Through the use of oral and written history, this thesis examines forces and factors contributing to key events and defining phases in the history of regional planning in British Columbia. Regional planning, which emerged in BC in the late 1940s in response to the need to address problems related to urban growth in the Lower Mainland, has taken on a number of forms over the past half-century. During this time the regional approach to planning has been introduced as a means of addressing land-use questions and servicing challenges in rural and urban areas, addressing conflicts over resource use and implementing sustainability objectives. This thesis divides regional planning in the province into three main phases. The first phase (1940s to 1970s) is characterized by the introduction of regional planning legislation, regional planning bodies and processes in response to rapid growth and development. The second phase (late 1970s to 1980s) is marked by the rescinding of regional district planning powers and other setbacks to the regional planning system imposed by the government of the day. The third phase (1990s) is a time of rebirth and redefinition of regional planning priorities and processes in the face of increasing challenges related to urban growth and resource management. While some links to exogenous influences are identified, analysis of key themes and trends in BC's regional planning history reveals the major roles the province's geography, economy, system of governance, politics, and the people involved in regional planning processes have played in shaping regional planning policy, process, and practice. Based on this historical review a number of recommendations for future research and direction are proposed.

This thesis studies the history of the Capital Regional District (C.R.D.), the regional authority for the twelve municipalities and two electoral areas called Greater Victoria on Vancouver Island, from the birth of regional planning in the 1950’s to stagnation in the 1980’s and 90’s. It seeks to understand what happened in the CRD and what lessons we can learn from Victoria that will add to the existing knowledge of regional planning. Was it the structure of the CRD, the enabling legislation, the process followed in creating official regional plans, local politics, or a combination of factors that prevented the CRD from fulfilling its promise? By understanding the CRD history we are able to identify problems and suggest changes that could begin the planning process once again. The CRD is studied through personal interviews, newspaper research, secondary sources, and a custom survey of politicians and planners, to determine the political and professional atmosphere surrounding the CRD over its entire history. Other examples of regional planning or, more specifically, urban-centred regional planning, are studied to set the CRD within the spectrum of types of regional authorities. From the beginning there has been little municipal support, either politically or professionally, for regional planning in the Capital Region. In addition there is the continuing lack of trained professional planning staff in many of the regional municipalities. Thus, the CRD’s calls for planning merely fall upon deaf ears. The final problem has been with the regional authorities themselves. The early CRPB planners may have demonstrated elitism since they were the only planners in the region and worked for what they thought was the ‘higher authority’. This apparent arrogance in pursuit of regional goals may have sown the seeds of the mistrust which the municipalities came to regard the regional planning efforts of the CRD. Municipal support withered and was weak in 1983 when the Province stripped Regional Districts of their regional planning powers; however, Saanich has demonstrated an increase in support for regional planning in recent years. However, the municipalities within the region still lack a proper forum and process to resolve regional land issues. Only the Province of BC can restore this through legislation.

The purpose of this thesis is to explore the concept of bioregionalism as an alternate approach to the governance and development of Northwest British Columbia. Bioregionalism is a territorially oriented perception and practice based on the capability of a bounded physical environment to sustain both its native ecosystems and a level of human activity. The hypothesis that bioregionalism could better guide the Northwest's governance and development is argued by employing five major premises. First, the Northwest is introduced as a region where the effect of increasing industrial activity, based solely on large-scale natural resource extraction, is becoming a major concern of region residents. The potential that Native people will soon evolve methods of self-government which better address this concern is offered as a logical reason for non-Native residents of the same region to investigate similar representation. Second, a review of 10,000 years of Northwest history is organized to describe seven major eras of economic activity. This overview shows that the region has one, a distinct indentity, and two, that European explorers, colonists and industrial interests have for two centuries badly exploited both the region's natural resources and indigenous peoples. The third premise examines the structures of governance and development which currently control the region. These structures are shown to have serious flaws which perpetuate absentee government and an economy based on widespread ecosystem destruction. Extended quotes, originating from region interest groups, are offered to emphasize resistance felt against these practices and an optimism that a more positive alternative exists. The fourth premise introduces bioregionalism as one alternative way to guide the Northwest's future. The concept's literature is reviewed, its 200-year intellectual pedigree outlined and, from both these exercises, a practical Utopian working structure is developed. Bioregional theory is shown to be based on a single dominant theme: that a region population with political control over an ecolocically regulated economy would be the basic building block of a modern and responsible governance structure. The fifth premise applies the ideas of bioregionalism specifically to the Northwest. A bioregional survey is completed which both defines the area's new borders and explains in great detail the output of its present economy. Annual extraction and harvest levels of thirty natural resources over varying periods between 1877 and 1984 are presented. These figures demonstrate the Northwest's native wealth and provide a strong reference for a more detailed understanding of how the region economy operates. Finally, bioregionalism is shown to be already unconsciously practiced across the Northwest, with many more opportunities existing to expand its influence. This extended argument in favour of a bioregional alternative for the Northwest makes several conclusions. The concept would provide a better way to guide the region's future. It could be successfully implemented in the Northwest only, or be more boldly applied to all British Columbia bioregions, which are speculated as being equally rich. The broad structure of the thesis presentation, integrating both theory and place related topics, is concluded to be a useful method to address complex problems of rural regions. This approach has delivered a viable conceptual framework, a starting point from which systematic further investigation into the details of bioregionalism1s application can be tested. / Applied Science, Faculty of / Community and Regional Planning (SCARP), School of / Graduate

