Ph.D. - Urban and Regional Planning

Permanent URI for this collectionhttps://hdl.handle.net/10125/20046

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APPLYING PRACTITIONERS’ PERSPECTIVES: PLAN QUALITY EVALUATION OF CLIMATE CHANGE CONSIDERATIONS IN STATE HAZARD MITIGATION PLANS
(University of Hawai'i at Manoa, 2023) Harirchi, Poya; Das, Priyam; Urban & Regional Planning
Climate change is a major issues facing coastal communities, and in turn, requires innovative responses to its implications. However, a strong federal climate change leadership is still largely lacking in the US. On the other hand, the Disaster Mitigation Act of 2000 has set a requirement for states to prepare and update their hazard mitigation plans (approved by FEMA) every 5 years to be eligible for certain federal disaster funds and grants to help communities in mitigation and adaptation to hazards, including climate change. Previous research has found that hazard mitigation planning also has the potential to enhance the efficiency for mitigation funding and strengthen states’ capabilities for reducing hazard damages; and therefore, it is imperative for states to appropriately address the risks associated with climate change by incorporating them into hazard mitigation plans.In this study, plan quality evaluation methods were used to assess climate change integration into State Hazard Mitigation Plans. Scholars have defined plan quality as a measure of the strengths in plans that are assumed to facilitate implementation efficacy and measured through the degree to which plans are aligned with agreed upon plan quality components. The components include the fact base; goals and objectives; policies, tools, and strategies; inter-organizational coordination; implementation; monitoring and evaluation; participation; and organization and presentation. Although there is general consensus about the components that should be included in high quality plans, a crucial missing part in this discourse is the views of planning practitioners. This study, therefore, addresses this gap by conducting a survey of planners in jurisdictions participating in climate change initiatives and utilizing the results to calculate and assign weights to the eight plan quality components and their corresponding indicators, which is a first attempt of its kind in plan quality research. There were 112 responses to the survey. Results showed that implementation; policies, tools, and strategies; and participation are seen as the most important contributors to plan quality by practitioners. The sample for this study included the latest State Hazard Mitigation Plans in 23 U.S. coastal states. The results of the evaluation show an overall medium quality in the studied plans. There is however, a large variation in plan quality by geographical regions, with states in the Northeast and the Pacific consistently having higher average component and total plan quality scores compared to states in the South. Correlation analysis with contextual variables shows that states with active GHG emissions targets, and those with higher population densities tend to have higher quality plans. Furthermore, states with higher dependency on energy, tend to have lower quality plans. This study also found a negative correlation between plan quality and FEMA funding. The results highlight the political nature of climate change action across coastal United States. Public perception of climate change can affect the extent to which climate change considerations are incorporated into state actions, including state hazard mitigation planning. The results also shows a strong relation between participation and total plan quality score. Overall, plans with stronger provisions for stakeholder participation, also have a more detailed fact base on risks associated with climate change, and policies and strategies to address these risks. Findings from this study can be used in guiding state and local governmental officials, planners, community leaders, and researchers towards enhancing the quality of hazard mitigation plans, in general, and climate change considerations, in particular, and identifying best practices. The results can also be used to improve the tools and process of evaluating state hazard mitigation plans longitudinally as the plans are updated, and comparing the current quality of these plans with previous studies.
Towards Coastal Adaptation Through Planning: An Evaluation of Plans, Processes, and Challenges in U.S. Island Jurisdictions
(University of Hawai'i at Manoa, 2023) Porro, Roberto J.; Kim, Karl; Urban & Regional Planning
This mixed-methods study evaluates coastal adaptation planning in U.S. Island jurisdictions – American Samoa, Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, Guam, Hawaii, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands – areas where the climate threat and adaptation challenge are great but that have received little planning research attention. This research conceptualizes an evaluation framework based on established plan quality methods and proposed coastal adaptation principles. Employing this framework, the study consists of a quantitative plan quality evaluation of coastal management and hazard mitigation plans across the island jurisdictions. This is complemented by qualitative analysis of interviews with adaptation practitioners, such as coastal managers and hazard mitigation planners. Combined, these approaches provide key insights into the progress and challenges of adaptation on islands and the use of existing planning mechanisms for adaptation planning. The research identifies key recommendations and lessons to be shared across islands, coastal communities, and the federal agencies that support them.
