The following thesis explores construction policy discourses within the context of the United Kingdom (UK). The research was deemed both important and necessary as the construction sector represents a major portion of the UK economy, accounting for approximately seven per cent of GDP, and employing millions (Rhodes: 2015). Adopting an ontology of becoming and an interpretive epistemological perspective, it is argued that construction policy documents are best characterised as crystallised snapshots of a community s attempts at meaning making in time. Utilising a qualitative methodology, the thesis primarily achieves its aims through the textual analysis of three prominent construction policy documents ( Rethinking Construction - the Egan report, the Government Construction Strategy , and the Industrial Strategy: Construction 2025), as well as informational interviews with eleven contemporary, senior construction policy stakeholders, from nine different organisations. The empirical element was inspired by interpretive approaches to policy analysis, and in particular the works of Yanow (2000; 2003; 2007) and drew upon the Hermeneutical approach repopularised by Taylor (1971), and Gadamer (1975). Four primary discourses were discovered, these being: The discourse of the need to be competitive ; The discourse of the essentialness of efficiency ; The discourse of unfulfilled potential ; The discourse of fear of not being Modern . The analysis suggests that construction policy discourses at the time of writing are predominantly influenced by the dominant cultural trends known as neoliberalism and the enterprise culture , but that these too must be seen as emerging from, and as informed by, the super-ideology of political declinism (Tomlinson: 2000). It is from these cultural sources that the pools of meanings articulated in the texts are drawn (Marton: 1986). Furthermore, tracing the etymology of the word policy , it is suggested that construction policy documents police behaviour by shaping it towards particular directions in keeping with specific normative visions concerning the good life policy elites have. The findings are important as they suggest that contemporary construction policy discourses are in danger of becoming increasingly myopic, with alternative perspectives and visions increasingly marginalised, and so any potential for the flexible adaptation or reimagining of future policies is reduced. As a result, the thesis argues for greater involvement from a broader spectrum of social actors in all stages of construction policy, to both contribute to strengthening citizenry and democracy in the UK, whilst reducing the potential for myopia amongst policy elites.

This dissertation adopts a quantitative approach to investigate the determinants of residents’ perceptions of neighbourhood crime, focusing specifically on a series of structural factors at the community level, in accordance with the social disorganisation model. Using different statistical models, including correlations, linear regression, multilevel models and spatial regression analyses, and several Spanish data sources, in particular the 2001 Population and Housing Census and a nationally representative survey conducted in 2006, the research confirms the relevance of its exogenous sources in explaining perceived neighbourhood crime. These include classical variables, such as neighbourhoods’ socioeconomic status, residential stability, ethnic diversity, family disruption and degree of urbanisation, but also other features related to the time, skills and resources deployed by residents in their residential areas such as commuting time to work, the number of working hours and the availability of a second home. For its part, other local conditions traditionally associated specifically with perceived neighbourhood crime, such as social incivilities and physical decay, act as mediators of other contextual effects, in particular of the number of retail shops and offices. The research also demonstrates the urban nature of the social disorganisation theory. That is, that the local conditions typically associated with social disorganisation, urban unease and the various social problems that can affect neighbourhoods, are better predictors of residents’ perceptions of crime in town and large cities than in rural areas, operationalized as municipalities of less than 5,000 inhabitants. Small municipalities seem particularly successful in controlling their younger residents for neither the proportion of adolescents and young adults, nor the number of children per family exert an important effect on residents’ perceptions of neighbourhood crime. Among these local conditions, special attention has been devoted to measures of diversity and immigration demonstrating that their effect on residents’ perceptions of neighbourhood crime, except for the positive impact of Asians, is not necessarily robust to different model specifications and statistical methods. This erratic immigrant effect is surprising given how consistent the belief in a crime-immigration nexus is among Spaniards. Precisely on this point, the dissertation has investigated why the belief in a crime-immigration nexus varies significantly between individuals and across communities. Three variables have been identified as determining factors: contextual parochialism, right-wing ideology and the media. In rural areas with high residential stability, a significant presence of elderly population and a low socioeconomic status, residents are more likely to unconsciously associate immigration and crime, even when individual attributes are adjusted for and, more importantly, even if few migrants live in the surroundings. Not surprisingly, right-wing residents are more likely to associate both phenomena yet, in contrast to many statements by scholars and pundits, the media in Spain seems to exert a moderator effect.

