The study was conducted in the community of Wellbedacht East in eThekwini Municipality. Welbedacht East (WE) is located north-east of Umlazi Township and west of Chatsworth and also expands into the eNgonyameni Traditional Authority. WE is about 23 kilometres from Pinetown, 43 kilometres from Durban, and 15 kilometres from Chatsworth Centre. It is one of the development projects undertaken to spearhead the very ambitious programme of slums clearance, in order to confront the challenge of informal settlements in the eThekwini Municipal area. The study area has been chosen because it is one of the largest slum clearance projects in eThekwini Municipality (Durban) and it is peripherally located. Due to its peripheral location, transport services, and facilities such as schools, a clinic, a police station, churches and shops are either scarce, or non-existent. A systematic sample of 60 households was drawn from a population of residents whose characteristics had been considered to reflect those of the larger population. The project has 5000 sites and 3000 beneficiary households were relocated to this project from the inner city areas. The study is aimed at examining the impact and effects of relocation on beneficiary households in peripherally located low-income housing projects, to determine whether or not transport costs are higher in peripherally situated settlements than in more central locations, and whether residents in peripheral settlements are less able to access the benefits of urban living, including economic opportunities and social networks necessary for survival. It argues that the relocation of informal settlements to peripheral sites promotes an urban sprawl, and thus deviates from the eThekwini Municipality's goal of promoting development as a 'compact city'. The findings in this study are that, firstly, there is clear evidence to suggest that relocations to peripheral areas can cause significant harm to relocated beneficiary households' livelihood strategies, and secondly, that the municipality's failure to coordinate its relocations plan with other spheres of government involved with social service delivery, especially the departments of health and education, resulted in medium-term deprivation of access to social services. The conclusions drawn from the findings are that a holistic and integrated approach to housing development needs to be enforced, whereby the minimum facilities, such as schools, clinics and other social amenities are prioritised if the project is poorly located. The study therefore recommends that low-income housing projects be located closer to the economic nodes, in order to eliminate transport costs and other social difficulties associated with peripheral location. The compact city settlement design epitomised by higher residential densities and the development of multifunctional habitats would, to a greater extent, reduce the need to travel, and improve quality of life and access to urban goods and services. / Thesis (M.T.R.P.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, 2006.

Factors or characteristics which influence the export competitiveness of British Columbia's food and beverage processing industries in the Pacific Rim markets (i.e., Japan, Hong Kong, Taiwan, China: Mainland, Singapore and South Korea) are studied using pooled time-series and cross-sectional data, for the years 1988 through 1992. Changes in exports and in export market share are explained by changes in systematic exogenous and endogenous differences amongst B.C. and competing provincial industries over the five year period. The results indicate that, converse to what is suggested in the literature, there is no statistical consistency in the explanatory capability of comparative cost, industrial organization, or firm strategy variables to explain competitiveness in Pacific Rim markets. Rather, it appears export success is due to many unique factors at the firm or provincial level. Hence, it is not possible to make generalizations about the competitiveness determinants of these industries in the Pacific Rim markets.

The process of shelter consolidation which has been observed in spontaneous settlements gave rise to the idea that it could be transferred to formal housing projects. The development and improvement of shelter for the urban poor through formal channels has also often followed a model of progressive development based on the provision of tenure and basic services. This was done through "sites and services" and "area upgrading" projects. / An assessment of this process was carried out by observing two sites and services projects, Nannyville Gardens and De La Vega City, located in the Kingston Metropolitan Region, Jamaica. The manner and extent of consolidation is analyzed from data gathered during a survey which consisted of interviews with key informants and residents through a questionnaire, observation notes, physical measurements, slides and aerial photographs. The analysis dealt with variables such as; changes in the habitable area, the level of finishes undertaken at each stage of addition and the incorporation of space for home-Based Enterprises. The participants' physical priorities for housing are identified through the changes that have occurred in the variables over the life of both housing schemes. / The results indicate that sufficient habitable area takes precedent over the level of finish in the early stages of dwelling development. The findings also suggest that the economic use of dwellings (renting, vending, trading and the provision of personal services) in formal low-income housing projects is an inevitable part of the consolidation process which should be given serious consideration when formulating such projects.

