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Cities around the world are implementing sustainable urban form policies in order to alter mobility patterns and consequently to reduce the energy consumption levels. Nevertheless, sustainable urban form policies, normally designated as 'compact city' policies, are contested on three different fronts: the veracity in achieving the desired mobility objectives, the feasibility of their implementation, and the acceptability to individuals and companies in complying with their location imperatives. In this thesis, we reframe compact city policies as 'multimodal accessible city' policies, emphasising accessibility as an important additional explanatory variable of travel behaviour, specifically the relative accessibility of a place when comparing car and non-car access to regional and local opportunities, which can be measured through the concept of 'global accessibility disparity'.

Whilst issues of environmental equity are internationally recognised as a major concern, Japan, a data rich country, has little evidence on whether or not they are present. The purpose of this thesis is therefore to investigate the situation of environmental equity in Japan by developing and employing novel approaches around the use of Geographical Information Systems (GIS). G This thesis firstly presents a GIS-based cross-sectional study of equity in proximity to waste facilities, air pollution exposure and school accessibility in Yokohama city, showing some evidence of disparities between social groups. A longitudinal model of park provision is then developed and presented to investigate whether affluent areas attracted new parks, or new parks attracted affluent people in Yokohama. The results show weak evidence of both processes, and also confirm direct park provision into the least affluent areas may be the most useful policy measure for equity. A limitation of many equity studies is that they have focused on environmental features that are only measurable in two dimensions. This is despite the fact that many environmental attributes require consideration vertical variations in features, such as building heights. To drive forward this research, a methodology was then developed and is presented to compute access to both sunlight and views in the city of Kyoto. The work illustrates how it is possible to model these three-dimensional attributes for large urban areas using virtual city modelling, and the findings suggest that disparities in access to both of these amenities are present, in the city. The overall conclusion of the thesis is that inequities are apparent in Japan and that these can be detected and quantified by the development of novel GIS techniques that utilise the rich sources of data present in the country.

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The adaptation of marketplaces is a phenomenon of urban change across the world. As many marketplaces are struggling to remain vital and viable in historic urban centres, an innovative approach to help such public spaces adapt to change is crucial to sustain them within a robust urban structure. This thesis argues that appropriate adjustments of the spatial elements through urban design towards rebuilding a robust urban structure may contribute to the successful adaptation <?f marketplaces in a contemporary urban centre. The thesis adopts a grounded theory approach as methodological guidance to build a theory from case studies on the role of urban design in the adaptation of marketplaces in the context of contemporary city centres in England, in the UK. Three strands of discourses are generated from the review of existing theories, suggesting how the historic, commercial and social dimensions of marketplaces may be adapted in a contemporary city centre, and the potential aspects of urban design intervention in the contexts of developmental stress. The redesigning of three marketplaces in Oxford city centre, one marketplace in Birmingham city centre, and two marketplaces in Manchester city centre are selected as empirical case studies to examine the role of urban design in recent practices. The empirical evidence indicates that urban design has helped marketplaces adapt to change in the contexts of developmental stress by: (1) facilitating strategic developments for the regeneration of retail cores and the renaissance of city quarters (2) enhancing the diversity of commercial centres and the distinctiveness of city quarters and (3) integrating retail cores and the surrounding quarters by improving the integrity of the public spaces. The research findings contribute to the construction of a unified framework suggesting key adaptive attributes of a robust urban structure resulting from the successful adaptation of marketplaces in a contemporary city centre.

During the last 20 years, as part of a putative Urban Renaissance, Mixed Use property development has assumed a prominent place in UK urban policy, producing significant morphological and spatial change based on a distinctive vernacular deemed appropriate for the 21st century city, but which critics argue takes for granted multiple positive outcomes for cities and their citizens. Inspired by the work of Jane Jacobs, theorists have proposed the value of mixing types of buildings, streetscapes and activities in urban space, arguing that such diversity is the key to urban vitality. This argument has been widely accepted and absorbed into the mainstream of strategies to promote a specific urban form capable of addressing a host of policy concerns. This thesis offers a critical engagement with these theoretical and policy contentions. In his ‘Arcades Project' Walter Benjamin extrapolates from a particular example of the built environment to draw wider social conclusions and this thesis argues that exploring the theoretical, policy and physical character of Mixed Use can produce similar insights. However, first it explores a typology for identifying the scale, context and qualities that reflect the variety and multiple forms of Mixed Use places. Secondly, four key discourses are discussed that have contributed to the concept's evolution and locate it in a longer history of urbanism and a wider theoretical framework that explores the relationship between city space, citizens and contested notions of •community'. Thirdly, attention is paid to the detailed interweaving of policy that has guided the practical application of Mixed Use at local, national and international levels and fourthly. this policy rationale is related to the character and role of the planning system as the delivery vehicle for 'sustainable urbanism' against a background of increasing urban complexity. These overlapping issues are then explored through interviews with local authority planners responsible for implementing Mixed Use policy and finally, borrowing from Benjamin's approach and using Mixed Methods Research (MMR), a combination of archival study, interviews with key participants in the urban development process and observations of the use of public space are applied to six detailed case studies that interrogate the physical and social outcomes of planning for Mixed Use. It is argued that the variable results reveal conflicts and contradictions within current UK urban policy and that the concept of 'Mixed Use' represents a metaphor for deeper cleavages and tensions in the 21s1 century western city.

