Thesis ( M.P.A )--Kutztown University of Pennsylvania, 2004. / Source: Masters Abstracts International, Volume: 45-06, page: 2949. Typescript. Abstract precedes thesis as 2 preliminary leaves (iv-v). Included bibliographical references ( leaves 125-133 ).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Syracuse University, 2005. / "Publication number AAT 3176985."

Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 2006. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 67-07, Section: A, page: 2779. Adviser: Geoffrey J. D. Hewings. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 175-182) Available on microfilm from Pro Quest Information and Learning.

edited by John Friedmann and William Alonso. / Edition for 1964 published under title: Regional development and planning. / Bibliography: p. [791]-808.

This thesis examines the influence of municipal policy visioning initiatives on the transformation of industrial cities into cybercities. The emergence of the cybercity is mapped, and the role of municipal policy visioning initiatives in its development is examined. Two fields guide this research: communication and urban studies. The cybercity concept draws on both fields, and both are necessary to answer the research questions posed: How do municipal policy visioning initiatives influence a city's transformation into a cybercity? Montreal is used as a case study, and document analysis forms the core of the research strategy. Industry profile reports, government statistics and official organization websites provide supporting evidence. The policy visioning document examined supports the development of Montreal as a cybercity only where that development coincides with the city's development as a creative city. Improvements to future municipal policy depend on the inclusion of specific benchmarks that enable the effectiveness of policies to be measured.

It is the intent of this thesis to provide adaptive intervention that respects and preserves the significant features of historic urban late industrial buildings while enhancing their cultural and economic role within the city that developed around them. The Dinner Key Boat Yard, in Coconut Grove, will be used to demonstrate the conclusions of this study. Research into the practice and philosophies of historic preservation, and the local history; will be used to identify the attributes of historic value in the case site. An analysis of the surrounding area and case studies of parallel precedence will be used to determine a viable reuse program. The synthesis of this information will determine the new intervention. The resulting programmatic elements selected for the case site, museums, boat yard, restaurant, and pedestrian connector, are formally expressed to reflect the development, evolution, and public benefits of technology in late industrial society.

Much has been written on postwar suburbs in North America, and their impact on society. What are missing are histories of the housing that exists within these suburbs, and how both the idea behind suburbs, and the realities of the time, had an impact on the design of such housing. For this work, Bramalea, Ontario, was chosen as a case study location to begin exploring suburban housing design. Begun in 1958, Bramalea was unique in that it was designed as Canada's first suburban satellite city, which meant it was planned as a self-sufficient community. Houses in Bramalea were a product of both their location, but also of outside influences. Economic conditions, technological advances, and design trends, all influenced the history and evolution of suburban housing. Popular culture and the changing ideas about the nature of suburbs also played an important role in the houses that were built in Bramalea.

