New Labour came to power claiming it would usher in an era of progressive politics that would go beyond the old Left and New Right ideologies and deliver balanced communities through a modernised local government. These communities would see a move away from the dominance of economic policy with environmental and social issues given parity. The planning system has historically accepted a socially driven argument for capturing some of the uplift in land value that results from the granting of planning permission, for community benefits. Local planning authorities seeking social benefits for a community normally secure these through planning obligations. However, obligations can be used for a wide range of purposes and this thesis investigates whether New Labour changed the emphasis of using obligations to be more socially cognisant, compared to the previous Government. This is measured by conducting an in-depth analysis of obligations signed at one local authority over the period 1991 to 2003. This gives six years of obligations under the Conservative Government to provide a contrast with the obligations signed under the first six years of the New Labour Government. Every clause signed in every obligation over this period has been classified to see whether the use of obligations has undergone a paradigm shift under New Labour. The research at the authority came to an interesting and surprising conclusion that a smaller percentage of obligations had a social purpose under New Labour than the previous Conservative Government. The research results were investigated by conducting interviews with senior officers at the authority to consider why so little progress was made under New Labour. The thesis concludes by suggesting why problems arose, considers whether they are likely to transcend the case study authority, and suggests how changes are needed if social issues are to be progressed.

Over the last few decades there have been various efforts at stemming the seemingly inexorable decline of rural economies, particularly in terms of employment and skills, and to prevent rural areas becoming heritage areas or dormitories for an urban workforce. Initially efforts to revitalise the rural economy were focused on farm diversification and/or tourism based activities. More recently interest has turned to the knowledge economy, and in particular promoting in-migration to rural areas by entrepreneurs working in knowledge intensive industries as a way of stimulating the rural economy. At the same time rural development policy has shifted away from a focus on sectoral support to area based development policies. This is particularly true of European rural development policies such as Objective 5b and LEADER. The rationale underlying this type of policy intervention is that area based development policy works by building civic and economic capacity in an area. This assumes the social and business networks in an area are interconnected and mutually supportive. Little is understood about whether this is in fact the case and to what extent the social and business networks overlap and interact in a way that supports rural development. This thesis investigates biographical accounts of in-migrants in the rural North East who have started businesses in the knowledge economy. These entrepreneurs are undertaking two significant changes in their lives, the move to a rural area and the shift from employment to self-employment. This thesis seeks to understand how these various changes are effecting rural economies and communities in the North East of England. The biographical nature of the research allows the entire event, both the lead up to the move and subsequent life after the move, to be considered. Using Pierre Bourdieu’s theory of practice as a framework of analysis, the nature of the entrepreneur’s integration into the local community, both socially and as a business person, is examined along with the various networks they engage with. The research has found interesting differences between the way in which entrepreneurs privilege social and cultural capital over economic capital in certain circumstances and strive to maintain a distance between their personal social networks and business social networks to minimise the risk of damage to social and cultural capital. This separation means there is little interaction between migrant entrepreneurs and local business people in a way that would result in local spill-over affects. The findings also highlight an interesting issue around the nature of terms such as ‘creative’ and ‘knowledge’ economies and how these concepts have come to mean a specific form of development, what Bourdieu would consider to be an act of symbolic violence.

This ethnographic research within the community of Hendinas in South Wales is set at the intersection of debates about governance and the place of ‘community’ within public policy. Taking the Welsh Governments’ Community First Programme as its starting point, it explores how community based practices that have ‘something to do’ (Law 2003) with partnership, come to constitute institutionalised ‘community-led partnerships’. Grounded in empirical ethnographic and interview data, the core research question of ‘how is partnership made in and through everyday lives?’ is addressed through the development and exploration of the ‘institutional life of a community’. Distinguishing between community as a place of affective ties and one in which action is directed at the collective projects of ‘making things better’. Drawing from over a year of fieldwork the thesis develops an empirically grounded critical interpretive policy analysis which engages directly with local people, staff and practices to explore how they use their agency and that ascribed to them by the Communities First policy as productive agents (NAfW 2001a; WAG2007a). Developed from the work of Foucault (1991a [1978]) much policy literature has highlighted the self-responsibilisation risks of government programmes. This research finds that while these risks exist, there is also a counter trend grounded in the broader ‘institutional life of communities’, in which critical self-responsibilisation also develops. The research explores the parameters of local understandings of ‘successful’ policy implementation by considering an instance of its ‘failure’ which brings into view two different models of partnership. The first, ‘partnership for action’ requires formal participation in a ‘partnership’ as a precondition of action, in contrast to ‘partnership as action’, in which partnership emerges from action between two or more agencies. Exploring policy implications and extrapolating from research findings, the thesis highlights tensions between the local advancement of communities which indicate that despite seeking to enhance social justice, the Communities First policy may perversely exasperate tensions and schisms between disadvantaged communities.

