Doctoral Dissertation Research Improvement Grants: Finding Blight: Code Enforcement in Post-Katrina New Orleans

博士论文研究改进补助金：寻找枯萎病：卡特里娜飓风后新奥尔良的法规执行

• 批准号: 1224091
• 负责人: William Maurer
• 金额: $ 2.52万
• 依托单位: University of California-Irvine
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2012
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2012-09-01 至 2014-02-28
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1224091&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Doctoral; Dissertation; Research; Improvement; Grants

University of California-Irvine doctoral student Sean Mallin, supervised by Dr. William M. Maurer, will undertake research on building code enforcement as a lens through which to observe debates over the meaning of property, recovery, and community in post-disaster contexts. In particular, Mallin will investigate the proposition that legal processes tied to code enforcement coalesce with rebuilding imperatives to enact discourses and understandings of the meaning of property and ownership. In previous research, it has been observed that some residents see code enforcement as a welcome mechanism to transfer vacant properties from less responsible owners who have not rebuilt to those who will commit to neighborhood recovery. On the other hand, residents still struggling to return may be more critical of the process in that it appears to turn their misfortune into a crime. This scenario plays out in post-disaster contexts throughout the world, which makes the research both timely and significant.For the purposes of this study, Mallin will conduct 12 months of ethnographic research in post-Katrina New Orleans. New Orleans is an appropriate site because a local anti-blight campaign has targeted vacant properties through comprehensive code enforcement and thus the reconceptualization of property and ownership may be underway. Mallin will collect data and conduct semi-structured interviews at four sites: the Department of Code Enforcement, city-run property auctions, an organization assisting property owners, and in neighborhoods with residents and local organizations. Mallin will employ a mix of social science methods including direct observation, participant observation, semi-structured interviews, and analysis of archival documents and newspaper articles (to provide social and historical context for contemporary redevelopment activities). These data will be analyzed to address four overarching research questions: (1) How are designations of blight made, supported, interpreted, or contested, especially in relation to Hurricane Katrina? (2) What kind of social, moral, and material relationships between residents and property are framed through the concepts of blight and responsible ownership? (3) Do municipal laws and real estate markets create economic and non-economic values through new categories of property (blighted or non-blighted)? and (d) Are criteria for social inclusion and exclusion mediated through categories of property and ownership?This research is important because it contributes to knowledge about new urban dynamics. Results should also generalize to other post-disaster contexts such as communities affected by the current foreclosure crisis and coastal cities anticipating property-related issues because of climate change, and thus will be of use to planners and policy makers. Funding this research also supports the education of a graduate student.

加州大学欧文分校博士生 Sean Mallin 在 William M. Maurer 博士的指导下，将开展建筑法规执行方面的研究，以此作为观察灾后背景下有关财产、恢复和社区意义的辩论的镜头。特别是，马林将研究以下主张：与代码执行相关的法律程序与重建必要性相结合，以制定对财产和所有权含义的话语和理解。在之前的研究中，我们观察到，一些居民将法规执行视为一种受欢迎的机制，可以将空置房产从不负责任、尚未重建的业主转移到那些致力于社区恢复的业主。另一方面，仍在努力返回的居民可能会对这一过程持更为批评的态度，因为这似乎将他们的不幸变成了犯罪。这种情况在世界各地的灾后环境中上演，这使得这项研究既及时又有意义。为了这项研究的目的，Mallin 将在卡特里娜飓风过后的新奥尔良进行为期 12 个月的人种学研究。新奥尔良是一个合适的地点，因为当地的反枯萎运动通过全面的法规执行针对空置房产，因此财产和所有权的重新概念化可能正在进行中。马林将在四个地点收集数据并进行半结构化访谈：法规执行部、城市管理的房地产拍卖、协助业主的组织以及有居民和当地组织的社区。马林将采用多种社会科学方法，包括直接观察、参与观察、半结构化访谈以及档案文件和报纸文章分析（为当代重建活动提供社会和历史背景）。这些数据将被分析以解决四个首要研究问题：（1）枯萎病的指定是如何制定、支持、解释或争论的，特别是与卡特里娜飓风有关的？ (2) 居民和财产之间什么样的社会、道德和物质关系是通过枯萎和负责任所有权的概念构建的？ (3) 市政法律和房地产市场是否通过新的财产类别（枯萎的或未枯萎的）创造经济和非经济价值？ (d) 社会包容和排斥的标准是否通过财产和所有权类别来调节？这项研究很重要，因为它有助于了解新的城市动态。研究结果还应推广到其他灾后环境，例如受当前止赎危机影响的社区和因气候变化而预计出现财产相关问题的沿海城市，因此将对规划者和政策制定者有用。资助这项研究还支持研究生的教育。