Public participation is assumed to benefit sustainable development. Actual effects of public participation, a requirement of some international agreements and funding programs, are not widely documented. I compare 16 local sustainable development programs, defined as those with economic, social, and/or environmental goals intended to not diminish economic, social, or environmental assets. Within participation, I distinguish between segments of the population, means, and timing. I also consider the roles of government and the number and type of goals of each program as alternative influences on sustainable development. Successful programs commonly have more segments of the population participating in ways that are more meaningful. Programs with social goals are typically more successful than those with only economic and/or environmental goals. This information can be used for planning sustainable development programs and updating requirements in funding guidelines to reduce investment risks and more consistently realize the benefits of sustainable development programs.

Masters in Public Administration - MPA / Much has been said about the continued escalation of disasters, impacting negatively on the people’s livelihoods; mostly the poor. However, not enough is done to minimise or reduce the vulnerability of the people to risks as evidenced by the increasing numbers of disaster victims locally, nationwide and globally (Sahoo, 2005; Humby, 2012, Niekerk, 2005; Heijmans, 2008 and Cannon, 1994). The increasing disaster strikes in the City of Cape Town remain a major challenge to the surrounding communities (Cape Argus, 27 August 2012; Radar, 2010; Pillay, 2012 and Humby, 2012). Despite the expiry of the United Nations’ declaration of the period 1990-99 as ‘the decade for natural disaster risk reduction in 1999, the years after the declaration were characterised by increased disaster strikes globally (Niekerk, 2005; GTZ, 2002; UNDP, 2004 and Alexander, 2006). Although, new global commitments such as the 2005-15 Hyogo Framework for Action (HFA) which targeted to minimise disaster risks by 2015, very little has changed as people are increasingly becoming more vulnerable to risks than before (Niekerk, 2005; Heijmans, 2008; Alexander, 2006 and Radar, 2010). South Africa’s statistics on past recorded disaster events from the eighties to the present, show the same increased trend in the loss of property and human capital. For example, in South Africa, the period from 1980 to 2010 recorded 77 disaster strikes with a total of 1869 people being killed and negatively affecting 18 million livelihoods nationwide (Humby, 2012). Given such high figures of casualties, the negative impact of disaster remains one of South Africa’s major challenges as it curtails sustainable development. It is against this background that the study embarked on an investigation to establish the effectiveness and efficiency of the City of Cape Town Metro Municipal local government’s approaches to disaster risks. The principal objective of the study was to determine the effectiveness and efficiency of the City of Cape Municipal Government in addressing the persistent disaster risks through a proper implementation of the core disaster principles of risk reduction, prevention and mitigation, as well as the post-disaster activities of preparedness, rehabilitation, response and recovery. The specific objectives of the study are: (i) to assess whether incorporating disaster risk management into the integrated developing plan (IDP) has the potential to mitigate or prevent disasters; (ii) to examine the extent to which the City of Cape Town can make use of the principle of co-operative governance and assistance in disaster risk management; and (iii) to evaluate the impact of public participation in disaster risk mitigation, prevention and reduction. The study employed an integrated approach to data gathering. Sources of data included government acts, policies, internet sources and journal articles were included. These sources were supplemented by individual interviews with disaster officials and community members. From the investigation, the study found that neither government nor the community can successfully manage to reduce, prevent or mitigate the impact of disasters. The study found out that collaboration between communities, and the government would help resolve the situation, with the private sectors taking a facilitative role than working separately. The study then emphasizes that a collaborative approach by different stakeholders would work well only if public participation and co-operative governance are institutionalised in the various sectors of the City of Cape Town.

