This thesis investigates whether the regeneration, and in particular, housing refurbishment-led regeneration of deprived urban areas can contribute to the creation of sustainable communities, by looking specifically at the impact of the current Housing Market Renewal Programme on three areas in the North of England. Research has long acknowledged the multifaceted nature of sustainable communities. Evidence has shown how sustainable communities are determined by the complex interdependencies of economic, social, environmental and institutional phenomena and the need to balance these over time. At the same time, the government’s drive to ‘create sustainable communities’ through its prominent and ‘holistic’ Housing Market Renewal Programme has been well publicised. Many studies have challenged what is and what is not a sustainable community, and whether progress towards sustainable communities is currently being made in Housing Market Renewal areas. This study addresses these two issues. First, the thesis seeks to address issues related to framing, defining and evaluating sustainable communities within the context of the built environment. It suggests a framework for doing so which is anchored in the Housing Market Renewal context and draws on the values and understandings of those involved in the ‘making’ of sustainable communities in this context. Second, the framework is applied to three case study Housing Market Renewal areas: Langworthy North in Salford, North Benwell in Newcastle and the Triangles in Wirral. The study involves a survey of approximately 150 residents, semi-structured interviews with over 50 regeneration officials and other stakeholders, and secondary analysis of existing survey data and Census analysis. We find that the proposed framework for assessing sustainable communities is overwhelmingly supported by residents in the three areas and that housing refurbishment-led regeneration has had an overall positive impact on community sustainability in those areas. However, the impact is varied in intensity and scale: all aspects of an area’s physical environment and some economic and social aspects of areas benefit significantly following regeneration, while aspects of local governance, resource use, services and facilities benefit to a lesser degree. We also examine the scale and extent of the Housing Market Renewal Programme and assess how the Programme’s wider challenges impact on local communities. The research concludes by acknowledging that sustainable communities are subject to a continual process of change and that housing refurbishment-led regeneration can contribute to creating more sustainable communities. The thesis also observes that urban intervention, no matter how holistically’ delivered, is only one among many dimensions of sustainable communities; the integration of different policy areas, continued investment and support, and, above all, community empowerment are key to the sustainable communities agenda.

This thesis is concerned with empirically determining whether a particular political sequence can be interpreted through Badiou’s philosophy. It focuses on the public works that transformed Paris in the middle of the 19th century, and more specifically on Haussmann’s planning practice. From an epistolary exchange between property owners, Haussmann and the Minister of the Interior during Haussmann’s first years as Prefect of the Seine, the thesis draws out a political event: the playing out in a singular context of an opposition over a political practice predicated on equality. In this case, the opposition is in the field of planning as regulation: the sanctity of property rights against a planner’s efforts to break the complacency of the planning apparatus towards property owners. The thesis argues that Haussmann was a Saint-Simonian state revolutionary that sought to make property owners contribute to the public works in equal relation to the benefits they extracted from them. In the face of sustained opposition, this planning practice was ultimately sacrificed by the imperial regime. Haussmann’s first years as Prefect are shown to have taken place in the temporality of Badiou’s events, while the commonly invoked process of Haussmannisation best describes the situation that followed the demise of Haussmann’s planning practice. Badiou’s notion of the state revolutionary gives us a way to think through the difficulty and evanescence of regulation. It can help us understand those fleeting moments when political will was used to break hierarchies of power and capital. Badiou’s philosophy is shown to be compatible with a social science that is concerned with isolating and singularising particular political sequences, of which early Haussmann is one.

The United Nation's World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS), that took place between 2003 and 2005, elevated the 'information society' to the level of 'gender equality' 'environmental sustainability' and 'human rights' as one of the central Development tropes of our time. The concept of the network has come to figure heavily in the political discourse of both developed and developing nations and transnational agencies. These organizations employ statistics, academic theories, popular wisdom, and utopian visions shaped by Western experiences to extrapolate an expected impact of new technologies on the developing world. However, to date there has been very little on-the-ground research on the diffusion and appropriation of these technologies as it is taking place in developing nations and how this might challenge and reorient the expectations of traditional Development perspectives. This thesis seeks to provide such a response drawing on the experiences of Internet café users in Accra, the capital city of Ghana where an estimated 500 to 1000 of these small businesses were in operation. Departing from the categories and hierarchies favoured within Development circles, my approach is to look holistically at the way the Internet was produced as a meaningful and useful tool through the practices of users. The practices that defined the Internet in Accra encompassed not only individual activities at the computer interface, but also other formal and informal, collective and everyday rituals such as story-telling, religious practices, and play and socializing among youth. A similar production process was observable in the activities of the Development experts and government officials who arrived in Accra in February 2005 to discuss the role of networking technologies in socio-economic development at the WSIS Africa regional conference. The activities of both groups reconstituted the Internet, Development and the relationship between the two, but along very divergent pathways.

