This research examines the main elements which constitute the 'rural transport problem'. The work focuses on what appears to be a key issue for local government---establishing the level and nature for local public transport. Two possible approaches to the measurement of accessibility need, recently used by an English and a Welsh local authority, are applied to 4 case study areas in Scotland. Each study area has undergone significant service losses as a result of a major bus company rationalisation programme---the Scottish Bus Group's SCOTMAP exercise. A measure of the impact of these losses, in accessibility terms is attempted and a critical evaluation is made of the methodologies used to calculate this. The analysis presented was completed before the 1985 Transport Act created a new financial and legislative environment in local bus service provision. The Act has significantly altered the role of the regional councils in securing public transport services. These changes accompany deregulation of local bus services and a return to free-market competition between bus operators. The final section of this research considers the enhanced role for needs evaluation as part of the planned subsidy allocation procedure administered by local government for socially necessary (but non-commercial) arms of the bus networks. A number of recommendations are made, based upon the case studies with the aim of gearing a needs-based method to the Scottish context. It is concluded that whilst problems must be overcome, the analysis of needs has an important potential role in the deregulation context.

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No description available.

No description available.

This research focuses on the reconstruction of war-damaged villages in Lebanon destroyed during the recent civil war (1975-1991). Its main aim is to understand the complexity of reconstruction through a detailed case study of one village namely; al-Burjain. In contrast to top down approaches to reconstruction, this study presents an approach which extends beyond looking at physical aspects to socio-economic, cultural and political issues. It also attempts to gain insights into the conditions of the community prior to disaster, as well as the new situation which emerged after the destruction of the village. It develops an understanding of the conditions of the people, and their needs and perceptions about reconstruction. The research takes a qualitative approach because of its flexibility and appropriateness to the inquiry and practical conditions in the field. It is based on dynamic and interactive discussions with the community under study. Three methods are employed: discussion with key figures, detailed family case histories and a survey using semi-structured interviews of households. They reflect different degrees of focus on complexity of reconstruction and the conditions of the people. The village case study (micro) is discussed and evaluated in three contexts (macro). Firstly, it deals with the context of reconstruction after disaster in theoretical and conceptual terms and with reference to practical experiences (Algeria and Iran). Secondly, it is located within the conditions of the country in which there are increased channels of contacts and communications between rural and urban areas. Thirdly, it discusses the development of rural areas in Lebanon from traditional times to the beginning of the war in order to draw lessons and to identify problems, possibilities and obstacles which could be helpful in planning for meaningful reconstruction. The findings of the research cover two main part. The first part establishes principles and recommendations for the reconstruction of the vifiage studied. In this sense, it translates the insights gained into practical solutions. It proposes a way of capitalising on people's initiatives, maximizing the use of available resources, to solve existing problems and improve conditions. It is a developmental process. The second part draws an analytical framework which can be used to study similar cases. This framework is a generalised basis upon which the issues related to the complexity of post-disaster reconstruction can be examined and dealt with. Finally, this research formulates theoretical perspectives which will inform professional intervention and decision making in reconstruction after disaster.

The thesis develops a framework and system for integrating Strategic Environmental Assessment [SEA] into Malaysian land use planning, for the purposes of achieving sustainable development. The emphasis is upon procedural and resource aspects of SEA rather than on methodologies. The research includes review and analysis of international and Malaysian published literature, government documents, case study analyses, a postal questionnaire survey and interviews. The development of the proposals is based on the identification of philosophies, principles and links between three main concepts, namely sustainable development, land use planning and Strategic Environmental Assessment. Examples of approaches and experiences of SEA from the United Kingdom, United States of America, Canada and elsewhere are analysed and evaluated. These are assessed against Malaysian national planning and land use planning systems and frameworks, and current Malaysian practices in environmental impact assessment. An evaluation of the strengths and shortcomings of the Malaysian systems, procedures, processes and resources is used to justify and form the basis for the proposals. The thesis describes the research framework and methodologies; the basic concepts of sustainable development, land use planning and SEA/ElA; and the Malaysian political, legislative, institutional and planning frameworks. The proposals include an idealised SEA framework within a proposed national integrated planning system for Malaysia; the functions of Malaysian SEA; a proposed structure plan process with SEA; an outline strategy for actions; and subjects for further research.

The major concern of this thesis is to describe and identify the main transport problems which may affect the elderly's levels of participation in activities, and also to examine the relationship between transport problems and the elderly's levels of participation. The main objectives of this thesis are: to identify the main activities in which the elderly participate; to identify the transport problems which may affect or prevent the elderly from taken part in some or all activities; to identify which activities the elderly fail to achieve and the level of participation they wish to achieve and the main reasons which underline these problems; to examine how the characteristics of individuals affect the use of transport methods; and finally to identify the main transport difficulties encountered by the elderly in using transport system. This thesis is divided into twelve chapters, which can be structured into four main parts: the first part reviews the literature on transport policy for the elderly; the second part includes background information to the research problems, the survey methodology and the case studies; the third part contains detailed discussion of the main transport problems affecting the elderly's participation in the organised activities (from the organisers' point of view), the fourth part contains discussions of achieved activities, desired level of participation in activities, transport methods used by the elderly, and finally transport difficulties encountered by the elderly; this includes fully achieved, modified, and frustrated activities, in order to explain the relationship between the transport needs and demands of the elderly people. The main survey method used in collecting the data was a postal questionnaire and SPSS (Statistical Package for Social Science) was used in analysis. The thesis concludes by providing a summary of the main findings and the implications of the results obtained in the study.