Masters in Public Administration - MPA / In order to address the inequalities created by the apartheid regime between local authorities, various legislative and support mechanisms were put in place which were not always implemented effectively and efficiently. For this reason, the amalgamation of the previous racially based local authorities from 843 to 283 was introduced in terms of the Local Government Transition Act (LGTA) of 1995 and in particular the Local Government Municipal Demarcation Act of 1998. This reduction in the number of municipalities may have reduced the level of administration disruption but gave rise to institutions still being plagued by inequitable service delivery which impacted negatively on disadvantaged communities (Williams, 2000: 167). This has resulted in sporadic outbreaks of violence and protests all over the country more especially in the disadvantaged areas. In search for solutions to curb these violent protests this study was conducted to investigate the state of service delivery in the disadvantaged areas of the City of Cape Town. Langa as the oldest township in the City was selected for this purpose. As a result a questionnaire, in addition to statistics of Langa as well as interviews with important stakeholders was conducted. The data collected from these sources serve as the basis of the findings of this report. The findings establish that the majority of the residents in Langa more especially those from the formal areas are dissatisfied with the levels of service delivery. A range of factors such as intergovernmental relations, mismanagement and corruption and political infighting have been responsible for policies not being effectively implemented. However important strides have been made with regard to services most notably in the provision of electricity, water and sanitation. This is demonstrated by those respondents who indicated that they are reasonably satisfied with the levels of service delivery, most of whom were drawn from the informal rather than formal settlement areas. The findings, however, indicate that these residents are in a minority. For this reason the report concludes that the majority of the disadvantaged community of Langa is not satisfied with services due to the City of Cape Town’s failure to implement policies effectively and effciently. As a result the report not only addresses the achievements and failures of the City of Cape Town but also makes recommendations to ensure that policies are implementedeffectively and efficiently. This report firstly provides a brief introduction, background as well as the main guidelines of the research. Secondly, the report details the key issues of the research as well as those policy and legislation which relate to service delivery provisions. Thirdly, the report sketches background details of both the City of Cape Town and Langa. Fourthly the report provides a description of the findings of the report. Fifthly the report provides an analysis by way of discussing the achievements, limitations and challenges facing service delivery in Langa. Lastly, based on the conclusions derived as a result of the research, the study proposes various recommendations to speed up service delivery.

This thesis is an interdisciplinary study based on the interplay between science, technology and society in order to inform the design of knowledge exploration systems. It provides a rationale for the integration of science knowledge, geographic information, with digital libraries to build knowledge and awareness about sustainability. A theoretical reconceptualization of knowledge building is provided that favours interactive engagement with information and argues against a traditional model of science production and communication that is linear and unidirectional. The elements of contextualization, classification and communication form the core of the reconceptualization. Since many information systems entrench the traditional model of science production, the three elements are considered in light of library and information science and geographic information science. The use of geographic information systems is examined to identify how they can be used as part of a social learning model for scientific, social, cultural, and environmental issues to further assist people in connecting to place and sustainability. Empirical data was collected from four case studies. One case study centred on the design and development of a web-based digital library called the Georgia Basin Digital Library, another two case studies focused on the use of part of this digital library with youth, senior and environmental groups in south-western British Columbia. The remaining case study observed a community deliberation to consider how knowledge exploration systems might support deliberation in future processes. The case study research confirms that collaborative research with communities is a fruitful way to engage with sustainability issues. Such collaborations require consideration of institutional arrangements, information collections, relationship building, technology transfer and capacity building. / Arts, Faculty of / Geography, Department of / Graduate

Magister Artium - MA / South Africa has a growing economy with about 19 million of people going to work and looking for work every day (Ahmed 2004). The majority of people in South Africa use public transport in order to get to work. According to Ahmed (2004), 65 % of the people who use public transport, make use of the minibus taxis. The minibus taxis established themselves during late Apartheid as a solution to transporting poor, black people to and from work. Over the years during Apartheid and after, the minibus taxi industry has grown from a few, small scale businesses to a nationwide structured organisation (McCaul 1999). In 2007, the National Department of Transport created the Public Transport Strategy and Action Plan that would look at reorganising the transport system in South Africa. The main idea of restructuring the public transport system was to introduce a scheduled bus system which was reliable. In 2008, the City of Cape Town decided to begin plan and implement a new Bus Rapid Transport system (BRT system). This new transport system would be regulated and scheduled in order to make commuters movements around the city easier. (Ahmed 2004, 2-3) The BRT can be seen through the lens of competitive cities (Huchzemeyer), a notion intimately tied to neo-liberal and high modernist world views. Neoliberalism fosters competition between countries and companies across the world. Countries who want to be competitive and attract foreign direct investment adopt the neoliberal policies in order to make investing, trading and profit making easier and more attractive for businesses, especially international investors. The City of Cape Town follows neoliberal thought in the sense of adopting policies aimed at creating a city that can compete on an international level with other cities (Integrated Development Plan 2012-2017). The Integrated Development Plan (IDP) provides the City of Cape Town with a strategic framework on how to create sustainable development and growth so that the City may grow and develop economically as well as socially. This entails creating a city that is capable of supporting and aiding business expansion and development in all sectors as well as ensuring that Cape Town remains a prime tourist destination in order to attract international and local investment (Integrated Development Plan 2012-2017). In addition to a neo-liberal flavour, competitive cities invoke the high-handedness of modernist planning that Scott (1998) identifies in, 'Seeing like a State'. The theory explains how the state wants to create progress to improve the lives of the people by creating order out of the organic chaos that has emerged from the community/city over time. The outcome is that the State implements policy that eradicates the unique informal design and replaces it with a formal structure which can have a negative impact on the poor. This simplification is also often the reason why many historical social and economic practises are lost and replaces with order and simplicity – loss of unique identity (Scott 1998). These elements of the ideal competitive city are manifested in the BRT idea too. The City of Cape Town is in the process of trying to simplify and re-organise the transport system in the City in order to ensure that Cape Town fits into the mould of a competitive city. This new bus service will in effect eradicate the ‘organic chaos’ of the taxi industry as the taxis are replaced with MyCiti. The City of Cape Town used the process of public participation to consult with the taxi associations and owners. The City used 'invited spaces' (Cornwall 2002), to engage with the affected taxi parties and "sell" the idea of the BRT system. The City did use public participation; however, they only consulted the elites (Taxi owners and associations) in the taxi industry. Once the elites were satisfied that they would receive compensation for the loss of their business, they bought into the BRT system often at the expense of their voiceless employees. In Imizamo Yethu, Hout Bay, the Hout Bay taxi association and Hout Bay Cape Town associations used invented spaces, namely protests, to engage with the City about MyCiti. These associations believe that the implementation of the BRT system has affected their livelihoods in a negative way and that the City did not consult them about the implementation of the MyCiti bus service. There are also other conflicts that have arisen because of the implementation of the MyCiti bus service which has impacted negatively on the community. The result from the implementation of the BRT system is mixed. On one hand it would seem that the City of Cape Town has turned towards creating a competitive city and away from effects on the parlous lives of the poor. The City in conjunction with the ODA (full trading name), have tried to minimise the impact of the BRT system on the taxi micro-economy. However, those whose business was only partially affected have been left to fend for themselves. The problem, according to the City of Cape Town, is that there are limits to how much compensation they can give. Unfortunately, those left without compensation and loss of business are the victims of a society which favours straight lines compared to organic unique chaos.

