The main focus of this thesis is on the town of Mšeno and its inhabitants. The first part deals with the town's history and its municipal treasured buildings zone. The following part gives a detailed demographic analysis. The third part covers issues of town planning, local economy, evaluation of social and technical infrastructure. The same part also further gives an analysis of environmental issues and tourism in town and its surroundings. Additionally, the next part introduces an elaborated and processed questionnaire survey, made in Mšeno in the year 2008. Based on the analyses and questionnaire, the last part then deals with a potential future development of the town.

This diploma thesis concentrates on the evaluation of the quality of transport infrastructure. The main aim is to compare regions of the Czech Republic from the view of transport infrastructure. This thesis uses as a source of information, strategic documents from regions, data from Czech Statistic Office and data from Ministry of Transport. This thesis concentrates on every type of transport -- road transport, railway transport, air transport, water transport. It takes bicycle transport as an additional type of transport. For each region, analysis has been compiled for all functional components of transport in the region's territories. The parts that include road and railway transport are filled in by results of calculation based on statistical data. Characteristics of regions and their aims in transport infrastructure are included in the thesis. Categorization of regions is based on elaborated analysis. When looking at the overall evaluation, the best region was Kralovéhradecký Region, the second best was Pardubický Region and the third best was Středočeský Region. In the second part of the table were the following places regions: Region Vysočina, Jihočeský Region, Liberecký Region, Plzeňský Region and Olomoucký Region. Last three positions have Jihomoravský Region, Moravskoslezský Region and Zlínský Region.

This master thesis is devoted to the cement industry and its relation to the infrastructure development in selected countries of Central Europe. The aim is to analyse cement industries and markets in the Czech Republic, Slovak Republic and Austria and compare these markets with the infrastructure development in aforemetioned countries. The first chapter defines cement industry and infrastructure. The second chapter focuses on the evolution and contemporary state of cement industries in the Czech Republic, Slovak Republic and Austria. The third chapter devotes itself to infrastructure and its development in Europe and Central European states. The last chapter combines data from second and third chapter and answers the main research question.

A critical dimension of the search for sustainable urban form is the need to accommodate urban population growth whilst at the same time ensuring the integrity of natural systems. Incorporating Green Infrastructure (GI) planning into the process of Urban Regeneration (UR) potentially offers a new way of addressing the challenges of sustainable urban development. However, despite the potential benefits of improved forms of integration, an effective understanding of the role of GI within UR is lacking. It is arguable that this awareness is particularly limited within the context of East Asian cities. This research explores the extent to which GI and UR are inter-related and are capable of offering joint sustainable development solutions. Through an evaluation of Taipei’s old urban core, this thesis assesses the potential for integration within the context of a rapidly evolving and highly dense urban setting. From a review of best practice examples, the thesis considers the manner in which GI and UR integration can be conceptualised. A model is proposed which is centred around process-product cycles and the presence of linked components. These linkages are then investigated through the review of existing planning policy, the level of current spatial integration and finally, the attitudinal perspectives of primary stakeholders. Three main challenges to integration are identified by the research. These are: the contextual difficulty of achieving sustainable urban form within a highly populated and socio-economically disadvantaged area; the institutional weighting awarded UR over GI within key organisations; and finally, the belief that GI provision cannot be reconciled with the need to pursue profit. In response, recommendations are proposed which include an improved strategic role for GI in UR; the development of tailored urban design regulations; a commitment to the development of a GI plan and the development of a better understanding of potential benefits.

Investment projects of companies can be assessed by various methods. There are methods non-profit character, as well as static methods, dynamic methods and real option methods. The basic requirement for the method should include liquidity factor, time factor and the risk factor in the evaluation. Methods that do not respect these demands, we can consider the approximate methods. However, there are areas where these methods can not be simply used.             The main objectives of this thesis are the specifications of the problems of development of transport, especially railway transport in the Czech Republic and its comparison with neighboring countries and the characteristics and assessment methods to evaluate investments in transport, which are used for the assessment of transport projects in the Czech Republic.

