Master of Arts, The Ohio State University, 2023, Geography

The Disney theme parks and themed entertainment industry are rapidly undergoing a digital shift in their theming and management systems. This project aims to explore the role of Disney's MagicBand RFID wearables and the affiliated My Disney Experience Network in theme park place-making. Using critical feminist digital geographic theory, this project argues that the complete integration of the digital into theme park spaces and the transformation of guests into data points for tracking and management fundamentally changes the place developed. However, this project uses the concept of intertwined place-making to describe how the fan community is not without agency, and despite this digital shift, the fan community plays an important role in developing these places together with Disney.

Committee: Max Woodworth (Advisor); Kendra McSweeney (Committee Member); Nancy Ettlinger (Committee Member) Subjects: Geography

Psy. D., Antioch University, 2021, Antioch New England: Clinical Psychology

This qualitative research study was designed to explore lesbian, gay, and bisexual (LGB) young adults' views about how being a member of supportive and affirming religious places of worship and social groups influenced their self-acceptance, as well as their ability to integrate their religious and sexual minority identities. In this study, six in-person interviews were completed with participants who (a) were 18-24 years old; (b) identified as lesbian, gay, or bisexual; (c) were members of supportive Jewish and Christian religious groups; and (d) identified as cisgender. The data from the interviews were analyzed using thematic analysis to tell cohesive stories about the perceptions of LGB young adults on the influence of supportive religious group membership. I found that all six participants reported that finding their religious supportive groups had a significant positive impact on their ability to integrate their religious and sexual identities. All six participants also reported that being a member of the affirming religious group allowed them to keep their identity, overall, as a unified whole. The results of my study have positive implications for clinicians working with the LGB population, parents of LGB people, friends of LGB people, LGB advocacy work within the religious community, and for religious groups and places of worship who want to increase membership of minority individuals.

Committee: Kathi Borden PhD (Committee Chair); Barbara Belcher-Timme PsyD (Committee Member); Judy Solman PsyD (Committee Member) Subjects: Clinical Psychology; Glbt Studies; Religion

Master of Arts, The Ohio State University, 2018, History of Art

Through a close reading of Ann Hamiltons indigo blue (1991), this thesis offers a critical investigation of the ways in which the exhibition space informs and embeds meaning in works of art. As the space of the exhibition changes the notion of what the spectator views as art, the thesis will explore how a change of context can alter both the meaning of the work and the viewers understanding of an art object. In addressing indigo blue (1991) in its original form, and then examining its reappearance in three subsequent iterations as object-details in untitled (indigo blue/2), shown in 1996 at The Wexner Center for the Arts in “the body and the object: Ann Hamilton 1984-1996 exhibition; as object-relics in (indigo blue books) as part of the private collection of Lois Plehn; and in the context of a contemporary art museum, in the re-installation of indigo blue (2007) at SFMOMA alongside works by other artists; the thesis will examine the critical implications of these displacements as the original version of indigo blue (1991) is transformed through different exhibition sites and viewing conditions.

Committee: Lisa Florman (Advisor); Philip Armstrong (Committee Member) Subjects: Art History

Master of Arts, Miami University, 2018, Geography

Each generation of immigrants has its own issues; for example, how to maintain already constructed identities among first generation immigrants and how to construct identities of the second generation of immigrants, who often see themselves as a part of both their parents' and their own world. This thesis examines how Muslim immigrants in a small city maintain and modify some aspects of their religious and cultural identities. I interviewed both first and second generation of Muslim immigrants in Inverness, Scotland. I argue that Muslim immigrants use shared spaces, such as Inverness Masjid as a site where they can renegotiate their Muslim identity. I found that the size of the city does not affect daily Muslim practices and it does not affect their ability to maintain Muslim identity. Additionally, my data supports previous studies in the field that, for both first and second generations of Muslim immigrants, religious identity is more important than their ethnic heritage. Additionally, I argue that the identity of the first generation can be modified by a new place of living and Muslim immigrants, both first and second generations, use specific places in the process of identity change and maintenance.

Committee: Bruce D'Arcus (Advisor); Carl Dahlman (Committee Member); Yelizaveta Skryzhevska (Committee Member) Subjects: Geography

Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.), Bowling Green State University, 2018, Media and Communication

Public memory has become increasingly significant in communication research, especially pertaining to national traumatic pasts. Drawing from scholarship on memory-rhetoric interdependence, this study examines the rhetorical construction of the communist past in contemporary Albania. The analysis of national traditional media, places of memory, and official documents and archives reveals the ways that the communist past is contained, controlled, and diffused in response to present national and international interests and agendas. The shared identities narrated through public debates reveal that contestations about the past are first and foremost about cultural and political legitimacy. Throughout the analysis, it is obvious how the discussions about Albania's communist past shifted to blaming the system, to denying collaboration, and to rationalizing the totalitarian structure. This study highlights the consequences that transnational influences have on redirecting and appropriating public memory and avoiding a genuine confrontation with the past. The past is reconfigured continuously, as the reconciliation reforms, the cold war connections and conflicts, and the totalizing European Union integration discourse influence what is remembered, by whom, where, and when. This study examines the discourses of remaking Albania as a rhetorical tension over meanings of past and future, where the communist past is diffused into collective guilt that haunts the bright EU imagined futures.

