Historically, the most common analysis of the way in which a city evolved was in terms of market forces. According to this school of thought, propounded by the human ecologists, a residential area matured until it reached a point when it could be profitably redeveloped at a higher intensity of use. This type of explanation reflects the rise in land costs associated with rapid urban growth. More pertinently, it also reflects the power vested in politicians and business interests to control the destiny of parts of the city. Recently, however, we have witnessed an increasing concern amongst individuals and citizen interest groups over the way in which urban areas are being manipulated for political or corporate gain, at the expense of citizens' satisfaction. This concern has been expressed in terms of an increasing consciousness, or environmental and political awareness. This study examined West Kitsilano, one of Vancouver's older residential districts, in the light of the general hypothesis: That the degree of stability of a residential environ cannot be accounted for solely in terms of market forces. Part of the explanation must now be sought in terms of individual eco-behavioral factors. The hypothesis was validated by the research undertaken. This indicated that further insight on the contemporary forces affecting the evolution of urban areas can be gained by examining the understanding residents have of their environ and the behavior patterns they display. It revealed that despite the presence of market forces committed to the redevelopment of the area, inhabitants can play a conscious role in the preservation of their residential environ in a form which satisfies their day to day requirements. If continued intervention in the way in which the city evolves is to be relevant, it will depend on a more informed planning process. It must take account of the sentiments and expectations of individuals throughout the urban area, in addition to considering the continued deployment of people and activities in terms of market induced factors. This requires considerable introspection on behalf of those involved in environmental management. It demands that citizens be regarded as directors of the urban fabric rather than as mere actors to be directed. However, the ability to ask fundamentally social and organizational questions will be wasted unless planners can demonstrate equal flexibility in their search for policies and avenues of intervention. This will inevitably lead them outside traditional areas of competence, or outside traditional institutional frameworks. Most significantly, it will emphasize that those involved in environmental management must become part of, rather than alleged experts for, social change. / Applied Science, Faculty of / Community and Regional Planning (SCARP), School of / Graduate

Since 1966, the condominium form of housing has represented a steadily increasing proportion of the housing market in British Columbia. Due to its relative novelty, condominium owners were to some extent acquiring an unknown quantity prior to purchase. It is the aim of this study to delineate the housing experience, specifically residential satisfaction, of these owners to date. In addition, the paucity of research on the measurement of residential satisfaction has suggested a direction of inquiry which could be further explored. A questionnaire survey was employed as the major data gathering device in two municipalities in the Greater Vancouver area. Various statistical techniques, primarily discriminant and regression analysis were used to test three specific hypotheses regarding condominium. These hypotheses were: (1) The housing expectation (relative satisfactions) of condominium owners is not matched by the reality of their situation. (2) The area (municipality) in which condominium owners live is a significant factor in distinguishing between owners as regards their socio-economic characteristics and their perceived relationship with their residential environment. (3) The attitudes and behaviour patterns of condominium owners vary significantly in relation to differing sizes of condominium projects. Generally, the first hypothesis was proven false while the other two hypotheses were proven true. In summary, the study approach was useful in achieving some relevant feedback on the views and attitudes of condominium owners, and in suggesting a method to test the accountability of condominium housing policies and procedures. / Applied Science, Faculty of / Community and Regional Planning (SCARP), School of / Graduate