Enhancing Disaster Resilience Of Pacific Islands Through Information And Communication Technologies (ICT)
(University of Hawaii at Manoa, 2023) Porter, Hotavia Gingerle; Kim, Karl; Urban and Regional Planning
Recent disaster management (DM) practices have demonstrated that the impacts of disasters can be minimized by purposeful planning, integrating and utilizing Information Communication Technologies (ICT) at all phases of the DM cycle (ITU, 2003; UNISDR, 2015). The use of ICT can help to collect accurate data, produce information to support operations and make better decisions for an overall effective disaster management system (DMS). It has long been recognized by Pacific Island Countries and Territories (PICT) that ICT is a tool for regional development to support economic growth, education, health and disaster management, but they also recognize the need for ICT to have a complete life cycle designed for sustainability within the Pacific Region (ASTBS, 2021). Regional and territorial investments in ICT for disaster management (ICT4DM) have had varying results in sustainable implementation, integration and effectiveness (UNESCAP, 2020). This research explored successes and challenges in integrating ICT for disaster management (ICT4DM) in PICT focusing on: (1) institutional, (2) cultural (3) technical, and (4) political capacity gaps based on two case studies, the 2009 Tsunami in American Samoa (2009 TAS) and the 2022 Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha’apai Eruption and Tsunami (2022 HTHH). This research study is organized in three parts: Part 1: Where we've been – Case Studies – 2009 TAS and 2022 HTHH; Part 2: Where we are: US Deployed ICT4DM in the Pacific via the Pacific through Radio and Internet for the dissemination of hydro-meteorological and hydrological information (RANET Network) and; Part 3: Where we're heading: Capacity Gaps, Elements of Resilience and Lessons Learned. The objectives of this research are: (1) To inventory US deployed ICT4DM in the Pacific through the RANET Network 2006-2022; (2) To identify cultural, institutional, political and technical factors influence the use and implementation of ICT in disaster management; and (3) To establish what challenges and opportunities for the planning and ICT4DM.
Assessing Barriers To Green Infrastructure For Flood Mitigation
(University of Hawaii at Manoa, 2022) Riley, Sequoia; Kim, Karl; Urban and Regional Planning
Green infrastructure is a popular topic in urban communities and government institutions as a sustainable solution. While there are many research publications illustrating the benefits of green infrastructure, not many discuss the barriers to planning and implementation. There is not much research discussing insufficient investment in adopting green infrastructure as a flood mitigation tool. This research study focuses on identifying (1) what the physical, socio-cultural, political-institutional, and economic barriers are based on three case studies (Waimanalo, North Shore Kaua’i, Ala Wai) in Hawai’i to implementing green infrastructure, and (2) what important planning metrics are needed to develop a strategic and effective flood hazard mitigation plan that prioritizes green infrastructure but also accomplishes environmental justice objectives. A secondary literature review was conducted to find barriers to green infrastructure implementation. A comparative study evaluating hazard mitigation plans was also carried out to develop a hazard mitigation plan framework. The framework was applied to each case study. A quantitative analysis was conducted to demonstrate how the framework can be used across these case study sites and applied to other potential communities. The key findings include: (1) political-institutional and economic barriers in all three case studies and (2) several metrics are needed to properly design a strategic and effective flood hazard mitigation planning framework. While there are limitations in this study, the research demonstrates how social and environmental justice goals for many urban and rural communities can be advanced. This also includes uplifting the field of adaptation policies, training, education, guidance, and standards.
Socio-hydrological Planning And Integrated Water Management Considerations For O‘ahu, Hawai‘i
(University of Hawaii at Manoa, 2021) Arik, Aida D.; Coffman, Makena; Urban and Regional Planning
Urban development in the United States during the 20th century often occurred without fully considering the environmental and social implications of water management practices. These unchecked impacts create legacy problems that manifest both in the built environment and the overarching governance structure, and become amplified by 21st century challenges. Integrated, socio-hydrological water management approaches—such as One Water (e.g., Cesanek et al., 2017; US Water Alliance, 2016, 2017), Water Sensitive Cities (e.g., Brown et al., 2009), or Soft Path Solutions for the 21st century (e.g., Christian-Smith et al., 2012; Gleick, 2003)—aim to adapt water management systems to address these dual sets of challenges. This dissertation includes three articles that examine the following applied water management questions through an integrated, socio-hydrological planning lens:1. Does expressed intention to conserve water match household water use behavior? 2. Where do stormwater management priorities converge or diverge between community leaders and water managers? 3. How do concepts of equity intersect with the implementation of a stormwater utility? Each question relates to understanding how O‘ahu, Hawai‘i (also the City and County of Honolulu) can progress towards integrated water management and greater water productivity. This research is rooted in collaborative planning theory (e.g., Forester, 1989; Healey, 1997, 2003; Innes & Booher, 2010) and Patsy Healey’s (1997) definition of governance as the interaction between formal institutions (e.g., rules, laws, or organizational entities) and relational institutions (e.g., norms, conventions, or codes-of-conduct). O‘ahu provides a unique place to study these research questions because the island has jurisdiction over its watersheds—from mountain to coast—and has an interrupted history of integrated resource management by the Kānaka Maoli. In the first article, I address the first question through an Ordinary Least Squares (OLS) regression analysis of water use survey data matched with billing data for water utility customers on the island of O‘ahu. I find no connection between the stated intention to conserve water and actual behavior. However, the data show that participating in water conservation programs and installing water-saving fixtures relate to lower water use. I situate my findings in the literature to discuss how policies and programs can address this intention-behavior gap. I also discuss how urban planning decisions can shape social norms and serve a critical role in influencing household water use and conservation. These concepts