Amusement space embodies hegemonic and Utopian dialogue concerning urban conditions. Throughout the twentieth century, two rival urban visions have reigned: the Coney Island model, a chancy, participatory theatre where patrons can confront head-on current conditions; and the Disney model, a carefully planned setting where guests are made to feel comfortable and secure. The current ascendancy of the Disney model, evident in urban and suburban landscapes increasingly shaped in the Disney image, has attracted the attention -- and alarm --of critics who interpret this trend as urban planning with a 'sinister twist.' A case study of Disney's involvement with Seattle Center, originally the site of the 1962 World's Fair and now Seattle's premier urban park, demonstrates, however, that people actively challenge, negotiate, and reform the Disney model to meet their needs by infusing the space with traces of the rival Coney model. The suggestions Disney made for renovation of Seattle Center sparked a city-wide debate that centred on the roles of local participation, cultural sensitivity, and aesthetic design in urban space; Disney was found lacking on all accounts and eventually rejected entirely. Seattle's experience with Disney demonstrates that amusement space offers a rich terrain upon which people can dream about, and implement, urban change.

Public involvement in decisions about mine reclamation presents challenges to government, industry and the public. Among them are inclusion of relevant interests, representation, dealing with ignorance and misconceptions, uncertain science and technology, conflicting values, and very long spans of time. Planning theory suggests there is no preferred method, "no ideal solution to the conflict among the legitimate demand for public participation, the need for technical and economic rationality, and the necessity of assuring accountability and responsibility of decision making bodies" (Renn et al., 1993). In the 1990s, public involvement was introduced into reclamation planning and decision making processes at three metal mines in British Columbia: Brenda, Sullivan and Island Copper. A review of them shows that different techniques have been used. At Brenda a public surveillance committee was formed to review and comment on reclamation options produced by the mine in co-operation with a technical committee comprised of regulatory officials. At Sullivan a single committee consisting of public representatives, mine staff and regulatory officials met to review a draft reclamation plan and recommend amendments. At Island Copper a round table was convened to examine the use of the site as a regional landfill. Based on unpublished primary documents (mainly minutes), supplemented by published material and informal interviews, the public involvement processes were first classified and then evaluated. Criteria for the classification and evaluation were drawn from planning literature. The classification focused on purpose and methods. Public involvement mainly functioned at a consultative or advisory level. Of the three processes reviewed, the single committee method developed at Sullivan comes closest to shared decision making (CORE, 1995). All three processes used consensus negotiations as the primary means for reaching decisions. Only at Island Copper was this formally defined and intentionally used. At the others, consensus was undefined and operated informally. The processes were also qualitatively evaluated in terms of whether they fulfilled their own goals, were equitable, efficient, effective, and representative, and whether they promoted good public participation and contributed to good decision making. The processes mostly, fulfilled their own goals (as defined by their terms of reference). The processes are rated about the same with respect to procedural and distributional equity, effectiveness of outcome, representation, and promoting good public involvement. The Sullivan and Island Copper processes are rated relatively better than the Brenda process with respect to administrative equity, efficiency and process effectiveness. The Sullivan process, with half the number of meetings and exchanging written answers to questions in advance of meetings, minimized demands on participants. All three processes were well structured with respect to promoting good public involvement. However, judged by the norms of decision literature, the processes were relatively weak with respect to decision making. Problems were not defined, nor were interests or objectives. Empirical measures for goals or objectives were not identified. Few alternatives were proposed; nor were they evaluated in a way that could lead to a clear understanding of the trade-offs involved. Although few decisions were actually reached in the processes, their quality may be inferior because of these shortcomings. Notwithstanding these theoretical and empirical shortcomings, public involvement in each case found general support among government, industry, and public participants. Consequently the processes received a high degree of approval. It remains uncertain, however, whether more public involvement processes will be undertaken. Although, the province's mines ministry is formally committed to greater public involvement in reclamation decision making (MEMPR, 1991b), the ministry seems stretched to support even the two processes now underway (Brenda and Sullivan). Additional processes would require more resources than are currently allotted. As well, staff training, participant funding, professional facilitation, and clerical services could be improved. Further research is suggested, in particular applying techniques of decision analysis to public involvement processes to facilitate the making of informed and insightful reclamation decisions.

