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Development projects, such as plantations and infrastructure improvements, provide benefits for people at the regional and national scales. They can also result in negative impacts and costs borne by some members of society. Projects are deemed worthwhile if overall welfare is enhanced and, in principle, the gainers could compensate the losers. In this respect, compensation is an important measure or method of redistribution of benefits and costs between the gainers and losers in the context of development projects. It is also a potential strategy for addressing concerns of social justice, fairness, equity and disputes through negotiation. This research explores the potential use of compensation for promoting the sustainability of development projects and rural livelihoods in the context of developing economy, namely Tanzania. The literature review and exploratory visits to the study area revealed relevant theories, concepts and practical issues of compensation. An innovative framework that integrates the Coase theorem, Millennium ecosystem approach and the concepts of sustainable livelihoods was developed and used in assessing and analysing compensation practices of two project case studies. The research adapted a case study strategy for studying compensation in its geographical settings. Tanzania was used as the country case from which the teak and gaspipeline projects were selected as project case studies. One village in each project area was selected for detailed study. Key informants and focus group interviews provided initial insights into project impacts and compensation regimes. Twelve in-depth case studies were carried out on affected households. Key sustainability issues pertinent to compensation, people’s livelihoods and projects were verified using a questionnaire survey that involved 120 households. Other two surveys were carried out to collect views on compensation views in Tanzania from project developers and service providers. Triangulation of research methods, tools and sources of information enhanced quality of both qualitative and quantitative information. Cont/d.

This research attempts to estimate the increased value of land in the form of house prices as a result of improved accessibility owing to the construction of Light Rail Transit (LRT) systems. Kelana Jaya Line LRT system is chosen as the case study in this research. Hedonic house price modelling and Geographically Weighted Regression (GWR) are employed to measure the effects of the LRT system on house prices in the Klang Valley, Malaysia (2004 and 2005 transactions). Selling price, structural attributes, land use and socio-economic attributes were collected from the Department of Valuation and Services of Malaysia database, selected maps and reports. Fifty-five factors that are likely to influence house price were identified and used to measure the overall effects of the LRT system on house prices. However, only significant variables were included in the final deliberation and these were identified by using correlation analysis and step-wise procedures. The outcome of this study shows a positive relationship between the existence of the LRT system and house prices. In short, people are willing to pay a higher price in order to live within close proximity to a rail transit station. The hedonic house price model suggests - for houses that are located within two-kilometre radius - prices decrease as the distance increases from the LRT station; for both straight-line-distance and network-distance. However, since hedonic house price models are global, the results produced by the model are applied equally for the entire area, and therefore may hide important local differences in the determinants of house prices. Spatial processes are instead seen to be heterogeneous in which the measurement of a relationship depends in part on where the measurement is taken. The generalisation of the effects of the LRT system on house prices is found to be consistent when it is examined further by employing a GWR model, which reveals that house prices decrease only for majority of houses located in the Petaling Jaya area and high-rise units located in Bangsar and Kerinchi. Yet, the majority of houses located in Wangsa Maju-Maluri area are found to be not affected by the existence of the LRT system. The GWR results indicate a statistical significant improvement over the global model for both straight-linedistance and network-distance models even after taking into account the extra degrees of freedom. The highest significant positive price premiums are found in houses that are located within 1,001-1,500 metres of straight-line-distance and 501-1,000 metres of networkdistance. The findings summarised in the thesis have important implications for policy implementation. Firstly, the research findings provide justification for potential implementation of a Land Value Capture (LVC) policy; a policy that can be implemented in order to provide a funding mechanism for the new transport infrastructure. This is due to the fact that the construction of rail transit systems should not be viewed as a subsidised service for the poor but as an investment that returns a profit through increased land values. Strategies in a LVC policy that may be implemented include property and sales taxes, realestate lease and sales revenues, fare-box revenues, fees on everything from parking to business licenses, join development, tax increment financing, special assessment districts, equity participation and public-private partnership. This approach has become a common practice in some more developed countries such as in the United Kingdom (UK) and United States (US). Finally, having a method to measure the land value premium due to the improvement in transportation service can facilitate alternative options or scenarios to be assessed. For example, different transport schemes for the same route may give rise to different land value capture potential, which may, in turn, help determine which transport scheme to pursue. This study therefore contributes to the growing literature on the positive relationship between the existence of the LRT system and house price by providing more accurate, robust and reliable empirical evidence as shown in the approach and the outcome of this research. In particular, it has produced meaningful results by addressing the nature of spatial process; spatial heterogeneity.