The purpose of this study is to examine the nature and extent of housing demand in Metropolitan Vancouver attributable to people over the age of fifty-five. This is to be done in order to verify whether or not the private development of a specified retirement village in Vancouver would be financially feasible and prove to be a profitable investment. In this study, a retirement village is defined to be a planned, low density development of permanent buildings designed to house "active" adults over the age of fifty-five and equipped to provide a wide range of services and leisure activities. This concept of a retirement village is distinct from the many housing developments for the elderly initiated by different non-profit organizations in Canada. The body of this paper involves three broad areas of study, each interrelated. These include an analysis of the potential market, the selection of a suitable location, and an examination of the financial implications of such a development. In order to understand the nature of the problem, it was necessary to make considerable use of research findings regarding the habits and the needs of the elderly. In addition to this, the characteristics of many of the retirement villages in the United States fitting our definition, were examined. Many features common to most of these villages were incorporated in the general design of the village proposed in this study. Initially, the market analysis involves consideration of the general housing demand and supply situation in Metropolitan Vancouver. Particular reference is then made to the characteristics of the elderly and the part they play in total housing demand. Selection of a suitable location for the proposed village is made on the basis of a number of criteria previously formulated. The financial analysis involves estimates of capital cost, operating expenses and revenues, and net cash flows. From these, expected equity yields are then calculated under various assumptions regarding the cost of debt capital, the retention period, and the reversion value. The results of these analyses indicate that Metropolitan Vancouver holds considerable market potential for the development of a retirement village of the type proposed in the study. While there are many feasible locations in Vancouver for the village, the city of White Rock meets the stated criteria adequately and is suggested as the ideal location. The expected profitability of the proposed development is not easily stated as it is dependent upon a number of assumptions. Yields on equity indicate a wide range of possibilities showing the village to be unprofitable under some assumptions and extremely profitable under others. / Business, Sauder School of / Graduate

Ships of all types spend a large part of their lives in port and this idle time adds considerably to the fixed cost of providing shipping service. Technological progress has empowered the construction of larger, faster and more economical vessels, but organisational and cargo handling innovations in the ports have not kept pace; in many instances the line-haul savings achieved by larger vessels are negated by excessive idle time in port, during which many costs continue unabated. The extent to which ship size affects loading time is thus a measure of the extent to which economies of scale can be implemented in the shipping industry; it is also important when making a rational selection of an optimal ship size. This study concentrates on the loading of grain ships in the port of Vancouver; the operations of the port are examined and the constituent factors of turnaround time delineated. Some of the possible causes of delay are investigated. The costs associated with unproductive ship time are then estimated and it is shown that many of the developments in the shipping industry are placing increased emphasis on a fast turnaround, the latter is often difficult to achieve because of disorganisation and conflicting interests in the port. The loading records of a sample of 1,305 grain ships are then examined with a view to determining the degree of size dependency inherent in the loading time and loading rate attained. It is concluded that there is an appreciable positive correlation between ship size and loading rate and that the portion of the variation explained by linear regression analysis is not inconsiderable. Combining these dependencies of ship size and loading rate with the dependency of ship size and cost estimated previously, the general form of the relationship between ship size and total loading time cost per ton is obtained. It is found that for those types of grain for which the results are most conclusive, the cost per ton falls up to large ship sizes. Having regard to the present loading procedures for grain in Vancouver some possible improvements are suggested, namely the provision of increased loading capacity and the aggregation of specific grades of grain around the harbour. A rough estimate of the possible benefits associated with these course of action is made. The potential benefits would seem to be considerable, but a high degree of co-operation and co-ordination between the various port interests would be required to attain them. / Business, Sauder School of / Graduate

This study first postulates the existence of an "operational" port, a nodal organization of port functions, defined in terms of inter-port shipping linkages of foreign trade shipping in Southwestern British Columbia. A number of variables for each foreign trade vessel is programmed into a series of port by port adjacency matrices. The set of ports (nodes) and ship movements (linkages) is regarded as a planar graph and real values assigned to both linkages and nodes. Through matrix analysis and network theoretic concepts, the connectivity and orientations of ports within the area are defined. The analysis reveals not only the dominance of the port of Vancouver but also the high degree of dependence of a number of adjacent ports upon it. Second, the relationship of the nodal status of a port to its location in a system of ports and to its operational role as a node between discrete transportation networks is demonstrated by an examination of the movement patterns of export lumber and general cargo imports through the port of Vancouver. Lumber movement patterns to shipping points, derived from computer analyses, reveal the significance of innovatory shipping technologies, together with other necessary conditions, as the basis of explanation of nodal status and network structuring. The movements of general cargo imports are examined in a series of data matrices computationally derived from Shipping Manifest data. Each matrix preserves the relationship between foreland origin; and hinterland destination and the analysis clearly demonstrates the correlation of hinterland limits with the foreland origin of flows. Third, the relationships between the principles of nodal structuring and the concept of port hierarchy in spatial theory are explored. The adequacy of an alternative concept of port hierarchy derived from an analysis of the network of shipping linkages between ports is postulated and a descriptive model of port network development in British Columbia is formulated. / Arts, Faculty of / Geography, Department of / Graduate

