Assessing urban freeway deconstruction

278 Pages·2016·3.51 MB·English

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Electronic Theses and Dissertations
5-2014
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Doddy Aditya Iskandar
University of Louisville
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Iskandar, Doddy Aditya, "Assessing urban freeway deconstruction : a survey of 21 cities with case studies
of San Francisco and Milwaukee." (2014). Electronic Theses and Dissertations. Paper 661.
https://doi.org/10.18297/etd/661
This Doctoral Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by ThinkIR: The University of Louisville's
Institutional Repository. It has been accepted for inclusion in Electronic Theses and Dissertations by an authorized
administrator of ThinkIR: The University of Louisville's Institutional Repository. This title appears here courtesy of
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ASSESSING URBAN FREEWAY DECONSTRUCTION:
A SURVEY OF 21 CITIES WITH CASE STUDIES OF
SAN FRANCISCO AND MILWAUKEE

By
Doddy Aditya Iskandar
B.Eng, Gadjah Mada University, 1998
MCP, University of Cincinnati, 2001

A Dissertation
Submitted to the Faculty of the
College of Arts and Sciences of the University of Louisville
In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements
For the Degree of

Doctor of Philosophy

Department of Urban and Public Affairs
University of Louisville
Louisville, Kentucky

May 2014
Copyright © 2014 by Doddy Aditya Iskandar
All rights reserved

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ASSESSING URBAN FREEWAY DECONSTRUCTION:
A SURVEY OF 21 CITIES WITH CASE STUDIES OF
SAN FRANCISCO AND MILWAUKEE

By

Doddy Aditya Iskandar
B.Eng., Gadjah Mada University, 1998
MCP, University of Cincinnati, 2001

A Dissertation Approved on

April 16, 2014

by the following Dissertation Committee:

_______________________________________________________
Dr. H.V. Savitch (Dissertation Director)

_______________________________________________________
Dr. David L. Imbroscio

_______________________________________________________
Dr. David M. Simpson

_______________________________________________________
Dr. Jason Gainous

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To Rika, Abi and Nino.

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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

I would like to thank the members of my dissertation committee - Dr. Hank Savitch, Dr.
David L. Imbroscio, Dr. David M. Simpson, and Dr. Jason Gainous - for their guidance,
support, and advice. I especially thank my chair and advisor, Dr. Savitch, for his
invaluable mentorship these last five years. He is an incredible teacher and friend since
my first year at the University of Louisville. It was an honor for me to work with him on
this project and other projects. I also would like to thank Dr. Imbroscio, Dr. Simpson, and
Dr. Gainous who were more than willing to read my proposal, provide insightful and
critical comments on my dissertation.

My study and research at the University of Louisville was supported from a number of
sources. For five consecutive years, I received graduate research assistantship from the
Department of Urban and Public Affairs. An additional funding was also provided by the
American-Indonesian Cultural Educational Foundation (AICEF). I would like to thank
Lembaga Pengelola Dana Pendidikan (LPDP) Kementerian Keuangan (Kemenkeu)
Republik Indonesia that granted me dissertation research grant to do the fieldwork in San
Francisco and Milwaukee. I also received the doctoral fellowship from the School of
Interdisciplinary and Graduate Studies (SIGS) in my final year.
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I would like to dedicate this to all my family. Without their continuous support and pray,
I may not be able to finish this journey. Special thank goes to my mother and my mother-
in-law. Their prayers and emotional support have given me spirit to finish my work and
hoped the best for my future. To my dad who passed away more than ten years ago, I
wish you could see my achievement. Finally, I am thankful to my wife and my two sons.
I thank my wife Henrika for agreeing to this journey and never stop believing in me
throughout these years. My two superheroes, Abisatya (Abi) and Baskara (Nino), always
reminded me that there are worlds other than doing research and writing a dissertation.

Louisville was my second home. It grew on me. The people of this city were friendly and
welcoming. I would like to express my gratitude to our faculty in the Department of
Urban and Public Affairs in general, and especially Juli Wagner, Patty Sarley and Yani
Vozos. They were more than ready to extend support when in need. I thank you all with
all my heart. I also thank several friends and colleagues from the graduate programs in
Urban and Public Affairs who supported my work and offered comments or
encouragement through its various stages: Dr. Lynn Roche Phillips at the University of
Kentucky, Dr. Derese G. Kassa, Abu Sufiyan and Ryan Fenwick.

This was a great journey of trials and triumph. Charles Dickens said it best:
"It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it
was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of
incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the
spring of hope, it was the winter of despair... (A Tale of Two Cities)"

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ABSTRACT

ASSESSING FREEWAY DECONSTRUCTION: A SURVEY OF 21 CITIES WITH
CASE STUDIES OF SAN FRANCISCO AND MILWAUKEE

Doddy Aditya Iskandar
May 9, 2014

This study evaluates the effect of urban freeway deconstruction on the local economy.
Scholars for years debated the role of urban freeway on the local economy. Those who
found a positive effect of urban freeway use national data to support their finding.
However, other scholars found the effect of urban freeway on the local economy mixed.
Four major questions are raised in this study: What are the key factors of the city that
affect the decision to remove urban freeways? What are the similarities and differences
between cities that choose to remove their urban freeways? Does freeway deconstruction
bring about the intended results, as measured through property values? If not, what are
the causes? What type of institutional arrangement and political support ensures the
initiative for freeway deconstruction can be implemented?
Twenty-three cases of urban freeway deconstruction in twenty-one U.S. cities are used as
the unit of analysis. I develop seven causal conditions from two distinct characteristics of
the city: a post-industrial city and a declining, transitional industrial city. Qualitative
comparative analysis (QCA) is utilized to identify possible combinations
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of causal conditions that lead to the decision to remove urban freeways. I use case studies
of urban freeway deconstruction in San Francisco and Milwaukee to illuminate the
economic effect of the project on the local economy and identify actors, motives, and
rationales behind the decision to remove urban freeway. A hedonic price model is used to
test the economic impact of urban freeway deconstruction on the local economy. A
descriptive comparative analysis is employed to reveal actors, their role in the decision-
making process, and coalition building that affect the decision to remove urban freeways.
I found out that urban freeway deconstruction did not always bring a positive economic
impact on the local economy, measured by the increased property value. Only a post-
industrial city experienced this positive economic impact while a declining, transitional
industrial city did not. Further, the local growth coalition in a post-industrial city is
characterized by broad support from various actors, while in a declining, transitional
industrial city, it was the local political elites who drives the process. This in turn
significantly affects the economic outcome of the process.
In conclusion, I present recommendation for future research, and implications for place-
making strategies and framework for reinvigorating cities.

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