Developing countries, such as Namibia, need to bridge the existing infrastructure gap to improve the country's comparative advantage, economic growth and competitiveness, quality of life and the welfare of its citizens. As traditional sources of finance dwindle, Pension Fund savings need to be pooled to complement traditional sources of funding, such as government budgetary allocations, borrowing and user fees. Although infrastructure's economic and financial characteristics are a match to Pension Fund liabilities, Namibia's Pension Fund investment in infrastructure lags behind world-class benchmarks. This study investigated the factors that hinder Pension Fund investment in infrastructure in Namibia. The study employed a mixed-method research method and convergent parallel data collection processes. The study obtained a representative sample to participate in the survey from a population of NAMFISA registered Pension Fund and investment managers using a combination of the stratified random and simple random sampling techniques as part of primary data collection. The financial characteristics that make infrastructure assets attractive such as; long term, low sensitivity to economic swings, a low correlation with other assets and long term and inflation hedged returns makes them suitable for Pension Fund investments. The study confirms findings of previous studies by Beeferman, (2008); Ehlers, (2014); Inderst & Della Croce, (2013); Sy, (2017) and Thierie & Moor (2016), amongst others, revealed factors such as; a lack of a project pipeline, a lack of expertise by Pension Funds in infrastructure investments, Pension Fund regulation and a lack of financial instruments and assets that match Pension Funds are barriers to Pension Fund investment in infrastructure. The lack of a project pipeline is further attributable to issues such as infrastructure projects that are not sufficiently developed or viable on their own without some form of government support, inefficiencies in public procurement and public-private partnership policies and a lack of project preparation funding. The study recommends the following initiatives by policymakers and key stakeholders towards increasing Pension Fund investment in infrastructure: firstly, government and state-owned institutions responsible for public services should implement policies that will increase the pipeline of bankable and implementable projects. The National Development Plans (NDP5), the Harambee Prosperity plans and the Vision 2030 already identify projects; however, institutionstasked with infrastructure development need to develop implementation modelsthat are viable and bankable. The development plans need to be coordinated across the various levels iii of government and state-owned enterprises for effective implementation. Secondly, it is recommended that policymakers create the necessary conditions for Public Procurement and Public Private Partnership Policies to gain confidence amongst investors. Rooting out corruption and ensuring processes are transparent and fair to all stakeholders can have the effect of creating investor confidence in the two policies. The financial institutions, especially with a developmental angle, should support the public institutions with project preparation funding and technical assistance during project planning/development. Thirdly, the government, through the regulators, NAMFISA, are advised to continue with the implementation of policies aimed at increasing the limit on assets held with unlisted investment managers to allow increased Pension Fund investment in infrastructure without compromising the performance (return) and risk exposure. The financial regulators, NAMFISA and the Bank of Namibia should encourage the growth of the local financial sector to increase the quality and quantity of financial instruments available to investors and increase the depth of the financial sector to absorb local funding capacity. Lastly, the government is recommended to explore the options of partial listing infrastructure SOEs,such as NamPower, NamWater, Road Fund Administrator (RFA), NamPort, TransNamib, among others, to facilitate Pension Fund investment into infrastructure and reduce transaction cost and risks. The study identifies the need for future research opportunities with the aim of understanding issues that affect the project pipeline in the Namibian context in greater detail.

To test the fire resistance of shotcrete, fire tests are performed. There are no euro codes or similar regulations for how the test bodies are to be handled and it is left to the client of the project to prescribe how the tests should be conducted. This sometimes entails unrealistic goals, unreasonable conditions and some room for own interpretations of how the samples are to be handled. Since the moisture in fire testing of shotcrete has a large impact, the moisture ratio in the concrete should be investigated. By extension, this means that the handling process and the drying time of the test bodies must be reviewed. This thesis establishes a management protocol for how the moisture ratio in test specimens in shotcrete should be investigated. The result of such a test must be able to support which drying times are reasonable to mimic the actual conditions of a tunnel in operation. The report also generally addresses the importance of conducting fire tests on shotcrete in tunnels according to the most realistic conditions possible. Therefore, it is important to investigate what requirements are set today in connection with fire tests of shotcrete and how reality-adapted they are.

