Thesis (doctoral)--Universität Zürich.

Thesis (M. Soc. Sc.)--University of Hong Kong, 1987.

No description available.

Thesis (M.Soc.Sc.)--University of Hong Kong, 1987. / Also available in print.

Although the planning and implementation of recent transportation projects have attempted to involve the public at critical stages, the persistence of conflicts between an efficient metropolitan transportation system and the needs of residents of the quiet enjoyment of their communities suggests the need to study and evaluate the effectiveness of participatory planning. This thesis explores the role of citizen participation in urban transportation planning and proposes an evaluation framework which is tested through its application to two recent transportation projects. This framework includes nine requisites for effective citizen participation which were drawn from the literature and the review of other related transportation case studies. These requisites relate to: •Objectives Defined •Good Timing •Effective Communications •Accessibility to the Process •Government Responsiveness •Community Representation •Commitment •Credibility •Flexibility By drawing on the experiences and perceptions of key participants of each case, the thesis assessed the effectiveness of each program. An evaluation matrix which is also based on these requisites is also proposed as a planning tool. The framework is tested through its application to the Cassiar Street Connector case in Vancouver and the Kensington Avenue Overpass project in Burnaby. Selected participants covering the local community, and appointed and elected municipal and provincial officials who were involved in each case were interviewed. Through their perceptions and insights, the framework was used to assess the effectiveness of the citizen participation component of the case. Results suggest that the framework can be considered a positive step towards a more general framework and towards a general improvement in the field of evaluation. While not a conclusive or exhaustive list of requisites, the framework does offer the advantage of including those requisites which, according to both the literature and the interviewees, are fundamental to participatory planning. The proposed matrix should be considered as an effective planning tool which allows for evaluation and monitoring complete participation programs as well as focussing on a specific requisite. Furthermore, it can be used as both an interim and final report card on a citizen participation program. The matrix also lends itself to a spreadsheet application. The thesis suggests the importance of a well defined organizational structure for citizen participation such as an advisory body or supervisory committee. These structures appear to offer advantages in providing a forum for the major participants, including the affected communities, to participate effectively in the planning process. Furthermore, the thesis recommends that the Provincial Ministry of Transportation and Highways' transportation planning efforts would benefit from a strong public consultation function, to complement its engineering and technical mandates. / Applied Science, Faculty of / Community and Regional Planning (SCARP), School of / Graduate

Thesis (M.U.R.P.) -- University of Adelaide, Dept. of Architecture, 1980.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Murdoch University, 2003. / Thesis submitted to the Division of Arts. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (M. Sc.)--University of Alberta, 2010. / Title from pdf file main screen (viewed on July 7, 2010). A thesis submitted to the Faculty of Graduate Studies and Research in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science in Transportation Engineering, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Alberta. Includes bibliographical references.

One of the more recent topics in transportation policy making and project prioritization in DOT's across the United States is how to improve quality of life. This quality of life focus is an intersection of public health and transportation and has many different branches including traffic safety, pollution, active transportation, equity, and accessibility to resources. The topic among these that seems to receive the least attention is equitable access to resources. However, with the proven impact that equitable access to resources has on physical and emotional well-being, as well as economic opportunity it is important to ensure that all populations, including minority and low income populations have the same accessibility as those in the majority and high income populations. Transportation and public health researchers have constructed several quantitative measures to define accessibility, but the most frequent methods used lack the ability to include quality measures of the resource or a variable distance threshold. Therefore, it is important to use a more inclusive definition of accessibility that we can develop using a utility-based accessibility model. This paper develops a logit model with different variables and parameters in order to identify which variables are important and should be included in accessibility measures. The variables come from the impedance attributes for the different modes of travel and the location attributes that were obtained from a NEMS-S (Nutrition Environments Measures Survey in Stores) survey conducted in three counties in Utah. The parameters were developed using LBS data and identifying flows from home block groups to grocery stores, and then creating synthetic trips with non-chosen alternatives. After the utility model is created, we are able to use those utility values to create different logit models, each having a different set of variables included. These logit models were analyzed to find the variables that have a significance on the model. From the models it was found that cost of goods, as well as availability of quality goods have a significant impact on which grocery stores were chosen in the model. In addition, other variables such as size of store and mode of travel have a significance as well. From the models identified, it was found that in order to have an accurate accessibility model it is important to include these variables that are found to be significant in grocery store choice. These results can help with developing transportation policies and help to improve equitable access in cities.

This dissertation contains three chapters that examine urban policies. The first chapter considers the impacts of a new card fee for prepaid transit cards in New York City. Since 1998, the New York City Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) system has used prepaid cards (MetroCards) to collect subway and bus fares. In 2013, the MTA imposed a $1 card fee (surcharge) on new MetroCard purchases. Using a novel dataset with transaction-level deposit and card use information, I show that the fee caused riders to put more money on new MetroCard purchases, particularly those in low-income neighborhoods and those who used cash or debit (rather than credit) cards. As a result, the net monthly outstanding balance from transit card deposits increased dramatically, with riders lending an extra $150 million, on an annual basis, to the MTA. Moreover, over $20 million of the increased balances in the first year were never redeemed and escheated to the MTA when these cards expired. The leading explanation highlights the importance of the cost of effort to remember to carry the same card. I pose a structural model to calibrate the effect of a new card fee. Counterfactual simulation predicts that a new card fee of $4.35 will maximize the MTA's profit. These findings have implications for fiscal policy designs and fee structures of prepaid card industry. The second chapter examines the causal effects of local access to alcohol on birth outcomes. After the repeal of National Prohibition in 1933, 30 states gave counties and municipalities the local option to continue alcohol restrictions. Citizens set alcohol control policies in their communities through jurisdiction-wide elections (i.e., local option elections). Currently, 10% of U.S. communities maintain a ban on some or all alcohol sales. Assessing the impact of local access to alcohol on alcohol-related outcomes such as birth weight, drinking under the influence, alcohol-related crimes, and so on is complicated by the potential non-random selection of liquor laws. I examine the causal effects of local access to alcohol on birth outcomes by comparing municipalities where referenda on legalizing liquor sales passed and failed by narrow margins. My results indicate that municipalities which were studied experienced higher incidence of low birth weight after legalizing the local sale of alcohol to the general public. The incidence of low birth weight rose by 4.5% for babies born within two years after the elections. The third chapter measures the deleterious effect of institutional discrimination on health. Interest in the impact of institutional discrimination on health outcomes has increased dramatically. Since research has mostly been done in the western context where social segregation has already been established, it is difficult to isolate the effect of initial social segregation on health outcomes. In this chapter, I examine the causal effect of institutional discrimination on health by exploiting a 1964 change in household registration system (hukou) in China, which caused a nationwide discrimination against rural dwellers. The 1964 change in the hukou system started to put tight control on domestic migration. Thereafter, movement from rural to urban areas became virtually impossible. Following the 1964 change in hukou policy, the fraction of urban hukou residents suddenly fell from over 50% to about 40%. I use this discontinuity in the proportion of urban hukou residents to identify the causal effect of institutional discrimination anchored in the hukou system on health. The regression-discontinuity (RD) design estimates suggest that urban hukou citizens have much better chances of being in good health. The deleterious effect of rural hukou on health possibly works through mechanisms of labor disparity, limited access to healthcare, and deprivation of quality education.