Thesis (D. Min.)--Logos Evangelical Seminary, 2000. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 200-216).

This project examines “positive change” with regard to queer/LGBTTITQetc. education-activism in Vancouver, British Columbia directed at building what has been described as “queer-friendly schools” through the development and implementation of policy, as well as activist work connected to those efforts. I employ elements of autoethnography and participatory research by documenting and analyzing my education-activist work in this context and that of others with whom I have done this work. I situate this project within the broader context of the education system and queer/LGBTTITQetc. education-activist efforts in British Columbia. In the process, I problematize what is meant by or capable of activism and “positive change.” As demonstrated in the literature review, various understandings of sexuality, gender, activism, educational leadership, and “positive change” are available to inform queer/LGBTTITQetc. education-activism. This thesis examines how these understandings sit in tension with the practicalities, limitations, and contradictions of activist engagement at the school district level of a complex, politicized public school system. My engagement with the literature, documentation of the practical work, and exploration of a number of guiding questions with the project’s participants comprise the bulk of this project.

We live in a culture that readily and pervasively privileges the eye over the ear. Architecture is regarded increasingly as picturesque images by spectators at distance and in isolation. Building starts to lose their plasticity and the close connection with the language and wisdom of the body. However, every touching experience of architecture is multi-sensory. Therefore, architecture involves seven realms of sensory experiences which interact and infuse each other in a continuum. The thesis attempts to locate at the aural realm as a theoretical departure point and to explore ways of counterbalancing the unconscious tendency concerning retinal dominance. It is intended to recapture the fading sensuality, tactility and embodied essence of architecture. The study of audible space corresponds to one specific perceptual phenomenon as the starting point. This is not intended slightly to undermine the reality mat in architectural synthesis, different sensory categories overlap. The experiment attempts to explore and reinstate the relationship between architecture and sound. It seeks to trace for the seams which tie together their adjacencies and to overhear the different mutations of visual sound and acoustical space. Concepts and methodologies that signify the role of sound in architectural and environmental design will be investigated. The project, hypothetically the extension of the Orpheum Theater, will serve as the vehicle for the petrifying the theoretical investigation.. The project attempts to discover room and potential for improvements between the conflicting forces. The locale's charm lies in its specificity and complexity as an enduring historical local musical precinct, a neighborhood of depopulated and deteriorating street life. The study at this particular locale also tries to scrutinize the architectural relationship between the old and new and the possible regain of eminent public activities in public spaces resultant from inappropriate urban planning strategy.

This research investigates how community-based stewardship and governance of urban parks benefits both biodiversity conservation and local residents‟ quality of life. The main objective of this research is to examine successful strategies to improve biodiversity and human well-being in urban parks. In this research, two stories of renowned city parks in metropolitan areas are interpreted: Seoul Forest Park in Seoul, Korea and Stanley Park in Vancouver, Canada. These parks are compared on the basis of the history of their creation and restoration, their strategic plans, challenges to managing the parks, the role of community-based stewardship, and the relationship between city governments and community stewardship groups. By comparing two famous metropolitan city parks, this study makes recommendations for each park. To understand the beneficial programs and approaches, I further explore how the parks‟ management plans address improvement in biodiversity, and how park governance and operations encourage it, particularly how stewardship groups have improved biodiversity. Based on the research findings, this study drew several main benefits of community-based stewardship and governance of urban parks. First, supportive legislation, policies, and plans for biodiversity conservation have a decisive effect on the implementation of biodiversity improvement. Next, regular ecosystem monitoring and linking fragmented areas are mandatory to preserve and improve urban biodiversity. Also, urban green space restoration contributes not only to biodiversity conservation, but also to citizens‟ quality of life. In addition, listening to citizens‟ opinions, ensuring the safety of park users, offering cutting-edge services, and providing various cultural and educational programs, contribute to enhanced citizens‟ well-being in urban parks. Lastly, community-based stewardship groups play an essential role for improving biodiversity as well as citizens‟ quality of life in urban parks. Therefore, a successful partnership between the Parks Division in city governments and community-based stewardship groups creates a more powerful synergy that sustains biodiversity and human well-being. / Graduate

