Sustainability is vital to the success of our cities and settlements. While communities are becoming increasingly conversant with sustainability concepts, uncertainty remains over how to translate these into planning practice. This practicum explores the role of sustainability checklists as one tool for planning and designing more sustainable communities. The inquiry examines the design, implementation and effectiveness of these tools and seeks to understand the motivation and context in which they are developed, the varying approaches and components of checklist tools, and the impact that they are having on planning and development practices. A review of twenty-four sustainability checklists from a selection of BC municipalities, an online survey and key informant interviews were used to inform this study. Nine key findings are identified suggesting that while checklists are helping to communicate sustainability objectives and are encouraging better development, they are not resulting in the large scale shifts to development patterns and urban systems that are required to achieve sustainable outcomes; therefore, checklists need to be integrated with other policies, regulations and tools in order to assist in achieving sustainable settlements.

The Justice and Development Party (Adalet ve Kalkınma Partisi, AKP) has had a political hegemony over Istanbul for more than a decade. Initiating rapid rates of development, the Turkish economy has nearly quadrupled under AKP leadership. The political party has also become notorious, though, for moving further away from a liberal democracy. Flirting with authoritarianism, recent governance trends include a weak rule of law, stringent social policies, extralegal policy execution, and substantial censorship. While Istanbul closely aligns with several emerging urban centers, the factors contributing to its patterns of growth are unique to both Turkish history and culture, and the city’s strategic regional position. Through a proposed self-sustaining cycle of neoliberal policy implementation, followed by institutional and political consolidation, the AKP has managed to maintain control of new engines for growth while facing increasing pushback from the residents of Istanbul. Though the past few years have been marked by unprecedented development, weaknesses in the AKP’s institutional structure are beginning to show. Istanbul is on the brink of an economic downfall. The government needs to take immediate action against a massive urban crisis if it wants to sustain legitimacy of authority. In leveraging the strategic location of the city, international institutions must partake in shifting Istanbul towards a more sustainable trajectory of urban growth.

Thesis (M.Sc.(Town and Regional Planning)) -- University of Pretoria, 2009. / Abstract in English. Includes bibliographical references.

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