Orientador: Regina Célia Bega dos Santos / Dissertação (mestrado) - Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Instituto de Geociências / Made available in DSpace on 2018-08-24T11:56:28Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Lima_IvanOliveira_M.pdf: 5639166 bytes, checksum: 7fa5ba360bf9ef2274608e7bb7c69ac5 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2013 / Resumo: A presente pesquisa analisa um setor da porção sudoeste da cidade de Campinas, popularmente conhecida como "região do DIC (Distrito Industrial de Campinas)". Tal localidade teve seu crescimento estimulado pelo poder público municipal a partir da década de 1970, com o surgimento do PPDI (Plano Municipal de Desenvolvimento Integrado) e criação do distrito industrial do município. Tais estratégias não foram suficientes para completar com sucesso os planos da administração municipal. Em meio a dívidas e a crise do sistema capitalista capital da década de 1970, fora incentivada a ocupação da localidade pelos conjuntos habitacionais da COHAB, que acabaram servindo de vetor para o aumento da densidade populacional da região, incentivando o surgimento de vários bairros no entorno. Durante todos estes processos, os poderes do capital e do Estado se aliaram de tal maneira, que deu origem a uma das áreas mais segregadas de Campinas, com infraestrutura precária e elevada concentração populacional. A produção deste espaço é aqui comparada à noção de habitat debatida por Lefebvre, e fora concebida como máquina de morar, que nega a população que ali reside o direito a cidade. Através de análise bibliográfica e empírica, constatamos como a conquista deste direito está longe do cotidiano dos cidadãos que ali residem, e o quanto a produção do espaço urbano está direcionado ao valor de troca e a taxa de lucro que a cidade pode proporcionar aos detentores do proprietários do solo urbano e do capital, estando sempre distante de atender aos que ali vivem / Abstract: This research analyzes a sector of the southwest region of Campinas city, which is widely known as "DIC region (Industrial District of Campinas)". This region had its growth stimulated by strategies of the municipal government since the 1970s, with the emergence of PPDI (Preliminary Plan of Integrated Development) and the creation of the industrial district of the city. Those strategies were not enough to successfully accomplish the plans of the public administration. In a scenario marked by municipal debts and the international crises of the capitalism system in the 1970s, the public administration promoted the occupation of locality by social housing of COHAB, which contributed for the increase of the population concentration of the region, stimulating the establishment and growth of many neighborhoods around it. During all these processes, the municipal and state administration joined forces in such way that gave rise to the most segregated areas of Campinas, with a precarious infrastructure and a high population densification. The production of this space can be compared to the notion of habitat debated by Lefebvre, and was conceived as a housing machine, which neglects the region inhabitants the right to the city. Based on a literature and empirical analysis, we verified that the region inhabitants are still far from being able to achieve this right. We also verified how the development of the urban space is influenced by the exchange value and the profit rate that the city can give to owners of urban soil and of the financial capital. As a result, this development is very far from attending the demands and needs of the inhabitants of the region / Mestrado / Análise Ambiental e Dinâmica Territorial / Mestre em Geografia

The topic of this diploma thesis is a cultural life in small spa towns, specifically presented on a case study of town Lázně Toušeň. In the theoretical part of the thesis the topic is incorporated into urban sociology and the thesis focuses on questions such as what is the difference between a city and a village, are there any transitional areas and what kind of urbanization processes can occur in the countryside. In the second chapter of the theoretical part the main focus of the thesis lies with spas, their history and cultural specifics. In the empirical part, the case study itself, the thesis looks into the town of Lázně Toušeň and its spa, specifically on the cultural life in the town between the years 1968 - 1989. The study focuses on topics such as what is the difference between cultural and community life in the town during normalization period and present day and how are they influenced by the specifics of Toušeň. The study also covers the topics of daily life in the spa, the organizational and financial side of the cultural events or the role of the "cultural officers". The research was based on semi structured interviews with contemporary witnesses and was complemented by historical sources and secondary literature. The objective of the thesis is to bring a study of cultural life in a...