The journal articles, reports and book chapters that make up this submission for a PhD by publication represent over a decade of applied academic research into English statutory plan-making processes at the local, sub-regional and regional spatial scales. This period has witnessed major shifts in the administrative, institutional and procedural basis of plan-making which culminated in the major reforms to the planning system introduced via the Planning and Compulsory Purchase Act 2004. The conceptual developments, from rather narrowly defined physical land use planning to broader perspectives based around integrated spatial strategy development and delivery, have been equally significant. Collectively, the thesis provides a rich source of empirical research that sheds light on a number of key aspects of English statutory planning processes that lie at the heart of this shift towards a spatial planning approach. Topics investigated and analysed include the efficiency and effectiveness of policy and strategy making at different spatial scales; the role of central government and the interrelationships of the various partners involved in spatial strategy-making at the regional and local scales; the extent and effectiveness of participation and stakeholder involvement in plan-making; the development of evidence-based policy approaches and the associated monitoring and review of local and regional strategies; and plan implementation and infrastructure delivery, including housing requirements. A significant proportion of the research was derived from externally funded research projects with the explicit intention of rigorously analysing existing planning systems and practice in order to identify and highlight relevant issues, experiences and 'good practice' to inform future policy and practice. As evidenced by citations in academic publications, the research has impacted upon a wide range of other academic work related to land use and spatial planning, particularly in respect of planning processes and governance at the regional and sub-regional scales. Beyond the academic impact, the lessons and findings of this applied research have influenced national government policy and local professional practice in a number of ways, including subsequent national and local policy and practice in respect of participation and stakeholder involvement. local and regional policy monitoring, and plan implementation and infrastructure delivery.

The Covering Statement reviews the author's publications since 2000, and demonstrates his contribution to urban studies concerning leisure, tourism and regeneration. The work is discussed in three sections that represent the main stages in its development, with the following aims: a) To investigate how place-marketing at the micro-scale can re-present cityscapes in disadvantaged areas as spaces for leisure and tourism consumption to desired target markets, especially higherspending visitors; b) To explain the processes that refashion inner cityscapes as 'ethnic cultural quarters', with critical examination of the effects on social inclusion and exclusion in the public realm, and how public engagement is incorporated into urban design; c) To compare developments in areas fringing city centres in London and other European cities with their counterparts in North America from the mid-1990s. A methodology derived from grounded theory was developed and applied through longitudinal studies that included Brick Lane, London EC 1, and its reimaging as 'Banglatown'. Transcripts of interviews with practitioners responsible for implementation were compared with one another, and with the discourse of public policy. Further comparisons were made through observations and photography of changing urban landscapes, and through analysis of descriptions in guidebooks and promotional material. In the UK and in Canada, urban policy has encouraged leisure and tourism as a catalyst to urban regeneration, and the research confirmed that in both countries collaborations between local authorities and non-state agencies have facilitated rapid growth of urban visitor economies in some inner urban and inner suburban localities. However, it also revealed processes through which, contrary to the intention of public policy, small area-based and short-term structures of urban governance have allowed powerful agencies to influence re-imaging strategies as well as physical reconstruction of the public realm to their commercial advantage. In some cases, such processes have perverse and unintended consequences for less powerful groups. The research demonstrated how Geographic Information Systems for Participation (GIS-P) can be adapted and used to capture insights, views and preferences of people that public agencies consider disadvantaged and 'hard-to-reach' by more established forms of consultation, and who are the intended beneficiaries of regeneration programmes. Thus, it may be incorporated as a technique by urban authorities to accommodate a broader range of interests, and to inform solutions that support their policy aspirations.

This thesis is concerned with planning practice and the mediation of conflict. It argues that collaborative approaches to planning fail to acknowledge the complexities of conflict surrounding the redevelopment and use of land. Drawing on conflict studies and mediation literature, it puts forward the concept of mediation as having the potential to embrace conflict in a way that collaborative approaches to planning do not. Accordingly the aim of the thesis is to evaluate how the parameters of mediation are capable of supplementing the collaborative ideal in planning. The thesis employs a distinct analytical framework comprising the theoretical perspectives of communicative action, communicative planning, agonistic pluralism and power alongside key principles derived from the literature on conflict and mediation. It uses case studies in the divided city of Belfast and adopts a qualitative approach to examine the context of physical redevelopment initiatives at three contested sites located in the West and North of the city. An interpretative analysis of the qualitative data places under scrutiny the issues associated with the processes, partnerships and societal relations connected to the three case study sites: The Stewartstown Road Regeneration Project in West Belfast; The Crumlin Road Gaol and Girdwood Barracks site in North Belfast; and the Adam Street site in North Belfast. The investigation advances and deepens the understanding of the nature of conflict in planning practice. It demonstrates the influence of contextual factors on processes of collaborative decision-making. The empirical research has shown these factors to act as intractable barriers and points to the false promise of collaborative planning. The study attends to the emerging context of change in NI through the development of new structures and legislative/policy frameworks, and in drawing together the empirical findings, offers a conceptualisation of mediation in the framework of spatial planning.

