This thesis explores socio-cultural livelihood impoverishment caused by involuntary urban resettlement in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, where people are involuntarily displaced from informal dwellings in the city centre to resettlement sites in an urban area. Within the field of development-caused forced displacement and resettlement (DFDR), research has identified the principal risks of impoverishment. These risks have been encapsulated within a theoretical framework, the Impoverishment Risk and Reconstruction (IRR) framework, formulated by Michael Cernea whilst working at the World Bank (Cernea 2000). Cernea considers this model to be adaptable to differing situations of involuntary resettlement but, while the economic impoverishment risks of urban resettlement are widely appreciated, the socio-cultural risks of urban resettlement have yet to be fully explored. This thesis aims to extend and test the IRR framework in the context of urban resettlement through an exploration of the socio-cultural livelihood impoverishment risks within urban resettlement and also examines the extent of sociocultural livelihood reconstruction that occurs post-resettlement, with particular emphasis on the role of the displaced in re-establishing social livelihood patterns. This thesis explores the nature of socio-cultural impoverishment, which occurs as a result of involuntary urban resettlement in three case study sites in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. The empirical findings of the thesis reveal specific socio-cultural impoverishment risks that are particular to urban resettlement such as the size of the resettlement site, with larger sites attracting higher levels of support from Non- Governmental Organisations (NGOs), increased stress due to the fragmentation of nuclear families and exclusion from ceremonies and festivals due to financial impoverishment. The study also reveals that urban resettlement does not impoverish all areas of the displacees' socio-cultural lives but there is evidence of new alliances and networks formed as a consequence of resettlement. The thesis questions the validity of using the reconstruction aspect of the IRR framework in the context of involuntary urban resettlement where the majority of cases occur in countries not adhering to international planning guidelines around resettlement, therefore raising concerns about the validity of using a diagnostic, state-centric framework. In addition, the thesis argues that the normative framework does not recognise the significant role played by the resettled in their socio-cultural livelihood reconstruction. The findings from this thesis lay a foundation for further study and add depth to the IRR model, enabling policy makers to assess more fully the socio-cultural impoverishment risks from urban resettlement. Furthermore, the study highlights the need to further develop and refine methodological tools to better encapsulate the nature of sociocultural livelihoods.

Bolivia is a small land-locked country in the heart of Latin America with one of the lowest indicators of human development in the western hemisphere (UNDP, 2002). This relatively small country is, nonetheless, "wealthy in terms of cultural diversity and natural resources. 36 different indigenous peoples among less than 10 million people populate Bolivia's one million square kilometers of territory" Oxfam (2008). This study focuses on not only exploring the concept of development as it is understood by indigenous groups in Bolivia (Quechua and Aymara in rural areas), but also on exploring whether the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and Human Development Index (HDI) reflect this understanding. An interest in exploring this hypothesis - one that addresses divergent understandings of the concept of development between donors and recipients - arises from: the relative failure in international organizations in achieving development targets in Bolivia; Bolivia's ethnic composition; its distinctive features; and, importantly, the current political unrest, which has exacerbated racial and economic tensions between the Amerindian populations of the Andean west and the nonindigenous communities of the eastern lowlands. Development policies and practices are founded on a selection of outcomes and goals behind which lie a vision of human development. Due to the high percentages of poverty in the world, there are competing definitions of development or wellbeing. It is important to note that participants in development can differ in their approach to development and this affects what they do (Copestake and Camfield, 2009). Current development aid agencies' policies and practices provide goals based on a vision of human development. These goals and outcomes are represented within the Human Development Reports and Millennium Development Goals. Therefore, it seems very important to know more about the goals of development for groups of the population such as indigenous groups, in order to take into account the way they - as participants in development - think about their life (Copestake and Camfield, 2009). This study explores the concept of development as it is understood by indigenous groups through social representation theory; and, moreover, it examines whether the MDGs and HOI reflect this understanding.

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Young budget travellers who work as they travel the world have often escaped academic attention. This thesis will begin to correct this omission by illustrating how the working and travelling practices of these young budget travellers affects their perception and construction of self. Taking an empirically grounded approach, this research will build these views into wider theoretical debates around identity, work, place and transnationalism. The thesis is based on an intensive period of fieldwork undertaken in Whistler, British Columbia, Canada. Drawing on data from in-depth interviews, participant observation and secondary sources, this thesis will suggest that it is through work and travel experiences that these young people construct a sense of self. It will be argued that working adds value and meaning to experiences, creating memories and stories in which to construct identity. Furthermore, company culture and ideas of adventure continuously complicate how these young people utilise their working and travelling experiences and so, how they (re)define their sense of self. Finally, the relationship between identity and place will be considered in connection to the emerging literature on backpacker enclaves. This research on these working tourists aims to provide insights into current debates on backpacker travel, identity and tourism, both within the academic community and across wider business and social arenas. The ways in which young working tourists use their experiences to increase cultural capital and gain informal qualifications in order to increase career and life chances will be explored. Thus this thesis will demonstrate the need to understand the motivations, travel patterns and travel careers of working tourists in order to better forecast future tourism demands and trends.

