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  • About
  • The Global ETD Search service is a free service for researchers to find electronic theses and dissertations. This service is provided by the Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations.
    Our metadata is collected from universities around the world. If you manage a university/consortium/country archive and want to be added, details can be found on the NDLTD website.
291

Public participation and the preparation of official community plans in British Columbia

Gauld, Don January 1986 (has links)
Public participation in the planning process is a well established concept and an important one to municipal planners as they deal with the question of how to most effectively involve citizens in planning. The purpose of this study is to assess the effectiveness of techniques and processes used to involve the public in a specific planning process: the preparation of official community plans in British Columbia. Two principal methods are used to achieve this purpose: a literature review and a comparative analysis of the experiences of four municipalities located in the greater Vancouver region which have recently completed of official community plans. Data for this analysis came from municipal documents, interviews with planners and field observation. Six process-oriented objectives based on democratic principles are established as criteria of effective public participation. The six criteria are: (1) Accessibility - All citizens have the opportunity and are encouraged to participate; (2) Timing - The public is provided with information and opportunities to participate at crucial decision making points in the planning process. (3) Impartiality - No individual or group is permitted to dominate the participation process at the expense of others; (4) Comprehensibility - Important information is provided and is presented in such a way that it is understood by those whom it affects; (5) Alternatives - The public is presented with a range of alternatives; (6) Efficacy - Participators' views are considered in products of the planning process. The suitability of each participation technique and combination of techniques used in the four municipalities is assessed by these six objectives. Nine summary observations derived from the analysis are presented as suggestions to help planners effectively involve the public in future official community plan processes. It is found that effort to involve citizens in the preparation of an official community plan must go beyond the techniques required or suggested by legislation. A public hearing and an advisory planning commission are not sufficient to provide effective participation. It is not possible to state an ideal public participation program with a set of specific techniques that would be useful in all communities preparing an official community plan. However, by designing and implementing a participation program that strives to satisfy the process-oriented objectives, planners can obtain meaningful response from the public. Achieving these objectives depends foremost on administrative commitment. / Applied Science, Faculty of / Community and Regional Planning (SCARP), School of / Graduate
292

An examination of citizen participation in health planning in the Northwest Territories: the Fort Providence Senior Citizens’ Home

Cawsey, James Frederick January 1981 (has links)
In the 1970’s the Government of the Northwest Territories was seeking to involve communities in the decisionmaking process about the allocation, priority setting and program and facilities design issues in the sphere of health services. As a result of this desire, relationships were being forged which emphasized a sense of partnership between government at different levels and community groups. In fact, considerable bureaucratic effort was put into the determination of how the communities should provide their participation. This eventually became known, informally at least, as the "community participation methodology". During a forty-one month period (March, 1977 to August, 1980) this methodology was implemented and eventually culminated in the construction of a senior citizens' home in the community of Fort Providence. It is the concern of this thesis to examine that methodology by asking the following question: "How useful and applicable is the Northwest Territories' community participation approach in the planning and development of facilities, specifically for the elderly?" In addressing this question several issues had to be considered. First, what were the objectives of the participants and were they compatible? What were the potential obstacles to the participation process and were they reckoned with? How did the participation process actually occur if, in fact, it did occur? In other words, the efforts of the bureaucrats had to be analyzed in terms of what they hoped to accomplish, how they attempted to accomplish their goal(s) and what they actually achieved. Another problem faced by this examination was the question of theoretical framework. The thesis was a retrospective examination which meant the planners' concepts had to be discussed in terms of theoretical concepts to determine if there is a theoretical basis for the applied concepts and whether or not these strategies were appropriate to this example. It was suggested that the theories of John Foskett, Edmund Burke and Sherri Arnstein were in support of the bureaucrats' efforts. The findings of the examination were that the participants' objectives were compatible; the planners were cognizant of the potential constraints inherent in this project and endeavoured to eliminate or minimize the consequences of these constraints; and, the methodology was successful in achieving participation. With respect to the participation, the thesis concludes that the participation achieved was actually only tokenism and that true participation did not really occur. This then throws the question of utility and applicability of the methodology into doubt. The thesis concludes that everything worked this time because the assumptions of the participants were the same. The thesis closes, however, with a suggestion that the basic assumptions concerning health care are changing. / Medicine, Faculty of / Population and Public Health (SPPH), School of / Graduate
293

Developmental local government: a study of public participation of the Integrated Development Planning Process of the City of Cape Town.

