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ItemThe rise of economic development overlay districts in response to industrial land loss: insights from survey and case study research(Georgia Institute of Technology, 2015-01-15) White, Raymond RodneyThis research considered overlay districts as one technique to supersede Euclidian zoning, broaden its application to regulate land use, promote retention of industrial space and improve job development. Since the 1950s America has been losing industrial or manufacturing jobs and space in cities throughout the country. Moreover economic indicators following the great recession of 2007 reflected an aggregate loss of 8 million jobs, and an increase in national and regional industrial vacancy rates, which have recently, began to decline. Some researchers and local officials argue that industrial space, market and job losses were affected in part by less-protective, inflexible and/or inadequate Euclidian zoning regulations. In addition, it is argued that inadequate industrial zoning has contributed to the loss of investment of financial and human capital in local communities. Traditional zoning known as Euclidian zoning is a predominant form of land use control in the U.S. Today, it is a technique designed to separate and protect adjacent uses from encroachment, incompatibility and nuisances. The primary goal of this study was to explore and describe how overlay districts (located in inner urban/inner-ring suburbs) supersede Euclidean zoning, promote economic development and affect the creation of jobs through industrial development and\or urban redevelopment. Theoretical constructs informing this research included zoning, land use, local economic development and location theories. The fundamental research question asked is: "Do overlays protect industrial land and jobs better than Euclidian zoning and does the protection facilitate greater confidence in industrial investment? To address the research question of this dissertation and analyze data, a mixed methods research design was employed. The design consisted of Internet research, a qualitative multiple (six) case-study analysis, interviews of agency personnel, field reconnaissance, and a sample survey of implementing agencies (which used a data base of over 2700 ordinances from the Municipal Code Corporation). The conclusion of this study is that overlays protect industrial land and jobs better than Euclidian zoning and the protection does facilitate greater confidence in industrial investment. Manufacturers and other industrial oriented-users have located in EDODs and have in some cases lobbied the local governments for continuation of the district. Jobs have also been added in consecutive years within key EDODs. Moreover, newly established EDODs have been used to target investments in infrastructure and incentives to underwrite the cost of industrial development. Policy implications of this study will inform planners regarding the need for industry and manufacturing uses to create sustainable employment within their communities.
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ItemForeign direct investment and sustainable local economic development: spatial patterns of manufacturing foreign direct investment and its impacts on middle class earnings(Georgia Institute of Technology, 2014-04-07) Park, Jeong IlForeign Direct Investment (FDI) in the United States, which predominately occurs in the manufacturing sector, remains critically important for a strong regional and local economy, due to the resulting increase in employment, wages, and tax revenue. Traditionally, local economic development strategies have focused on attracting external manufacturing plants or facilities as the primary route to economic growth, through the expansion of the tax base and/or an increase in employment. In comparison, Sustainable Local Economic Development (SLED) emphasizes the establishment of a minimum standard of living for all and an increase in this standard over time; a reduction in the steady growth in inequality among people; a reduction in spatial inequality; and the promotion and encouragement of sustainable resource use and production (Blakely & Leigh, 2010). These essential SLED principles motivate this study, which will seek to develop a better understanding of whether and how FDI contributes to SLED in terms of its spatial patterns and its impact on middle class earnings. By selecting Georgia as a case study area, this research specifically examines whether and how the location of manufacturing FDI has reduced (or increased) spatial inequality at the intra-state and intra-metropolitan levels. It also identifies whether and how manufacturing FDI has reduced (or increased) inequality among people, focusing on its impact on middle class earnings. This study finds a strong spatial concentration of manufacturing FDI employment in metropolitan areas, particularly in a large metropolitan area, at the intra-state spatial pattern analysis. The results of panel regression analysis suggest that presence of agglomeration economies in metropolitan areas has positively influenced the location of manufacturing FDI jobs. The study also finds a suburbanization pattern of manufacturing FDI employment in the intra-metropolitan spatial pattern analysis. This intra-metropolitan suburbanization of FDI in manufacturing jobs is associated with loss of urban industrial land in the central areas within a large metropolitan area. These uneven distribution patterns of manufacturing FDI jobs indicate increased spatial inequality at both intra-state and intra-metropolitan levels, but the implications of this finding are mixed. Using individual earnings data from the American Community Survey Public Use Microdata Sample files, this study also conducts a quantile regression to estimate the earnings distribution effects that a concentration of manufacturing FDI may have on different earnings groups. The findings both from place-of-work and place-of-residence earnings analysis suggest that manufacturing FDI generally has reduced inequality among people. The concentration of manufacturing FDI in a certain area show the largest distribution effects on area workers in the lower earnings group and residents in the middle earnings group.
