published_or_final_version / Politics and Public Administration / Master / Master of Public Administration

Opinions from society have become increasingly important in the development of public infrastructure projects as governments and organizations place greater emphasis on public consultation and engagement efforts. With a developing trend around the world (including in Hong Kong) towards greater public involvement in the decision-making processes for public infrastructure projects, it is imperative that decision-makers give sufficient consideration into the needs and concerns from different sectors of society. Inability to do so can lead to project delays, protests and litigation. Existing public consultation and engagement exercises often attract those with the loudest voices or with special interests / motives (political, financial, etc.). Moreover, comments and feedback collected from public consultation and engagement events are often not systematically organized and codified for use as reference in future projects. This leads to the loss of potentially valuable lessons when preparing for new projects. Public engagement, addressing the needs of society and social capital are mostly looked at from the social sciences perspective. Research in these areas focusing on infrastructure development and construction remain limited. Furthermore, there is currently no comprehensive approach and strategy on addressing the needs of society to continuously capture the lessons learned from previous projects. Previous research work on stakeholder engagement in construction focused on analyzing and resolving conflicts between stakeholders; stakeholder identification and prioritization of engagement items based on ethical practices; and integration of project management and asset management teams for providing better feedback on end-user needs. However, these studies did not address some fundamental problems in stakeholder engagement such as the lack of participation from a larger, more representative audience; the need to proactively engage certain groups or sectors of society that are most severely impacted by a project; and identifying the connection between the public and other construction stakeholders to illustrate how the rest of society can contribute and relate to a public infrastructure project. This Study aims to: i) develop an Integrative Approach that can help decision-makers of public infrastructure projects better anticipate, consider and subsequently address the needs and concerns of society when planning and designing public infrastructure projects by empowering stakeholders with knowledge and lessons learned from previous experiences; ii) demonstrate how a broad range of project stakeholders, including the public and various groups in society, can be embraced and connected through mobilization and utilization of social capital; and iii) illustrate the facilitation of knowledge exchange between the various stakeholders of a public infrastructure project. Through a comprehensive research process involving a combination of literature review, interviews with relevant experts, observations at public engagement events in Hong Kong, organizing a public engagement event in collaboration with an NGO, conducting an empirical case study and hosing a workshop with construction industry experts, the Integrative Approach to Addressing Societal Needs was developed, which consist of a Stakeholder Knowledge Transfer (SKT) model, a Relational Knowledge Base (RKB), as well as a set of Strategies and Implementation Measures for putting the SKT model and RKB into practice. / published_or_final_version / Civil Engineering / Doctoral / Doctor of Philosophy

ITC/USA 2012 Conference Proceedings / The Forty-Eighth Annual International Telemetering Conference and Technical Exhibition / October 22-25, 2012 / Town and Country Resort & Convention Center, San Diego, California / The iNET program uses network technology and infrastructure to enhance traditional telemetry systems. The program's components were designed with an eye to existing and emerging technology and infrastructure, requiring the program to gather data about these systems. The methods used in this design effort can be used to characterize existing network infrastructure to determine what upgrades and changes are necessary to deploy a TmNS. This paper describes the methods used for characterizing a range network infrastructure and explores network capacity and policy issues effecting a TmNS deployment. This effort includes making estimates and taking measurements of network capacity, surveying and analyzing network routing/management policies, and proposes a system for evaluating networks for future TmNS deployments.

The city landscape of China is undoubtedly experiencing rapid transformation. With the fast rate of urbanization it seems plausible that people will live in a vertical city served by new kinds of transportation infrastructure around the year 2050. This project studied the values of the upper middle class of migrants living in a future Shanghai. Ideation and form development resulted in an aesthetic sculpture informed by the western brand and the eastern culture. This sculpture then inspired the development of a vehicle concept that can act as mobility solution as well as an icon of quality living in the future Chinese home.

