Denna uppsats har som avsikt att undersöka och analysera vad social hållbarhet är och hur den uppfattasutifrån planerarperspektivet. Den studerar fallet av två stora utvecklingsprojekt, Sjöstaden och VästraSjöstaden i Trelleborg och dess förutsättningar samt problematik kring tillämpningen av social hållbarhetutifrån planerarnas perspektiv i Trelleborg. Uppsatsen problematiserar begreppet social hållbarhet genomatt använda sig av fenomenet fysiska barriärer som används för att undersöka hur dessa två förhåller sigtill varandra. Teorin går in djupare på svårigheter med definitionen av social hållbarhet genom att utforskaflera perspektiv och tillämpningsmetoder av termen samt koppling till fysisk planering och planerarensroll. Studien visar på att planerare i Trelleborg ser på social hållbarhet som ett komplext begrepp och attden består av flera byggstenar. Det kopplar de även till fysiska barriärer som utgörs av hamntrafiken somtränger sig in i staden genom en trafikled. Planerare hävdar bland annat att staden behöver fler kopplingarför att fysiskt integrera ihop den befintliga staden med de nya stadsdelarna för att minska de fysiska,sociala och psykologiska barriäreffekter som E6:an och Strandgatan (väg 9) orsakar. Detta övergår tillfrågan om ringvägen och därmed flytten av E6:an, hamninfarten och hela hamntrafiken som kommermöjliggöra omgestaltningen av befintliga gatan till en stadsgata och därmed skapa bättre kopplingarmellan stadsdelar. En av slutsatserna som presenteras i uppsatsen är att planerarperspektivet i Trelleborgtydliggör vikten av den sociala dimensionen samtidigt som att de utgår från givna förutsättningar ochmöjligheter för att implementera åtgärder som kan eliminera fysiska barriärer och koppla ihop staden påett bättre sätt.

The meetings, incentives, conventions, and exhibitions (MICE) industry generates billions of dollars in direct and indirect spending annually, and is considered one of the fastest growing segments of the tourism industry. Destinations that want to capitalize on this industry must understand what drives its planners. The current study used Orlando, Florida as a case study, and investigated whether there are differences between the three meeting planners' types (association, corporate, 3rd party) in regards to destination selection attributes and the recent recession impact. The study further identified attributes that affect future bookings to Orlando. Data was collected from a nationwide survey of meeting planners with a usable sample of 2,388 completed phone surveys and 118 completed online questionnaires. Only one significant difference was found between the three meeting planners' types. This research was performed in the midst of the recent recession. Some effects of the recent economic downturn on the events industry are decreased attendance and more conservative cost management. Most association meeting planners did not cancel or postponed their events, although all planners agree that attendance to their meetings decreased. Third party planners seemed to be the most sensitive to budget allocations. Recommendations for the Orlando Orange County Conventions and Visitor's Bureau include marketing the variety and quality of its meeting facilities better, its extreme weather insurance and its website. It is also wise to pursue more local associations, because those can be the main source of income during recessions.

