This thesis investigates the socio-cultural and spatial transformations of public open spaces by comparing such changes in the public open spaces of the traditional urban centre (TUC) and the sprawled area (SA) of the Kathmandu Valley, individually and in respect to each other over time, particularly during the recent period of suburbanisation. The public spaces in the Valley not only shape the image of the Valley but also help maintain the quality of life that is associated with Nepalese society. The urban form of the Valley that exists today is the result of progressive growth in the traditional settlements over different historical periods: Lichhavi, Malla, and Rana. During each of these periods, particular forms of open space developed in the Valley linked to socio-cultural patterns. The low density spread after the Rana period developed into an unprecedented urban growth and expansion in the contemporary period. This thesis examines the extent to which this growth is introducing new meanings in the open spaces. Hence, a mixed methods approach is used that involves a five-phased systematic approach, including archival study, surveys (denominative, perceptive, photographic, and graphical), questionnaires, and interviews for the analysis of public open spaces and their transformations. For this purpose, three different types of open spaces based on different use functions were selected as the case study open spaces in TUC and SA that form part of a wider study. A comparative study of market squares, neighbourhood squares and community squares was carried out in each TUC and SA. Furthermore, the archival study and interviews were conducted with institutional bodies for the analysis of policies on urban growth and open spaces. The research shows that public open spaces in both TUC and SA are undergoing socio-cultural and spatial transformations. The mono-cultural spaces of the past have become multi-cultural spaces. The significances of the spaces in both cases are associated with meanings attached to the physical settings (such as places of religious, commercial, social, and others) and their use, linked to their respective sensory perceptions (visual, smell, and sound) and the patterns of activities. The open spaces in both TUC and SA have structures that were added in recent years due to needs of society. Commercialization seems to be the predominant change in terms of activity in most of the case study open spaces, not common in the past (except market squares). It is also found that the cultures associated with most of the open spaces are still being preserved. The change in user groups, physical changes, and uses have affected the users of public open spaces either positively, negatively or both in TUC and SA. The interviews with the users show that ethnic pluralism has a strong role in the sense of community in both cases. However, a stronger community attachment is found in the users of TUC than SA. Open spaces in TUC and SA are given low priority in relation to infrastructural development in the government institutions. No clear and concrete guidelines or strategies have yet been introduced for preservation or management of existing as well as development of new open spaces at any level of the government due to ambiguous policies, weak co-ordination among different levels of government, and weak institutional capacity. Therefore, this thesis recommends an integrated approach that includes participation of all levels of government, CBOs including local clubs, and private sector for preparing plans and policies for managing open spaces. The method developed in this thesis also gives an opportunity for further research to explore whether similar findings prevail in public open spaces of other SAs of the Kathmandu Valley.

General awareness of a knowledge-based society and the academic interest in knowledge management (KM) in the field of organization studies have both intensified in recent years. However, research into 'knowledge' has, to date, received scant attention in the field of the urban regeneration process. This fact has greatly motivated this thesis, whose main objective is "to examine the trans-nationality and applicability of Nonaka's theory of organizational knowledge creation to urban regeneration in UK". After having introduced TEAM linguistic theory into the examination of the validity of the hypotheses of this thesis (see Chapter 2), the trans-nationality and applicability of Nonaka's theory are examined in the KM context of UK in particular - in both a theoretical and practical sense (see Chapter 3). Because there is no comprehensive theoretical framework which allows for a comparison to be made between urban regeneration theories and Nonaka's theory, from either an epistemological or ontological point of view, this thesis has looked in great depth into urban planning theory, rather than any literature on the theories of urban regeneration. It in particular, examines two sets of procedural theories of urban planning, namely Systems Theories and Rational Theories of Planning (see Chapter 4), and Communicative Planning Theory (see Chapter 5). In order to examine the applicability of Nonaka's theoretical frameworks to the empirical context of urban regeneration in the UK, case study research was conducted using the Creative Town Initiative (CTI) in Huddersfield (see Chapter 6) from which important generic and context specific conclusions have been drawn (see Chapter 7).

We are currently facing incredible challenges due to environmental and social crises on a global scale and cities are at the forefront of these challenges. Within this context, this thesis analyses the role of urban social movements in addressing these crises in the urban environment, learning about, with and from their practices. It does so by critically engaging with social ecology, a theory continuously developed by Murray Bookchin from the 1960s onward, which, while critiquing current social and ecological crises, provides a vision and theory of action needed to achieve a free and ecological society. Specifically, the thesis, using participatory research approaches, focuses on the role of urban social movements in addressing the urban crises which acutely affect Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, where intense social mobilizations emerged in 2013-2014. It examines the complex understanding of urban crises by urban social movements, and their tactics and organizational strategies, tracing points of contact between urban social movement practices and the social ecology perspective. The thesis bridges these two, highlighting how urban social movements practices and the social ecology theory can benefit from each other, in order to build relevant and decolonized knowledge for social change.

