Blog 11: Planning Acupuncture

 In lecture 1 we discussed the dollarization of lifestyles in Papua New Guinea. This is the phenomenon of creating industries that shift a proportion of the population from subsistence lifestyles to ones dependent upon paid employment. The benefits can be earning enough money to pay for school fees and provide for health care; the downside can be not earning enough to compensate for not being able to grow your own food, and the increased exposure to diseases such as AIDS. From what you have learned through this course, what approach would you take towards ensuring the benefits and minimizing the risks of dollarizing lifestyles? (You don’t need to explain how you would solve any problems; the objective is to describe the approach you would take).

Blog 10: Islam and Planning

What are the three Islamic world-view principles and six decision-making principles? Why do you think it is difficult for poor people in informal settlements to achieve change in their living conditions?

Blog 9: Nigeria

How do you see Nigeria in the next 10 years with and without a solution to the urban challenges of today?

Blog Question 8: Australia

Blog question 8: Australia has a complex government structure, and when governments change, top civil servants can often be changed as the new administration comes into power. Arguably, Australia also has an integrated national, state and city governance approach to urban development. Using infrastructure and development as an example, describe how these features influence urban land use in good and possibly bad ways.

Blog 7: Pacific Islands & tourism

You are a planner contracted through New Zealand Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade. You have been asked to spend three months designing a tourism strategy for a small Pacific Island nation of 250,000 people. What issues would you want to address, and what do you think would be the main approach of your strategy?

Blog 6: Japan

Summarise the various influences on Japanese architecture and urban design, and in general terms how Japan manages urban land use.

Blog Q 5: South Africa

Choose one issue facing South Africa and discuss how integrated development planning might help resolve such an issue.

Blog 4: US wetland, eminent domain and regulatory takings

A wetland on a property in the United States earmarked for a subdivision has been assessed as having previously unrecognised outstanding ecological values associated with indigenous plants and contribution to water quality. The developer is informed they cannot now drain the wetland, something they intended doing. As a developer, what argument would you mount under the broad concepts of eminent domain and regulatory takings to require compensation? As a planner, what issues would you take into account to decide on what is fair and reasonable compensation?