78 Recent Doctoral Dissertations

of study is the southwest side of Chicago which had been one of the areas of Chicago insufficiently served by rapid transit, commuter rail or exclusive bus lanes. The basic research design is the “before and after” methodology involving the use of multiple regressions and diagnostic checking for outliers and for collinearity. Land value samples for 1980 and 1990 were taken from Olcott’s Land Values Book of Chicago & Suburbs and were regressed on several accessibility and socio-economic variables. The study was designed so that detailed analyses of land value changes before the announcement and funding approval of the transportation improvement and before the completion of its construction would be carried out. The results of the study indicate that the hypothesis of ‘no significant difference in the impact of anticipation of transit improvement on changes in land values in the corridor between 1980 and 1990’ could not be strongly rejected. The results also show that residential land values decreased away from the stations and that residents would be willing to pay a premium to live closer to the stations because of reasons related to easier accessibility. Further, study findings support the notion that residential land users in the corridor would like to pay less for sites in proximity to the line because of the negative externality of ambient noise and other related nuisances; and that distance to the Loop, population density, percentage of black population and, to a lesser extent, distance to industrial locations, and distance to parks and schools, were important determinants of land values in the corridor. The study makes policy recommendations for similar improvement projects in the region.

Migration, urban amenities, and commuting: A case study of high-technology workers in Hsinchu, Taiwan. Chung, Yee-Ping, Ph.D. University of Southern California, 1994. Chair: Dowell Myers.

In Taiwan, the Hsinchu Industrial Park (HSIP) was established in 1980 as a regional counter-magnet growth pole intended to balance regional development. Despite the steady relocation of high-tech jobs to the Hsinchu area over the past 13 years, many HSIP workers have elected to commute very long distances rather than relocate their residence. The resulting spatial mismatch of residence-workplace among HSIP workers produces not only very long commutes, but also contributes to the marked deterioration of traffic conditions. Since migration is characteristic of young and educated people, it is puzzling why HSIP workers would rather tolerate a long commute, rather than making a job-induced residential migration of their households to Hsinchu. Theoretically, migration flows depend on the migrants’ attributes, the area characteristics of both origin and destination, and the difficulty of the journey-to-work. In this study, job-induced residential migration has been defined as a spatial process to compensate for the stress coming from environmental dissatisfaction and intolerable

commuting between Hsinchu and the residence. This commuting strain may be offset by greater satisfaction with the living environment surrounding the current residence. The higher the relative dissatisfaction with Hsinchu urban amenities over the residence, and the lower the stress of the residence, the lower is the likelihood that the worker will migrate to Hsinchu. The smaller the commuting stress the potential migrants have between Hsinchu and the residential origin, the lower should be the propensity to relocate to Hsinchu. The residential in-migration decisions of HSIP workers were investigated with survey data obtained from a two-stage questionnaire survey among the HSIP workforce. A multiple regression path model was estimated for the effects of personal characteristics on satisfaction with living environments at the residential origin over Hsinchu, and on commuting tolerance. The effects of all factors were then estimated for the migration decision. The empirical case study confirms the migration suppression effect of dissatisfaction with Hsinchu urban amenities, housing services, and commuting tolerance. A number of key personal or household characteristics also had an important influence on the job-induced residential migration decision. (Copies available exclusively from Micrographics Department, Doheny Library, USC, Los Angeles, CA 90089-o 182).

Ring road development and vacant lands: Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Alskait, Khalid, Ph.D. The University of British Columbia (Canada), 1993. 308 pp. Adviser: V. Setty Penakur. ISBN: O-3 15-89322-2.

Order Number DANN-89322

This dissertation is concerned with the relationship between freeway development and the pattern of urban development. In particular, this research examines whether there is any relationship between ring road development and the proliferation of vacant urban lands in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. The main hypothesis of this dissertation suggests that the development of ring roads, at a time when a substantial amount of inner lands are vacant, encourages leapfrogging growth, thus creating more vacant urban lands. Both primary data and existing data, collected by governmental agencies, were collected and analyzed. Primary data were collected using a questionnaire survey. The survey included interviews with relevant public officials, private developers, and academics. One hundred people were approached to complete the questionnaire, and seventy-six of them responded. The primary existing data source was the Arriyadh Development Authority (ADA). The ADA provided land use data for 1986-87 and 1990-91. These data included relevant urban variables (including land use variables, population variables, dwelling unit variables) for sixteen submunicipalities in Riyadh. The analyses of land use data were supplemented by an analysis of aerial images of the city which had been taken before and after the development of the ring road, sections of which were

