This thesis is an ethnography of how individuals experience urban change and difference on a south London street. My research focuses on the contemporary increase in cultural and ethnic diversity in London, and I explore what this means for social life and shared space on the Walworth Road. The purpose is to observe and interpret the forms of contact and distance people develop in living with difference in their everyday lives. I use a mixture of official, archival and ethnographic data to contrast how individuals transgress or re-inscribe social and spatial boundaries, and how systems of power authorise boundaries between people and places. I also combine ethnographic and visual methods to analyse and illustrate the layers of place, time and experience that are invoked by narratives of change on the Walworth Road. Although my thesis connects the global and local impacts of change, I select the small independent shops along the Walworth Road as the base of my exploration. Within a selection of shop interiors, I explore forms of social contact that are locally constituted through regular, face-to-face interaction, and through shared spaces and practices that engage people across diverse spectrums. I analyse the relationships between proprietors and customers: between workspaces and work skills and social spaces and social skills. Through this empirical process, I emphasise the social and political significance of ordinary spaces and informal memberships that emerge out of everyday contact in neither overtly public, nor overtly private space. This thesis has been edited into a book form to be released by Routledge in May 2012, the title of which is ‘City, Street and Citizen: The measure of the ordinary’.

Background: The mixed race child population is growing proportionately faster than any other group. Whilst there is a body of research in this country, albeit small, that looks at the experiences of mixed race children, none of this research examines specifically the risks for mental health and the possibilities for developing resilience which may be related to growing up as a mixed race child. Methods: Twenty-one adults, recruited through the internet, were asked to reflect on their childhood experiences in relation to being mixed race. They were offered a choice of response methods. The majority chose to provide a written account. A thematic analysis was carried out, within a phenomenological framework. A further analysis was undertaken to assess whether risks to mental health or opportunities to develop resilience could be identified in the findings from the phenomenological analysis using known risk and resilience factors relating to the mental health of children and young people. Results: The data show that there are some additional risks to the mental health of mixed race young people. As well as difficulties experienced in establishing personal identity, they show that there are specific difficulties in secondary school and that young people of mixed race experience racism and prejudice from both black and white peers. The data indicate a capacity for building resilience, necessitated by their mixedness, linked to supportive families. Conclusions: The overarching findings from this study mirror many of those from other mixed race studies. However this study shows how mixed race young people may experience some additional risks to mental health which need to be understood and considered by professionals in health, social care, education and justice systems.

The area of sexuality for people with learning disability is a much neglected area of research. It is possible that this may be influenced by the attitudes that professionals have towards the sexuality of the people they work with. In order to discuss this issue the literature review in chapter one provides an overview of the studies carried out over the past twenty years concerning staff attitudes towards the sexuality of people with learning disabilities. This discussion will be set within the context of the principles outlined in the Government White Paper. Current research examining the behaviour of men who have a learning disability and sexually offend has been completed without the use of control groups, thus making it difficult to assess whether there are any differences between men who sexually offend and those who do not. Although the current literature identifies some of the characteristics that may contribute towards the risk of offending, it does not present any information regarding models of offending for people who have a learning disability. The research in Chapter two explores the attitudes of men, both offenders and non-offenders with learning disabilities, towards sex and sexuality their experiences. Semi-structured interviews were carried out and analysed using grounded theory methodology and theoretical models developed. Methodological limitations, clinical implications and future research were also considered. Chapter three demonstrates some of the researcher's reflections on research with sex offenders. These include the methodological choice of grounded theory and its' appropriateness when used with people who have a learning disability, the impact of the researcher's gender on the interview process and some of the issues that being pregnant during the interviews posed. Finally, supervision and its' significance in terms of the subjectivity and bias of data interpretation is discussed.