The automobile transformed life in America, but there has been very little quantitative analysis of the diffusion of the automobile in the 1920s and 1930s. In my first chapter, I compile a new county panel data set with car registrations and highway miles for the 1920s and 1930s to examine the interaction between automobiles and the building of highways in three states Indiana, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin. I find that a 10 percent increase in state highway miles leads to a one percent increase in car registrations. If the Federal government helped states double their state highway miles in 1930, the number of automobile registrations in 1942 would have increased by about 63 percent at the county level. Using the same instrumental variable with Chapter 1, I discuss the relationship between the diffusion of motor vehicles on farms and farms' access to good roads in Chapter 2. A ten percent increase in farms' access to hard roads leads to 0.8 percent increase in the number of automobiles on farms, and three percent increase in the number of trucks on farms. The impact of having access to gravel/shell/clay roads on farms' truck adoption is also about three times higher than that on farms' automobile adoption. Together with the rapid automobile adoption, deaths from infectious diseases have declined in the U.S during the 20th century. The 3rd paper examines the relationship between rapid automobile adoption and the fall in mortality rates, with a focus on infant mortality in the early 20th century. Cars replaced horses and reduced the number of horse stables in the cities, along with the manure that nourished generations of flies, the key carriers of the germs and bacteria responsible for infectious diseases. This trend helped to improve sanitation on a macro (urban) and hygiene on a micro (individual) level, especially in large, crowded cities. This, in turn, drove down deaths from those diseases.

Rising commercial rents in downtown Halifax combined with a freeze on federal arts funding are forcing artists to leave the city in search of affordable and accessible workspace. Essential to the cultural and economic growth of the city, artists desperately need space where they can continue to develop their work and grow their professional practice. The Halifax waterfront, which remains largely vacant since major industries shifted away from the area, provides an opportunity to create a new and unique cultural space in the heart of the city. This thesis examines the design of a cultural infrastructure on the Halifax waterfront to support the local creative community and to further enable connection, production and networking among creators and the public. By examining the transformation of the waterfront from its founding to its current condition, a strategy of uncovering the inherent qualities of place to inform new development is explored. / An architectural thesis focused on developing a cultural infrastructure on the Halifax waterfront to support the local creative community and to further enable connection among creators and the public.

Rapidly growing outlying communities, exasperated congestion, complex traffic challenges - coupled with the role of vehicle carbon emissions in climate change - have led to the need for long-term sustainable transportation planning in the Greater Victoria of British Columbia region. Using an exploratory mixed methods approach that employed a literature review, an on-line survey, interviews and the partaking of a personal transportation journey, this study examined the views of Greater Victoria residents regarding the implementation of a Victoria - Green Road Inner Duct (VIC-G.R.I.D.) network of roads as a way to address regional sustainable transportation needs. The study showed positive support from the residents with an approval rating of 81%, and described barriers, motivators and concerns identified by the residents (i.e., potential increase in congestion, funding, and resistance to change). The study results will inform policy development and planning of publicly and politically acceptable transportation strategies in the Greater Victoria region.

This thesis investigates the relationship between water resources, networks and territory under changing relations of rule in the West Bank, Occupied Palestinian Territories. It focuses on the creation of uneven patterns of water infrastructure development since Israeli occupation of the territory in 1967, and on their perpetration following the establishment of the Palestinian National Authority in 1995. This is produced by the interplay of three different imperatives of water resource development: a military-strategic and territorial one, represented by the Israeli Civil Administration, one based on national sovereignty over resources and universal water rights, represented by the Palestinian National Authority, and one based on technical efficiency of the sector, promoted by some international development institutions. The relative strength of these three actors in relation to each other, which in turn is influenced by the political history of the region, determines the physical outcome of water resource development.

A political boundary divided the City of Shenzhen in 1978. The southern portion is designated as a Special Economic Zone (SEZ), while the northern region remains a part of hinterland China. The divide creates a geographical and psychological chasm in the administrative and ontological existence of Shenzhen. The locals dubbed this border “the Second Line”. The Second Line and SEZ were a part of Chairman Deng Xiaoping’s open and reform economic policies in 1978. The SEZs were designated areas along the southeast coast of China for the socialist state’s experimentation with global capitalism. After years of wars, revolution and repression of the individual pursuit of capital, Shenzhen underwent extraordinary urban and economic development, growing from clusters of villages holding 300 000 residents to a megalopolis of more than a million in one decade. The Second Line drove uneven urban and economic growth in the Shenzhen SEZ. The radical speed of development and opportunities brought workers from rural areas of China. They made up the economic and urban substructure of the city, but were excluded from urban social welfare. Shenzhen’s industries rooted in instability and disposability of labour discouraged the settlement of the floating population. The thesis proposal conceptually commemorates the site of the Second Line, and pays homage to its crucial role in the urban and economic formation of Shenzhen. At the urban scale, it acts as a public infrastructure, providing a framework for interface between the segregated territories of the city. The social housing component of the proposal is an architectural response and challenge to policies that allow for the migration of rural workers without provisions for everyday life. The proposal subverts the divisive ideology of the boundary through inhabitation, and creates a space of dwelling on the Second Line.