This study sets out to investigate the factors that have determined the progress and development of the Common EU Maritime Transport Policy (CMTP) in the 1990s, using two case-studies which examine the progress of common policies on safe seas and shortsea shipping respectively. Drawing on the theoretical strands examining European integration, in particular suggestions that an analytical emphasis on the involved policy actors is a helpful way to understand the progress of the EU policies, the research concentrates on both the economic environment of maritime transport and the interaction of policy makers and organised interests during the policy making process. Employing insights from the neoinstitutional account of comparative politics the thesis sets out to test the validity of accounts of EU policy-making that put particular stress on the critical role of the EU institutions within this process and, consequently, the advancement and content of EU level policies. The research findings suggest an explanatory model of the progress of the CMTP which focuses on the distinctive institutional dynamism of the EU, without being reductionist insofar as the other policy actors or the economic context are concerned. It takes into account, first, the vital role of the EU decision-making institutions and, second, the mediation of the extant institutional framework on the activities of all the involved policy actors. While the contextual economic internationalisation and the ineffectual policy responses of the non-EU policy making levels have provided the stimulus for discussing EU policy developments, the progress of the CMTP is found to be the outcome of a dialectic relationship between national governments, interest groups, the EU institutions, and their ideas. Within this relationship the EU institutions play a decisive role. These results challenge previous conceptions of the CMTP as the outcome of intergovernmental bargaining, or the product of an arena dominated by the variable powers of private actors. Reflecting on the theoretical debate on European integration, the thesis concludes that an internal EU policy arena with its own characteristics and complexity has grown considerably and commends the neoinstitutionalist perspective as a useful analytical tool in conceptualising EU policy developments.

This study evaluates the distributional effects of an improvement policy introduced in the 1974 Housing Act. It examines the role of Housing Action Areas, as an area-based policy for positive discrimination, in altering access to housing for people 1n 'greatest need'. The reasons for the existence of housing need 1n the inner city are elucidated in a discussion of changing urban housing markets. Research problems are identified following a review of the background to HAA policy and prev10us research on area-based intervention. Three key processes which have a bearing on distributional effects are identified: HAA declaration; implementation of improvement powers; and changes in housing function. The impact of declaration on individual households is examined, at a series of spatial scales. It is revealed that few of those in need have been affected. Cluster analyses are used to identify areas comprising concentrations of need for which HAA treatment is suitable. It is found that declaration falls far short of the spatially-defined potential for it. Thus, failure to reach target households cannot be entirely attributed to use of an area-based approach. Analyses of impact demonstrate that HAA declarations have not unequivocally been concentrated in the most needy areas. An examination of implementation of improvement powers suggests that relatively few households have been affected, though acquisition by councils and housing associations has been significant. Implementation is least efficacious in large HAAs, those in London, and those where housing need 1S relatively greatest. A micro-level study of council acquisition 1n HAAs in Islington, reveals that in the short term, substantial gains have been made by individual households in need. However, in the longer term, intervention reduces the opportunities for those most in need. It is concluded that the distributional effects of HAAs have been both limited and regressive, but the apparent outcome depends on the scale of analysis, and varies geographically. Paradoxically, relatively least has been achieved in London, to which the legislation was primarily orientated. This can be attributed to the structural and institutional framework in which HAAs have been conceived and implemented.

The widespread introduction of Local Area Network (LAN) media has had profound implications for communications protocols. It is required that the campus network at Hatfield, which since 1981 has been based on the cambridge Ring, should take advantage of the properties of their LAN, should meet the demand of both new and traditional applications and should allow network interconnections. To show how these requirements might be met a review is given of the communications support provided elsewhere by data transportation protocols. Expansion is also required, but it may not be achieved unless appropriate planning decisions are made. Measurements which provide knowledge of typical traffic characteristics and quantities and of constraints or erroneous behaviour which may affect the decisions made are required. This information will allow modellers and planners to make predictions and estimates so that future demands can be met. A monitor tool has therefore been developed. It allows the traffic of the network to be monitored and measurements to be retrieved, displayed and analysed. A decentralized approach which provides an integrated measurement facility has been adopted. The design, and the decisions and constraints which influenced that design, are desribed. From the measurements gathered a comprehensive traffic characterization is provided. It relates traffic characteristics of different grains to applications, to system characteristics and to constraints. The measurement analysis therefore establishes a firm base from which predictions and estimates may be made. It also provides a base for comparisons, one which allows the effects of hardware and software changes to be observed and which also provides valuable information to both planners and modellers of similar and different environments. Implementation errors and erroneous behaviour are demonstrated and their cause is established. A bottleneck is identified, performance thresholds are determined and protocol modifications are suggested. Specific traffic characteristics are identified for particular applications and user groups, effects of different buffer sizes are considered and relationships between protocol efficiency and traffic patterns are discussed