Committee: Alberto Gonzalez PhD (Advisor); Joshua Atkinson PhD (Committee Member); Lara Lengel PhD (Committee Member); Francisco Cabanillas PhD (Other) Subjects: Communication; East European Studies; European History; European Studies; International Relations

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 1974, Graduate School

Committee: Not Provided (Other) Subjects: Sociology

Master of Environmental Science, Miami University, 2016, Environmental Sciences

Place names are vital to orienting ourselves in the world. In ancient times, people must have had names for places like hunting grounds or berry groves. This act of naming roughly delineates geographic features which can be revisited and described to others, affixing an added cultural meaning to that place. Place naming has since come a long way. Official place names for the United States and its territories are managed by the United States Geological Survey (USGS), National Geospatial Technical Operations Center (NGTOC). This report details my experience working in the Geographic Names Unit. As a Pathways Career Intern, my main duties were to manage the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS), a database containing official place names for features outlined on federal topographic maps. Most of the work involved duplicate names; an issue where there are two name records for one feature, often indicating that one record is a copy and should be deleted. Sometimes the two records were not copies, and the correct locations were identified by visually analyzing historic and recent maps. The coordinates were then updated respectively in the GNIS. I gained valuable experience reading topographic maps, identifying features and managing a large database of geographic names.

Committee: Robbyn Abbitt MS (Committee Chair); Suzanne Zazycki JD (Committee Member); Mark Allen Peterson PhD (Committee Member) Subjects: Cartography; Computer Science; Cultural Anthropology; Earth; Environmental Science; Geographic Information Science; Geography; History; Information Science; Information Technology; Language; Native American Studies

Master of Science in Criminal Justice, Youngstown State University, 2014, Department of Criminal Justice and Consumer Sciences

This thesis tests the significance of place and gender (sex) to violent crime victimization rates using deviant place theory. Place is represented in this study by 2010 Census Bureau metropolitan definitions: metropolitan and micropolitan principal cities, metropolitan and micropolitan suburban places, and non-metropolitan places. Using crime victimization data from the 2010 National Incident-Based Reporting System (n=217), this thesis tests the significance of place and sex by running four ordinary least squares regressions (OLS). Principal city and suburban places are hypothesized to have the highest crime victimization rates due to sharing similar place characteristics (Osgood & Chambers, 2000; Barnett & Mencken, 2002; Rogers, 2012; Hadac, 2012; Schmitt, 2013). It is hypothesized that place will be significant to the gap between sexes in victimization rates, either by an increase or decrease in sex gaps within the different places. The end results show that place overall is a significant factor with metropolitan principal cities having the strongest relationship to crime victimization and victimization sex gaps. The percent variance noted in the R2 of the regressions show that place accounts for 23% of the murder victimization rates, 12% of total violent crime, 10% aggravated assault, 7% robbery and 5% rape. The percentages decrease when the sex gap is included; however, these results do indicate place and sex are significant factors to victimization.

Committee: Richard Rogers PhD (Advisor); Christopher Bellas PhD (Committee Member); Susan Clutter MFS (Committee Member) Subjects: Criminology; Gender; Geography

MCP, University of Cincinnati, 2013, Design, Architecture, Art and Planning: Community Planning

Urban planners became interested in learning how to design public spaces to better suit the needs of people in general. However, users of the city include distinct demographics, such as age groups. Many studies have examined the effects, needs, and preferences of the built environment for adults and children, yet one cohort of the city that is often ignored in planning discourse is adolescents. Though they have been regarded as having separate needs and desires from children and adults, little is known about the types of urban public places they prefer. This thesis investigates what a group of youth in East Oakland, California regard as desirable places to spend time in. Previous studies show that youth prefer qualities such as green spaces, areas for social exploration, stimulating areas of interest, and secure mobility within their built environment. Yet the Oakland youth prioritized elements of security, the availability of food, and active recreational options at no cost in addition to the findings from literature. Furthermore, the feelings of the Oakland youth provide important implications for planners in the City of Oakland since the youth expressed great frustration with the lack of exciting and safe places to go in their communities. Enhanced urban spaces can promote positive youth interactions, civic engagement, and community health in Oakland. Recommendations from this thesis include future collaboration with the city to create more youth-friendly sites that include their desired elements of space, as well as improved safety and alternative transportation options.

