This thesis begins with the hypothesis that the role of ideas in urban and global development is understudied and understated in comparison to studies that privilege economic and political analyses. The thesis generates two related models that seek to provide a comprehensive means of analyzing both the political economic constraints of development as well as the ideational limits that are overlooked by conventional models. The political economic model adapts constructivist principles to explain the structural limits on urban development that emerge from the contemporary global political economy. The second model draws on previous work done in the field of policy diffusion to posit four relational ways in which ideas are adapted and localized. The thesis argues that political economy analyses provide a comprehensive but mostly macro-level analysis and often fail to adequately understand individual thinking outside of the rational actor model. The ideational adaptation model corrects for this, providing a detailed micro-level analysis that is founded on the political economic framework. Together, the two models provide a comprehensive understanding of the ideational limits and political economic constraints at work in any given development scenario. In order to demonstrate the utility of the combined models (termed combined conceptual approach), the thesis applies the models to four different applications. Three examples are historical secondary source examples (educational philosophy, international business councils, and water sanitation) related to the history of Shanghai and China, and the impact of foreigners on their development vision, strategies, and practice. One application is a case study of Shanghai’s Expo 2010, which uses original data established through high-level interviews with Expo participants. The use of the combined conceptual approach shows how the interpersonal and inter-institutional adaptation and localization of ideas affect the way we understand the concept of legitimate best practice in urban development. The combined conceptual approach highlights the role that human thought, emotions, and psychology play in urban development. It links political economic activity to constructed bonds of trust, learning, the mentality of competition, and soft forms of coercive power (hegemonic ideas, leadership, and conditionality). Finally, the most important contribution of the combined conceptual approach is that it allows for an analysis of both the macro- and micro-levels of development in a relational and holistic fashion.

This thesis begins with the hypothesis that the role of ideas in urban and global development is understudied and understated in comparison to studies that privilege economic and political analyses. The thesis generates two related models that seek to provide a comprehensive means of analyzing both the political economic constraints of development as well as the ideational limits that are overlooked by conventional models. The political economic model adapts constructivist principles to explain the structural limits on urban development that emerge from the contemporary global political economy. The second model draws on previous work done in the field of policy diffusion to posit four relational ways in which ideas are adapted and localized. The thesis argues that political economy analyses provide a comprehensive but mostly macro-level analysis and often fail to adequately understand individual thinking outside of the rational actor model. The ideational adaptation model corrects for this, providing a detailed micro-level analysis that is founded on the political economic framework. Together, the two models provide a comprehensive understanding of the ideational limits and political economic constraints at work in any given development scenario. In order to demonstrate the utility of the combined models (termed combined conceptual approach), the thesis applies the models to four different applications. Three examples are historical secondary source examples (educational philosophy, international business councils, and water sanitation) related to the history of Shanghai and China, and the impact of foreigners on their development vision, strategies, and practice. One application is a case study of Shanghai’s Expo 2010, which uses original data established through high-level interviews with Expo participants. The use of the combined conceptual approach shows how the interpersonal and inter-institutional adaptation and localization of ideas affect the way we understand the concept of legitimate best practice in urban development. The combined conceptual approach highlights the role that human thought, emotions, and psychology play in urban development. It links political economic activity to constructed bonds of trust, learning, the mentality of competition, and soft forms of coercive power (hegemonic ideas, leadership, and conditionality). Finally, the most important contribution of the combined conceptual approach is that it allows for an analysis of both the macro- and micro-levels of development in a relational and holistic fashion.

dc.contributor.author Kamara, Abu dc.description.abstract The international student population in Canada has increased significantly in the last decade. While we know a lot about the experiences of international students in general, we don’t know a lot about the specific experiences of international students in Halifax, Nova Scotia. Given that universities in the region have identified international student recruitment as part of their internationalization strategies, expanding our knowledge about international students’ experiences in Halifax not only has strong implications for universities, but also for provincial and local governments who see them as potential immigrants. Consequently, key research objectives for this study were to expand our understanding of the personal experiences of international students in Halifax, and to identify gatekeepers whose actions impact the experiences of international students. Two studies were designed using qualitative methodology. Study I investigated the personal experiences of international students in Halifax, Nova Scotia, while the main objective for Study II was to identify gatekeepers in the city whose actions are shaping the contexts of international student experiences. Interviews were conducted with international students from Saint Mary’s University, Mount Saint Vincent University, and Dalhousie University using a semi structured, open-ended interview method. The data was transcribed and coded using grounded theory method. Results from Study I suggest that while international students regularly turn to formal support networks, such as the international student center for immigration and employment related assistance, the majority of students interviewed for this dissertation also expressed strong preference for informal support networks. Specific individuals identified by study participants as belonging to informal support networks included friends, family members, and members of on-and off-campus organizations. Results from Study II suggest that internationalization in Canada is providing new ways for universities to help address local economic and demographic concerns. In sum, results from Study I suggest that international students rely on both formal and informal support networks to address the challenges they are facing in Canada, while findings from Study II suggest that demographic needs, and the expansion of the knowledge economy will continue to push universities to bigger and more central roles in the growth of cities.

