Congratulations Dr. Sadhana Manthapuri!

Congratulations to Dr. Sadhana Manthapuri who I had the privilege of hooding this afternoon at the Virginia Tech Graduate School Commencement Ceremony.

It has been a true pleasure to work with Sadhana over the past four years. She has a passion for her research and an incredible work ethic that enabled her to explore almost every facet of the concept of urban DNA. I have copied the abstract from her dissertation below to provide a sense of the scope of her research.

Sadhana’s contributions at Virginia Tech extended beyond her dissertation. She taught two courses—Land Use and Environment and Renewable Energy Systems—sharing her knowledge and enthusiasm with our undergraduate students. She also served as a graduate research assistant with the Center for Economic and Community Engagement, enriching her academic experience with applied research. Internationally, she has presented her research at urban conferences in Spain and London, and was interviewed by Prof. Greg Clark (CBE) as part of his DNA of Cities podcast.

Outside of Virginia Tech, Sadhana was selected for the prestigious 2024 Mayoral Fellowship Program in the City of Detroit. In this program, she worked closely with the crime and violence intervention team, explored a range of policy issues, and regularly engaged with Mayor Mike Duggan. Before that, Sadhana spent her 2023–24 winter break developing an economic revitalization plan for Philadelphia’s 7th Ward, earning second place in the Edmund N. Bacon Urban Design Competition.

I highlight these experiences not just to list her accomplishments, but to illustrate the breadth of her engagement during her time at Virginia Tech. Sadhana seized every opportunity to grow, lead, and contribute—both in the classroom and in communities across the country.

Congratulations again, Dr. Manthapuri!

Abstract

This dissertation examined the concept of Urban DNA from both theoretical and practical perspectives. While urban scholars frequently use the term “urban DNA” in their discussions, many theoretical aspects and applications remain unresolved. In the post pandemic world, as an increasing number of cities are keen to explore their unique urban DNA and leverage this for effective branding, there is a need to understand what urban DNA is. However, there is a lack of comprehensive step-by-step guidance available to urban planners and policymakers on how urban DNA can facilitate the urban development process.

To bridge this gap, a bibliometric review of existing literature was conducted to gain insights into how scholars have framed the concept of urban DNA. This review highlights the strengths and weaknesses of various narratives of urban DNA, thereby providing a more comprehensive understanding of the topic. To establish the urban DNA theoretical framework, 17 different urban development and evolutionary theories were studied to understand what factors could define the genetic essence of cities and how a development transition could occur. Regulation and urban niche theory emerged as the two most effective frameworks due to their ability to explain urban uniqueness, as well as the temporal and spatial variations, growth, and stability that occur across different cycles of urban development.

To validate the regulation and urban niche DNA model, interviews were conducted with the directors of the economic and planning departments across seven tech hubs, aiming to understand how the unique characteristics of these cities evolved over the past two decades. The analysis revealed that, despite notable differences in their economic identities and growth trajectories, the interviewees consistently identified similar regulatory and niche factors as the foundational elements of the cities’ genetic essence. Additional urban DNA mechanisms linked with sectoral, temporal, and spatial interplay were also captured. Drawing from the findings of the qualitative approach, a preliminary vector autoregression framework was developed to quantitatively visualize the DNA of a city and understand the impacts of the phenomenon of addition, substitution, and deletion of genetic elements on the evolution of cities using San Francisco to present the ideas.

Congratuations Ibrahim Altasan (إبراهيم الطاسان)!

Congratulations to Ibrahim Altasan for successfully defending his PhD dissertation entitled “The Governance of Mobilized Urban Policies: The Case of Riyadh’s Transit-Oriented Development Program.” The general audience abstract for his dissertation is provided below.

Ibrahim has been a valued member of our Planning, Governance, and Globalization (PGG) doctoral community, where he has become known (by our undergraduates in the Smart and Sustainable Cities major) as our resident expert on Urban Footprint.

I co-chaired Ibrahim’s dissertation committee with Dr. Todd Schenk. We were joined on the committee by Dr. Robert Oliver and Dr. Hamad Alsaiari.