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.

This thesis studies small town development in contemporary China (1978-present). It focuses on the socioeconomic impact of economic reform on small town development, with particular emphasis on how gradually released market forces enable urban proximity to play different roles to determine the developmental trajectory of small towns. The research design chooses two economically prosperous towns with different degrees of urban proximity, in which fieldwork is conducted. Xihongmen town is located in suburban Beijing and Zhulin town is located in a rural area of Henan province. The research focuses on government, firms and people as three key elements of small town development, and systematic comparisons have been used as the key research strategy throughout. The main research findings are as follows: 1) Xihongmen town's government has been transformed into a sophisticated, bureaucratic and complex organisation and the role of leadership in local development has declined over the years, but a simple and hybrid governmental structure was founded in Zhulin town and the personal capacity of local leaders still plays a vital role in local development; 2) The industrial environment in Xihongmen town is dynamic and an upswing has been observed in the local industrial structure (from the primary to the secondary and tertiary sectors), but Zhulin town still relies solely on the ongoing government-led entrepreneurship; its private sectors are underdeveloped and the industrial structure remains unchanged, and some key firms have even relocated themselves to larger cities duo to the constraints of the local infrastructure; 3) The local residents of Xihongmen town enjoy much more secure livelihoods, with multiple income sources, welfare and flexible job opportunities available in the local area, but the residents of Zhulin town rely primarily on the local government to provide non-farming jobs and both income sources and job opportunities are very limited to the local area. The thesis concludes that the economic reform initiated in 1978 played a key revitalising the rural industries and hence laid the foundations for the growth of small towns. The rural reform policies gave rural areas advantages over urban ones in the early stages of the reform. The evolving policy frameworks gradually lifted the various constraints and enabled urban proximity, a previously less important factor under the centrally planned system, which became the key factor to differentiate the developmental trajectories of small towns. The thesis further explains that proximity has multi-dimensional impacts on the socioeconomic development of small towns. On the one hand, small towns that enjoy close proximity to cities can benefit enormously from economies of scale and urban spillover effects, and this advantage could be further reinforced during the course of ongoing urbanisation. On the other hand, urban proximity could also have impacts on the social structures/orders of small towns, which in turn could affect their economic outcomes. For those towns with low degrees of urban proximity, a high level of community solidarity generated from dense clan/kinship networks might also act as a force to motivate their economic development. However, the latter type is certainly more vulnerable and requires the right blend of a number of historically contingent factors, which are path-dependant and difficult to replicate.

This thesis deals with slaves. More precisely, it deals with the slave-run agricultural estates in Italy during the period of Roman imperial expansion. The main point to be addressed is that of the relationship between its two main genders: adult male and female agricultural slaves. Whilst scholarship has maintained for almost a century now that male slaves played a significantly more important role in this period than female slaves, this thesis will argue that their economic and social contributions were at least equal. It will further to this argue that the traditional view is largely based on a highly biased and discriminating attitude towards the role of women in the world of work, and on a more general disregard and subsequent unbalanced valuation of women's contributions. The prevalence of male slaves on Roman agricultural estates is traditionally attributed to their availability for purchase as a result of Rome's intensive warfare. Furthermore, the various labour tasks usually associated with agricultural slaves are typically regarded as male labour domains, especially work in the fields, be it for grain, wine or olive production. To start with, this thesis will question the narrow range of productive activities that were carried out at these estates. By suggesting through examination of the evidence in a non-traditional way the regular occurrence of productive activities that are typically regarded as female labour domains, especially wool and textile production, the door is opened for a fresh look at the evidence for female labour on agricultural estates, ranging from epigraphic material for the management staff, to passages in the literary sources, and finally the application of demographic and economic models that support the propositions derived from the study of the ancient evidence. Although this thesis title may suggest a descriptive focus on the female slave, it is in fact merely one of analysis: this thesis does not strive to explain the various tasks carried out by female slaves, nor does it aim at the compilation of whatever evidence there may be for female agricultural slave labour. Rather, it aims at questioning a preconceived model of a male-female-relationship that, in current imagination, has huge repercussions on other significant aspects of Roman history. By creating a picture that encompasses slave family life (based on female reproductivity) and high female productivity, traditional views of chattel slavery, based on social deracination and total loss of any liberties, are questioned together with views of economic activity that leaves the Italian (servile) countryside virtually free of a female element.

