M.Phil. / The urban environment, as a concentration of human industrial activity, has an ecological footprint extending well beyond its geographic borders. The reactive nature of Environmental Impact Assessment methodologies focuses on impacts in the natural environment, and mitigation thereof, rather than the causes, and since cities incorporate only limited natural resources, their impact on the larger environment is easily overlooked within the urban setting. Urban design and planning aims to guide urban development, and in order for such development to occur sustainably in the natural, built, social and economic environments, a strategic approach to environmental assessment must be followed. This study explores the merits of a strategic environmental assessment as a pro-active methodology to guide urban master-plan development at precinct level towards more sustainable urban layout and form. The Civic Precinct of the newly formed Ekurhuleni Metropolitan Municipality, to be established within the heart of Germiston, South Africa, serves as a case study. Having contextualized strategic assessments in an urban environment on the basis of a literature review, the study defines the development vision on the basis of higher-tier strategic documents and planning frameworks formulated for Ekurhuleni. Screening explores the legal parameters, and serves to define a vision specifically for sustainability of the Civic Precinct. Scoping has been conducted with reference to existing research data available from highertier studies and GIS databases, and at precinct-specific level fieldwork has provided both qualitative and quantitative status quo data, which have been transferred onto maps to highlight resources and constraints. At an applied level this study has yielded direct outcomes: i) A matrix of criteria for sustainability in the urban environment has been generated from the United Nations Agenda 21, and the Plan of Implementation from the World Summit on Sustainable Development (Johannesburg, 2002), supplemented by assessment criteria of the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design for Neighbourhood Development Rating System. The matrix forms a generic checklist for planners and designers, applicable also in other urban renewal projects. ii) The review of higher-tier planning documentation for Ekurhuleni, supplemented by fieldwork, has provided a comprehensive set of qualitative and quantitative data relating to the environment of the Ekurhuleni Civic Precinct. iii) By relating the results of the fieldwork, through a SWOT analysis, to the predetermined criteria for sustainability, a project-specific set of sustainability guidelines has been formulated. These guidelines are direct design informants for the master-plan, and become specifications for sustainability of individual projects to be implemented in the context of the master-plan. Through these outcomes the case study demonstrates that an adapted strategic environmental assessment methodology offers an effective tool for pro-active focus on sustainability in lower-tier, pre-implementation urban planning and design processes. The study, however, also indicates that the geographic confines of an urban precinct may be too restrictive to do justice to all dimensions of sustainability which make up an urban system, and suggests that application of the SEA methodology should be explored at the broader level of the local spatial development plan, where the SEA methodology may be more economically applied. The local spatial development plan offers a more appropriate level at which to conduct strategic environmental assessment, since it offers a broader scope for strategic consideration of the interconnectedness of all spheres of sustainability, while still permitting sufficient detail in the outcomes to make a concrete difference to the sustainability of an urban design when implemented.

An evaluation of the effectiveness of design guidelines in the City of Vancouver was undertaken. Three neighborhoods were studied where design guidelines have been applied. The guidelines for each neighborhood were studied and summarized and then site visits were made to evaluate the implementation of the guidelines. Evaluation of the guidelines took the form of a comparison of the objectives of the guidelines with the actual conditions in the neighborhoods. Factors that influenced the success or failure of the guidelines were identified and summarized. General comments regarding the implementation of design guidelines in the city of Vancouver were outlined in the concluding chapter. / Applied Science, Faculty of / Community and Regional Planning (SCARP), School of / Graduate