are essential to understanding how to feasibly achieve Hawai‘i’s water conservation goals as part of the State’s sustainability objectives. This article adds to the body of literature researching the intention-behavior gap in residential water usage, where few studies use actual water use data in their analysis. The second article is motivated by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) Ala Wai Flood Risk Management Study that mobilized strong community opposition, in part, because of an opaque planning process. I use Q-methodology—a mixed-methods approach—to elucidate prominent narratives about stormwater management in the Ala Wai watershed. I interview 18 key people from various community, government, or professional leadership positions and ask each to prioritize a set of 25 ideas about stormwater management relative to one another. I use Principal Component Analysis (PCA) to identify four narrative groups from the prioritization of the 25 ideas and understand where there are consensus and dissensus between groups. By finding shared narratives between community members and stormwater managers, the use of Q-methodology in this study differs from previous applications of the method in stormwater that focus solely on stormwater managers. From this analysis, I develop a framework for understanding the dimensionality of choices and decisions related to stormwater management infrastructure, responsibilities, and planning approaches that adds to the body of literature discussing soft-path solutions to stormwater management. Finally, I base the third article on a plan to implement a stormwater utility (SWU) in O‘ahu that would establish a fee and credit system for stormwater runoff applied to all property owners. The third research question is motivated by ideas of “fairness” that were continually raised during community outreach meetings regarding the SWU. I tackle this question in two parts. In Part I, I conduct a systematic literature review to develop a framework for understanding “fairness” in stormwater issues and financing in terms of economic efficiency and concepts of equity. In Part II, I apply this framework with O‘ahu as an illustrative example to understand how notions of “fairness” are discussed. I look into how the proposed hardship relief correlates with socioeconomic characteristics as an example of distributive equity. Additionally, I challenge the assumptions behind setting a stormwater fee based solely on the total impervious area as an example of economic efficiency. This article’s major contribution to the body of literature on stormwater financing and management is to separately define economic efficiency and concepts of equity, which are often conflated in the literature and discourse around SWUs.
(Re) Engaging Indigeneity in Planning: Epistemological Conflicts and Women's Human Rights in Palau
(University of Hawaii at Manoa, 2020) Singeo, Klouldil; Umemoto, Karen; Urban and Regional Planning
Indigenous planning is an ongoing project bringing the complex and at times disparate experiences of the global indigeneity into focus. This particular study takes the women’s human rights movement as a topic of interest and specifically looks at the CEDAW ratification process in Palau. The research seeks to understand Palau’s opposition to the ratification of the CEDAW and specifically looks at the epistemological concepts driving this resistance. The study therefore seeks to understand the applicability of international human rights in indigenous settings and particularly to provisions of women’s empowered status in Palau’s matrilineal society. I have approached this study from an ethnographic research standpoint and with a critical focus that engages an advocacy perspective. Designed as a qualitative study, this research sought stories from Palauan knowledge holders and asks: “How do local cultural values and practices affect the adoption of international treaties promoting equality and human rights?” “What does this case imply about the imposition of Western epistemologies on indigenous societies?” Cultural values and practices and its positive provisions for indigenous communities has not been addressed fully in international development planning and theory. Consequently, the related work of international human rights instruments has not considered alternative worldviews and ways of doing emerging from indigenous communities. This study seeks to contribute to the wider theoretical and academic debate on the universality of international instruments and their relevance to Indigenous communities and argues for a decentering of these homogenous ideals that have negative implications for indigenous societies.
A Pacific Island Diaspora: A Case Study Of Chuukese Women Migration And Adaptation Strategies In Urban Honolulu
(University of Hawaii at Manoa, 2019) Budge, Juliette Pierson; Minerbi, Luciano; Urban and Regional Planning
There is a long history in Oceania of communities voluntarily, and strategically migrating between islands. More recently the Compact of Free Association (COFA), which allows for open migration between the COFA nations and the US, offers a unique lens into issues around movement and the concept of displacement, relocation and adaptation to a new place. Understanding the dynamics around the COFA migrants can inform future migrations. The world is currently witnessing the highest levels of human displacement on record. Local governments are at the forefront of the response to migration, providing essential services and developing innovative solutions to complex and rapidly changing circumstances. This is particularly salient as islands in Oceania are already being impacted by climate change and will be among the most vulnerable to its continuing effects. The challenges this presents to policies around migration are evident and the United States should prepare for greater numbers of Pacific Island migrants (Barnett, 2003). This case study allows for an exploration of the complexities of migration for both the sending and receiving communities as well as the outcomes for the migrants themselves. Topics covered include the politics of reception between the settler and host communities, Federal and State policies, organizations that are involved in the migrant’s resettlement, as well as more specific cultural aspects. This research reflects on the situation for COFA migrants in their receiving community through the analysis of media, community planning efforts and in-depth interviews with experts and the migrants themselves. Important questions are raised about citizenship, the meaning of land and space, and how a more informed and inclusive approach to migration might result in more equitable, prosperous outcomes for receiving communities as a whole. To avoid forced migration in the future, international polices between countries (similar to the Compact) will need to be negotiated. These policies will allow for migrants to be more empowered about their movement and resettlement options.
