In the past, the accepted method of plan making was to survey the area, analyse its problems, and produce a plan which described a state of affairs expected at some future date. The new theories adopted a continuous, cyclical systems approach based on the identification of needs and goals, the formulation and evaluation of alternative courses of actions and monitoring of adopted programmes. This process clearly requires planning to improve its ability to use information system. In Malaysia, changes to the planning legislation favour the new approach, however, there is no adequate information system to aid the process. The implications of using Geographical Information Systems for planning at the municipal level are examined in this study, initially, with reference to Kuala Lumpur as a whole but more specifically, with reference to a detailed case study of planning for the management of squatter problems. After the initial development of the GIS database, it is used to evaluate the existing characteristics of the Jinjang/Kepong Squatter Settlement. Subsequently, a number of scenarios are developed which take into account the socio-economic characteristics of the squatters, the constraints of the physical layout of existing squatter settlements, availability of land and site suitability for different kinds of development. Spatial modelling techniques are employed to examine alternative plans for the squatter areas. These plans are evaluated using cost-benefit analysis incorporated into the GIS database.

The thesis analyses the plans for the city of Portsmouth in the period between c.1600 to 2010s, with particular focus on the history of planning ideas and the influences behind them. The text is subdivided into four main chapters, each dealing with a particular historical period characterized by ideological (often linked to political) shifts within the idea of creating physical urban improvement as sought after catalysts for both social and economical enhancements. Chapter 1 is entitled ‘From City as Heaven to City as Threat’. It discusses the birth of Portsmouth up to the industrial revolution, when the city went from being a supporter of culture and life to being perceived as a threat to its citizens. Chapter 2 is entitled ‘The Origins of Urban Improvement in Portsmouth’, and discusses a timeframe that spans from 1850s to 1930s. This section analyses the early responses to the urban problems, which span from the urban health reforms and regularization strategies, to Town Planning and ultimately a more specific interwar Garden City methodology of suburbanization. Chapter 3 is named ‘In Pursuit of Modernity’ and discusses the time frame from 1940s to 1970s. This section examines the impact of the Second World War’s destruction, the subsequent ‘Re-planning’ of the city, its ‘Reconstruction’ in the ‘50s-‘60s and its reactions in the ‘70s through the practice of ‘Urban Renewal’. Chapter 4 has the title ‘Towards the Millennium and Beyond’ and discusses the 1980s up to the 2010s. This final section of the thesis highlights the effects that postindustrialization had for the city, leading to processes of ‘Regeneration’ in the late ‘90s, and how those principles continue to inform the urban improvement strategies in the new millennium. In discussing Portsmouth’s development history, the thesis highlights how the idea of centrality and poly-centrality are a reoccurring phenomenon in Portsmouth’s pursuit of urban, social and economical improvement. The thesis serves as a critical body of work that will benefit both historians and pioneers in the field of urban improvements interested in Portsmouth specifically and British-European planning more generally.