The rational comprehensive approach to planning has proven unable to reduce urban poverty due either to the exclusion or to the inappropriate inclusion of indigenous knowledge in planning practice. As an alternative, this dissertation analyzes (1) the capacity of local residents to apply their indigenous, contextual, experience-based knowledge towards the reduction of urban poverty and (2) the processes by which they do so. The research was based on an ethnographic case study of a single, low-income, urban neighborhood, Gondolayu Lor, in Yogyakarta, Indonesia. The primary research methods included: 22 months of field observation, 48 in-depth interviews, 44 oral histories, and a census of the 275 households in the case study community. The dissertation found that local residents conceptualized poverty in terms of multifaceted deprivation, and for the purposes of community-based planning, three manifestations of poverty were identified for alleviation: (1) land tenure insecurity, (2) lack of preventive health care, and (3) the inaccessibility of information and reading materials. Through an analysis of community-based planning efforts in these areas, this study uncovered a diverse array of social spaces that provided windows of opportunity as well as obstacles to the community's poverty alleviation efforts. It was concluded that the capacity of indigenous knowledge depends largely on the ability of local residents to navigate these spaces. At times, this required commumty activists to redefine existing spaces, create new spaces, and/or abandon those that were deemed ineffective. It was also found that local residents engaged in community-based planning in a way not previously accounted for in either the inclusion or social mobilization models of citizen participation. This alternative form of citizen participation, referred to as pragmatic empowerment, was incremental in nature, grassroots in origin, yet practical (as opposed to political) in its objectives. In conclusion, the three examples of community-based planning analyzed demonstrate that local residents hold valuable knowledge for alleviating community-level poverty; however, they were unable to address chronic household-level poverty. In terms of implications for practice, this finding led the author to conclude that, in addition to community-based planning, a reliable social safety net must be provided if household-level poverty is to be substantially reduced in the future.

Moksliniame tiriamajame darbe nagrinėjamos laisvo asmenų judėjimo teisinio reguliavimo problemos Lietuvoje įstojus į Europos Sąjungą ir prisijungus prie Šengeno acquis. Autorė, remdamasi dokumentų analizės metodu siekia atskleisti Europos Sąjungos aktuose įtvirtintus, Europos Teisingumo Teismo išaiškintus, laisvo asmenų judėjimo teisės principus. Europos Sąjungos bei Šengeno susitariančiųjų valstybių teritorijoje laisvo asmenų judėjimo idėja buvo sukurta tam, kad būtų įgyvendinama laisvos rinkos politika. Tam, kad būtų pasiektas šis tikslas, kiekviena valstybė narė turi siekti tinkamo Europos Sąjungos aktų įgyvendinimo. Deja, Lietuva čia dar tik naujokė. Vykdant Europos Sąjungos aktuose numatytus nurodymus, juos perkeliant į Lietuvos Respublikos teisės aktus, dėl tradicijų pasikeitimo ir ankstesnių įpročių atsiranda netikslumų, neteisingų interpretacijų, ko pasekoje iškyla įvairių problemų. Šiuo atveju, nagrinėjamos problemos, susijusios su Sąjungos piliečių, jų šeimos narių ir kitų asmenų, turinčių Sąjungos piliečių statusą, judėjimu bei buvimu valstybių narių teritorijoje. Aptariant, Europos Sąjungos aktus, Europos Teisingumo Teismo praktiką, LR teisės aktus bei įvairių valstybių narių, tame tarpe ir Lietuvos, institucijų veiklą, pasinaudojant lyginamojo, loginio, taip pat analitinio kritinio metodų pagalba, darytina išvada, jog Lietuvoje laisvo asmenų judėjimo teisinio reguliavimo problemos tikrai egzistuoja: vidaus sienos atvertos, tačiau, remiantis statistika, gana... [toliau žr. visą tekstą] / The scientific research had been made in order to analyse the legal regulation of the free movement of persons in Lithuania after entering the European Union and accesing to the Schengen acquis. There was identified and investigated problems, associated with the Union citizens and their family members and other persons having the status of EU citizens, and with their movement and stay in the union’s territory. The author using the method of document’s analysis explored the main legal regulations of European Union and also the laws of Lithuanian Republic on the matter of implementation of free movement of persons. According to the observations of practitioners and experts the author described existing situation in the area of freedom of movement in Lithuania, which appeared to be innapropriate. Although the internal borders are considered to be not controled, on the basis of statistic, checks on persons are carried out quite often. Moreover, Lithuanian legislation is lacking the rule of reasonable time period for the persons who do not carry the right documents to prove that they have the right for the free movement of persons. In addition, individuals who do not carry the appropriate travel documents are not admitted to the territory, expeled or fined in accordance with such provisions which are intended for external border regime and its illegal crossing, as well as persons from third countries lawlessly crossed external borders. First of all, there should be made... [to full text]

