This creative project has determined that community gardening is a vehicle for building community. The benefits for community gardens are observed by the individuals that garden, the neighborhoods that support community gardening, as well as, the cities in which these gardens flourish. This research aided the Blaine Southeast Neighborhood Association in developing and evaluating a new community gardening program designed for the Blaine Southeast Neighborhood and Muncie, Indiana. The literature review discusses the history and the benefits of community gardening which builds a strong case for groups interested in beginning a community gardening program. The guidelines developed for this research provide the framework for developing a successful community gardening program. The programs then use the criteria set forth in this research to evaluate the success the program is experiencing at reaching the goals of the program. Community Gardening is an appropriate activity for most urban communities that are experiencing a decline in the quality of their neighborhoods. This research supports this statement and demonstrates how to form a community garden successfully. / Department of Urban Planning

As biofuels were growing in importance, Jatropha curcas has been widely promoted as the best suitable source for biodiesel that can be exploited by developing countries .Whilst there were fears that this development may threaten food security and put a strain on other natural resources there was a view that if well managed, the activity may spur rural economic growth thereby reducing poverty and unemployment. The purpose of this study was to investigate the impact that growing Jatropha curcas for supplying the biodiesel industry has made on the livelihoods of the households that were involved within the community of Mpaka in Swaziland. The target respondents were all the farmers that had an agreement with D1 Oils Swaziland and actually planted Jatropha curcas based on the Sustainable Livelihoods framework and using qualitative techniques data were collected using documentation, semi-structured interviews, focus group discussion, and some observation. Content analysis was then carried out to document the history of growing Jatropha curcas in Swaziland; map out the vulnerability context for the community of Mpaka; identify the range of assets that create the different livelihood strategies for the different households; determine the effect of policies and institutional conditions; and describe what the stakeholder’s view of growing Jatropha curcas is. The findings of the study revealed that growing Jatropha curcas greatly reduced the households’ vulnerability to drought, crops being browsed by livestock and high cost of farming inputs. However the study also revealed that the activity did not yield the desired outcome of income generation as the project did not continue due to bad publicity coupled with a poor policy environment and lack of coordination between and within government ministries and departments. Whilst it can be concluded that that the activity had a negative impact on the households involved it showed a great potential provided government through the relevant ministries and departments creates an enabling environment of proper policies and institutions and by involving all stakeholders at the right time. / Thesis (M.Env.Dev.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2012.

A qualitative study of the Swedish Instagram account Kvinnohat´s framing of media criticism. The Instagram account Kvinnohat is an example when citizens with a feminist agenda participate in a public debate. With a critical point of view Kvinnohat approach society; which media is a part of. Social network with photo-sharing implement such as Instagram is a quite new type of social media. Instagram has quickly become a part of many peoples everyday life, especially among adolescents. Kvinnohat allows guest admins to do personal photo-sharing from the account Kvinnohat so that different feminist users have an opportunity to express their opinions. We have analyzed how Kvinnohat use rhetorical strategies and frames to express their opinions about media. By analyzing the frames with help of Robert Entmans (2004) Cascading Activation Model the result of the study shows how Kvinnohat frame their content. The semiotic analysis reveals the visual rhetoric in the post and is a supplement for the rhetorical analysis in which the strategies appears. The result of the study showed that the attitude in Kvinnohat's media criticism is both negative and positive. Kvinnohat and like-minded followers are not only consuming media but also questioning the content and the media industry. The founders of Kvinnohat often recommend their followers a positive media content where the content shows a norm critical perspective. The negative critique practiced by Kvinnohat tend to inform and educate their audience of a problem. To strengthen a relationship between Kvinnohat and its followers, Kvinnohat tend to be personal in their posts by relating to their followers, and inspire them to interact.

This thesis attempts to provide a brief historical outline of the environmental movement in Taiwan and the unique political situation that has directly affected how the movement has progressed. Thereafter, it looks at some examples of environmental disputes that have occurred in recent years, paying special attention to the ways the environmental movement has interacted with the government. This provides the background to frame the analysis, which will shed light on the reasons for the current state of distrust and antagonistic interactions between the environmental movement and the government. Finally, the thesis evaluates whether such interactions with the government is helpful for the environmental movement in achieving its goals, while suggesting other possible models of environmentalism in Taiwan.

Abstract Twentieth century, citizen “revolts” against highway projects have influenced thinking about public transport (Toronto, Vancouver, New York), governance (Portland), and cycling (The Netherlands) to this day. Less is known about how these emerge in developing countries, and what they can tell us about citizens’ role in innovation to achieve more socially just, good and livable cities.  Using a complexity-based approach, this dissertation explores lessons from an anti-highway movement in Santiago, Chile (1997), which challenged authoritarian planning paradigms inherited from the Pinochet regime (1973-1990). In 2000, these leaders of diverse communities founded a citizen institution, Living City (Ciudad Viva), which today is a prize-winning, citizen-led planning institution.  Participation is recognized as important to community development, health and urban planning. Nonetheless, a rich literature notes many limitations. Is improving participation just a matter of “getting the process right”? Or does it require re-formulating frameworks to redistribute power, fostering self-generating civil society organizations, and treating democratization as ongoing rather than a “steady state”?  Re-formulating frameworks has far-reaching implications. It requires acting consistently with the premise that the local is central to change in human living systems, and the need to create the civic “infrastructure” conducive to citizen learning and the emergence of multiscalar citizen organizations, able to mobilize ecology of actors for innovation. To effectively address the challenges of climate change, loss of biodiversity, the social determinants of health, the “obesity epidemic” and other issues, the answers lie in city neighbourhoods and human settlements.  If we aspire to good, just and livable cities, uncertain futures require planning for change. This research suggests that we can identify dynamics likely to leverage significant change and activate capacities throughout a system. This requires moving to an inclusive planning paradigm that fully integrates citizen planners.