Mac Kay, Johny January 2004 (has links)
Masters in Public Administration - MPA / Community participation is relevant to every sector of development, for example, education, health, housing, water and sanitation, agricultural development and conservation. The assumption is that public participation is positive in that it can contribute to making programmes more sustainable. Public participation in local government processes, especially in the Integrated Development Plan, is imperative to the promotion of institutional democracy. The Integrated Development Plan as a development tool promotes participatory democracy. This public participation study of the Integrated Development Plan in the City of Cape Town was conducted in four sub-council areas of the city to determine whether public participation was successful and whether the objectives of local government are being met. / South Africa
294

State–society relations in the ‘South African developmental state’: integrated development planning and public participation at the local level

Penderis, Sharon January 2013 (has links)
Philosophiae Doctor - PhD / In various formulations, the idea of a developmental state has appeared in official discourse in South Africa since the advent of democratic government in 1994, albeit that its adoption as state policy has been slow, uneven and inconsistent with the original East Asian model. What has been a feature of developmental state thinking in South Africa is the fact that the concept has been so poorly articulated in policy that it has come to mean different things to different state actors and to the public. This has been aggravated by the fact that the idea of a strongly interventionist developmental state has run counter to the idea of a diminished state enunciated in various neo-liberal policies. Moreover, unlike the authoritarian and top-down East Asian model, the government envisages a South African developmental state which is infused with democratic content where citizens assist in the formulation of policy from below. In its emphasis on a bottom-up approach to policy formulation the South African model differs markedly from the conventional idea of a developmental state which is heavily reliant on a strong central bureaucracy to drive economic growth. In the South African model local government has been assigned a pivotal role in addressing persistent economic exclusion and uneven development. A central tenet of this approach is the need for local authorities to institutionalise participatory processes at grassroots level and devise effective structures and processes to facilitate citizen participation in local affairs. In the light of the above, this thesis sets out to examine the manner in which a system of developmental local government is being implemented in the City of Cape Town. Taking as a case study the township of Delft, the study looks at the systems and processes (and particularly the process of integrated development planning) set in place to advance citizen participation. It examines the extent to which the model is perceived to be achieving its goals from the perspective of political office bearers, officials from different spheres of government and residents. The research found that notwithstanding an enabling legislative and policy framework, there is little comprehension of, or interest, in the idea of developmental local government and municipal officials largely pay lip service to participatory processes which are carried out in a top-down fashion and which neither empower local residents nor enhance their welfare. It also concluded that developmental government, in its present form, is contributing little to the establishment of a national developmental state.
295

The Civilizing Effect of Body Worn Cameras

January 2020 (has links)
abstract: Police departments have perceived improved citizen behavior to be a benefit of body-worn cameras (BWC) since their implementation. Often referred to as a civilizing effect, the idea that citizens will become calmer when they know that they are being recorded by an officer is rooted in deterrence theory and self-awareness theory. Deterrence theory states that people will behave properly when they believe punishment will be swift, certain, and severe, while self-awareness theory states that individuals cognizant of their place in society model their actions based on social norms. The presence of a BWC, though, does not guarantee that the citizen is aware they are being recorded. Citizen awareness of the BWC and activation of the BWC are necessary pre-conditions to improved behavior. Current evidence is mixed regarding if BWCs are a catalyst for improved citizen behavior, which is typically measured through reductions in use of force by police and citizen complaints. Using data collected through systematic social observation during police ride-alongs, the author will seek to determine: 1) How often BWCs are activated in police-citizen encounters, 2) How often citizens are aware of BWCs in these encounters, 3) How often citizen behavior changes positively following BWC awareness, and 4) How often citizen behavior changes independent of BWC awareness. This study expands on current research by examining the civilizing effect of BWCs from a transactional standpoint and how citizen behavior changes within an officer-citizen encounter, rather than using a post-interaction metric such as use of force. Despite high BWC activation compliance among the officers within this study, no evidence was found for BWCs having a civilizing effect as the pre-condition of citizen awareness was rarely satisfied. These results could shape policies within departments implementing BWCs hoping to improve officer safety and community relations. Mandatory notification would satisfy the pre-condition of citizen awareness, allowing for the BWC to potentially have a civilizing effect. / Dissertation/Thesis / Masters Thesis Criminology and Criminal Justice 2020
296

