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Thermal mapping, the measurement of road surface temperatures (RSTs) with an infra-red thermometer (IRT) mounted in a moving vehicle, seeks to identify a 'characteristic and repeatable' thermal fingerprint (temperature profile) for any stretch of road. A number of uses have been suggested for the process, including ice detection sensor network design and identifying stretches of road for selective gritting, with potential financial and environmental benefits due to reduced salt usage. The project 'Thermal Mapping for a Highway Gritting Network' has resulted in the most extensive survey yet undertaken. The aims were to investigate the reliability/repeatability of fingerprints and establish confidence limits. Comprehensive mapping of Sheffield roads took place during winters 1988/89- 1991/92. Significant errors (+/-3°C) in RST readings were identified after the first winter. Laboratory and road tests confirmed errors were produced due to warming/cooling of the IRT. Operating the IRT in a temperature control box eliminated these errors. Seven Sheffield routes were mapped during winters 89/90 and 90/91 with route 1 fingerprints (100) used for most of the analysis. The main factors affecting the variation in RSTs were confirmed as altitude and land-use with localised peaks occurring under bridges and by trees and tall buildings. The occurrence of cold air drainage on clear/calm (extreme') nights resulted in 'low' RSTs at relatively low altitudes. Differences were identified between what should have been identical extreme fingerprints. These were related to variations in the behaviour of cold air drainage. rom night to night and variations in wind direction/speed interacting with local relief. Confidence limits for extreme fingerprints and maps, taking into account possible errors in mapping and differences between fingerprints, were +/-20C and +/- 2.5°C respectively. With important decisions concerning gritting made when RSTs are +/-5°C confidence limits of this magnitude have important implications for thermal mapping. Future use should be restricted to sensor network design and assessment/re-design of gritting network.

Microclimates of various road weather stations in Devon were examined. Road surface temperatures were measured during various synoptic conditions. Data from the thermal mapping exercise conducted by Vaisala TMI were analysed and categorised as clear and calm, cloudy and windy, and a condition between the two extremes. Results indicate valleys to be relative cold spots in clear conditions, and high altitude stations are cold spots during cloudy conditions. A separate case study during the cold spell of February 1991 reinforced the conclusion and extended these views county wide. Coastal stations with surface winds were observed to be 1 to 3 deg.C warmer than inland stations. Reaction times, the delay in road temperature reaction due to synoptic change, showed for the most difficult forecasting scenario on the passage of a cold front, small reaction times (less than 30 minutes) at exposed sites when clear skies resulted, sheltered sites having a reaction time of up to 2 hours. Sheltered sites in valleys had the largest temperature drop due to cold air drainage. A surface climate model was used in retrospect to predict road surface temperatures at night, each station having its own characteristic exposure. Cloud change was estimated from satellite images. Results indicate predicted minimum temperature within 0.5 deg.C of observation. Real time forecasts were tried and an accuracy of 65% at this level was achieved. These results were equal or better than the existing "Open Road" forecasts.

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The research project studies the impact of urban regeneration in the historic centre of Naples during the 1990s. It examines how the centre-left administration, elected in 1993, harnessed the city's cultural and architectural heritage with the view to encouraging tourism, attracting inward investment and fostering among Neapolitans a sense of civic pride and a greater participation in urban life. It is argued that the reimaging of the built environment during the 1990s entailed re-definitions of citizenship, public space and urban history and the construction of a consensual vision about a 'new' Naples, but that this process was at the same time renegotiated and contested by residents and city users. The research focuses on three key urban sites - two piazzas and a park built after the 1980 earthquake - in order to analyse how the material and discursive consequences of regeneration led to conflicts over meanings and uses of public space. These case studies involved extensive periods of observation and interviews as well as consultation of newspapers and historical material. The study of Piazza Plebiscito, a former car park pedestrianized in 1994 and since officially adopted as the city's new symbol, examines disparate notions of heritage and urban decorum. Piazza Garibaldi, located in front of the main railway station and reconceived during the 1990s as the 'gateway' to the historic centre, analyses the relationship between immigrants and the piazza and the representation of such groups in debates about the regenerational city. Lastly, DAMM, an occupied centro sociale ('social centre') situated in an abandoned neighbourhood park, examines both the representation of the central popular quarters in debates about the city's renovation and the attempts by a group of local residents and young people to organize an alternative public space.

This thesis is basically concerned with the status of the 'regional development processes' under the system of 'medium-term national socio-economic development planning'. The evaluation of the regional dimension of the sectoralised approach to elaboration of the national plan in a centralised system of planning is the core of the concern. It represents both the explicit contribution of 'reflective practice' and of a systematic survey of 'room for manoeuvre' experienced by a professional planner working in a planning agency - the Plan and Budget Organisation of the Islamic Republic of Iran - at the national level in the field of regional planning. The thesis provides the reader with an original exposure detailed mechanism of 'doing planning' ' from the inside of planning process', discusses the normative and positive ingredients of planning practice - theoretical, technical, procedural, instrumental, and organisational - and examines the following hypotheses: -the conventional approach of elaboration of the national plan neglects the regional dimension and spatial analysis of its choices; -the conventional system of planning prevents both implementation of the deliberate regional policies and incorporation of the results of the independent regional development studies into the national planning process; This dissertation introduces the planning system in Iran, reviews ten efforts at medium-term socio-economic development plans, analyses the regional policies of these plans, and classifies various schools of thought in Iranian regional planning. It concludes that the national planning process would have a haphazard and chaotic contribution in the processes of regional development . Finally recommends an alternative approach to elaboration of the national plan with more satisfactory consideration of both sectoral and regional development' criteria. Finally the dissertation offers a proposal for a sectoral-regional approach of elaboration of a national plan, on the basis of empirical and theoretical analysis of the regional efficiencies of the Iranian national plans and planning procedure.