This article responds to the rapid urbanisation of sub-Saharan Africa. It laments the loss and deterioration of its pre-colonial urban artefacts due to neglect and even war, and pleads for their conservation and the recognition of relevant characteristics as contemporary urban solutions. Part one outlines the conceptual framework and highlights four theoretical considerations pertaining to definitions, preconceptions, methodology and sources of information. Part two contextualises the origins and nature of African urbanism with a brief historical perspective. Part three analyses the morphology of urban space, while part four concludes by discussing some seemingly intrinsic urban characteristics and their compatibility with current urban theories.

Few countries have ever had the opportunity to rethink their architectural dogma as abruptly and radically as South Africa since the few years leading up to the democratic elections of 1994. With only a few exceptions, the pre-democratic South African architecture of the 20th century has always lacked a unique identity. But, coinciding with trends towards Critical-Regionalism and ‘green’ initiatives, the emergence of a new South Africa has inspired the profession as a whole to search for new directions.

Land Settlement schemes have been established in certain countries for a variety of reasons, but perhaps the most important has been the need for making land available to an otherwise landless segment of the population. Geographers the world over have long been interested in land settlements, since, in many cases, they entail redistribution of population and land use changes. [...]

This research examines the challenges and barriers to service provision that newcomer settlement service providers (SSPs) encounter in Peel Region, Ontario. Semi-structured interviews are used to examine if suburban SSPs in the cities of Brampton, Mississauga and town of Caledon, encounter challenges related to providing services to both adult and youth newcomers. The findings indicate that government funding, and the conditions tied to that funding, are the greatest challenge for SSPs in Peel. Funding restrictions also produced challenges related to the structure and continuity of services and competition between service providers. Due to Peel's varied geography, transportation and organization location are challenges for some rural service providers. Service specific challenges are encountered largely in providing employment and mental health services. Reconsidering government policies around funding for settlement services is necessary. It is recommended that both SSPs and municipalities be integrated into settlement policy decisions.

This research examines the challenges and barriers to service provision that newcomer settlement service providers (SSPs) encounter in Peel Region, Ontario. Semi-structured interviews are used to examine if suburban SSPs in the cities of Brampton, Mississauga and town of Caledon, encounter challenges related to providing services to both adult and youth newcomers. The findings indicate that government funding, and the conditions tied to that funding, are the greatest challenge for SSPs in Peel. Funding restrictions also produced challenges related to the structure and continuity of services and competition between service providers. Due to Peel's varied geography, transportation and organization location are challenges for some rural service providers. Service specific challenges are encountered largely in providing employment and mental health services. Reconsidering government policies around funding for settlement services is necessary. It is recommended that both SSPs and municipalities be integrated into settlement policy decisions.

The World Trade Organization has its own binding dispute settlement system. To ensure compliance with the outcome of the dispute settlement procedures, the claimant Member is authorized to retaliate in case the respondent Member fails to comply within a certain period of time. However, the rules and procedures regarding retaliation and determination of compliance are ambiguous and have caused an interpretational problem called the sequencing problem. To address the problem, the parties to any dispute generally conclude bilateral ad hoc procedural agreements. However, by examining the procedural agreements concluded to date and by analyzing the potential problems of these agreements, this thesis concludes that due to the dependence on the will of the parties and the uncertain legal status of the agreements, the procedural agreements do not constitute a satisfactory method for addressing the sequencing problem. Alternatives such as amendments to the dispute settlement rules, an authoritative interpretation of them or ― if consensus cannot be reached soon ― clarification by means of a precedent from the Appellate Body, should be considered and attempted.