MINI Nature-X

Birke, Patrick January 2020 (has links)
Inspiration is something which can be found in nearly everything. The author´s inspiration is coming from the people around him, the world he lives in, all the shapes, smells, and impressions he inhales on a daily basis. But in fact the biggest inspiration for his thesis concept was the love to nature with all its facets. Together with a huge interest in sky observation and our Universe in general, the author knew quite early that those are some major topics which should be found and set-in in his thesis. Shape-wise he was as well inspired by creating a vision, which doesn´t remind people of already existing products. It should be a concept which triggers other people to rethink what we have today and what we could have in future. To achieve this, it is as well necessary to look into new technologies or inventions. The process for this concept, but also for the authors work-flow itself was meant to go into an experimental direction. With a lot try and error and learning about observations. It was a combination of a digital and physical working process, trying to mix VR with physical crafts. Starting with a vague idea, followed by loose doodles on paper which were further developed in 3D and have been evaluated in VR - this was the writers goal. In the one hand this concept will inspire other people in the way they think and perceive their environment. On the other hand side it reflects the author´s goals and wishes for this thesis. A concept which entails a whole process of theory and praxis and teaches a lot about work planning, time management, team working, or deadlines. If the final result brings people to interpret their own thoughts into the concept, it shows how mind opening an idea can be.
297

Using citizen science in monitoring groundwater levels to improve local groundwater governance, West coast, South Africa

Ajoge, David Omeiza January 2019 (has links)
Masters of Science / Monitoring of groundwater levels provides a basis for assessing the availability of water in aquifers, thereby informing the decisions on abstraction and uses of such water for various purposes. It provides an understanding of anthropogenic and non-anthropogenic influences on aquifer, on temporal and spatial dimensions In South Africa and on a global scale, the lack of adequate implementation plan for the monitoring of groundwater levels has resulted in the lack of data and information on groundwater levels. Resultantly, preventing managers from making practical and appropriate decisions on how groundwater needs to be governed. Currently, there is a growing acknowledgement that adequate monitoring of groundwater levels depends on an implementation plan whereby citizens or local communities are considered crucial partners in generating data and information on groundwater levels. An important contribution of the thesis is the method used is aimed at understanding the current challenges in terms of the implementation of the monitoring of groundwater levels within the institutional setting and to what extent can citizen science lead to the planning of a more collaborative plan for monitoring of groundwater levels. Adopting of the Integrated Water Resource Management framework, in South Africa, further position citizens (community) at the crux of effective monitoring of groundwater levels. This is important to ensuring that groundwater is governed through a bottom-up approach, whereby groundwater resource is managed at local level where groundwater resides, is used and can be best managed. However, this position citizens as ‘citizen scientist” and further demand that they participate collaboratively with other stakeholders such as the Department of Water and Sanitation, Municipalities, Consultants amongst others. In effect, an adequate implementation plan needs to be developed based on the understanding of the involvement of citizens in science, in addition to collaboration between citizens and institutions responsible for the monitoring of groundwater levels. Such implementation plan must clearly defined roles and responsibilities based on the contextual institutional framework. Thus, the study making use of an exploratory qualitative approach, established current practices of monitoring of groundwater levels based on the institutional arrangement and determined current gaps and barriers in term of the implementation of monitoring of groundwater levels. Furthermore, the study and collective management to develop a collaborative action plan for the monitoring of groundwater levels. These drivers were identified as fundamental to collaboration in groundwater resource management, good groundwater governance and within the context of the Integrated Water Resource Management that drive management of groundwater in South Africa. The study identified the lack of adequate participation and collaboration between institutions responsible for the monitoring of groundwater levels. It further revealed that the current institutional setting contrast the bottom-up approach as anticipated under the Integrated Water Resource Management framework. In term of implementation of the monitoring of groundwater levels, challenges identified included the complexity of hydrogeological setting, limited scientific knowledge of the aquifers in West Coast, lack of adequate capacity, vandalism, poor access, lack of adequate funding and poor community participation. Currently, these challenges are aggravated as a result of the lack of collaboration as well as institutional voids due to inactive Catchment Management Agencies. Citizen Science have been acknowledge in hydrological monitoring, as an effective means of project design, data collection, verification of data, community engagement and collaboration between citizen and relevant institutions. Thus, the study recommended a citizen science approach for developing a collaborative monitoring of groundwater levels plan, as it doesn’t not only aligns with the Integrated Water Resource Management Framework but aligns and strengthens the bottom-up approach that is fundamental to Integrated Water Resource Management and good governance of groundwater resources. Based on the amalgamation of the citizen science framework with collaborative drivers, a collaborative action plan was developed. The plan outlined and defined roles and responsibilities for successful collaboration. The recommendations included the need for the development of the Catchment Management Agencies to enable the integration of stakeholders in the management of groundwater resource. Additionally, there is a need to develop a community of knowledge and the integration of Water Users into groundwater resource management. / 2021-04-30
298