Abstract Twentieth century, citizen “revolts” against highway projects have influenced thinking about public transport (Toronto, Vancouver, New York), governance (Portland), and cycling (The Netherlands) to this day. Less is known about how these emerge in developing countries, and what they can tell us about citizens’ role in innovation to achieve more socially just, good and livable cities.  Using a complexity-based approach, this dissertation explores lessons from an anti-highway movement in Santiago, Chile (1997), which challenged authoritarian planning paradigms inherited from the Pinochet regime (1973-1990). In 2000, these leaders of diverse communities founded a citizen institution, Living City (Ciudad Viva), which today is a prize-winning, citizen-led planning institution.  Participation is recognized as important to community development, health and urban planning. Nonetheless, a rich literature notes many limitations. Is improving participation just a matter of “getting the process right”? Or does it require re-formulating frameworks to redistribute power, fostering self-generating civil society organizations, and treating democratization as ongoing rather than a “steady state”?  Re-formulating frameworks has far-reaching implications. It requires acting consistently with the premise that the local is central to change in human living systems, and the need to create the civic “infrastructure” conducive to citizen learning and the emergence of multiscalar citizen organizations, able to mobilize ecology of actors for innovation. To effectively address the challenges of climate change, loss of biodiversity, the social determinants of health, the “obesity epidemic” and other issues, the answers lie in city neighbourhoods and human settlements.  If we aspire to good, just and livable cities, uncertain futures require planning for change. This research suggests that we can identify dynamics likely to leverage significant change and activate capacities throughout a system. This requires moving to an inclusive planning paradigm that fully integrates citizen planners.

A lack of historical perspective sustained the widespread view that participatory initiatives in Brazil represented a marked rupture from traditional forms of political engagement to radically new democratic practices. This view overlooks both incremental steps towards broader political participation taking place throughout the 20th century and setbacks restricting participation in the 1980s. This dissertation offers a historical account of the emergence of participatory democracy in Brazil that challenges this dominant view and calls attention to the importance of structural factors and national-level political-institutional contexts. Three case studies of municipal administrations in the late-1970s and early-1980s shine light on the impact of structural factors in the emergence, design, and outcome of participatory initiatives, and the contrast of these precursory experiences with the internationally known 1990s participatory models shows how participatory ideals and practices responded to the changing institutional context of the 1980s. This dissertation puts forward three central arguments. First, research should not treat citizen participation as a normative imperative but instead examine how it emerges through social and political struggles fueled by structural inequalities. Second, it is unfounded to assume that citizen participation will lead to profound transformations of national-level institutions, but it is equally erroneous to suppose that citizen participation is always intended to strengthen representative institutions; the long-term impact of direct citizen participation is an empirical rather than analytical or normative question. Third, a key challenge of participatory democracy today is to free itself from the inflated expectations imposed on it by its own enthusiastic supporters.

Mining and mineral exploration have been a source of considerable tension in the developing world and specifically where they take place on indigenous lands. This thesis investigates the nature of the relationships between different stakeholders to a mineral exploration project in Fiji. It is an examination of the obstacles to community participation, a key component of even-handed development, in the planning and policy-making process. It is argued that the Namosi exploration project has been the locus for emergent social disruption. It is also argued, that the causes of this conflict are anchored in a flawed process of policy-making between the state and exploration companies and the contest for authority between key actors, which has led to the disempowerment of some villagers from both within and outside the community. Equally, the political ideology of the state and the contentious history of mining in Fiji, have played a part in the tendency towards social conflict in association with minerals exploration. / The starting point for analysis has been a comparison with the social conflict literature as it applies to Papua New Guinea. The purpose has been first, to confirm the relevance of that work to situations encountered in Fiji, and second, to provide a broader critique of the literature than previously available; one that further develops understanding of social conflict related to natural resource development. Given the circumstances of state and village politics in Melanesia, the question is asked, whether the normative 'fully realised communities' anticipated by Selznick in his communitarian idyll can be achieved. The thesis concludes that the nature of community involvement in development planning for mineral exploitation, creates a very different type of participation than that outlined in the literature of mining corporations and states. Although some actors have recourse to other means of empowering themselves, this is not a prelude to development for the wider community.

In this study, the current situation of e-government system in Turkey was analyzed, the positive and negative aspects were stated through PEST (Political, Economical, Sociocultural, Technological Factors) Analysis, Critical Success Factors (CSFs) Method and SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats) Analysis, e-government indicators of different countries were compared and finally a roadmap was suggested for a successful e-Turkey implementation.

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.