The thesis develops a framework and system for integrating Strategic Environmental Assessment [SEA] into Malaysian land use planning, for the purposes of achieving sustainable development. The emphasis is upon procedural and resource aspects of SEA rather than on methodologies. The research includes review and analysis of international and Malaysian published literature, government documents, case study analyses, a postal questionnaire survey and interviews. The development of the proposals is based on the identification of philosophies, principles and links between three main concepts, namely sustainable development, land use planning and Strategic Environmental Assessment. Examples of approaches and experiences of SEA from the United Kingdom, United States of America, Canada and elsewhere are analysed and evaluated. These are assessed against Malaysian national planning and land use planning systems and frameworks, and current Malaysian practices in environmental impact assessment. An evaluation of the strengths and shortcomings of the Malaysian systems, procedures, processes and resources is used to justify and form the basis for the proposals. The thesis describes the research framework and methodologies; the basic concepts of sustainable development, land use planning and SEA/ElA; and the Malaysian political, legislative, institutional and planning frameworks. The proposals include an idealised SEA framework within a proposed national integrated planning system for Malaysia; the functions of Malaysian SEA; a proposed structure plan process with SEA; an outline strategy for actions; and subjects for further research.

The major concern of this thesis is to describe and identify the main transport problems which may affect the elderly's levels of participation in activities, and also to examine the relationship between transport problems and the elderly's levels of participation. The main objectives of this thesis are: to identify the main activities in which the elderly participate; to identify the transport problems which may affect or prevent the elderly from taken part in some or all activities; to identify which activities the elderly fail to achieve and the level of participation they wish to achieve and the main reasons which underline these problems; to examine how the characteristics of individuals affect the use of transport methods; and finally to identify the main transport difficulties encountered by the elderly in using transport system. This thesis is divided into twelve chapters, which can be structured into four main parts: the first part reviews the literature on transport policy for the elderly; the second part includes background information to the research problems, the survey methodology and the case studies; the third part contains detailed discussion of the main transport problems affecting the elderly's participation in the organised activities (from the organisers' point of view), the fourth part contains discussions of achieved activities, desired level of participation in activities, transport methods used by the elderly, and finally transport difficulties encountered by the elderly; this includes fully achieved, modified, and frustrated activities, in order to explain the relationship between the transport needs and demands of the elderly people. The main survey method used in collecting the data was a postal questionnaire and SPSS (Statistical Package for Social Science) was used in analysis. The thesis concludes by providing a summary of the main findings and the implications of the results obtained in the study.

This study sets out to investigate the factors that have determined the progress and development of the Common EU Maritime Transport Policy (CMTP) in the 1990s, using two case-studies which examine the progress of common policies on safe seas and shortsea shipping respectively. Drawing on the theoretical strands examining European integration, in particular suggestions that an analytical emphasis on the involved policy actors is a helpful way to understand the progress of the EU policies, the research concentrates on both the economic environment of maritime transport and the interaction of policy makers and organised interests during the policy making process. Employing insights from the neoinstitutional account of comparative politics the thesis sets out to test the validity of accounts of EU policy-making that put particular stress on the critical role of the EU institutions within this process and, consequently, the advancement and content of EU level policies. The research findings suggest an explanatory model of the progress of the CMTP which focuses on the distinctive institutional dynamism of the EU, without being reductionist insofar as the other policy actors or the economic context are concerned. It takes into account, first, the vital role of the EU decision-making institutions and, second, the mediation of the extant institutional framework on the activities of all the involved policy actors. While the contextual economic internationalisation and the ineffectual policy responses of the non-EU policy making levels have provided the stimulus for discussing EU policy developments, the progress of the CMTP is found to be the outcome of a dialectic relationship between national governments, interest groups, the EU institutions, and their ideas. Within this relationship the EU institutions play a decisive role. These results challenge previous conceptions of the CMTP as the outcome of intergovernmental bargaining, or the product of an arena dominated by the variable powers of private actors. Reflecting on the theoretical debate on European integration, the thesis concludes that an internal EU policy arena with its own characteristics and complexity has grown considerably and commends the neoinstitutionalist perspective as a useful analytical tool in conceptualising EU policy developments.