Regional planning, as an approach to development planning, in the newly independent nations of the world, is the main subject of this study. The purpose of the study is to demonstrate the hypothesis that to achieve a balanced social, economic and physical development the scale of planning must be regional. Since the region is the link between the national and local community, it provides a suitable frame of reference for the balanced integration of both national and local projects. The Volta Basin in the Republic of Ghana in West Africa, is taken as an illustrative case study. The case study focuses attention on the methods used in designing the Volta Basin Regional Plan. The Plan is meant to demonstrate how regional planning can help towards balanced development by giving due consideration simultaneously to all the factors involved in the development process. The approach taken in the study was, first, to discuss the problem in a general way by analyzing the main features of development planning as currently practised in a number of the newly independent nations. The conclusions drawn from this discussion are that: 1) the major problem of most of the new nations is that of a single-resource economy inherited from their former colonial rulers; 2) the approach to development planning as currently practised in these countries takes the form of National Development Plan and tends to concentrate solely on the economic aspects of development and, to some extent, the social aspects, and ignores the physical aspects of development; 3) while development planning is increasingly becoming the function of Central Governments, the tendency is to be concerned with planning at the national level with no regard for development at the regional and local levels; 4) in those countries where some effort is made in terms of regional planning for development, the approach that is adopted is in the form of either multi-purpose river basin development or the strictly economic regional development. As a result of these shortcomings of current development planning in the newly independent nations, it is further concluded that the failure to give due consideration to all the factors involved in the development process, gives rise to imbalanced development in these countries. The imbalanced development takes the form of excessive concentration of population in a few urban centers which are usually piled up with poor untrained labour from the rural areas. The urban centers are notorious for all forms of social disorganization: crime, overcrowding, unemployment, and other social problems. The unbalanced development also takes the form of unplanned distribution of industry and rural services, and poor location of transportation routes, resulting in expensive remedial measures. The defects of current development planning in the new nations seem to be a result of the conception of the nature of development, namely that development is essentially an economic problem and once the economic factor is considered, the other factors involved will take care of themselves. It seems also that the economic conception of the nature of development is a result of the influence and advice of the specialists interested in the problems of development of these countries. A new conception of development that takes into account the social, economic, cultural, psychological and physical components of the entire society, leads to the view that planning for development must be regional. This is because regional planning considers simultaneously all the factors involved in the development process. The study discusses development planning in Ghana in order to outline the main problems of development in Ghana and to provide the background for the consideration of the regional planning needs of the country. As in the case of the other newly independent nations, it is con eluded from the discussion that Ghana inherited a single-resource economy; its approach to development planning is restricted to planning at the national level with no regard for the implications of development at the regional and local levels; and that planning for development is regarded solely as an economic problem. As a result of these facts, it is further concluded that Ghana fails to achieve a balanced development—throughout the country. This leads to an analysis of the Volta Basin Regional Plan to demonstrate how regional planning can help towards the achievement of balanced development by giving due consideration to all factors involved in the development process. Based on the simultaneous consideration of the social, economic and physical factors, it is possible to make proposals that reflect the needs of Ghana in terms of the distribution of population and industry; the location of the main transportation routes; the distribution of rural services and the location of large non-agricultural uses. The following proposals are made to introduce the planning process of survey, analysis, plan, implementation and revaluation, into the regions of Ghana: 1) expanded National Planning Commission; 2) expanded Regional Planning Agencies, and 3) regional plans for the eight Administrative regions of Ghana. / Applied Science, Faculty of / Community and Regional Planning (SCARP), School of / Graduate

This study documents strengths and weaknesses inherent in Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA), as currently practiced at the federal level in Canada. Two case studies are examined—the Beaufort Sea hydrocarbon development and production Environmental Assessment and Review Process (EARP), and the West Coast offshore hydrocarbon exploration EIA (a joint federal/provincial review). By examining current strengths and weaknesses valuable lessons can be learned and utilized in adapting the role of EIA within wider planning processes. The major objective of this study is to determine how the West Coast EIA can contribute to a more considered approach to development planning in the West Coast region. The study reviews relevant literature on planning and EIA to provide information on theoretical relationships between EIA and planning. This provided a basis for evaluating strengths and weaknesses of the Beaufort Sea EARP. The West Coast EIA was compared and contrasted to the Beaufort Sea EARP to determine what lessons had been learned from the latter review. Based on this evaluation, suggestions were made on ways in which the West Coast EIA, principally through the panel's recommendations, could contribute both to improvements in EARP, and to effective planning and management of West Coast offshore hydrocarbon resources. Evaluation of the two case studies revealed that there are both strengths and weaknesses evident in EIA. Major strengths are the comprehensive scope of the reviews, public involvement, and, in the case of the Beaufort Sea EARP, the provision of intervenor funding, and, a unique opportunity to examine government's management capability. Both EIAs are affected by similar external circumstances--the lack of a coordinated policy and planning framework, and outstanding native claims. The Beaufort Sea EARP panel failed to make the most of its opportunity to address the partial policy and planning vacuum. The West Coast EIA panel still has an opportunity to address the partial vacuum within which it is operating. The Beaufort Sea EARP and West Coast EIA both examine preliminary project proposals associated with hydrocarbon activities. However, the Beaufort Sea EARP panel provided little guidance on how such preliminary EIAs should be handled in future, or recommendations on subsequent project specific EIA requirements. The thesis suggests ways in which the West Coast EIA can avoid repeating this deficiency. There is a definite weakness in EARP procedure. As a one-shot approach, EARP focuses on the product (the Environmental Impact Statement) rather than on environmental management as an ongoing, continuous process. Thus, the Beaufort Sea EIA process ended after the panel submitted its Final Report, and it appears that the same will apply for the West Coast. EIA review. Consequently, there is no guarantee that management-oriented monitoring, which should be an integral part of EIA, will be undertaken. This study concludes that if the West Coast EIA is to make a valuable contribution to regional development planning the panel should more fully utilize the information it receives than previous panels have done. Moreover, it must clearly establish and document in its Final Report the major issues and concerns impeding orderly development of the region. How will these concerns interfere with hydrocarbon exploration and other resource uses? How can governments act to resolve these outstanding issues? This requires going beyond merely documenting future data and research requirements to a consideration of the policy, planning and institutional requirements for rational development of West Coast resources. I suggest several major issues deserving of focused attention: lack of a coordinated regional planning framework; project need assessment; jurisdictional dispute; outstanding native claims; future project specific EIA requirements; community involvement in future assessments; monitoring; intervenor funding; and compensation. The panel, of course, may uncover other issues and concerns. / Applied Science, Faculty of / Community and Regional Planning (SCARP), School of / Graduate