Through the use of oral and written history, this thesis examines forces and factors contributing to key events and defining phases in the history of regional planning in British Columbia. Regional planning, which emerged in BC in the late 1940s in response to the need to address problems related to urban growth in the Lower Mainland, has taken on a number of forms over the past half-century. During this time the regional approach to planning has been introduced as a means of addressing land-use questions and servicing challenges in rural and urban areas, addressing conflicts over resource use and implementing sustainability objectives. This thesis divides regional planning in the province into three main phases. The first phase (1940s to 1970s) is characterized by the introduction of regional planning legislation, regional planning bodies and processes in response to rapid growth and development. The second phase (late 1970s to 1980s) is marked by the rescinding of regional district planning powers and other setbacks to the regional planning system imposed by the government of the day. The third phase (1990s) is a time of rebirth and redefinition of regional planning priorities and processes in the face of increasing challenges related to urban growth and resource management. While some links to exogenous influences are identified, analysis of key themes and trends in BC's regional planning history reveals the major roles the province's geography, economy, system of governance, politics, and the people involved in regional planning processes have played in shaping regional planning policy, process, and practice. Based on this historical review a number of recommendations for future research and direction are proposed. / Applied Science, Faculty of / Community and Regional Planning (SCARP), School of / Graduate

This thesis studies the history of the Capital Regional District (C.R.D.), the regional authority for the twelve municipalities and two electoral areas called Greater Victoria on Vancouver Island, from the birth of regional planning in the 1950’s to stagnation in the 1980’s and 90’s. It seeks to understand what happened in the CRD and what lessons we can learn from Victoria that will add to the existing knowledge of regional planning. Was it the structure of the CRD, the enabling legislation, the process followed in creating official regional plans, local politics, or a combination of factors that prevented the CRD from fulfilling its promise? By understanding the CRD history we are able to identify problems and suggest changes that could begin the planning process once again. The CRD is studied through personal interviews, newspaper research, secondary sources, and a custom survey of politicians and planners, to determine the political and professional atmosphere surrounding the CRD over its entire history. Other examples of regional planning or, more specifically, urban-centred regional planning, are studied to set the CRD within the spectrum of types of regional authorities. From the beginning there has been little municipal support, either politically or professionally, for regional planning in the Capital Region. In addition there is the continuing lack of trained professional planning staff in many of the regional municipalities. Thus, the CRD’s calls for planning merely fall upon deaf ears. The final problem has been with the regional authorities themselves. The early CRPB planners may have demonstrated elitism since they were the only planners in the region and worked for what they thought was the ‘higher authority’. This apparent arrogance in pursuit of regional goals may have sown the seeds of the mistrust which the municipalities came to regard the regional planning efforts of the CRD. Municipal support withered and was weak in 1983 when the Province stripped Regional Districts of their regional planning powers; however, Saanich has demonstrated an increase in support for regional planning in recent years. However, the municipalities within the region still lack a proper forum and process to resolve regional land issues. Only the Province of BC can restore this through legislation. / Applied Science, Faculty of / Community and Regional Planning (SCARP), School of / Graduate

