Theses and Dissertations
This collection includes both ASU Theses and Dissertations, submitted by graduate students, and the Barrett, Honors College theses submitted by undergraduate students.
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- All Subjects: urban planning
- Creators: Ó Huallacháin, Breandán
Description
The Phoenix, Arizona metropolitan area has sustained one of the United States' fastest growth rates for nearly a century. Supported by a mild climate and cheap, available land, the magnitude of regional land development contrasts with heady concerns over energy use, environmental sensitivity, and land fragmentation. This dissertation uses four empirical research studies to investigate the historic, geographic microfoundations of the region's oft-maligned urban morphology and the drivers of land development behind it. First, urban land use patterns are linked to historical development processes by adapting a variety of spatial measures commonly used in land cover studies. The timing of development - particularly the global financial crisis of the late 2000s, and the impact of varying market forces is examined using econometric analyses of land development drivers. This pluralistic approach emphasizes the importance of local geographic knowledge and history to empirical study of urban social science while stressing the importance of temporal effects. Evidence is found that while recent asset market changes impact local land development outcomes, preferences for place may be changing too. Even still, present-day neighborhoods are heavily conditioned by the market and institutional conditions of the historical period during which they developed, while the hegemony of low-cost housing on the urban fringe remains.
ContributorsKane, Kevin (Author) / Ó Huallacháin, Breandán (Thesis advisor) / York, Abigail M (Committee member) / Golub, Aaron (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2015
Description
The Phoenix area is often considered the mecca of suburban residential sprawl and for as long as the city has been growing, retail development has followed. Despite occurring alongside residential sprawl, retail development does not have the same characteristics as residential suburban sprawl and has more closely followed national retail trends. Regardless, there are still some differences, therefore the research question that will be asked here is how have the characteristics of retail development in Greater Phoenix followed the national trends of retail developments that were established in each decade since the 1950s? Characteristics were gathered from a literature review and 29 sample retail developments from various types of retail formats popularized in the various decades including commercial strips, regional shopping centers, big box centers, factory outlet malls, power centers, power parks, and lifestyle centers were surveyed. Overall, it was found that many retail developments in Phoenix are larger than the national standard. Additionally, retail formats like power parks, power towns, and big box centers included more small and medium sized inline or strip storefronts than the national standard. But, in general, many characteristics other than those already mentioned did not vary much from the national norms. In the end, retail development will continue to be important as the Phoenix area continues to grow into one of the biggest metros in the country.
ContributorsGallegos, Jairus Donald (Author) / King, David (Thesis advisor) / Davis, Jonathan (Committee member) / Ó Huallacháin, Breandán (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2022