Governing the compact city: The role and effectiveness of strata management

This research charts the key issues facing the governance and management of strata buildings and is the first major study of the strata sector undertaken in Australia.• An estimated three million people live in strata titled homes in Australia. The state of New South Wales (NSW) has the largest number of strata titled properties of all states and territories in the country and approximately 1.2 million people live in strata titled homes in the state. In the Sydney metropolitan area, almost a quarter of the population live in strata titled homes. This means that for the first time in Australia’s history large numbers of property owners find themselves in a legally binding relationship with their neighbours for the communal upkeep and maintenance of their property. The governance structures that mediate this community-based property ownership represent a new form of civic relationship. With the development of increasing numbers of strata schemes, owners corporations, through their executive committees and the managing agents and other property professionals who support the sector, have become increasingly important in ensuring the maintenance and upkeep of significant parts of our cities. In effect, owners corporations act as a fourth tier of government that is democratically elected, with lawmaking, taxation and enforcement powers. But despite the growing prevalence of strata title in our lives, relatively little is known about how well the strata system works in practice to meet the needs of those people who own and live in strata properties. The Governing the Compact City project1 provides the first comprehensive assessment of how the strata title system is operating in regard to governance and management from the point of view of those who own, live in, and manage strata homes. While it is focused on NSW, the report’s findings have implications for the entire Australian strata market which is based on essentially the same governance and management arrangements. The research project The project had three major aims: 1.    To explore the role, capacity and effectiveness of owners corporations as agencies of property governance and management in contemporary urban Australia. 2.    To explore the capacity and effectiveness of strata managing agents as mediators of outcomes for residents and owners in the sector, and their role and function within the overall structure of management and governance. 3.    To assess how well residential strata works from strata owners’ points of view. The research project focused on residential strata properties with three or more lots in NSW. The research was undertaken between 2009 and 2012 and included surveys and interviews with strata owners, executive committee members and strata managing agents in NSW, as well as analysis of the NSW strata database and NSW strata schemes management legislation and interviews with peak body representatives around Australia. In total, the research consulted 1,550 individuals including 1,020 strata owners, 413 executive committee members, 106 strata managing agents and 11 peak body representatives. Downloads: FINAL REPORT EXECUTIVE SUMMAR

Water Funds: Conserving Green Infrastructure

This manual is an effort by TNC to compile, analyze and synthesize its own experience, together with that of the water funds already in existence and under creation, in order to provide operational guidelines to people and organizations interested in establishing a water fund or similar mechanism. Each location has different ecological, social, economic, legal and institutional features and, therefore, each water fund will have its own characteristics, phases and projections. This manual presents general guidelines and logical steps that must be followed to boost the opportunities and benefits of a water fund and to minimize possible obstacles for its creation. It is not intended to be an in-depth look at every aspect of water funds. Although TNC participates in several other initiatives and similar approaches to watershed management, such as the water producers program in Brazil, this document will not address those initiatives and will only focus on the water funds scheme, placing greater emphasis on experiences in the Andean region

Passion, Protest, or Just Plain Incivility?: Responding to Bad Behaviors in Public Meetings

Bad behavior is not new, but the prevalence of incivility seems a rising tide in the public arena. Passionate outbursts at a public input meeting and planned protest to disrupt meetings are captured with increasing frequency on today’s omnipresent electronic media. The negative invective allowed/encouraged during political campaigns seems to carry over to public input meetings and other places intended for the measured, deliberative processes of governance. In the public forum, sometimes it is easy to discern the planned protest from the passionate outburst; sometimes it is not. When a theater group pretending to be audience members broke into song to object to the demise of the public option in the Health Care Bill at an American Health Insurance Plans (AHIP) Annual State Issues Conference, the protest was obvious, planned, and refined (Singing Flashmob, 2009). When a Congressman yells “You Lie” at the President during a joint session (Remarks, 2009) or an individual in attendance at a public meeting screams invectives at a County Commissioner, it is more difficult to discern if the vocalization was a passionate utterance of the moment or a planned strategy. Likewise, it is difficult to tell from afar if the behavior is a behavioral trait of an individual or a behavior emboldened by what has been seen on news channels, reality shows, or from others who advocate one’s position. Regardless of its cause, many agree with Innes & Booher’s (2000) conclusions that the legally required ritual of public input meetings isn’t working: The traditional methods of public participation in government decision making simply do not work. They do not achieve genuine participation in planning or decisions; they do not provide significant information to public officials that makes a difference to their actions; they do not satisfy members of the public that they are being heard; they do not improve the decisions that agencies and public officials make; and they don’t represent a broad spectrum of the public. Worse yet, they often antagonize the members of the public who do try to work through these methods. (p. 2) This paper examines why those who manage public meetings and public input processes should be concerned about the apparent growth of citizen incivility. Wang (2001) defines traditional public participation processes as including “public hearings, citizen forums, community or neighborhood meetings, community outreaches, citizen advisory groups, and individual citizen representation. Citizen surveys and focus groups, the Internet, and e-mail are also used” (p. 322). Concerns arise about whether incivility is a passing fancy or a threat to democratic processes and government attempts to foster communication/ accountability. After discussing some concerns about rising incivility, the essay will discuss what might be done during public meetings to moderate uncivil behaviors

