This study explores how WeChat, one of the most popular Chinese-based Social Network Sites (SNSs), has been adopted and used under different patterns between two Chinese generation cohorts, namely “The post-70” (i.e., people who were born in the 1970s) and “The post-90” (i.e., people who were born in the 1990s). Three major issues were examined in this Study: (1) what are the differences in WeChat connection between two generations; (2) how Chinese post-70 and the post-90 cohorts differ regarding their cultural value orientations and how those differences influence their WeChat connection; (3) if there is a participatory cultural divide between two generation cohorts. Two hundred and eight the post-70 cohort and 221 the post-90 cohort were recruited to complete a 91-item survey. Results indicated significant differences between the post-70 and the post-90 cohorts in WeChat adoption and use, collectivistic/individualistic (COL/IND) orientations, and participation in creating and spreading of popular online memes. Moreover, factors influencing human capital- enhancing activities on WeChat were examined. Also explored were the influence of cultural values on the motivations to connect to the Internet and frequencies of different types of WeChat activities. Major findings and limitations were discussed.
Drawing from institutionalism, resource dependence theory, and collaboration scholarship, I developed a set of hypotheses that emphasize two dimensions of data access in local governments. First, a vertical dimension which includes institutions, the social environment - particularly power relationships - and coordination mechanisms implemented by managers. This dimension shows how exogenous - not controlled by public managers - and endogenous - controlled by public managers - factors contribute to a public organization’s ability to access resources. Second, a horizontal dimension which considers the characteristics of the actors involved in data exchange and emphasizes the institutional and social context of intra-organizational, intra-sectoral and cross-sectoral data access.
Hypotheses are tested using survey data from a 2016 nationally representative sample of 500 US cities with populations between 25,000 and 250,000. By focusing on small- and medium-sized cities, I contribute to a literature that typically focuses on data sharing in US large cities and federal agencies. Results show that the influence of government agencies and the influence of civil society have opposite effect on data access, whereas government influence limits data access while influence from civil society increases capacity to access data. The effectiveness of coordination mechanisms varies according to the stakeholder type. Public managers rely on informal networks to exchange data with other departments in the city and other governmental agencies while they leverage lateral coordination mechanisms - informal but unplanned - to coordinate data access from nongovernmental organizations. I conclude by discussing the implications for practice and future research.
The Maricopa County Heat Relief Network (HRN) is an ad-hoc partially self-organized network with some attributes of hierarchical coordination that forms each year to provide heat relief and hydration to residents in need by operating as cooling centers. These HRN organizations are a collection of non-profit, governmental and religious organizations. This dissertation looks at the HRN from a complexity governance perspective and engaged different parts of the network in interviews to learn more about their perspective in delivering heat relief. Further, participatory modeling with a prototype agent based model was done with the HRN coordinating agencies to look for emergent outcomes in the HRN system and learn from their perspective. Chapter one evaluates organizational theory and complexity with climate adaptation, hazard preparedness and resilience in the HRN. Chapter two presents results from interviews with HRN facility managers and evaluates their perspective on how they function to offer heat relief. Chapter three finds that the HRN is a good example of complexity governance when engaged through a participatory agent based modeling approach. Chapter four engages the HRN coordinators in participatory agent based modeling interviews to increase their systems level awareness, learn about their perspective on heat relief delivery, and how the system can be improved. Chapter five looks across the different levels of the HRN investigated, the facility managers and coordinators, for differences and similarities in perspectives. The research conducted in this dissertation shows different levels of systems awareness of the different parts of the HRN and how participatory modeling can be used to increase systems awareness. Results indicate that there was very little horizontal network connection between HRN facility managers and most of the interaction was vertically coordinated indicating opportunities for increased network communication in the future both horizontally and vertically if communication interventions were put in place.
Drawing on 30 interviews with key actors and document analysis, this dissertation employs a multiple case study design to conduct an interpretive policy analysis of the initiatives of four U.S. welcoming cities: Austin, Texas; Boise, Idaho; Chicago, Illinois; and Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The analysis explores three independent but interconnected themes. The first theme concerns multiple, context-specific framings of “welcoming” and the types of assets cities seek to leverage and develop through the welcoming city initiatives. This investigation finds that while each city puts a priority on developing a certain set of assets based on its unique political, economic, and demographic contexts, welcoming efforts tend to encourage immigrant entrepreneurialism, the leveraging newcomers’ human capital and financial assets, and the development place-based assets to attract and retain newcomers. The efforts to strengthen community capacity seek to institutionalize a new norm of welcoming, structure immigrant-friendly governance practices, and engage newcomers and longer-term residents in their community affairs. The second theme probes the ways in which these four cities create and maintain governing regimes for the initiative. The analysis finds that, while the four cities develop different governing structures, all pursue the creation of mixed types of governing coalitions that combine pro-growth and opportunity expansion regimes by incorporating the goals of economic growth and immigrant integration. The third theme investigates different modes of immigrant incorporation and their contribution to immigrant integration, the final stage in immigrant settlement. The analysis suggests that political leaders and bureaucratic agencies of the welcoming cities tend to build reciprocal relationships, rather than principal-agent relationships, in which political leaders rely on the positional, professional, and technical expertise of bureaucrats. In these early stages on the initiative, political and bureaucratic incorporation aim to create institutional changes that help immigrants and newcomers to be viewed as political constituents and clients of bureaucratic agencies.
This dissertation broadly concludes that the welcoming city initiative is a promising new urban economic development framework that could reshape urban space by integrating pro-growth demands with social integration and inclusion. Going forward, however, deeper consideration of the perspectives and rights of immigrants and newcomers themselves is needed in these initiatives.
Preventing heat-associated morbidity and mortality is a public health priority in Maricopa County, Arizona (United States). The objective of this project was to evaluate Maricopa County cooling centers and gain insight into their capacity to provide relief for the public during extreme heat events. During the summer of 2014, 53 cooling centers were evaluated to assess facility and visitor characteristics. Maricopa County staff collected data by directly observing daily operations and by surveying managers and visitors. The cooling centers in Maricopa County were often housed within community, senior, or religious centers, which offered various services for at least 1500 individuals daily. Many visitors were unemployed and/or homeless. Many learned about a cooling center by word of mouth or by having seen the cooling center’s location. The cooling centers provide a valuable service and reach some of the region’s most vulnerable populations. This project is among the first to systematically evaluate cooling centers from a public health perspective and provides helpful insight to community leaders who are implementing or improving their own network of cooling centers.
