The purpose of this study is to develop an economic policy framework for local urban authorities to empower them to increase economic growth and development and thus quality of life of its residents. The study integrates conventional economic growth theories with the urban environment and shows their applicability within the urban environment. An urban area is perceived as an economic powerhouse within the national economy where the majority of economic activity is generated. The concentration of people and economic activity creates certain positive externalities that should be exploited by residents, businesses and local authorities. High levels of research and development as well as innovation is possible in urban areas and contribute to realize increased economic growth and development. Unfortunately, urban areas also experience negative externalities and this should be addressed because this leads to a decrease in economic efficiency and thus a decline in quality of life. The study thus introduces several options of urban economic policies for use by the local urban authorities. The main aim of these policies is to serve as a framework for local urban authorities to address the typical relevant urban problems in order to stimulate sustainable economic growth and development and quality of life. / Thesis (DCom (Economics))--University of Pretoria, 2007. / Economics / unrestricted

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Throughout the world a greater proportion of the population are living in cities which are growing because of in-migration. Many accounts of the migrations and of migrants in cities have been written. While most accounts emphasize the alienation and disorganization of the migrant, there are a growing number of accounts which indicate that the migrant helps and is helped by his kin group. These latter accounts have been analyzed in an attempt to discover the significance of kinship in rural-urban migration. The literature relating to migration theory has been briefly reviewed. The theory of William Petersen was found most useful but the typology he proposed is too general to contribute much understanding to the problem of rural-urban migration. The two types of Petersen's theory into which the rural-urban migration fit have been expanded into four types or levels of rural-urban migration. Each of the four types is characterized by different control of land resources, participation in ceremonial life and recognition of kinship rights and obligations. These are assumed to be interdependent. Case studies are used to illustrate types. These cases confirm that while there is a considerable lessening in the range of economic obligations to kin, the size of the potential kin group does not shrink. While the potential kin circle is large, the member of the kin group in the city selects, on the basis of personal preference, those whom he considers effective kin. / Arts, Faculty of / Anthropology, Department of / Graduate

The overall purpose of this study is to provide new insights into the Canadian urban system through an analysis of economic activities at the inter-urban scale. The thesis analyses the urban system in terms of secondary economic activities, more specifically through the manufacturing industries of 41 Canadian cities with a population of over 30,000 in 1961. The investigation contains elements of traditional classification oriented and economic base approaches to urban economic functional analysis. However, an attempt is made to use the idea of the urban system to provide a more productive analysis of inter-urban economic functions. Correlation and bonding techniques are used to establish patterns of manufacturing similarities, upon which to base further analysis. Eight sets of cities and five distinct types of manufacturing profile are identified for the 41 cities, and the structural-spatial regularities identified are felt to be consistent with a center-periphery model of the general overall manufacturing structure of the Canadian economy. The analysis is pursued in terms of the investigation of the relationships between predominant manufacturing similarities of cities and various aspects of city size and location. Forward stepwise regression was considered an appropriate statistical procedure for the purpose of examining these relationships. From this analysis similarities between the cities are partially related to factors of size, relative location and historical evolution. / Arts, Faculty of / Geography, Department of / Graduate

The high speed supernatant of mouse liver is active in the C-20 ketone reduction of a number of various steroids (l). The 20α-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase responsible for the C-20 ketone reduction of corticosterone and 11-dehydrocorticosterone could be purified by calcium phosphate gel and ammonium sulphate fractionation. The activity was absorbed on the gel between the ratios 2:1 and 6:1 (gel/enzyme preparation - w/w) and eluted with .05 M phosphate buffer resulting in a recovery of 49.6% of the original activity. This preparation was then further purified with ammonium sulphate, the enzyme activity being recovered in the 48 -70% fraction. The overall recovery of corticosterone 20α-hydroxy-steroid dehydrogenase was 34.1% with a 5. fold purification. Acetone or acid fractionation and Sephadex G-75 filtration did not lead to further purification. The activity could also be recovered from the crude preparation by fractionation on a Sephadex G-100 column. 87% of the original activity was recovered in one pooled fraction giving a purification of 3.3 fold. The 20a-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase reducing 11β-hydroxy-progesterone could be separated from the corticosterone 20α-hydroxy-steroid by calcium phosphate gel fractionation. The former activity was not eluted by 0.05 M phosphate buffer but came off in phosphate buffers of higher ionic strength. No definite conclusions as to separation on Sephadex G-100 columns were obtained due to the in-activation of the 11β-hydroxyprogesterone 20α-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase, which could be partly reduced by the presence of NADPH₂. This enzyme was somewhat unstable, being inactivated by 3 day dialysis against running tap water and filtration on a Sephadex G-25 column while the corticosterone 20α-hydroxysteroid dehydro genase was little affected by these procedures. The multiple nature of the 20α-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenases was also shown by a comparison of the ratio of products from various enzyme fractions. The ratio of 20α-dihydro-11-dehydro corticosterone to 20α-dihydrocorticosterone after incubations with 11-dehydrocorticosterone and corticosterone respectively remained constant indicating one enzyme. However, the ratio of 20α-dihydro-11-dehydrocorticosterone to 20α-dihydro-11β-hydroxyprogesterone after incubations with 11-dehydrocorticosterone and 11β-hydroxy-progesterone respectively varied greatly indicating that these two substrates were reduced by different 20α-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenases. / Medicine, Faculty of / Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Department of / Graduate