Understanding of the nature and detailed composition of ethnic groups remains key to a vast swathe of social science and human natural science. Yet ethnic origin is not easy to define, much less measure, and ascribing ethnic origins is one of the most contested and unstable research concepts of the last decade - not only in the social sciences, but also in human biology and medicine. As a result, much research remains hamstrung by the quality and availability of ethnicity classifications, constraining the meaningful subdivision of populations. This PhD thesis develops an alternative ontology of ethnicity, using personal names to ascribe population ethnicity, at very fine geographical levels, and using a very detailed typology of ethnic groups optimised for the UK population. The outcome is an improved methodology for classifying population registers, as well as small areas, into cultural, ethnic and linguistic groups (CEL). This in turn makes possible the creation of much more detailed, frequently updatable representations of the ethnic kaleidoscope of UK cities, and can be further applied to other countries. The thesis includes a review of the literature on ethnicity measurement and name analysis, and their applications in ethnic inequalities and geographical research. It presents the development of the new name to ethnicity classification methodology using both a heuristic and an automated and integrated approach. It is based on the UK Electoral Register as well as several health registers in London. Furthermore, a validation of the proposed name-based classification using different datasets is offered, as well as examples of applications in profiling neighbourhoods by ethnicity, in particular the measurement of residential segregation in London. The main study area is London, UK.

This work is based upon an ethnographic enquiry in Turin, North-West of Italy, to interrogate homelessness as a subjective condition that emerges from the entanglements of the individual and the city. Arguing that canonical framing of homelessness do not take into full consideration the relationalities and nuances that intervene between homeless people and the mechanosphere of the city, this work develops a detailed theoretical and empirical investigation of the more- than-human entanglements through which homeless subjects emerge in the opening and closures of urban spaces. Three research questions are pursued: the first two investigating how subjects are constituted in the process of being and becoming a homeless individual, and the third questioning how the public and private institutions that provide service to homeless people actually open or close opportunities to them. The concept of chance of space has been developed to sustain the hypothesis that city’s space offers infinite potentialities to homeless subjects, which however are constantly codified and normalized by the discursive and relational powers consciously and unconsciously at work in the urban fabric. The research questions have been tackled through an in-deep ethnographic investigation developed in three long chapters, which lead to theoretical and political outcomes. This work shows that interrogating homelessness in a more-than-human fashion a world of multiples subjects emerges, with various attitudes, capabilities, relational and affective characterizations. It opens the door to the recognition of spatial chances that might lead, if recognized and enacted, to enrich homeless subjects’ perspectives. According, a critique of the mainstream normative approach on homelessness is developed, arguing in favour of new ethical stances that extend the validity of this enquiry beyond Turin’s case. This ethics claims the necessity to take seriously the entanglements between space, time and the homeless subject; advocates a right to difference and consequently to differentiated interventions; and argues for the necessity to challenge the rigidity of certain urban contexts in order to enact homeless people own capabilities.

Previous research has focused upon health, illness and identity, but the experience of receiving welfare benefits has largely been omitted. This thesis attempts to address this deficit by exploring the relationship between long-term Incapacity Benefit (IB) receipt and stigma in areas of North East England. Employing qualitative methodology, 25 IB recipients participated in the study, alongside 18 key stakeholders who worked with IB recipients. The narratives presented in this study uncover lives that are fraught with ill health and disability on a daily basis, accompanied by a strong sense of stigma, shame and frustration. Further, not all long-term IB recipients are resigned to a life on benefits – many possess a deep-seated desire to return to the labour market, including engaging in permitted or voluntary work – a sentiment which directly refutes any ‘dependency culture’ rhetoric. Tying all of this together is the construction and reconstruction of identity for long-term IB recipients. Stigma and shame arose as a result of the widespread suspicion of sick and disabled people; suspicion that was replicated in the views of some of the stakeholders involved in this study. Disturbingly, this led to a further distinction between ‘deserving’ and ‘undeserving’ amongst sickness benefits recipients themselves. Crucially, narratives were relayed against a backdrop of ongoing welfare reform which led to a dominant discourse of fear and insecurity for many participants who worried that their health would get worse, yet they could still be classified as ‘fit for work’. Fundamentally, this research calls for the need for a greater understanding of the lives of sick and disabled people, and an acceptance that being on sickness benefits is not the easy way out.

The aspects of population structure refer to the individually carried traits or attributes of a population group, and include such ascribed and non ascribed characteristics as age, sex, marital status, literacy and education, economic activities and related phenomena which are thought to be the principal associates of geodemographic conditions and socio-economic levels of a country. These observations are applied in this study of population of East Pakistan, The study attempts by means of a detailed and exclusive analysis of the available materials to evaluate and elaborate past and present patterns in the different ascribed and non-ascribed characteristics of the population and their growth in socio-economic, cultural and regional contexts, and in quantitative terms. For regional studies, the 17 rural districts and 37 selected urban centres have been taken into consideration in relation to different aspects of population structure. Further, the aspects of population structure are studied individually and regionalized quantitatively by using a multivariate technique, known as Factor Analysis, which incorporates geodemographic and socio-economic variables for the respective residential areas. The results of the quantification present some of the most significant spatial characteristics in this agrarian society with very high density, ethno-cultural and linguistic homogeneity, low urbanization, high and stable fertility, and unbalanced and un-favourable age-sex structures, which have far reaching geodemographic implications in the country. On the other hand, as indicated in the text, the patterns of the population characteristics are closely associated with the framework on which rests the institutional structure of the whole society, and the attitude and outlook of the people who live within it. Many elements of population composition are themselves functions of the form and the mode of operation of existing institutions, i.e. value systems, traditions and norms. The residential variations in this connection only reflect the mode of their institutional differentials. The uniformity in the aspects of population structure within a particular residential or regional unit signifies the institutional exclusiveness or distinctiveness within it, the intra-residential and spatial differences imply the degree of dynamism or change in this exclusiveness - which is more apparent in the urban centres than in the densely populated rural areas. The overall low variability in most elements of population structure, in turn, reflects the slow socio-economic change, and the traditionalism in the geodemographic set-up of East Bengal, Given no significant institutional and attitudinal changes any radical and favorable transformation in the patterns of population structure in the province seems to be rather remote. These aspects of East Pakistan's population are of particular importance in relation to her geodemographic development and planning strategy in relation to the overall socio-economic development of the country.