Thesis (M.S.)--University of Wisconsin--Madison, 1969. / eContent provider-neutral record in process. Description based on print version record. Includes bibliographical references.

<p> The emergence of the office sector as the largest sector in the Canadian economy has attracted increasing amounts of attention in academic literature. Recently, offices have followed the trends of residential, industrial and retail activity and have chosen to locate in the suburbs of metropolitan areas. North York is a typical example of a suburb where the office sector is growing faster than the offices in the metropolitan CBD. This research paper examines the sectoral growth of office employment in the central areas of North York and the City of Toronto. The research concludes that Metropolitan Toronto exhibits the selective decentralization of offices, that is, the suburbanization of low order, routine office functions to the suburbs leaving a CBD dominated by high order, decision-making office functions. The paper also examines the possible physical and social implications of the suburbanization of offices and the associated planning implications.</p> / Thesis / Candidate in Philosophy

Requirements regarding participation by the public in planning and decision making functions of Metropolitan Planning Organizations have become more detailed over the past several decades by adding more groups and individuals to the list of those who should be included in agency planning efforts. This increased emphasis on public participation in MPOs makes the design and selection of particular participation mechanisms by MPO planning staff an important subject for study. The extant literature on public participation takes a view of the planner as one who is able to interpret the existing technical, social, and political requirements of a planning task and match them with the appropriate public participation mechanism. However, this view of the planner overlooks his or her own understanding of the role of the public in agency decision making. This dissertation employs Grid-Group Cultural Theory to explore how a planner's worldview impacts their selection of particular public participation mechanisms. Data were collected using an online survey instrument and analyzed using multinomial logistic regression. Findings indicate that those planners who held a hierarchist worldview were less likely than egalitarians and individualist planners to select mechanisms that are more intensive (in their requirements for communication). In addition, the research finds that factors internal to the MPO including the budget, project schedule, political priorities, the type of projects, safety issues and agency priorities also have an impact on the mechanisms for public participation selected by MPO planning staff. / Ph. D.

This thesis examines Chinese metropolitan planning management system taking lessons from its past as well as current development and involving recommendations for its future improvement. It investigates the historical and current developments in the metropolitan planning management systems and also makes recommendations about how to improve the future systems. It aims to find potential ways which can make the Chinese metropolitan planning management system work well and move the metropolitan planning management to good governance. This thesis also constructs a theoretical framework from the perspective of decentralization, focusing upon the change of relationships between the Chinese government, market and society, to gain an in-depth insight of changes in the development of Chinese planning management system since 1978. It considers a case study approach to analyze the current situation of the metropolitan planning management system. It employs a qualitative research methodology that comprises of questionnaire and interviews with governmental officials, planners and experts, to study the behaviors of different actors involved in the core operations of planning management system, and investigate relationships between the government, market and society in order to examine the fundamental institutional factors producing the problems. In the end, on basis of the global public management paradigm transformation and in view of the overall trend of the governance transition, it makes recommendations regarding an improved metropolitan planning management system in China. It identifies factors influencing the Chinese metropolitan planning management system. It argues that the planning management system changes with the administrative system. The administrative management system reform has become the most direct and fundamental motive for promoting the transition of planning management system. It scrutinizes the problems in metropolitan planning management system. It argues that inadequate modern bureaucracy is the primary characteristic of current planning management systems, which is inducing problems in the metropolitan planning management system. It argues that the focus of Chinese metropolitan planning management system reform is the allocation of power and responsibility among different interest groups. It argues that reform of the metropolitan planning management system needs continuous improvement and has to surpass the bureaucracy moderately. The essence of metropolitan planning management system reform is rationalizing relationships between different levels of governments as well as relationships between the government, market and society. It insists that improved metropolitan planning management system in China needs support from other governance tools.

The role played by Metropolitan Planning Organizations in regional transportation planning across the United States is steadily growing, and with Congressional reauthorization looming, experts expect that role to further expand. Increasingly, MPOs are looking to land use and transportation planning integration as a logical step to address multiple pressing issues, including congestion and air quality. This report investigates selected regional entities across the nation that are engaging in various efforts to influence land use in addition to transportation facilities. Such efforts are usually referred to as “sustainable development,” “smart growth,” or “livable communities.” Historical investigation, combined with a look at agency structure, politics, and regional growth inform the discussion. Stakeholder interviews from each agency provide a unique perspective of challenges from professional staff themselves. Several trends are identified in best practices. Comprehensive findings are developed in the context of institutions, politics, finances, and technology. Relationships with the state department of transportation, strong leadership and goal establishment, dedicated sources of funding, and innovation in activity center visualization, are found to be key trends in MPOs that are producing successful outcomes in their land use and transportation integration programs. / text