This research investigates how community-based stewardship and governance of urban parks benefits both biodiversity conservation and local residents‟ quality of life. The main objective of this research is to examine successful strategies to improve biodiversity and human well-being in urban parks. In this research, two stories of renowned city parks in metropolitan areas are interpreted: Seoul Forest Park in Seoul, Korea and Stanley Park in Vancouver, Canada. These parks are compared on the basis of the history of their creation and restoration, their strategic plans, challenges to managing the parks, the role of community-based stewardship, and the relationship between city governments and community stewardship groups. By comparing two famous metropolitan city parks, this study makes recommendations for each park. To understand the beneficial programs and approaches, I further explore how the parks‟ management plans address improvement in biodiversity, and how park governance and operations encourage it, particularly how stewardship groups have improved biodiversity. Based on the research findings, this study drew several main benefits of community-based stewardship and governance of urban parks. First, supportive legislation, policies, and plans for biodiversity conservation have a decisive effect on the implementation of biodiversity improvement. Next, regular ecosystem monitoring and linking fragmented areas are mandatory to preserve and improve urban biodiversity. Also, urban green space restoration contributes not only to biodiversity conservation, but also to citizens‟ quality of life. In addition, listening to citizens‟ opinions, ensuring the safety of park users, offering cutting-edge services, and providing various cultural and educational programs, contribute to enhanced citizens‟ well-being in urban parks. Lastly, community-based stewardship groups play an essential role for improving biodiversity as well as citizens‟ quality of life in urban parks. Therefore, a successful partnership between the Parks Division in city governments and community-based stewardship groups creates a more powerful synergy that sustains biodiversity and human well-being. / Graduate

Thesis (Ph.D.)--York University, 2007. Graduate Programme in History. / Typescript. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 377-397). Also available on the Internet. MODE OF ACCESS via web browser by entering the following URL: http://gateway.proquest.com/openurl?url_ver=Z39.88-2004&res_dat=xri:pqdiss&rft_val_fmt=info:ofi/fmt:kev:mtx:dissertation&rft_dat=xri:pqdiss:NR39019

This project examines “positive change” with regard to queer/LGBTTITQetc. education-activism in Vancouver, British Columbia directed at building what has been described as “queer-friendly schools” through the development and implementation of policy, as well as activist work connected to those efforts. I employ elements of autoethnography and participatory research by documenting and analyzing my education-activist work in this context and that of others with whom I have done this work. I situate this project within the broader context of the education system and queer/LGBTTITQetc. education-activist efforts in British Columbia. In the process, I problematize what is meant by or capable of activism and “positive change.” As demonstrated in the literature review, various understandings of sexuality, gender, activism, educational leadership, and “positive change” are available to inform queer/LGBTTITQetc. education-activism. This thesis examines how these understandings sit in tension with the practicalities, limitations, and contradictions of activist engagement at the school district level of a complex, politicized public school system. My engagement with the literature, documentation of the practical work, and exploration of a number of guiding questions with the project’s participants comprise the bulk of this project. / Education, Faculty of / Graduate

