This dissertation sets out to describe a pro-active process of public participation in urban planning, motivated by a lack of planning theory and also available South African legislation to describe how pro-active public participation is achieved in planning practice. Communicative planning theory advises on and describes public participation as being meaningful focussing on consensus between stakeholders. Empirical evidence of such public participation is however scarce, and also a critique against communicative planning theory. South African legislation supports and uses the concept of pro-active public participation but has few practical guidelines to facilitate such a public participation process in planning. The context of public participation in South Africa, in specifically two communities (Khuma and Stilfontein) in the North-West Province was the primary focus in describing a pro-active process of public participation. These two communities that had participated in a previous project where public participation was conducted and most importantly documented were specifically chosen because they represent two different community contexts, with Stilfontein being a community primarily consisting of retired mineworkers and Khuma a community that came into being as a result of forceful removals during the apartheid era. Furthermore the process of public participation that was followed was unique in this project as methods from community psychology were applied to guide communication. The importance of context and communication were identified as the most important aspects when conducting public participation pro-actively. The importance of communication and context should be considered if a pro- active process of public participation is to be conducted. It is a timeous process to consider the context of community members when conducting public participation, but it must be considered by spatial planners. The possibility of multidisciplinary teams facilitating public participation processes in planning should be considered. In this way planners can be assisted when conducting public participation processes. The refinement of legislation describing public participation may also be helpful in attempts to enhance pro-active processes in public participation. / MArt et Scien (Urban and Regional Planning), North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2014

published_or_final_version / Urban Planning / Master / Master of Science in Urban Planning

“I want my street to be like an extension to my driveway, where the kids can play safely and where the traffic does not bother us,” said one resident. Another said that she “likes traffic... We live in a city.” This gives an idea of the broad range of opinions and views that exist on traffic. Traffic in local streets in a concern for residential amenity. There is always conflict between the residential amenity and traffic access functions of local streets. There is much debate on what a true local road is. The concept of environmental capacity was developed to identify a suitable maximum traffic volume on local streets, without overly adversely affecting residents. It was first introduced by Buchanan and Appleyard in separate research in the 1960s. Both men settled on thresholds of 2,000-3,000 vehicles per day. Chesterman, in 2009, carried out a study in Christchurch, surveying residents on four local streets with varying traffic volumes. He found residents living on busier streets felt that their streets were busier, noisier and less safe. There was also an increasing trend for these residents to have their houses turned away from the street and they tended to have less personal involvement with their neighbours. He found that perhaps a more suitable environmental capacity estimate was between 1,500 and 2,000 vehicles per day. This study looked at further Christchurch streets, this time with street treatments, such as street calming and tree plantings, aiming to find an environmental capacity for these streets as well as seeing whether the street treatments affected the perceived environmental capacity. As well as reinforcing most of the conclusions found by Chesterman, a higher environmental capacity of around 2,000 vehicles per day was found for the surveyed streets. This suggests that indeed, street treatments such as those used in the surveyed streets can increase the environmental capacity, which has implications for local councils who want to maintain road traffic carrying capabilities without having unsatisfied residents.

This thesis presents an in depth study of the expansion of settlement in Christchurch between 1850-62, the pre-Municipal Council years. It is confined spatially to the 'central city' area within the four Avenues. Four research problems are studied: (1) The laying out of Christchurch by the New Zealand Company surveyors for the Canterbury Association, in particular, the reasons for the use of a grid street pattern. It was found that many factors were involved in its use. These included the personal preferences of the surveyors and the Association committee members, the topographic nature of the site chosen and contemporary planning convention. (2) The initial selection of town sections by the colonists and the reasons behind their choices. The 'orders of choice' of the sections have been tabulated and mapped to show section preference and how the settlers perceived the economic value of particular areas of the town grid for their commercial prospects. Town section auctions, leases, sales and subdivisions as well as church land are investigated. (3) The sale of the Town Reserves surrounding the town section area is also studied; the reason for their early sale, the nature and characteristics of the sales including prices and purchasers and their occupations. It was found that the prices paid were significantly related to the spatial positions of the lots within the Reserve blocks and to the time of their sale, in response to contemporary land values. There was no significant relationship between prices and the occupations of the buyers. (4) Public works undertaken by the Association and the Provincial Government are studied and their relationship with immigration and population figures. The scale of public works carried out at particular times was found to relate both to available finance and to immigration, the source of labour. Various aspects of public works, for example, street and footpath formation and bridging and drainage work were found to be indicative of differential growth between periods of depression and prosperity.