This study evaluates the distributional effects of an improvement policy introduced in the 1974 Housing Act. It examines the role of Housing Action Areas, as an area-based policy for positive discrimination, in altering access to housing for people 1n 'greatest need'. The reasons for the existence of housing need 1n the inner city are elucidated in a discussion of changing urban housing markets. Research problems are identified following a review of the background to HAA policy and prev10us research on area-based intervention. Three key processes which have a bearing on distributional effects are identified: HAA declaration; implementation of improvement powers; and changes in housing function. The impact of declaration on individual households is examined, at a series of spatial scales. It is revealed that few of those in need have been affected. Cluster analyses are used to identify areas comprising concentrations of need for which HAA treatment is suitable. It is found that declaration falls far short of the spatially-defined potential for it. Thus, failure to reach target households cannot be entirely attributed to use of an area-based approach. Analyses of impact demonstrate that HAA declarations have not unequivocally been concentrated in the most needy areas. An examination of implementation of improvement powers suggests that relatively few households have been affected, though acquisition by councils and housing associations has been significant. Implementation is least efficacious in large HAAs, those in London, and those where housing need 1S relatively greatest. A micro-level study of council acquisition 1n HAAs in Islington, reveals that in the short term, substantial gains have been made by individual households in need. However, in the longer term, intervention reduces the opportunities for those most in need. It is concluded that the distributional effects of HAAs have been both limited and regressive, but the apparent outcome depends on the scale of analysis, and varies geographically. Paradoxically, relatively least has been achieved in London, to which the legislation was primarily orientated. This can be attributed to the structural and institutional framework in which HAAs have been conceived and implemented.

The widespread introduction of Local Area Network (LAN) media has had profound implications for communications protocols. It is required that the campus network at Hatfield, which since 1981 has been based on the cambridge Ring, should take advantage of the properties of their LAN, should meet the demand of both new and traditional applications and should allow network interconnections. To show how these requirements might be met a review is given of the communications support provided elsewhere by data transportation protocols. Expansion is also required, but it may not be achieved unless appropriate planning decisions are made. Measurements which provide knowledge of typical traffic characteristics and quantities and of constraints or erroneous behaviour which may affect the decisions made are required. This information will allow modellers and planners to make predictions and estimates so that future demands can be met. A monitor tool has therefore been developed. It allows the traffic of the network to be monitored and measurements to be retrieved, displayed and analysed. A decentralized approach which provides an integrated measurement facility has been adopted. The design, and the decisions and constraints which influenced that design, are desribed. From the measurements gathered a comprehensive traffic characterization is provided. It relates traffic characteristics of different grains to applications, to system characteristics and to constraints. The measurement analysis therefore establishes a firm base from which predictions and estimates may be made. It also provides a base for comparisons, one which allows the effects of hardware and software changes to be observed and which also provides valuable information to both planners and modellers of similar and different environments. Implementation errors and erroneous behaviour are demonstrated and their cause is established. A bottleneck is identified, performance thresholds are determined and protocol modifications are suggested. Specific traffic characteristics are identified for particular applications and user groups, effects of different buffer sizes are considered and relationships between protocol efficiency and traffic patterns are discussed

Local Government has undergone ma.n;r changes in the past decade. Not least of these is its changing relationship with the organisations which lie outside its institutional boundaries. A particular focus of interaction between the Local Authority and other agencies has been Policy for the Inner Cities. This thesis examines the implementation of an Inner Area Programmein Nottingham and the changes in local policy making which have been associated with it. It argues that the implementation of the Inner Area Programmehas involved the development of closer relationships between statutory and non-statutory seotors, which oontain some corporatist fea.tures. Importantly, these changing relationships were identified not only by institutional features, but also by values and ideas, thus indicating an ideological dimension to corporatism. Other aspeots of the UP, such as its strategio and main programme components, and its requirements for momtoring and review, were not developed, despite the 1nitial stress on them at national level. . The Inner Area Programmewas implemented within an existing framewrk of trends and patterns, some of which reinforced the oonsultation emphasis' and interaction between sectors, while others mitigated the strategio and planning aspects of the policy. The inJeotion of the Inner Area Programmeinto the local policy makjng system in Nottingham illustrated the complexity of interactions between a national policy, local institutions and values, and underlying 'imperatives' to political action. Within this framework there was soope for the organisational choices which determined the particular fo:m of the Inner Area Programme in Nottingham.

