Master of Arts (MA), Ohio University, 2014, Geography (Arts and Sciences)

Vacancy contributes to a downward spiral of blight that many cities in the old American industrial belt struggle to escape. While the causes of vacancy and the effects – economic, environmental, and social – of vacant properties are well covered in the literature, successful reuse strategies and related supportive networks are not. This research investigates and compares the land reuse process in Baltimore, Maryland, and Cleveland, Ohio, two cities with large amounts of vacant property. Stakeholders in both cities utilized a variety of land interventions in reuse projects, with the most common being the establishment of greenspaces, though the obstacles facing successful reuse varied between and within the cities. Governance networks and interorganizational relationships play an important role in reuse, and each city has opportunities to enhance and build upon these to aid future work.

Committee: Geoffrey Buckley (Advisor); Yeong-Hyun Kim (Committee Member); Harold Perkins (Committee Member) Subjects: Geography; Urban Planning

Doctor of Education , University of Dayton, 2022, Educational Leadership

This dissertation in practice examines the absence of an advocacy framework for Black placemakers in southwest Springfield neighborhoods seeking to transform vacant spaces into vibrant pocket parks, green spaces, and community gardens. This critical community-based participatory research addresses inadequate public policies, resources, and technical assistance to create and sustain neighborhood sites for endurance, belonging, and resistance. Thematic findings indicated that systemic issues, street-level organizing, and sustainability are primary barriers and opportunities. An action intervention and change process was developed to establish the Springfield Park and Green Space Ecosystem (SPGE). The action plan focuses on a community coalition of power building, a community benefits agreement, zoning revisions, and public-private partnerships with results-based accountability.

Committee: James Olive (Committee Chair); Castel Sweet (Committee Member); Pamela Cross Young (Committee Member) Subjects: African American Studies; Agricultural Education; Area Planning and Development; Behaviorial Sciences; Climate Change; Conservation; Cultural Anthropology; Environmental Education; Environmental Health; Environmental Justice; Land Use Planning; Landscape Architecture; Landscaping; Public Administration; Public Health; Public Health Education; Public Policy; Sustainability; Urban Forestry; Urban Planning

Doctor of Philosophy, University of Toledo, 2021, Spatially Integrated Social Science

Expanding on the “Right to the City” philosophy of Henri Lefebvre, Black food geographies focus on the ways in which African-Americans navigated oppressive food and built environments, historically and presently, while simultaneously trying to build a version of community food security (CFS) unique to that neighborhood. This “Right to the City” is challenged by settler colonialism and racial capitalism, two political and social structures that control spatial behaviors, including a neighborhood's access to quality food. One way to counteract that is ownership of the land and community-based food production via urban agricultural (UA) enterprises. The following study applies a mixed-methods approach to two Ohio cities—Toledo and Dayton—as case studies to understand the socioeconomic and demographic implications of concentrated municipal-owned vacant parcels, exacerbated by Land Bank and City demolitions, within majority African-American neighborhoods. It justifies how UA is used as a remedy for not only strengthening the local food system and repurposing vacant land, but also, as an empowerment mechanism for said communities, leading to self-sufficiency using Collective Action and Community Resilience (CACR) as a guide. Additionally, it revealed the ways in which Land Banks, and indirectly the city, can be a community-based asset to the growth of UA in the formation of an equitable CFS model that acknowledges the African-American's version of the “Right to the City.” Using municipal-owned vacant land transfers between 2010 and 2018, and the 2014 & 2018 5-year American Community Survey (ACS) Census, results indicated higher rates of land vacancies are mostly found in majority African-American neighborhoods, with higher household poverty, increased food assistance recipients, greater household unemployment, and low private vehicle ownership. These relationships were statistically significant out of the initial ten variables. Three additional statistically significant (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Sujata Shetty (Committee Chair); Neil Reid (Committee Co-Chair); Beth Schlemper (Committee Member); Daniel Hammel (Committee Member); Jeanette Eckert (Committee Member) Subjects: African American Studies; Agriculture; Black Studies; Demographics; Geographic Information Science; Geography; Land Use Planning; Minority and Ethnic Groups; Sociology; Urban Planning

MCP, University of Cincinnati, 2008, Design, Architecture, Art and Planning : Community Planning

The City of Cincinnati is one of many older industrial cities seeking to reclaim vacant and abandoned properties left behind by deindustrialization, residential migration to the suburbs, and the recent foreclosure crisis. The properties left behind can spur a cycle of blight, crime, and decreased property values - all of which strain city resources and create unsafe, unwelcoming neighborhoods. Numerous programs have been developed to address these issues, one of which is the urban land bank. This thesis takes a critical look at Cincinnati's land bank, the Cincinnati Land Reutilization Program, and considers how effectively it is working to bring these vacant and abandoned properties back to productive use. This assessment is done through a review of the program's adherence to national best practices, and a neighborhood level analysis of the actual and potential impact of the program on Cincinnati neighborhoods.