The new town of Kitimat was built in an undeveloped area on the north-west coast of British Columbia in response to the need for a site for an aluminum smelter, an operation which was located there because of its need for the abundant hydro power which was available in the region. The town was planned under the direction of Clarence S. Stein, who as the author of the Radburn principle, embodied this concept extensively in its physical plan. It is now more than a decade since the first part of Kitimat townsite was occupied in 1954, and sufficient time has thus elapsed to give some indication of how effective certain aspects of its planning have been. This study attempts to determine whether the planning principles used in Kitimat have been successful and why, as well as to determine whether the planners succeeded in achieving what they set out to do. There were several methods used in the evaluation - a study of the available literature on Kitimat; numerous personal interviews; a questionnaire type survey of the community; and the personal experience of the author's three years of residence in the community. The questionnaire type of survey entailed the distribution of 230 questionnaires to residents of the community. These questionnaires included a total of 28 questions to determine the attitude toward various aspects of the community. Two questions asked what the residents most liked and most disliked about Kitimat and another asked what suggestions they had for its future development. The results of the study indicate that the basic objectives that the planners initially put forth for the development of the town have been reasonably well achieved. These objectives include firstly, the industrial success of the plant and the importance of a contented work force, and secondly, the importance of family needs as a basis for the Kitimat Master Plan. The study goes on to analyse various aspects of the physical planning. It puts considerable emphasis on the results of the attitude survey on the assumption that an important factor in the degree of success of a community is the attitude of its residents toward it. Consideration is given to the effects of the curtailment of the 1957 construction program, and the importance is shown for a staging of development in new towns which allows a good relationship of all areas and uses to each other at all stages of development. Basically it can be said that the planners of Kitimat achieved much of what they attempted to do through the physical planning concepts which were applied in Kitimat. Certain aspects of the development have presented problems or have been limited in their degree of success, notably the design and quality of housing, the orientation of some of the housing, and the minor walkway system. However the main elements of the physical planning of the community, including those related to the Radburn principle, have proven quite successful. These include the application of the neighbourhood unit idea, the inclusion of a neighbourhood commercial centre within a neighbourhood, the separation of pedestrian and vehicular traffic as demonstrated by the arterial walkway system and interior park areas, the separation of vehicular traffic by its function, and the exclusion of through vehicular traffic from the neighbourhoods. With the reservations outlined above, the hypothesis is considered to be valid, namely "THAT THE PHYSICAL PLANNING CONCEPTS USED IN KITIMAT HAVE GENERALLY BEEN SUCCESSFUL." / Applied Science, Faculty of / Community and Regional Planning (SCARP), School of / Graduate

The growing amount of data available to the planners today and the necessity to easily order, display, and assimilate this data, has thrust the computer into the foreground of planning tools. Computers are unequalled in their ability to handle, reorganize and manipulate large volumes of data. Computer techniques are developed here to handle and display data for the planner so that he can more effectively spend his time on the evaluation and decision-making aspects of planning. Thus a minimum amount of time need be spent in assimilating the information necessary for a decision; this is particularly beneficial in the preliminary phase of planning. Three computer techniques to simplify data handling and visually display data are described in this report. One generates simple three-dimensional drawings on a graphics display terminal. A second technique visually and dynamically displays growth and change by simulating the evolution of a cityscape. The third technique extends McHarg's space allocation map overlay technique. It utilizes spatially distributed data, and allows interactive manipulation of this data to indicate areas of "suitability" for a particular use. / Applied Science, Faculty of / Civil Engineering, Department of / Graduate

The purpose of this thesis is to demonstrate the significance of systems for the professional planner. It is shown that a clear, comprehensive understanding of complex systems is relevant to the planner's knowledge, attitude, and skills. The thesis commences with a presentation of the basic information regarding complex systems. With the use of examples this information is then related to the urban context. This foundation of knowledge provides a frame of reference for a systems attitude, which is discussed as a theoretical framework for the planning profession. Following this, a skill, systems simulation modelling, is described; a skill which requires a knowledge of complex systems as well as a systems attitude. Schematically representing the essence of this thesis, Figure 1 [figure omitted] contains three major ideas which are emphasized in this work. First, a consistent core of information which may function as both a basis for, and a frame of reference for, the knowledge, attitude, and skills of a planner is depicted. Next, the fact that there is an interaction between the knowledge, attitude, and skills of the individual is illustrated. Finally, the diagram portrays the thesis as a process; a process whereby all aspects are interconnected. / Applied Science, Faculty of / Community and Regional Planning (SCARP), School of / Graduate

