Opinions from society have become increasingly important in the development of public infrastructure projects as governments and organizations place greater emphasis on public consultation and engagement efforts. With a developing trend around the world (including in Hong Kong) towards greater public involvement in the decision-making processes for public infrastructure projects, it is imperative that decision-makers give sufficient consideration into the needs and concerns from different sectors of society. Inability to do so can lead to project delays, protests and litigation. Existing public consultation and engagement exercises often attract those with the loudest voices or with special interests / motives (political, financial, etc.). Moreover, comments and feedback collected from public consultation and engagement events are often not systematically organized and codified for use as reference in future projects. This leads to the loss of potentially valuable lessons when preparing for new projects. Public engagement, addressing the needs of society and social capital are mostly looked at from the social sciences perspective. Research in these areas focusing on infrastructure development and construction remain limited. Furthermore, there is currently no comprehensive approach and strategy on addressing the needs of society to continuously capture the lessons learned from previous projects. Previous research work on stakeholder engagement in construction focused on analyzing and resolving conflicts between stakeholders; stakeholder identification and prioritization of engagement items based on ethical practices; and integration of project management and asset management teams for providing better feedback on end-user needs. However, these studies did not address some fundamental problems in stakeholder engagement such as the lack of participation from a larger, more representative audience; the need to proactively engage certain groups or sectors of society that are most severely impacted by a project; and identifying the connection between the public and other construction stakeholders to illustrate how the rest of society can contribute and relate to a public infrastructure project. This Study aims to: i) develop an Integrative Approach that can help decision-makers of public infrastructure projects better anticipate, consider and subsequently address the needs and concerns of society when planning and designing public infrastructure projects by empowering stakeholders with knowledge and lessons learned from previous experiences; ii) demonstrate how a broad range of project stakeholders, including the public and various groups in society, can be embraced and connected through mobilization and utilization of social capital; and iii) illustrate the facilitation of knowledge exchange between the various stakeholders of a public infrastructure project. Through a comprehensive research process involving a combination of literature review, interviews with relevant experts, observations at public engagement events in Hong Kong, organizing a public engagement event in collaboration with an NGO, conducting an empirical case study and hosing a workshop with construction industry experts, the Integrative Approach to Addressing Societal Needs was developed, which consist of a Stakeholder Knowledge Transfer (SKT) model, a Relational Knowledge Base (RKB), as well as a set of Strategies and Implementation Measures for putting the SKT model and RKB into practice. / published_or_final_version / Civil Engineering / Doctoral / Doctor of Philosophy

published_or_final_version / Housing Management / Master / Master of Housing Management

published_or_final_version / Housing Management / Master / Master of Housing Management

No description available.

For Maori, the management fo New Zealand�s coast and its resources is fundamental to their cultural identity. Iwi and hapu throughout New Zealand have close relationships with the coast and unique rights and responsibilities for its future management. However, there does not appear to be wide recognition of the crucial role of Maori in New Zealand�s coastal management regime. Co-management initiatives in coastal management, particularly under the Conservation Act 1987, Resource Management Act 1991 and several legislative initiatives controlling fisheries management, are explored and critiqued. Overall, the initiatives demonstrate that progress is being made in coastal management for better protection of Maori coastal values. Nevertheless, there is scope for further improvements concerning greater Maori involvement in coastal management. Recommendations for genuine co-management systems in New Zealand�s coastal management regime include effective communication between iwi and Government; appreciation of the unique nature of each iwi in New Zealand; involvement of a third party communicating between iwi and Government representatives; appropriate funding and resources to maintain the co-management system, and encouragement and motivation from the Government to initiate and maintain the co-management system.

Community participation in urban renewal projects has become important in the South African government’s efforts to address past imbalances and improving the livelihoods of socially excluded and marginalised communities. In order for the Helenvale Urban Renewal Project to be successful and bring about sustainable change, it is vital that the community be allowed and encouraged to play an active role in consultation and participation initiatives. This study outlines the importance of community participation, the types, the incentives and disincentives as well as the possible barriers to effective community participation. Findings from the analysis of the collected data indicates that a community project can only be successful if the implementing agent employs democratic principles whereby all residents are given a voice and are allowed to participate in the decision-making and implementation process. This study explores the concept of community participation in the Helenvale Urban Renewal Projects with particular reference to the role played by the Mandela Bay Development Agency in promoting community participation in the Helenvale Urban Renewal Projects (HURP), in Port Elizabeth.

