Contemporary South African planning practice is rich in detail, complexity and innovation born out of a need to fulfil a post-apartheid development agenda. This practice warrants theorising. This dissertation aims to advance the concept of critical pragmatism into an analytical framework that will facilitate the analysis and theorising of one such complex planning case, and its delivery. The case study examines the Kathorus Special Integrated Presidential Project (KSiPP) – an ambitious, large-scale strategic planning programme that was by many accounts successful in achieving a substantial range and scale of outcomes in an exceedingly complex underdeveloped and violence-ridden context. This case provides the material for a deeper analysis of what actually happened in the project, through the application of my framework. Within the dissertation I define critical pragmatism as a concept for exploring planning practice as: An analytical framework for examining the actual processes and outcomes of planning practice that is contextually situated; that operates within and through pervasive power relations, which are exercised through and influenced by multiple rationalities, and practice in which the planning choices that are made are valueladen and mutable. This framework is comprised of five interrelated elements. These are: context, outcomes, power, rationality and ethics. These are derived through a study of the philosophical roots of critical and pragmatic schools of planning. My interrogation of these roots and planning traditions, especially with reference to thinkers such as Dewey, Habermas, Foucault, Harrison, among others, finds that while the critical traditions predominantly foreground power, the pragmatic traditions predominantly focus on action and outcome. Each tradition is limited and a conversation between them, in an integrated critical pragmatism produces a framework that can address the sort of complexities manifest in the KSiPP. Out of this conversation and the identification of ethics as an element somewhat lacking in both traditions, a contemporary critical pragmatic analytical framework is derived and substantiated, with significant implications for the discipline of planning. My own involvement as a practitioner in the project provides close methodological benefits and insights for the thesis. The research methodology employed in this thesis focuses on case study techniques, with a strong leaning on practice writing. An in-depth literature review research into theoretical concepts in planning and philosophy has enabled the development of an appropriate framework for analysis. The application of my framework yields deep and nuanced findings of the KSiPP. These include the extent to which context and circumstances contributed to the project, whose means and ends were multifaceted. The explicit assessment of power in the project illuminates its many faces in its institutional, collaborative and personal forms. A precise examination of the rationalities that were at play finds competing political and technical rationalities, and their relationships with power and action. Finally, an assessment of the project against the ethical question of justice, found it lacking and modified the sense of the KSiPP as an entirely successful endeavour. The value of critical pragmatism is that it enables a conversation between the analytical efforts to understand planning practice and outcome, and the efforts to analyse the power, rationality and ethical choices inherent in planning processes. It also takes what is implicit within such frameworks and particularly in the work of Forester, who has written of a critical pragmatic approach to planning, and makes this explicit and thus available for use in further evaluation.

This case study of the administration planning in the city of Pensacola provides an example from which lessons can be drawn for urban planners. Unlike many other cities, Pensacola had a plan as early as 1827, but like most cities no provisions were made for the future development of the city. The study includes a section on the background to planning in Pensacola, dealing with the factors which seemed to demand planning and ideas that provoked planning. The second and third parts deal with the master plan and its implementation. The final chapter presents a discussion of the lessons to be drawn from this planning experience and suggests theoretical arrangements to meet actual needs. / Typescript. / "1951." / "Submitted to the Graduate Council of Florida State University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science." / Advisor: James A. Norton, Professor Directing Paper. / Includes bibliographical references (leaf 31).

The US Forest Service has embarked on new approaches to collaboration that surpass the traditional requirements of the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) of review and comment on public documents. Decades of litigation, adversarial relationships, and legal gridlock from layers of policies, procedures and regulations represent a rigidity trap that has stalled several attempts to revise the 1982 planning rule. In 2009 the Forest Service initiated an open and collaborative process for developing a new Forest Planning Rule that would engage a wide range of stakeholders in the process. The planning rule team adopted an attitude of listening that allowed them to be open to new knowledge, creating opportunities to learn during collaboration. The planning rule team had a mindset of “walking the talk” on collaboration that allowed the process to reflect the principles of effective participation and collaboration in the literature, such as the DIAD model of collaborative rationality. This research explores the agency’s willingness to try a new approach to developing a rule in order to solve the longstanding challenge of updating the rule. Examining the collaborative rule development process provides insights about how double loop learning, manifested in the collaborative process to develop the rule, allowed the agency to break free of a rigidity trap dominated by rational planning processes. This study indicates adaptive capacity is enhanced by a posture of listening which can lead to the type of double loop learning that brings about new understanding, new knowledge, and new solutions by constructing that knowledge along with stakeholders in a collaborative process. / A Dissertation submitted to the Department of Urban and Regional Planning in partial fulfillment of the Doctor of Philosophy. / Fall Semester 2016. / November 7, 2016. / Collaborating, double-loop learning, Forest Management, rigidity trap / Includes bibliographical references. / William H. Butler, Professor Directing Dissertation; Ralph S. Brower, University Representative; Petra L. Doan, Committee Member; Robert E. Deyle, Committee Member.