The growing political interest in new communities in North America in response to central city congestion and the problems of urban sprawl underscores the need for empirical data on current new community activity as it is now being applied on this continent. This study proposes an examination of such communities but with a particular problem in mind. It attempts to identify and ascertain the relative importance of the locational determinants for private enterprise new communities in metropolitan regions. The point of view taken is that the recent proliferation of these privately developed communities provides planners with a unique opportunity to help structure the future urban pattern of the metropolitan region. But if such planners are to anticipate and plan for these communities, they must strive for an understanding of the underlying decision-making criteria involved in such projects, including their possible future locations. In addition to the basic problem outlined above, this study has also been guided by the following secondary objectives: (1) to establish the importance of examining the location of private enterprise new communities by exploring the idea that such projects reflect attempts to improve the efficiency of the housebuilding and land development industry and, therefore, represent a logical progression in the private sector's contribution to urban development; (2) to examine past new town locational experience, particularly in Britain and Scandinavia; and (3) to assess the regulatory tool presently available to planners for influencing the location of private enterprise new communities. The methodology of the study consists in part of an extensive literature review. Since there are no studies that one can point to as dealing specifically with the locational aspects of new towns, this review involved the collection of data from a wide variety of sources, However, from the existing information available it was not possible to determine the relative importance of the locational criteria selected by new community developers. The data base was therefore augmented with a questionnaire survey of twelve developers. Eight of these questionnaires were returned although one was only partly answered. The organization of the study first involved an examination of the changing nature of the housebuilding industry and the emergence of new communities after 1960. Reference was made to such factors as the structural shift towards the large building firm, the attempts to improve both the marketability of houses and management techniques in the industry, increasing corporate investment, and the economies in land costs to be gained by building new communities with balanced facilities further out on the urban fringe. It was concluded that the appearance of private enterprise new communities can be partly attributed to the evolution of the housebuilding and land development industry itself, and partly to the conditions of a period characterized by such variables as industrial decentralization, new freeways and a more articulate market demand. Chapter III identifies and lists fifteen possible locational criteria that might be applied in the selection of a site for a new community. The reasons for selecting each of these criteria are discussed in turn. Where appropriate, reference is made to European experience to illustrate the applicability of a particular locational variable. Chapter IV discusses the results of the questionnaire survey. It was emphasized that due to the small sample involved the survey should be treated as a pilot study and not as a comprehensive analysis of comparative new community experience in North American metropolitan regions. The results of the survey generally substantiate the hypothesis contended in Chapter I that the rate and direction of urban growth, land costs, land assembly, freeway accessibility and government restrictions are the most important criteria influencing the location of privately developed hew communities. The two exceptions were that government restrictions were not as significant as originally thought and access to a highway was given equal rating with freeway accessibility. It was concluded that the exact order of the variables should not necessarily be interpreted as representing the true situation. But the results do give some idea as to which variables as a group are more important than others. In Chapter V the existing regulatory tools available to planners to influence the location of new communities were examined. The various types of land acquisition techniques, in particular the land bank concept, were viewed as particularly relevant. Development sectors and skip annexation also held some potential. It was emphasized, however, that the location of new communities is very much dependent on the success of the whole land development control program. No one device, whether it be zoning, land acquisition or taxation measures is sufficient. A combination of many techniques is necessary and that increased financing should be made available to local governments for this specific purpose. Finally, three possible administrative arrangements for planning for new communities are suggested. These are a provincial development corporation, a federal crown corporation and a provincial new community committee. None of these proposals was explored in a rigorous manner. Further research would be necessary to determine their constitutional appropriateness. / Applied Science, Faculty of / Community and Regional Planning (SCARP), School of / Graduate

