The Palestinian territories have been under foreign military occupation since 1967 and this research is set to examine the implication that this situation has had on the built environment in the historic city of Nablus. Nablus like many other towns and villages in the occupied West Bank has been subject to strict planning policies and regulations controlling development. These policies and regulations restricted its ability to improve its built environment, modernise and expand its service networks, roads and infrastructure, and to accommodate the additional needs arising from the pressure for growth and increase in its population. The purpose of the study therefore, is to examine the built environment in Nablus and identify the indicators for its decline particularly in the city centre. It also aims to establish the main factors that have contributed to the deterioration of its physical condition and the major obstacles to its development. The difficult political conditions and frequent military clashes have had an adverse effect on the built environment and prospects for development. The study findings show that the Israeli occupation authorities have imposed major changes on the institutional structures and legislation that prevailed on the eve of the occupation. The Israeli administration of the occupied Palestinian territories was characterised by the centralisation of power, weakening of local authorities and absence of any form of Palestinian participation in decisions related to development. The study concludes that the planning and regulatory policies imposed by the Israeli Administration during the occupation of Palestine have been a major cause of the deterioration in the built environment in Nablus and suggests that it has had a similar impact on other towns in occupied Palestine.

Predicting the potential impacts of new urban public transport on people's travel behaviour is very complex. A key aspect of travel behaviour is the choice of mode. It is particularly difficult to estimate the number of people who will use new urban public transport systems. Understanding modal choices related to these systems is especially important in view of concerns about the impact of the car on the environment, on quality of life and on congestion levels in towns and cities. In this thesis, the modal choices of potential users of two new light rail systems, Luas in Dublin and Tramlink in Croydon, are examined. The decision-making processes behind these people's modal choices are explored using a theory that has been borrowed from social psychology called the Theory of Planned Behaviour. In order to apply the Theory of Planned Behaviour it is necessary to identify the attitudes, beliefs and perceptions of behavioural control of potential users. Hence, interviews have been carried out with potential users of Croydon Tramlink in the six months immediately prior to its opening. This thesis will describe those interviews, the analysis of them and the findings. In addition, follow-up studies were conducted six months after the opening of the system in order to examine how many of the interviewees had used the system. In Dublin, questionnaires were distributed to potential users of the new light rail system planned for the city. The questionnaires were distributed 2 years before the planned opening of the system. The thesis concludes that the Theory of Planned Behaviour is an appropriate tool for understanding and explaining modal choices, particularly those modal choices that relate to new urban public transport. It is also concluded that both Luas and Tramlink are likely to be successful systems and will generate new trips.

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This study examines the extent to which land use planning can influence travel and how it might be able to reduce the environmental impact of transport. Although other studies have examined this issue before, many have only examined the influence of a small number of land use characteristics and most have not taken account of socio-economic reasons for variations in travel in different areas. This study examines the influence of a range of land use characteristics on travel and takes into account a large number of socio-economic characteristics. It also examines whether the links between travel, socio-economic and land use characteristics have changed over time. The hypothesis of the study is that land use policies influence travel patterns even when differences in social and economic characteristics are taken into account. The study examines several sets of data containing information on travel, socio-economic characteristics and land use. Data from the National Travel Survey are examined to identify relationships between land use, socio-economic characteristics and travel patterns. Data from four separate National Travel Surveys are used to examine whether these relationships change over time. Data from two local travel surveys from Kent and Leicestershire are also used to provide a more detailed level of analysis. The data from the two local surveys also allow some comparison with the data from the National Travel Surveys. The relationships between land use, socio-economic characteristics and travel patterns are examined using multiple regression analysis. Although causal relationships cannot be identified in the absence of longitudinal data, the study does provide insights into possible interactions between land use, socio-economic characteristics and travel patterns. After identifying the land use characteristics associated with lower travel demand, the planning implications for reducing the demand for travel are considered. Issues of policy implementation including obstacles, barriers and responsibilities are discussed. The research contributes to knowledge about planning policies that promote more sustainable development. It focuses on a topic that might practically contribute to the search for indicators of sustainable development, the revision of government planning guidance on transport and land use planning and the formulation of the recently announced Urban White Paper. The research also identifies specific land use characteristics that might be used by local authorities in developing more sustainable planning policies. The results of the study show that the variation in travel patterns across different areas is often due more to socio-economic reasons than land use characteristics. However, land use planning is still likely to have a significant effect on influencing travel patterns, particularly if supported by complementary measures.