O problema central e foco desta pesquisa foi investigar de que forma a qualidade e localização das áreas verdes de lazer influenciam sobre o uso destes espaços. O que motivou a escolha deste tema foi o fato de que nas pesquisas sobre áreas verdes a abordagem geralmente é quantitativa, desconsiderando as condições locais. Entende-se que este tipo de análise é insuficiente, pois o uso e o sucesso das áreas verdes também estão vinculados ao fator de qualidade destes lugares. Geralmente o centro da cidade e bairros de classe alta possuem melhores espaços públicos de convívio, enquanto na periferia encontram-se degradados e insuficientes. A falta de equipamentos, manutenção e ambiência das áreas verdes fazem com que os moradores dos bairros se desloquem grandes distâncias para utilizar uma praça, muitos até dez vezes mais do que a distância ideal. O lócus empírico escolhido foi o município de Passo Fundo, cidade média da Região do Norte do estado, onde foram analisadas todas as áreas verdes de lazer públicas. A metodologia utilizada para este trabalho foi estruturada através de coleta de dados e levantamento das áreas verdes existentes, análise da distribuição dentro do espaço urbano, aplicação de questionários in loco e análise dos aspectos de qualidade das áreas verdes de lazer públicas. Os resultados mostraram que a qualidade das áreas verdes de lazer públicas influencia mais na utilização do espaço pelos usuários do que os fatores locacionais. Desta maneira a hipótese de que a qualidade dos espaços públicos é mais importante do que a localização destes espaços dentro do perímetro urbano foi validada. / The central problem and focus of this research was to investigate how the quality and the location of green recreational areas influence on their use. What motivated the choice of this theme was the fact that in research on green areas the approach is generally quantitative, disregarding local conditions. It is understood that this type of analysis is insufficient, because the use and success of green areas are also linked to the quality factor of these places. Usually the city center and upper-class neighborhoods have better public living spaces while the outskirts are degraded and inadequate. Lack of equipment, maintenance and ambience of green areas make residents of the neighborhoods travel great distances to use a square, many up to ten times more than the ideal distance. The chosen empirical locus was the city of Passo Fundo, average city in the Northern Region of the state, where all public recreational green areas were analyzed. The methodology used for this work was structured through data collection and survey of existing green areas, distribution analysis within the urban space, questionnaires and on-site analysis of the quality aspects of public recreational green areas. The results showed that the quality of public green recreational areas has more influence on space utilization by users than the location factors. Thus the hypothesis that the quality of public spaces is more important than their locations within the urban perimeter has been validated.

O problema central e foco desta pesquisa foi investigar de que forma a qualidade e localização das áreas verdes de lazer influenciam sobre o uso destes espaços. O que motivou a escolha deste tema foi o fato de que nas pesquisas sobre áreas verdes a abordagem geralmente é quantitativa, desconsiderando as condições locais. Entende-se que este tipo de análise é insuficiente, pois o uso e o sucesso das áreas verdes também estão vinculados ao fator de qualidade destes lugares. Geralmente o centro da cidade e bairros de classe alta possuem melhores espaços públicos de convívio, enquanto na periferia encontram-se degradados e insuficientes. A falta de equipamentos, manutenção e ambiência das áreas verdes fazem com que os moradores dos bairros se desloquem grandes distâncias para utilizar uma praça, muitos até dez vezes mais do que a distância ideal. O lócus empírico escolhido foi o município de Passo Fundo, cidade média da Região do Norte do estado, onde foram analisadas todas as áreas verdes de lazer públicas. A metodologia utilizada para este trabalho foi estruturada através de coleta de dados e levantamento das áreas verdes existentes, análise da distribuição dentro do espaço urbano, aplicação de questionários in loco e análise dos aspectos de qualidade das áreas verdes de lazer públicas. Os resultados mostraram que a qualidade das áreas verdes de lazer públicas influencia mais na utilização do espaço pelos usuários do que os fatores locacionais. Desta maneira a hipótese de que a qualidade dos espaços públicos é mais importante do que a localização destes espaços dentro do perímetro urbano foi validada. / The central problem and focus of this research was to investigate how the quality and the location of green recreational areas influence on their use. What motivated the choice of this theme was the fact that in research on green areas the approach is generally quantitative, disregarding local conditions. It is understood that this type of analysis is insufficient, because the use and success of green areas are also linked to the quality factor of these places. Usually the city center and upper-class neighborhoods have better public living spaces while the outskirts are degraded and inadequate. Lack of equipment, maintenance and ambience of green areas make residents of the neighborhoods travel great distances to use a square, many up to ten times more than the ideal distance. The chosen empirical locus was the city of Passo Fundo, average city in the Northern Region of the state, where all public recreational green areas were analyzed. The methodology used for this work was structured through data collection and survey of existing green areas, distribution analysis within the urban space, questionnaires and on-site analysis of the quality aspects of public recreational green areas. The results showed that the quality of public green recreational areas has more influence on space utilization by users than the location factors. Thus the hypothesis that the quality of public spaces is more important than their locations within the urban perimeter has been validated.