Engagement y Ciudadanía Organizacional en trabajadores de una empresa retail de la ciudad de Lima / Engagement and Organizational Citizenship Behaviour on workers of a retail company in Lima

Arones Vargas, Sehira, Grados Luque, Maria Fernanda 06 May 2020 (has links)
El presente estudio de carácter descriptivo - correlacional tiene como objetivo evaluar la relación existente entre Engagement y los Comportamientos de Ciudadanía Organizacional en una muestra de 300 trabajadores de una empresa retail de la ciudad de Lima. Para este propósito se utilizó la Escala Utrecht de Engagement en el Trabajo (UWES-9) (Schaufeli & Bakker, 2003) y la Escala de Comportamientos de Ciudadanía Organizacional de Compañeros de Trabajo (ECCOCT) (Rodríguez, Sánchez & Martínez, 2013). Se estudió la validez y la confiabilidad de las escalas por medio del análisis factorial y a través del cálculo de la consistencia interna de las escalas. Los resultados muestran una relación directa y significativa entre Engagement y las dimensiones de Comportamientos de Ciudadanía Organizacional; se encontraron correlaciones bajas (Concienciación, r = .23; Cortesía, r = .28), moderadas (Virtud Cívica, r = .48) y fuertes (Altruismo, r = .70). / The relationship between Engagement and the Organizational Citizenship Behavior was analyzed, as well as that of their respective dimensions, in a sample of 300 workers of a retail company in Lima. The 62.7% were women and 37.3% were men. The ages of the participants presented a range between 22 to 38 years (M = 27 years, SD = 2.76). Regarding the time spent in the company, they presented a time range of three months to 36 months (three years) in the company (M = 15, SD = 7.57). In this sample, the instruments were applied: Scale Utrecht of Engagement in the Work (UWES - 9) (Schaufeli & Bakker, 2003) and Scale of Behaviors of Organizational Citizenship of Workmates (ECCOCT) (Rodríguez, Sánchez & Martínez, 2013). Regarding the results, it was found that there is a positive, significant and strong correlation between Engagement and Organizational Citizenship (r = .677, p <.001). As for the dimensions, low correlations were found (Consciousness, r = .23, Courtesy, r = .28), moderate correlations (Civic Virtue, r = .48, Sportsiness, r = .41) and strong (Altruism, r =. 70). The results are discussed in light of the theory. / Tesis
299

