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

Planning procedural theories articulate how planning agencies should deal with uncertainty. This thesis evaluates the appropriateness of three such theories--Rational Comprehensive (RC), Disjointed Incrementalism (DI), and Social Learning (SL)--in a context of resource region uncertainty. The thesis first proposes guidelines from Northeast British Columbia (NEBC) planning experience; the guidelines are informed by the successes, failures, and issues evident from agency responses to uncertainty and together propose that agencies should be centrally concerned with understanding the conditions--or the generic nature--of uncertainty. The thesis then uses these guidelines as standards by which- the three planning theories are evaluated. The evaluation reveals that the three theories generally ignore factors governing how agencies formulate and apply knowledge in the face of uncertainty. Future theory-building should elaborate how planning procedures can adduce the incisive understanding of uncertainty needed for policy design. 1. Export Market Uncertainty. The first condition identified in NEBC is that export market uncertainty varies by depth; that is, some events form and frequency are more readily predictable than others. Classifying depths of uncertainty enables agencies to decide whether so-called risk strategies-- which presume knowledge of probabilities--should be employed. If used' in NEBC, RC and DI styles would, befitting their namesakes, produce distinct descriptions of export market uncertainties; both, however, fail to provide the analytical knowledge needed for policy design. More meaningful information results from SL’s focus on understanding the predictability of events; this strength, however, is limited as SL does not explain how its decentralized planning structures would integrate the diverse views needed to properly classify the depths of export market uncertainties. A second condition is that uncertain events vary by location. In NEBC, some unpredictable export market forces could be stabilized by planning policies whereas others were truly ‘external’. Agencies should identify those export market forces which could be treated by policy and then estimate the costs and benefits of such assertive policy. This task can minimize costly and unpredictable boom-bust cycles. None of the three theories suggest the need for such an assessment, apparently assuming that an agency has little discretion or little to gain in dealing with export market forces. 2. Natural Systems Uncertainty. Natural systems uncertainties should also be classified by depth. As for export market uncertainty, RC and DI do not envision such a process; SL, in contrast, recognizes the need to classify depths, but it is unclear how a wide-based review required in NEBC could be achieved by a SL ‘decentralized’ planning hierarchy. Non-scientific factors determine how scientists select and apply scientific theories in the resolution of natural systems uncertainty. That economic, social, and cultural factors can distort predictability is a condition recognized in the philosophy of science, but unfortunately it attracts little attention in the three subject theories. 3. Uncertainty over Planning Agency Intentions. Many agencies participate in NEBC regional planning, raising the spectre of costly policy contradictions and duplications. Agencies, however, face financial and intelligence limitations, and therefore need to explicitly consider the need for and costs and benefits of consultation. All three theories hail the need to consult but naively assume that analysts will somehow define an appropriate level of consultation. 4. Public Value Uncertainty. In NEBC, social and economic factors dictate that agencies will obtain a necessarily limited view of public values. Planning agencies need to carefully assess the potentially high costs and benefits of public participation (or non-participation). All theories stress the need to survey public values, but SL’s mutual learning would best clarify policy alternatives attuned to local values. Mutual learning, however, is not a panacea, as it overlooks political reluctance to use it and ignores how non-participating societal groups should be engaged in the process. / Applied Science, Faculty of / Community and Regional Planning (SCARP), School of / Graduate

Ph.D. / Arabic has been offered a third language optional subject in secondary schools in South Africa for the past two decades. With the introduction of outcome-based education (OBE) and the National Qualifications Framework (NQF) in South Africa, it has become necessary to look afresh at the exsting curriculum for Arabic and the possibilities that exist for its continued promotion.

D.Ed. / The training and development opportunities available in Human Resources in a country play an important role regarding the growth and progress of such a country and its people. The parameters wherein training and development is conducted determine to a large extend the direction the country takes towards the efficient productivity of individuals. In South Africa, in the past, the political system of apartheid, which created unequal opportunities between different races, played a major adverse role in the education and training facilities of its employable population. As a result common education standards became a victim of political expediency, and the school system created a forum of unequal education. After research conducted by the Human Sciences Research Council in 1980 to investigate the education system in South Africa it was concluded that it is impossible to implement a system focussed on equal quality education overnight. It is not until after the first multi-cultural election in the history of South Africa in 1994 that this situation started changing. The National Qualifications Framework and The South African Qualifications Authority was established. That brought about major change in the education and training system in the country, and it also shifted the emphasis to lifelong learning. It became apparent that for the quickest beneficial results a program of adult education had to be initiated to work hand in hand with the more gradual development of equal education at undergraduate levels. The shift that needs to be made from the traditional school system to the training of adults is however a difficult one. Adult education is not yet established in South Africa.

