Children\u27s perception of racial urban boundaries: a case study in Baton Rouge

This thesis explores the urban landscape of Baton Rouge through the eyes of the children. It seeks to understand the affect that planning and design decisions have on the lives of the children and the way that children perceive their urban environment. By examining the way others have studied the urban space I develop my own approach of exploring cities and understanding the urban life. Originally, I conduct informal observations in the study area and I generate my questions relating to the spatiality of the children. Secondly, I research to find possible design and planning decisions that may explain or justify the construction of the urban landscape as it is presented today, and specifically the presence of the urban boundaries. At the end, through children’s drawings and their words, I explore the way children understand the urban boundaries and the way these boundaries influence their spatiality. The evaluation of children’s perception of their urban environment stresses the importance that planning and design decisions and emphasizes designers’ power, through their work, in other people’s lives

How can urban development internalize social cost?

Thesis (M.C.P.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Urban Studies and Planning, 2011.Cataloged from PDF version of thesis.Includes bibliographical references (p. 113-118).This thesis recognizes the social costs created by privately driven urban development while also acknowledging cities' fiscal dependence on local property taxes. This study is based on the premise that equitable spatial distribution of affordable housing can alter existing social perceptions and norms while providing a better quality of life to residents with less income capacity. Using as case studies the linkage and inclusionary policies in Boston, this thesis advocates for the need to include spatial emphasis in policies related to urban development. This proposal derives from an analysis and findings that show the concentration of affordable housing in some of the city's most impoverished neighborhoods. Based on the goals of income integration and poverty deconcentration as framed by the US Department of Housing and Urban Development and by the Mayor's agenda for the City of Boston, I examine income integration patterns in the city through time and analyze how affordable housing created with the assistance of linkage funds and though the inclusionary policy has supported or refuted prevailing spatial income patterns in the city. Although this thesis ultimately questions whether income integration is the appropriate goal for fostering spatial equity, it offers policy reform suggestions that could support a greater "geography of opportunity" for the city's lower and middle- income residents. The recommended policy reforms extend beyond these two policies in order to question the larger urban development regime and the role of local level government interventions.by Aspasia Xypolia.M.C.P