This doctoral thesis is concerned with the geographic analysis of the Internet infrastructure and its impacts on the economic development of the city-regions. The starting point for this research is the infrastructural attributes of the Internet which enables it to facilitate the modern – and rapidly expanded – digital economy by transporting its informational goods and services. In order to approach this research subject a wide range of quantitative methods is employed: from network analysis and complex network theory to principal components and cluster analysis as well as panel data analysis and Granger causality test. The empirical research is firstly focused on analysing the urban economic geography of the Internet backbone network in Europe. In order to better understand the geography and the topology of the Internet backbone network, a structural comparison with the aviation networks in Europe also takes place. Secondly, effort is spent in highlighting the determinant geographic and socio-economic factors behind the distribution of this Internet infrastructure across the European city-regions. Thirdly, this study examines the impact of the – unevenly distributed – Internet infrastructure on the economic development of the European city-regions. The above empirical analysis highlighted the unequal distribution of the Internet infrastructure and mostly the Internet capacity across the European cities. Different roles were identified for different cities, but over time the golden diamond of London, Paris, Amsterdam and Frankfurt appears to be the core of the European Internet backbone network, with London being the dominant hub. However, no clear evidence for scale free attributes was identified. Moreover, the analysis demonstrated that the level of development, the services and the knowledge economy, the spatial structure as well as the physical transport and accessibility level are significant predictors of the distribution of the Internet infrastructure. In addition, the econometric modelling concluded that the Internet infrastructure is a significant predictor of the economic development of the city-regions and that the causality runs from the Internet infrastructure to the regional economic development. Even more interesting is the geographic analysis of the causality direction as an almost north-south pattern emerged, with the northern city-regions in Europe being more efficient in exploiting the installed Internet infrastructure. The latter can be used as an evidence for the inclusion of the Internet infrastructure in the local and regional economic development agenda. However, a set of other framework condition should be also present in order for the Internet infrastructure to have a positive impact on the regional economic development.

Whilst there have been many accounts of success stories of fair trade in a variety of low income producer communities, there have been few critical accounts that examine the varied lived experiences of people in such communities. This thesis advances a developing critical literature by exploring reasons for unequal and uneven experiences of members of a Fairtrade certified producer organisation. As fair trade has expanded into new commodities and countries, both sugar and Malawi have to date been underresearched. This thesis addresses these gaps by focussing on Kasinthula Cane Growers Limited (KCGL) in southern Malawi. Developing a critical reflection that incorporates postcolonial and post-Marxist critiques, the thesis problematises definitions and assumptions regarding empowerment as a people-centred development approach and community as a cooperative social and political formation. This reflection is used to expand existing analytical frameworks to create a Postcolonial Agricultural Production Network as a framework to focus on a complex geography embedded in a local postcolonial production place. Doing so opens space to explore uneven geographies of production and empowerment shaped by embedded social and political factors. By un-masking inequalities, hierarchies, and dependencies in the institutional environment of a producer community, and incorporating perspectives from a range of producers, both intended and unintended outcomes from Fairtrade certification are examined. The thesis reveals that despite fair trade intentions to promote democracy, transparency, and participation, unintended consequences of exacerbating inequalities and discrepancies between low income producers, and over expectations of an impoverished society, have led to variable experiences of fair trade. Identifying sites of local inequality and unable and unwilling agents of empowerment highlights the important role of place in analysis. This demonstrates how embedded social and political formations in a particular place shape different experiences of fair trade. The findings propose a lesson to incorporate a more nuanced understanding of place in fair trade approaches that challenge assumptions of harmonious producer communities to sharpen focus on embedded inequalities and uneven producer community landscapes.