Hostile architecture is a medium through which social exclusion is enacted in the public and common areas of our cities. By limiting who is allowed to occupy space, and how they may do so, it functions to define the contours of inclusion in urban space-- all of which is predicated on one’s engagement with the zones of consumerism that have overtaken the cities’ commons. As a result, those without the means to partake are pushed aside, despite the inner-cities’ historical relationships with the poor, unhoused, and marginalized. The purpose of this study is to explore how lived experiences and knowledge of discriminatory architecture can inform a sociological analysis of hostile architecture. By exploring hostile architecture in Calgary, this thesis addresses a specific question: How do people with lived experience of homelessness understand hostile architecture? Through Community-Based Participatory Research and Photovoice, this question is addressed through collaboration with community members with lived experience of homelessness. Collectively, we conclude that those with lived experiences of homelessness understand hostile architecture in a multitude of ways. Amongst these understandings is the notion that hostile architecture not only excludes and displaces the unhoused and marginalized, but that it is also part and parcel of the wider range of hostilities against those experiencing homeless. One key theoretical concept grounds the research. Henri Lefebvre’s ‘Right to the City’ is used as a starting point in discussing what an equitable city might look like. I maintain that the lived experiences and knowledge held by those with experiences of homelessness can sensitize the public, and inform regional and national policymakers about this exclusionary mechanism. / Graduate

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Este Relatório dá particular importância ao interaccionismo simbólico enquanto teoria explicativa de recorte inovador e precursora na explicitação dos mecanismos de dominação social. Concretamente, iremos dar particular ênfase à "importância da construção mediática dos problemas sociais", salientando que "ao dar uma visão necessariamente selectiva e ao privilegiar certas interpretações do acontecimento, a imprensa contribui para fabricar o sentido político-social desses movimentos com significações, ao mesmo tempo, superabundantes e ambíguas. No entanto, seria demasiado simples ver os jornalistas somente como "manipuladores" que fabricam, a seu gosto, os acontecimentos ao elaborarem resenhas enviesadas. Eles próprios são o objecto de estratégias de manipulação pelos diversos grupos sociais que organizam manifestações e procuram, através delas, atrair com maior ou menor sucesso a atenção dos jornalistas para terem a possibilidade de aparecer nos media" (Champagne e Outros, 1998:222). Esta opção de análise também permitirá discutir a aplicabilidade actual do interaccionismo simbólico, na medida em que tem vindo a ser retomado com alguma insistência no quadro da produção sociológica contemporânea. Assim, iremos fazer um exercício de aplicação aos bairros sociais da cidade do Porto com base na recolha sistemática de notícias de dois jornais diários. / This report gives particular importance to symbolic interactionism as a theory explaining clipping and innovative in the explanation of the mechanisms of social domination. Specifically, we will give particular emphasis to the "importance of the media construction of social problems", noting that "to give a necessarily selective and certain privileging interpretations of the event, the press helps to make sense of these political and social movements with meanings, at the same time, overabundant and ambiguous. However, it would be too simple to see only the journalists as "handlers" who manufacture, for your pleasure, the events draw to review biased. They are themselves the subject of manipulation strategies by various social groups that organize demonstrations and look through them, to attract more or less success to the attention of journalists to have a chance of appearing in the media "(Champagne and others, 1998:222). This analysis option also allows us to discuss the applicability of the symbolic interactionism in the context of contemporary sociological research. Thus, we will make an application to social habitation of Porto based on systematic collection of news from two daily newspapers.