The thesis unpacks the transformation of urban planning in the municipalities of the Greater Pretoria region (now Tshwane) during 1992 to 2002, specifically within the context of the government transformation in South Africa and contemporary planning theory. In order to contextualise the transformation of urban planning in the City of Pretoria/Tshwane, the thesis presents an overview of the international trends on urban planning and how these trends (during the 1990s) have informed, shaped and framed the transformation of urban planning in South Africa and in the City of Tshwane. These trends are associated with community participation, strategic planning, sustainable development; the merging social awareness amongst urban planners; and the new integrated relationship between urban planning and management. The narrative part of the thesis specifically unpacks and analyses the nature and impact of the transformed/transforming integrated, developmental and democratic planning system, the positive and negative impacts that this system had on planners, local authority managers and politicians. It also provides a perspective on the conflict and power dilemmas that arose between planners, between planners and managers and between planners and politicians. Within the context of the so-called web of power relations (as described by Foucault), the study specifically explores the impact which the transformation had on the power relations within the local authority planning environment – specifically within the context of the social nexus (as described by Habermas, Healey and others). The thesis provides a local example of the nature and dynamics of power relations within a transforming local authority, with specific emphasis of the planning function. Not only does this study challenge contemporary theories on power relations in planning, but it also provides valuable new insights on the complex and illusive power relations in local authorities. Largely based on the work of Michel Foucault and Jurgen Habermas, the study provides an intriguing reading of the many conflicts and power/rationality struggles and clashes that are being played out on a daily base in municipalities in South Africa. Through the detailed unpacking of a decade of transformation of urban planning in one of South Africa’s six metropolitan municipalities, Mr Coetzee contributes to improving the understanding of the current nature and focus of the urban planning function in the local government sphere. As such it provides invaluable insights to planning theorists and historians, not only in South Africa, but also in other societies experiencing rapid and far-ranging transformation. / Thesis (DPhil (Town and Regional Planning))--University of Pretoria, 2006. / Town and Regional Planning / unrestricted

Adopting the perspective of the traveller, this thesis examines how travel plans are actually made in the everyday situation and how information is used and drawn on when planning the many, often unremarkable, trips of ordinary urban life. Ethnographical field studies in southern Stockholm, Sweden, employing a practice theory perspective showed that people use a vast mixture of different types of information when planning and making trips. Therefore, the concept of travel information should be defined broadly enough to encompass informal, formal, analogue and digital types of travel information. Then, and only then, is it possible to perceive the interactions between these and see their potential as a change factor for sustainable city travel. In relation to this, situations when travel information was not used, were also identified in the qualitative data and are acknowledged and discussed in the thesis. Travel planning is in everyday practice undertaken little by little, squeezed in between other activities of daily life. It is a process more extended in time, space and content than the limited search for information about the best way to get from A to B, assumed and facilitated in many existing travel information services. Travel planning is closely connected to the overall scheduling of activities (planning of life) and thus spans much larger time frames than the single trip. Planning travel also includes consideration of issues such as preparations needed (things to be done before departure/brought on the trip); managing vehicles and equipment in time and space (getting the bicycle/car home again or safely parked); the weather (current and forecast); social relations (the potential of different travel options for relationship building or conflict triggering); social norms (e.g. of 'good parenting' or 'proper behaviour on public transport'); and health issues (wanting exercise or inability to manage stairs/luggage). The qualitative data revealed that travel information is sometimes perceived and used as a security blanket, i.e. something to hold on to and give the traveller courage on the trip until they are safe at their destination. It also showed that travel planning, depending on life situation, can be experienced as either a house of cards, i.e. if anything changes the whole house collapses and has to be rebuilt to a different layout, or a prefab building, i.e. the same prefabricated pieces are joined together in more or less the same pattern every time. Recent decades have seen rapid growth in ICT services relating to transportation. Different types of travel information services have been proposed as a means to decrease the environmental impacts of transportation through effecting behavioural change. Taking the empirical 4 insights provided by this thesis into travel planning and travel information use in practice, it is clear that travel information services of tomorrow, if connected to other ICT systems in everyday life, could be