It is well known that Liverpool surpassed Bristol as Britain's premier slave trading port in the mid-eighteenth century, but the reasons for Liverpool's dominance remain debated. In this comparative research, the theoretical framework of entrepreneurship and various notions of capital, including financial, human and social, accessed through merchants' associational networks is employed to determine whether or not Liverpool merchants were more entrepreneurial in the trade which in turn made them more successful. An interdisciplinary methodology that embraces concepts from both economic and business history as well as social network and socio-cultural analysis is used to ascertain how slave merchant networks in both ports operated and managed their trade. Entrepreneurship has quickly become a popular field of study in economics, sociology and business, and provides a new avenue to explore the organisation of the slave trade in both merchant communities. Additionally, by applying the notion of entrepreneurship within Liverpool slave merchant networks, a more convincing and satisfying explanation for their relative success besides their often-argued but little-explained "business acumen" is offered. An examination of nominal data sources, including the Trans Atlantic Slave Trade Database and club membership as well as qualitative sources such as merchant correspondence and parliamentary papers are used to map trends in business organisation between the two cities and over time, and to draw conclusions on the relative strength and nature of business partnerships. It is argued that Liverpool merchants managed slaving voyages within comparatively larger investment groups; thus, the business network a Liverpool merchant was part of was also larger. From these larger networks, Liverpool merchants had greater access to knowledge, skills and resources, collectively known as capital, and this larger pool of expertise offered more competitive advantages to their trade. Because of this, Liverpool merchants, as entrepreneurs, were able to surpass their counterparts in Bristol to become the leaders in the slave trade.

UK cities have been transfonned over the past thirty years as they have had to adapt from a declining manufacturing industrial base to a service sector led economy. To achieve these changes many cities have undergone urban regeneration policies that have resulted in significant changes to their physical structure and that have in tum affected the social, economic and environmental dynamics of the built environment. One critical dimension of this regeneration of urban areas has been balance between new development and the conservation of historic buildings and townscape. This thesis will therefore consider the application of regeneration policies to historic urban quarters and analyse their effectiveness. The aim of the research is to evaluate the effectiveness of regeneration policies, particularly those applied to urban historic quarters in England since 1997. First of all, this thesis will identify the criteria for positive urban regeneration developed from a thorough literature review of urban regeneration practice. The research will also examine the effectiveness and success of policies and evaluate the influencing factors. Then, these criteria and factors will be examined through two mixed-use regeneration case studies of historic urban quarters in England: the Lace Market in Nottingham and the Jewellery Quarter in Binningham. The thesis will evaluate the regeneration outcomes (physical, economic and social) and the effectiveness of urban policies applied in these two cases will be analysed.

