Did "Pookie" get a green-collar job? : a critical case study on the East Bay Green Corridor's employment goals, activities, and impacts
Name
890371566-MIT.pdf
Description
Full printable version
Size
12.04 MB
Format
Adobe PDF
Checksum (MD5)
d061a92cd54f9cbb1a6c778b31dd608a
Author(s)
Miller, Matthew J. (Matthew Jordan)
Advisor(s)
Amy K. Glasmeier.
Alternative Title
Critical case study on the East Bay Green Corridor's employment goals, activities, and impacts
EBGC's employment goals, activities, and impacts
Date Issued
2014
Publisher
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Abstract
This thesis describes the formation of the East Bay Green Corridor (EBGC), a multi-city partnership for green investment in California, and how it failed to create stable, living wage economic opportunities for those with high employment barriers between 2007 and 2012. By analyzing semi-structured interviews with key informants and green economic development data at regional and urban levels, it provides insight on how EBGC cities tried to influence the distribution of "green-collar" jobs and businesses through various policy experiments. This study largely attributes the conclusion to the fact that EBGC did not have the capacity to be effective as an organization, which ultimately led to its dissolution in 2013 into an unfunded volunteer project. Using regional analysis, it also finds that the highest years of green employment growth (2007-08) in the California East Bay preceded the existence of EBGC activities. Furthermore, it calls into question the long-term economic impacts of EBGC activities by showing that the Great Recession slowed employment growth rates in green sectors more than it did the employment growth rates in non-green sectors. While this thesis does not critique the concept or possibility of a green-collar economy as other reports have, it suggests a few ways that policymakers interested in green-collar economic development can be grounded and strategic about their approaches to regional partnership and poverty alleviation to realize the desired returns on this type of economic development investment.
Description
Thesis: M.C.P., Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Urban Studies and Planning, 2014.
Cataloged from PDF version of thesis.
Includes bibliographical references (pages 71-75).
Subjects
Urban Studies and Planning.
MIT Department
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Urban Studies and Planning
Terms of Use
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