The objective of this study was to evaluate water conservation and water demand management in an industrialised City of uMhlathuze in Richards Bay. The City of uMhlathuze Local Municipality is the third-largest municipality in KwaZulu Natal (KZN) and is strategically placed to continue attracting investment as an aspirant metropolis due to the newly established Industrial Development Zone (IDZ) and the country's largest deep-water port. As an industrialised city, uMhlathuze's demand for water is already increasing and with the establishment of the IDZ, it is expected that water demand will escalate even further once the IDZ is fully operational. In line with the research question, this study has, therefore, sought to understand whether the industrialised City of uMhlathuze has developed and effectively implemented a water conservation and water demand management strategy and interventions in order to sustain water supply in anticipation of growing demand due to industrialisation and population growth. This objective was achieved by evaluating the city's current interventions and measures using a range of water conservation and water demand management solutions and guidelines. During this study, it was evident that the greatest threat facing South Africa's ambitious future economic growth, poverty alleviation and government's transformation agenda was the inefficient and unbalanced use of available and limited water resources. Thus, in order to avoid this imminent threat, the country as a whole must continuously reduce water consumption and demand from various sectors. This goal can be achieved through sustainable and improved water conservation and water demand management interventions. The study found that, in recent years, the issue of water scarcity had escalated in KZN. The province was in the grip of a drought, which was taking its toll on water supply in various municipalities around the province. The sparse rainfall in most parts of the province had caused the levels of rivers and dams to decrease to a point of crisis. Consequently, the KZN Provincial Government declared the province a disaster area in 2015. During the study, there was very little improvement as the City of uMhlathuze was still subjected to level 4 water restrictions. Evidently, the drought was intensifying the water problem in a municipality already grappling with poor and inadequate water infrastructure. A review of international and local literature was undertaken to theoretically position the objective of the research. An evaluation of the City of uMhlathuze water conservation and water demand management strategy and interventions was conducted using a questionnaire completed by city officials and part of the study included documentation review. This study investigated key elements of water conservation and demand management as well as interventions that were pertinent to achieving the desired outcome of efficient use of water. Respondents were required to answer questions focusing on several water conservation and water demand management related approaches and solutions. During the study, it was identified that there were inconsistencies in the implementation of water conservation and water demand management interventions even though the City of uMhlathuze had already taken the important step of developing a water conservation and water demand management strategy. It was recognised, however, that water conservation and water demand management remained relatively new for most municipalities. Consequently, it would take time for municipalities, together with communities, to implement effective interventions. The focus needs to be on the establishment of a combined team of staff and stakeholders, set up to finding solutions and interventions designed to maximise the most sustainable and efficient use of water. The conclusions drawn from this study and proposed recommendations indicated that wastewater reuse; pipe replacement; water pressure management; rainwater and stormwater harvesting; water sensitive urban design; leak detection and repair; joint planning and research team with the Industrial Development Zone; groundwater and aquifer recharge; stakeholder engagement, education and citizen awareness are feasible options for the City of uMhlathuze to consider in relation to water conservation and water demand management. These solutions should constitute the foundation of a revised and updated water conservation and water demand management strategy to be implemented incrementally with broad-based participation.

Since the birth of the automobile in 1886, its popularity amongst people has risen dramatically owing to the freedom, comfort, speed, safety and unique designs offered by this mode of transport. 2014 saw approximately 71.15 million units of new vehicle sales globally, showing that private car usage is still on the rise. Rapid degradation of the environment and slumped economic growth can be attributed to the automobilecentric transport system. Raised environmental and social awareness has driven campaigns to promote greener modes of transport instead, such as public and nonmotorised transportation. This has seen the introduction of BRT systems in South African cities however; fully integrated transport systems are yet to be achieved. Thus there is a dire need for a design support tool that is adequately capable of processing built environment characteristics in the development of a BRT feeder network that is fully appreciative of the influence of NMT and the urban fabric, and is thus appropriate to the needs of the community it is trying to serve. This study comprised the application of two Spatial Multi-Criteria based methodologies in which a list of built environment characteristics and public transport demand formed the inputs for the analyses. The analysis produced a composite suitability map for each approach, in which each pixel represented the appropriateness of having a BRT feeder route located in that respective pixel. Routes between O-D pairs identified were solved by carrying out a least cost path assessment based on the mean impedance values along the existing road network. The routes developed were compared to the MyCiTi feeder bus routes using Key Performance Indicators established in this research to determine whether this study was successful in producing an enhanced BRT feeder route planning tool. Apart from one route, the set of feeder routes developed for each approach were exactly the same with the second method producing lower average impedance values per kilometre thus it was deemed stronger. When compared to the MyCiTi feeder routes, similar operational efficiencies were achieved with respect to average travel time, coverage and directness. However; the study methodologies provided a greater level of NMT planning inclusion and consideration of environmental factors. Furthermore; it achieved this in a systematic and transparent manner, providing immensely powerful benefits for transportation planners in the public sector. This study was successful in demonstrating that SMCA combined with the Network Analyst tool in ArcGIS has the ability to enhance the quality and appropriateness of BRT feeder routes, whilst achieving acceptable operational efficiencies. The results could further be improved by incorporating more data on local NMT trends and behaviour. Furthermore; this tool can be applied to solving pedestrian, bicycle and other public transport routing problems.

Cape Town is experiencing its worst drought in recorded history. Notwithstanding that the Western Cape has always been a water scarce region, it is this current drought that has brought home the area’s inherent vulnerability and highlighted the governance issues. The world wherein South Africa’s water governance was created is very different to the world we find ourselves in today. It is a world of uncertainty and unpredictability not contemplated in water governance comprised of legislation, policy, guidelines and practice. The current water governance constructs a conventional approach based upon predictability and certainty and is no longer appropriate to meet today’s new challenges. Consistent with this conventional approach, Cape Town’s municipal water supply is almost completely dependent upon surface water which makes it even more vulnerable to drought than if its supply was comprised of a variety of water supply options. With surface water sources fully exploited and storage opportunities within the urban edge limited alternative water supply options must be more seriously considered and the water governance reformed to accommodate its use. Water governance is the focus of reform because it is the framework for infrastructure planning and therefore controls the resultant system, infrastructure and management. This thesis interrogates the current water governance as the starting point before firstly discussing the proposed incremental approach towards a decentralised, hybrid system for water infrastructure and secondly, identifying specific areas where intervention is necessary for implementation.