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Increasing resilience to flooding is a complex process that requires horizontal and vertical coordination between institutions in policy making and implementation. This paper explores the effect of institutional coordination on managing flood risk in two cities plagued by flooding. Our results show that efforts on building urban flood resilience can be undermined by lack of proper coordination between urban development, water management and land use planning. We find that this complexity is magnified by the emergence of the concept of resilience as an urban development goal that is increasingly pursued by various authorities, but that is inherently contested in practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While much research investigates how social capital relates to mental health after disasters, less work employs a multi‐scalar, multi‐dimensional social capital framework. This study applies such a construct to an analysis of novel survey data of approximately 1,000 rural and urban Texans after Hurricane Harvey struck the United States in August 2017. On the individual level, it finds that greater social support is linked to fewer mental health impacts, but that greater civic and organisational engagement is connected to greater mental health impacts. At the community level, it finds that neither a density of bridging social capital organisations nor of bonding social capital organisations is associated with poorer mental health, although a greater number of bonding organisations is related to negative mental health impacts on rural residents. The paper concludes by focusing on how individual and community social capital relationships with mental health are contingent on measurement, scale, and rural or urban location. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The car fulfills not only instrumental transportation functions, but also holds important symbolic and affective meaning for its owners and users. In particular, owning and using a car can be a symbol of an individual's social status or personal image ('car pride'). This paper introduces and validates a standard measure of car pride estimated from 12 survey statements using a cross-sectional sample of 1236 commuters in New York City and Houston metropolitan statistical areas. We find that car pride is higher in Houston than in New York City. We then empirically examine the bidirectional relation between car pride (attitude) and household car ownership (behavior) using structural equation modeling. To identify the bidirectional relationship we use an individual's general pride as the instrumental variable (IV) for that same individual's car pride; in the opposite direction, we use the average household vehicle ownership in the respondent's census block group as the IV for the respondent's household car ownership. We find that positive and statistically significant relations exist from car pride to car ownership, while the relation in the reverse direction is not statistically significant. On average and in both city subsamples, the relation from car pride to household car ownership (attitude-to-behavior) is much stronger than the reverse (behavior-to-attitude). In fact, in our models car pride is more predictive of car ownership than most individual and household socio-demographics included in traditional ownership forecasting models, including income. Empowered with a well-validated, standard measure for car pride and a robust approach for exploring reciprocal attitude-behavior relations in cross-sectional data, future research can extend the current understanding presented in this paper to explore car pride's relation with other travel behaviors, the dynamics of these attitude-behavior relations over time, and their implications for policies to promote sustainable travel behavior. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: From 2002 to 2011, West Nile virus mosquitoes (WNV) has been ever-present in traps across Harris County, TX which contains the city of Houston. Disease-positive trap locations have peaked twice, from 2002 to 2006 and then again from 2009 onwards. This paper will examine fine scale spatial and temporal patterns in disease-positive mosquito traps for the Houston area across this time frame, using three different analytical approaches: kernel density, spatial filtering and SaTScan. The purpose of this paper is twofold. Firstly, to identify spatial and space-time clusters of WNV in order to spatially prioritize subsequent research for causative associations. Secondly, to compare the effectiveness of three methods that vary in complexity and ease of use in order to suggest a transferable methodology for mosquito control and environmental health departments across the United States with only lower level GIS skillsets. This paper also illustrates a successful ongoing academic and mosquito control collaboration with the Harris County Public Health Services Mosquito Control Division's (MCD) program. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Although anti-immigrant sentiment is often attributed to economic competition with foreign-born workers, research has provided contradictory results. This paper combines survey and occupation data to re-examine the relationship between immigration attitudes and labour market competition in Houston, an established immigration gateway. I analyse data from multiple waves of the Houston Area Survey and the American Community Survey, the Bureau of Labor Statistics, and O*NET. Results indicate that labour market competition is associated with preferences for reducing immigration in Houston. Those working in occupations with recent increases in the number of foreign-born workers, that require less education, and that have higher rates of unemployment are more likely to prefer to reduce future legal immigration, even after controlling for perceived economic and cultural threats. These results support other research at the occupation and industry levels and suggest that labour market competition is a factor in shaping immigration attitudes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Surface deformation in the Houston area has been quantified by using a variety of methods including LIDAR, InSAR, extensometers, drilling (to approximately 100m), and Ground Penetrating Radar. In this paper we report on GPS data acquired during the period between 1995 and 2005 that found evidence of ongoing subsidence (up to −56mm/year) in northwestern Houston and of possible horizontal surface movement towards the Gulf of Mexico (up to 6mm/year). We describe the methods of data-processing used in the study and speculate on the possibility that the active elevation of salt domes, mainly at the south and east of the city, may indirectly influence other surface movements including fault movements and subsidence over areas >1km2. Making use of our observations and analysis could help in natural hazard mitigation in the Houston area and possibly also indicate approaches to surface subsidence study that might be used in other urban areas. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Houston is the only major city in North America without zoning. The growth of Houston illustrates a traditional free market philosophy in which land use zoning is seen as a violation of private property and personal liberty. This paper explores how the lack of zoning has an impact on land use controls and urban development in Houston. Using a theoretical framework derived from institutional economics and public choice theories for institutional analyses of land development controls, it explores how local land use policies made by both the local government and non-governmental sectors shape urban development in Houston. The study results show that despite the city’s lack of zoning, local land use regulatory policies made by the municipality have significant influence on urban development. Additionally, civic and private organizations such as super neighborhoods and homeowner associations fill the gaps left by the lack of land use zoning. These two aspects contribute to land use controls and urban development of the city. The study finds that land use controls by private contract and by government legislative intervention are not mutually exclusive or immutable; that equity goals are not met in market approaches, and public planning intervention is necessary; and that deed restrictions might be better at facilitating property sales and maintenance than at improving neighborhood welfare and governance. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]