Efficacy, Openness, Ingenuousness: Micro-Foundations of Democratic Engagement

Soboleva, Irina January 2020 (has links)
What drives civic engagement in weak democracies? What are the psychological processes responsible for overcoming post-authoritarian learned helplessness? This dissertation argues that in non-Western political contexts, traditional psychological predictors of individual engagement in civic affairs---openness to experience, high self-efficacy, and low political skepticism---do not align with previously established Western patterns. Building on the results of a large-scale field experiment on a demographically diverse sample of 1,381 respondents, as well as multi-year ethnographic observation of community engagement in Ukraine, this dissertation demonstrates that perceived self-efficacy and collective efficacy improve respondents’ interest in civic engagement while suppressing their interest in running for office. In the first chapter, I explore what factors prompt citizens’ interest in joining an electoral commission, supporting a recycling campaign, establishing a civic council, and leading a homeowners’ association. Using original experimental data, I demonstrate that individual empowerment constitutes a sufficient condition for civic engagement. Moreover, contrary to most theoretical expectations, the effects of individual empowerment on involvement in local civic activities are comparable to the effects produced by civic education. This study represents one of the first experimental contributions to support the theory of democratic learning and shows that citizens benefit from democracy by practicing it and trying various civic activities rather than by learning democratic values through civic education and top-down democracy promotion. In the second chapter, I study the effects of personality traits on policy priorities and ideological preferences of Ukrainians. Previous research suggests that personality affects political attitudes by predisposing people to certain policies. Contrary to these findings, this chapter shows that personality predicts individual response to the revision of the status quo rather than preference for specific policies. I illustrate this logic by addressing one of the most counterintuitive associations between personality traits and political attitudes---the link between openness to experience and conservatism in Eastern Europe. Combining the results of open-ended coding and bootstrapped regression models, the analysis shows that openness to experience predicts both social liberalism and social conservatism. I build upon these findings to address the existing gaps in the personality theory of ideology by suggesting that those open to experience are, on average, more responsive to any policy suggestion that revises the status quo. In the final chapter, I examine the problem of nascent political ambition in weak democratic states. Building on the results of my original field experiment, I show that higher efficacy discourages political engagement in Ukraine. Specifically, increasing respondents’ collective efficacy, on average, disincentivizes them from running for city parliament. Most surprisingly, citizens with higher pre-treatment levels of internal political efficacy were the ones most dissuaded from running for office after the induction of collective efficacy. Their improved sense of collective efficacy might have discouraged them from political institutions that they consider powerless and inefficient. Altogether, these findings challenge existing wisdom in comparative political psychology by demonstrating that (1) psychological pathways to collective action are more context-dependent than previously assumed; (2) previously established effects of personality traits and self-evaluations on political behavior do not travel well beyond Western European and North American contexts; (3) self-efficacy and collective efficacy do not differ in their causal effects on individual attitudes and behavior; and (4) politically sophisticated individuals are put off from political office when reminded of alternative non-political ways of achieving collective goals, with this running from office creating a trap of declining political ambition in weak democracies. Thus, democratic promotion campaigns that increase self-efficacy or collective efficacy might suppress nascent political ambition when the population is skeptical of the quality of representative democratic institutions.
300

Citizen Connect : shopfront for government services

Dias, Gabriella Emilia Ferrara 01 December 2011 (has links)
Citizen Connect : a shopfront for government services with the greatest public interface, is a civic centre for the users of Pretoria City Centre and serves as the headquarters for Citizen Connect branches to be implemented throughout the country. Batho Pele principles: a better life for all South Africans by putting people first, have been put in place to address the service delivery challenges facing a democratic South Africa. Batho Pele, a Sotho translation for people first, and slogan being: Together beating the drum for service delivery, put forward principles such as increasing access, openness and transparency, value for money and providing information to name a few. Citizen Connect brings together National, Provincial and Local government departments, which have traditionally been provided in dissipate locations, in a single location. By providing services that the citizen most frequently uses, the centre offers time saving opportunities but also aims to strengthen the ideals of citizenship when the user is in or around the centre. Citizen Connect is located in the Sammy Marks precinct, a catchment node of movement, public space, business and government, to the east of Church Square, and placed in the Sammy Marks development. The Sammy Marks development occupies an entire block and is in an existing joint public and private development and a convenient location for the citizen. The development has an existing culture of inter-block movement and cross bridge connection. The intervention takes place on the south and eastern portion taking into consideration the proposed hotel and the Lewis and Marks building, with its heritage significance. The intervention spreads into the public domain, creating and strengthening the public sphere by implementing urban quality criteria as space for people. The aims of the intervention are to indicate a new direction for civic architecture, create an architecturally positive environment by exploring interface architecture. Copyright / Dissertation (MArch(Prof))--University of Pretoria, 2011. / Architecture / unrestricted

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