This thesis aims to establish the role of inter-professional working in healthy urban planning with an emphasis on individual perceptions. This is explored by focusing attention on the subjectivities of individuals within planning and public health to determine how they make sense of the concept of inter-professional working and to establish how they have responded to healthy urban planning and its inter-professional approach. This research followed a mixed methods approach embedded within four cities across the United Kingdom (UK) to increase quality and richness of understanding. Q Methodology and semi-structured interviews were adopted to explore the subjectivities of the planning and public health professionals. The two methods involved professionals in Belfast, the London Borough of Tower Hamlets, Cardiff and Glasgow. Key contributions of the research highlight diversity amongst planning and public health professionals in terms of how they make sense of the concept of inter-professional working. The diversity between their different viewpoints is significant for a theory of interprofessional working in healthy urban planning by showing how different aspects of the collaboration process drive the individual perceptions. The research suggests the two professional groups have responded positively to the promotion of interprofessionalism but it seems the individual professionals are embedded within organisations that limit but do not eliminate their control. Indeed, despite the challenges healthy urban planning brings to planning and public health it seems a way can be found through the differences between the two professional groups. It appears the diverse perceptions may influence the agency of individual professionals and they can build an effective collaborative relationship by embracing their different viewpoints, respecting the roles and expertise of the other professionals, and by capitalising on each other's particular skill sets.

Whilst physical activity is widely acknowledged as being beneficial to health, few adults or children are sufficiently active. This is despite the recognition that activities such as walking or cycling to work or school, otherwise known as ‘active commuting’, can be integrated into daily life and may contribute towards overall levels of physical activity. As a result, understanding the underlying influences on active commuting behaviour is important if interventions are to be developed to promote it. This thesis addresses the gap in knowledge surrounding the influences on active commuting behaviour by examining the correlates of this behaviour in children and adults from the county of Norfolk in the East of England. Existing research exploring the environmental influences on walking and cycling for transport in children is reviewed and a conceptual framework of these influences is presented. Three studies are then presented which investigate key areas relating to active commuting in primary schoolchildren; the first assesses its contribution to physical activity, whilst the second and third explore the influence of objectively measured and perceived social and physical environmental characteristics on active commuting. Building on the work in children, the research subsequently reviews the existing literature around the environmental and psychological influences on active commuting in adults, and examines these associations in a sample of older working adults. The results from this research suggest that although a greater number of environmental characteristics were associated with children’s active commuting than adults, distance to work or school was an important predictor for both. In addition, habits for walking and cycling were strong predictors of adults’ active commuting. These findings indicate that the development of positive attitudes and habits towards walking or cycling as well as the provision of supportive environments may encourage active commuting behaviour. However, the efficacy of such interventions is unknown.

This study investigates the creation and management of community gardens. It explores the processes of community involvement associated with their development and the factors that influence personal involvement with a project. Relationships between place attachment and involvement are examined within this framework to.investigate common assumptions that relate feelings of attachment to pro-active behaviour. The research project was developed in collaboration with a community development organisation supporting neighbourhood regeneration in an area of Sheffield. This facilitated an in-depth field based approach encompassing participant observation, interviews and visualethnographic techniques. Investigation of three case study gardens reveals a complex framework of factors influencing involvement; incorporating relationships with place, personal values, social relationship and practical issues. The role of attachment to place is found to be important in the initiation of involvement, although differing in character from traditional concepts of place attachment. The process of community involvement is found to encourage strong feelings of place attachment among both those taking part and those simply observing. The role of this attachment in the continuation of involvement is less evident however, moderated by a range of more practical factors. The presence of a facilitating organisation in encouraging sustained involvement was a highly influential factor in the development and management of community gardens in this study. However, the consistency of support available from grant-reliant community organisations can vary and the research highlights the importance of securing long-term support mechanisms. Efficient facilitation, both at a group and neighbourhood level, is needed to ensure that the benefits community gardens provide to individuals and communities can be sustained.

This thesis is about how the philanthropy of individual foreigners is having an impact on rural development in Ghana. There is an important history of philanthropy as a source of resources for the alleviation of poverty and to contribute to development. Decentralisation of power in many developing countries, which began in the late 1980s, has meant that many village communities are increasingly in charge of their own destinies. In Ghana, one approach which rural communities are pursuing is the acquisition of capital for development through vertical philanthropy - where resources flow from the rich to the poor. Rural communities in Ghana are identifying foreign philanthropists who can inject financial capital into the village to initiate development. In addition, they are also invited to be involved in that ‘development’ by leading the development process. A key leadership position of development chiefs and queens has been created for them. This thesis evaluates the contribution of this new form of philanthropy to the wellbeing and livelihoods of rural communities through primary research in Ghanaian villages and with foreign development chiefs and queens. The study is framed with reference to theories about philanthropy and the practices of rural development, in particular the significance of community participation. The cultural implications and contestations about opting for foreign leadership in village-level development are also investigated. Its findings are that this new approach can yield important net benefits for rural people but outcomes are influenced by the interactions between the three main stakeholders involved in the concept – the philanthropists, the traditional leadership and the people. Issues related to leadership and participation proved to be of key significance.