The dissertation presents a thorough analysis of forest policies in Northern Vietnam which simultaneously apprehends the biophysical conditions, institutions, discourses and socio-politico-economic context in which actors are embedded. The analysis is based on the case study of two sets of policies: the Five Million Hectares Reforestation Programme (5MHRP), a state-led afforestation campaign, and forestry land allocation (FLA) to households. The study is innovative in several respects. Firstly, it focuses on the impact of these policies on land use and management, which has not so far deserved much attention. Secondly, it develops and uses an enriched version of Ostrom's Institutional Analysis and Development (IAD) framework (Kiser and Ostrom, 1982) aiming at "politicising" it, i. e. making it better suited to policyprocess analysis. Thirdly, it applies this original framework at multiple levels, bringing fresh insights on cross-scale linkages, and uses an historical perspective to develop a dynamic understanding of policy outcomes. Fourthly, it collates several qualitative and quantitative methodologies to investigate the topic from a variety of angles. Results indicate that from a regional outlook, the 5MHRP has not succeeded in involving households in forestry and FLA has had little impact on afforestation. Rather, the individual-property regime has been observed to be ill-adapted to the socioecological settings of Northern Vietnam. Underlying drivers for these poor achievements result from a complex combination of the upland biophysical conditions, socio-political-economic setting, institutions and discourses. One of the most important contributions of the study is to disclose the co-production and co-action of these variables at multiple institutional and geographical levels. Policy recommendations include: (1) increasing the accountability of state administration to higher governance levels and to the population; (2) improving policymakers' mental representation of the mountainous socio-ecological systems; and (3) adapting institutions to their complexity and diversity of upland systems by devolving greater responsibilities to local people.

Co-management arrangements are increasingly seen as necessary to promote the compliance of local user groups with natural resource conservation regulations. Nonetheless, co-management needs to be flexible to respond to fast-changing variables at the local scale, and adaptive co-management (ACM) has been developed to provide that flexibility. Since 2004, ACM has been applied to manage the natural marine resources of the Cayos Cochinos Marine Protected Area (CCMPA) on the north coast of Honduras, and has now evolved through two cycles (2004-2008; 2008-2013). This thesis examines the appropriateness of ACM to manage the artisanal fishery resources of the CCMPA, using socio-economic, ecological and governance indicators to evaluate the contributions made by local Garifuna fishing communities (micro-scale), the managing NGO (meso-scale), and the State (macro-scale). To achieve this aim, three main objectives were set: first, to evaluate the ecological impact of the ACM, particularly its effect on fish stocks; second, to measure the socio-economic consequences of the ACM; and third, to estimate the extent to which the principles of adaptive co-management were adhered to. The main conclusion of the study was that the first CCMPA management plan (2004-2008) failed to deliver significant benefits on any of these three criteria, but that the second plan (2008-2013) has already begun to achieve ecological recovery of shellfish species, higher standards of living, and consultative stakeholder participation. The reason for this turnaround was political pressure from the Garifuna in protest at the filming of a controversial reality show within the CCMPA, leading to a more socially adaptive plan. However, this second plan continues to have some weaknesses, including incomplete ecological monitoring, financial and personnel instability, lack of transparency, and insufficient capacity development to allow genuine stakeholder participation. Recommendations for overcoming these deficiencies are: (1) consistent methodologies for monitoring ecological, socio-economic and governance indicators; (2) financial and decision-making transparency; (3) community education; and (4) micro-scale capacity training.