The purpose of this thesis is to explore the concept of bioregionalism as an alternate approach to the governance and development of Northwest British Columbia. Bioregionalism is a territorially oriented perception and practice based on the capability of a bounded physical environment to sustain both its native ecosystems and a level of human activity. The hypothesis that bioregionalism could better guide the Northwest's governance and development is argued by employing five major premises. First, the Northwest is introduced as a region where the effect of increasing industrial activity, based solely on large-scale natural resource extraction, is becoming a major concern of region residents. The potential that Native people will soon evolve methods of self-government which better address this concern is offered as a logical reason for non-Native residents of the same region to investigate similar representation. Second, a review of 10,000 years of Northwest history is organized to describe seven major eras of economic activity. This overview shows that the region has one, a distinct indentity, and two, that European explorers, colonists and industrial interests have for two centuries badly exploited both the region's natural resources and indigenous peoples. The third premise examines the structures of governance and development which currently control the region. These structures are shown to have serious flaws which perpetuate absentee government and an economy based on widespread ecosystem destruction. Extended quotes, originating from region interest groups, are offered to emphasize resistance felt against these practices and an optimism that a more positive alternative exists. The fourth premise introduces bioregionalism as one alternative way to guide the Northwest's future. The concept's literature is reviewed, its 200-year intellectual pedigree outlined and, from both these exercises, a practical Utopian working structure is developed. Bioregional theory is shown to be based on a single dominant theme: that a region population with political control over an ecolocically regulated economy would be the basic building block of a modern and responsible governance structure. The fifth premise applies the ideas of bioregionalism specifically to the Northwest. A bioregional survey is completed which both defines the area's new borders and explains in great detail the output of its present economy. Annual extraction and harvest levels of thirty natural resources over varying periods between 1877 and 1984 are presented. These figures demonstrate the Northwest's native wealth and provide a strong reference for a more detailed understanding of how the region economy operates. Finally, bioregionalism is shown to be already unconsciously practiced across the Northwest, with many more opportunities existing to expand its influence. This extended argument in favour of a bioregional alternative for the Northwest makes several conclusions. The concept would provide a better way to guide the region's future. It could be successfully implemented in the Northwest only, or be more boldly applied to all British Columbia bioregions, which are speculated as being equally rich. The broad structure of the thesis presentation, integrating both theory and place related topics, is concluded to be a useful method to address complex problems of rural regions. This approach has delivered a viable conceptual framework, a starting point from which systematic further investigation into the details of bioregionalism1s application can be tested. / Applied Science, Faculty of / Community and Regional Planning (SCARP), School of / Graduate