Food Security And Self-sufficiency: Voicing The Realities Of Hawai‘i’s Small Farmers Who Produce Food For Local Consumption
(University of Hawaii at Manoa, 2019) Azizi Fardkhales, Saleh; Minerbi, Luciano; Urban and Regional Planning
Over the last twenty years, planners have reclaimed interest and involvement in food and agriculture planning with the goal of enhancing community food security through strengthening the local food economy and addressing people’s access to affordable good food. However, solutions for growing small-scale farmers and the local food supply has been lacking. Planners have addressed food insecurity in urban areas but not food supply with rural farmers. This is partly because planners have not felt “at home” in farming and rural communities. Hawaii grows less than ten percent of all the food its residents and visitors consume. Since the decline of plantation era agriculture in Hawaii, public policy objectives have transitioned from promoting diversified agriculture i.e. “any other industry than sugar and pineapple” to promoting “local food grown for local consumption” i.e. agricultural self-sufficiency. The State of Hawaii has created policy goals and objectives to double local food production by 2020 but implementation has been slow. This dissertation research provides a range of new insights to community food security through the value driven activities of alternative farmers in Hawaii who produce food for local consumption. The study proposes that it is important for planners to work directly with farmers to improve community food security and identifies several policy initiatives for planners to support farmers to scale-up local food production. The project was conducted using an ethnographic approach with the author immersed with Hawaii’s alternative farmers. Research design and results bottom-up, participatory, action based, and validated by farmers. The findings suggests three priority areas where planners can support the implementation of State goals and objectives by working closer with farmers on the ground level and develop targets that support increased local food production. In particular, the conclusion offers pathways for planners to increase production through policy priorities for workforce development, food hubs, local markets, and agricultural tourism.
Transformative Planning: Reframing And Reforming The Youth Justice System Through The Juvenile Detention Alternatives Initiative
(University of Hawaii at Manoa, 2019) Miao, Tai-An Heather; Umemoto, Karen; Urban and Regional Planning
Abstract This research on planning as social learning for systems change considers the metacase study of the Juvenile Detention Alternatives Initiative (JDAI), a social planning process undertaken with the philanthropic support of the Annie E. Casey Foundation. I consider the design of the model-site based approach to social learning through two case studies of local juvenile justice system sites participating in JDAI: the Santa Cruz County model site and the Hawai‘i state non-model site. I explore the relationship between the JDAI social learning process and changes to actors’ thinking, beliefs, and behaviors, as reflected through stakeholder interviews and participant observation of planning activities. Based on the model site case study, I draft a theory of change and construct a framework for systems change. I then apply the framework to the second case study of the Hawaiʻi JDAI site to assess the strengths and weaknesses, accomplishments and limitations of the approach to system change in a non-model site. I conclude by proposing recommendations to enhance the JDAI approach to system transformation. I focus on a central aspect of the JDAI theory of change that has not been consistently implemented within either of the case studies or the initiative as a whole. I integrate insights from planning theory and practice to address the current barriers to deeper system change. Finally, I discuss implications of this study for social learning and systems change.
The Contested Space of Community Colleges in the Age of Neoliberalism: The Case of City College of San Francisco Through the Accreditation Crisis of 2012-2017
(University of Hawaii at Manoa, 2018-08) Chlebnikow, Molly A.; Urban and Regional Planning
This is a case study concerning a California community college with a long history of working to be an open access, working class institution, despite the California policy structures pressuring and asserting community colleges to become more efficient and business like. For the state, the main focus is on raising graduation rates, prioritized over all other endeavors. On the surface the problem seems to be how The City College of San Francisco (CCSF) was threatened to be shut down due to loss of accreditation. Below the surface there is the issue that the Accrediting Commission of Community and Junior Colleges (ACCJC) was using the power of accreditation to enforce an institutional restructuring that is dominated by the ideology of economic efficiency and aligned with an outcomes-based community college planning approach. And yet this restructuring does not align with the open access mission. People focused on open access formed an instrumental part of the resistance to the ACCJC’s actions. Through a grounded theory methodology, the lived experiences of people within the CCSF space are analyzed as they act to either align or resist neoliberalism. Through this analysis an interpretive understanding is offered as to how power dominates through claims to rationality with the erasure of other rationalities, and how structural issues make the aspirations of democracy difficult to achieve. The alternative social imaginary of open access offers insights into radical planning theory and practice. The focus of open access is to center those who are the most impacted; where understanding who is being oppressed and how becomes information for what kinds of practices are necessary toward overcoming barriers and changing the conditions perpetuating oppression within the community college context. The emerging concepts and inferred principles are offered to contribute to radical planning theory. Particularly, how acting to transform systems and structures can be addressed through centering issues regarding systemic oppression as a process of planning for equitable education within a local context.
