Architecture, Building and Planning - Theses
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ItemThe effects of participation on attitudes regarding socio-environmwntal sustainability within local planning in the Philippines( 2001)Local planning in the Philippines is characterised by low levels of participation, which is also consistent with low levels of political participation observed between the middle class and the poor. Furthermore, elitist planning and decision-making is accompanied by a preponderant use of planning guidelines and techniques imposed by central government agencies on local planning bodies - further discouraging participation. I have observed that this traditional, topdown mode of planning does not promote what I call socio-environmental sustainability in local planning. This includes sense of ownership of the plan and planning process by the community, inclusiveness, people empowerment and sustainable planning outcomes among other things. On the other hand, participatory planning promotes them. In this study, I argue that participatory rather than non-participatory planning approaches promote socio-environmental sustainability. The study was based on a survey undertaken between two groups of respondents - those who participated in a series of land use planning workshops and those who did not - within the case study area, which is a rural town in eastern Philippines. The methodology involved the use of probability sampling techniques, questionnaire and interviews. The findings suggest that experience in participatory planning increases socio-environmental sustainability within local planning in the Philippines. Specifically, ownership is manifested through non-acceptance of plans made from the top. It is also evident, as participants would rather claim primary responsibility for land use and environmental planning than just leave it entirely with the local government. The study also shows that participation has a restraining effect on the power of the elite who had a propensity to manipulate the planning process for their ends. Furthermore, participation also elicits more responsible decision-making by authorities that indicate the potential influence people may have on political leaders. The favourable attitude towards participatory approaches and their positive effects, which were also observed to have resulted from the experience of participation, can be attributed to the role of participation in informing, educating, developing convictions or consciousness raising necessary to liberate communities from traditional, elitist ways of planning and decision-making as well as largely unresponsive, ineffective and irrelevant plans.
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ItemTourism, housing and community participation: their nexus in Gawad Kalinga communities of the Philippines( 2014)This thesis explores the relationship between tourism and housing in the development of poor communities in the Philippines, arguing that tourism can be made more sustainable when a participatory approach to housing delivery is integrated in plans and policies for tourism development. Although the centrality of community participation in the sustainability of tourism has been established in existing research, participatory housing processes were not overtly incorporated as an essential component in tourism. Literature on sustainable tourism lacks an exploration of participatory housing processes in addressing problems that develop from mass tourism such as social displacement and alienation. Utilising social capital as theoretical framework, this thesis investigates how community participation in housing influences their capacity to participate in the sustainability of tourism. To demonstrate the relationship between participatory housing and sustainable tourism with particular focus on poor communities located in tourism regions, a case study on the bayanihan approach to housing provision by the Gawad Kalinga Community Development (GK) organisation in the Philippines was undertaken. Bayanihan, which is a traditional practice of participation motivated by philanthropy and nationalism, has been employed by GK in the simultaneous building of new communities and also the development of tourism. The case study employed four case communities located within the recently developing tourist region of Camarines Sur, Philippines: The GK Character Village, the GK Pona Village, Mambulo Nuevo Village, and the Sierra Homes Village. Based on grounded theory and correlation analysis, the case study shows an uneven transfer of knowledge and practice of bayanihan which resulted in different levels of participation in the convergence of housing and tourism, namely, indifference, assimilation, adoption and integration. Moreover, the central role of the GK organisation in the accumulation of social capital through bayanihan has translated to diverse social and physical outcomes. This thesis shows that examining community participation and its influence in generating social capital provides a platform for understanding the relationship between tourism development and housing provision and provides a basis for divergent social and physical outcomes in communities located in tourism regions. It also highlights that transferring local knowledge of bayanihan, most notably in the implementation of pro-poor tourism strategies needs to consider the following critical factors that are often overlooked: leadership and organisation, multi-sector collaboration, sweat equity, project delivery, community identity, and training and education. Furthermore, the failure to embed participatory housing provision in research, policy and practices of sustainable tourism results in the alienation of resident communities from tourism development, instead of their inclusion.