La question de la sécurité et du sentiment d’insécurité à Marseille se résume trop souvent à la problématique des « cités » et à l’image des trafics de drogue et des règlements de compte qu’ils évoquent. Ces sujets sont certes réels et importants, mais ils ne doivent pas occulter les problèmes de « délinquance » et d’« incivilités » plus classiques et autrement plus nombreux qui se posent dans toutes les grandes villes, de multiples manières. Les années 1980, sous l’influence des recherches anglo-saxonnes, marquent justement un tournant majeur puisque, conscient des limites de la statistique administrative, on commence à mesurer ces phénomènes sociaux du point de vue de la victime. Alors que des enquêtes en population sont réalisées en France depuis plusieurs années, aucune d’entre elles ne s’intéresse aux usagers des campus universitaires quand bien même les effectifs d’étudiants explosent dans le dernier quart du 20e siècle. En effet, aujourd’hui, l’université représente un passage obligé pour une part importante de la jeunesse.Comment, les campus universitaires, des espaces sociaux similaires au premier regard, laissent-ils apparaître des différences en termes de victimation et de sentiment d’insécurité ? Quelle est le volume des victimations recensées et qui sont les victimes ? Peut-on comprendre l’origine des peurs éventuelles des étudiants et des personnels de l’université ? En quoi l’organisation de la sécurité, les problèmes de délinquance locale ainsi que les représentations sociales forment-ils un ensemble de phénomènes qui s’articulent et s’alimentent ? / The question of security and fear of crime in Marseille is all too often limited to the problem of "cités", the image of drug trafficking and the settling of accounts they evoke. These topics are certainly real and important, but they should not overshadow the more classic and numerous "delinquency" and "incivility" problems that arise in many ways, in all major cities. The 1980s, under the influence of Anglo-Saxon research, mark a turning point. Aware of the limits of administrative statistics, we began to measure these types of social phenomena from the point of view of the victim. While population surveys have been carried out in France for several years, none of them are interested in members of university campuses even though the student population exploded in the last quarter of the 20th century. Indeed, today, the university represents a necessary passage for a substantial part of the youth.How do social spaces, which are similar at first glance, reveal differences in terms of victimization and fear of crime? What is the intensity of victimization and who are the victims? Can we understand the origin of the fears of students and university staff? In what way are the security organizations, the problems of local delinquency as well as the social representations a set of phenomena that articulate and feed each other?This thesis, which is a part of the sociology of delinquency and urban sociology fields, does not resolutely lean towards spectacular crime incidents absent from the campus landscape, but rather, towards everyday life problems of members of 3 main Marseilles’ campuses.