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ItemEconomic and environmental input-output modeling: building material recycling(Georgia Institute of Technology, 2012-11-14) Choi, TaelimA key dimension to improving urban economic and environmental sustainability is the efficient use of resources through recycling. A thriving recycling system requires not only effective institutional policies and community-wide diversion efforts, but also a competent local and regional recycling industry. Although the recycling industry has traditionally been recognized as a local service and fringe industry, it has noticeably transformed into an integral segment of industrial production systems as manufacturers have increasingly begun to adopt the principle of extended producer responsibility. Despite such changes, urban and regional theory and planning research has largely disregarded the industrial aspect of recycling, contributing to the dearth of information about the organizational and spatial patterns of the recycling industry and the impact of the establishment of recycling systems on local and regional scales. Given the knowledge gap, this dissertation addresses two questions: 1) What is the logic of the industry organization and spatial pattern of recycling industry in different institutional contexts? and 2) How is the economic and environmental impact of recycling systems determined in cases of construction and demolition waste recycling and waste carpet recycling? To answer the first question, this research develops a theoretical model that explains how recycling industrial activities are spatially distributed in light of institutional and organizational theories. The theoretical model characterizes organizational decisions pertaining to recycling functions and suggests spatial patterns of recycling systems. With respect to the second question, this research constructs a regional environmental input-output model on the metropolitan scale. It estimates regionalized energy use coefficients and greenhouse gas emission coefficients using various sources of data mainly compiled from the Manufacturing Energy Consumption Survey 2006, the State Energy Consumption Estimates, and the Commodity Flow Survey 2007. Based on regional input-output tables coupled with the regionalized environmental coefficients, this research quantifies, through simulations, the net economic and environmental impact of a localized construction and demolition waste recycling system in the San Francisco metropolitan area and regional carpet recycling systems in the Atlanta and Seattle metropolitan areas. Results of the simulations reveal that 1) the localized construction and demolition waste recycling system provides moderate economic benefits because of the limited job creation potential of mechanized recycling processes and yields relatively small environmental benefits with respect to the total weight processed; 2) wider adoption of the deconstruction technique expands job opportunities, increases energy savings, and reduces greenhouse gas emissions during the course of construction and demolition waste recycling; 3) regional-scale waste carpet recycling systems, in particular recycled nylon 6 production, create sizable new job opportunities and provides environmental benefits of energy savings and greenhouse gas emission reduction despite the long-distance transportation of waste carpet. These results suggest that policies that promote recycling industrial activities can significantly contribute to the economic and environmental sustainability of metropolitan areas.
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ItemChallenges of sustainable urban planning: the case of municipal solid waste management(Georgia Institute of Technology, 2011-07-08) Ai, NingThis study aims to demonstrate the critical role of waste management in urban sustainability, promote planners' contribution to proactive and efficient waste management, and facilitate the integration of waste management into mainstream sustainability planning. With anticipated increases in population and associated waste generation, timely and effective waste management highlights one of the most critical challenges of sustainable development, which calls for meeting "the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs" (WCED, 1987). Waste management in urban areas plays a particularly important role, given that waste generated from urban areas are often exported out of the region for processing and treatment, and the impacts of waste disposal activities may pass on to the other jurisdictions, and even to the next generations. An urban system cannot be sustainable if it requires more resources than it can produce on its own and generates more wastes than the environment can assimilate. The current waste management practice, which focuses on short-term impacts and end-of-pipe solutions, is reactive in nature and inadequate to promote sustainability within urban systems, across jurisdictions, and across generations. Through material flows in and out of urban systems, many potential opportunities exist to reduce waste generation and to minimize the negative impacts on the environment, the economy, and the society. City planners' involvement in waste management, however, has been largely limited to siting waste management facilities. Linking waste management with three important lenses in planning-land use, economic development, and environmental planning, this study investigates the impacts of urban growth on waste management activities, the need of transforming the reactive nature of current waste management, and the challenges and opportunities that planners should address to promote urban systems' self-reliance of material and waste management needs. This study includes three empirical analyses to complement theoretical discussions. First, it connects waste statistics with demographic data, geographic characteristics, and policy instruments at the county level to examine whether waste volume can be decoupled from urban population growth. Second, it examines the life cycle costs of different waste management options and develops a simulation study to seek cost-effective strategies for long-term waste management. Third, it compiles evidence of geographic-specific characteristics related to waste management and demonstrates why waste management policies cannot be one-size-fit-all. This study finds that, with successful implementation of strategic policy design, waste generation and its associated impacts can be decoupled from population and urban growth. Good lessons about waste reduction programs can be learned from different communities. Meanwhile, this study also reveals various challenges facing communities with heterogeneous characteristics, such as housing density, building age, and income. Accordingly, this study discusses the potential opportunities for planners to contribute to community-specific waste management programs, the prospect of transforming waste management practice from a cost burden to a long-term economic development strategy, and the need to incorporate waste management into the sustainable urban planning agenda.