This thesis places the growth management, specifically the urban growth boundary, policies of the Greater Vancouver Regional District and the Province of British Columbia in comparative perspective. The operative problem statement for this study is that current efforts at managing urban growth in the Lower Mainland are ambitious, but that they need to be made more robust. The specific methodologies used to address this problem statement include: a detailed review of the literature on urban growth boundaries and on growth management; a review of growth management policies relevant to containing urban growth in the Lower Mainland; and a detailed examination of the urban growth boundary policies of two case studies (Thurston County, Washington and Metro Portland, Oregon). The literature review reveals that urban growth boundaries are a simple concept, yet they are potentially troublesome policy considerations. As defined in the literature, urban growth boundaries are lines on a map that demarcate urban from rural land, thus setting a limit on urban expansion. The literature generally concludes that urban growth boundaries can be an extremely effective component to broader growth management programs, given a number of policy design considerations are taken into account. A thorough examination of current growth management initiatives in the Lower Mainland reveals that the substantive content of both the Livable Region Strategic Plan (1996) and the Growth Strategies Statutes Amendments Act, 1995 is "sustainable", albeit somewhat incomplete. In placing these policies in comparative perspective with the urban growth boundary policies of the two case studies, it is generally concluded that urban growth boundaries would contribute to current efforts at managing urban growth in the Lower Mainland by containing sprawl and ensuring the contiguity of urban development. Furthermore, it is argued that Provincial legislation should be amended in a way that outlines province-wide urban containment goals, ensures better interjurisdictional coordination of policies, and establishes enforcement mechanisms that include provisions for the application of sanctions upon noncompliant jurisdictions. Finally, while the case studies revealed some important information regarding urban containment in the Lower Mainland, they also served to confirm the information presented in the literature review, thus demonstrating consistency between theoretical notions of urban containment and practical experiences with urban growth boundaries.

This thesis considers the Pacific Great Eastern Railway, the British Columbia Railway as of April 1, 1972, a Provincial Crown corporation, and the implications of its extensions upon regional development. The indicators of regional development studied are population and industrial profiles. The time framework of the thesis is from 1952 to 1972, the period of the P.G.E. extensions. Two perspectives of the implications for regional development are examined. Chapter Two treats with the Provincial Government agencies whose policies have had the most effect in the study area. The financing, safety, and freight rate implications of the P.G.E. are discussed. In addition, general policies and inter-relationships with the P.G.E. of the following Provincial agencies are considered: B.C. Hydro, the Department of Highways, and the Forest Service. The third through sixth chapters consider the regional development of four regions: Squamish-Cariboo, Prince George, Peace River-Liard, and Omineca-Stikine. These regions, in turn, are broken into areas—usually to correspond with a central P.G.E. railway station and its commodity carloadings. The development within each area is studied in respect to population changes and industrial expansion since 1951. The P.G.E. commodity carloadings from 1966 through 1970 are used as indicators of regional development. The fluctuations of the carloadings of certain commodities, such as woodchips, lumber and veneer, merchandise, and machinery and parts, have been used to show the level of regional industrial development. Alone, the P.G.E. commodity carloadings are of little use. However, they take on more meaning in light of the policies of the Provincial Government agencies. The usefulness of the data takes a quantum leap when individual shippers indicate how much they ship, its routing, and its final destination. A limited attempt at this later refinement is provided by the responses of about fifty company and government officials to a single page, open-ended question letter. Most of these responses are in letter form although those companies with offices in Vancouver are interviews. A limitation of the technique used in this thesis to determine regional development is the inability to estimate the importance of the service sector. The obvious weight is given to the resource extraction and manufacturing sectors since these are the sectors which generate railway carloadings. Only when there is a significant population and the total carloadings are relatively low, are there suspicions of a large service sector or the possibility of significant truck shipments. The general conclusion to this thesis is that the Pacific Great Eastern Railway has stimulated regional development in the areas it serves directly. However, this development has been primarily in the forest products industry, in conjunction with Forest Service policies and technological improvements. The development of this industry has then provided a stimulus for maintenance and repair services and a more stable population base, which has helped to establish a need for improved highways. / Applied Science, Faculty of / Community and Regional Planning (SCARP), School of / Graduate