This thesis begins with the hypothesis that the role of ideas in urban and global development is understudied and understated in comparison to studies that privilege economic and political analyses. The thesis generates two related models that seek to provide a comprehensive means of analyzing both the political economic constraints of development as well as the ideational limits that are overlooked by conventional models. The political economic model adapts constructivist principles to explain the structural limits on urban development that emerge from the contemporary global political economy. The second model draws on previous work done in the field of policy diffusion to posit four relational ways in which ideas are adapted and localized. The thesis argues that political economy analyses provide a comprehensive but mostly macro-level analysis and often fail to adequately understand individual thinking outside of the rational actor model. The ideational adaptation model corrects for this, providing a detailed micro-level analysis that is founded on the political economic framework. Together, the two models provide a comprehensive understanding of the ideational limits and political economic constraints at work in any given development scenario. In order to demonstrate the utility of the combined models (termed combined conceptual approach), the thesis applies the models to four different applications. Three examples are historical secondary source examples (educational philosophy, international business councils, and water sanitation) related to the history of Shanghai and China, and the impact of foreigners on their development vision, strategies, and practice. One application is a case study of Shanghai’s Expo 2010, which uses original data established through high-level interviews with Expo participants. The use of the combined conceptual approach shows how the interpersonal and inter-institutional adaptation and localization of ideas affect the way we understand the concept of legitimate best practice in urban development. The combined conceptual approach highlights the role that human thought, emotions, and psychology play in urban development. It links political economic activity to constructed bonds of trust, learning, the mentality of competition, and soft forms of coercive power (hegemonic ideas, leadership, and conditionality). Finally, the most important contribution of the combined conceptual approach is that it allows for an analysis of both the macro- and micro-levels of development in a relational and holistic fashion.

Thesis (M. En.)--Miami University, Institute of Environmental Sciences, 2004. / Title from first page of PDF document. Includes bibliographical references (p. 32-34).

Thesis (MSc (Geography and Environmental Studies))--Stellenbosch University, 2008. / Accelerating urban growth places increasing pressure not only on the efficiency of infrastructure and service provision, but also on the natural environment. City managers are delegated the task of identifying problem areas that arise from this phenomenon and planning the strategies with which to alleviate them. It is with this in mind that the research investigates the implementation of an urban growth model, SLEUTH, as a support tool in the planning and decision making process. These investigations are carried out on historical urban data for the region falling under the control of the Cape Metropolitan Authority. The primary aim of the research was to simulate future urban expansion of Cape Town based on past growth patterns by making use of cellular automata methodology in the SLEUTH modeling platform. The following objectives were explored, namely to: a) determine the impact of urbanization on the study area, b) identify strategies for managing urban growth from literature, c) apply cellular automata as a modeling tool and decision-making aid, d) formulate an urban growth policy based on strategies from literature, and e) justify SLEUTH as the desired modeling framework from literature. An extensive data base for the study area was acquired from the product of a joint initiative between the private and public sector, called “Urban Monitoring”. The data base included: a) five historical urban extent images (1977, 1988, 1993, 1996 and 1998); b) an official urban buffer zone or ‘urban edge’, c) a Metropolitan Open Space System (MOSS) database, d) two road networks, and d) a Digital Elevation Model (DEM). Each dataset was converted to raster format in ArcEdit and finally .gif images were created of each data layer for compliance with SLEUTH requirements. SLEUTH processed this historic data to calibrate the growth variables for best fit of observed historic growth. An urban growth forecast was run based on the calibration parameters. Findings suggest SLEUTH can be applied successfully and produce realistic projection of urban expansion. A comparison between modelled and real urban area revealed 76% model accuracy. The research then attempts to mimic urban growth policy in the modeling environment, with mixed results.

