Date of Award

Fall 2024

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Public Administration (DPA)

Department

Public Policy and Administration

Committee Chairperson

Mark W. Davis, PhD, MPA

Committee Member

Francis Atuahene, PhD

Committee Member

Dorothy Ives Dewey, PhD

Abstract

Concerns regarding uncertainties in land use development have led to the design of zoning regulations models that are predominantly static. The consequences of such designs have been debilitating. Remedying the situation requires adaptive zoning regulations that are apt at addressing uncertainties in ways that respond to the complex systemic context of zoning practice and time variability. The design of robust adaptive zoning regulations would require the comprehensive deployment of adaptive policy tools by policy bureaucrats such as local government planners, guided by suitable anchor(s). This study employs quantitative driven mixed methods to investigate the viability of public value as such an anchor candidate while taking into consideration the potential moderating influence of the human action motivations of local government planners. To this purpose, the research highlights the necessity and challenges of adaptation in the design of zoning regulations and the qualification of public value as a policy anchor to overcome them. Drawing from the presence of adaptive policy design constitutive elements and public value dimensions in zoning practice, it examines the policy anchor influence of public value on zoning regulations design adaptivity and assesses how and why local government planners’ motivations may moderate this effect. Findings provide seminal insight for a public value theory of zoning and associated practices that can foster the design of zoning regulations to be more adaptive.

Download

Available for download on Sunday, December 05, 2027

Share

COinS