Performance measurement has grown in importance within transportation agencies due to decreased and stipulated funding and federal focus on system performance. A shift has occurred in how transportation planning and decision making historically took place including a rise in prominence of the Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO). The public, state and local agencies, and other stakeholders are mutually served by the regional MPO to assure that transportation funding allocation and project selection meet the regional needs and coordinate the transportation planning process to provide a seamless transportation system. The recent Federal transportation funding program MAP-21 establishes performance measures for each MPO in coordination with the State department of transportation (DOT). Small MPOs, those which serve populations of less than 200,000 people, differ vastly from larger MPOs in the amount of funds available and authority to allocate funds as well as the resources that are available to perform a performance measurement program. Small MPOs often lack the resources to identify and use performance measures, even though performance measurement at the MPO level has promoted efficient decision-making in large MPOs. This research strives to find by interviews and surveys of the small Texas MPOs if the use of certain performance measures in small MPOs can be financially upheld with limited resources and budget. This thesis is timely in relation to the MAP-21 performance measurement requirements as it shows that performance measurement is, at this time, difficult to impossible based on small Texas MPOs’ very limited resources. Due to the estimated costs of basic performance measurement programs and the difficulty in quantifying the tangible benefits, the use of performance measurements in small Texas MPOs is unlikely. Small Texas MPOs listed potential performance measurement program benefits such as: project prioritization, funding allocation, and showing the public that professional planning is useful. It was found that any potential benefits of performance measurements are limited when dealing with small communities with fairly obvious transportation problems. The estimated cost of a basic performance measurement program in a small Texas MPO was determined to be around $150,000 per year. This cost exceeded both their abilities to fund a performance measurement program and the perceived benefits of such an effort. This research suggests the following performance measures are most likely to be beneficial when proven cost effective: V/C ratios, travel times, crash rates (safety) and VMT. These measures are often easily accessible and could be beneficial in the long-range planning of a local transportation system. However, fiscal and staffing limitations, along with realities of planning for a small community make the use of performance measures difficult. The results of this study can aid the Secretary of Transportation in understanding the limited technical capacities of small Texas MPOs in regards to performance measurement.

Over the last century, regionalism in American cities has taken many forms and has risen and fallen in popularity and effectiveness. “New Regionalism” is supported by many as the answer to many urban problems, yet it has proven to often be unsuccessful at addressing one of the most difficult of these problems—disjointed and inefficient regional growth and land use patterns. In this report, it is hypothesized that metropolitan planning organizations (MPO) are in such a position as to become coordinators and guiders of regional growth and land use patterns. Literature reviews and an original survey are performed as part of this research. The results show that MPOs can be politically and functionally capable of guiding land use, that tools are available to MPOs to influence land development patterns, and that MPOs are, in fact, beginning to focus on land use planning issues and are using their policies and programs to guide land development patterns and support a regional growth vision. / text

Metropolitan regions around the world are growing rapidly and face a complex and uncertain future. Plans for metropolitan regions cover large geographic areas, address a wide range of issues, and involve governments and many other organizations. They are prepared and implemented over a long timeframe. Planning for the future of metropolitan regions involves addressing uncertainties about future trends, external events, organisational intentions, political agendas and community values. In this thesis, it is argued that traditional planning approaches that emphasise what is known or thought to be known need to be turned on their head and the focus of planning efforts aimed directly at understanding what is unknown or needs to be known, i.e. at uncertainties. It builds upon concepts of uncertainty from philosophy, economics, planning, management theory and psychology to develop a comprehensive and dynamic conceptual framework for understanding and managing uncertainties in metropolitan planning. Uncertainties are perceived in social processes. The conceptual framework developed in this thesis distinguishes between environmental uncertainties, which are perceived by all people in a community, and process uncertainties, which are perceived by people actively involved in a planning process. The framework identifies five types of uncertainties to be understood and managed in planning: external uncertainties; chance events; causal uncertainties; organisational uncertainties; and value uncertainties. Planning processes envisage and construct alternative futures and each of these alternatives raises different uncertainties. Planning is conceived as a process of exploring alternative futures by visioning and analytical methods and of agreeing on a desired/ planned future and on how to get there. The conceptual framework has been used as a basis for two case studies of the preparation of metropolitan plans: the Livable Region Strategic Plan 1996 for Greater Vancouver, Canada; and the Regional Framework for Growth Management 1995 for South East Queensland, Australia. The case studies show that all five types of uncertainties were perceived by people actively involved in metropolitan planning. The types and level of uncertainties perceived changed through the planning process according to stages in the process, activities in the process and other events. In exploring alternative futures and a desired future, the planning process raises uncertainties and these have to be addressed and dealt with in order to reach agreement about the final plan. The case studies show that uncertainties in plan preparation were dealt with in the following five ways: • Avoided by deleting these aspects or elements of the desired future; • Deferred to a later planning process; • Referred to be dealt with by a different organisation; • Resolved by additional information collection, agreements or consultation; and • Retained in the plan and reviewed with the passage of time or contingent events. The studies also show that how uncertainties are managed, and particularly how uncertainties are dealt with in reaching agreement about the planned future, directly affects the nature and contents of the metropolitan plan produced. In this process of reaching agreement, there is a tension between achieving better or achieving more certain outcomes. How agreement occurs is affected by the interests and views of powerful groups in the decision-making process. Overall, the research shows that a focus on uncertainties assists in understanding the planning process and its outputs and that metropolitan planning can be usefully conceived as a process of understanding and managing uncertainties. Based on this research, on planning theories and on risk management models, a framework for understanding and managing uncertainties in metropolitan plan-making is proposed, involving five main stages, namely: • Initiate the planning process; • Identify the uncertainties and planning approach; • Identify the Desired Future; • Agree on the Planned Future; and • Implement the plan. The management framework involves specific methods and processes for understanding and managing uncertainties in metropolitan plan-making. The aim of the framework is to agree on a better future for a metropolitan region, compared to the trend, and with more certainty of achievement. The theories or concepts that we use to represent events and their relationships determine the kinds of action we can envisage. In the quest for certainty about better future outcomes for metropolitan regions, this thesis shows that understanding and managing uncertainty provides a powerful guide to action.