The ability and desire to be entrepreneurial is evident among members of all ethnic immigrant groups throughout the world. The challenge for receiving countries is to determine how government, ethnic, and business agencies can promote and support their immigrants/ entrepreneurial behaviour. The difficulty in answering this question lies in the road being travelled differently by immigrants from dissimilar backgrounds, value systems, and cultural heritages. Migration, settlement, cultural and business issues present themselves in a multitude of different forms, depending on a complex and dynamic combination of the ethnic characteristics of the specific ethnic immigrant group and the receiving country/s socio-economic infrastructure. In an attempt to bring new understanding to the phenomenon of immigrant entrepreneurship, this study used grounded theory to develop a model that explains the multi-dimensional nature of the immigrant entrepreneurship process, by undertaking 77 interviews with 42 immigrant entrepreneurs from the communities of the Chinese, Dutch, Indian and Pacific Peoples. This study explains the model/s development, its framework and application, and how it sheds light on the complexities of the immigrant entrepreneurship phenomenon within different ethnic groups. Specifically, case study analysis was undertaken of immigrant entrepreneurship in New Zealand, as portrayed through the actions and perspectives of the four ethnic groups under study: the immigrant entrepreneurs from the communities of the Chinese, Dutch, Indian and Pacific Peoples. This study highlighted inter-group and intra-group differences as impacting on entrepreneurial behaviour with respect to their migration timeframe, integration, independence, faith, identity, comparative advantage, ethnic social capital, community infrastructure, learning, and confidence.

This thesis is concerned with two closely related themes: the inhabitation of the Peak District over the fifth and fourth millennia BC, and the procedures and principles by which we attempt to interpret the durable material traces thereof. A four stage interpretative framework is outlined. Social life is understood through its materiality. The engagement of the self with others is constrained and enabled by that materiality. Archaeologists can represent that process through a textual model. Analogical reasoning mediates each stage and must be made explicit. The Mesolithic and Neolithic, analytical objects constructed through conceptual metaphors, fail to express time and the materiality of practice as mutually constitutive. An integrated theory of landscape and technology is proposed whereby artefacts are understood in terms of relational metaphors, situating them in practice and capturing both their materiality and temporality. Prior research in the study area is critiqued on the basis that the historically specific material conditions therein cannot support models transposed from other regional contexts. A methodology for collection and analysis is developed which privileges those specific conditions in the interpretation of prehistoric technology. Artefact assemblages, it is argued, offer us no unmediated access to prehistoric settlement. No immediate functional equivalence between aggregations similar in composition should be expected. The analysis of stone tools and waste must be integrated with other categories of evidence and interpreted in terms of the potentials offered by their socio-physical context. Original data are analysed in terms of assemblage density, raw material and technological composition, chronological patterning and landscape situation. Integration into the regional corpus, through an explicitly multi-scalar approach, attends to the constitution of social life through practice and developing tradition. The role ascribed to early `monuments' by other archaeologists is particularly brought into question, with respect to the model of relational practice maintained throughout the dissertation.

<p>The Government of Namibia has been responsible for facilitating the resettlement of destitute and landless people since its independence in 1990. The provision of resettlement is a very contentious issue in Namibia. The bulk of land is still in the hands of minority white communities and foreigners. It is against this background that the study examined the land reform process in Namibia. The objectives of the study was to investigate to what extent the land reform process has been successful in one of Namibia's regions, and what factors are relevant for success, and identify ways to improve the process / to examine the original government objective/policy and how/why it changed over time.</p>

Summary: Since 1949, when K.B. Cumberland wrote the first geographical treatise on pre-20th century Maori settlement and livelihood in New Zealand, twenty-five major geographical studies on various aspects of the topic have been published. Of these, nine have been concerned with the nature of settlement, population distribution, and economy, as they varied from one area to another within New Zealand at given points in time. A further five studies, concerned with the historical geography of New Zealand in general, contain very brief accounts concerning the distribution of Maori population and the nature of the Maori economy in the 19th century. Four studies, relying on early European observations, have focused on the character of Maori settlement in particular regions: North West Nelson, Westland, Taupo County, and Tauranga County. Another study has analysed the nature of Maori land sales and the effect these had on the 19th century Maori population of one area in the North Island. One study has considered in detail the affect the so called �moa hunter� settlement had on the forests of the east coast of the South Island. And finally, five studies have focused on the nature and changes in Maori agriculture in the North Island from the late 18th to the 19th century-- Chapter 1.