International Construction firms have extensively used joint ventures as a vehicle to enter new construction markets in South East Asia since the early seventies. Despite its immense popularity, the failure rate of such ventures has been quite alarming. While extensive research has been carried out in the manufacturing and service industries in determining the factors that influence the performance of joint ventures, similar work has not been carried out in the construction industry. This study seeks to fill this gap. A thorough review of the joint venture literature shows that eleven factors have influenced the performance of joint ventures in the manufacturing and services industries. These are partners' objectives in forming the joint venture, partner selection process, partner size, equity control, management control, partner need, commitment, trust, cooperation, conflict and cultural differences. The main aim of this study is to test the relevance of these factors to joint ventures in the construction industry. In this study, a longitudinal research approach is used in order to closely examine the influence of these factors on joint venture performance. Sixteen cases of joint ventures from the Singapore Mass Rapid Transit Project which was built between 1983 and 1990 were chosen for detailed examination. Data for the study was collected through personal interviews, questionnaire and search of MRTC archives. A research model was also developed in order to organise and analyse the cases in a logical manner. The results of the study indicate that cultural differences have a significant influence over the performance of international construction joint ventures. Equally critical are the influence of partner related variables such as trust, commitment, cooperation and conflict. Task related variables such as level of equity and resource contributions have had less impact on the performance.

Since the 1970s, there has been a significant increase in urban rail investment. 139 new urban rail systems, metros and light rail systems, have been built world-wide in the past three decades. These investments were in general planned as instruments to solve transport and land-use problems associated with the extensive use of the car. Very few have been successful in improving transport and the urban environment. Previous research has shown that while most of the new generation urban rail systems have not been very successful, their success could have been enhanced if the co-ordination between transport planning and urban planning had been stronger. However, coordination is very difficult to achieve within the contemporary local government structure and fragmented planning system. In spite of these findings, political support for urban rail systems is still strong, and investment on these systems is very likely to continue. Considering the cost incurred in the development of these systems, to make them successful remains a challenge. This study explores ways of making new urban rail systems more successful. It develops a methodology for analysing the success of systems, identifying the factors behind their success, and enhancing their success. Based on the analysis of new generation urban rail systems, a planning framework is developed. The framework is a policy-based approach to help planners and operators to increase the success of their systems. It has two main functions: it predicts the success of new systems, and makes recommendations on how their success can be enhanced. While the framework addresses many factors that may affect success, there is a special focus on exploring methods for providing and sustaining co-ordination between transport and urban planning. The planning framework is developed through the analysis of eight case studies, four from the United States, one from Canada, and three from Britain. It is then tested on seven other urban rail systems, five from the United States, one from Canada, and one from France. Finally, the framework is applied to recently opened urban rail systems in Britain and Turkey: it predicts how successful these systems are likely to be, and shows how their success can be enhanced.

Government intervention in land markets through public land policies increasingly sought for a more balanced development, better income and wealth distribution, and to satisfy the basic human needs such as housing and essential services in developing countries. Delhi's large-scale land acquisition, development and disposal policy has aimed at orderly growth of planned development, and universal access to housing land through public expropriation, banking, development and delivery. But the policy has been widely criticised for failing to promote planned development and consequently creating large-scale illegal land developments and sales. The present research investigates the impact of Delhi's public land policy on the creation of informal land developments and unauthorised housing in Delhi. The analysis of data gathered from office records and exhaustive structured interviews yield substantial evidence that the large-scale land policy governing the public authority's delivery of land for housing, has indeed been a major contributor to the creation of unauthorised land development and sales. Through interviews with 300 households living on illegally developed land, 106 living on illegally resold (legally developed land), 28 who had illegally resold their plots, and 69 property agents, this study found that the large-scale public land policy has not provided adequate land for housing. The policy's inability to deliver timely and adequate quantities of affordable land in varying parcel sizes, and with flexible lease conditions, was a prime factor in encouraging a large number of households to opt for illegally developed or sold land. The responses of households indicate a substantial number sought illegally to obtain housing land, because the large-scale public land policy failed to offer them legal alternatives that were affordable, adequate in quantity, in the desired time and flexible in their lease conditions. The opportunities to obtain varying sizes of unauthorised plots, at cheaper prices, in the desired time, with flexible payments, and acceptable terms of construction and use have attracted a large number of middle and high income households. Equally, the policy of regularisation of some unauthorised developments has also encouraged investment in additional illegal development. This research also found that the public land policy's failure to deliver the right land to the right person at reasonable prices prompted unauthorised resales of legally developed plots, in effect, downward filtration of high income groups. The higher resale prices that these subsidised plots obtained, and the ability of some households to obtain an allocation of more than one plot encouraged a large number of households to illegally resell plots.

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No description available.

No description available.