Le territoire intermédiaire qui relie Buenos Aires et Rosario le long du Paraná, de la route nationale 9 et de la ligne ferroviaire Mitre est un espace métropolisé qui s’est formé à la fin du XIXème siècle, avec l’installation des premiers ports, gares et industries du pays. Depuis les années 1950, du fait de la croissance démographique accélérée de ces deux métropoles et du changement de régime économique national, ce territoire a suscité de manière épisodique l'intérêt des institutions de planification et des géographes.Les premières ont encouragé la création de « l’axe fluvio-industriel », support d’une politique d'industrialisation avec l’établissement d'industries lourdes et de grandes infrastructures sur les rives du Paraná. Les seconds l’ont analysé comme « front » ou « littoral », ou sous le concept de mégalopolis. Ces figures sont des écueils à la bonne compréhension du territoire intermédiaire et à une analyse fine des dynamiques métropolitaines car elles le placent dans une logique de centralisation héritée d'un système de planification binaire qui ne distingue rien d’autre que l’urbain et le rural. Par conséquent, ce territoire est vu aujourd’hui comme purement fonctionnel ou est mythifié, ce qui empêche la lecture des logiques spatiales et des défis territoriaux dans cet espace complexe.Cette thèse analyse les dynamiques métropolitaines hybrides qui le façonnent comme corridor métropolitain et met en lumière le rôle des acteurs privés, opérant à l’échelle locale et globale, dans ces processus. Puis, à partir de l’identification des principales tensions fonctionnelles et territoriales qui le traversent, elle présente des pistes pour son développement cohérent qui redonne un rôle central au train, associe les municipalités et la société civile et intègre le fleuve Paraná. / The territory that connects Buenos Aires and Rosario along the Paraná River, the National Road 9 and the Mitre Railroad, is a metropolized space that has emerged in the late nineteenth century, with the implementation of the first ports, train stations and industries of the country. Since the 1950s, along with the rapid population growth in these two metropolis and a change in the national economic plan, the territory has occasionally attracted the interest of planning institutions and geographers.The former have considered the creation of the "fluvial industrial axis" as support of an industrialization policy with the establishment of heavy industries and major infrastructure on the banks of the Paraná River. The latter have analyzed it as "front" or "coast" or under the concept of megalopolis. These figures are pitfalls to the understanding of the intermediate territory and to a detailed analysis of the metropolitan dynamics, as they put it in a logic of centralization inherited from a planning system that only distinguishes between urban and rural. Therefore, this area is now seen as purely functional or mythologized, which prevents the understanding of spatial dynamics and territorial challenges in this complex space.This thesis aims to analyze the hybrid metropolitan processes that shape this territory into a metropolitan corridor and to identify the industrial and port activities and their stakeholders, which are the driving forces in the corridor. Then it presents the main functional and territorial tensions and suggest ways to a territorial development that, gives an active role to municipalities and civil society as well as to the train and integrates the Paraná River. / El territorio que une Buenos Aires y Rosario a lo largo del río Paraná, de la ruta nacional 9 y del ferrocarril Mitre es un espacio metropolizado que se conforma a fines del siglo XIX, cuando se implementan los primeros puertos e industrias del país a raíz de la apertura del río y del desarrollo de la red ferroviaria. Desde los años 1950, como consecuencia del crecimiento demográfico acelerado de las dos metrópolis y de un cambio de régimen económico nacional, el territorio despierta episódicamente el interés de las instituciones de planificación y de los geógrafos.Las primeras han fomentado la creación del eje fluvial industrial con la radicación de industrias pesadas y la construcción de grandes infraestructuras a orillas del río Paraná. Los segundos lo han analizado como frente y litoral o bajo el concepto de megalópolis. Estas figuras hacen difícil un análisis fino de las dinámicas metropolitanas ya que lo ponen en una lógica centralizadora heredada de un sistema de planificación que distingue de manera binaria entre lo urbano y lo rural. En consecuencia, este territorio está visto hoy como meramente funcional o mitificado, lo que impide la comprensión de las lógicas espaciales y de los desafíos territoriales en este espacio complejo.Esta tesis pretende analizar las dinámicas metropolitanas híbridas que lo moldean en un corredor metropolitano y poner de manifiesto el papel de los actores privados –los más importantes actuando a una escala global– en estos procesos. Luego, a raíz de la identificación de las principales tensiones funcionales y territoriales que lo atraviesan, propone pistas para su desarrollo territorial coherente que vuelva a dar un papel central al transporte público por tren, que se base en la acción común de los municipios y de la sociedad civil y que se estructure alrededor del río Paraná.

