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This thesis examines various approaches to public participation within rural planning. It deals with the roles rural residents, in unincorporated areas of British Columbia, can play in local planning. The thesis argues that effective planning in such areas only occurs if a rural planning approach, which considers distinctive rural characteristics, is applied to the planning process. Such planning generally requires the active involvement of rural people. To accomplish this objective a model is constructed of how rural residents participate in planning. Its theoretical framework is developed from a review of the available literature on rural planning and public participation. The model is then used to examine a specific area--Texada Island--which was selected because of its recent experiences with planning. The model identifies four main approaches to rural planning: planning 'of a rural community; planning 'for' a rural community; planning 'with' a rural community; and planning 'by' a rural community. The thesis argues that all of these approaches can meet the criteria that define rural planning, but they differ significantly on the objectives for the planning process, and the roles the local residents perform. The model also contains four categories of public participation: public information; data collection; citizenship training; and involvement in decision making. This thesis defines public participation as the means whereby the general public interact with decision makers, beyond elections, to ensure public decisions reflect their objectives. Within the context of this definition the four categories are seen as being the main avenues that rural people have for participation in planning. When the types of participation were applied to the various rural planning approaches a number of observations about the involvement of rural people in planning became apparent. These characteristics were reinforced when the Texada Islanders' experiences with planning were examined. The model and the Texada example both demonstrated that even within the constraints inherent in the various types of planning there were opportunities to enhance the level of public involvement. The author takes the position that these possible improvements are significant to the planning process since there is a positive linear correlation between increased public participation and the effectiveness of the planning process. The relationship between public involvement and planning is demonstrated through the analysis of rural planning approaches. Planning 'of' a rural, community may produce some short term results but it is incapable of providing any long term direction because the planning process is too divorced from the aspiration of the local residents who have considerable ability to frustrate external objectives even when they have little ability to take the initiative. Planning 'for' a rural community generally fails because the issues that the planning exercise is attempting to deal with are examined from the perceptions of 'outsiders'. Planning 'with' a rural community is limited because the planning process is dominated by the 'experts' who also see issues through a different set of perceptions. Planning 'by' the rural community approach is the approach that the thesis claims can succeed when the others fail. Its success is related to its correlation to rural values; its emphasis on local resources, which expands the usually limited resources available for any rural planning; and the fact that it deals with planning as part of a larger process of rural development. Rural development avoids the frequent segregation of planning and implementation and permits the planning to become an ongoing process which allows for adjustment and elaboration as required. Advocating a need for planning 'by' rural communities is not done with any naive assumptions about its success being assured. This approach can produce the most enduring results, but it also exacts the highest costs in terms of effort and its existence is dependent on a continuing commitment by the rural residents who are in control of the planning process. But this commitment is a requirement for rural development where change is achieved by the active participation of affected people. / Applied Science, Faculty of / Community and Regional Planning (SCARP), School of / Graduate

published_or_final_version / Public Administration / Master / Master of Social Sciences

The thrust of the study is to investigate the Local Government Turnaround Strategy as introduced by Cabinet in the year 2009. In this treatise a critical evaluation of the Local Government Turnaround Strategy that was passed by cabinet as a panacea that seeks to address the challenges that are being faced by municipalities today will be embarked upon. A case study of the Ngqushwa Local Municipality in the Amathole District Municipal area will be undertaken with the view to understand whether the Local Government Turnaround Strategy will indeed assist ailing local municipalities like Ngqushwa. As can be seen in our country, apartheid has left many problems both in the social, economic and political realms of our society. When local government was first established it was for the perpetuation of separate development as enshrined in the policy of apartheid. Apartheid was not the beginning of geographic, institutional and social separation at the local level. Segregation was already a policy by the time apartheid was introduced in 1948. However, the Group Areas Act, the key piece of legislation, instituted strict residential segregation and compulsory removal of black people to own group areas. Through spatial separation, influx control, and a policy of own management for own areas, apartheid aimed to limit the extent to which affluent white municipalities would bear the financial burden of servicing disadvantaged black areas. These separate developments led to the collapse of the former Black Local Authorities. When the democratic government took over the same challenges reared their heads again. Many intervention programmes were introduced to assist ailing municipalities to be viable. The study thus has tried to indicate how the Turnaround has assisted municipalities like the Ngqushwa Local Municipality.

Since the second half of the 20th century, public participation in local governance has been widely recognized and promoted by planning theorists and practitioners. Nevertheless, in practice, public participation has faced multiple criticisms, such as a disconnect between process and outcome, low levels of substantive representation for participating community groups, and rigidity in participatory methods. These three criticisms raise the question as to how effective public participatory programs are for multicultural cities, such as New York City, with their increasing numbers of ethnic residents. The goal of this three-article dissertation is to evaluate the current official participatory process in New York City while focusing on effectiveness, representativeness, and inclusiveness, that is, the three aspects of the process receiving the most criticism. Using path analysis, the first article compares and contrasts the effects of Community Board recommendations with those of the recommendations and reviews of other key representatives during the Uniform Land Use Review Procedure and neighborhood characteristics. The results indicate that, although Community Board recommendations have greater direct and indirect effects than those of the borough president, the second model, which incorporates neighborhood variables, reveals that increases in the socio-economic factor and decreases in the immigrant concentration factor are positively associated with changes in decisions within the procedure. Moreover, the second article observed the level of substantive representation in terms of Community Boards using the annual Statement of Needs and survey of residents. The research finds that, Community Board opinions exhibit a high correspondence with the opinions of residents on the need of affordable housing but that the opinions of residents and Community Boards diverged in other topics. Comparatively, Community Boards tend to choose topics that are related to developmental policies as the most pressing issues, while residents find topics relevant to redistributive policies as problematic. The research also reveals that the opinions of ethnic residents are represented less well than those of their non-ethnic neighbors. Lastly, the third article searches for the equity necessary to bring forth inclusive planning processes using interviews with leaders of Community Boards and community-based organizations. The research observes the choices that planners make and finds practical limitations, including legitimacy challenges, linguistic barriers, and definitions of culture. In conclusion, the article proposes that equity comes in multiple forms, including structured collaboration and communication among relevant participants and stakeholders, diverse participation methods for multiple cultures and publics, support from the City, and assistance from planning scholars. Although all three articles point out existing ethnic disparities, the dissertation concludes that an effective, representative, and inclusive participatory process is required for both ethnic and non-ethnic residents in multiethnic, multicultural New York City.