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This research examines participation in urban planning, arguing that many contemporary theories and related 'best practice' policies of participation are inadequate in the context of rapid urbanisation in the South, this mainly due to their insufficient attention to contextual variables. This research therefore suggests an approach that gives greater emphasis on the very specific context within which urban planning is taking place, using the concepts of sustainable development and governance as an analytical framework. The analytical framework is applied in the examination of four different participatory planning case studies in Sao Paulo, Brazil, Johannesburg, South Africa, and Luanda and Huambo in Angola. Using a comparative case study approach the thesis shows how the . different results in the case studies are related to the respective contexts. The Angolan case studies further show how participatory planning in this country is especially challenging, due to generally little participation in governance, an insufficient legal framework for planning and very weak state and civil society organizations. The thesis therefore argues that in Angola the dominant theoretical positions on participatory planning and international 'best practice' policy are of limited effectiveness. Rather, emerging spaces of participation in the local context should be explored by using a pragmatic and action oriented approach, based on local capacities through creating long term partnerships with actors from state and civil society and with international experience contributing to, but not dominating, such locally embedded planning approaches.

St Helena in the South Atlantic has undergone centuries ofdegradation, followed by decades ofunmanaged re-vegetation. The island's landscape is dominated by the Crown Wastes: wastelands ofbare soil and sparse mainly exotic scrub which accounts for over 60% ofthe island's land area. The Crown Wastes need a managed recovery programme that can meet the island's needs through a range ofdifferent objectives that include endemic plant conservation, agriculture, forestry, tourism and housing. Implementing an environmental management approach with complex and varied objectives carnes with it a considerable management responsibility, and a requirement for sufficient and consistent technical, financial and human capacity. However, extremely limited hmnan, technical and financial resources are available for environmental management on St Helena due a range ofpolitical, social and economic issues associated with the island. This study looks specifically at three ofthe obstacles integral to effective environmental management and recovery on St Helena and the Crown Wastes in particular: b~ding capacity; resources; and guidance and explores the role ofstrategic partnerships. (Government and NGO), funding and policy mechanisms in helping to overcome them. These three areas are explored uSing a combination ofstakeholder and documentary analysis methodologies. A semi-structured interview technique was chosen for stakeholder consultation and the results displayed as role- and conceptually-ordered matrices.This study concludes that while the island faces a complex range of challenges to environmental management, there is a no less daunting array ofopportunities that will require considerable effort to-exploit effectively. Strategic partnerships, policy and funding mechanisms all have specific and important roles to play in the development ofa . strategic environmental management plan for the Crown Wastes.