Rigid zoning by-laws that were a logical solution to land-use control in the North American social milieu resulted in an equally logical wish for more flexibility in land-use controls. Experiments resulting from this brought about various devices to make zoning more flexible in its application. One of these devices was zoning for comprehensively planned developments. The need to improve this zoning device is important because an increasing number of large-scale developments are built in our cities as they seem more suitable to modern living conditions than the single house on a single lot. In Vancouver, the city of the case study, such a zoning device for large-scale developments of mixed land-uses has existed since 1956 in the form of the CD-I district schedule. Since that time various criticisms have been levelled against it. These criticisms were collected in this paper and an attempt was made to rectify what was found at fault in the CD-I schedule. Means to rectify these faults were taken from planning experiences in Vancouver, B. C.; Canada, the United States and Great Britain. Several major solutions were found suitable as a result of this study. It was seen necessary to have a general development plan for the city before any rezoning to CD-I projects should be allowed. Without such a plan it would not be possible to assess the impact of each development, and rezoning decisions would, as a result, be very arbitrary. A general development plan does not exist in Vancouver. A further fault was found in the absence of any guide-lines in the CD-I schedule. Developers, property owners, planners and City Council cannot properly assess what constitutes a proper CD-I project without them. Much misuse of the CD-I schedule results from this. Suggestions to rectify these misuses are to clarify the objectives of CD-I zones. Out of these objectives certain standards should be set in respect to land parcel sizes, requirement of a minimum of two land-uses, completion dates of the project, placing of performance bonds for fulfilment of imposed conditions and others. It was also suggested that a clause be inserted in the existing zoning schedules which would permit comprehensively planned developments of a similar land-use as in the respective schedules. Because the CD-I schedule leaves much discretionary power to civic officials, certain needs to check these were also found to be important considerations. Suggestions were made to have each alderman record his reasoning for permitting a rezoning and to provide a cooling-off period after a public hearing before decisions were made. Finally, it was found that with the increasing complexity of planning a provincial review board of planning experts should be established to hear appeals of aggrieved citizens. / Applied Science, Faculty of / Community and Regional Planning (SCARP), School of / Graduate

Local elections have received little attention in the literature of political science, either as an important component of city politics, or as a source of data on voting behavior. The present exploratory study, as merely one step towards redressing this situation, attempts to identify and analyze some of the political and social cleavages that underlie electoral politics in the city of Vancouver. The phenomena investigated as dependent variables include registration, turnout, ballot spoiling, non-use of votes, referenda voting, and candidate-party voting. The independent variables are the common census-derived socioeconomic characteristics of voters such as age, sex, marital status, religion, ethnicity, education level, occupation, and income. On the basis of a review of some important related studies, a simple model is proposed that sets out a theoretical relationship between these characteristics and voting behavior. The research method employed in the study is ecological analysis which, despite some inherent limitations, provides a suitable tool for the exploration of this relationship through correlation and regression techniques. A number of hypotheses are formulated from the data, but others, obtained from existing studies, have also been tested. The main findings of the present paper are twofold. Firstly, significant and generally explicable cleavages between broad socio-economic groups are revealed with respect to each of the dependent variables. Thus, for example, it is shown that each of the political parties in the city has a more or less solid base of support in voters of a particular socio-economic level. The second general conclusion, closely tied to the first, is that each of the broad groupings has a reasonably consistent and explicable pattern of behavior. Persons in the lowest socio-economic status group, for example, tend less to register and to vote, tend more to spoil ballots and leave votes unused, and tend to oppose referenda issues, as well as tending to vote for certain candidates. From the data and subsequent analysis, a typology is put forward classifying local voter orientation as being either purposive, maintaining, or protesting in nature. Finally, in part employing this typology as an explanatory mechanism, two general hypotheses are proposed which attempt to relate patterns of voting behavior firstly, to the decision-making output of Vancouver's political system and secondly, to persistence and change in the structure of the local party system. / Arts, Faculty of / Political Science, Department of / Graduate

