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The Common Good was the ancient patrimony of a Scottish burgh, and the central resource of urban government before local rates. By the early nineteenth century this revenue was under considerable strain due to rapid population growth and urban expansion. As pressure on urban institutions and resources increased, so did debts secured against the revenue stream from Common Good assets, anxieties about which triggered the campaign for burgh reform. In 1833, as the Burgh Reform Act changed the electoral basis of burgh government, Edinburgh was declared bankrupt due to levels of borrowing incurred to build and extend the New Town and to expand Leith harbour. This thesis uses Common Good accounts as its quantitative basis. The disbursements of extant accounts for the period 1820-56 were recorded and assigned analytical categories in order to compare expenditure of different types over time. Such detailed analysis constitutes a major contribution to the existing historiography of Scottish cities and local government, providing insight into changing spending and priorities, and the effects on the unravelling of the old political order. It also facilitates discussion of the changing nature of corruption and probity in public life during a period when expectations of those holding office changed substantially. In the 1820s burgh reform seemed likely, yet in responding to the challenges of urban government, the unreformed Council was innovative. Two case studies illustrate the contingency function of the Common Good. Whilst George IV’s visit is well-known, that the Council used Common Good money to provide civic hospitality and promotion is not. The Great Fires of Edinburgh of 1824 were very damaging, especially around Parliament Square, and the Council offered a sophisticated response using the resources of the Common Good which included emergency aid to those in need, and the establishment of the first municipal fire brigade. In 1833 Edinburgh was declared bankrupt, and the City’s assets were transferred to trustees appointed for the Creditors. Without control of its finances during protracted negotiations, the new, elected Council suffered from a ‘legitimacy deficit.’ The Settlement Act 1838 served to ‘translate’ the Burgh Reform Act, 1833 to Edinburgh’s needs, as it restructured municipal debt and gave Leith a portion of Edinburgh’s Common Good, which meant Leith could make use of its police burgh status gained in 1833. This case shows the higher importance of local legislation to a major city rather than general acts. With the problems of the former political system resolved, Edinburgh’s 1856 Extension Act expanded municipal boundaries and transferred police powers to the Council, so moving towards a unitary authority. Neither burgh reform nor the restructuring of local government can be understood without first analysing how the Common Good was used, and this thesis takes important strides in that direction.

This study attempts to find out the role expectations of the city managers in the policy processes of urban government by using the survey research method. Fourteen managers from Los Angeles , California, and eight managers from Utah selected at random were administered a questionnaire with ten specific statements about a city manager's role in urban· politics. The main hypothesis of the thesis was: The policy role expectations of the city managers in Los Angeles County, California, and in the State of Utah differ because of: 1. the rise of the political boss or the mayor; 2. the discretionary powers given to the city managers; 3. the types of education the city managers have had; 4. the size of the city population; and 5. geographical and environmental differences. The data reveal that these variables , viz., advanced education,mayoral election, the discretionary powers given to the city managers, types of education , and the size of the city population and the differences of geography and environment are crucial factors that affect the role expectations of the city managers in the two areas selected for study. In Los Angeles County, California, the city managers tend to take a strong stand on initiation and participation in policy processes, whereas, in the State of Utah the city managers were content to abide by the mandates of the council. The concept of policy-administration dichotomy did not seem to bother the Los Angeles County city managers and they tended to feel it was out-moded and not practical in a complex situation of today's cities.

published_or_final_version / Urban Planning and Environmental Management / Doctoral / Doctor of Philosophy

published_or_final_version / Urban Studies / Master / Master of Social Sciences

The practice of providing urban parks as an integral part of community development no longer creates public debate about the function or legal authority of local governments to make such purchases. However, the debate continues on the ethics of local government's parkland acquisition practices. These practices have the capability and motivation to influence the land value of sites they wish to acquire. Local governments are responsible for determining land use, which in turn affects land value. The limited financial means of local government to acquire parks makes influencing land value one way of stretching the scarce resources of the community. The ethics practiced in the negotiations to acquire urban parkland where the land has development potential are unique because: 1. Parkland is a public good and not a market commodity; 2. The potential for other higher land uses exists; and 3. Local government plays a dual role: one of a regulator and approving authority for determining land use and providing community stewardship, and the other as the corporate cost controlling agency seeking to acquire land. These qualities create the strong possibility for ethical conflict to occur in the negotiating process. Building upon the Interest-Based approach to negotiations, this paper uses a set of Prescriptive, Intuitive and Evaluative (P.I.E.) criteria that define ethical conduct, and the dimensions of Fact, Social Consensus and Experience that defines the dimensions of interests, to develop a General Model for Ethical Negotiations (GMEN). Conceptually, the GMEN model is a three-sided pyramid within a sphere of negotiations. Negotiations that adhere to the principles defining the parameters of the pyramid would be considered ethical. Negotiations outside the pyramid are considered unethical. Six parkland acquisition cases are discussed using the GMEN model. In this study, the parameters establishing the criteria for passing ethical judgment are the functions of the political economy, the policy statements of the local government, and the legislation that delegates power and authority to local government. The study finds that ethical conflict is inherent in parkland negotiations where the land has development potential because of the multiple roles and dual character of local government. This conflict is not necessarily illegal since prescriptive criteria are only one means of judging ethics. Nor is the outcome necessarily negative to the vendor, since the public may end up with a less attractive park agreement. However, the parameters that would require parkland acquisition negotiations to be ethical sometimes conflict with some of the multiple roles held by local government. Several recommendations are made that would help to reduce ethical conflict and the imbalance in parkland negotiations.