Citizen science, which uses volunteer observers in research, is fast becoming standard practice in ecology. In this thesis, I begin with an essay reviewing the benefits and limitations of citizen science, and then measure the influence of several forms of observer error that might bias ornithological citizen science. Using an internet-based survey, I first found that observer skill level can predict the nature of false-positive detections, where self-identified experts tend to falsely detect more rare species and moderately-skilled observers tend to falsely detect more common species. I also found that overconfidence is widespread among all skill levels, and hence that observer confidence is an unreliable indication of data quality. Using existing North American databases, I then found that older observers tend to detect fewer birds than younger observers -- especially if the birds' peak call frequencies exceed 6 kHz -- and that published long-term population trend estimates and high-pitched (>= 6 kHz) peak bird vocalization frequencies are negatively correlated. Taken together, these data suggest that both hearing loss and other sensory changes might be negatively biasing long-term trend estimates. In the next chapter, I measured how observer experience can bias detection data. In solitary observers, I found that detections tend to increase over the first 5 years of service (e.g. learning effects), after which they decline consistently (e.g. observer senescence). Conversely, among survey groups that may be motivated to exceed a previous year's species count, I found that species richness tends to increase consistently with consecutive survey years. In this case, individual sensory deficits may be offset by group participation. Lastly, I re-evaluated the established assumption that the quality of new volunteers on North American Breeding Bird Survey routes is increasing over time. I showed that the existing measure of “quality” ignores variable lengths of observer service, and that, after accounting for this variable, “quality” is unchanging. Throughout this thesis, I also show how generalized additive mixed models can address these biases statistically. My findings offer new opportunities to improve the accuracy and relevance of citizen science, and by extension, the effectiveness of wildlife conservation and management.

Environmentally-concerned parents and educators today are asking, “How do we co-create learning environments that will foster environmental citizenry?” This reflects David Orr's claim: “More of the same kind of education that enabled us to industrialize the earth can only make things worse.” Using autoethnography to explore my decision to deschool my children, I'm placed in the position of a reflexive practitioner, as I serve as both the primary researcher and subject of that research. Upon arriving at the decision to forgo the compulsory education system I discovered the interconnectedness between deschooling, autoethnography, and 21st century theories of environmental education. I examine the rationales of environmental educators such as Orr, Weston and Jickling who call for new systems of environmental education. I expose underlying assumptions and beliefs that shape my decisions to deschool my daughters and create context for broader community discussion about how to educate for an environmentally engaged citizenry.

Bakalauro baigiamajame darbe nagrinėjamas gyventojų dalyvavimas Šiaulių miesto seniūnijų savivaldos sprendimų priėmimo procese. Tiriamą problemą apibūdina klausimas: kokios yra gyventojų dalyvavimo savivaldos sprendimų priėmimo procese praktinės galimybės? Šis darbas susideda iš įvado, trijų pagrindinių dalių, išvadų, aktyvinimo rekomendacijų, literatūros sąrašo bei priedų. Teorinėje dalyje pateikiama mokslinės literatūros šaltinių analizė, atskleidžianti gyventojų dalyvavimo savivaldoje sampratą bei formas. Taip pat pateikiama gyventojų dalyvavimą reglamentuojančios teisinės bazės analizė bei pristatomos praktiškai kasdieniniame gyvenime dažniausiai naudojamos dalyvavimo formos. Šioje dalyje atskleidžiama dalyvavimo savivaldoje praktika ne tik Lietuvoje, bet ir užsienyje (Skandinavijos šalyse), pateikiamos pasyvumo bei menko dalyvavimo priežastys. Empirinėje dalyje pristatomi kiekybinio ir kokybinio tyrimo metu apklaustų 160 gyventojų bei 4 ekspertų nuomonių analizės rezultatai. Piliečių ir ekspertų vertinimai leidžia teigti, kad tiriamosiose vietovėse stokojama gyventojų ir valdžios bendravimo. Tyrimo metu identifikuota, kad piliečiams trūksta informacijos bei lyderio, įtraukiančio veikti. Ekspertų interviu metu nustatyta, kad valdžios atstovai nekomunikuoja tarpusavyje bei nėra suinteresuoti piliečių aktyvumo skatinimu. / Bachelor’s final paper analyses citizen participation in townships of the city of Šiauliai self-government decision-making process. The topic is difined by the question: what are the practical opportunities of citizen participation in self-government decision-making process? This work consists of introduction, three main parts, the findings, activation recommendations, references and annexes. Theoretical part of the paper gives analysis of the scientific literature, that drew the conception of citizen participation and it’s forms. It also gives analysis of legislative framework of citizen participation and presents most commonly used forms of participation in everyday life. This part presents practice of participation in self-governance not only in Lithuania, but also abroad (Scandinavia). Moreover, bachelor’s final paper introduces the reasons for inactivity and low participation rates. The empirical part presents analysis of the results of quantitative and qualitative study, which examined 160 citizen and 4 expert opinion. Citizen and expert assessments suggest that in tested area you can see a lack of public communication. The study identified the lack of information for citizens and a lack of leadership, integrating function. Furthermore, the expert interviews revealed that the authorities do not communicate with each other and are not interested in promoting active citizenship.

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In Nunavik, the question of self-determination in health care is becoming increasingly embedded in the community health discourse, which is used by both health planners and Inuit alike to negotiate diverging positions. While health planners envision northern health care as a subset of the Quebec system, Inuit perceive it as a vehicle to ends that transcend conventional health issues. This thesis will provide an overview of the development of Nunavik health services since the James Bay agreement, focusing on how the use of the community health discourse serves to promote, but also shapes and limits regional and community self-determination.