Factors or characteristics which influence the export competitiveness of British Columbia's food and beverage processing industries in the Pacific Rim markets (i.e., Japan, Hong Kong, Taiwan, China: Mainland, Singapore and South Korea) are studied using pooled time-series and cross-sectional data, for the years 1988 through 1992. Changes in exports and in export market share are explained by changes in systematic exogenous and endogenous differences amongst B.C. and competing provincial industries over the five year period. The results indicate that, converse to what is suggested in the literature, there is no statistical consistency in the explanatory capability of comparative cost, industrial organization, or firm strategy variables to explain competitiveness in Pacific Rim markets. Rather, it appears export success is due to many unique factors at the firm or provincial level. Hence, it is not possible to make generalizations about the competitiveness determinants of these industries in the Pacific Rim markets. / Land and Food Systems, Faculty of / Graduate

The purpose of this thesis is to examine the coordination between transportation and other aspects of land use planning. This purpose is achieved through studying transportation planning and decision making in light of general overall metropolitan planning. Transportation planning is defined as a process for addressing societal concerns while attempting to meet the demands for transport made by the populace. Decision making is the final result of this process. In developing a model of the interrelationships between transportation and land use, this thesis examines theoretical literature and international examples. This examination illustrates benefits of transportation / land use coordination, such as the mutual support they can provide one another when pursuing similar policy objectives. The literature studied highlighted these relationships while acknowledging the unknown nature of causalities. In relation to the coordination of transportation and land use policy, planning and decision making, only the technical aspects should be achieved through disciplinary isolation. A two-example case study of transportation planning and decision making within Greater Vancouver is introduced with a discussion of the past thirty years of regional transportation planning and with a look at the Livable Region Program. This provides the context within which transportation planners of today must work. The case study utilizes interviews with planning staff members from agencies and municipalities with interest in the two major transportation facilities examined. The first example is the Alex Fraser Bridge over the Fraser River which was opened to automobile traffic in September of 1986. The second example is the possible future extension of rapid transit into Coquitlam, a facility which the provincial government has not yet committed itself to building. It is concluded that the Alex Fraser Bridge example does not support the policies of the Livable Region Program while the Coquitlam rapid transit example does. Furthermore, neither example supports the notion that the Livable Region Program is coordinated with transportation planning in Greater Vancouver. The final conclusion is that no coordination is apparent between the planning and implementation of regional transportation facilities and regional planning goals within Greater Vancouver. The transportation decisions analyzed in this thesis have been imposed upon the region by the provincial government. Promotion of regional goals by these transportation facilities is seen to result from similar objectives within different agencies rather than from coordination of planning between those agencies. / Applied Science, Faculty of / Community and Regional Planning (SCARP), School of / Graduate