The pattern of land subdivision is a determinant of the quality of the physical environment. There appear to be areas of many British Columbia municipalities where subdivision design detracts from the quality of the environment, Since community planning is concerned with improving the environment, deficient subdivision is a significant planning problem, and there is need for effective implementation techniques to amend existing subdivision patterns. Commonly used implementation techniques such as subdivision controls, plans cancellation and public land acquisition are of limited value in dealing with this problem. It is hypothesized that replotting is an effective implementation technique for improving the physical pattern of urban land subdivision as part of the community planning process in British Columbia. The British Columbia replotting legislation, found in the Municipal Act, allows a municipal Council to define any area of the municipality as a Replotting District. If owners representing seventy per cent of the assessed value of land in such a District consent, the land may be resubdivided, and owners of former parcels receive a new parcel of equal value in exchange, or compensation in money. All charges and encumbrances against former parcels are transferred to the new parcels. The legislation prescribes the procedures to be followed, the basis for compensation, and the rights of appeal. The research method used is the case study. The case study is conducted in the District of North Vancouver, a British Columbia municipality which has used replotting extensively. The topography In North Vancouver is hilly, any most developable areas were laid out prematurely in a grid pattern unsuited to the topography. The community planning process is now well established in the District. The general use of replotting in the District is outlined, and the administrative procedures followed are described. Four typical replotting schemes are then examined in detail. An evaluation of the use of replotting in the District of North Vancouver indicates that replotting has been successful in improving the contribution of subdivision design to the quality of the environments that replotting appears to be an economical procedure; that the technique has won public acceptance} and that it has been possible to integrate replotting successfully into community planning administration in the District. It is concluded from the case study that, subject to certain qualifications, replotting is an effective implementation technique for improving the physical pattern of urban land subdivision as part of the community planning process In British Columbia. Replotting has a number of specific advantages and also some limitations as a technique for altering existing patterns of subdivision; further areas of research are indicated, which would help to delimit the precise parameters within which replotting is most effective. While there have been some indications of wider Interest in the technique recently, at present the District of North Vancouver is the only British Columbia municipality making extensive use of replotting. It is recommended that other municipalities having the required staff skills consider the use of replotting. / Applied Science, Faculty of / Community and Regional Planning (SCARP), School of / Graduate