The practice of providing urban parks as an integral part of community development no longer creates public debate about the function or legal authority of local governments to make such purchases. However, the debate continues on the ethics of local government's parkland acquisition practices. These practices have the capability and motivation to influence the land value of sites they wish to acquire. Local governments are responsible for determining land use, which in turn affects land value. The limited financial means of local government to acquire parks makes influencing land value one way of stretching the scarce resources of the community. The ethics practiced in the negotiations to acquire urban parkland where the land has development potential are unique because: 1. Parkland is a public good and not a market commodity; 2. The potential for other higher land uses exists; and 3. Local government plays a dual role: one of a regulator and approving authority for determining land use and providing community stewardship, and the other as the corporate cost controlling agency seeking to acquire land. These qualities create the strong possibility for ethical conflict to occur in the negotiating process. Building upon the Interest-Based approach to negotiations, this paper uses a set of Prescriptive, Intuitive and Evaluative (P.I.E.) criteria that define ethical conduct, and the dimensions of Fact, Social Consensus and Experience that defines the dimensions of interests, to develop a General Model for Ethical Negotiations (GMEN). Conceptually, the GMEN model is a three-sided pyramid within a sphere of negotiations. Negotiations that adhere to the principles defining the parameters of the pyramid would be considered ethical. Negotiations outside the pyramid are considered unethical. Six parkland acquisition cases are discussed using the GMEN model. In this study, the parameters establishing the criteria for passing ethical judgment are the functions of the political economy, the policy statements of the local government, and the legislation that delegates power and authority to local government. The study finds that ethical conflict is inherent in parkland negotiations where the land has development potential because of the multiple roles and dual character of local government. This conflict is not necessarily illegal since prescriptive criteria are only one means of judging ethics. Nor is the outcome necessarily negative to the vendor, since the public may end up with a less attractive park agreement. However, the parameters that would require parkland acquisition negotiations to be ethical sometimes conflict with some of the multiple roles held by local government. Several recommendations are made that would help to reduce ethical conflict and the imbalance in parkland negotiations. / Applied Science, Faculty of / Community and Regional Planning (SCARP), School of / Graduate

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

Au travers de l’étude de la politique d’open data, cette thèse analyse ce que la mise en circulation des données fait au gouvernement urbain. En effectuant une sociologie des données attentive aux transformations conjointes des données et des acteurs qui leur sont associés, la thèse pointe le pluralisme des politiques des données urbaines entendues comme les modes de composition de collectifs autour des données. La thèse repose sur une enquête ethnographique réalisée au sein de la Métropole de Lyon au cours de laquelle la politique d’ouverture de données de l’institution a été analysée en train de se faire. Ce travail ethnographique a été complété par la réalisation de 70 entretiens, le dépouillement d’archives communautaires et une comparaison partielle avec des villes nord-américaines. En suivant la chaîne des données ouvertes, la thèse met en évidence une tension entre attachement et détachement. Attachées à de vastes réseaux sociotechniques dans lesquelles elles sont insérées, les données doivent être détachées de leur environnement initial pour être mise en circulation, avant d’être ré-attachées à de nouveaux utilisateurs. Pour cela, elles subissent une série d’épreuves, au résultat incertain, desquelles émergent de nouveaux agencements qui peuvent questionner les frontières, sectorielles, institutionnelles et territoriales du gouvernement urbain. Pour conserver la maîtrise de ses politiques publiques, l’enjeu pour une collectivité est dès lors de faire de la donnée un objet de gouvernement pour parvenir à réguler les flux de données sur son territoire. / Analyzing open data policies, this thesis investigates the effect of the circulation of data on urban government. This political sociology of data, which analyses jointly the transformation of data and actors associated to them, highlights the pluralism of the politics of urban data. Based on an ethnographic investigation inside the Metropolis of Lyon, the thesis studies the open data policy in the making. In addition, 70 interviews, archive material and a partial comparison with North-American cities were used for the analyze. Following the chain of open data, the thesis emphasizes a tension between attachment and detachment. Attached to vast socio-technical networks, data must be detached from their initial environment to circulate, before being re-attached to new users. In order to do this, data undergo a series of trials. The uncertain outcome of these trials produce new agencements which question sectorial, institutional and territorial borders. That’s why, to maintain control on its public policies, the challenge for a local government is to manage to regulate the flows of data on its territory. Data thus become an issue that must be governed.

published_or_final_version / abstract / Real Estate and Construction / Doctoral / Doctor of Philosophy