This thesis addresses the need for a practical toolkit to facilitate community participation in place visioning workshops, aiding placemakers in driving change in placemaking. By integrating the place visioning pathway into the participatory backcasting framework, the proposed adapted framework for place visioning consists of four activities: (1) Orientation - Define the current challenge of the place, (2) Visioning - Develop a future vision, (3) Backcasting - Propose actions to actualise the vision, and (4) Elaboration - Choose feasible actions to create an action plan. An initial prototype toolkit was developed and tested with placemakers, leading to redesigning of the toolkit to address concerns of complexity, inclusivity, and playfulness. Lastly, the toolkit was iterated into a combination of tools and resources, of which four canvas tools are the main part, along with ideation cards for inspiration, and a handbook for guidance.  This research focused on the convergence of placemaking, visioning, and designerly tools, with the underlying aim of creating resources to support community-based participatory design. The actual implementation of the toolkit in a placemaking case was not realised throughout the process, but the resultant artefact, insights from research, and feedback gathered from its testing could provide a basis for future research of the concept.

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Master of Agribusiness / Department of Agricultural Economics / Vincent Amanor-Boadu / Transforming Belmont Estate from a traditional agricultural production business into a profitable agri-tourism enterprise is the issue addressed in this thesis. The importance of this problem rests on the fact that the author is the general manager of this family business and needs to organize it in ways that facilitates its ability to keep growing in a rapidly changing market environment. Given the increasing positioning of Grenada as a preferred tourist destination and the increasing number of people who are responding to this positioning, the management of Belmont Estate believes that transforming this traditional agricultural production business into an agritourism business will create significant value for shareholders and stakeholders. The process of transforming the organization needs to start with a new way of envisioning it. Therefore, a strategic direction and a compelling value proposition were developed. An assessment of the business environment was conducted to develop a framework where specific strategies could be developed to support the new strategic direction that has been established. Additionally, a financial analysis that focused on the contribution of the different enterprises to the new strategic direction was conducted to assess the potential financial outcome of this effort. The results show that Belmont Estate is well-positioned to benefit from increasing tourism business in Grenada. If the management of Belmont Estate can implement the strategic plan, it can successfully transform Belmont Estate from an agricultural production business into an efficient agritourism business that not only creates value for its shareholders and stakeholders but offers a welcome diversity to Grenada’s growing tourism industry.

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À quoi sert la prospective ? Telle est la question de cette recherche sur les usages du futur par les régions et les métropoles en France depuis 1955. À quel moment la prospective est-elle mobilisée, par qui et selon quelles modalités ? En comparant seize démarches menées sur quatre territoires (Nantes, Lyon, Pays de la Loire et Rhône-Alpes), la thèse démontre que la prospective est moins utilisée pour agir sur le long terme que pour gouverner les institutions. En croisant la sociologie des institutions avec l’approche discursive des politiques publiques, ce travail développe le concept d’énoncé d’institution pour analyser la fonction de ces démarches. Relancée à intervalles irréguliers mais toujours éphémère, l’activité prospective correspond à une tentative des acteurs pour énoncer l’institution et construire une coalition discursive autour de cette définition. À travers l’élaboration d’un tel énoncé, les porteurs de ces démarches poursuivent trois objectifs : démontrer l’unité de l’institution, en justifier l’utilité et en revendiquer le pilotage. La thèse distingue quatre générations de démarches prospectives, correspondant chacune à un usage spécifique du futur : exister par anticipation à travers la planification à long terme (1955-1983), susciter un besoin d’institution malgré la résistance des notables locaux (1983-1995), affirmer la vocation stratégique de l’institution par la formulation d’un projet transversal (1995-2004) et atténuer les contradictions de l’action publique territoriale par la construction d’un discours politique consensuel (2004-2015). En s’intéressant au travail discursif des acteurs locaux plutôt que d’étudier les réformes nationales et leurs mises en œuvre, ce travail apporte un nouvel éclairage sur l’institutionnalisation des régions et des métropoles. Il révèle l’importance de ces énoncés pour faire tenir l’institution face au poids des dynamiques centrifuges, territoriales et sectorielles. / What are the functions of visioning (prospective)? Such is the guiding question of this dissertation, which examines efforts to envision the future at the regional and metropolitan level in France since 1955. When has foresight been used, by whom and for what ? Comparing sixteen exercises held in two cities (Nantes and Lyon) and two regions (Pays de la Loire and Rhône-Alpes), this work demonstrates that visioning is used less to shape the long term future than to govern current political institutions. Combining sociology of institutions with the discursive approach of public policy, this dissertation develops the concept of institution statement. Ephemeral although regularly revived, foresight activities are attempts to define the institution and to build discursive coalitions to support this definition. With such a statement, stakeholders in foresight activities act in pursuit of three goals: to demonstrate the unity of the institution, to justify its utility and to claim its leadership. The dissertation distinguishes four generations of foresight practices, each of which deals with a specific use of the future: to exist in advance through long term planning (1955-1983) ; to develop a need for an institution in spite of reluctance by the local political elite (1983-1995) ; to affirm the strategic vocation of the institution through the formulation of a project (1995-2004) ; and to alleviate growing contradictions in local public policies (2005-2015).This work contributes to revitalizing the study of the institutionalization of regional and metropolitan governments. Rather than studying national reforms and their implementation, it analyses the discursive work of local actors in order to define the role of these new state spaces. It reveals the importance of such statements in holding the institution in spite of spatial and sectorial centrifugal forces.