Recent Doctoral Dissertations 79

opened in 1984 and 1986. The interviews, the land use data, and the aerial images were complementary to each other in the analysis. The findings of this dissertation suggest that there is a correlation between the development of the Riyadh Ring Road and the size and distribution of current vacant urban land. This confirms the main hypothesis. It is suggested that the timing of ring road development is critical to the increase in the amount of vacant urban land. In order to avoid and/or to decrease such an increase in vacant land, ring roads should be developed only after a certain percentage of the land within the urban area has been developed. If more vacant urban land exist at the time of the development of a ring road, then more leapfrogging growth will occur. This type of growth will result in more vacant urban land and will stretch the city in all directions, thus reducing efficiency.

A sequential urban land use/transportation model: The dynamics of regional economic growth and urban spatial structure. Seo, Jong Gook, Ph.D. University of Southern California, 1993. Chair: Peter Gordon.

The purpose of this study is to formulate and apply an integrated urban development model with endogenous activity centers. This is a computer simulation model that explains interactions between (1) a set of a priori profitabilities given some (aspatial) economic environment, (2) a set of transport costs defined by a transportation network, (3) a set of externalities, and (4) relocation costs. The underlying hypothesis is that the process of metropolitan economic growth is associated with a variety of distinct transformations in the spatial structure of the activity system. The model developed in this research is characterized by an integrated treatment of regional economic change and spatial structure. The assumption that economic agents engage in myopic location behaviors is central to this investigation of urban form. Locators are assumed to make decisions from a ceteris parihus perspective. Network congestion and agglomeration effects are endogenous in each period. Interactivity flows are determined by structural transformations through changes in the composition of demand, trade, production, and factor use that takes place as per capita income increases. The simulation results show that nonproportional growth of sectors influence the spatial patterns of economic activities over time. The results show a realistic process of relocations. Not all locators relocate simultaneously. Some activities do not change their locations. Locators also demonstrate subcentering. Subcenters do not usually emerge suddenly. The emergence, growth, and obsolescence of individual urban subcenters is shown to be part of a dynamic process resulting from standard economic behavior. Such an evolutionary approach begins to fill the void between dynamic and behavioral models of economic activity location. Moreover, if this evolutionary model can depict reality reasonably well,

then this approach may also be used to develop useful empirical hypotheses and hypothesis tests. This model provides information in determining an optimal allocation of land given a goal and constraints to the goal. The integrated model developed here has important implications for public authorities, including improved information concerning the anticipated impacts of public investment decisions and other policies. (Copies available exclusively from Micrographics Department, Doheny Library, USC, Los Angeles, CA 90089-0182.)

A synthetic metropolitan economic impact model: Geographic zones, sectors, and land use and transportation. Jun, Myung Jin, Ph.D. University of Southern California, 1993. Chairman: Harry W. Richardson.

This dissertation develops an urban economic impact model which is a combination of a multizonal input-output model and a spatial interaction model. The advantage of the model is that it can generate spatially and sectorally disaggregated output and employment impacts of a wide variety of urban economic projects, plans, or policies. In addition, it can distinguish indirect repercussions (impacts on supplying industries) from induced repercussions (impacts from secondary consumption). These advantages of the model improve upon the limitations of aggregate urban models which disguise zonal and sectoral variations in overall output and employment impacts. Though a model of this kind can be used in many types of applications, this paper employs this model for analyzing the economic impacts of urban decentralization of various industries in the Los Angeles metropolitan region from the core to suburban locations. Major findings from this application include: (1) the spatial distribution of indirect impacts is very different from that of induced impacts, (2) the distribution of induced impacts is much more spatially dispersed than that of indirect impacts, and (3) service or population serving industries are distance-sensitive with respect to the distributions of both indirect and induced impacts, indicating that service industries not only serve population directly but also supply other industries. The policy implication from this application is that the core city and county continue to enjoy significant benefits in the form of indirect and induced effects, no matter where the job expansion takes place within the metropolitan region: (Copies available exclusively from Micrographics Department, Doheny Library, USC, Los Angeles, CA 90089-o 182.)

TRANSPORTATION PLANNING

Aesthetic-based conflict in highway planning: Federal Highway Administration putting planners