Rapid cultural change in contemporary life is affecting housing use and design in Syria, with these becoming more ‘out of line’. This study investigates the nature of cultural change and its impact on housing use in general as a way to explore to what extent it is affecting the appropriateness of housing design in Syria. The study is theoretically based on a social constructionist approach due to the complexity and multidimensionality of the study, especially in understanding how people interpret their housing use and cultural identity. The academic literature review focuses on the links between culture and housing design and reviews the changing nature of these in Syria in the face of modernization, westernization and globalization. Based on a case study approach, the research focuses on one of the cities in Syria most affected by such changes (the coastal tourist city of Lattakia). The research investigates the contextual nature of cultural issues in relation to built environment in the city, drawing on qualitative research methods at both macro and micro levels considering the holistic yet individual implications of the subject of study. Empirical investigations were conducted with appropriate samples of representative households in two formal ‘generically designed’ housing areas - i.e. those not designed for a specific client and not self-designed/built, but designed by either government or private sector architects for a general population. The first housing area was developed by the state with subsidised housing (Youth Housing), which represents a lower middle class group. The second area was the university area (Tishreen University Area), which represents a middle class group with houses designed speculatively by the private sector. In these two areas, research methods included: 39 household interviews using face-to-face questionnaires, photographic documentation, analysis of documented licensed housing design plans, and direct observation. Semi-structured interviews with 11 actors involved in generic housing design (academic architects, professional architects and developers) were also conducted. Two key housing use/design issues were chosen to be investigated as key cultural indicators in housing and also very changeable in the pre-war Syrian context: concepts and practices of privacy in the home (family privacy, intra-family privacy, and women’s privacy) and trends in food preparation and consumption. The study provides detailed social and cultural information on actual house use and residents’ aspirations on a number of implications arising from these factors, as yet unavailable for Syria. One outcome of this research is to recommend design approaches more attuned to current cultural change through a deeper understanding of inhabitants’ actual social patterns and needs - through e.g. guidelines for bigger kitchens with dining space, which reflects the change in food preparation and consumption, increasing the number of bedrooms to provide more intra-family privacy, and providing study/work space in the dwellings.

The current development plan system in Malaysia provides minimal protection for protected areas. Shortcomings can be seen in policies, decision making processes, and implementation and enforcement. In addition, existing legislation, development plan procedures, policies, and guidelines do not support integrated planning and management for protected areas. This raises concern for those involved with all aspects of protected area planning and management. Within this thesis international best practices have been critically reviewed and an in depth case study of the Klang Gates Ridge National Monument conducted. This research has confirmed that there is a lack of emphasis on the planning and management of protected areas in the Malaysian development plan system and what protection exists is ineffective, poorly managed and not fully implemented. This situation was further exacerbated by the lack of development plan documents and guidelines related to protected areas that promote an integrated approach to development control, decision making and enforcement. The research also identified that there was a lack of personal to advise on and take good decisions in relation to environmental matters. Poor consultation with stakeholder and the public also contribute to the situation in Malaysia. These shortfalls need immediate remedy. There is already a development plan system in place to attend to environmental matters but at present it has not been developed comprehensively. By including planning and management of protected areas in the development pan it could become a comprehensive and important tool to ensure protection and conservation of natural resources. Proposals to amend the legislation, develop a comprehensive environmental management plan, set up a lead agency to enforce planning and management of protected areas, enhance public consultation and recruit qualified staff to advise and take good environmental focused decisions are presented.

The trend of natural disasters has shown an unprecedented scale of increase during the last few decades, causing massive human and property losses. This has resulted in an increase of reconstruction, in both the housing and infrastructure sectors. Although, reconstruction is presumed to be a window of opportunity created by tragic situation following a disaster and it is also a tool to help reduce future disaster risks through particular attention to various vulnerabilities, the developing countries would not reportedly use such opportunities during reconstruction. In Sri Lanka, the initial restoration work of infrastructure was completed within a relatively short period of time following the tsunami 2004 disaster. However, literature asserts that issues of varying vulnerabilities, people's needs and access to infrastructures are not well articulated in post-tsunami infrastructure reconstruction plans in Sri Lanka. Therefore, whether recovery is used to address disparities in quality and access of infrastructure and services to communities and to what extent infrastructure reconstruction would extend towards and deal with issues related to infrastructure and services needs in poorer communities, reconcile environmental- development complexities and link development to future disaster risk management, is doubtable. On the other hand, reduction of disaster risk has become a 'must due' with regards to the increased natural disaster losses. Whilst the need for reduction and mitigation of natural disaster risks has been widely recognised all over the world, achieving this ambitious goal has proven difficult in Sri Lanka. The concept of disaster risk reduction is referred not only to physical/technical strategies but it includes a wider array of strategies that involve solving much more complex political, social, economic and environmental challenges. Disaster risk reduction initiatives are generally considered to result in many development concerns. Moreover, literature suggests that development and disaster management are both aimed at vulnerability reduction. It is further suggested that reconstruction must take into account the implications in reducing disaster vulnerability in the long-term. Therefore, exploring the influence of integrating disaster risk reduction strategies within post-disaster reconstruction projects in overcoming the problems mentioned above will be a more useful approach, and this has become the main focus of this research. The research developed a conceptual framework through literature reviews and pilot interviews. This study adopts the social constructionism view in terms of its philosophical assumptions and the case study approach was selected as the main research approach. Accordingly, a multiple case study approach was used and data was collected through semi-structured interviews and a questionnaire survey conducted within two case studies, semi-structured interviews conducted among policy makers and experts in the field of infrastructure construction/reconstruction and disaster management in Sri Lanka and the United Kingdom. While content analysis and cognitive mapping techniques were used for the analysis of the semi-structured interviews, the descriptive statistics technique was used for the analysis of the questionnaire survey. Whilst revealing the different levels at which the concept of disaster risk reduction can be applied within the infrastructure reconstruction sector, the study identifies the most influential factors which lead to infrastructure reconstruction projects and communities increasing vulnerability. As its main finding, the study reveals the ways in which integration of disaster risk reduction strategies within post-disaster reconstruction projects could contribute on the socio-economic development process. This was revealed by identifying how integration of disaster risk reduction strategies within infrastructure reconstruction projects could avoid those factors which lead to such vulnerabilities. Moreover, the study reveals the gap between incorporating the concept of disaster risk reduction within the national and intermediate-organisational level policies (protocols) and the actual practice of disaster risk reduction at the infrastructure reconstruction project level.