Metropolitan regions around the world are growing rapidly and face a complex and uncertain future. Plans for metropolitan regions cover large geographic areas, address a wide range of issues, and involve governments and many other organizations. They are prepared and implemented over a long timeframe. Planning for the future of metropolitan regions involves addressing uncertainties about future trends, external events, organisational intentions, political agendas and community values. In this thesis, it is argued that traditional planning approaches that emphasise what is known or thought to be known need to be turned on their head and the focus of planning efforts aimed directly at understanding what is unknown or needs to be known, i.e. at uncertainties. It builds upon concepts of uncertainty from philosophy, economics, planning, management theory and psychology to develop a comprehensive and dynamic conceptual framework for understanding and managing uncertainties in metropolitan planning. Uncertainties are perceived in social processes. The conceptual framework developed in this thesis distinguishes between environmental uncertainties, which are perceived by all people in a community, and process uncertainties, which are perceived by people actively involved in a planning process. The framework identifies five types of uncertainties to be understood and managed in planning: external uncertainties; chance events; causal uncertainties; organisational uncertainties; and value uncertainties. Planning processes envisage and construct alternative futures and each of these alternatives raises different uncertainties. Planning is conceived as a process of exploring alternative futures by visioning and analytical methods and of agreeing on a desired/ planned future and on how to get there. The conceptual framework has been used as a basis for two case studies of the preparation of metropolitan plans: the Livable Region Strategic Plan 1996 for Greater Vancouver, Canada; and the Regional Framework for Growth Management 1995 for South East Queensland, Australia. The case studies show that all five types of uncertainties were perceived by people actively involved in metropolitan planning. The types and level of uncertainties perceived changed through the planning process according to stages in the process, activities in the process and other events. In exploring alternative futures and a desired future, the planning process raises uncertainties and these have to be addressed and dealt with in order to reach agreement about the final plan. The case studies show that uncertainties in plan preparation were dealt with in the following five ways: • Avoided by deleting these aspects or elements of the desired future; • Deferred to a later planning process; • Referred to be dealt with by a different organisation; • Resolved by additional information collection, agreements or consultation; and • Retained in the plan and reviewed with the passage of time or contingent events. The studies also show that how uncertainties are managed, and particularly how uncertainties are dealt with in reaching agreement about the planned future, directly affects the nature and contents of the metropolitan plan produced. In this process of reaching agreement, there is a tension between achieving better or achieving more certain outcomes. How agreement occurs is affected by the interests and views of powerful groups in the decision-making process. Overall, the research shows that a focus on uncertainties assists in understanding the planning process and its outputs and that metropolitan planning can be usefully conceived as a process of understanding and managing uncertainties. Based on this research, on planning theories and on risk management models, a framework for understanding and managing uncertainties in metropolitan plan-making is proposed, involving five main stages, namely: • Initiate the planning process; • Identify the uncertainties and planning approach; • Identify the Desired Future; • Agree on the Planned Future; and • Implement the plan. The management framework involves specific methods and processes for understanding and managing uncertainties in metropolitan plan-making. The aim of the framework is to agree on a better future for a metropolitan region, compared to the trend, and with more certainty of achievement. The theories or concepts that we use to represent events and their relationships determine the kinds of action we can envisage. In the quest for certainty about better future outcomes for metropolitan regions, this thesis shows that understanding and managing uncertainty provides a powerful guide to action.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of California, Berkeley, 2009. / Text document in PDF format. Title from PDF title page (viewed on April 2, 2010). "Fall 2009." Includes bibliographical references.