As population increases, the number of water bodies meeting water quality standards tends to decrease. The 1972 Clean Water Act (CWA) addresses the issues of point and nonpoint source pollution by requiring states to compose lists of waters that do not meet water quality standards and develop Total Maximum Daily Loads (TMDL) for those waters. This requirement of the CWA remained inactive until EPA and states suffered lawsuits from environmental groups and concerned citizens. The result prompted a flurry to develop TMDLs in compliance with consent decrees. A variety of methods and models serve as tools to calculate existing loads, load reductions and allocations. The purpose of this study is threefold 1) to examine two methods of TMDL development, Flow Duration (FD) used in Kansas and Hydrologic Simulation Program-Fortran (HSPF) used in Virginia; 2) to compare results of both methods in the same watershed of Virginia; and, 3) to evaluate stakeholder involvement in the TMDL process. A variety of stakeholders such as agencies, towns and industry, agribusiness, and concerned citizen/environmentalists are faced with meeting TMDL reductions and allocations. It is important that the TMDL process and implications are understood by all stakeholders. / Master of Public and International Affairs

“Public participation” takes on various forms in the realm of local government planning. Many planners stand behind the ideal of involving community, but participation in practice often fails to achieve this objective. The primary vehicle for local government participation is the public hearing, which is a formalized process that often elicits one-way communication from planner to public. The nature of a hearing is to inform the public about development applications or policy changes, expose governing body decisions to the public, and elicit reactions from interested members of the public. Significant effort is taken daily by local planning departments to promote this transparent form of decision-making. The public can stay informed by reading legal ads in the newspaper, checking municipal websites, paying attention to public notice signs, attending hearings or simply receiving a hearing notice in their mailbox. However, staying informed and being involved are two completely different concepts. True involvement is two-way communication between public and planner. This study reports that the public hearing does not provide this necessary involvement. Alternative methods, such as workshops, are explored that break the formal mold of local government participation. Findings indicate that participation is more genuine in a loosely structured setting where face-to-face communication can occur between public and planner and among members of the public themselves. However, findings also suggest that genuine participation is not always appropriate given the intent of a public meeting. Many hearings are held at the end of the planning process for development applications requiring quasi-judicial decisions based on standards. The key is getting public input on earlier legislative decisions about policies that define the standards themselves. This study concludes with a toolkit of techniques practitioners can use to enhance public participation in planning, and observations about appropriate stages to implement those techniques in the planning process.