Tourism has come to be recognised as a major contributor to national economies. In a knowledge-based economy (that emphasises the benefits of industry/government and academic research), a strong research base must underpin management of a tourist destination if it is to realise its full potential. The establishment of collaborative networks between industry, academia, and government in the strategic planning and management of cities and towns is becoming increasingly popular. However, the way in which the processes underlying these settings facilitate or inhibit eventual outcomes is poorly understood. If knowledge is to drive innovation and economic growth optimally, it is important not just to develop an understanding of the processes underlying the creation, diffusion and utilisation of knowledge in cooperative research settings, but also the relationships among them. Accordingly, the aim of this investigation is to examine the relationships among knowledge creation, diffusion and utilisation occurring in the Cooperative Research Centres (CRC) Program, specifically, the Gold Coast Visioning Project, with a view to identifying the most efficient means for formulating and disseminating research designed for industry and/or government application. Knowledge is defined as information that is imbued with meaning or relevance. However, this definition says little of the ways that individuals, groups and organisations acquire knowledge. While cognitive psychologists have produced several theories suggesting the structure and mechanisms of individual cognitive processes underlying the acquisition and use of knowledge, social scientists have sought to describe and explain the process by investigating the influence of social factors. Recent contributions to group learning have examined group composition, group size, familiarity among group members, and communication processes in an attempt to understand the ways in which groups acquire knowledge. Research shows that knowledge utilisation in organisations results from the interdependent influences of organisational processes and the control opportunities and control problems that arise through organisational structure. These frameworks provide accounts of how knowledge is utilised within an organisation, but not of how organisations learn. Recent research suggests that organisations learn through knowledge networks where organisational focus moves from the consideration and protection of boundaries to the management of (and care for) relationships. Therefore, organisations contain static (rules, norms and procedures) and dynamic (social relationships) elements that mutually influence the degree to which organisations learn. A synthesis of the available literature resulted in the development of a series of models that served not only to inform, but also be informed by the analysis of this investigation. A single case study, namely the Gold Coast Visioning Project, was used to examine the ways in which knowledge was created, disseminated and utilised in a CRC setting. This ethnographic investigation considered the process of knowledge creation through to utilisation at individual, group, organisational, and inter-organisational levels, while simultaneously examining the interrelated influences of social, cognitive, affective and communication factors. Throughout the project, data were collected through stakeholder interviews, various documents and participant observation of stakeholder meetings and workshops. Data were analysed using a grounded theory approach and methods of thick description. The results show that researchers and industry stakeholders bring different frames of reference, different expectations, and different knowledge bases to the exercise. This inhibited communication, and gave the appearance of dissension when, in fact, what was being sought was a common frame for understanding and communication. Additionally, the gap between industry and researcher worldviews generated the sense that industry was resisting or failing to understand what the research was seeking to achieve. Consequently, in order to manage the relationship, research plans and findings were communicated to industry in a teacher-to-student fashion, which fostered single-loop learning, and reduced industry stakeholders' sense of ownership in the process and findings. During the project, industry stakeholders frequently sought to have research come pre-packaged with "meaning", but researchers lacked the contextual knowledge necessary to specify the relevance of their research. The results also show that research findings need to be integrated and diffused to industry over time, and specific applications need to be formulated (and reformulated) in response to particular and changing needs of industry. As a result of this investigation, a model of 'best practice' has been developed with detailed recommendations for the design, implementation, and reporting of CRC-sponsored research to optimise its utility for end-users of such research. From a theoretical perspective, the findings of this study challenge the ways that current theories account for the ways in which knowledge is acquired and utilised since the results show that knowledge is constructed both socially and emotionally. Any investigation that seeks to understand how knowledge is acquired and utilised must consider social and affective influences. To ignore the role of emotion and values in the process of knowledge acquisition is to ignore a key component of an individual's reasoning capacity.

The Local Climate Change Visioning Project is using 3D visualization to bring climate change action to life for local communities.

This item contains the agenda, minutes, and attachments for the Faculty Senate meeting on this date. There may be additional materials from the meeting available at the Faculty Center.

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