This study was concerned with the design and evaluation of a land use simulation game for rural residents of the East Kootenay region of British Columbia. The rationale behind the study was that gaming was a technique worthy of investigation for use in the environmental education of adults. Two hypotheses were proposed to guide the research on the land use simulation game designed. The first proposed that the game would produce a significant increase in knowledge and change in attitude, and the second stated that significant relationships would be shown between player characteristics, game play data and test results. A simulation game was designed using a modified version of a procedure set out by Glazier (41) for designing educational games. Two preliminary versions were tested and a final version set up. The game was a board game using an enlarged piece of a land capability map. Players bought and planned pieces of land through the four seasons of the year. The objective of the game was to maximize economic returns without severely damaging the environment. Instruments for evaluating the game were simultaneously designed and tested. The simulation game was played with 40 East Kootenay residents in school district number 2, Cranbrook on properties of 50 acres or more. Family groups played the game and completed both a pre and post-test. The people playing the simulation game came mostly from productive farms (82.5%). Thirty-five percent of the sample were husbands and wives, 45 percent children, and 20 percent were others which included farm hands and neighbours. The mean educational level of the group was 10.7 years. The mean land holding size was 537.1 acres and the mean number of players per each of the nine gaming sessions was 4.7 persons. Years of schooling correlated positively with the total score a person received on the game. Objective 6 on the ability to identify good and poor land uses correlated significantly with a number of other variables. This objective appears to be an important one to consider in future game modification. Knowledge and attitude correlated significantly and positively with years of schooling, money scores, total scores, playing time, number of players, attitude towards the game, and rank within a group; and negative significant correlations were found with property size and environmental unit scores. T-test results showed that there had been a general increase in knowledge and in particular an increase in the knowledge about the competitive relationships that exist between wild and domestic populations. A change in attitude about the effects of land use on neighbouring lands was also found to be significant. It was concluded that the simulation game had been a limited success with some learning statistically demonstrable. Correlation data and subjective data provided sufficient information for the further modification of this learning device to enhance its effectiveness. / Education, Faculty of / Educational Studies (EDST), Department 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

This thesis places the growth management, specifically the urban growth boundary, policies of the Greater Vancouver Regional District and the Province of British Columbia in comparative perspective. The operative problem statement for this study is that current efforts at managing urban growth in the Lower Mainland are ambitious, but that they need to be made more robust. The specific methodologies used to address this problem statement include: a detailed review of the literature on urban growth boundaries and on growth management; a review of growth management policies relevant to containing urban growth in the Lower Mainland; and a detailed examination of the urban growth boundary policies of two case studies (Thurston County, Washington and Metro Portland, Oregon). The literature review reveals that urban growth boundaries are a simple concept, yet they are potentially troublesome policy considerations. As defined in the literature, urban growth boundaries are lines on a map that demarcate urban from rural land, thus setting a limit on urban expansion. The literature generally concludes that urban growth boundaries can be an extremely effective component to broader growth management programs, given a number of policy design considerations are taken into account. A thorough examination of current growth management initiatives in the Lower Mainland reveals that the substantive content of both the Livable Region Strategic Plan (1996) and the Growth Strategies Statutes Amendments Act, 1995 is "sustainable", albeit somewhat incomplete. In placing these policies in comparative perspective with the urban growth boundary policies of the two case studies, it is generally concluded that urban growth boundaries would contribute to current efforts at managing urban growth in the Lower Mainland by containing sprawl and ensuring the contiguity of urban development. Furthermore, it is argued that Provincial legislation should be amended in a way that outlines province-wide urban containment goals, ensures better interjurisdictional coordination of policies, and establishes enforcement mechanisms that include provisions for the application of sanctions upon noncompliant jurisdictions. Finally, while the case studies revealed some important information regarding urban containment in the Lower Mainland, they also served to confirm the information presented in the literature review, thus demonstrating consistency between theoretical notions of urban containment and practical experiences with urban growth boundaries. / Applied Science, Faculty of / Community and Regional Planning (SCARP), School of / Graduate