British Columbia is a large and complicated province and because of the differences in topography and settlement, it can best be analyzed on a regional basis. This study of social welfare measurements in Metropolitan Vancouver, is the third in a series of regional assessments. The two regions so far examined are the agricultural area of the Fraser Valley, and one of the "Frontier" areas of the North. The Metropolis, obviously, has very different characteristics from both of them and is the most complex region of all. It has been undergoing a period of rapid population growth, and the development of suburban communities. At the present time, approximately one-half of the population of British Columbia lives in Metropolitan Vancouver. Metropolitan Vancouver is included in Region II of the Department of Social Welfare. However, some areas of Region II such as Powell River, which are not in the metropolitan context have been largely excluded from this analysis. Other areas, such as the Municipality of Surrey and the City of White Rock, have been included as they are populated by those for whom the urban centre has a large measure of social and economic significance. This "Region" of Metropolitan Vancouver coincides with sub-divisions C and D of Census Division 4, and thus obviates one of the major difficulties in undertaking a regional study: that census material boundaries and welfare regional boundaries do not coincide. Basic statistical data was compiled and computed from the Dominion Bureau of Statistics. Extensive use was made of 1961 data, and selective reference was made to 1951 data. Information was available for Metropolitan Vancouver in the detailed Census Tract Bulletin now prepared by the Dominion Bureau of Statistics for all major cities. To simplify analysis, these tracts have been summarized into "sectors". A series of indices was also worked out to reflect social and economic conditions which may have welfare implications. The welfare statistics were compiled primarily from the monthly reports of the Provincial Department of Social Welfare, for the years 1951 and 1961. However, in Metropolitan Vancouver there are also numerous private social agencies and a few major ones serving the family, and children have been chosen to examine more fully, the welfare services. Correlation of social and economic factors with the welfare pattern in the metropolitan area has been undertaken. "Sector" analysis, initiated in this study, has revealed differential welfare requirements. All districts use welfare services: the most prosperous, in which there are marginal income enclaves; and others, demonstrating the complex of social problems inherent in unplanned urban expansion. Difficulties encountered in this regional study highlight the need for standardization of Welfare Region and Census Division boundaries. Most essential for productive analysis of welfare statistics is the formulation of standard, operationally-defined categories of service for both public and private agencies; one critical distinction might be made between income-maintenance programmes and personal services. This is an initial exploratory study of Metropolitan Vancouver as a "Welfare Region". Even as this report is prepared the characteristics of the metropolitan area are changing. With one-half of the provincial population living in this "Region" further studies will be needed to provide adequate information for comprehensive, enduring planning for the welfare needs of the people who live in Metropolitan Vancouver. / Arts, Faculty of / Social Work, School of / Graduate

This Thesis was prompted by the belief that most town planners in their creation of the physical environment generally do not realize that they are also creating a social environment. This is particularly true of the sub-division design aspect of planning. In order to show that the local physical environment as created by subdivision design does affect local relationships, a planned veterans' housing project in East Vancouver was studied. The underlying reason for choosing the veterans' project, Renfrew Heights, was because the tenants were quite a homogeneous group as a result of the entry requirements of the Central Mortgage and Housing Corporation. This being the case, the effects of the design itself could be more easily determined. It was believed that people in the lower socio-economic groups were more affected by environment than those in the higher socioeconomic groups. Allied with this thought was the belief that the community of interest in areas like Renfrew was often the community itself. Because of these beliefs and the homogeneity of the community, the Renfrew project was chosen. The basic thesis of the study was similar to Robert E. Parks' definition of human ecology - that man's relationships with man are affected by environment. It was proposed that at the neighbourhood level local friendships were affected by four basic physical factors. It was proposed that these four physical factors were; (1) distance between houses; (2) differences in elevation or vertical distance; (3) the use that the distance is put to, or intensity of use; (4) orientation of houses or the way they face. A questionnaire was prepared and housewives were interviewed personally in order to determine what the local friendship pattern was in various parts of the project. An analysis of the questionnaire showed that local friendships were affected by the four physical factors. The need for further social research is stressed, particularly the social aspects of planning, in order to see if we are really planning for the people. It is concluded that it is upon this area of study that the future of town planning depends. / Applied Science, Faculty of / Community and Regional Planning (SCARP), School of / Graduate

In recent years there has been increasing interest in the analysis and clarification of social agency administration. In the group work setting the philosophies of democracy and social group work are intimately related. The Neighbourhood House is a "society in miniature", wherein all the pressures and interactions of human relationships are active and can be observed. The effectiveness of this community experience is a measure, of the compatibility of democratic aims and its practical implementation. Modern administrators believe that those who participate in an agency program should have a part in the process of policy-making. This is the core of democratic social agency administration. The representative membership council in the leisure-time agency is a medium for self-government and a vital instrument in the development of a responsible constituency. Important to the democratic administrative process is the role played by the professional group worker. In an attempt to learn something about the dynamic, quality of agency administration and relationships, this study is focused on the House Council, as the administrative group directly related to the membership. The analysis of the effectiveness of the Council is made in terms of selected concepts and principles of democratic social agency administration. The material used is based on records of House Council meetings gathered by the writer during a student placement at Gordon House in 1952-53. It is hoped that the findings of the study will help to point up the need for increased attention to the dynamics of administrative groups and specifically to the role of the House Council and the social group worker in the overall process. / Arts, Faculty of / Social Work, School of / Graduate