Landscape is a heterogeneous collection of visibly distinct features of various elements of land and its various forms on the earth surface. Its pattern is subjected to disturbances and undergo rapid alterations in its grain sizes. The evolving patterns of landscape define and decide various parameters for the planning and management of resources. These dynamic systems possess both spatial and temporal complexity. Exploitation of natural resources and drastic land cover changes have given rise to significant impacts on ecosystem structure and dynamics. The functional abilities (bio-geo chemical cycling, hydrological cycling, etc.) of the landscape are basically dependent on the structure and its complexity. This necessitates inventorying, mapping and modeling of landscape dynamics. Patterns and scale are central issues that are essential to understand complex interactions and driving forces. Large scale changes have been rapid and occurring since industrialization and urbanisation in the last century. The exponential growth of cities has been noticed since the industrial revolution and as transport sector changed the mobility of the masses drastically. Urbanisation interacts with the neighboring landscape structures in the form of commuter’s flow, pollution, obtaining food grain, which create dispersed growth or sprawl in between the metropolis and the semi urban area, and these areas are often devoid of basic amenities due to lack of prior information and necessitates predictions of such growth while planning, policy and decision-making. Planning determines appropriate future action through a sequence of choices that tend to occur. To understand uncertain conditions, planners and city managers need vital comprehensive information about the temporally evolving landscape and try to predict the future, for effective decisions. The quality of planning and its decision processes can be substantially improved when the required information is handled appropriately and efficiently. This explains that an effective planning requires descriptive, predictive, and prescriptive information inputs for sustainable resource management. Therefore, modeling future trends becomes a necessary part of planning. Urban growth models help in modelling future trends that can be an efficient and effective support tool. In recent years, the confluence of developments in Remote sensing, Geographic Information System and Image processing, Computational Urban Growth and Urban Land-use Modeling has made possible in timely provision of information inputs to planners. In the context of Indian cities, this research attempts to study the patterns of urban growth and the rate of change of that growth using various techniques such as Land use, land cover models, Gradient and zonal approach, spatial metrics and urban growth models. Indian cities are divided based on population into various categories. These categories were considered separately and dealt with sample number of cities. This works helps in understanding the change pattern of rapidly urbanising, moderately urbanising and rural landscape is accomplished using various metrics and gradients. The research, is mainly aimed at understanding the pattern of growth and device computational urban growth model using well known techniques and develop a suitable technique in order to understand the context of agents and their role in modelling future urban growth and estimate the rate of loss of other land use categories due to urban growth. Satellite images for different time series was used to study the pattern of urban growth in the study areas. Well know indicators were derived from the data. This was further used to model one of the rapidly urbanising cities based on scenario no agents/factor and with agents of growth using city development plans and in absence of it. This adaptation to Indian context will help in gaining better understanding of the urban growth system in various levels of cities classified, and thus help in providing inputs and specific information of future growth for urban planners and city managers to provide better basic amenities and for sustainable growth of cities. The objective of the proposed research is to understand and model the spatio temporal patterns of landscape dynamics. This involves i. Analysis of Landscape dynamics using multi-resolution (spatial, temporal and spectral) data. ii. Quantifying landscape dynamics using landscape metrics and associated landscape parameters. iii. Modeling and geo-visualisation of landscape dynamics in rapidly urbanizing, moderately urbanising and rural landscape using these parameters. iv. Model the landscape dynamics using soft computing techniques. The thesis consists of nine chapters. Chapter 1 introduces the basic concepts such as landscape, landscape dynamics, use of spatio-temporal data to monitor landscape dynamics, geo-visualisation of landscape dynamics, research gaps and motivation for taking up the research in this domain. Chapter 2 presents the study region, which are broadly grouped as (i) Rapidly urbanizing landscapes (corresponding to Tier I Cities in India), (ii) Moderately urbanizing landscapes (Tier II cities, chosen select Tier II cities in Karnataka), and (iii) Landscape experiencing minimal urbanisation (rural landscape). Chapter 3 discusses the material and method adopted for understanding landscape dynamics and geo-visualisation of landscape dynamics Chapter 4 presents the landscape dynamics in rapidly urbanizing landscape (Bangalore) in India. Spatial pattern analyses are done through metrics using zonal- gradient approach. Chapter 5 analyses the environmental sustainability aspects considering one case study of rapidly urbanizing landscape – Bangalore Chapter 6 discusses urbanisation process and patterns across macro cities in India. Similarly Chapter 7 discusses the urbanisation pattern in Tier II cities (in Karnataka) and Chapter 8 presents the rural landscape dynamics Geo-visualisation of a rapidly urbanizing landscape (Bangalore) through techniques such as Cellular Automata – Markov Chain, land change modeler (LCM), Geographical land use change modeler (GEOMOD), Markov Cellular automata based process of deriving agent’s behavior using Fuzziness in the dataset and Analytical Hierarchal process. Further research in progress in this domain focusses on integration of various agents and evaluation of proposed development plans and likely scenario of integrating land use with mobility. Keyword: landscape, landscape dynamics, urbanisation, urban growth, urban sprawl, urban footprint, modelling, geo-visualisation