Time is at the core of Sustainable planning. How to involve time in the planning processes is a crucial question for which very few exhaustive answers have been provided. This research attempts to provide a definition of the important role played by time in sustainable development and the way in which it can be incorporated in planning decisions. This thesis is aimed at building a strategic framework, which can assist decision makers and be applied in the planning process of urban development to improve the approach to sustainable planning. The proposed framework will be grounded in the Philosophy of the cosmos developed by the Dutch philosopher Herman Dooyeweerd at the beginning of the twentieth century. Philosophical Dooyeweerdian concepts such as modality, analogical relations, subjective experience, law, entity, temporal coherence, cosmic time, subject object relation, sphere sovereignty, Archimedean point, Ithou relation, soul body at structure are analysed at a theoretical level to provide a theoretical basis for the practical application. This philosophical approach provides a grounding through Dooyeweerds aspects and meanings creating the structure upon which the framework is built. The study defines the temporal issues and temporal dimensions, which could make the philosophical approach a practical tool for implementing the philosophical concepts allowing them to assume a more concrete character. The proposed temporal analysis of urban systems is developed into a framework which has three main phases. The first phase is the historical temporal analysis, the second phase is the subjective analysis and the third addresses the planning phase. These three interrelated phases of analysis define a framework which is then tested through a practical case study in Santo Stefano al Mare in Italy engaging four different public areas with different characteristics. Each area is analyzed by the application of the temporal table, which is a framework structured on the fifteen Dooyeweerdian modalities. The temporal table helps in locating the garden in front of the primary school, the garden in Marco Polo road, the play garden next to the parish church, and Baden Powell square within the formative urban evolution of Santo Stefano al Mare. The application of the temporal table - backward and forward directions to the green areas provides the definition both of their spatiotemporal identity and of their response to future change. Conclusions are drawn as to the applicability of the Dooyeweerdian approach to the subject and the future research needed to make it a robust tool is suggested. The framework has the potential to be applied across the whole spectrum of sustainable development and address an aspect of evaluation which has been underplayed for many years.