General Audience Abstract

Nowadays, city officials are looking outside their borders for urban policies that promote sustainability and improve quality of life. However, city officials rarely consider how differences between local urban areas could affect the adoption of urban policy. To address this challenge, the field of Urban Policy Mobility (UPM) emerged to shed light on how the unique local factors that shape each city environment affect what elements of an urban policy are or are not adopted. This study examines the changes that occurred when a Transit-Oriented Development (TOD) urban policy was introduced in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. In order to learn about the changes and challenges of Riyadh’s TOD policy, interviews were conducted with employees responsible for the policy. Additionally, TOD policy documents and other publications that contained information about Riyadh’s TOD were reviewed to obtain additional data to help build a deeper understanding of why certain policy elements were implemented and others were not. The study found that: 1) the TOD policy was not completely translated into Riyadh where the focus is more on increasing building density, diversifying land uses, and enhancing design aesthetics, which resulted in overlooking other important policy elements that enhance economic and social sustainability; and 2) the implementation of the TOD policy led to governance challenges due to the differences in how urban planning is undertaken in Riyadh when compared with TOD policy environments in western countries. This in-depth study of Riyadh’s experience can inform other cities that are looking to implement urban policies borrowed from overseas.

Congratulations Selma Elouardighi!

This afternoon, Selma Elouardighi successfully defended her dissertation entitled “The Transfer of Environmental Best Practices from Developed to Developing Countries through Multinational Corporations.”

I have provided a brief excerpt from her dissertation below that captures the essence of her research.

This research was prompted by a desire to understand why Moroccan cement companies have adopted advanced environmental responsibility practices far beyond those used by companies in the other sectors of the national economy. While corporate environmental stewardship in Morocco is generally lacking, cement producers have adopted best practices. This observation prompted two questions: why did the cement sector adopt, of its own volition, advanced environmental performance in the absence of the impetus of the state (i.e., stringent and enforced regulation), and how was the industry able to change course, develop, and adopt these best practices? Answering these questions meant identifying the power structures capable of inducing behavioral change within Moroccan companies, as well as the mechanics through which new knowledge is generated within the same context.

Using process tracing as a research methodology, … this research analyzed the external business environment of cement subsidiaries in Morocco, and uncovered the processes through which the adoption of EBP by Moroccan cement subsidiaries was enabled.

Using the knowledge she obtained through her research, Selma set-up an NGO in Morocco in 2014 to help create an Industrial Cluster for Environmental Services (known as CISE-Marco). The NGO and its partners subsequently applied for and received a green entrepreneurship grant from the U.S. Department of State to promote cleaner production processes and green jobs in Morocco. Her research and subsequent work provide an excellent example of how students from SPIA’s PGG program are focusing on significant and real-world problems.

I served as the co-chair of Selma’s doctoral committee, alongside Edward Weisband (co-chair), Karen Hult, and Deborah Gallagher.

Ralph Hall, Selma Elouardighi, Karen Hult, and Edward Weisband

VT PGG Student Presents at ISNGI 2015

This past week, one of my PGG doctoral students, Marc Fialkoff, attended the International Symposium on Next Generation Infrastructure in Washington D.C. The conference brought together scholars from a variety of disciplines to discuss challenges in the areas of energy, transportation, water resources, and healthcare. The panel sessions focused on individual critical infrastructure sectors as well as techniques for modeling and implementing policies for more resilient infrastructure. Marc presented his work on freight transportation resilience and using GIS to evaluate legal restrictions on short sea shipping under disruptive conditions. This research was undertaken during his summer at Oak Ridge National Laboratory under guidance of Olufemi Omitaomu, the team lead for the Critical Infrastructure and Urban Resilience group at Oak Ridge National Lab.

Marc’s research provides a good example of the interdisciplinary work that is undertaken by students in the PGG program at Virginia Tech. With training in law and transportation planning, Marc’s research bridges disciplines of law, planning, civil engineering, and network analysis to explore the impact of law and policy on the movement of goods under a time of crisis – e.g., during Hurricane Sandy.

I co-chair Marc’s PhD committee with Ralph Buehler. Kathleen Hancock, Henning Mortveit, and Jonathan Gutoff also serve on Marc’s committee.

Congratulations Yehyun An!

On February 24, Yehyun An successfully defended her dissertation entitled “The Operationalization of Capacity Development: The Case of Urban Infrastructure Projects in India.”