Geospatial analysis involves application of statistical methods, algorithms and information retrieval techniques to geospatial data. It incorporates time into spatial databases and facilitates investigation of land cover (LC) dynamics through data, model, and analytics. LC dynamics induced by human and natural processes play a major role in global as well as regional scale patterns, which in turn influence weather and climate. Hence, understanding LC dynamics at the local / regional as well as at global levels is essential to evolve appropriate management strategies to mitigate the impacts of LC changes. This can be captured through the multi-resolution remote sensing (RS) data. However, with the advancements in sensor technologies, suitable algorithms and techniques are required for optimal integration of information from multi-resolution sensors which are cost effective while overcoming the possible data and methodological constraints. In this work, several per-pixel traditional and advanced classification techniques have been evaluated with the multi-resolution data along with the role of ancillary geographical data on the performance of classifiers. Techniques for linear and non-linear un-mixing, endmember variability and determination of spatial distribution of class components within a pixel have been applied and validated on multi-resolution data. Endmember estimation method is proposed and its performance is compared with manual, semi-automatic and fully automatic methods of endmember extraction. A novel technique - Hybrid Bayesian Classifier is developed for per pixel classification where the class prior probabilities are determined by un-mixing a low spatial-high spectral resolution multi-spectral data while posterior probabilities are determined from the training data obtained from ground, that are assigned to every pixel in a high spatial-low spectral resolution multi-spectral data in Bayesian classification. These techniques have been validated with multi-resolution data for various landscapes with varying altitudes. As a case study, spatial metrics and cellular automata based models applied for rapidly urbanising landscape with moderate altitude has been carried out.

This thesis begins with the hypothesis that the role of ideas in urban and global development is understudied and understated in comparison to studies that privilege economic and political analyses. The thesis generates two related models that seek to provide a comprehensive means of analyzing both the political economic constraints of development as well as the ideational limits that are overlooked by conventional models. The political economic model adapts constructivist principles to explain the structural limits on urban development that emerge from the contemporary global political economy. The second model draws on previous work done in the field of policy diffusion to posit four relational ways in which ideas are adapted and localized. The thesis argues that political economy analyses provide a comprehensive but mostly macro-level analysis and often fail to adequately understand individual thinking outside of the rational actor model. The ideational adaptation model corrects for this, providing a detailed micro-level analysis that is founded on the political economic framework. Together, the two models provide a comprehensive understanding of the ideational limits and political economic constraints at work in any given development scenario. In order to demonstrate the utility of the combined models (termed combined conceptual approach), the thesis applies the models to four different applications. Three examples are historical secondary source examples (educational philosophy, international business councils, and water sanitation) related to the history of Shanghai and China, and the impact of foreigners on their development vision, strategies, and practice. One application is a case study of Shanghai’s Expo 2010, which uses original data established through high-level interviews with Expo participants. The use of the combined conceptual approach shows how the interpersonal and inter-institutional adaptation and localization of ideas affect the way we understand the concept of legitimate best practice in urban development. The combined conceptual approach highlights the role that human thought, emotions, and psychology play in urban development. It links political economic activity to constructed bonds of trust, learning, the mentality of competition, and soft forms of coercive power (hegemonic ideas, leadership, and conditionality). Finally, the most important contribution of the combined conceptual approach is that it allows for an analysis of both the macro- and micro-levels of development in a relational and holistic fashion.