Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2017, Public Policy and Management

Natural disasters pose heavy threats to peoples' lives, the functioning of communities, and the stability of local economies. The frequency and severity of these disasters continue to intensify as individuals move toward coastal regions and as communities engage in development practices that increase vulnerability. Since the passage of the Disaster Relief Act of 1950, the federal government has played a major role in subsidizing the process of recovering from these disasters and has inadvertently subsidized increases in vulnerability. However, as the economic and social costs of that subsidy have continued to rise, federal agencies are looking for more local level responsibility and engagement in mitigation strategies. The efforts to increase local government engagement in resilience building and mitigation have been less than effective. The first chapter explores the nature of local government policy agendas to ask the overarching question: Are the concepts central to the building of resilience – advanced planning, long-run investment and accommodation of redundancy – contrary to the constraints and concerns of local governments? I explore of this question through the presentation of local government finance and agenda setting theories and discussion of the results of a survey of local leaders in coastal Ohio. I posit that local leaders are in constant states of competition with their neighboring localities for economic activity and are constrained in time and attention. Therefore, they are drawn to issues and strategies that are simple and near-term. Long-term planning for events with uncertain probabilities remain at the bottom of local government agendas. The second chapter continues to focus on local government policy agendas by examining the extent to which major natural disasters have functioned as focusing events that open policy windows – brief opportunities for the passing of iniatives or changes in policy (Kingdon, 1995). Multiple group path analy (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Robert Greenbaum (Advisor); Stephanie Moulton (Committee Member); Jozef Raadschelders (Committee Member) Subjects: Public Administration

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2016, City and Regional Planning

Plans developed as a result of Hurricane Katrina and the Mississippi Renewal Forum, including the de facto nullified SmartCode, three vacated SmartCode Community Plans, and two tabled and non-adopted Comprehensive Plans failed. Further indicated by a gap between Plan vision and on-the-ground results, other authors and scholars point to the process of Plan implementation as the key to this failure. Despite this observation, a case study of implementation does not exist. Also, few academic case studies that explore the implementation of Plans exist. To explore `Why Plans Fail' this dissertation employs a Case Study approach, rooted in Grounded Theory Methodology and the Constant Comparative method. Five methods of analysis include two forms of Plan evaluation, document analysis, semi-structured interviews, and a new exploratory method of Tenure Analysis. Findings derived from analysis explore the roles of implementation experience, expectations, and externalities in Plan and policy failure. The research concludes by arguing for further case studies, a careful rethinking of how the American Planning Association approaches their advocate role, and that Planners should stop treating implementation like the `black box' of the Planning and Plan-Making process.

Committee: Jennifer Evans-Cowley (Advisor); Rachel Kleit (Committee Member); Bernadette Hanlon (Committee Member); Greenberger David (Other) Subjects: Area Planning and Development; Design; Land Use Planning; Political Science; Public Administration; Public Policy; Urban Planning

MA, Kent State University, 2009, College of Arts and Sciences / Department of Geography

This research looks at three western Pennsylvanian cities and examines their disaster response apparatus through examination of critical documents and interviews with emergency coordinators at both the municipal and county levels. In doing this, we seek to see if there is an understanding and awareness of how the National Incident Management System and the National Response Plan operates in these managers. In addition, I explore how the size of these cities influences the emergency planning and decisions made by their municipal and county emergency managers. After conducting the research, I found that there was a correlation between increasing city size and official responses regarding various hazards to be addressed within their community. Larger city managers seemed more concerned with terrorism than their counterparts in smaller cities, and in Pittsburgh it was deemed a significant threat. Other factors, such as number of emergency response exercises and the origin of the city emergency operation plan seemed to change with city size. More striking, however, was the fact that the managers of all three cities shared several similar opinions of the federal and state system as it is, stating dissatisfaction with the grant opportunities and stipulations attached to those available, as well as frustration with the unrealistic expectations of the Department of Homeland Security. It is the researcher's opinion that there should be more done to limit the number of restrictions placed on money made available from state and federal levels in order to assist the local governments in making urban areas both large and small prepared for the hazards they face.

Committee: David Kaplan PhD (Advisor); Ute Dymon PhD (Committee Member); Thomas Schmidlin PhD (Committee Member) Subjects: Geography

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), Ohio University, 2013, Communication Studies (Communication)

Disaster can sometimes be a time of opportunity: for reflection, reevaluation, and readjustment--for questioning the status quo. Through a case study of Wilmington, Ohio, a small Ohio town in the midst of a self-described economic disaster, I consider how organizational networks and communities constitute each other in efforts to redefine a sense of place and local identity amid large-scale unplanned change. As I explore the ways in which "community" is named and placed in micro, meso, and macro-level discourses, I am guided by the following broad questions: How do component organizations in a transorganizational network demonstrate and defend their legitimacy? How do they communicatively construct and maintain a shared vision for the future towards which to mobilize a collectivity of individuals? What opportunities for and obstacles to collaboration do community organizers encounter in their efforts to redefine the communal spaces of a town? By analyzing transorganizational narratives of crisis, disaster, and opportunity, this study strives to engage communication studies more deeply in understanding the inextricable relationship between individual, organizational, and community identity.

Committee: Laura Black Ph.D. (Advisor) Subjects: Communication