http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.13013/2058 2026-05-10T05:14:27Z http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.13013/3406 Bicycle Infrastructure And Accessibility In Boston’s Environmental Justice Communities Swindell, Laura This project focused on bicycle infrastructure in Boston, including the city's count of bicycle infrastructure and cycling accessibility. Infrastructure included Bluebike stations from November 1st, 2023, and bicycle trails from the 2020 MassDOT Bike Inventory. Accessibility explored the gaps in Boston's bicycle infrastructure in environmental justice (EJ) 2020 census block groups. As of the 2020 Census, 460 of the 581 census block groups in Boston are EJ designated, meaning that approximately 79.17% of census block groups are EJ designated. 2020 EJ designated census block groups' count of bicycle infrastructure and their accessibility to bicycle infrastructure in Boston, MA were analyzed in ArcGIS Pro using spatial joins, distance accumulation, and a suitability modeler. The average number of bicycle trails in a 2020 EJ census block group was 4.22, while the average number of Bluebike stations in a 2020 EJ census block group was less than 1 (0.465). Bicycle lanes were the most common bicycle trail type across the EJ designated census block groups, but 139 (30.22%) of the EJ 2020 census block groups had zero bicycle trails, showcasing a need for bicycle trail connection in these areas. More than the majority, or 302 (65.65%), of EJ designated census block groups had 0 Bluebike stations as of November 1st, 2023. Accessibility to bicycle infrastructure was highest in the neighborhoods surrounding Downtown, such as the North End, West End, Beacon Hill, Back Bay, Fenway, South End, Chinatown, and the South Boston Waterfront. Accessibility was more varied elsewhere, particularly in the West Roxbury, Hyde Park, Brighton, Dorchester, Roxbury, Jamaica Plain, Mattapan, and Roslindale neighborhoods. Bicycling is an essential aspect of multimodal transport and should be constantly evolving and improving. 2024-05-01T00:00:00Z http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.13013/3409 "The Importance Of Transparency In Municipal Governance"; A Case Study Of North Shore Massachusetts Hubisz, Elden J. The United States has a turbulent past filled with the use of force and displays of negativity regarding public engagement. There are laws enacted protecting the public, allowing a positive exchange of information, and ensuring the availability of resources. This research will explore the factors influencing citizen engagement: What are the factors influencing citizen participation in local government, and what municipalities encourage these interactions? An incident in Massachusetts where a private citizen was denied their civil rights at a ZBA meeting, provides the context to explore the limits of public interactions and government transparency. Using a grounded theory approach, survey data was collected and analyzed along with socioeconomic and geographic factors to create a GIS (Geographic Information System) product that could be useful in examining citizens’ participation in local government. I will test the limits of public interactions and governmental transparency in a survey open to SSU students and North Shore townspeople. The data will show a correlation between interactions, location, and several different factors such as race, income, social status, employment, business ownership, and utilization of governmental services. Using the grounded theory approach, the collected data will be used to create a GIS product. Conclusions and suggestions drawn from pairing the GIS product with survey data will be offered to strengthen interactions in both urban and regional planning as well as civic engagement across geographies. 2024-05-01T00:00:00Z http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.13013/3390 Water Advocacy in Massachusetts: A Guide for Curious and Concerned Citizens McCaul, Bailey This paper addresses the need for citizen engagement and action in the face of the ongoing man-made climate crisis that is rapidly depleting Earth's finite freshwater resources. Focusing on the Ipswich River in Essex County, Massachusetts, identified as the 8th most endangered river in America, the research done explores the interconnected challenges of excessive withdrawals, rising temperatures, droughts, floods, pollution, and invasive species paired with the multifaceted challenges surrounding water politics, highlighting the complexities of collaborative governance across multiple jurisdictions. The solution proposed is the creation of a climate action toolkit specifically tailored to freshwater bodies in Massachusetts, aiming to bridge the information gap between governing bodies, local organizations, and the average citizen to foster grassroots action. Existing water conservation toolkits, guides, and websites often target governing bodies and corporations, or provide low-effort, generic, and vague recommendations that are well-known in the current year. In contrast, this toolkit seeks to empower citizens with knowledge about their role in water management and inspire community and political mobilization through advocacy and lobbying education. Drawing on extensive research from scientific studies, environmental reports, and scholarly insights, this thesis advocates for the pivotal role of citizens in driving effective change. It emphasizes the need for accessible, localized tools that empower individuals to become informed decision-makers and proactive contributors to environmental conservation efforts. 2024-05-01T00:00:00Z http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.13013/3005 Balk: A Geographic Analysis of the Impact of a New Professional Sports Stadium on Residential Real Estate Values in Minneapolis LaVerde, Anthony The City of Minneapolis, Minnesota and Hennepin County, Minnesota are among the many government entities that have committed taxpayer funds to finance a professional sports stadium. Both the city and county approved the financing of Target Field in 2007. The new stadium is now the home of the Minnesota Twins, a Major League Baseball franchise. Previous empirical studies have offered differing opinions on whether a new professional sports stadium has an effect on residential real estate values in the surrounding area. This thesis uses a geographically weighted regression (GWR) model to analyze the effect that Target Field had on residential real estate values in the City of Minneapolis, Minnesota. Using GWR analysis of a hedonic real estate price model, this thesis concludes that being close to Target Field had a significantly positive effect on residential real estate values in Minneapolis in 2016. However, when applying the same model to real estate sales data from a year prior to the approval of Target Field, properties in the vicinity of the location of the ballpark may have been more valuable before the ballpark was built then they were in the years that followed its opening. 2018-05-01T00:00:00Z