published_or_final_version / Public Administration / Master / Master of Social Sciences

Nourrie par la rencontre spéculative des disciplines esthético-philosophiques et la démarche opérationnelle du Landscape Urbanism, cette étude part d'une lecture du paysage en termes de "constellation visible" voire de "trame de relations" matérielles et immatérielles entre éléments hétérogènes et contemporains, et, parallèlement, de l'acceptation étymologique du terme infrastructure en tant que "dispositif de support" des activités économiques, socio-culturelles et écologiques d'une communauté. A la lumière de ces définitions de paysage et d'infrastructure, la recherche essaie de répondre à la question principale formulée dans le cadre de la problématique, portant sur la possibilité d'accorder au paysage une "dimension infrastructurelle", propriété qui attribuerait à ce dernier la même connotation dynamique propre aux agents catalyseurs infrastructurels. L'étude de cette dimension infrastructurelle fait ressortir l'émergence d'une caractéristique ontologique du paysage définissable en termes de réseau multipolaire et donc par les relations horizontales et verticales entre ses éléments, liens physiques ou virtuels, matériels ou immatériels, qui lui donnent une cohérence unitaire et le transforment en un tout pourvu du sens (...) / Taking as a starting point on the one hand the consideration of the landscape as a "visible constellation" and a "network of material and immaterial connections" between a range of heterogeneous elements, and, on the other hand, the etymological meaning of the word infrastructure as a "support device" for the economic, socio-cultural and ecological activities of a community, this study is grounded on the interaction between the speculative approach of aesthetic-philosophical disciplines and the Landscape Urbanism operational stratedy (...)

Thesis. 1978. Ph.D.--Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dept. of Urban Studies and Planning. / MICROFICHE COPY AVAILABLE IN ARCHIVES AND ROTCH. / Bibliography: leaves 253-262. / Ph.D.

The principle focus of this study has been a reflection on my planning methodology since 1988. Teachers planning from 19882002 was predominantly individual and was aided by the gradual introduction of State and Commonwealth produced documents. These documents assisted in topic choices and assessment outcomes.Important influences transformed my planning. The first occurred in 1996 and the second in 2002. In 1996 I was involved in the production of a resource kit for teachers titled, Its Working Career and Work Education, Kindergarten to Year 8. During the compilation of this resource kit my planning incorporated the 1995, Teaching and Learning in Science Planning Guide, which resembled constructivism by building knowledge and understanding. In 2002 the curriculum in Tasmanian State Schools was transformed with the introduction of the Essential Learnings Framework 1 and 2. This curriculum innovation had implications on teachers planning methodology with a strong emphasis on collaborative planning.Studies and critiques of environmental units were undertaken in 2000, 2003 and 2004 to ascertain the effectiveness of my planning methodology. The underlying principles of constructivism provided a lens to improve perceived deficiencies in my classroom practice. The inclusion of the Constructivist Learning Environment Survey (CLES) assisted in making constructivism visible. A strong purpose therefore evolved from the study; a more effective planning methodology.

ABSTRACT STRATEGIC PLANNING FOR A GYPSUM PLASTERBOARD PRODUCING COMPANY &Ouml / zaydin, Elif M.Sc. Department of Industrial Engineering Supervisor: Prof. Dr. &Ccedil / aglar G&uuml / ven October 2007, 118 pages This thesis creates a specific methodology for strategy development while drawing on approaches reported in the literature. The analysis is done at a company that produces gypsum, gypsum board, and related products. A sequential planning method is used where an environmental analysis is conducted in order to define the features of the environment that the company operates in. Then a capability analysis reveals the strengths and weaknesses of the company. For strategy development, this thesis introduces a position index that is used to discuss and differentiate alternative positions. Strategic options for a position are determined by common methods and results from the analyses. The evaluation is conducted with company management, and finally a future position is determined considering company objectives.

El texto completo de este trabajo no está disponible en el Repositorio Académico UPC por restricciones de la casa editorial donde ha sido publicado. / This study focuses on the idle space within a warehouse which arises due to an inadequate identification of optimum materials, hindering their storage and reuse. Herein, an on-demand warehousing model is developed based on knowledge management, ideal design of warehouse facilities, and continuous monitoring of warehouse processes and activities for achieving an adequate material flow, cost minimization, high customer service levels, and better working conditions. Results show that the developed model reduced the idle warehouse space and operating costs by 72.14% and 58.55%, respectively.