The Pedagogical Life of Edible Verge Gardens in Sydney: Urban Agriculture for the Urban Food Imaginary
(University of Hawaii at Manoa, 2018-05) Hsu, Jesse P.; Urban and Regional Planning
Re-integrating agriculture into the city is an essential task of planning for urban food systems. Despite efforts to stimulate the expansion of urban agriculture (UA) in cities, it remains a secondary concern for many local governments and residents. One critical barrier in establishing UA as a vital infrastructure in cities is that the vision of an agriculture-infused city not being shared with the wider culture. The struggle over UA’s appropriateness can be viewed as a clash between differing spatial and material expectations of the city food system, or urban food imaginaries. Food systems research suggests that UA is often viewed as regressive, ‘out of place’, and better as a temporary land placeholder. As a form of visual culture, UA spaces are ‘pedagogical’ or have agency to mediate discourse and practices and therefore potentially influence urban food imaginaries. This dissertation explores how UA spaces may act as ‘public pedagogy’ and potentially contribute to shift the urban food imaginary through the case study of edible verge gardens in Sydney, Australia. I employ a three-part approach to guide this inquiry. First, I formulate a theoretical model for understanding UA spaces with respect to public pedagogy and the urban food imaginary, applying it towards a single verge garden case. Second, I focus on the representation frame of public pedagogy, utilizing multimodal discourse analysis (MDA) and walking ethnography to over a hundred gardens to understand the pedagogic potential of the verge garden form. Third, I focus on the social practice frame of public pedagogy to understand the extent to which gardens enable foodoriented practices and the dynamics undergirding maintenance of those practices, considering qualitative data that includes 29 in-depth interviews with gardeners, local council staff, food movement leaders, and residents; and four months of diary entries by four best-case garden owners. I propose policy interventions targeting the dynamics of verge garden practice that can guide the development of gardens that are more aesthetic, productive, and community-oriented. Findings elucidate the tremendous potential of verge gardens to influence urban food imaginaries, but only if design consideration is given to overcoming the hostile growing environment of the footpath.
Assessing Collaborative Governance through Alternate Rationales: A Case Study of Watershed Partnerships in Hawai‘i
(University of Hawaii at Manoa, 2018-05) Bolduc, Sara; Urban and Regional Planning
Collaborative governance approaches to large-scale resources management such as watershed planning have been increasingly studied, promoted, and implemented in recent years, with varying degrees of success. Specifically, researchers have struggled with generating meaningful evaluative mechanisms to measure the accomplishments of these endeavors involving stakeholders with competing mandates, including disparate values, power imbalances, and difficulties with measuring or quantifying on-the-ground improvements. This dissertation examines rationales for decision-making of collaborative governance efforts, and ultimately, how these rationales frame the approach used to evaluate the success of these efforts. The research uses the case of a collaborative natural resource management group, an association of watershed partnerships in the State of Hawai‘i consisting of ten partnerships across five islands. The study explores the decision-making process through the activities and management outcomes of this collaborative group, through the lenses of equity, efficiency, democracy, and ecological integrity -- all prevalent and widely endorsed, yet at times possibly conflicting, rationales for working in groups to address common goals, especially in the case of environmental management. Rationale, for this research represents the sets of underlying motivations utilized by various stakeholders participating in and/or evaluating these efforts. The research looks at the extent to which Hawai‘i’s watershed partnerships are successful at managing upper watershed areas through four rationale-based theories of change. The four theories of change, stemming from a unique implementation theory (characterized as activities) inform the evaluative framework within which the collaborative effort is assessed. Results from the research demonstrate that despite being restrictive in regard to membership, Hawai‘i’s Watershed Partnerships fare more favorably when assessed under an equity and democracy rationale than through an efficiency or ecological integrity rationale. However, the study finds that as collaborative processes ideally include broad representation to promote collective goals, evaluating the success of collaborative efforts should also reflect the broad and variable motivations and values of multiple stakeholders, and should also employ a variety of approaches to measure their outcomes.
Photovoice for Vulnerability: Resilience Building in the Philippines
(University of Hawaii at Manoa, 2017-08) Cai, Yanjun; Urban and Regional Planning
Disadvantaged residents are increasingly exposed to environmental hazards stemming from urbanization and climate change. More and more countries have raised top-down strategies to tackle climate hazards. But effective climate adaptation on the community level noticeably differs from the national level. Current frameworks for understanding resilience have not yet adequately explained the variations of vulnerability within the community and among individuals. Drawing on visual narratives, unstructured observations, and semi-structured interviews, this dissertation illustrates how the degrees, types, and impacts of vulnerability vary within and across households and communities; these less apparent variations for vulnerable subgroups call for different adaptive interventions. Integrating photovoice with social media not only reveals this missing perspective of vulnerability but also builds resilience by mobilizing social capital across different levels of governing actors. The combined application of photovoice and social media—a tool for research as well as intervention—investigates emergency entrepreneurship for enhancing resilience, which has been seldom mentioned by planning scholars. My study focuses on three informal settlement communities in metropolitan Manila and Cebu in the Philippines. In these communities, the processes of disaster preparation, response, adaptation, and rebuilding are embedded in routinized life cycles due to the frequency of hazards. Destructive flooding can happen monthly or even multiple times a week. Therefore, planning for disasters is often spontaneous—actions that require flexibility and innovation that continuously shape their adaptation to current and future disaster events. By revealing the disadvantaged perspectives of community resilience, my work suggests a need to readjust and refine the framework of vulnerability within the resilience literature. It also emphasizes how social capital as the capability and emergency entrepreneurship as the adaptive strategy can affect resilience building. In addition, this dissertation articulates how applying the photovoice method can contribute to digitalizing resiliency governance through the use of social media. This approach facilitates alternative and inclusive forms of data-generation and policymaking, while building trust in local communities. My findings are relevant for planning and climate change adaptation toward strengthening disadvantaged communities’ capacities for resilience building.
