Planning

Permanent URI for this collectionhttps://uwspace.uwaterloo.ca/handle/10012/9923

This is the collection for the University of Waterloo's School of Planning.

Research outputs are organized by type (eg. Master Thesis, Article, Conference Paper).

Waterloo faculty, students, and staff can contact us or visit the UWSpace guide to learn more about depositing their research.

Browse

Browsing Planning by Author "Feick, Robert"

Filter results by typing the first few letters
Now showing 1 - 4 of 4
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    An Assessment of the School System Planning Process for Primary and Secondary Schools: The Case of Saint George Grenada
    (University of Waterloo, 2017-10-04) Richards, Kenson; Feick, Robert
    School system planning involves decisions of where to build a new school, close or expandan existing school. It is important for community members to be involved in the school system planning process so that the process will be credible, legitimate and equitable. In the Lesser Antilles of the Caribbean, school system planning seems to be silo in nature and is dominated by the Ministry of Education administrators. Likewise in Grenada, school system planning is spearheaded by the Ministry of Education administrators and the ruling government. This thesis examines opportunities and barriers for community members to participate in school system planning in the parish of Saint George in Grenada, a small Caribbean island in the West Indies. A mixed method approach was used in this thesis where a case study was the main strategy of inquiry employed by the researcher. The data collection methods include: questionnaire, semi-structured interview, document analysis and field observation. The research clearly showed that school system planning is silo, lacks community involvement and is ad-hoc in nature with no formal structure for operation. Citizens as well as government officials (participants) are willing to be part of the planning process and they are cognizant of the many opportunities that could be utilized for engagement but realized that the bureaucratic structure of the government hinders their participation. Nevertheless they unanimously stated that school system planning should be more participatory in nature as there are numerous benefits to be realized from such a process. Keywords: Silo, Participatory, School System Planning, Community Involvement, Equitable, Opportunities, Barriers, Bureaucratic.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Establishing baseline travel patterns from smart-phone and spatial data
    (University of Waterloo, 2018-10-19) Mikkila, Andrea; Casello, Jeffrey; Feick, Robert
    Investment in public transit infrastructure and services is essential to providing effective transportation alternatives, and it is important to monitor the progress of key performance indicators (KPIs) to ensure goals of major transit projects are being achieved. These key performance indicators provide replicable measurements related to different aspects of transportation and mobility. Through this thesis, data were collected and analyzed in relation to a set of key performance indicators in the context of Downtown Kitchener in the Region of Waterloo with the implementation of the ION Light Rail system to assess the current state of Downtown Kitchener, and its progression toward goals outlined in the Region of Waterloo’s Community Building Strategy and the Kitchener Planning Around Rapid Transit Stations plan. Data related to transit ridership, modal splits, and active transportation networks were summarized from a collection of datasets to establish a baseline of data prior to the introduction of light rail. This thesis investigated the process to collect and analyze these types of data through smart-phone GPS data collection during February and March of 2017 and Python scripts, alongside demographic surveys and other datasets for Downtown Kitchener. Overall, a sample of baseline indicators have been gathered and assessed for Downtown Kitchener that demonstrated a high propensity for transit and active transportation usage, supported by public policy, with some exceptions or areas of improvement. The process taken in this thesis may be applied to additional areas throughout the Region of Waterloo prior to and following commencement of ION Light Rail operation.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Organizational strategy, technology and public participation in municipal planning
    (University of Waterloo, 2018-04-23) Huebner, James; Feick, Robert; Hall, Brent
    Research focused on public participation in municipal planning typically seeks to evaluate and improve methods for integrating community input into planning decision processes. Research in the use of information and communication technologies (ICTs) to enhance citizen engagement includes, for example, visual or geographical forms of engagement as well as approaches for adapting social technologies to public discursive methods. The continued development of social technologies coupled with increasingly large streams of citizen-generated data intensify both the potential and the perils of ICTs in public participation. Direct, real-time citizen communications lies in stark contrast to the increasing noise and information density in citizen communications and municipal data collection, for example. Such trends create dichotomies and emerging complexities that require new perspectives and models for examining the potential and barriers for citizen engagement in municipal planning decision processes. This research advances academic discourse surrounding public participation in municipal government by examining the organizational role and perspectives of municipal leaders. Key-informant interviews were conducted with 23 municipal leaders in Ontario, Canada. The findings informed the development of an inter-disciplinary component model that positions public participation as a strategic imperative. The component model was applied as a framework to generate insights from a second phase of research, namely a survey of municipal leaders across Canada. The survey findings identify broad deficiencies in municipal participatory capacity, as indicated by significant gaps between, for example, municipal leadership vision for an active, informed public in contrast to municipal structures, processes, analyses, and technologies in support of the vision. Finally, visualization methods were used to identify gaps and opportunities in municipal participatory capacity, and to compare the results across different types and sizes of Canadian municipalities. The organizational component model and visualization tools for public participation capacity developed in this thesis illustrate the interplay between structural organizational factors, managerial behaviors, and ICTs related to municipal public participation. These contributions suggest new approaches for municipal planners faced with the challenges of enhancing public participation capacity within their increasingly complex and information-rich contexts. 
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    A Planning based Evaluation of Spatial Data Quality of OpenStreetMap Building Footprints in Canada
    (University of Waterloo, 2019-05-24) Copes, Nicholas; Feick, Robert
    OpenStreetMap (OSM) is an editable world map where users can create and retrieve data. Building footprints are an OSM dataset that is of particular interest, as this data has many useful applications for planners and academic professionals. Measuring the spatial data quality of OSM building footprints remains a challenge as there are numerous quality measures that can be used and existing studies have focused on other OSM datasets or rather a single quality measure. The study performed in this thesis developed a set of ArcGIS models to test numerous spatial data quality measures for OSM building footprints in a sample of mid-sized Canadian municipalities and gain a comprehensive understanding of spatial data quality. The models performed tests by comparing to municipal datasets as well as determining other quality measures without a reference dataset. The results of this study found that the overall spatial data quality of OSM building footprints varies across mid-sized municipalities in Canada. There is no link between a municipality’s location or perceived importance and the level of spatial data quality. The study also found that commercial areas have a higher level of completeness than residential areas. While the models worked well to test numerous spatial data quality measures for building footprints and can be used by others on other building footprint datasets, there exist some limitations. Certain tests that identify potential building footprint errors need to be checked to see if they are indeed errors. Also, the models were not able to measure any aspect of shape metrics. Suggestions for further studies include measuring shape metrics of building footprints from OSM as well as encouraging and subsequently monitoring OSM contributions in a particular area.