Committee: David Varady Ph.D. (Committee Chair); Menelaos Triantafillou Ph.D. (Committee Member) Subjects: Public Administration

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2023, City and Regional Planning

As a familiar landscape of American neighborhoods, vacant urban land evokes negative images and is often conceived as a barrier to sustainable development. To enhance the knowledge of vacant land and facilitate evidence-based policymaking, this research examines the relationship between vacant urban land and critical neighborhood sustainability measures in the largest Midwestern city, Chicago, Illinois. In particular, this research, consisting of three essays, offers an in-depth observation and investigation of the multidimensionality, reciprocal causality, and spatial heterogeneity of the relationship. This research has three primary findings: (1) the associations between vacant land and neighborhood sustainability measures are multidimensional and differ by individual measures, (2) vacant land has solid reciprocal associations with crime and poverty at the neighborhood scale over time, and (3) the associations between vacant land and neighborhood sustainability measures are spatially non-stationary. These findings encourage further studies to expand investigations to all sustainability dimensions and prompt vacant land management policies to be long-term and spatially adaptive for different urban contexts.

Committee: Maria Manta Conroy Ph.D. (Advisor); Mattijs van Maasakkers Ph.D. (Committee Member); Yasuyuki Motoyama Ph.D. (Committee Member) Subjects: Urban Planning

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2016, Entomology

Bees (Anthophila) worldwide have been experiencing a recent decline in species diversity, abundance, and genetic diversity. There have been many factors implicated in these declines: loss of habitat and resources, urbanization, disease, parasites, pesticides, and heavy metals. I focus here on urbanization, and how the creation of anthropogenically-dominated landscapes influences the structure of bee communities, and heavy metal exposure in bee populations. Derelict habitats within cities are often called vacant lands, areas where previously-built parcels have been repurposed as unbuilt, weedy areas. As local citizens do not fully appreciate the benefits of these habitats, many are transformed by citizen groups into urban gardens, which are valued for local, fresh produce and community revitalization. Pollination services are required in gardens in order to produce fruit of many crops, and depend upon a diverse and abundant bee community to visit flowers. We analyzed bee abundance, diversity, and community structure in order to determine what can be done to maintain or increase pollination services in gardens, as well as the contribution of vacant land to pollinator community stability and pollination services in garden habitats. We found that bee abundance was greater in garden habitats, but this does not necessarily confer pollination services. Bee diversity and pollination services did not differ between habitats in two studies. However, bee visitation behavior and bee community structure differed between habitats, and importance should be given to species-specific interactions to determine what may encourage conservation of bee communities. Another negative legacy of urban areas is a high environmental level of heavy metals. The city of Cleveland has an ecological history of heavy metal deposition due to use of leaded paints and fuels, as well as more specific point sources such as manufacturing sites. Heavy metal contamination is known to be a concern fo (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Mary Gardiner (Advisor) Subjects: Entomology

MCP, University of Cincinnati, 2007, Design, Architecture, Art and Planning : Community Planning

Urban voids are to blame for the loss of the ideal density of urban cities. The excessive amount of these vague open spaces has affected many post-industrial American cities that are in the declining stages of their life-cycle. Urban voids create a negative image feeding the need to fill the void. Their presence is undeniable to the point of affecting all that surrounds them. They are caused by economic, social, and physical changes to the city. This study is a critical evaluation of the meaning behind urban voids as previously developed spaces in contemporary cities, while concentrating on strategies taking place in post-industrial American cities.

Committee: Frank Russell (Advisor) Subjects: Urban and Regional Planning

Master of Science in Environmental Science, Cleveland State University, 2013, College of Sciences and Health Professions

For the first time in human history, more than half of the human population lives in urban areas (Pickett et al 2011). It is essential that research occurs in urban ecosystems; understanding both the biological and social aspects of urban ecosystems is needed for the sustainable management of urban ecosystems (Angold et al. 2006, Fetridge et al. 2008, Loram et al. 2008, Matteson et al. 2008, McIntyre 2000, Picket et al 2011, Pickett et al 2001, Sumoski et al. 2009) This study examines the role of insects, specifically wasps, in urban gardens and vacant lots in Cleveland, Ohio. This study is intended to (1) provide a broader survey of Hymenoptera in an urban context; (2) provide new information on diversity and distribution of parasitoid Hymenoptera; (3) assess the potential for parasitoids as providers of bio-control services for urban agriculture in Cleveland, OH; (4) determine the extent to which lot or garden area affects the number of wasp species occurring in those habitats; and (5) provide useful information for the conservation and urban landscape management strategies that optimize the ecosystem services provided by urban Hymenoptera. I collected 13,339 insects and arachnids via beat net, belonging to 14 different arthropod orders. Nearly twice as many individuals were found at vacant lots versus gardens. The differences in insect community structure at vacant lots and gardens, based on the beat net collections, were highly significant. I collected a total of 5,165 wasps, distributed among 24 families and 369 morphospecies. I found higher wasp abundance at vacant lots (2,703 individuals) versus gardens (2,462 individuals), higher species richness at vacant lots (288 morphospecies) versus gardens (231 morphospecies), and more families at vacant lots (23) versus gardens (21). The average number of morphospecies was higher at lots (93.71) than gardens (63.44), with an overall average of 76.69. Although comparable data from other cities are few, my results i (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: B. M. Walton PhD (Advisor); Julie Wolin PhD (Committee Member); Mary Gardiner PhD (Committee Member) Subjects: Agriculture; Biology; Ecology; Entomology; Environmental Science; Environmental Studies; Natural Resource Management; Urban Planning