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Increased flooding, urban diffuse pollution and habitat fragmentation are predicted as the climate changes and urbanisation increases; all will affect human and wildlife well-being negatively. Sustainable drainage systems (SuDS) have the potential to mitigate these effects and also provide additional amenity and biodiversity benefits. However, the current SuDS approach is site-specific and technically focused, hence, failing to generate anticipated amenity and biodiversity benefits. Therefore, a new SuDS approach is required. A critical evaluation of the SuDS approach, the Ecosystem Approach, ecosystem services and disservices enabled an innovative SuDS Communication and Planning Framework to be created. The framework highlights key amenity and biodiversity related ecosystem services and disservices produced by vegetated SuDS systems, coupled with drivers affecting the production of these services and disservices. This framework was validated by examining 49 representative sites within Greater Manchester using two ecosystem services and disservices variables assessment methods (vegetation structure cover-abundance and cultural ecosystem services and disservices appraisals). Resultant scores for five ecosystem services were calculated, where habitat for species and recreation ecosystem services were found to be synergistically linked to each other in a positive correlation. The result also enabled recommendations to be made that future vegetated SuDS development would benefit from involving local communities. Overall the research produced practical Ecosystem Approach methods for SuDS development decision making, and the SuDS Communication and Planning Framework provides an innovative, easy to use tool to implement Ecosystem Approach compliant solutions for key SuDS stakeholders (planners, developers, designers, researchers and policy makers). Finally, the SuDS Communication and Planning Framework can now be found in the second part of the UK National Ecosystem Approach, UK NEA follow-on, as part of a series of Ecosystem Approach toolkits incorporated into the decision making processes for managing the urban environment in a sustainable way.

This thesis investigates what the changing policy approach of the ‘New’ Labour Government meant for local regeneration initiatives, focusing particularly on the idea, of joining-up. From 1997 to 2010 the Labour government placed particular emphasis on urban regeneration policy as part of broader policy commitments to urban renaissance, economic competitiveness and addressing systematic social disadvantage. Emphasis was increasingly placed on the idea of ‘joined-up’ regeneration and the need for enhanced coordination of regeneration inputs at national and sub-national scales (Social Exclusion Unit, 1998). Recognising the cross-cutting nature of urban problems, different aspects of the problem were to be addressed together rather than in isolation. Urban regeneration was also intended to be more locally responsive. Conceptually the thesis situates the idea of joining-up within a longer history of debates about urban policy, including recurring criticisms of a lack of coordination but also a recognition that questions of joining up are shaped by political priorities about what should be prioritised. The actual existing process of policy implementation also depends on the institutional context within which state strategies and state projects are rolled out, including locally distinctive institutional and social relations. It is argued that the process of coordination is not neutral, but reflects broader priorities and also privileges certain aspects of urban regeneration policy over others. Utilising the work of Bob Jessop on state theory on the strategic selectivity of the state, Colin Hay on constructivist institutionalism and Rod Rhodes on policy network analysis, a theory of institutional selectivity is developed to provide a framework for empirical research. Empirically, the PhD contributes new knowledge by undertaking a detailed single city case-study. The city of Liverpool was chosen because of its distinctive regeneration context and the challenges it posed for a transformative vision of national urban regeneration. Drawing on over forty interviews the PhD traces how the strategic selectivity of national policy intersected with local institutional relations to shape particular processes and outcomes around regeneration policy.

The past few decades have seen significant changes and transformations in China, from the ideological, political, legal, social and economic perspectives. These changes lead to the argument that the regime in China now can be labeled as a developmental authoritarian state, which has seen a gradual opening-up of the space for associational life. In this context, in the face of rapid economic development and massive construction, local developments have witnessed a conflict between preserving the past for its intrinsic value and the need for change. In particular, there are different actors involved in heritage conservation, including the local government, the developer, specialists, the media and ordinary people. Since the notion of “a deliberative democracy” was made prominent by the Chinese government, there is a dilemma between the pursuit of economic development and the call for a democratic process in decision-making in heritage conservation. Thus, to follow this from one small clue, heritage conservation becomes a window to look into Chinese local governance. However, little research has been done on power structures within heritage conservation and how different forces interact and negotiate in transitional economies at the local level in China. Using the grounded theory method (Charmaz, 2006), the research aims to explore the dilemmas of changes in Chinese local governance through the lens of heritage conservation and to investigate the interactions between key players in the society. Based on the theoretical framework of networked governance by Bevir and Rhodes (2012) and their interpretive analysis, this study “decentres” the local governance in heritage conservation, providing the different narratives of the local government, specialists, the media and ordinary people, as well as their interactions. A comparative study between an urban and a rural case is conducted using a combination of qualitative research methods, including text analysis, in-depth interviews and participant observation. The study indicates that, facing the dilemmas of heritage conservation and local development, local governments employ different governing approaches, such as “public participation under government leadership”, “the rule of law” and “ideological cultivation”. I argue that local governments in China re-adapt the traditions in current local governance as a response to the dilemmas. In the city, there is an increasing importance of business enterprises and entrepreneurial elite in local policy and decision making. China’s urban governance thus features entrepreneurialism which shares both commonalities with and differences from its western counterparts. It is characterized by market regulation and official-businessperson collusion, and centred on land speculation in implementing entrepreneurialism. However, in the countryside, rural governance experiences a combination of changes and traditions: a formal institutional authority of the grassroots self-governance system and an informal form of authority generated under the influence of inclusive social and kinship ties. I suggest that local China is now experiencing the “authoritarian deliberation” put forward by He and Warren (2009), which is inherited from the governing traditions and is reinforced by continuing social and economic development. This study opens up a new discussion on how democracy survives under rapid economic development in China. This study also contributes to the knowledge of changes in Chinese local governance and the interpretations of different actors. As an empirical study using “decentring” approach, this study explores local governance from different perspectives, which emphasizes the traditions, dilemmas and networks in governance theory.