The proportion of individuals aged 65 and over is growing at an astronomical rate in the United States, and some estimate that this demographic age group will double by the year 2025. Aging adults are primarily dependent on the personal automobile as their main source of transportation. Older adults and adults nearing retirement age also tend to reside in suburban neighborhoods and rely heavily on personal vehicles. Since most of the United States is characterized by automobile dependent suburbanization, where the majority of development is suburban low-density sprawl, this may become problematic for aging populations who may be uncomfortable driving longer distances and making more trips. These trends invite the question of whether the deck is stacked against individuals approaching retirement age (50-64) and aging populations (65 and up). This study examines aging populations’ mobility and determines whether they have different travel patterns than their younger cohorts. Additionally, this investigation explores whether or not travel patterns across age groups result in differential access to particular goods and services, as well as differences in travel environment characteristics in a metropolitan area. This research proposes an approach based on Time Geographic Density Estimation (TGDE) to identify activity spaces across different age cohorts in order to identify differences in the mobility and travel behavior of aging adults. TGDE is an established technique in the literature, which blends the notion of activity spaces with the computation of probabilistic potential path trees along a transportation system. In this way it establishes an ‘extent’ or overall mapping of the activity space of an individual, but is able to further refine that extent to identify the most likely places they are able to visit within that geography. Data on origin and destination trips and travel times are taken from the National Household Travel Survey (NHTS) Florida add-on for the study area of Orlando Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA). Transportation is an important consideration in planning for aging populations, and analyzing differences in how older adults travel compared to their younger counterparts can offer insight into the diverse needs of this group. / A Dissertation submitted to the Department of Geography in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. / Summer Semester 2017. / April 28, 2017. / Accessibility, Aging Populations, Transportation / Includes bibliographical references. / Mark Horner, Professor Directing Dissertation; Jeffrey Brown, University Representative; Christopher Uejio, Committee Member; David Folch, Committee Member.