No description available.

The central aim of this thesis is to investigate how a collaborative partnership approach as presented in contemporary planning theories can be applied to, and improve, a process of integrated waterside revitalisation. The emergence of a new model of governance, bringing together governmental and non-governmental forces to achieve the policy goal, calls for a novel form of partnership driven by interdependence and networking between a range of actors. Although this approach is often described as 'collaborative planning', there is widespread acknowledgement that the 'new' practice has operational difficulties. Collaborative planning has raised issues about how common values can be forged and applied in a real-life context, especially in the face of political inequality. This thesis draws on the results of a research project investigating a concrete example of collaborative partnerships, the Mersey Basin Campaign in the North West of England. The Campaign is a government-sponsored 25-year initiative that aims to improve water quality and the waterside environments of the Mersey Basin, a heavily urbanised area containing the two conurbations of Merseyside and Greater Manchester. In carrying out the study, six detailed case studies within the Campaign's activities have been investigated; about 40 semi-structured interviews have been undertaken, and over 25 meetings and field works have been observed. The study investigated the establishment and operation of a particular collaborative partnership according to a four-stage life cycle of partnerships. By exploring the six cases of collaborative practice through the views of practitioners, the research has shown how collaborative efforts can be made in a real-life context. The results showed that waterside sustainability issues were essential to tackling a river basin ecosystem management by creating a win-win strategy for wider stakeholders. The sustainability issue however, was not a top priority for all key stakeholders in deciding whether or not to put their money, time and efforts into the partnership. The research showed that funding availability is the best way to attract reluctant stakeholders, although partner organisations seemed not to be interested in implementing the tasks of the partnership once the initial excitement of funding availability had died away. There is, therefore, the partnerships need to develop an understanding of the collaborative approach among stakeholders and to change their attitudes towards a collaborative form of planning practice. Collaborative partnerships need different implementation processes to tackle different problems in the face of the complexity of waterside agendas; some planning processes require continuity of leadership, whilst others need bottom-up approaches. In this context, the study identified three key aspects of integrated waterside revitalisation; consensus building, facilitation, and open participation. It also developed a mechanism of collaborative partnership service delivery in coordinating a top-down approach and a bottom-up approach. The study has shown that the role of representatives linking their parent organisations to the partnership is fundamental for effective service delivery. It has been seen that once the representatives have shared ownership of the partnership, they act as a catalyst to stimulate and motivate action from their parent organisations.

The main objective of this research is to develop a systematic approach for comprehensive ex-post evaluation of urban policy. In broad terms, urban policies are central government initiatives applied in a spatially targeted manner within urban areas where specific needs have been identified. 'Comprehensive' is defined as the attempt to answer all the questions policy-makers and stakeholders are likely to raise at the various stages of the planning and implementation process. In moving towards the achievement of this objective a number of different, yet supplementary, sources of knowledge and experience are examined. Part 1 reviews the underlying assumptions and strengths and weaknesses of existing appraisal methods and examines their applicability in ex-post evaluation and the choice among them. It also examines the different views and models of both monitoring and implementation analysis and the role each can play within a comprehensive evaluation approach. Part 2 examines evaluation methods adopted in a number of case studies in various fields. It starts with the first hand experience in urban policy evaluation within a governmental context. Then, it critically reviews the methodology adopted for evaluation in a number of case studies in the field of urban policy. Evaluation traditions in the fields of regional (economic) policy in Britain and, trunk road and motorway schemes in the UK, USA and the Netherlands are also reviewed. These different strands are brought together in the form of a flexible systematic approach for comprehensive ex-post evaluation of urban policy. The choice of the 'components' of the approach is based, to a large extent, on the first part of the research. However, the organisation of the approach and the exact role each tool can play are greatly informed by the second part.

No description available.