Plusieurs villes moyennes de l’est de la France se sont lancées, dans le courant des années 2000, dans la conception de nouveaux quartiers principalement dédiés à l’habitation. Dix ans plus tard, les premiers logements sont livrés aux propriétaires et aux locataires qui investissent les lieux et commencent à se les approprier. Ce travail de thèse a pour objectif de rendre compte de l’expérience socio-spatiale de ces habitants à partir d’une méthode de recherche qualitative et d’une approche sociologique compréhensive. Cette recherche porte plus précisément sur trois quartiers en train de se faire dans deux villes moyennes de l’est de la France et s’appuie sur un matériau empirique constitué d’entretiens semi-directifs et non-directifs menés auprès des habitants des quartiers, indépendamment de leur statut d’occupation, et des concepteurs (élus, techniciens, urbanistes, etc.). À la manière d’Henri Lefebvre, l’espace des nouveaux quartiers est analysé au prisme de la triplicité de l’espace, laquelle distingue l’espace conçu, l’espace perçu et l’espace vécu. Ces différents moments de l’espace sont étudiés séparément – afin de mettre en exergue la dialectique propre à chaque moment – puis assemblés à nouveau dans le but de montrer la tension qui les anime. Porter attention à l’espace conçu invite à questionner le mode de production contemporain de la ville qui s’incarne depuis les années 1980 dans la notion de projet urbain. L’espace conçu est aussi un espace vendu, un espace virtuel, modélisé en 3D dans des publicités qui présentent les lieux en construction de manière utopique et les donnent comme « prêts-à-habiter ». Pourtant, ces espaces idéaux sont aseptisés, lissés et standardisés. Les nouveaux quartiers existent également dans la pratique concrète de l’espace, dans l’espace vécu. Même si les habitants sont pris dans divers réseaux d’appartenances, mêmes s’ils pratiquent la ville à la carte, en fonction de leurs histoires, de leurs habitudes ou de leurs compétences propres de mobilité, le nouveau quartier est un espace qui fait sens, à la fois comme lieu, comme territoire et comme milieu. Seulement, la présente étude montre que le nouveau quartier ne fait pas toujours sens de la même manière, qu’il est dépendant des moments, des contextes et des situations dans lesquels il est mobilisé, qu’il est un enjeu identitaire et représentationnel / In the course of the 2000 s, several medium-size cities in the East of France decided to design new neighborhoods dedicated mostly to housing. Ten years after, the first accommodations were made available to both homeowners and tenants, who began to occupy and appropriate those locations. The aim of this research, which relies on a ‘‘comprehensive’’ sociological approach in conjunction with qualitative research methods, is to give full account of the socio-spatial experience of the residents. More precisely, this PhD focuses on three neighborhoods in the making located in two medium-size cities in the East of France and is based on empirical material that includes semi-structured as well as unstructured interviews of the residents – independently of their occupancy status – and of the designers (elected officials, technicians, city planners, etc.). The space of the developing neighborhoods is analyzed following Henri Lefebvre’s model of the “spatial triad”, which divides space into “the conceived space” (or representations of space), “the perceived space” (or spatial practice) and “the lived space” (or representational space). Each of these moments is studied separately – to highlight the dialectic behind each moment – then together again to show the tensions at work. Focusing on the conceived space invites us to question the contemporary production method of cities which is embodied since the 1980 s by the concept of ‘‘urban project’’. The conceived space is also a marketed space, a virtual space, a 3D model space appearing in advertisements presenting the accommodations which are still under construction as a ready-to-live-in utopia. However, these ideal spaces are aseptic, bland and standardized. The developing neighborhoods also exist through their concrete practice, through the lived space. Although the local residents develop multiple identities and affiliations, even if they practice the urban world differently because of their backgrounds, their habits or their own mobility capabilities, the new neighborhood is a significant place both as a location, a territory and a milieu. Nevertheless, this research shows that new neighborhoods do not always carry the same significance but are highly dependent on the moments, contexts and situations when they are mobilized, that they truly represent an identity and representational issue