This thesis is part of a comprehensive group study undertaken by five students in the School of Community and Regional Planning. Section I, which is a combined study, explores present trends and concepts of urban growth in North America. As a result of a preliminary investigation, a study concept, "The Nodular Metropolitan Concept," was derived. An hypothesis was formulated to serve as a study base for individual research by members of the group. Section II of this thesis is the author's individual contribution which looks at one aspect, the provision and distribution of local open space within residential areas of the present city form and the Nodular Metropolitan form of development. In Chapter I, present inadequacies within North American cities are pointed out and various current classifications and standards are outlined. It was indicated that they do not appear to meet present and future needs. Chapter II looks at income as a variable of inequality in the distribution of local open space. The present system of distribution and the standards of local parks are examined in the cities of Vancouver and Montreal. Inequalities between high income areas and low income areas in respect to park quality were substantiated. Factors tested for park quality included acreage, types of facilities, seclusion and annual expenditures. It was found that lower income areas had the least acreage, types of facilities, seclusion and annual park expenditure per capita. The Nodular Metropolitan system of open space was examined in Chapter III to ascertain whether it offered a more equitable and functional distribution than the present grid system. A theoretical open space model that follows the principles of this concept was formulated and partly tested by use of a preliminary social behaviour activity survey. The model illustrates a radical change to the present open space system. Three forms of local open space are proposed for study: intensive activity open space, corridor open space and parkland open space. Due to limitations of time and survey data only the parkland category was tested as an illustration of methodology for further research. The results of the questionnaire used in the survey indicated that the present unco-ordinated system of local park distribution is not meeting basic human needs. The particular social economic group of persons interviewed expressed a need for large open spaces that offered a variety of activities but were predominately passive in character as illustrated by the parkland category within the theoretical open space model. The study indicated that the behaviour activity approach would be feasible for future use. The results of the study to date indicate that the provision and distribution of open space within the city could be perhaps more adequately provided under a form of redevelopment such as that of the Nodular Metropolitan Concept. / Applied Science, Faculty of / Community and Regional Planning (SCARP), School of / Graduate

This paper reports on a study carried out to explore some aspects of the relation of behavior to the physical context. It attempts to investigate the possibilities of psychophysical needs as determinants in evaluating and structuring the visual environment. For purposes of this study, signs in the context of the city were selected as specific elements of the visual environment which would be analyzed in terms of the research. Advertising, information, and identification signs were examined in terms of their function as design elements within the total visual image of the city, and as they could relate to perceptual and aesthetic processes. The intent of this paper was to establish a practical basis for a new approach to the structure of sign control in urban areas. The initial step was to outline the various theories relating to perception, to describe the perceptual process as it is generally understood, and to examine some of the complex variables which are operative in the processes of perception. Both physical and psychological factors combine in intricate relationships of inherent needs and capabilities as well effects of learning and experience. In addition, the relationship between aesthetics, or the formal elements of art, and basic psychophysical needs for pattern and complexity in visual stimuli were investigated. Material from the areas of psychology, biology, and design was explored in an attempt to bridge some of the many gaps which now exist between behavioral sciences, art and the planning of the visual environment. Finally, a proposed structure for a sign control by-law was developed which would provide a more comprehensive design basis than that which presently exists, and which in adoption, would be more consistent with the needs described in the processes of perception and aesthetic satisfaction. As a result of this study, it was concluded that within any given culture, broad similarities occur in the related processes of perception and aesthetic satisfaction. These two processes have both physical and cultural components, and learning and motivation seem to play large roles, as do the innate factors. The search for stimulus variability and complexity seems to be a basic incentive in human behavior. There is also evidence of an optimal perceptual rate within homogeneous cultures. Further research in order to develop adequate methodology to test optimal perceptual responses and level of satisfaction of the visual environment is essential. However, these psychophysical processes provide a more realistic and comprehensive basis for the evaluation of the environment. Development of a design framework which will allow the maxim of complexity and variability to occur within a total pattern is a more desirable and effective approach toward the visual environment than that which now exists. / Applied Science, Faculty of / Community and Regional Planning (SCARP), School of / Graduate