Urban growth management is a topic of relatively new but increasing interest. Throughout North America, numerous communities are attempting to modify or manage their growth patterns. This thesis has attempted to draw together the reasons for this new concern for growth management, the techniques used to accomplish it and the considerations inherent in the actual development of a management program. In order that a real world perspective be achieved, the Edmonton area of Alberta was considered. Through data obtained from the Edmonton Regional Planning Commission as well as from a number of other governmental agencies and through the author's employment with the Planning Commission, an insight into the current growth patterns and problems of the area was attained. Following the introduction, a discussion of the new concern for growth management is presented in Chapter II. Three general areas of concern are described: social, environmental and economic. Chapter III enumerates and briefly reviews various growth management techniques as they are applied in North America. As the legality of any management technique is crucial to its success, Chapter IV discusses the legal basis for the various growth management techniques in the Alberta setting. A detailed explanation of the use of the Subdivision and Transfer Regulations of Alberta is used to exemplify the legal adequacy of some growth management techniques. With this background data, the development of a growth management program for the Edmonton area was initiated. Chapter V summarizes the current population and economic growth of the area as well as the views of the three levels of government and those of the general populace concerning growth. Finally, Chapter VI brings together the work from the preceeding chapters to develop a growth management program for the decentralization and reallocation of the population and economic growth of the area. / Applied Science, Faculty of / Community and Regional Planning (SCARP), School of / Graduate

The economic variable that is of interest to most people is income and its purchasing power. Very little attention has been paid in Canada to the relationship between income and city size, while a considerable amount of research has been conducted in this area in the U.S. and other countries. The major objective of this research was, therefore, to examine the relationship between economic well-being, measured by real income, of the individual and urban size in the Province of British Columbia. This was done in order to determine whether British Columbia in light of and in spite of its particular economic base--a resource exploitation economy-—follows the general case elsewhere in the world, which indicates that incomes are positively associated with city size. The research results are presented in four main chapters. The author in Chapter II reviews the literature that deals with the question of city size. This review includes the evolving concepts of city size and a review of the recent and innovative approaches to this question. In Chapter III the author investigates the relationship between the various income categories and the urban communities in the Province of British Columbia. In order to carry out this investigation the urban communities were grouped into eight city size classes in a population size sequence where Greater Vancouver represents city size class eight. The analysis revealed that: 1. Mean per capita income is generally positively correlated with city size class. 2. Male average personal income displayed a U-shaped correlation with city size class. However, the highest average incomes were still obtained in the larger city size classes: seven and eight; female average personal income showed a positive correlation with city size class. 3. Family and non-family persons incomes, even though they showed an irregular relation to city size class, tend generally to increase with city size class. The author in Chapter IV investigates whether higher average incomes obtained in the larger city size classes are being negated by higher costs of living. He also investigates whether these higher incomes are obtained at the cost of a more inequitable distribution of income. An investigation into cost of living revealed a slightly negative correlation with city size class; this broadens the gap in terms of real income in favour of the larger city size classes. As for income distribution, the results indicated generally a relatively similar income distribution in each city size class, therefore higher average incomes are not being achieved at the expense of equity. The author in Chapter V, attempts to explain the higher average incomes obtained in the larger city size classes. Explanations included: 1. The labour force to total population ratios were higher in those classes and so was female participation in the labour force. 2. The age, educational and occupational compositions of the labour force in these city size classes contributed to their higher average incomes. The research concluded that economically the inhabitants of the larger urban communities in British Columbia are, on the average, better off than the inhabitants of smaller urban communities. However, the author does not propose that all urban communities in British Columbia should be planned to contain the same population size as that of the larger ones. Rather, the author attempted first to outline the empirical evidence as regards the relationship between income and city size classes in the Province; and secondly, to provide an analytical basis for policy makers to attempt to upgrade the inhabitants, and especially the females, of the small and medium urban communities through educational and occupational training programmes; and to encourage more female participation in the labour force in order to improve the economic well-being of the inhabitants of these urban communities. / Applied Science, Faculty of / Community and Regional Planning (SCARP), School of / Graduate