Esta tese busca discutir sobre algumas concepções teóricas de cidade no período do Renascimento. Consideramos que a gênese desta ideia foi, na teoria da arquitetura, com o tratado de Leon Battista Alberti. Durante o século XVI as diversas ideias de cidade apresentam várias faces: desde a arquitetura e urbanismo, passando pela literatura utópica, até os tratados de politica e governo. Para essa tese analisamos obras de Leon Battista Alberti, Antonio di Pietro Averlino, Francesco di Giorgio Martini, Ludovico Agostini, Raffaello Sanzio, Claudio Tolomei, Francisco de Holanda e o Inca Garcilaso de la Vega. O tema da cidade é analisado através das obras destes autores, dentre os mais significativos sobre o tema ao longo dos séculos XV e XVI na Europa e América. Concluímos com uma síntese do que entendemos como a ideia de cidade do Renascimento, ressaltando que são múltiplas e complexas como o são os próprios autores e realidades. / This Ph.D. thesis discuss about some theoretical conceptions of city in the Renaissance. Considering that the genesis of this idea into the architectural theory started with the Leon Battista Alberti\'s treatise, and developed during the 15th century with the treatises from Antonio di Pietro Averlino and Francesco di Giorgio Martini. During the 16th century the theories of city have many faces: since the theory of architecture and urbanism, passing to utopiac literature, arriving in treatises of politics and government. In this Ph.D. thesis we analyze works of Leon Battista Alberti, Antonio di Pietro Averlino, Francesco di Giorgio Martini, Ludovico Agostini, Raffaello Sanzio, Claudio Tolomei, Francisco de Holanda and the Inca Garcilaso de la Vega. The theme of the city is examined through the works of these authors, the most significants on the subject during the 15th and 16th centuries in Europe and America. We conclude with an essay, expressing what we understand as the idea of Renaissance city, as multiple and complex as the authors and them realities.

This thesis examines the use of alternative dispute resolution (ADR) for local government planning and development disputes in New South Wales. Set within broader theoretical concerns around key concepts, this research comprehensively documents, for the first time, how the ADR process of mediation was introduced to NSW councils and then used by their staff and independent ADR practitioners for disputes over development applications and the formation of local planning policies. The thesis also provides a systematic overview of the use of mediation and conciliation for development appeals brought before the Land and Environment Court of NSW (LEC). In the 1980s there was considerable interest in ADR in Australia. Mediation was in use for community, family and business disputes and by the early 1990s was being suggested for environmental, planning and development matters. Its use was encouraged by government agencies keen to see a reduction in the costs of often delayed council decisions on development applications. There was also a desire by councils to find a way to reduce the community disharmony that often occurred over large or contentious applications, or when changes to planning policies were proposed. Mediation held great promise in these early years but as this research shows, its take-up has been modest and its use variable. A detailed analysis of the encouragement to use ADR for planning and development disputes before councils and the LEC, together with an examination of policy and survey evidence, uncovers a significant gap between the promotional rhetoric and actual practice. From extensive in-depth interviews with council staff and ADR practitioners and through personal knowledge, it can be seen that the initial enthusiasm for ADR has not continued, with council staff now more commonly seeking to directly negotiate solutions to development disputes. The thesis concludes by considering the likely future for ADR in local government planning and development disputes.

This thesis is concerned with the contribution of practising planners, working in town or urban planning departments, to social wellbeing. It is concerned with what planners do, how they conceptualise the application of town or urban planning practice to social issues, and what they think about their role in achieving social outcomes in a place. The general question is initially addressed through an introductory story and then via a content analysis of recent regional strategic plans. This is followed by a review of town planning literature on social issues, particularly literature concerned with small areas such as villages and neighbourhoods and which treat urban areas as a series of villages or neighbourhoods. The work is further advanced by a discourse analysis of the use of the word community, as a noun and as an adjective, in a series of planning reports. Recent literature on community development, community consultation and sustainability principles is also reviewed for its contribution to the way in which planners address social issues. On the basis of findings from this work, five research propositions are developed. These are explored through a survey of practising planners. The research propositions are explored in a number of questions so as to search for consistency and establish the reliability of the results. The same questionnaire is also administered to a class of fourth year student planners as a control. Four of the five research propositions are demonstrated by the survey results. The results suggest that practising planners have a knowledge and skill shortfall in the area of applying planning practice to achieving social outcomes. However, the results also demonstrate that most planners think that community building is part of their role, they have a realistic appreciation of their skills and are open to new ideas and learning opportunities. The concluding section of the thesis makes a series of suggestions for responding to the shortfall and developing planners� knowledge and skills relevant to community building.

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