Users’ search mechanisms and risks of inappropriateness in healthcare innovations : the role of literacy and trust in professional contexts

In the context of professional service organizations, user engagement with knowledge search might generate significant risks of inappropriateness to innovation processes. Previous research suggests that professionals would then keep users at arms' length, controlling the design and implementation of innovations internally. This study overcomes this view investigating how professional service organizations can enable users' knowledge search while controlling for the risks of inappropriateness. Combining a qualitative research on 5 innovation processes in healthcare organizations with quantitative research on 110 service users, our findings highlight that professional providers, such as senior clinicians, shaped their tactics according to the ‘threats’ of laggards, i.e. users searching knowledge outside of professional logics of appropriateness; more than to the opportunities of lead-user communities. Professional providers sought to “activate” users' engagement with knowledge search by investing on their literacy, i.e. showing the basics of the logic of appropriateness informing their decision; and on trust relationships, i.e. becoming transparent on the criteria of knowledge selection during the innovation processes

Roots and Remedies of Ginseng Poaching in Central Appalachia

Ginseng, panax quinquefolius, is a perennial plant found in the understory growth of mesophytic forests of Appalachia. Illegal harvesting of the plant from both wild and cultivated populations has become very problematic for public land managers and private landowners engaged in cultivation of the species. Techniques aimed at curtailing the incidents of poaching have only been moderately successful. Given the economic value of the plant, its cultural significance, and the dramatic decrease of wild plant populations, it has become increasingly important to address this problem. Several studies have linked illegal wildlife harvesting to economic problems, inadequate policies or laws, and social issues. In addition, some research has been conducted that investigates the prevalence of animal poaching by using various theories, such as the neutralization theory, differential association theory and folk crimes. However, no single study has specifically examined plant poaching using these theories as a framework or involved the insights of all stakeholders experiencing this problem. Using previous studies of wildlife poaching typologies as a template, this project will examine the problem of ginseng poaching in central Appalachia to produce an understanding that is inclusive of the many stakeholder perspectives. The main goal of this research is to use historical methods, interviews, and Q methodology to study how individuals (stakeholders affected by the poaching) understand the causes or motivations behind poaching and how they perceive the effectiveness of current poaching interventions. The two main questions under investigation are: What are stakeholders\u27 beliefs about the causes of ginseng poaching? How do stakeholders perceive the effectiveness of current methods of intervention used to decrease poaching incidents? It is hoped that the results of this study will help inform policy makers, law officials, and public land managers, as well as the ginseng gatherers and growers of Appalachia involved in sustaining the ecological, economic, and cultural integrity of this species

Decentralization and quality assurance in the Ugandan primary education sector

The study presented in this thesis is a case study analysis of decentralization and quality assurance in a decentralized set up of the Ugandan Primary Schooling. The research looked at how the monitoring and evaluation informed the policy formulation process to regulate quality assurance in a decentralized governance of primary education. The Study was positioned in the critical realist paradigm, interpretive in orientation and used both coding and thematic techniques to understand the teachers’, SMC members’, and officers’ (at district and ministry levels) experiences and perceptions of quality assurance in a decentralized set up. Data was gathered using interviews, document analysis and observation methods. The findings indicated that the study was affected by eleven themes: Management System and Leadership, Human Resource Management, Finance Administration and Management, Parenting and Nutrition, Politics, Motivation, Social Structures and Patterns, Legislative Process and Policies, Infrastructure Development and Management, Community Involvement in Education and Curriculum and Professionalism. The monitoring and evaluation system had a framework in which it operates, though there was no quality assurance policy to guide the provision of quality education. The study finally indicated that there are more threats in a decentralized set up that put Quality in danger. Secondly, there was absence of supervision/inspection in schools as there was no evidence to prove this due to absence of reports. However, document analysis indicated visits of officers to schools. Records management was a problem to schools. Decentralization was adopted at different levels by different countries to address specific problems identified in view of service delivery. Finally, though monitoring and evaluation results informed the policy and decision makers, there was no quality assurance policy to guide the provision of quality education in institutions

Government and Business Relations in Thailand: An Empirical Study of Ideology and Interaction

Introduction. The subject of this thesis is government and business relations in Thailand. The theoretical basis of this subject mainly originated in studies in political science, economics, and sociology. The macro-perspective approach used in these studies produces an inaccurate description of government and business relations, and generates information which is of limited use to private managers and public administrators during their interaction. Studies of the relationship in developing countries are also scarce. In the light of these weaknesses, the microlevel, interactional approach is used to analyse the relationship in this research. Such an approach brings out the non-homogeneous nature of the relationship in which the government is seen as an institution both offering opportunities and imposing restrictions, and business as being both socially responsible and commercially selfish