During the last few decades most developing countries have experienced a rapid growth in population which has resulted in rapid urbanisation in the form of new towns and an expansion of existing towns, coupled with an increasing dependance upon developed countries for the implementation of the new housing programmes. In Algeria, since Independance the problems of the high population growth and the rural-urban migration have led to a rapid growth of cities and towns. Since 1975 the Algerian government has been executing numerous housing programmes named ZHUN's (Zones d' Habitat Urbaines Nouvelles), the main objective being to build as many dwellings as possible in the shortest possible period of time to reduce the housing deficit. This policy has led to the construction of many new housing projects, consisting of stereotype "international style" buildings, very often built by foreign contractors with little appreciation of the life styles and requirements of the local people. This study is, in general, concerned with the effects of the problems of the new social and physical environments on the residents' level of satisfaction with the housing projects. The main objective of this study is to suggest a set of guidelines, or a development programme, for designing new urban housing projects which fulfill the requirements of the different socio-economic groups of residents and which will increase their level of satisfaction. The case study (Ain-Allah) is one of nine new housing projects (ZHUN's) in Algiers, some of which are still being constructed. The case study has similar physical features to those of the majority of the ZHUN's. With regard to its social structure, however, it is occupied by residents with different social characteristics and backgrounds. The ZHUN's are generally occupied by people from the colonial areas, but residents in Ain-Allah are composed of two distinct groups; those who moved from the traditional area of Algiers (the Casbah) and those who moved from the Western style areas (Colonial areas). These two groups did not only move from two different physical settings, but they also have different socio-economic characteristics. The case study is representative of most social and physical features of the ZHUN's, as discussed in greater detail in the next chapter. In addition, it provides the opportunity to examine how different social groups react to the same physical environment. Findings reveal that satisfaction with the new project is influenced by residents' previous experience. Residents originating from a traditional setting (Casbah) tend to evaluate their new environment mainly by the cohesion and level of friendship between neighbours, whilst those from the western style (colonial) areas tend to attribute more importance to quality of the physical environment. When planning a new project, emphasis should not only be placed on the spatial organisation of the built form, but also on the selection of the residents and their level of homogeneity. Many researchers have argued that outdoor common spaces provide the opportunity for social contacts between residents, which in turn, encourage the process of friendship formation between them. In this research, however, findings show that the arrangement of the new buildings around large common outdoor spaces with direct visual contact affected the level of privacy of the flats. This has, consequently, hindered residents' familiar outdoor social activities and slowed down the rate of friendship formation between them. On account of the Islamic culture, based on segregation between males and females, spaces used by men (outdoor open spaces) should not be in direct visual contact with the flats which are mainly used by women, in particular housewives. The process of friendship formation is also found to be much more rapid between neighbours who originated from the same area than between those who moved as strangers and did not work together. The latter required longer for integration to the new community. Also, people working together make friends more quickly than those who do not. It is also found that the new built form affects the rate of friendship formation. Proximity of the new flats and sharing the same landing, staircases and building access encourage social contacts between residents. A comparison between a housing cluster (cluster three) occupied by heterogeneous groups (Casbah and colonial areas) and two clusters (clusters one and two) occupied only by homogeneous groups (cluster one occupied by people from the Casbah and cluster two by people from colonial areas) revealed that friendliness, but not necessarily friendship, existed between heterogeneous residents living in the same cluster (cluster three). It was also found that physical proximity between homogeneous residents (in both clusters one and two) promoted friendship formation between them. However, findings show that no social relationships existed between the two heterogeneous groups living separately (clusters one and two). To promote friendliness between heterogeneous residents and friendship between homogenous residents, this research suggests that when allocating the flats, buildings should be occupied by homogenous residents, and basic housing units by heterogenous residents. Findings also reveal that satisfaction with the outdoor spatial organisation is related to the function of the outdoor spaces. For example, when comparing levels of satisfaction with outdoor common spaces in a basic housing unit composed of residential buildings and a basic housing unit with facilities at the ground floor of its buildings, it was found that a higher number of people in the former were satisfied. The common space in the basic housing unit with facilities was transformed from a quiet semi-public space for local residents to a public space where people from all parts of the project come to do their shopping. This resulted in both a loss of privacy and noise disturbance. According to the literature, the size of a housing area, or the catchment area, is determined by the location of the primary school and shops. It suggests that these facilities should not be located at more than 5 to 7 minutes' walking distance (around 500m) from the furthest dwelling. In this research, however, it is found that the majority of people living at less than 10 minutes' walking distance (650m to 700m) from these facilities were satisfied with their location. The new projects can, therefore, have a larger catchment area than those proposed by the literature and the CNERU. Findings also suggest that it is more economical and satisfactory to locate the new housing projects as close as possible to existing commercial centres. This would not only reduce the cost of connecting a new project to water, gas, electricity and sewage systems, but would also ease the use of the facilities of the nearby commercial centre(s) by the new residents. Finally, specific measures are recommended for planning and designing new urban housing projects. It is necessary to provide an environment which allows easy integration to the new community, and with which residents can identify and be satisfied. This is possible to achieve by understanding the socio-economic and cultural characteristics of the residents, by housing these residents in such a way as to encourage friendship formation between them, and by providing a new built form which fulfills the requirements of the residents and which does not hinder their familiar social activities.

This thesis is concerned with the planning of rural settlement in England during the twentieth century, and in particular with the application and the impact of the principle of selected village development. Both the development of planning legislation and the 'philosophical basis of rural settlement planning are examined in detail. Since 1947 the concept of selected village development has come to dominate the planning of rural settlement. This concept is examined at length with particular attention paid to the relationship between selected village development and central place theory. The progressive adoption of policies of selected village development since the early 'fifties, has usually been related to systems of settlement classification. The operation of classification schemes is examined at length and is supplemented with an examination of the spatial inequalities between five different classifications, in the Isle of Wight, Huntingdonshire, Norfolk, Nottinghamshire, and West Sussex. The impact of selected village development policies is studied in detail through two case studies, one of a 'pressure' area (South Nottinghamshire), and the other of a 'remoter' rural area (North Norfolk). Besides a more general study of these areas, twelve villages are studied in considerable detail through a questionnaire survey of a sample of households in each village. The results of nearly four hundred household interviews form the basis for a detailed discussion of socioeconomic patterns and processes in the study areas. The concluding chapter presents a summary of the thesis and also an assessment of the principle findings. Specific suggestions for consideration as improvements to the planning system are presented. Together with the general conclusion that selected village development policies, appropriately modified, represent the most practical policy alternative for planning rural settlement in England.