This thesis explores different meanings and practices of green infrastructure (GI). In particular. it examines the scope for GI in the Greater Cairo Region (GCR) of Egypt. In a number of countries. especially in North America and Europe, the nature of GI is increasingly \\e11 established and there have been some successful attempts at implementation. However practice in Egypt appears to be encountering a number of problems. These are principally associated with the aridity of the country (although it has a long tradition of irrigation from the Nile). weaknesses of planning and implementation procedures. rapid urbanisation and pressure for land. and weak integration of the green- space resource. However, there are also some promising opportunities associated with social and cultural functions of open space. recent planning visions. and a range of natural environmental assets. This thesis focuses on three main case studies in the GCR. Evidence is gathered through IKONOS GIS maps of Greater Cairo, interviews with specialists who have responsibilities for spatial planning either in academic or professional sectors in Egypt, site visits and critical interpretation of planning documents. The key findings concerning substantive aspects relate to GI concepts elements, and education. Primarily the findings indicate that there is potential for the GCR to be linked through a GI which integrates natural. ecological and social-cultural functions. They findings concerning procedural aspects emphasize the need to bridge the gaps between planning processes and organizations by considering G I as a fundamental layer in planning strategies. The findings also point to a need to change the traditional view of aridity as a negative feature into an advantageous aspect, particularly in Middle Eastern environments. The thesis concludes that improvements in both substantive and procedural aspects of landscape planning are necessary if the GCR is to have an effective GI.

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Heritage is a constituent of the cultural tradition, and an important component of societal and community welfare. This comprehensive vision merges both tangible and intangible dimensions; architectural and historical values. As a result of globalisation, local communities of heritage sites have started to realise the significance of their influencing voices in shaping their lives and futures. Several rehabilitation and development initiatives have been selected for this study to review lessons learned from a variety of methodologies adopted for different historical districts of distinctive urban, political, and socio-economic contexts. Historic Cairo is home to the largest concentration of Islamic monuments in the world and was designated a world heritage site in 1979. Despite historic Cairo's international and national significance, it is highly vulnerable to negligence and deterioration as a consequence of modernisation and rapid changes in urban and cultural lifestyles. Historic Cairo has attracted numerous rehabilitation, preservation and restoration studies, proposals, and projects through governmental, national, and international efforts. These rehabilitation schemes however have lacked the sustainable urban development delivery in this heritage context. Moreover, most of the schemes neglected yet another significant dimension for sustainable urban development considered key to many successful schemes; community participation and involvement in the planning process. The study aims to fill the research gap identified to achieve sustainable urban development in historic Cairo. Thus, a thorough, evidence-based, and theoretically informed methodology has been proposed for developing a tailored intervention that attempts to tackle some of the most critical problems in historic Cairo. The present study adopts a mixed-method strategy with an in-depth case study to undertake a comprehensive analysis of the research problem. This mixed methodology has had the benefit of combining data collection techniques, interviews and questionnaire in order to explore more fully the context of the case study. The combination of methods has provided a basis for exploring how community participation plays a vital role in the success (or failure) of the delivery of a development intervention in historic Cairo. Results from questionnaires and interviews have provided a robust vision of how the bottom-up and top-down views complement each other to provide a foundation for the researcher to build the proposed intervention on. The analysed results are to provide recommendations to decision makers on how best to encourage and incorporate stakeholders' views in future interventions implemented within their rich historic context. Drawing from the survey results along with lessons learnt from other development initiatives in heritage sites, and complementing this with space syntax analysis techniques, a set of tailored design guidelines is generated for sustainable development in historic Cairo. The proposed design guidelines comprise recommendations that have dealt with the five main urban zones of historic Cairo based on the most critically required design principles for sustainable development; diversity and choice, distinctiveness/sense of place, users' needs, self sufficiency/participation, and pollution reduction. The proposed strategy has aimed to consider the development of the physical urban context of historic Cairo whilst enhancing the social, economic, and environmental aspects within the local community to guarantee the sustainable delivery and outcomes of the intervention.

The aim of this thesis is to provide a new framework for cultural regeneration planning, the so-called 'Thirdspace approach', while examining the different ways in which culture is articulated in the context of urban regeneration. The research critically analyses approaches to urban regeneration which have used culture as a tool to influence development. It will be argued that the multiplicity of stakeholder voices and viewpoints are rarely heard by those who manage and plan urban regeneration, especially those of diverse local communities. Cultural planning has already started to take into consideration the lives and traditions of local places and people, however it is argued that a Thirdspace framework (Soja, 1996 as influenced by Lefebvre, 1974) takes this a stage further. Thirdspace suggests that planning should mediate between physical and material elements, symbolic visions and perceptions, and lived experiences and everyday life in urban environments. Using a case study of Maritime Greenwich in South-East London, the researcher employs a crystallisation of mainly qualitative methods to challenge prevailing planning paradigms in the context of culture-led regeneration. A Thirdspace framework helps to elucidate the complex inter-relationships between individuals and organisations and the representation and production of city space. More creative synergies are developed between academic disciplines and practical actions than in previous studies. The research advocates more holistic approaches to planning with the accommodation of multiple viewpoints and the consultation of diverse stakeholders, which are prerequisites for sustainable urban regeneration. The data analysis leads to the establishment of new models of communication, consultation and social impact research. Although planners are still viewed as central to the regeneration process, recommendations for good practice encourage them to question their ingrained value systems and to engage in more open and radical thinking. By using a participatory Thirdspace framework, different perceptions, functions and uses of culture can be accommodated. Whether culture is articulated as being about leisure, business, tourism or everyday life, benefits can be maximised for multiple user groups with important links to quality of life issues. Overall, the research demonstrates that Thirdspace thinking can produce a form of cultural planning which is even more pluralistic and inclusive, aspirational and creative, as well as emancipatory and progressive.