Conflicts between the Province and municipalities over the development of Provincial land holdings are a common occurrence in Provincial-municipal relations. It is inevitable that a municipality and the Province will come into conflict because of the differing communities of interest that they serve. This is especially true when, to be effective, one jurisdiction must depend on the cooperation of another. Conflict is often the result of the unexpected impact of a government project. The Provincial Government holds large amounts of land and is a very major developer. Its projects are often large. The municipality is expected to exercise land use controls and must absorb the immediate, impacts created by the Provincial project. Yet the success of any government depends, in large part, on its sensitivity to the validity of other concerns which may exist. For example, traffic congestion, increased parking, noise, decreased property values, pressure to change land use are the types of concerns which may arise. In addition to the concerns expressed by government, citizens have been playing a more explicit role in the decision-making process. This has increased the spectrum of concerns which decision-makers must account for thereby heightening the potential for conflict. The resolution of land use conflict then, is a common situation for a planner. The potential for conflict is increasing due to pressures of urbanization. It is these pressures which have increased the need for greater cooperation between the Province and municipalities in order for them to carry out effectively their respective mandates. The mechanisms for resolving conflict then become very important if the different levels of government are to be effective in optimizing the public interest. This thesis examines the potential of citizen participation as a mechanism for resolving Provincial-municipal land use conflict. There are many possible forms of citizen participation and their effectiveness varies with numerous factors. To determine whether citizen participation aggravates or alleviates Provincial-municipal conflict the author constructed a hypothetical citizen participation model and tested it against a case study. The case study was the proposed expansion of the Shaughnessy Hospital by the British Columbia Medical Centre. The author chose local area planning, a current means of citizen participation practised in Vancouver, as a potentially resolving influence in land development disputes between the Province and the City of Vancouver. It was hypothesized that: The resolution of Provincial-municipal land development conflicts would be improved by the establishment of a local area planning process in affected parts of a municipality. The study method included a survey of pertinent literature and analysis of documentary evidence of a relevant case study. It established the sequence of events and the various communities of interest in the case study. The main source of data was a series of ten structured interviews. These interviews were with representative people with different degrees of involvment in the case project and varying perspectives on citizen participation. To the author's knowledge, so far no attempt has been made to monitor the area planning process with respect to its ability to alleviate Provincial-municipal land use conflict. This thesis served as a first attempt. Consequently generalizations on its effectiveness in resolving conflict cannot be made. However, the findings supported the contention that a consensus building force should exist if the process of conflict resolution is to be improved. In this case the consensus force was the citizen group. The research showed that the effectivesness of citizen involvement, as a conflict resolving influence, was enhanced by organization and access to information and technical expertise. This would enable the citizen groups to present a better prepared case. It was the organizational ability and access to technical expertise which implied that an area planning process would improve the effectiveness of the citizen position in the decisionmaking process. On the basis of this evidence it was concluded that local area planning, in this case, would have aided the process of conflict resolution. There is a lack of data and experience comparing "'existing area planning processes with each other and with other forms of citizen participation. This indicates that before effective generalizations can be made of the ability of area planning to alleviate Provincial-municipal conflict that further comparative case studies be undertaken. It is recommended that the current area planning process be monitored and that structural analysis be undertaken of who makes decisions and how they are made. This is distinct from participation where groups are involved in the process and present their case. However, after their presentation it is up to the decision-makers to make the decision. / Applied Science, Faculty of / Community and Regional Planning (SCARP), School of / Graduate