The world is experiencing a rapid urbanization process since decades ago, and more than half of the world’s population now are living in urban areas. United Nations has projected that the population growth in urban areas will continue and result in more than 66% of the population living in cities by the year of 2050. Although cities are bringing economic growth and development across the world, especially in high-income countries, this rapid pace of urbanization has also led to resource depletion and environmental degradation over the past decades, as well as other urban problems, such as urban poverty and social inequality, local climate change, non-renewable energy consumption, Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emission and biodiversity decline, most of which are argued to be associated with fast urbanization and urban sprawling development. Modern societies have adopted sustainable development as the strategic plan and development model to response to the growing economic, social and environmental issues in global environment. An increasing number of research have been done on the topic of sustainable development since the Brundtland Commission Report proposed the definition of sustainable development in 1987. Since then, a limited but growing literature is emerging that looks into the relationship between urban form and urban sustainability, proposing the question of whether there is a sustainable urban form, and if so, how to achieve it. It is now generally accepted that there are correlations between urban form and urban sustainability in a variety of ways, but no consensus has been made. Moreover, potential research gaps exist in terms of the definitions and measurements of both urban form and urban sustainability concepts, as well as there is a lack of systematic and comprehensive theoretical framework on the relationship between urban form and urban sustainability, neither there are enough empirical studies in U.S. context with up-to-date data. By asking the central research question “how and to what extent does urban form influence urban sustainability?”, this dissertation aims at exploring the relationship between urban form and urban sustainability; explaining the mechanisms of the potential correlations by systematically reviewing theoretical underpinnings and synthesizing a comprehensive theoretical framework; empirically examining the relationship between multiple urban form elements with a wide range of urban sustainability outcomes with secondary data; identifying the trade-offs among different dimensions and aspects of urban sustainability under different urban form scenarios; and addressing an identified gap in the literature of a dearth of U.S. empirical studies by conducting an empirical study in a U.S. study area. To fulfill the research objectives, I first conducted a systematic and comprehensive literature review on the research topic, which not only summaries the existing theories, findings and conclusions in the field, but also identifies the potential research gaps in the literature. A theoretical framework on the relationship between urban form and urban sustainability was created to illustrate and visualize the theoretical correlations between a selected group of urban form elements and a wide range of urban sustainability outcomes. Empirical analysis is employed to test the theoretical framework and the hypothesized correlations between urban form elements and urban sustainability outcomes, using the secondary data in Florida at Census Place scale. Multiple regression analyses are conducted for a total of 204 models in economic, social and environmental dimensions of urban sustainability, in three time periods: 2007 and 2012 cross-sectional, and 2007-2012 panel estimation. The results and findings of this dissertation indicate that overall, the central research question of this Dissertation appears to have been answered in the affirmative: urban form is shown in this study to have a statistically significant effect on urban sustainability outcomes. Specifically, the four selected urban form elements: density, concentration, land use mix and connectivity all have significant associations with one or more urban sustainability outcomes in a variety of models. Moreover, this dissertation posits the hypothesis that there are potential interaction effects between urban form elements in terms of their effects on urban sustainability, and the empirical findings support my hypothesis with multiple significant results from models with interaction effects, which contributes to the theoretical understandings on the relationship between urban form and urban sustainability. Besides, there are some expected correlations between urban form and urban sustainability from the theoretical framework that are either show non-significant results, or even with results against the theoretical expectations. These results call for research outside Florida and at different geographic scales to further explore the relationships between such urban form elements and urban sustainability outcomes. Furthermore, the evidences from the empirical analysis in Florida imply that there are some correlations between urban form and urban sustainability, especially between land use mix and a wide range of social and environmental sustainability outcomes, have not been widely discussed in the literature, but showing significant results in Florida places, which also calls for more extensive research. Finally, the research finds that there is no urban form element that is benefiting all urban sustainability outcomes, which indicates the existence of the trade-offs among different aspects and dimensions of urban sustainability. Therefore, there is no straight-forward solution from urban form to improve urban sustainable development, and it has to consider the specific situation in each place, and also promoted with other urban sustainability policies. The completion of the dissertation is able to contribute to theory through the establishment of a comprehensive theoretical framework, the identification of unexpected and under-explored correlations between urban form and urban sustainability, the proposition of the interaction effects between urban form elements and the definition and measurement of urban form. This study is also contributing to practice and U.S. cities by collecting and integrating enormous secondary data at Census Place scale in Florida, the provision of significant evidence on the correlations between urban form and urban sustainability, as well as the discussion on the potential interaction effects between urban form elements, and the trade-offs among different aspects and dimensions of urban sustainability. / A Dissertation submitted to the Department of Urban and Regional Planning in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. / Spring Semester 2018. / March 5, 2018. / urban form, urban sustainability / Includes bibliographical references. / Timothy Chapin, Professor Directing Dissertation; Richard Feiock, University Representative; John Felkner, Committee Member; Michael Duncan, Committee Member.