The planning of University District in British Columbia suffers from lack of effective coordination among various jurisdictional units which comprise the University Community Area. The growth needs of campuses are planned Independently of the needs of urban municipalities. There are numerous situations which call for the merger of decision making and administrative functions of individual organizations Into one cooperative planning body which should have the task of planning an-i development of university Areas within the framework of a long range comprehensive plan. But the existing cooperative arrangement are ad hoc committees or other working agreements which do not promote the kind of planning necessary in these districts. The objective of this Study is to find out the limitations of Informal and ad hoc administrative arrangements for mutual planning and to propose more effective methods of cooperative planning. It is hypothesized that the integration of campus planning with the long-range comprehensive planning of adjacent municipal areas is essential for the effective development of the University District. Case studies of three University Districts in British Columbia, including a comprehensive review of other studies undertaken elsewhere, are presented as research methods in support of this hypothesis. It is evident from these studies that a University has a profound effect on the evolution of its surrounding urban areas. The University demand for off-campus housing and services, plus the prestige and compelling attractions of the campus for other related educational institutions, research Industries, clubs, galleries, museums and high-quality residential, business and professional establishments, all Influence the character of adjacent municipal areas. If a campus happens to be located in an undeveloped or farming area, the growth of the campus tends to accelerate the rate of urbanization in the surrounding area, eventually displacing farming with other land uses which tend to locate in areas adjacent to the campus. If on the other hand the adjacent area was originally developed as a single family residential district, the campus modifies it to satisfy higher density residential, Institutional, industrial, cultural and service area requirements. Such an evolution of the University District is accompanied by a number of conflicts among jurisdictional units and other interest groups. In general, the conflicts centre on the amount of land necessary for university expansion, the type of housing and services required, and the provision of adequate facilities for pedestrian and vehicular movement between the campus and the adjacent community. The liaison among different administrative entities comprising the University District is by the formation of ad hoc committees of officials. It is evident from this study that an ad hoc arrangement seldom has the effectiveness (i.e. power to implement a plan), efficiency, permanency and financial support and rules to govern its deliberations and activities, which all combine to form the type or organization needed for the planning and development of the University District. A formal organization for cooperative planning involving precise understanding and long range commitments of the various administrative and political entitles with some form of enacting Interdependent legislation Is recommended. The University District Planning Commission for each university area is proposed as a method for comprehensive long range planning of the University Districts. It is evident that the study hypothesis, the integration' of Campus Planning with the long-range comprehensive planning of adjacent municipal areas is essential for the effective development of University Districts, Is quite valid. / Applied Science, Faculty of / Community and Regional Planning (SCARP), School of / Graduate

In order to ensure genuine public acceptance of both planning proposals and of community planning per se, professional planning practices should involve a high degree of active citizen participation. The process of democratic action in contemporary North American urban areas is frustrated by the institutionalization of authority and responsibility, and as a result, the usual approach to the resolution of planning problems is often manipulative and managerial. Professionals tend to plan for the community rather than with it. Planning is conceived as a six-step process beginning with problem identification, and proceeding through goal formation, survey and analysis, design of a plan, plan implementation, and evaluation and reorientation. Community development, a process by which members of a community learn why and how to participate in the planning and control of changes which will affect them, is suggested as a technique whereby personal interest and democratic participation can be reinstilled in today's complex communities, as determining forces in the planning process. Community development achieves not only all the advantages of active citizen participation, but is concerned also with the progress of the individual, the development of co-operative facilities, and the strengthening of the process of democratic action. The process of community development involves fourteen elements, arranged according to seven periods over time, which can be integrated with the planning process. Although this integration appears to detract from the efficiency of the usual planning process, it does create good will and co-operation between citizens and technical planning experts, and provides continuity to the planning process through the conservation of organized community resources. It is no surprise to members of the planning profession to find that the degree of public acceptance of local government planning proposals is directly related to the amount of citizen participation which occurs during the evolution of those proposals. But for planners to relate the relative degree of public acceptance of a planning proposal to the number of elements of community development which were evidently utilized, either implicitly or explicitly, in the evolution of that proposal, is another matter. From a detailed study of five local government planning proposals developed in the City of Vancouver, it is concluded that community development should be used as a technique in the planning process, in order to gain the advantages of active citizen participation, and to ensure that the proposals will be acceptable to the people they are to affect. The responsibility for executing the community development process rests with the technical planners, the local municipal administration, and the leaders of the community in question. The financing of such a scheme would be shared between the community to be affected, and the municipal government, either through voluntary subscriptions, or tax revenues, or both. The conclusion based on the analysis of the case studies supports the arguments subtended previously. However, because planning is action oriented, it is concluded that the only true method of testing the hypothesis would be by attempting to apply a community development program in conjunction with the planning process, in an actual problem situation. / Applied Science, Faculty of / Community and Regional Planning (SCARP), School of / Graduate