Public planning agencies in democratic political systems are faced by a demand from the public for the opportunity to have an influence on decision-making processes. Evidence suggests that this demand for public participation will not decline. The typical planning agency response to this demand results from common perceptions of the arguments in favour of participation. The literature suggests that this response has been a reluctant and marginal inclusion of public participation in decision-making processes, in reaction to forces external to the agency. The usual arguments for public participation in planning are based in democratic political theory, and are arguments which have to do with the benefits of participation for the public or the political system. These arguments are themselves not conclusive, for there are different schools of democratic theory which ascribe different levels of significance to participation. Public participation approached from the basis of this political theory does not lead to a concept of it being of significant benefit to the planning agency's organizational needs, except insofar as engaging in participation may make the agency conform to political requirements. An alternative approach, based on organizational theory, considers public participation from the viewpoint of how it may serve organizational needs of the public planning agency. The current Open Systems view of organizations provides such a means for undertaking an organizational approach to public participation. It considers an organization's communication with its external environment to be a critical element in its functioning. An examination of the principles and concepts of the Open Systems view of organizations demonstrates that they are applicable to public participation and the public planning agency. The Open Systems view can be integrated with a model of a public planning agency developed according to current planning theory, and with political systems theory as the latter pertains to a planning agency's interrelationships with its environment. When this integration is done within the context of the manner in which the representative democratic system functions, the result suggests that public participation assists in meeting certain "organizational" needs of the public planning agency. This "organizational approach" to public participation provides a rationale for a planning agency's positive attitude towards public participation, since it is an approach which considers the benefits to the planning agency as an organization. / Applied Science, Faculty of / Community and Regional Planning (SCARP), School of / Graduate

Bibliography: pages 112-113. / There are problems concerning citizen participation in projects especially in the NICRO-Vaal Service. This study reviews participation of community residents in establishing a Welfare Service for crime prevention and rehabilitation of offenders in the Vaal-Triangle Area. Participation is reviewed with special reference to the beneficiaries of the service. The study has al so reviewed the history of citizen participation, as well as the different models and modes of participation in projects. Participation in the NICRO-Vaal Service is divided into two categories. There is participation by community residents who are interested in the project because there has never been a service that was specifically concentrating on prisoners, ex-prisoners, their families and crime-prevention programmes in the area. These community residents have been receiving guidance from the National Council for Crime Prevention and Rehabilitation of Offenders. They formed a committee which is still administering NICRO Services in the area. The second category of participation, is participation by the beneficiaries of the service. Service beneficiaries have been attending all meetings where they were invited by the committee. They endorsed the committee's activities, but they have never been actively involved in NICRO Services. This became clear when the transport services that were organized for the families of prisoners, were administered at a loss. This is indicating that there is "limited" participation from the beneficiaries' si.de. They are still not active in NICRO Services in general. The hypothesis in this study is, "A Service that 1S established without the beneficiaries' involvement is consequently weakened". Both primary and secondary resources of information are used. The information pertaining to the history of the project was obtained from the records of the National Council for Crime Prevention and Rehabilitation of Offenders (NICRO) and the Minutes of the NICRO-Vaal Services Committee. Information from the beneficiaries of the service was obtained by administering an interview schedule to families of prisoners. The study's hypothesis has been confirmed. The study concludes by proposing an alternative model of participation. Human service organizers will benefit from the study's findings by learning different strategies and modes of starting a project.

Thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of a Master of Management in Public Policy at the Graduate School of Public & Development Management, University of the Witwatersrand. / In the last two decades, a number of discourses on democratic governance and development in the developing countries position citizen participation as a public accountability mechanism. Most countries have adopted decentralization governance reforms to enable local citizens to influence government policies and services. Literature on decentralization shows weak coherence on how public accountability works to achieve local development and democracy consolidation. Hence, the research study proposes a citizen participation model that should be used in investigating citizen based public accountability in policy making. The evaluation study intends to measure the extent to which citizen participation influences public accountability in local policy making in Malawi; using an evaluation framework based on the suggested citizen participation model. The evaluation investigated the influence of citizen participation in the making of the Lilongwe City Development Strategy (2009). It used qualitative research design and a case study of Ngwenya, a peri-urban area in Lilongwe City. The study used a clarificative evaluation approach. The study found that there is poor citizen participation to influence public accountability in local policy making in Malawi. The findings depict that the conceptualization of citizen participation model should underpin policy principles and associate laws to frame contextual base that helps decentralization benefits reach the local citizens. The report suggests that to improve public accountability through citizen participation primarily there should be: i) clear social, constitutional or political contracts between local government and citizens; ii) adherence to democratic governance; and iii) consistent alignment of programme implementation to assumed contexts in their design.