Prospects for Rural Regional Development in the De-Agrarianizing Rural Bangladesh
(University of Hawaii at Manoa, 2017-05) Momen, Saiful; Urban and Regional Planning
Poverty, lack of opportunities, and general socio-economic malaise have become characteristic features of the rural areas in the contemporary low-income world. Amid such a reality, a rarely asked policy question becomes important: Where do rural areas --- their economies and societies --- fit in the road map to a poverty-free world? Contemporary development policy in the mainstream has become somewhat oblivious to this question. Rather the main thrust of recent development policy has been around (a) sectoral development projects such as the ones in agriculture, fisheries and other sectors, (b) macroeconomic policy reform, and (c) large infrastructure projects, often in megacities. Underlying these development interventions is an acceptance of a rural-urban dichotomy in economy and geographic space. This dissertation through an extensive literature survey starts with the position that important synergies are missed in the countryside by separate planning of towns and rural areas. Rather rural regions, comprising both rural areas and towns as an integral part in them, need to be the planning unit. However, policy models for rural regional development, especially in an agrarian setting, are rare. Even as many rural regions continue to de-agrarianize, and at the same time suffer stasis, new models are hard to come by. This dissertation through an extensive review of literature on development policy experience of the past half a century identifies three equally important cornerstones of rural regional development: (a) rural regional productivity increase, (b) capturing as much of the multiplier effect of the economic activities within the rural region as possible, and (c) removal of the historical agrarian and other institutions that encourage leakage from the rural economy, and restrict access of the poor and the disadvantaged to economic opportunities. To what extent these can be achieved is determined by the recent changes in the global economic forces, nature of agrarian transition in a given region, rural regional political economy, and the nature of the state. Rural areas are de-agrarianizing, and getting connected to the larger economic processes beyond their borders. Often these changes are not increasing the life chances of the households in rural regions. This dissertation, through the study of a rural region in the southeast of Bangladesh, identifies some concrete processes and institutions that stand in the way households’ ability to attain prosperity. Some of the major processes identified are elite capture of state apparatus, emigration and consumptive use of the consequent remittance, delinking of the towns from the economic activities of the rural hinterland, rapid de-agrarianization of the rural economy, and the lack of pro-poor infrastructure. The study helps to identify an outline and some tools of rural regional planning.
How Can Laws, Institutions, and Plans Facilitate Alaska Native Village Adaptation to Climate Change?
(University of Hawaii at Manoa, 2018-12) Ristroph, Elizaveta Barrett; Coffman, Makena; Urban and Regional Planning
While many communities are struggling with the effects of climate change, Alaska Native Villages (ANVs) are facing particular challenges. These 229 federally recognized tribes are typically small, remote, subsistence-dependent, and lack the resources, capacity, and jurisdiction to undertake large-scale adaptation actions. Climate change, among other changes brought by colonization, development, and laws, poses threats to the ANV subsistence lifeway. The traditional lands and waters of ANVs are warming more rapidly than many other parts of the world. Permafrost and ice is melting, flooding and erosion are increasing, and subsistence is becoming more difficult. This research explores how ANVs are adapting to and planning for climate change (specifically, flooding, erosion, and subsistence impacts), and how different strategies, laws, and institutions help or hinder these processes. Research is based on (1) legal analysis of state and federal laws and institutions, (2) content analysis of plans applicable to 59 selected ANVs, and (3) interviews with participants in these ANVs as well as participants outside ANVs who make or influence laws and plans that affect ANVs. Findings are divided into three articles. In the first article, I ask whether a new law or agency should be created to address climate change and whether greater jurisdiction over resources helpful to adaptation should be transferred to ANVs. I find that such a law or agency would not necessarily be helpful. Further, I find that a transfer of jurisdiction to ANVs without efforts to increase their capacity to navigate and take advantage of Western laws and funding opportunities would not be helpful. Rather, there is a need for better understanding and coordination among existing agencies, programs, and ANVs, and incremental changes to existing laws. In the second article, I identify the types of adaptation planning processes taking place across ANVs and analyze their contribution to community resilience. I find that while there are many planning efforts related to adaptation, particularly through hazard mitigation plans, the manner in which these plans are created and the resulting products are not necessarily preparing ANVs for climate change impacts. Planning processes could be improved by organizing around cultural events to increase community engagement, and by scaling down plans to better focus on community needs and community capacity to implement these plans. In the third article, I consider how laws and agencies specific to subsistence hinder adaptation by their inflexibility and limited opportunities for participation in decision-making. I find that meaningful co-management opportunities in which ANVs could cooperate with agencies are limited due to the lack of Western science capacity expected by agencies. I find a need for strategies for building Western science capacity of ANVs while also recognizing the importance of their traditional and indigenous knowledges. I also suggest incremental legal changes to increase flexibility and participation. Several reoccurring themes emerge from this research. One is that adaptation obstacles are not primarily of a legal nature, but more so related to a lack of political will, understanding, and capacity. There is a need not just for adaptive capacity on the part of ANVs, but also for capacity to navigate existing laws, institutions, and processes that rely on Western science. Building self-reliance is an important part of building capacity, as is social capital in the form of partnerships within ANVs and with those in a position to help. Better collaboration is important not only for ANVs, but also for the many agencies that have some responsibility for assisting communities with adaptation. Improved understanding of opportunities and collaboration to achieve them may not overcome problems related to political will, but could improve adaptation within the existing legal system.