There are existing standards and guidelines for the effective management of infrastructure through infrastructure asset management planning (IAM). However, few if any of these standards explicitly address the financial implications associated with the uncertainty that underlies the risk associated with service provision. Without credibly quantifying the potential implications of this network variable uncertainty (i.e. an extreme weather event that affects the performance and costs of many segments within the study network, or the introduction of a new technology that may impact the network cost estimates) infrastructure management systems may actually regularly and significantly over or under estimate the actual financial requirements required to provide services. Therefore, financial projections may actually include a systematic bias. It was hypothesized that a model could be developed that quantifies and communicates the financial implications of network variable uncertainty within the IAM context. A model was developed to demonstrate how network variable uncertainty could be included in financial planning for infrastructure networks. The model was able to: (1) be applied to various types of infrastructure networks, (2) incorporate network variable uncertainty, (3) compare alternatives and scenarios, and (4) support effective communication of results. The outputs of the model were the average network annual worth (AW) and network present worth (PW). These outputs, along with tornado plots, risks curves, level of service dashboards, and existing budget levels, were used to communicate the impacts of the network variable uncertainty on the financial projections. The model was developed using Excel tools linked to DPL software to utilize probabilistic methods. The Life Cycle Cost (LCC) portion of the model was successfully verified against an existing infrastructure costing tool, the Land and Infrastructure Resiliency Assessment (LIRA) tool developed by the Agri-Environmental Services Branch of Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada. The impact of the network variable uncertainty within the variables was also quantified in terms of levels of service provided by the organization. The developed model was first applied to a hypothetical twelve segment road network for illustrative purposes. For the hypothetical road network there were four events, representing network variable uncertainty, that were considered. These decisions or events included the: (1) decision to implement a new technology, (2) event of changing standards, (3) event of increased material costs, and (4) occurrence of an extreme rainfall event. The hypothetical network illustrated that if the defined decisions or events occurred then the expected network AW would increase by 41%. The impacts of decisions or events on the hypothetical network levels of service, stemming from network variable uncertainty, were also considered. The measured levels of service for the hypothetical network included the network financial sustainability indicator (an indicator reflecting the network current budget divided by the network annual worth as a percentage) and the frequency of blading of the roads. The model was next applied to a case study using the Town of Shellbrook sanitary main network. The Town has a large quantity of aging mains which were constructed in the 1960’s and are expected to require renewal in the near term. The network variable uncertainty for the case study resulted from the potential decision to implement a new trenchless technology for the renewal of sanitary mains. The new technology was expected to decrease the renewal costs. However, there was uncertainty as to what percentage of the sanitary mains would be found to be suitable for the new technology. Using the model it was determined that if the decision was made to implement the new technology, there would be an expected reduction of 17% in the network AW. The levels of service that were used for the Shellbrook case study were the network financial sustainability indicator (annual budget / network AW) and the meeting of standards set by regulating bodies. It was determined that the network financial sustainability indicator was sensitive to the decision to implement the trenchless technology, while the meeting of regulating bodies was not. If the decision was made to implement the new technology the network sustainability indicator would be expected to increase from 28% (if the new technology was not implemented) to 34% (if the new technology were implemented). The model was finally applied to a case study looking at the RM of Wilton gravel road network. The network variable uncertainty for this case study resulted from the potential increase in gravel material costs. The network variable uncertainty represented the magnitude of the annual increase in gravel costs. Given the event of increasing gravel costs the expected network AW would increase by 14%. The levels of service indicators used for the RM of Wilton case study were the network financial sustainability indicator and the frequency of blading. It was determined that the network financial sustainability indicator was sensitive to the event (increasing gravel costs), while the frequency of blading was not directly impacted (although it may be indirectly impacted). If the event of increasing gravel costs were to occur then the network financial sustainability indicator would be expected to decrease from 59% (if gravel costs did not increase) to 52% (if gravel costs did increase). This research proved that the hypothesis was correct, and that a model could be developed that quantified and communicated the financial implications and level of service impacts of network variable uncertainty for IAM planning. This research illustrated and quantified that IAM planning without accounting for network variable uncertainty, such as: (1) changing technology, (2) changing standards, (3) increasing material costs, and (4) extreme weather events, managers may introduce a systematic bias into long term planning. Network variable uncertainty can significantly impact the projected expenditures required for the long term provision of services. Infrastructure managers and decision makers need to manage infrastructure in a sustainable way over the long term in the face of uncertainty. It is necessary that decision makers have information regarding the impacts of network variable uncertainty on both LCCs and levels of service to make fully informed decision.