Canada’s population is aging rapidly, such that by 2031 it is estimated that one quarter of Canada’s population will be aged 65 or older (Statistics Canada December 15, 2006). It is argued that urban environments are often not adequately designed for older people and can impair their ability to live independently into their elder years (Harris 2004). Proper planning can help people age successfully in their community. This research practicum assesses three town centres within the City of Surrey to determine whether they are agefriendly based on the perceptions of residents over the age of 65. Results from the research found that areas in need of improvement included public transit, the walking environment, clustering various land uses, parks amenities, and home assistance, among other things. The practicum concludes with recommendations of areas for further study.

Thesis (doctoral)--Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität zu Berlin, 1903. / Cover title. Complete ed. published: Berlin : Mayer & Müller, 1903. (Palaestra ; 34)

The central problem which overhead electric transmission lines pose for suburban areas is that right of way location decisions made in earlier years have influenced, and sometimes determined, the present overall pattern of suburban development and especially its residential aspects. The study is therefore limited to considerations of the impact on residential areas. The result has been that past decisions made by one agency on the basis of technical determinants and economic criteria applicable to a utility project have often been responsible for the present form and pattern of urban areas. Another problem is that in the suburban areas near those lines which have ugly structures and unmaintained rights of way, there is an adverse effect upon the quality of adjacent residential development. This effect is most marked in those areas which are striving for urban standards of residential density and neighbourhood amenity. Almost equally important with the effects which power lines may have on the areas they pass through is the simple fact of the tremendous amount of land which they use and alienate for most other urban uses. The study is concerned with the impact of overhead electric transmission lines on suburban areas, and not with electric lines at distribution voltages. Extra high voltage lines are of special interest to planning, for they present technical and economic problems which either preclude or make impractical converting them to underground forms. Accordingly, as overhead transmission lines are likely to have continuing effect, the following hypothesis is advanced. Because the location of overhead electric transmission lines has had considerable influence (sometimes adverse) on the spatial pattern of residential development, there is need for coordinating the requirements of the utility agency and the appropriate planning agencies. The study describes in some detail those locational requirements and standards of electric transmission lines which have a bearing upon the use of land. The optimum locational requirements for overhead electric transmission line rights of way and suburban density and types of residential development are shown to be nearly identical. The two are therefore in competition for the use of land, and this competition is most marked in suburban areas where land values are lower than in the central city. A specific examination is carried out of transmission line effects on the suburban residential area of Surrey, British Columbia, which is an urbanizing municipality on the fringes of the Vancouver metropolitan area. The case study shows that there is a significant correlation between the present pattern of residential development, as measured by assessment values and population distribution, and the presence of transmission line rights of way. The study concludes that the presence of the lines is the most likely causal factor. That the influence has been sometimes adverse is not as definitely established, but the conclusion may be inferred from subjective evaluation of the aesthetic evidence presented. Further study of objective evidence is called for. The statement in the hypothesis that it is necessary to coordinate the requirements of the utility agency and the appropriate planning agencies is basically valid, but is felt to be inadequate. It is concluded that the activity must, wherever possible, be an integrative one, and involve many other departments of government, including the federal. It is suggested that an integrative Provincial Development Department could well be the most effective method of controlling the more unfavourable aspects of electric transmission line right of way location and appearance. / Applied Science, Faculty of / Community and Regional Planning (SCARP), School of / Graduate

This thesis examines ways in which educational and community-building opportunities can be enhanced on a school/park site located in the proposed sustainable community of East Clayton. It explores ways in which children construct knowledge of their world, through processes of direct interaction with, manipulation of, and reflection on their immediate environment. It proposes how the designed landscape of a schoolground can support these formative processes within the context of evolving attitudes and values concerning environmental education, community, and sustainability. A threefold framework, based on the concepts of contextuality , constructiveness, and relational space, was developed as a means of addressing the sensori-motor, cognitive, and social facets of learning. / Applied Science, Faculty of / Architecture and Landscape Architecture (SALA), School of / Graduate

The delivery of social housing is consistently plagued with problems ranging from reduced budget allocation, scarcity of adequately zoned lands and neighborhood opposition. Though limited, provincial funding is still available in BC. However, land acquisition remains a problem. Municipal governments are recognized to have the influence to increase the amount of land for affordable housing projects through the use of zoning by-laws. This thesis argues that the exclusionary character of the municipal zoning by-law does not encourage the creation of affordable housing units. Amendments to the Municipal Act under Bill 57 which allow BC municipalities to negotiate with developers to set aside some units as affordable through density bonusing and inclusionary zoning do not also guarantee that units can be created. Both strategies are dependent on the performance of the market place. This thesis explores an alternative form of affirmative zoning as a possible municipal initiative that can facilitate the creation of affordable housing units by reviewing governments' activities in affordable housing provision and by looking at Surrey as an illustrative case. The alternative form calls for the amendment of the zoning by-law to include a specific zone for affordable housing and pre-zoning of vacant municipal-owned lands for affordable housing. By adopting this strategy, a municipal government departs from its traditional reactor role. Surrey has demonstrated that in order to adopt affirmative zoning, a municipality has to be governed by a socially-committed council who should bring affordable housing provision as a visible component in the municipal agenda. The case also shows that the process has inherent constraints. The provincial government may prohibit councils from identifying affordable housing as a distinct zone while neighbourhoods can still mount strong opposition against the process. Senior governments may start to "dump" social housing projects in municipalities that have adopted this mechanism. With this mechanism in place, a municipal government may expect to accommodate additional population and consequently, an additional demand on municipal resources and services. However, the adoption of the strategy can provide municipal governments with an alternative option, enhance the planning process, foster public acceptance of affordable housing projects, and shorten the approval process. Two lessons are drawn from this thesis: • municipal resources can be re-directed to facilitate the process of creating affordable housing units and • planners and decision-makers should assume a progressive philosophy, leadership and social commitment to ensure that the strategy works.

