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Amma is a doctoral candidate in her fourth year of the program. In her ongoing dissertation, she explores the idea of “state-reinforced neighborhood revitalization” where she analyzes the state’s co-productive relationship with regards to the federal Choice Neighborhoods Initiative. Her dissertation relies on both qualitative and quantitative methods to answer the questions: What is the role of the state (government) in facilitating or hindering self-governance and cooperation within and among key stakeholders during neighborhood revitalization? How can the co-productive relationship be used to yield beneficial neighborhood-level outcomes (from a sustainable development perspective)?

In her previous capacity as a graduate assistant at Indiana University – Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI), Amma undertook spatial analyses of flood risk management in all 50 U.S. states using ArcGIS. She also assessed high-performing landscapes on the IUPUI campus, and subsequently designed a customized metric system for future campus evaluations.

Dissertation:
Examining Neighborhood Revitalization through a State-Reinforced Self-Governance Lens

Research Interests:
Community Development; Neighborhood Self-Governance, Environmental Policy; Leadership; Sustainability

Shahbaz Altaf earned his Bachelor’s degree in City and Regional Planning from the University of Engineering and Technology, Lahore. Afterward, he worked at Lahore Development Authority as an Assistant Director (Town Planning) for two years. He earned his Master’s degree in Transportation Sciences (Mobility Management) from Hasselt University, Belgium. He has co-authored several research papers including “Last-mile travel and bicycle sharing system in small/medium-sized cities: user’s preferences investigation using the hybrid choice model” (2018) and “What Cities are the Most Dangerous to Your Health? Ranking the Most Polluted Mid-Size Cities in the United States” (2020). His research interests include but are not limited to sustainable governance of environmental resources, smart growth, and active mobility like cycling, walking, and public transport.

Dissertation:
Sustainable Urban Groundwater Governance in Faisalabad, Pakistan: Challenges and Possibilities

Research Interests:
Water Justice and Climate Justice; Water Policy and Governance; Shared Mobility

Recent Publications:
Haneef M., Altaf S., Sulaiman M. (2021). Inequities in Urban Development Global North Versus South. City University Research Journal, Vol 11, No 1

Adnan, M., Altaf, S., Bellemans, T., Yasar, A. Shakshuki, E. (2018). Last-mile travel and bicycle sharing system in small/medium sized cities: user’s preferences investigation using hybrid choice model. Journal of Ambient Intelligence and Humanized Computing, 10, 4721–4731

Jamshed, A., Altaf, S., Javed, S., Ali, A. (2018). Evaluating the Environmental Impact Assessment of Road Rehabilitation Projects: Comparative Study of Pakistan and Vietnam. Journal of Science,Technology and Development, 37(3):122-130.