North American cities are becoming increasingly difficult to live in and to work in largely because they are difficult to move around in. For many cities vehicle congestion has reached a saturation level for streets and highways thus creating the problem of traffic congestion. This problem is universally understood to be the urban transportation problem. The transportation problem is largely a result of the growing concentration of population and economic activities within a small central area of land. Growth of population combined with rising incomes and increasing car ownership rates are continually increasing passenger and freight movement. With the increase of motor vehicles and vehicle usage the street system has proven inadequate to meet the increased demands for movement placed upon it. This inadequacy is particularly evident in the central urban areas during two relatively short periods of the day. These periods of peak traffic demand are a function of the journey to work. They occur twice in the typical day, the first being in the morning, the second occurring in the late afternoon. At other times during the day and night the street system, under normal conditions, is capable of handling the traffic demand. Thus there appears a need to bridge the growing gap between the demand for and supply of street facilities at peak hours. The basic approaches to the problem of bringing the demand for and supply of street facilities to a state of equilibrium are: to provide additional lanes of new or improved facilities to meet the traffic demands; to design developing areas on the basis of transportation demands and supply being in a state of equilibrium or to re-assign traffic to existing street facilities in accordance with the capacity of these facilities. The last method can be accomplished by staggering working hours. The purpose of this thesis is to demonstrate the hypothesis: that by the staggering of working hours in the central business district, the peak congestion problem can be relieved. The study demonstrates the effect of staggering hours, in quantitative terms, on a particular transportation facility, the First Narrows Bridge, Vancouver, British Columbia. The technique of staggering hours, in this study, is used to limit the volume of traffic by modifying the demand upon the system. This is accomplished by breaking the total demand into smaller demand segments, by giving each segment a different deadline. This method can in effect equate the demand with the supply over a given period of time. By this method the number of vehicles arriving at the entrance to an area of restricted capacity can be equated to the supply or capacity. By applying this method to the case study it is possible to demonstrate the effects of staggering in eliminating peak period congestion delay time due to the limited capacity of a facility. Also determinable is the extent that traffic loads need be distributed over a period of time and how much time would be needed to effect economies in the level of service. To minimize the disruption of the staggering of working hours, the C.B.D. was divided into four control areas or zones based on dominant function. The starting times of the functional zones or control areas are arranged in a work starting order so as to minimize functional disruption. It is concluded from the illustration of the case study that some relief of congestion is possible through the staggering of working hours; and that this method is one contribution to improving the ability of the individual motorist to travel more economically and possibly at a more rapid rate. / Applied Science, Faculty of / Community and Regional Planning (SCARP), School of / Graduate

Each year the problem of where to dispose and how to dispose of commercial, domestic and industrial solid wastes becomes worse. The growth rate of solid wastes continues to expand both because of the per capita increase in solid waste produced and because of population growth. Traditional disposal techniques such as dumps and landfills are becoming more expensive to operate mainly because of the lack of suitable land and the increased competition to obtain it. The growing inability of established disposal systems to handle the expanding solid wastes, generates further impetus to find new disposal techniques. Ignored environmental effects, particularly the growing pollution of air, land and water are no longer as acceptable to an increasingly pollution conscious public. With the changes in community attitudes towards the preservation of natural assets, disposal techniques previously too expensive to compete with traditional disposal techniques now are becoming more acceptable. The purpose of this thesis is to examine whether the benefits of using a new grinding disposal technique outweigh costs. The community selected for the analysis was the District of North Vancouver, British Columbia, which forms part of the Greater Vancouver Metropolitan Area. Presently, the District of North Vancouver operates a controlled landfill disposal technique known as the Premier Street Landfill. Various forms of air, land and water pollution occur at or from the site. The present landfill disposal technique is economically efficient with disposal costs of about $1.00 per ton of solid waste disposed. A benefit-cost analysis was conducted using the present landfill disposal technique as the control situation and the grinding disposal technique as the possible alternative. The point of view of the analysis was that of the Corporation of the District of North Vancouver which would be the decision making authority. For comparison purposes, different volume capacities were used in the analysis. The district's borrowing rate of 7% was used as the discount rate. Rates above and below the selected discount rate were also used in the analysis for comparison purposes. The value of net intangible benefits was also calculated to show what value would have to be placed on these benefits by the District of North Vancouver to justify the use of the disposal techniques involved in the analysis which were not as economically efficient. The results of the benefit-cost analysis showed that the present controlled landfill technique is economically more efficient than the proposed grinding disposal technique. The District of North Vancouver would consequently not be justified in converting to a grinding disposal technique under present conditions, unless the value of the net intangible benefits was accepted as a legitimate monetary expense. / Applied Science, Faculty of / Community and Regional Planning (SCARP), School of / Graduate