the accessibility to BeltLine amenities, the result rejects the homevoter hypothesis, which holds that property value increment is the main mechanism behind support. The results also show that whether or not a homeowner or renter is a parent in City of Atlanta affects a person’s support of the BeltLine. These results lead to the conclusion that the concern of TIF affecting future school quality hampers the support of the project.

View
Thumbnail Image
Item

The value of Fijian coral reefs by nonusers: a contingent valuation study to investigate willingness-to-pay for conservation, understand scale/magnitude of reef problems and provide tools for practitioners

2009-07-06 , Fonseca, Carolyn E.

A contingent valuation study was done to investigate the value of Fijian reefs by households in the Metro Atlanta area. Individuals were surveyed and asked questions about their Willingness-to-Pay for coral reef conservation, personal views on the scope/magnitude of coral reef problems, and experience around ocean related activities as well as knowledge. Results from this data, find individuals would donate on average $0.18 taking into account sample and response bias. Less conservative estimates calculated contributions per person to equal $13.9 for the conservation of Fijian reefs. These results imply Atlanta, which is very distant from Fiji, has the potential to contribute to Fijian coral reef conservation programs. Although little empirical work exists on valuation measure for reefs of non-users and groups distant to reefs, this study suggests nonprofits and developing countries could benefit from the inclusion or previously excluded (due to distance to reefs) participants. The study discusses donor characteristics as well as possible market strategies these organizations could utilize to maximize revenue. Findings from this work highlight two important issues rarely discussed in the policy literature: 1-the use of non-market valuation methods to identify stakeholders and 2-the effects of distance on use and non-use value ultimately impacting conservation.

View
Thumbnail Image
Item

Sustainability at multiple scales: interactions between environment, economic and social indicators at the country, city and manufacturing facility scale

2012-04-04 , Jordan, Benjamin Raines

The simplicity of the Environmental Kuznets (EKC) curve concept motivated this study of the relationships between environmental, economic and social indicators at the country, city/regional and manufacturing facility scale. The study builds on almost 20 years of research on the EKC, which has shown conflicting results for confirmation of the EKC hypothesis that the environment first degrades, then improves, with increasing economic wealth. Most EKC studies use country-scale income or GDP as the primary economic indicator of interest; this study experiments with city/regional GDP at the local scale and a country-scale "market maturity" indicator commonly used by the corporation studied. The manufacturing facility scale analysis is new territory in the EKC literature. Firm-scale studies in the past have been just that, evaluating firm environmental performance across a specific industry. This effort evaluates manufacturing facility performance within the same firm across a set of 21 countries of interest to the corporation. This study is unique in a few other ways. Including multiple scales in the same study is not common in the EKC literature. Typically, a study would focus on one or a few indicators at one specific scale. The actual environmental and social outcome variables used here are also somewhat unique. Generally speaking, the results reported here will fall into the "mixed" bucket relative to the 20 years of existing EKC literature; however, a possible research platform is established based on the possible nesting of multiple scales within the same research effort.

View
Thumbnail Image
Item

Three essays in program evaluation: the case of Atlanta inspection and maintenance program

2009-06-17 , Supnithadnaporn, Anupit

The Atlanta Inspection and Maintenance program ultimately aims to reduce on-road vehicular emission, a major source of air pollution. The program enforces eligible vehicles to be inspected and repaired, if necessary, before the annual registration renewal. However, various factors can influence the program implementation with respect to the motorists, inspectors, and testing technology. This research explores some of these factors by using empirical data from the Continuous Atlanta Fleet Evaluation project, the inspection transaction records, the Atlanta Household Travel Survey, and the U.S. Census Bureau. The study discusses policy implications of findings from the three essays and offers related recommendations. The first essay examines whether the higher income of a vehicle owner decreases the odds of the vehicle failing the first inspection. Findings show that vehicles owned by low-income households are more likely to fail the first inspection of the annual test cycle. However, after controlling for the vehicle characteristics, the odds of failing the first inspection are similar across households. This suggests that the maintenance behaviors are approximately the same for high- and low-income households. The second essay explains the motorists' decisions in selecting their inspection stations using a random utility model. The study finds that motorists are likely to choose the inspection stations that are located near their houses, charge lower fees, and can serve a large number of customers. Motorists are less likely to choose the stations with a relatively high failure ratio especially in an area of low station density. Moreover, motorists do not travel an extra mile to the stations with lower failure ratio. Understanding choices of vehicle owners can shed some light on the performance of inspection stations. The third essay investigates the validity and reliability of the on-board diagnostic generation II (OBD II) test, a new testing technology required for 1966 and newer model year vehicles. The study compares the inspection results with the observed on-road emission using the remote sensing device (RSD) of the same vehicles. This research finds that the agreement between the RSD measurement and the OBD II test is lower for the relatively older or higher use vehicle fleets

View
Thumbnail Image
Item

The influence of parks and greenspace on the value of commercial real estate

2011-04-25 , Strippelhoff, Cade

The effect of parks on residential real estate has been well recorded; however little research has been done to estimate the effects of parks on commercial real estate values. With the help of Geographic Information Systems and the transactions of nearly 10,000 properties from 2000 to early 2011, I produced three different hedonic commercial real estate sales models. Controlling for building characteristics, demographic variations within census groups, and locational attributes, I find that proximity to parks plays a role in the valuation of some property types. Little evidence is found to support the hypothesis that properties in proximity to parks are valued higher; however co-location of parks and other attributes could play a beneficial role in supplying cities with more parks while boosting surrounding property values.

View