Most studies of lifestyle have examined pre-defined groups and have assumed that style of life is the product of a single social indicator such as socio-economic status. This thesis challenges these views and demonstrates that lifestyle is rather a synoptic concept which is a significant tool for contemporary socio-spatial research. The study comprises two major sections: a detailed examination, from an interdisciplinary perspective, of the lifestyle-related literature and an empirical analysis of the development and determination of mainstream urban lifestyles in Vancouver, British Columbia. Five broad components of lifestyle — cognitive, demographic, behavioral, locational, and symbolic — are identified and provide a conceptual schema which is employed as the basis for the analytical portion of the research. Particular attention has been devoted to examination of symbolic measures as indices of lifestyle. The first four components were assessed through a sample of 1647 socially and spatially stratified households in the Greater Vancouver region. Measures for the symbolic component were derived from a follow-up study of 102 of these households. The data sets were factor analyzed in three groups (cognitive, demographic-behavioral, and symbolic) to develop a more parsimonious description of the variables. The demographic and behavioral components revealed ten dimensions which assessed levels of socio-economic achievement, family and age characteristics, leisure activities, interactional and participatory patterns, and ethnic origins. The cognitive component produced 20 scales which represented a range of attitudes, dispositions, and values. These scales evaluated personality traits, social flexibility, attitudes toward bureaucracy and political control, and perceptions of urban issues. Nine semantic differential scales, describing the living rooms of the subjects' homes, were appropriate for the evaluation of the symbolic component. From these analyses, seven independent lifestyle groups were produced from a hierarchical grouping analysis. Three lifestyles were dominant within the region; the Middle Canadian, Blue Collar, and Familistic groups accounted for almost 70 percent of the respondents. The remaining four groups, Ethnic, Empty Nest, Professional, and Ruralistic, were less significant numerically. Descriptions of the groups were based on the scores on the input factors, original variables, and other measures not utilized for the grouping procedure. The principal determinants of lifestyle were established through a series of discriminant analyses. None of the five sets of component measures proved individually to be a particularly useful overall index. Particular lifestyles responded better to determination from some measures than others. Correct classification of group membership could be best predicted from combined measures which included assessments of age-occupation, urban/housing experience and attitudes, ethnicity, social flexibility, and leisure orientation. Traditional measures of social differentiation (income, occupation), with the exception of age variables, are restricted in explanatory power unless combined with more behavioral measures. Attitudes about social change (social flexibility, traditional family structure) are better individual indicators. The symbolic measures predicted some of the groups but were of little consequence for others. Although the semantic differential factors had discriminatory power, some of this was subsumed by other measures across the discriminant functions. Residential location was of little general consequence in explaining the distribution of lifestyles as most groups were represented in all parts of the region. A principal conclusion is that lifestyles are not the product of any single social indicator. The results indicate that the lifestyle concept is a synoptic variable, composed of the five identified components, which offers an important vehicle for research. This thesis provides a framework for the empirical analysis of mainstream lifestyles in contemporary urban society and reveals the principal elements of group determination. / Applied Science, Faculty of / Community and Regional Planning (SCARP), School of / Graduate

Changes in the patterns of income and residential segregation were examined in the Portland Metropolitan Area. The 1970 and 1980 Census of Population and Housing were used in calculating the indexes of dissimilarity between black and white populations. The data indicated a significant decrease in the residential segregation of blacks in suburban areas between 1970 and 1980. The central city area still remained highly segregated with a segregation index of 69.5. Taeuber's index of dissimilarity was used in calculating the unevenness in the distribution of income between blacks and whites. Suburbia showed a significant decrease in income segregation compared to the central city area. Overall, both residential and income segregation were dropping at a much faster rate in the suburban areas than the central city areas. To examine the effects of socio-economic status on residential segregation, a sample of 138 blacks was drawn from the population of higher status blacks in the city of Portland. Residential choices of the influential blacks were examined to determine whether or not their influential status was accompanied by a tendency toward greater integration as opposed to greater segregation. The 1980 Census Tract Street Index was used in this analysis. The data show that despite the improvement in socio-economic status, a majority of these blacks still lived in the "ghetto" area (59%) and only 14% lived in suburbia. Therefore, the data show no significant relationship between the gains in the status and the tendency toward more integration. This tendency bears directly upon the issue of voluntary segregation. The data shows strong support for hypothesis two holding that change in income inequality results in change in residential segregation. That is, if we reduce the income differentials between black and white populations, racial residential segregation will be minimized.

Growing concern over earthquakes in the Pacific Northwest has prompted the mapping and location of near surface faults in the Portland area, Oregon. Visible evidence of faults is poor, requiring the use of geophysical methods to assist in mapping and defining structures in the basin. Gravity maps and models may help in addressing this problem.