From Science To Planning: Negotiating Climate Change Adaptation In Land Use Planning In Quy Nhon City, Vietnam
(University of Hawaii at Manoa, 2018-12) Ghimire, Jiwnath; Kim, Karl; Urban and Regional Planning
Scientific knowledge of climate change (including climate change scenarios, sea level rise projections, and temperature forecast) has a significant influence on adaptation and mitigation measures. It plays a crucial role in the context of land use planning to elucidate decisions concerning adaptation and mitigation tools. Land use planning has been a proven approach to reduce disaster risks and climate change impacts. However, successful utilization of climate science to improve practices on the ground involves a complex process. Scientific knowledge of climate change streams from multiple sources, across multiple scales, and in multiple forms. This influences how local decision makers’ use of knowledge is translated into plans and policies, and in a top-down hierarchical planning system like Vietnam’s, the process is uniquely complex. Utilization of climate science in the course of land use planning involves a complicated process in a rapidly changing city of a developing country like Quy Nhon City in Vietnam. Transmission and understanding of scientific knowledge and concurrent planning can be achieved through the boundary works and externally funded projects (e.g. ACCCRN in case of Quy Nhon City). The implementation faces a myriad of challenges, especially in land use planning because land management in Vietnam already suffers from political-economic problems. Implementation requires major institutional changes from national to local levels in a rigid top-down administrative system like that in Vietnam. Strong centralization of the administrative system can provide an opportunity to enforce the mainstreaming of climate science in the land use plans and decisions. With a case study of Quy Nhon City in Vietnam, this research sheds light on the unique contextual challenges of developing countries in the course of knowledge utilization (especially in implementation) which is lacking in previous models. The major conclusion of my research is that while the transmission and understanding of climate science are strong in Quy Nhon City with the work of ACCCRN and other funded projects, additional attention to the politics and processes of implementation is needed. This includes changes in land governance systems, reforming institutions of science-policy interactions and land use planning, and arranging additional resources (human and financial) for climate change adaptation.
From Planning to Practice: Toward Co-Management of Hawai‘i Coral Reef Fisheries
(University of Hawaii at Manoa, 2016-12) Ayers, Adam
Marine ecosystem loss and degradation are a worldwide phenomenon. Ineffective management has allowed land-based pollution, overharvesting, competing uses, and excess coastal development to proliferate in many places. A variety of management innovations have been developed and promoted to improve social and ecological outcomes. Co-management is one promising innovation that entails shared management authority between resource users or communities and a central government. Although co-management has shown great promise in improving natural resources management in many settings, governments and communities often face challenges during shifts from a command and control regulatory approach to a collaborative one. Hawai‘i is one geography where governance transitions to co-management in coral reef fisheries has been limited, despite the presence of highly engaged communities, a legacy of customary marine tenure with a legal pathway that has existed for over 20 years, and significant support from non-governmental organizations (NGOs). This dissertation research traces how fisheries management and marine tenure have changed from Hawaiian Kingdom Era through present day, including how co-management emerged at the community level in Hawai‘i and the barriers faced during planning and implementation. This dissertation research also examines some different ways communities have partnered with the State of Hawai‘i outside of formal co-management relationships, and concludes by critically examining the role of leadership throughout these governance transitions. The results reveal the importance of historical context in shaping institutional design; which events precipitate self-organization and collective action at the community level; how the distributions of costs and benefits at different stages of the policy cycle can affect incentives to engage in co-management; how fragmented authority complicates integrated co-management; and the salience of collective leadership in co-management settings. The findings from this dissertation have implications for fisheries co-management specifically, and more generally, collaborative environmental planning and management in a variety of settings worldwide.