Esta dissertação de mestrado tem como objetivo analisar como o conceito de periferia foi construído socialmente, ao longo da segunda metade do século XX, como um conceito que se pretendeu explicativo dos fenômenos urbanos na metrópole de São Paulo. A idéia da metrópole como uma estrutura urbana configurada por um centro e uma periferia tem sido uma forma geral de descrever e mesmo explicar as dinâmicas de crescimento urbano de São Paulo. Trata-se de um modelo de entendimento resultante de um rico período de debates, pesquisas e processos sociais que levaram à construção da noção de periferia como uma noção explicativa das particularidades do desenvolvimento urbano de uma metrópole em um país industrial subdesenvolvido. A dissertação procura identificar o contexto do debate acadêmico em que periferia passa a ser utilizada com um sentido específico na literatura do campo de pesquisas urbanas da década de 1970, marcadamente do pensamento crítico brasileiro (sobre a formação da sociedade brasileira que visava a formulação de um projeto de desenvolvimento nacional com a superação das desigualdades sociais) e da sociologia urbana francesa. Apresenta pesquisas e ensaios que conceituam periferia e a colocam no centro da questão urbana no Brasil, e que levaram à incorporação da periferia como objeto de estudo e tema central da pesquisa urbana. A noção de periferia é uma construção social relacionada a práticas e discursos de sujeitos sociais e políticos de um contexto histórico específico, de ascensão dos chamados movimentos sociais urbanos, e de intensas mudanças na sociedade brasileira: a transição de um regime político autoritário e centralizador, para uma abertura democrática; e a passagem de um contexto de intenso crescimento econômico de base urbana-industrial para um período de recessão e agravamento dos problemas urbanos e sociais. Ao abordar a noção de periferia, procurando entender em que condições, este conceito adquire uma centralidade na questão urbana brasileira e como este conceito reforça uma chave de leitura das contradições da sociedade brasileira, pretendemos contribuir para a construção de um pensamento urbano que busque constituir questões relacionadas aos reais problemas das cidades brasileiras. Esta é certamente uma tarefa muito mais ampla que o âmbito deste trabalho. Escolhemos explorar este caminho de estudos, entendendo que a noção de periferia, está ainda fortemente presente nas leituras da metrópole de São Paulo, mas esvaziada da carga teórica que a constituiu. Superar esta visão significa voltar a pesquisa urbana para os fatores determinantes no processo de produção do espaço urbano, da segregação sócio-espacial, de deterioração do ambiente urbano e da qualidade de vida na cidade. Por meio da crítica e da identificação das limitações das formas de conhecimento que temos sobre as questões urbanas hoje, podemos construir novas bases para a apreensão das lógicas efetivas que regem a produção da cidade. / This essay intends to analyze how the concept of periphery was socially built, during the second half of the 20th century, as a concept that meant to explain the urban phenomena that took place in São Paulos metropolis. The idea of ametropolis structured by a center and a periphery has been a dominant way to describe and even to explain urban growth in São Paulo. This view of the urban environment based on a certain approach is resultant from a rich period of debates, researches and social processes, in which periphery has been built as a notion related to the particularities of the urban development in a metropolis of an underdeveloped country. The essay identifies the historical moment in which periphery turns out to be employed in a specific sense in the academic literature of the urban research in the 70s. The concept of periphery receives great influence of the Brazilian critical intellectual production, that started to understand the particularities of Brazils social structure in order to propose alternative development paths (aiming at overcoming the social inequalities); and also received the influence from French urban sociology. This work presents researches and essays produced in the field of Brazilian urban research, that focus on the conception of periphery as the central idea to understand the urban question in Brazil. The notion of periphery is a social construction related to social practices and discourses of social and political subjects that took place in a specific historical context, marked by the rise of the so called urban social movements, and by intense political and economic change, such as the transition from an authoritarian and centralized government to a democratic government, and the transition from a period of intense urban and economic growth, to a period of economic depression and growth of urban and social problems. By studying the notion of periphery and trying to understand why, and in which conditions this notion becomes central to urban studies, and how it reinforces a view of the contradictions of Brazilian social structure, we intend to contribute to the construction of a urban approach linked to the real problems of Brazilian cities. This is certainly a larger task than we are capable of undertaking. But we chose to exploit this theme understanding that the notion of periphery is still very present in the view of São Paulo Metropolis urban structure, though its theoretical basis has lost significance. Overcoming this view of the metropolis means to point urban research toward the real determinant factors of the production of urban space, the production of social spatial segregation, of the deterioration of the urban habitat, and life quality in the city. By identifying the limitations of the notion of periphery and the usual ways of explaining urban matters, it is possible to build new bases that will allow to apprehend the effective logics that conduct the production of urban space.