The emerging Information Communication Technologies (ICTs) provide the possibility of developing innovative approaches to replace the traditional approaches of using text, 2D-maps, images and graphs to facilitate better communication and collaboration. This thesis uses these emerging technologies to present an innovative collaborative virtual environment for multiple stakeholders to come together to visualise and analyse complex urban agendas and have an informed debate about the proposed plans, their inter-dependencies and intended outcome. The research has been driven by working closely with a group of stakeholders in the Black Country. The case study approach ensured the concerns of the majority of the stakeholders are addressed within an urban planning context involving a range of complex data sets. This research has designed and implemented a software framework that can create a VR-centred planning environment which can efficiently manage planning related datasets, support interactive visualisation and analysis, and enhance stakeholder engagement. The overall software system has been implemented within a co-located workspace comprised of a PowerWall, 3D input devices and conferencing facilities for 30 participants. The underlying unified urban model can integrate various geospatial data, demographic data and new urban plans to bring new developments to life. This model allows the users to reconfigure the urban space to suit the discussion points relevant to an urban scenario. Three types of evaluations have been conducted: performance evaluation, usability evaluation and business benefit evaluation. In this case the experiments have been conducted within an urban space of 350km2. The performance evaluation experiments have shown that the interactive response for rendering, navigation and interactive tasks are adequate for real-time performance. The human factors experiments show that the user interface is easy to learn and easy to use for typical interactive tasks. The proposed collaborative environment has been rated high by the stakeholders in terms of the value of this system for their urban tasks.

This study aims to generate a systematic approach to exploring smellscape, from understanding and interpretation to evaluation and design in a specific type of public space - urban intermodal transit spaces, that large numbers of people visit every day, and which have intensive traffic flows and various functions. Taken Grounded Theory as a methodological approach, this study took one typical case from each country, Wuchang Railway Transit Centre and Sheffield Railway Station and Bus Interchange, to explore smellscapes in intermodal transit spaces in China and UK. An analytic procedure has been generated from the studied cases explaining people’s perception of smell environments through key elements in the concept, influenced by eleven perceptual patterns. This analysis answers the question of how to understand and interpret smellscape. In terms of people’s assessment of the pleasantness of smellscape, nine indicators were identified, which have been developed into a framework for measuring smellscape quality and classifying different types of smellscapes. The most dominant type of pleasantness in urban intermodal transit spaces is mainly influenced by cleanness and freshness. The perceptual process and evaluation criteria help with understanding and analysing existing smellscapes, and also inform the design objective for achieving a pleasant smellscape in target spaces. In terms of designing a pleasant smellscape in the target context, a design framework has been constructed at three scales with design methods and examples, responding to identified components from smells and smell sources, individual differences, physical environmental settings and contextual issues. This also gives an example of integrating smellscape design into a traditional design framework for a specified functional public space at the macro, midi and micro levels.

Presenting a case study of enclavisation and violence in Karachi (Pakistan) as relational processes, this interdisciplinary project addresses key conceptual and empirical gaps in the scholarship on enclaves and enclaved urbanism. The project is presented in two parts. In the first part, I highlight that urban residential enclaves are presently under-theorised in the urban studies literature. Consequently, scholars and policymakers often problematically regard enclavisation as a response to increasing crime and violence in the city and not as a process that perpetuates urban violence. Engaging with relational theories of space, and using the concepts of assemblage and performativity, I re-theorise enclaves as relational and processual socio-material and socio-political assemblages best characterised through the arrangements through which space, security and circulation are governed in the city. In the second part of this project, I use this re-conceptualisation to review empirical evidence from three different types of residential enclaves in Karachi. First, I introduce my study sites by demonstrating how each residential enclave crystallises through differential multi-scalar relations between urban governance and political life. Next, I move on to show how Karachi’s enclaves are often performatively and discursively constructed, and are made apparent through patterns of circulation rather than physical form. By revealing the underlying tensions, contests and negotiations between variously positioned actors interacting within and between Karachi’s enclaves, I establish that enclaves are dynamic spaces. Moreover, in emphasising the ways in which processes of enclavisation shape urban socio-spatial relations and restructure wider relations of power and politics in the Pakistani megacity, I finally establish that urban residential enclaves are agential geo-political processes which perpetuate violence and conflict in an already divided megacity. In conclusion, I argue that this project makes important contributions for scholars and policymakers engaging with enclaves, urban governance, security and violence.

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