Schools are seen as an access of future opportunity for children. Consequently, school quality is often identified as a significant influence on housing choice and thereby monetary housing value. This cross-sectional study employs multivariate regression analysis to assess the relationship between school attributes on single-family housing values in the Orlando, Florida metropolitan area. The model includes facility age as a measure of perceived school quality, along with a series of control variables, to assess the relationship between public school facility age and the corresponding housing values within the associated school attendance zone. The key findings demonstrate that there is a relationship between school attributes, including age, on single-family housing values in the sample. It was found that facility age correlated with housing sale price, with both newer and historic school facilities being positively associated with monetary housing value. These findings are intended to aid community development and urban revitalization policy discourse. The implication is that if communities invest in new schools, or renovate schools in older communities, then this could aid in community development initiatives and urban revitalization efforts in those neighborhoods. / A Dissertation submitted to the Department of Urban and Regional Planning in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. / Fall Semester, 2009. / July 14, 2009. / Smart Growth, Public Resources, Housing, Educational Facilities, Community Development / Includes bibliographical references. / Timothy S. Chapin, Professor Co-Directing Dissertation; Charles E. Connerly, Professor Co-Directing Dissertation; Keith R. Ihlanfeldt, Outside Committee Member.

Urban informality is a large part of employment and housing provision in many developing world cities and helps define daily living for many. It is established that productivity of informal firms is limited, particularly in Africa, because informal production is typically small scale, underfinanced, under-skilled, and without adequate infrastructure. This research acknowledges these typical reasons for informality's limited productivity, but further tests the hypothesis that productivity of informal firms is limited because of reduced ability to generate agglomeration scale economies. The study evaluates the experience of an informal industry with intermediate input effects, labor pooling, urbanization economies, innovation, production specialization, and joint action. The handicraft industry in Nairobi, Kenya is examined because it is an example of an export oriented light manufacturing industry dominated by informality. The study uses mixed methods including a semi structured interview with 102 firms and obtrusive observation of important contexts. / A Dissertation submitted to the Department of Urban and Regional Planning in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. / Summer Semester, 2012. / May 30, 2012. / Africa, Agglomeration Economies, Economic Development, Nairobi, Urban Informality / Includes bibliographical references. / Petra Doan, Professor Directing Dissertation; James Cobbe, University Representative; Timothy Chapin, Committee Member.

Female Genital Cutting (FGC) is practiced all over the world and impacts millions of women and girls every year. The negative health and social consequences of FGC have been well documented and many interventions to end the practice have been attempted. Policy makers and development planners continue the struggle yet still the practice remains. More recently, those who are involved in FGC eradication attempts have called for a better understanding of behavior change models and for interventions that are based in theory. This dissertation utilizes several analytic techniques including bivariate correlation and logistic regression to analyze data from the Burkina Faso Demographic and Health Survey of 2003 to assess the validity of one such theory of behavior change, the Theory of Reasoned Action (TRA), to determine if it is an appropriate theory in the particular behavioral domain of FGC. The TRA suggests that attitudes and subjective norms predict intention and that intention in turn predicts behavior. This dissertation tests the first portion of this theory to determine if attitude and subjective norm do indeed predict intention in women in Burkina Faso. The results suggest that the TRA is indeed a valid theory for predicting women's intention to circumcise their daughters in Burkina Faso as both attitude and subjective norm are robust predictors of intention. Furthermore it was found that research based solely on identifying demographic variables should be discontinued as demographic variables for the most part did not predict intention. The one exception was religion with Muslim women being much more likely to circumcise than women who were not Muslim. The recommendations call for an expansion of the Demographic and Health Surveys to collect more information related to FGC, additional research on FGC utilizing the TRA, the discontinuance of FGC research based solely on demographic variables, and changes to current interventions so that both attitude and subjective norm are addressed and so that Muslim populations are specifically targeted. / A Dissertation submitted to the Department of Urban and Regional Planning in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. / Summer Semester, 2008. / June 4, 2008. / Includes bibliographical references. / Petra Doan, Professor Directing Dissertation; Charles Connerly, Committee Member; Christopher Coutts, Committee Member; Doug Schrock, Outside Committee Member.