Engaging with fishers’ knowledge (FK) is increasingly valued in fisheries management (a) for FK’s utility for science and management, and (b) to improve the legitimacy of fisheries governance. Referring to both perspectives, this thesis examines: the nature and types of FK; FK’s relationship to scientific knowledge; and ‘extractive’ and ‘participative’ approaches taken to engage with FK. Chapters 3 and 4 compare fishers’ reports of catch rates with official landings data and underwater visual census (UVC). In Seychelles, contemporary reported catch rates and landings were consistent; but FK, landings and UVC perceived different trends over time. Over five western-Indian-Ocean countries, reported catch rates had no detectable relationship with UVC-measured fish biomass, despite a six-fold range in biomass. Such disparities between fishers’ and scientists’ perceptions provide opportunities to broaden the information base for monitoring; but challenge the legitimacy of science-based management in the eyes of resource users. Chapters 5 and 6 examine extractive approaches to engage FK. An interview-based stock assessment in Seychelles indicated that stocks were overexploited in contradiction to the qualitative perceptions of interviewed fishers. The extractive approach did not take account of fishers’ mental models which diverged from scientific assumptions about fish population dynamics and catch rates. In the North Sea, a postal questionnaire collected FK on stock trends, but had limited potential to influence scientific advice and satisfy fishers’ expectations, due to its limited scope T. Daw. How Fishers Count Page 3 and the lack of frameworks to utilise FK. Both cases illustrate the limitations of extractive methods, and the importance of engaging with more complex types of FK. Disagreements with science seem likelier, and more difficult to resolve for abstract types of FK. Extractive approaches can engage large numbers of fishers, but are less reliable and fail to improve governance. Participatory approaches, including collaborative research have greater promise for improving fisheries science and management.

Market towns act as service centres for socio-economic activity in rural areas. They provide a focus for economic activity and deliver essential services for those that lack access to larger regional centres. In the face of concerns over their future, some policy makers have attempted to safeguard and enhance their service role. One such approach has been to stimulate networks of firms operating in the locality in order to deliver business and community benefits. This thesis examines local business associations as an institutional mechanism that may contribute towards the socioeconomic role of market towns. As such it aims to identify the costs and benefits to members, measure the determinants of association performance and analyse the contribution to the service role of the market towns they serve. Members of local business associations in the rural North of England were surveyed as to the costs, benefits, attitudes and determinants of performance. The results show two groups of benefits, promotional and integrational. The more calculative promotional benefits are of greater importance to businesses with a non-local market. Integrational benefits are more important to in-migrant businesses seeking to embed themselves within the local social milieu. Key determinants of association performance were: a larger group size, homogeneity of sectors represented and higher levels of member trust. Effective leadership increased performance and overcame resistance to new ideas. These associations make a socio-economic contribution to market towns through the maintenance and development of local business and place based impacts and offer important benefits to members and the wider community.

The privatisation of the water industry in 1989 highlighted the need for greater precision in planning water resources. The absence of any large scale research on the pattern of domestic water use (DWU) accentuated the ignorance of the utilisation of more than 50% of supplies. With the gradual introduction of domestic metering during the mid 1980s, there has been a considerable growth in information in this area. Since privatisation, the number of metered properties has risen and now amounts to 6% of the population. The data accumulated on the subject of domestic water use have increased the ability to understand better some of the processes involved, although there remained two major stumbling blocks on the way to analysing fully these data. Firstly, the nature of the meters and the frequency with which they are read makes the understanding of the components which make up domestic water use almost impossible; and secondly, the profile of metered households is, by its nature, biased towards new properties which often have meters installed in them automatically, and small households, who opt to have a meter installed as they perceive financial gain resulting from it. Under such circumstances the data containing the results of two surveys conducted by Yorkshire Water in 1992 are used in a new approach to geographical modelling. In the first stage the components with the highest DWU coefficients are determined by statistical means. A microsimulation technique, which lies beyond the scope of this work, is used in the second stage to model the spatial distribution of domestic water use in Leeds by using household components derived from the data by statistical means. The uniqueness of this thesis is in its association of these two techniques. The overall conceptual analysis of all the issues involved in DWU, together with results of the two analyses, allow a better understanding of domestic water use of all properties, whether they possess a meter or not, from the smallest geographical unit - the household - to any spatial aggregation required. The implications of this model for policy formulation and management strategy are numerous. The ability to forecast demand whilst incorporating environmental and economic scenarios, combined with the ability to concentrate on any geographical scale, renders this approach extremely useful in future developments which the water industry is about to enter.