The delivery of social housing is consistently plagued with problems ranging from reduced budget allocation, scarcity of adequately zoned lands and neighborhood opposition. Though limited, provincial funding is still available in BC. However, land acquisition remains a problem. Municipal governments are recognized to have the influence to increase the amount of land for affordable housing projects through the use of zoning by-laws. This thesis argues that the exclusionary character of the municipal zoning by-law does not encourage the creation of affordable housing units. Amendments to the Municipal Act under Bill 57 which allow BC municipalities to negotiate with developers to set aside some units as affordable through density bonusing and inclusionary zoning do not also guarantee that units can be created. Both strategies are dependent on the performance of the market place. This thesis explores an alternative form of affirmative zoning as a possible municipal initiative that can facilitate the creation of affordable housing units by reviewing governments' activities in affordable housing provision and by looking at Surrey as an illustrative case. The alternative form calls for the amendment of the zoning by-law to include a specific zone for affordable housing and pre-zoning of vacant municipal-owned lands for affordable housing. By adopting this strategy, a municipal government departs from its traditional reactor role. Surrey has demonstrated that in order to adopt affirmative zoning, a municipality has to be governed by a socially-committed council who should bring affordable housing provision as a visible component in the municipal agenda. The case also shows that the process has inherent constraints. The provincial government may prohibit councils from identifying affordable housing as a distinct zone while neighbourhoods can still mount strong opposition against the process. Senior governments may start to "dump" social housing projects in municipalities that have adopted this mechanism. With this mechanism in place, a municipal government may expect to accommodate additional population and consequently, an additional demand on municipal resources and services. However, the adoption of the strategy can provide municipal governments with an alternative option, enhance the planning process, foster public acceptance of affordable housing projects, and shorten the approval process. Two lessons are drawn from this thesis: • municipal resources can be re-directed to facilitate the process of creating affordable housing units and • planners and decision-makers should assume a progressive philosophy, leadership and social commitment to ensure that the strategy works. / Applied Science, Faculty of / Community and Regional Planning (SCARP), School of / Graduate

Discrimination of different tree crowns based on their 3D shapes is essential for a wide range of forestry applications, and, due to its complexity, is a significant challenge. This study presents a modified 3D shape descriptor for the perception of different tree crown shapes in discrete-return LiDAR point clouds. The proposed methodology comprises of five main components, including definition of a local coordinate system, learning salient points, generation of simulated LiDAR point clouds with geometrical shapes, shape signature generation (from simulated LiDAR points as reference shape signature and actual LiDAR point clouds as evaluated shape signature), and finally, similarity assessment of shape signatures in order to extract the shape of a real tree. The first component represents a proposed strategy to define a local coordinate system relating to each tree to normalize 3D point clouds. In the second component, a learning approach is used to categorize all 3D point clouds into two ranks to identify interesting or salient points on each tree. The third component discusses generation of simulated LiDAR point clouds for two geometrical shapes, including a hemisphere and a half-ellipsoid. Then, the operator extracts 3D LiDAR point clouds of actual trees, either deciduous or evergreen. In the fourth component, a longitude-latitude transformation is applied to simulated and actual LiDAR point clouds to generate 3D shape signatures of tree crowns. A critical step is transformation of LiDAR points from their exact positions to their longitude and latitude positions using the longitude-latitude transformation, which is different from the geographic longitude and latitude coordinates, and labeled by their pre-assigned ranks. Then, natural neighbor interpolation converts the point maps to raster datasets. The generated shape signatures from simulated and actual LiDAR points are called reference and evaluated shape signatures, respectively. Lastly, the fifth component determines the similarity between evaluated and reference shape signatures to extract the shape of each examined tree. The entire process is automated by ArcGIS toolboxes through Python programming for further evaluation using more tree crowns in different study areas. Results from LiDAR points captured for 43 trees in the City of Surrey, British Columbia (Canada) suggest that the modified shape descriptor is a promising method for separating different shapes of tree crowns using LiDAR point cloud data. Experimental results also indicate that the modified longitude-latitude shape descriptor fulfills all desired properties of a suitable shape descriptor proposed in computer science along with leaf-off, leaf-on invariance, which makes this process autonomous from the acquisition date of LiDAR data. In summary, the modified longitude-latitude shape descriptor is a promising method for discriminating different shapes of tree crowns using LiDAR point cloud data.

Coinciding with the 40th anniversary of Earth Day, this research describes short and long term memories of participants who attended past and present Earth Day Celebrations in Surrey, BC, Canada. Particular interest was placed on discovering the most memorable aspects of their Earth Day experiences as well as determining motivations to attend. Research was conducted using online and face-to-face surveys administered prior to and during the April 2010 event. The study revealed that not only that hands-on stewardship activities of releasing salmon and planting trees proved the most popular among research subjects but also illuminated the importance of social and familial interactions at the event. The results of the study may serve to guide the efforts of event organizers in order to capitalize on the public’s interests in environmental special events and serve to meet both the environmental and social needs of the community.

Applied research project (D. Min.)--School of Theology and Missions, Oral Roberts University, 2006. / Includes abstract and vita. Translated from Korean. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 198-203).

Applied research project (D. Min.)--School of Theology and Missions, Oral Roberts University, 2006. / Includes abstract and vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 172-177).