Revitalizing Secondary Cities for Livability through Participatory Planning in Community Building in South Korea
(University of Hawaii at Manoa, 2016-08) Kang, Min-Jung
In South Korea livability concerns have become an increasing focus of public interest as a means to elevate the quality of people's everyday lives in the city. However the social issue of livability has been overlooked while the central government remains focused on neoliberal economic policies, and limiting the participation of civil society in the planning. The gap between livability aims and their relevance in the public conscience is increasing as greater attention is given to the global economic crisis, and the stagnation (or downturn) of local economies, particularly within secondary cities in South Korea. Without emphasis on local culture specific to each region, cities are beginning to look similar and populations are becoming increasingly disconnected from their unique historical and cultural identities. This paper addresses the way in which community building efforts, through participatory planning, can make secondary cities livable. Through the review of case studies of Maul Mandulgi movements, this study will explore which occurrences fit the livable city framework, how the movement influenced local governance, to include positive relationships between people and their government, and how positive social and physical changes were made by enhancing conviviality in the community. After identifying the conditions of the cities that were successful in community building, this study will present how local cities were able to revitalize themselves through the livable city in the lifeworlds frame. A qualitative research method has been selected for this research, and was conducted with archived documents written by community members, and also by outside members in order to maintain an objective perspective. In this research the cultural framework of the livable city is addressed, and successful cases, and policies, in South Korean society introduced. This research analyzes the following four cases, the Songmisan network in Seoul; Samdokdong in Daegu; Hanggung-dong (Maul Renaissance) in Suwon; and Munhwa-dong (Si-hwa Munhwa Maul) in Gwangju where living spaces were improved by residents well before the central government adopted Maul Mandulgi as a government policy in 2000, and established themselves as potential models of livable communities. These cases elucidate the key components of a livable city in South Korea, and makes a strong argument for the adoption of key policies in secondary cities, to improve their communities through Maul Mandulgi; participatory community building.
Unleashing the Power of Planning: A Measurement of the Effectiveness and Efficiency of Pre-Disaster Debris Management Plans
(University of Hawaii at Manoa, 2016-05) Crowley, Julia
Disaster debris management operations make up a significant portion of recovery expenses. The debris management process is marked by an extreme complexity with a myriad of stakeholders. Without a clear understanding of roles and responsibilities, the process is often exacerbated by increased time and costs for debris removal. The United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) first released a report in 1995 on debris management planning in an effort to encourage communities to develop pre-disaster debris management plans. The following study aims to examine how the presence of a plan makes disaster debris management “effective” and “efficient” as well as identify optimal plan characteristics through a mixed methods approach. Ninety-five counties in the United States who received major disaster declarations between 2012-2015 were surveyed to examine the quality of their debris management processes. Forty-nine of these counties had debris management plans while forty-six did not. Statistical tests were conducted to address discrepancies in the “effectiveness” and “efficiency” of the debris management processes between the two groups. Such tests were able to prove that counties with pre- disaster debris management plans were more “effective” and partially more “efficient” with debris management than counties without plans. Four counties who indicated “effective” and “efficient” debris management plans in their surveys were selected as case studies and visited by the researcher. Open-ended interviews were conducted with the county emergency management directors and other staff members that worked on the debris management processes in an effort to identify the characteristics of an optimal debris management plan. The study uses these characteristics as well as guidelines put forth by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and the EPA to develop a rubric for evaluating debris management plans. This plan evaluation rubric is then applied to the debris management plans of fifteen counties.
Toward a Theory of Intercultural Place Making: Brazilian Restaurants in Tokyo, Japan
(University of Hawaii at Manoa, 2015-12) Zambonelli, Vera
This dissertation develops a theory of intercultural placemaking through the study of Brazilian restaurants in Tōkyō, Japan. In what ways do Brazilian restaurants serve as places of intercultural interaction and understanding between Japanese and Brazilian people in Tōkyō, and how and under what conditions, can urban places, like ethnic restaurants, enable interculturalism were the main research questions that drove this exploratory research. Through these and a related set of questions, I designed this research taking a grounded theory approach using comparative case study as a qualitative method, and used an intercultural lens to examine how each restaurant in this study was made, produced, and experienced – known as the concurrent processes of placemaking. This process-oriented approach allowed me to distinguish different types of intercultural experience and the overall conditions that contribute to these occurrences in Brazilian restaurants in Tōkyō. Different forms of interculturalism result from significant variation within the main factors that contribute to the experience of the restaurant as a place. These variations could be observed in the characteristics, intentions, motivations and management styles of the proprietors, in where the place was located and how it presented itself in terms of layout, design, usage and activity, and in the characteristics and motivations of the patrons. The orchestration of these various factors affected the type of intercultural interaction and experience occurring within its premises. Three main types of Brazilian restaurants emerged in relation to interculturalism. These are: ethnic restaurants as places for intercultural encounter through food, mostly of a commodified nature and of a side-by-side co-existence; ethnic restaurants as places for intercultural exchange that lead to the development of intercultural competence besides food consumption; and ethnic restaurants as places for intercultural engagement where learning, communicating and understanding about Brazil, its culture, and the Brazilians living in Tōkyō is fostered and expected. Based on the findings and acknowledgement of the site-specific circumstances and social relations that allow these places to function as they do, I extracted key factors, conditions and processes and present a theory of intercultural placemaking that could inform the planning process to encourage interculturalism in every place.

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