This thesis contributes to the literature on lifestyle migration and the repopulation of rural areas by looking at British migration to rural France from the perspective of the social world that forms and of which they are part rather than the experiences of the migrants alone. My interest is the way in which a group of British lifestyle migrants have been incorporated into the village. In chapter one, I introduce the theoretical and conceptual framework informing my ethnographic methodology and in the following two chapters I develop the background to French rural history and the British citizen susceptible to such migration. In chapter four I discuss methodology and introduce the village of Alaigne where my fieldwork took place. From chapter five onwards I give prominence to examples from my fieldwork in a small village called Alaigne where I lived for one year. I have selected such material to illustrate my understanding of the processes through which the migrants find themselves part of a village community. Noting that integration does not mean being comfortable, in chapter five I suggest that integration in the village, albeit 'weak' or local, is real. Chapter six shows where this finds expression through shared desires for the village, my example being a concern with patrimoine, heritage. In chapter seven I develop this idea further to suggest that there is a category of practice I term public life, the practice through which village reproduces itself and something in which the British and other villagers partake, each finding in the other shared support for their own habitus. Chapter eight summarises the thesis and offers some suggestions for further research and conclusions. In this I suggest that in lifestyle migration studies we can re-conceptualise leisure as a form of labour. Alaigne's social life as a working, that is functioning, village requires labour to maintain it and the leisure cycle which public life manifests and reproduces is a co-production by a variety of villagers including those not present.

China has experienced more than three decades of dramatic urbanisation. The process is associated with the expansion of urban built-up areas into formerly rural areas. Urban villages, a kind of slum-like informal settlement, are formed when farmland is requisitioned, with the rural residential land left on which indigenous villagers construct and rent large houses with substandard conditions for low-income rural migrants. Since urban villages have created many problems and urban development faces a lack of land supply, these villages are listed on the government’s agenda for regeneration. The practice of urban village redevelopment has proven to be controversial. It soon caused more social problems and attracted attention from academia. This research seeks to understand and analyse how different groups of stakeholders interact with each other in the process of property requisition and compensation, how decisions are made and how conflicts are generated and resolved. The research focuses on stakeholders’ practices at a micro-level. The case study approach is selected, and the case is an urban village in Xiamen, China. Qualitative methods, mainly semi-structured interviews, participant observation and document analysis, are used to generate data. Qualitative analysis is adopted to analyse data and a social capital framework is applied to theorise the findings. Empirical findings from the case suggest that there are two major factors influencing the processes and dynamics of urban village redevelopment. The first is competing interests among different groups of stakeholders arising from the policies formulated by the governing authorities. The second is villagers’ misinterpretation of the development process and policies, due to villagers’ lack of proper education and the limited participation mechanisms within the redevelopment programme. A democratic reform is needed in such programmes that require requisition and demolition approaches in the future to reduce the conflicts and enable them to be addressed more effectively and justly.

This thesis explores the social housing process in Mexico, which is mainly defined by the planning, construction and provision of housing, and ends with the delivery of the dwellings, overlooking the post-occupational stage of housing. This research focuses first on INFONAVIT, a Mexican institution in charge of administering a housing fund for workers since 1972 that has received many critiques because of its disconnection from the housing process since the late 1980s, when law reforms delegated the construction of housing to the private sector. Secondly, on private actors such as developers and construction companies, who have been critiqued due to the decreasing material quality and size of the houses. Finally, on social housing residents’ experiences with their houses and the built environment’s impact on their everyday life. Through an extensive qualitative approach, 19 actors involved in the housing design, planning and production process, and 50 residents in four housing projects in the city of Mazatlán, Mexico, were interviewed during a two-stage visit to Mexico City and Mazatlán. Along with the development of semi-structured interviewing, the architectural design of social housing units and the housing policies and regulations behind its production were analysed, making use of a multi-methods strategy combining direct observation, document analysis, analysis of secondary sources, and the use of photographs, architectural layouts and sketches. The findings of this research contribute to a deeper understanding of the meaning of ‘social’ in social housing, while acknowledging the need for a socially responsible planning and architectural design process. Due to the multi-disciplinary theoretical basis of this study, this thesis aims to be of interest not only to researchers, but also to inform practitioners in their decisions, including planners, architects, and policy makers.