Thesis (Ph. D.)--Pennsylvania State University, 2005. / Includes bibliographical references (p. [232]-243). Also available online via the Pennsylvania State University's Electronic Theses and Dissertations Archives website (http://etda.libraries.psu.edu/).

Thesis (MTech (Civil Engineering))--Cape Peninsula University of Technology, 2008. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 91-94). Also available online.

Significant changes must occur in human interaction with the natural environment if the world is to move towards a state of sustainability. While the need for such change is widely recognized, planning in many sectors continues to lead to development that is unsustainable. Urban transportation planning is one such sector. Little attention has been given by sustainability-oriented researchers to the problem of resistance to change. Conversely, little attention has been given by organizational change theorists to local government planning organizations’ indifference to the sustainability imperative. As a consequence, while a great deal of research has examined the need to control the automobile in urban areas, little has been written about why such control still does not happen -- even when policies call for it. Vancouver, British Columbia is recognized for its progressive attempts to move towards sustainability. This progressive situation creates an environment in which barriers impeding change towards sustainability can be studied. While Vancouver’s municipal and regional policies explicitly call for a reversal in priorities which have traditionally favoured automobiles over transit, bicycles and pedestrians, operational decisions still favour the automobile. Most significantly, roads continue to be widened and new expressways are built to accommodate more automobile traffic. A qualitative case study approach was used to inquire into transportation planning in Vancouver. An analysis of documents and of interviews with key informants suggests that a system of institutional barriers exists which has structural, cultural, and human resource dimensions. Unsustainability is a function of organizational inertia which is not only supported by, but also takes advantage of and fosters, the wider political individualistic culture. Specifically, there are several reasons for the disjunction between Vancouver’s transportation policies and the decisions which are being made in transportation infrastructure development: an institutional structure which separates land-use and transportation planning, impedes comprehensive decision-making, and lacks mechanisms to publicize and assess cumulative environmental impacts; the existence of an organizational culture which seems to condone the use of subversive tactics to promote an informal transportation plan which perpetuates traditional, automobile-oriented values, beliefs and assumptions; and the lack of conceptual knowledge and skills necessary for organizational change to occur. The practical implications of these findings are that, in cases like Vancouver’s, sustainability can be fostered by three categories of mutually reinforcing actions: education, structural change, and planning practice. The actions in each category can build momentum towards second-order change using a social learning process to overcome societal values, beliefs and assumptions which promote an automobile-dominated transportation system. / Applied Science, Faculty of / Community and Regional Planning (SCARP), School of / Graduate

Thesis (Civ.E)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Civil Engineering, 1981 / MICROFICHE COPY AVAILABLE IN ARCHIVES AND ENGINEERING. / Bibliography: leaves 126-129. / by Dimitrios Andreou Tsamboulas. / Civ.E

The objective of this thesis is to outline steps that the Obama Administration could take to help pass legislation for an innovative funding mechanism known as a National Infrastructure Bank (NIB). The recommended steps are based on a historical analysis of the leadership provided by Presidents Roosevelt and Eisenhower when passing the original bills that authorized the Interstate system. Key policy recommendations include: framing the need for an NIB as a means of economic growth and natural disaster resilience, building strategic stakeholder support through education, and engaging and compromising with Congress while developing the NIB proposal. If successfully applied, these lessons can contribute to enabling the creation of an NIB that would increase infrastructure investment by billions of dollars while rehabilitating the struggling economy and transportation network.

published_or_final_version / Transport Policy and Planning / Master / Master of Arts in Transport Policy and Planning

In this study, we explore the reason why Ming people did not use sea transportation to solve the problem of supplying Beijing from the perspectives of political history and intellectual history. Chapter 2 and chapter 3 reconstruct the decision-making processes in sea transportation. Chapter 4 analyses state and local political factors which influenced the result of decision-making. Chapter 6 discusses the spread and evolution of sea transportation knowledge in the intellectual sphere. (Abstract shortened by UMI.) / Sea transportation in this study refers to a specific form of maritime activity---grain transportation by sea. Sea transportation in the Ming dynasty (1368-1644) was conducted in the years before the Grand Canal became the major route of grain transportation. Although retrospectively it was only a transitional means of grain transportation in the dynasty, it was often proposed to be an alternative to canal transportation when the Grand Canal was malfunctioning. Because of what was involved in the grain supply of the imperial capital, sea transportation never ceased to be an issue in the political history of the Ming. / 樊鏵. / 呈交日期: 2006年9月. / 論文(哲學博士)--香港中文大學, 2007. / 參考文獻(p. 339-359). / Cheng jiao ri qi: 2006 nian 9 yue. / Adviser: Hung-lam Chu. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 68-08, Section: A, page: 3545. / Electronic reproduction. Hong Kong : Chinese University of Hong Kong, [2012] System requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader. Available via World Wide Web. / Electronic reproduction. [Ann Arbor, MI] : ProQuest Information and Learning, [200-] System requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader. Available via World Wide Web. / Abstracts in Chinese and English. / School code: 1307. / Lun wen (zhe xue bo shi)--Xianggang Zhong wen da xue, 2007. / Can kao wen xian (p. 339-359). / Fan Hua.

Thesis (MDF)--Stellenbosch University, 2014. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Governments have a pivotal role in meeting the ever-increasing demand for socio-economic services in transport, energy, telecommunications, water, education, health and delivery of other social services. However, the major issue in Mauritius is the lapsus in road infrastructure. The road infrastructure agenda in Mauritius needs to be revisited, as such, maintenance has been insufficient to prevent deterioration and there are some other reasons for the damage. Urgent rehabilitation and reconstruction is required to avoid further damage. Factors such as, deficit of funding, absence of coordination between the public and the private sector, changes in political regimes, lack of transparency in the procurement process and lack of adequate legal framework are factors to which the failure of implementing Public Private Partnership (PPP) in Mauritius can be attributed. However, the implementation of PPP might enhance the nature and efficacy of the way in which public money is spent and encourage resilience and competency of the taxation structure. Governments will therefore be apt to consider strategic partnerships in order to promote state-of-the-art technological advancement and enhance managerial skills and capabilities. Reviews discussed by the Government of Mauritius were taken from annual reports and an in-depth study was carried out. Moreover, as secondary analysis differs from systematic reviews and meta-analyses of qualitative studies, which aim instead to compile and assess the evidence relating to a common concern or area of practice, both secondary analysis and meta-analysis have been used. Therefore, this study comprised of a thorough, narrative discussions of research studies which epitomize attempts to make sense of the rapidly expanding research on PPP in Mauritius. From the narrative discussion, it can be highlighted that, controversy arose over the claims for surplus expenses of Rs 709 million on a preliminary agreement of Rs 2.2 billion. Moreover, due to factors such as massive non-alignment between government and private sector, unclear government goals and duties, multifaceted resolution, sectoral policies not well defined, regulatory challenges and limitations, risk management issues, poor reliability of public policies, insufficient local capital markets, poor mechanisms to attract cheaper long term capital, weak lucidity and absence of a competitive landscape, a delay in the implementation of PPP was encountered. However, an emergence in the number of PPPs has been witnessed in developing countries, not only because of their increasingly being viewed as value-for-money but also for the reasons that follow: enhancing the delivery of public sector services at lower costs, integrating protection of the environment by ensuring fulfilment of green requirements and promoting competition. Reviews and extracts show that Mauritius requires financial support to implement PPP projects. However, the availability of international aid has helped the country to gain faith in the implementation of PPP projects thus, helping the Small Island Developing State of Mauritius to look at the future of its development with confidence.

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

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