Thesis (M. Soc. Sc.)--University of Hong Kong, 1983.

Thesis (M. Soc. Sc.)--University of Hong Kong, 1983.

Thesis (M. Soc. Sc.)--University of Hong Kong, 1981.

Thesis (M.U.D.)--University of Hong Kong, 1998. / Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (M.U.D.)--University of Hong Kong, 2002. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 133-139).

Broadening our Classroom is organized into two parts. Part One deals with a theoretical discussion about the meaning and motivations of planning education in contemporary societies and times. From here, planning education can be both contextualized and understood within the wider discourse of what planning education should be in the 21st century. This study then works to illuminates areas of planning education that must be critiqued and challenged based on the way they are currently taught and engaged. Here, the ideas of ‘skills’ and ‘competencies’ are teased in an attempt to fruitfully grapple with planning education from the standpoint of its students. This points towards the need for 21st century planners to observe values, utilize skills and employ took-kits which include the ability to work in cross-cultural settings effectively (at home and abroad), an area of planning education which is to an extent lacking in practice. The merger of planning education and cross-cultural learning experience is proposed as a mechanism to address some of the challenges associated with this endeavor. Part Two transports the theoretical discussion into practice through an evaluation of the Naga City Studio Course offered by the School of Community and Regional Planning at the University of British Columbia (SCARP UBC). In May and June 2007, 20 UBC students participated in a ‘Planning Studio’ course in Naga City, Philippines. The Naga City Studio course serves as a case study in operationalizing a direction for planning education. The course is evaluated and analyzed primarily through participant’s experiences and reflections on the course. It becomes clear that the Naga City Studio Course serves as a creative and ultimately profound example of new directions in planning education, providing students the opportunity to gain cross-cultural exposure and to better understand and enhance their planning related skills within a cross-cultural context. The opportunity for students to both develop and better understand the (cultural) competencies necessary as practicing professionals is a key outcome of the course and serves as the key finding of Broadening our Classroom.

The purpose of this study was to determine if branding strategies could enhance the position and influence of the Canadian planning profession within a multi-stakeholder environment. To address this research question, the following objectives were developed and examined: (1) to gauge the perceptions of planning within different stakeholder groups in Canada; (2) to gauge the perceptions of the CIP within different stakeholder groups; (3) to develop a set of best practices in strategic planning and marketing; (4) to develop a set of best practices adopted by international professional planning NGOs; (5) to determine how to better market the profession and the CIP. A mixed-method approach grounded in branding and strategic planning theory was used. This included content analysis, a web-based survey, and key informant interviews. The content analysis compared the practices of Canadian planning organizations with those of international organizations, in addition to examining best practices in marketing and branding. The findings derived from this phase served to develop a list of best practices that can be used as a tool for improvement within the Canadian planning context. The web-based survey, while not statistically significant, served to draw out themes, and identify potential issues and areas for further investigation. The key informant interviews elaborated on and clarified survey findings, providing rich data for analysis. Findings indicated that the Canadian planning profession lacks unity within the planning community, a clear role and identity, position and influence, as well as general awareness, and fleshed out a variety of reasons as to why this is the case, while investigating areas for improvement. An analysis of the combined findings from the three research phases determined that branding strategies and strategic planning can indeed serve to enhance the position and influence of the Canadian planning profession within a multi-stakeholder environment. Recommendations focused on clarifying the profession's role and identity; building awareness; nurturing relationships between planning, politics and other related professions; advancing planning education; improving the CIP's leadership role; and re-examining the relationship between the CIP and its affiliates.

This thesis explores the idea of complete communities and discusses how condominium development in downtown Toronto can be made more family friendly by focusing on the proposed ‘Official Plan Amendment to Encourage the Development of Units for Households with Children’ (OPA) that is currently before City Council. In order to address this issue, the study employed a detailed policy review of the current planning policies for the City of Toronto and an overview of the planning policies in the City of Vancouver, as well as in-depth interviews with key informants in the planning and development field and parents who have lived in or are currently living in a downtown condominium with at least one child. The findings indicate that there is a growing segment of the population choosing to live in downtown condominiums after having children and that housing and community policy must better address the needs of this population. The proposed OPA would require new high-rise condominium development in downtown Toronto to contain a minimum percentage of three bedroom units suitable for families. This policy would be a significant step towards meeting these needs and creating the desired complete communities; however, it is a contentious issue and there are requirements beyond bedroom counts that need to be addressed to create the supportive family-friendly infrastructure. From these findings, this thesis proposes recommendations and changes to the proposed OPA that would clarify and refine its intentions and implementation. As well, the concept of the family life cycle is reconsidered and an updated model of housing requirements based on the “condo family” is proposed. This research contributes to the literature on families living downtown, condominium living, and the family life cycle.

Ontario has provided an interesting canvas for waste management planning. As the home of the world’s first blue box program, a successful deposit return system, an extended producer responsibility initiative, and recently the Green Energy Act: Ontario presents many opportunities and challenges for a waste management planner. In addition to the above, Ontario is expected to grow significantly (through immigration) over the next 25 years. In order to manage this, the government of Ontario has created a significant urban planning hierarchy and has focused efforts to accommodate this growth in the Greater Golden Horseshoe. To address the management of waste in the province, the government, in 2004, established a 60% waste diversion goal by 2008. When evaluated in 2009 the province had yet to make significant progress toward the target. This thesis seeks to examine how municipalities in the Greater Golden Horseshoe have developed and implemented their organic waste diversion program in response this target, and examine the issues that arose in reaching it. This thesis attempted to interview waste management planners at eight municipalities, with five agreeing to participate. Based on the interviews it was determined that each of the municipalities had used several different approaches to organic waste diversion, with most having recently implemented (pilot or full scale) curbside organic waste collection programs (green bin). It was also determined that many of the municipalities replicated the same steps as neighbouring municipalities and did not always factor in other’s learning. Most importantly, while the government set the waste diversion goal, they did not take responsibility for ensuring that outcomes were achieved.

As the world’s cities have grown, so too, have their skylines, such that they are now common sights to behold both in reality and in media. Despite being one of the most popular sights of a city, the planning profession has not given much attention to skylines in its daily practice. By pulling together a limited body of research, this study shows that some academics and professionals have deemed skylines to be an intriguing and important aspect of our cities’ built form. This exploratory study builds upon Kevin Lynch’s work on city image by asking people what skylines they prefer and why, and what skylines mean to them. Using a qualitative interviewing technique, 25 participants from planning departments and neighbourhood associations in Kitchener and Waterloo provided their input by viewing a series of skyline images. Participants were found to prefer complex skylines, and they identified important physical features that were necessary to achieve high levels of preference. The same physical features that contributed to preference also sent strong messages about a place, leading participants to find a wealth of meaning in a skyline. The implications of these results for planning practice are presented along with a discussion of how cities may be branded due to the messages their skylines send. Recommendations to introduce skyline planning in mid-size cities are made, based upon the lessons learned from the larger cities used in this research. The exploratory and qualitative nature of this study helps to fill in the literary gaps of this relatively unexplored field, and recommendations for future research are made.