designed in a way that broadens their horizon of assistance in supporting travel planning processes in everyday life. Although, as this thesis demonstrates, the role and potential of travel information services and ICT in the work of achieving sustainable mobility should be discussed from a perspective critical of overly linear perceptions and instrumental starting points. / Denna avhandling tar resenärens perspektiv, och undersöker från vardagslivets horisont hur resor egentligen planeras, och hur information används när de många, ofta obemärkta, vardagsresorna görs i staden. Etnografiska fältstudier i södra Stockholm, gjorda och analyserade med ett praktikteoriperspektiv, visar att människor använder sig av många olika typer av information för att planera och genomföra sina resor. Därför bör begreppet reseinformation definieras vitt nog att rymma både informella, formella, analoga och digitala typer av reseinformation. Först då är det möjligt att iaktta interaktioner mellan dessa, och också se informationens eventuella potential som förändringsfaktor för hållbart stadsresande. Även situationer när reseinformation inte används uppmärksammas och diskuteras. Reseplanering är i vardaglig praktik något som sker lite i taget, i mellanrummen mellan andra sysslor och aktiviteter. Det är en process mer förgrenad i tid, rum och innehåll än den avgränsade sökning efter information om bästa sättet att ta sig mellan A och B som många existerande IT-baserade reseplanerare verkar förutsätta och i dagsläget assisterar. Reseplanering är starkt knutet till den övergripande planeringen av aktiviteter i livet, och reseplanering har därför oftast ett vidare tidsspann än endast en resa. Planering av resor inkluderar även hänsyn till faktorer som nödvändiga förberedelser (saker att göra innan avfärd/ta med sig på resan); hantering av fordon och bagage i tid och rum (få hem cykeln/bilen igen eller få den säkert parkerad); vädret (nuvarande och prognostiserat); sociala relationer (potentialen för konflikter/positiv samvaro vid olika färdmedelsval); sociala normer (om gott föräldraskap eller hur man för sig på kollektiva färdmedel); och hälsoaspekter (vilja till motion eller oförmåga att gå i trappor). Fältarbetet gjorde tydligt att reseinformation ibland används som en snuttefilt – något att ty sig till och hålla i handen på okänt territorium tills du har kommit till målet för din resa. Reseplanering kan också, beroende på livssituation, antingen upplevas och liknas vid husbygge med prefabricerade element – samma standardiserade, välkända bitar sammanfogas på ungefär samma sätt varje gång; eller också ett korthus – om någonting ändras brakar hela huset ihop, och måste byggas upp igen med en helt annan design. Under de senaste decennierna har det skett en snabb utveckling av IT-lösningar på transportområdet. Olika typer av reseinformationstjänster har föreslagits som ett verktyg för att ändra resebeteenden och därmed minska transporters miljöpåverkan. Med utgångspunkt från studiens 6 empiriska insikter i hur reseplanering går till i praktiken, och hur reseinformation används blir det tydligt att morgondagens reseplanerartjänster, om de kopplades ihop med andra digitala system vi använder i vår vardag, skulle kunna utformas på ett sätt som utvidgar systemets "assistanshorisont" för att bättre passa ihop med reseplaneringspraktikerna i vår vardag. Potentialen och rollen för reseinformationstjänster och IT i arbetet med att minska transporters miljöpåverkan bör diskuteras från ett perspektiv som är kritiskt till alltför linjära och instrumentella utgångspunkter, vilket denna avhandling bidrar till. / <p>QC 20141030</p>

This study explored the role of school-based teacher financial incentives on student academic achievement. Despite great efforts made by Zimbabwean government towards improving the education system in terms of infrastructure development and increasing number of schools, prior and after 1980, not much attention had been paid to the role of teachers’ extra-financial incentives on enhancing teacher motivation which leads to student achievement in and outside classroom situation. Extra-financial incentives differ from government to government depending on the revenue base and political will by such governments to support these teacher incentives programmes. In developed countries, respective governments pay different teacher incentives while in developing countries, parents/guardians or School Development Committees (SDCs) shoulder the burden. This study contented that one of the ways to improve student achievement has been payment of school-based teacher incentives to supplement teachers’ low salaries. While the need to adequately compensate teachers had been a worldwide phenomenon, this is in contrast to Zimbabwean experience after 2014, when Government of National Unity (GNU) came to an end. Zimbabwean government banned payment of teacher incentives under unclear reasons which were widely purported to be political. This research adopted a qualitative approach and as such, collection of primary and secondary data were done using multiple data collection techniques. Techniques included interviews with key informants, focus group discussions and open ended questionnaires in selected secondary schools. Results from this study revealed that improving teacher motivation through school-based incentives had been central to improved student achievement. In schools where teacher incentive system was practiced pass-rates increased, with a sudden decline when teacher incentives were banned. Banning or lack of properly designed incentive systems, where teachers were consulted, was seen as negatively affecting student achievement in selected secondary schools of Makoni District. / Educational Foundations / D. Ed. (Socio-Education)