Governments in the developing world continue to struggle to find a solution to the issue of high risk informal settlements. The issue has been addressed with multiple approaches, the most popular of which is relocation. Unfortunately, relocation is more often a failure than a success in the developing context (Jha & Duyne, 2010). The main problem is a lack of understanding of the processes by which human settlements are established. There is evidence of success in relocation projects that include local knowledge in its design and implementation phases; on most cases local knowledge was best collected through various community participatory methods (Berke & Campanella, 2006; Cronin & Guthrie, 2011; Satterthwaite, 2011). There are also new approaches to create solutions for these groups, one of them is reconstruction and upgrade in place. This approach is rather new and few contexts allow for its implementation but it has proven to receive better community approval (Abbott, 2002; Horwood & Phillips, 2007; Werlin, 1999). This study delves into these complexities of urban poor populations, housing projects, and natural disasters. More specifically, this study discusses the implications of relocating or upgrading urban poor families through the ISF Housing Program of the Philippines and the Dichato Reconstruction Program in Chile. In both cases the analysis is drawn specifically to the role of multiple stakeholder participation and context specific characteristics in the design and implementation of the projects. This study explores the benefits and dilemmas encountered during implementation of relocation and upgrade national programs in two contrasting cases. Key findings in this research show that there is a complex array of circumstances that guide the observed communities’ decision to locate and struggle to remain on hazardous settlements. In both cases the relocation was initially well received by communities in the aftermath of great disasters. Just recently, after relocation, communities have started to experience important long term effects to the socioeconomic and emotional development that they had enjoyed in their former location. Participation in both cases was much encouraged but timing struggles impeded full implementation of participatory approaches. The takeaway of this study is that disaster stricken communities in vulnerable economic situations need solutions that not only provide safe housing but that also consider other basic needs like economic stability, social interaction and community life. Long term solutions for the urban poor in high risk areas are best crafted together through inclusive participation with the urban poor themselves. / A Dissertation submitted to the Department of Urban and Regional Planning in partial fulfillment of the Doctor of Philosophy. / Fall Semester 2016. / September 8, 2016. / Disaster risk, Participatory Planning, Post Disaster Reconstruction, Relocation, Upgrade / Includes bibliographical references. / Rebecca Miles, Professor Directing Dissertation; Ralph Brower, University Representative; William Butler, Committee Member; Petra Doan, Committee Member; Janet Dilling, Committee Member.

Population ageing is a world-wide phenomenon. The number of older people is expected to increase both absolutely and relatively, and a lot of Western and Asian countries already entered into the aged society beyond the aging society. Since this trend is anticipated to continue, population ageing will become a more critical and urgent issue in various institutions. In this sense, creating age-friendly neighborhood environments and the concept of ageing in place have increasingly been part of urban strategies. So far most studies have focused on the inner-city and urban areas, while spatial analyses of elderly poverty clusters have rarely been attempted. However, exploring where poor older people spatially concentrate is important because it may provide a justifiable basis for urban policies and studies. Likewise, neighborhood characteristics have not been mainly discussed in terms of ageing in place, even though older people who live in a deprived neighborhood may face several risks from distressed physical and social environments. In this study, therefore, I tried to explore where poor older people spatially concentrate and why they live there. This study is largely divided into two parts: exploratory analysis and testing hypotheses. First, spatial distributions of elderly and general poverty clusters were compared through hot spot analysis which examines where significant local clusters of high poverty rates exist. In addition, the degree of neighborhood deprivation was also compared using 11 indicators and the integrated index by poverty cluster types. The result of this study is that there is difference in spatial distribution between elderly and general poverty clusters. In particular, elderly poverty clusters are more likely to be located outside of the inner-city and in rural areas, while general poverty clusters are more likely to be located in the inner-city and urban, suburban areas. This finding suggests that elderly poverty related studies should cover rural areas and outside of the inner-city. Through spatial analyses of elderly poverty clusters, researchers can select appropriate study areas for empirical studies regarding to poverty, especially elderly poverty issues, and policy makers can decide where they preferentially support active ageing in place. As results of comparing neighborhood deprivation by poverty cluster types, I found that older people may stay put in a deprived neighborhood depending on which poverty cluster they live in when they decide to age in place, even though a neighborhood that features an elderly poverty cluster only is less deprived as unexpected. Therefore, policy makers should consider the location of neighborhood when they adapt urban policies to encourage older people to age in place, even if ageing in place has been favorable. In the second part of the study, I tried to identify determinants of the expectation to age in place of older people by using both individual and neighborhood characteristics. As neighborhood characteristics, urban diversity factors, that is, mixed-land use, residential density, housing age diversity, racial diversity, income diversity, and tenure diversity, were tested together with poverty cluster types and neighborhood stability through binary logistic regression and two-step hierarchical linear models. The result of this study suggests that urban diversity factors can influence the expectation to age in place of older people, and the effects of urban diversity vary by what poverty cluster older people live in. Therefore, more academic attention should be paid to neighborhood environments. Moreover, the result of regression and HLM models can help what physical or social environmental conditions policy makers need to consider when they support older people to age in place. / A Dissertation submitted to the Department of Urban & Regional Planning in partial fulfillment of the Doctor of Philosophy. / Spring Semester 2017. / March 31, 2017. / Age in place, Elderly poverty cluster, Hot spot analysis, Urban diversity / Includes bibliographical references. / Rebecca Miles, Professor Directing Dissertation; Keon-Hyung Lee, University Representative; Petra Doan, Committee Member; Frances Berry, Committee Member.

Includes bibliographical references. / This thesis focuses on the lack of legal certainty with regard to the exercise of planning law mandates of the respective spheres of government in South Africa. An attempt is made to uncover the reasons for the lack of legal certainty by looking at the pre-1994 planning regime and the regulatory framework inherited by the new dispensation. Thereafter, the subsequent Constitutional and legislative developments are outlined and areas of confusion are identified. Reasons are given for why cooperative governance has failed to allay such confusion. Lastly, the subsequent attempts by the judiciary and the legislature are analysed to see whether they have successfully provided for the legal certainty needed.

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