Management Theses and Dissertations

Yang, Yizhao Witzig, Monica 2014-06-17T19:44:27Z 2014-06-17T19:44:27Z 2014-06-17 http://hdl.handle.net/1794/17921 Oregon's Statewide Planning Goals embody Smart Growth in their effort to revitalize urban areas, finance environmentally responsible transportation systems, provide housing options, and protect natural resources; yet the State defers to its municipalities to implement this planning framework. This research focuses on Goal 14 (Urbanization), linking most directly to Smart Growth Principle 7 (Strengthen and Direct Development toward Existing Communities). It assesses Eugene's, Keizer's, Salem's, and Springfield's growth management policies that specifically target infill development of single family homes against this Goal and Principle. Though these municipalities must demonstrate consistency with the same Goals (see Supplemental File 1 for this context), this research questions whether sufficiently different policy approaches to curtailing sprawl yield significantly different results. The primary analytical method is a logistic regression that uses parcel-level data to understand how administration affects development by isolating these policies' direct effects on observed outcomes (see Supplemental File 2 for this theory). en_US University of Oregon All Rights Reserved. Growth Management Infill Development Local Policy Oregon Performance Measurement Smart Growth Reconciling Oregon's Smart Growth Goals with Local Policy Choice: An Empirical Study of Growth Management, Urban Form, and Development Outcomes in Eugene, Keizer, Salem, and Springfield Electronic Thesis or Dissertation M.C.R.P. masters Department of Planning, Public Policy and Management University of Oregon

Schlossberg, Marc Bloomfield, Jessica 2013-10-03T23:31:40Z 2013-10-03T23:31:40Z 2013-10-03 http://hdl.handle.net/1794/13238 The dominance of motor vehicle use throughout America reflects a massive government intervention on behalf of automobiles. Congress directs billions of dollars into America's highway system annually, assuming that building new roadways is the best option to move people and goods from one place to another. These policies stand in direct contradiction to today's travel patterns. This research examines ways to improve federal law to achieve a more sustainable transportation future. First, it identifies the specific provisions in federal transportation law that inhibit the development of "low-build" transportation projects. Second, it describes challenges to halting roadway construction through litigation in federal court. Understanding the problems of federal transportation law and litigation sheds light on the ways to make positive change in the next federal surface transportation reauthorization. This research culminates in recommendations for how Congress can implement policies that require a comprehensive approach to transportation planning. en_US University of Oregon All Rights Reserved. Federal Transportation Law National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) An Alternative Alternative: The Road to Sustainable Transportation Law Electronic Thesis or Dissertation M.C.R.P. masters Department of Planning, Public Policy and Management University of Oregon

Meyer, Alan Metzger, Matthew 2013-07-11T19:58:20Z 2013-07-11T19:58:20Z 2013-07-11 http://hdl.handle.net/1794/12960 This research investigates evolution of the meanings assigned to the categories that designate and demarcate formal organizations of the same genre or type. I use grounded theory techniques to examine whether and how members and stakeholders relabel organizational categories and ascribe associated new meanings. Specifically, I uncover that what seemed to be an organizational category's change in direct response to the Internet was actually better explained as a confluence of gradual changes in response to socio-cultural, regulatory, and technological pressures. The empirical context for this study consists of the population of privately owned travel agencies as they confronted almost two decades of shifting consumer demands, the aftermath of deregulation, and the emergence of online competition. Data were gathered through interviews with agents and other individuals employed within the travel industry, archival accounts from various print and electronic sources, and nearly two decades of articles published in the category's primary trade journal. I pair discourse analysis of the agents' trade journal articles with other grounded theory techniques to build theory and document mechanisms through which both members and external stakeholders of an organizational category influence the meanings ascribed to a social construct. en_US University of Oregon All Rights Reserved. Conflict and Change in Category Identities: How Did the Internet Change What It Means To Be a Travel Agent? Electronic Thesis or Dissertation Ph.D. doctoral Department of Management University of Oregon