Yehyun was a doctoral candidate in the Planning, Governance, and Globalization (PGG) program at Virginia Tech, and over the past several years has been a highly valued graduate research assistant in the IITK-VT partnership on Sustainable Infrastructure Development.

Guru Ghosh, Ralph Hall, Yehyun An, Michael Garvin, and Yang Zhang

Yehyun’s research explores the concept of capacity development (CD) in the context of a large urban infrastructure program in India – the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM). Her research utilized a unique combination of qualitative and quantitative methods and (I believe) is the first application of fuzzy-set Qualitative Comparative Analysis (fsQCA) in the field of CD. The findings from Yehyun’s research make important contributions to both CD theory and practice. I have included the abstract of Yehyun’s dissertation below for those interested in reading more about her research.

ABSTRACT

Since the 1950s, Capacity Development (CD) has been an important component of international development agendas. It established the widespread consensus that the capacity of individuals and organizations is critical to maintaining and enhancing the effectiveness of development projects and programs. A problem, however, is that the concept has been applied without due consideration to how it should be adapted to the local context, making it more of a symbolic gesture. The application of CD to urban infrastructure projects in India is one such example. Recognizing the shortage of urban infrastructure as one of the major impediments in India’s economic growth and rapid urbanization, the Government of India (GOI) launched the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM) in December 2005 to provide substantial central financial assistance to cities for urban development over a period of seven years. The GOI expected the JNNURM to reform institutions and strengthen human resource capability related to many areas of project delivery. During its implementation, however, the JNNURM has been confronted by problems related to a lack of capacity. This research reviews the capacity challenges related to the JNNURM program and considers the broader implications for urban infrastructure development in other developing countries.

This research begins with the question “How can CD be operationalized?” From this starting point, the research seeks to reveal the operational values of CD. Following a detailed literature review on CD, capacity factors that are applicable to the urban sector in India are identified and a CD framework is developed. Two research methods – case studies and fuzzy-set Qualitative Comparative Analysis (fsQCA) – are adopted to answer the primary research questions. By leveraging the strength of these two methods, this research advances our understanding of the relationship between capacity and development goals such as improving project performance. In the case studies, this research investigates the gaps between CD theory and practice through the lens of practitioner perceptions of CD. In addition, unlike traditional thinking on the linear relationship between capacity and project outcomes, the case studies reveal two-way causal relationships between capacity and project outcomes that form a spiral structure between the project delivery process and capacity factors. Better capacity can enhance project performance and lead to better outcomes, and project performance and outcomes also influence and reinforce capacity in the reverse direction. Moreover, through the fsQCA, this research identified causal relationships between capacity factors and outcomes and demonstrated that the capacity factors generate different outcomes through their interactions with other capacity factors. This finding contributes to our understanding of how capacity is interconnected with development goals.

In summary, this research contributes to both CD theory and CD practice based on a comprehensive approach that not only considers CD at multiple levels (environmental, organizational/network, and individual/project), but also covers different CD subjects such as context, actors, dimensions, processes, and impacts. Through this comprehensive approach, a range of important findings are developed that can help researchers and practitioners operationalize the complex concept of CD.

I served as the chair of Yehyun’s dissertation committee along with committee members Guru Ghosh, Michael Garvin, and Yang Zhang.

UAP Get To Know U Event – Photos

This afternoon UAP held its inaugural “Get To Know U Event.” The purpose of the event was to enable students in EPP, PUA, MURP, and PGG to get to know one another and to interact with UAP faculty in a fun environment. The images below capture several moments from this afternoon’s activities.

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UAP Get To Know U Event

On Monday, December 1 from 2-4pm, UAP will be holding its inaugural “Get To Know U Event” – meeting outside War Memorial Chapel. The purpose of this event is to enable students in EPP, PUA, MURP, and PGG to get to know one another and to interact with UAP faculty in a fun environment. I look forward to having all of our undergraduate, graduate, and doctoral students together in one place – it should be quite the event!

Welcome PGG and MURP Graduates!

I enjoyed meeting the new graduates in the Planning, Governance, and Globalization (PGG) doctoral program and the Urban Affairs and Planning (UAP) program this afternoon. We have a diverse group of students this year who come to Virginia Tech from various U.S. states and countries such as China, India, Russia, and Colombia. I look forward to getting to know them this coming semester. The images below were taken #throughglass.

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