Recently, in the United States, roundabouts have been used to replace signalized and unsignalized intersections because the use of roundabouts has safely reduced crash severity and fatality at intersections by eliminating or altering conflict types and forcing drivers to reduce their speed as they drive in and through it. Generally, in Florida, due to the recent introduction of roundabouts and the complexity of some roundabouts (especially multi-lane roundabouts), drivers are most times not familiar with this type of intersection and therefore involve in a crash. Therefore, it is necessary to evaluate the safety effects of roundabout amongst drivers and especially aging drivers since it is projected by the United States Census Bureau, that the population of persons aged 65 and above in Florida is expected to be more than 26% of the total population by the year 2025 and by the year 2030 all the baby boomers will be older than age 65. Thus, the objectives of this study were to evaluate the effectiveness of roundabouts among drivers by comparing the crash severity of roundabout crashes involving aging drivers versus their young and middle-aged counterparts and to determine the relationship between the crash frequency, the geometric characteristics of roundabouts and the signage of roundabouts .In order to achieve these objectives, the type and severity of roundabout crashes, as distributed according to participant age will be investigated Binomial logistic regression model was used to evaluate injury severity differences in roundabout crashes amongst drivers of different age groups while evaluating the differences in factors relating to roundabout crashes which includes the time of the day, day of the week, the type of roundabout, weather conditions, lighting conditions, the geometric design of the roundabout, vehicle speed and the crash's at-fault driver age. Also, the negative binomial regression model was used to determine the relationship between the total number of crashes, the roundabout speed, the geometric conditions and signage of the roundabouts selected for the count study. The results from this study indicate that vehicle speed and average annual daily traffic are the most important factors affecting the severity of crashes among all age groups at roundabouts and that the total number of crashes on roundabouts are affected by the traffic volume, the number of circulatory roadway lanes, the number of legs, the roundabout speed, inscribed circle. diameter, and the presence of signages and signals such as chevron, pedestrian sign, approach marking, lane use control symbol marking and pavement word. For aging drivers, the number of vehicles involved in the crash, the vehicle speed of the at-fault driver and the type of crash are significant at 95% confidence interval in affecting their crash severity while the annual average daily traffic is the only significant factor at 95% confidence interval affecting the frequency of aging driver crashes at roundabout This study focuses on developing recommendations for roundabout implementation, improved design guidelines and additional recommendations for improved for improved safety of drivers in the State of Florida. / A Thesis submitted to the Department of Civil and Environmental in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science. / Fall Semester 2018. / November 26, 2018. / Includes bibliographical references. / Lisa K. Spainhour, Professor Directing Thesis; Eren E. Ozguven, Committee Member; Maxim Dulebenets, Committee Member.

Evacuating individuals and allocating space in shelters are complex tasks that depend on disaster characteristics, roadway network characteristics, the demographics and socioeconomic status of people in the affected region, as well as the effectiveness of the emergency plans. This problem becomes even more challenging when special needs (access and functional needs) populations and those with pets are considered since they may require more time in the event of an evacuation along with more space in shelters. Satisfying the needs of aging victims during emergency evacuations is critical and requires extra attention in the presence of highly uncertain disaster conditions. During Irma, it was very hard to manage the evacuation of aging people who had disabilities and mobility restrictions, did have special needs or pets. This study develops a Geographical Information Systems (GIS)-based methodology to measure and assess the transportation accessibility of these critical facilities through a diverse set of case study applications in the State of Florida. This research presents a timely evaluation and assessment of aging-focused evacuations towards providing better decision support during emergency transportation operations. This analysis is applied on a case study application set in Florida with a focus on the delays, evacuation travel times and critical bottlenecks, which can be vital for aging victims’ safety and survival. This study also emphasizes the use of GIS-based maps and modeling scenarios in support of emergency evacuation operations, in order to both satisfy the needs of aging people and account for real-world disruptions such as road closures. Additionally, a variety of scenarios are constructed to simulate evacuating 65+ and 85+ populations living in the evacuation zone, providing dynamic congested travel times. Finally, a capacitated p-median optimization model is implemented to maximize the accessibility and capacity of the existing shelters for 85+ populations with special needs (access and functional needs) or pets. Results indicate that the location and allocations of people to shelters are sensitive to demographics and roadway conditions, and the accessibility to shelters can be improved for this group of people based on optimization model results. A contribution of the research will be the evaluation of emergency evacuation performance of the transportation network under multiple disaster scenarios and the detailed modeling of key transportation facilities where special needs would take place. By exploring the use of multi-layered approach for emergency operations, this research will also increase the performance in evacuating aging people who has limitations. / A Dissertation submitted to the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. / Fall Semester 2017. / November 7, 2017. / Includes bibliographical references. / Eren Erman Ozguven, Professor Directing Dissertation; Jeff Brown, University Representative; Ren Moses, Committee Member; John O. Sobanjo, Committee Member.

Typescript (photocopy). / Digitized by Kansas Correctional Industries

Thesis (M.C.P.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of City Planning, 1960. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 98-100). / by Sheldon Phillip Gans. / M.C.P.

Thesis (M.C.P.) Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dept. of City Planning, 1949. / Includes bibliographies. / by Alan M. Voorhees. / M.C.P.