Committee: David Edelman Ph.D. (Committee Chair); Christopher Auffrey Ph.D. (Committee Member) Subjects: Urban Planning

MCP, University of Cincinnati, 2011, Design, Architecture, Art and Planning: Community Planning

Historic buildings are a physical reminder of where a society has come from and how it has changed over time. They reflect the values, the struggles, the advances, the culture, the preferences, the norms, the anomalies, the major historical turning points, and the everyday lives of generations of people. Although progress and change are necessary for the advancement of society, remembering and preserving the origins and achievements of the past are equally as necessary. Of all the historic buildings in American cities, places of worship are among the most representative artifacts of communities, from both the past and present. They are constructed with a desire to celebrate and connect with something greater than the physical world. They evoke emotions, both positive and negative, from those who experience them. They bring skillful art and architecture, as well as a sense of identity to the built environment. They house congregations that in turn serve and foster the well being of the larger community. Whether they are analyzed as living institutions and congregations, purely as historic physical structures of architectural significance, or as a combination of both, they add true and irreplaceable value to American communities. However, like all other elements of the built environment, they are subject to the pressures of time, nature, human behavior, and new development in the name of progress. Changes in the religious landscape of the United States, movement of populations, and financial burden are putting the historic places of worship in American urban centers, including Cincinnati, Ohio, at risk of being lost to neglect, necessity, or progress. Because of declining support and resources, coupled with the high cost of maintaining historic places of worship, many of these buildings are neglected, abandoned, or sold. They are often demolished in order to make room for new development or are simply left to deteriorate over time. These buildings are important asse (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Menelaos Triantafillou MLA (Committee Chair); Colleen McTague PhD (Committee Member) Subjects: Urban Planning

PhD, University of Cincinnati, 2004, Education : Criminal Justice

This study investigates the concept of criminality of place, specifically considering residential theft (i.e., residential burglary and residential larceny). By utilizing official police records, this study examined the spatial distribution of theft across residential locations in a large, Midwestern city. Land parcel level analyses were conducted using geographic information systems (GIS), tabular analyses, logistic regression, and a spatial-scan statistic. The results showed that not only were thefts not uniformly distributed among residential locations, but that a few locations (less than five percent) were responsible for most of the thefts reported to the police. Further, the spatial-scan statistic analysis indicated that that risk of residential theft is significantly clustered at relatively few places and the non-random distribution is likely due to some underlying risk factors. Finally, this study then examined the characteristics of these locations to determine whether elements of social disorganization, routine activities or an integrated theory perspective resulted in the prediction of these high theft incident locations. The results showed that a combined model had more predictive ability than either theory alone.

Committee: Dr. Lawrence Travis (Advisor) Subjects:

MCP, University of Cincinnati, 2004, Design, Architecture, Art and Planning : Community Planning

The purpose of this thesis project is to explore the meaning and consequences of two historic preservation policies in Covington, Kentucky. Covington, similar to thousands of other cities and towns in America, contains both national and local historic districts. While both types of districts grant certain advantages, their main difference lies in the power of local government to exhibit design control by use of zoning ordinances in local districts. While several studies have shown that local design control produces higher property values; resident dissatisfaction, and even contempt, is common. Past studies have not weighed this type of feedback into evaluating preservation programs, nor have they looked at other diverse methods of measurement. This thesis project works to analyze the economic, social, and physical aspects of both policies, and comes to the conclusion that perhaps national historic districts alone are adequate in creating positive change in a community.

Committee: Mahyar Arefi (Advisor) Subjects: Urban and Regional Planning

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2012, City and Regional Planning

The present research builds on Whyte's work on livable places in by testing: 1) whether or not some of the elements identified by him would increase the likelihood that people visit and spend time in a plaza (i.e., increase its livability), and 2) if those elements, which presumably make a place more livable, also make it more restorative. The study manipulated the presence and absence of seats, food, and triangulation (represented by a sculpture) in three public plazas: Gansvoort Plaza in NYC, NY; The Piazza at Schmidts in Phildelphia, PA; and Civic Center Park in Denver CO. To measure livability and restorativeness, the study developed and tested a livability scale, and adopted and tested a restorativeness scale from Berto (2005). A total of 120 students rated photographs of the plazas, 60 (23 men and 37 women) for livability, and 60 (23 men and 37 women) for restorativeness. Results confirmed Whyte's claim that the presence of seats, food or sculpture improved livability. For seats, however, the presence of sculpture depressed livability. Likewise, for sculpture, the presence of seats depressed livability. While Whyte described livable spaces as ones with a higher ratio of women, the study did not find evidence of gender differences. For restorativeness, the results indicated a positive effect of sculpture, but indirect positive effect of seats and food. Restorativeness was highest with any two of the three features were present, but lower with the third feature. As with livability, when seats were present, the addition of sculpture lowered restorativeness; when sculpture was present the addition of seats lowered restorativeness; and men and women did not differ in restorativeness. The findings suggest that enhancing the livability may also enhance restorativeness, and they suggest ways to improve the livability and restorativeness of places with non-natural elements.

Committee: Jack Nasar (Committee Chair); Thomas Nygren (Committee Member); Jesus Lara (Committee Member) Subjects: Urban Planning