Masters of Science / Monitoring of groundwater levels provides a basis for assessing the availability of water in aquifers, thereby informing the decisions on abstraction and uses of such water for various purposes. It provides an understanding of anthropogenic and non-anthropogenic influences on aquifer, on temporal and spatial dimensions In South Africa and on a global scale, the lack of adequate implementation plan for the monitoring of groundwater levels has resulted in the lack of data and information on groundwater levels. Resultantly, preventing managers from making practical and appropriate decisions on how groundwater needs to be governed. Currently, there is a growing acknowledgement that adequate monitoring of groundwater levels depends on an implementation plan whereby citizens or local communities are considered crucial partners in generating data and information on groundwater levels. An important contribution of the thesis is the method used is aimed at understanding the current challenges in terms of the implementation of the monitoring of groundwater levels within the institutional setting and to what extent can citizen science lead to the planning of a more collaborative plan for monitoring of groundwater levels. Adopting of the Integrated Water Resource Management framework, in South Africa, further position citizens (community) at the crux of effective monitoring of groundwater levels. This is important to ensuring that groundwater is governed through a bottom-up approach, whereby groundwater resource is managed at local level where groundwater resides, is used and can be best managed. However, this position citizens as ‘citizen scientist” and further demand that they participate collaboratively with other stakeholders such as the Department of Water and Sanitation, Municipalities, Consultants amongst others. In effect, an adequate implementation plan needs to be developed based on the understanding of the involvement of citizens in science, in addition to collaboration between citizens and institutions responsible for the monitoring of groundwater levels. Such implementation plan must clearly defined roles and responsibilities based on the contextual institutional framework. Thus, the study making use of an exploratory qualitative approach, established current practices of monitoring of groundwater levels based on the institutional arrangement and determined current gaps and barriers in term of the implementation of monitoring of groundwater levels. Furthermore, the study and collective management to develop a collaborative action plan for the monitoring of groundwater levels. These drivers were identified as fundamental to collaboration in groundwater resource management, good groundwater governance and within the context of the Integrated Water Resource Management that drive management of groundwater in South Africa. The study identified the lack of adequate participation and collaboration between institutions responsible for the monitoring of groundwater levels. It further revealed that the current institutional setting contrast the bottom-up approach as anticipated under the Integrated Water Resource Management framework. In term of implementation of the monitoring of groundwater levels, challenges identified included the complexity of hydrogeological setting, limited scientific knowledge of the aquifers in West Coast, lack of adequate capacity, vandalism, poor access, lack of adequate funding and poor community participation. Currently, these challenges are aggravated as a result of the lack of collaboration as well as institutional voids due to inactive Catchment Management Agencies. Citizen Science have been acknowledge in hydrological monitoring, as an effective means of project design, data collection, verification of data, community engagement and collaboration between citizen and relevant institutions. Thus, the study recommended a citizen science approach for developing a collaborative monitoring of groundwater levels plan, as it doesn’t not only aligns with the Integrated Water Resource Management Framework but aligns and strengthens the bottom-up approach that is fundamental to Integrated Water Resource Management and good governance of groundwater resources. Based on the amalgamation of the citizen science framework with collaborative drivers, a collaborative action plan was developed. The plan outlined and defined roles and responsibilities for successful collaboration. The recommendations included the need for the development of the Catchment Management Agencies to enable the integration of stakeholders in the management of groundwater resource. Additionally, there is a need to develop a community of knowledge and the integration of Water Users into groundwater resource management. / 2021-04-30

Is the public movement the only way to stop the development project? What did activists experience when they communicate with the government within the system? This research studied two critical coastal conflicts in Taiwan- Kuokuang Petrochemical Project and Miramar Resort Project to find out root causes of movement, the practice of participating mechanism, and possible improvements. The study shows that the movement has its irreplaceable position, because the awareness, information, and participating mechanism are still insufficient in today’s Taiwan. For a better coastal zone management, it is necessary to complete the related legislation, improve the system and upgrade the mind-set from the government to the grassroots.

Dissatisfaction with service delivery is an enormous challenge for the current government of South Africa, as protests about service delivery are frequent and often violent and disruptive. E-participation could provide a means for dissatisfied citizens to voice their grievances, but it has not been duly exploited in South Africa. The purpose of this research is to contribute to knowledge of e-participation in developing countries , and specifically to identify the factors that influence the success of service delivery e-participation initiatives. A case study was conducted of an e- participation project - Project Lungisa - and qualitative data, in the form of interviews, documents and field notes, was collected and analysed in order to identify these influencing factors. As predicted in the literature review, citizens’ trust in government, stakeholder management, ICT infrastructure and project leadership were factors that influenced Lungisa’s success. Political consensus and inclusion did not influence success, and as a result two of the study ’s propositions could not be confirmed. Unanticipated factors that emerged as influential include local government support, independence from government and political parties, the use of mobile phone technology, marketing and advertising and community integration. A revised conceptual model is presented in the conclusion of this study, which could be tested in future research. Recommendations for practitioners are also given based on the nine influencing factors, and it is hoped that these will be of value to implementers of future e-participation projects.