My understanding of 'race' and racism in Britain is that it is discussed variously. Sometimes it steals the headlines as when Stephen Lawrence was murdered (Macpherson 1999). Yet at other times there is a preference not to mention the subject at all. Public discourse on 'race' and racism can be reticent. Why is this? Is 'race' a difficult subject of conversation? The first chapter of this thesis examines the roots of 'race'. In Chapter Two the silence and silencing at a public level but also in everyday interaction becomes the focus. Difficult conversations are considered. The dynamic of reticence and fluency in the discourse of 'race' is explored and conceptualised with reference to the limited material in the literature on the silence and silencing of 'race' discourse. This raises the question as to who is responsible for silence; and, whose interests, if any, might be served. Chapter Three presents a real world enquiry - the Swapping Cultures Initiative in Coventry and Warwickshire; involving over 1,000 children and young people that took place mainly between 2002 and 2004. It reveals that a significant proportion of participants (3 8.1 %) experienced bullying, racism, or being picked on, based on their cultural background, and that these issues are difficult matters for conversation (38%). What is revealed is both the complexity of the participants' identities and the subtle and sophisticated ways in which their cultural backgrounds are managed through conversation. What then does silence mean when the subject is 'race'? Certainly it is nuanced and complex. Chapter Four provides a series of concluding reflections on 'race' and silence, identifying the major factors when seeking to understand and address 'race' issues in their local context. It places centrally the 'discourse of reticence' as a significant, hitherto underestimated, element when considering the prevailing and pervading presence of 'race' and racism.

This thesis presents a model for analysing the graphic object as urban object, by considering atypical fields of discourse that contribute to the formation of the object domain. The question: what is graphic design as urban design? directs the research through an epistemological design study comprising: an interrogation of graphic design studio practice and the articulation of graphic design research questions; a review and subsequent development of research strategy, design and method towards the articulation of methodology that reflects the nature of the inquiry; a detailed analysis of five different ways to study and research graphic design as urban design, in geography, language, visual communication, art and design, and urban design. The outcome of the investigation is a model that enables future research in the urban environment to benefit from micro-meso-macrographic analysis. The model endeavours to provide a way to evaluate, design and enhance ‘public places and urban spaces’ by considering different scales of symbolic thought and deed. This has been achieved by acknowledging the relationship between the relatively miniscule detail of graphic symbolism, the point at which this becomes visible through increased scale, and the instances when it dominates the urban realm. Examples are considered that show differences between, for example, the size and spacing of letter shapes on a pedestrian sign, compared to the ‘visual’ impact of an iconic building in the cityscape. In between is a myriad of graphic elements that are experienced and designed by many different professional disciplines and occupations. These are evidenced and explained. Throughout the study an indiscriminating literature review is interwoven with the text, accompanied by tabular information, and visual data in the form of photographs and diagrams. This is mainly research-driven data utilising photographs from fieldwork in Brazil, Canada, Hong Kong, Italy, Portugal, South Korea, United Kingdom, and United States of America. The methodology integrates a transdisciplinary adaptive theory approach derived from sociological research, with graphic method (utilising a wider scope of visual data usually associated with graph theory). The following images provide sixteen examples of artefacts representing the graphic object as urban object phenomenon.

The relationships between the land management system and the town planning system play a crucial role in the process of land development, especially as Henan province is experiencing accelerated industrialization. In recent years, China has adjusted its land management system. The findings of the research show that the current land management system and town planning system of China are not compatible with each other when faced with the rapid industrialization of the core towns in Henan province. Furthermore, the incompatibilities between China’s current land management system and town planning system have impeded the growth of the industrial scale and raised the costs of industrialization. There are two main reasons which cause the incompatibilities between these two systems, namely the contrasting characteristics between the town planning system and land management system and the different objectives between the local governments and the central government of China. The incompatibilities between China’s town planning system and land management system are rooted in and shaped by the central-local relations.

Syrian hamsters are a useful model for offensive aggression because males and females spontaneously engage in agonistic bouts. In hamsters, there is a large sex difference on aggression in the serotonin (5-HT) pathways. Male aggression is inhibited and female aggression increases with injections of a 5-HT agonist into the anterior hypothalamus (AH), but little is known if similar effects are seen in adult hamsters with repeated systemic administration of the selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI), fluoxetine (FLX), which is one of the few approved pharmacological treatments for mood disorders in children and adolescents. The goal of this study is to determine if repeated intraperitoneal injections of FLX over 30 days in adolescent male and female hamsters has an effect on offensive aggression similar to site specific alterations of the 5-HT system in the AH. Our data suggest that systemic administration of FLX as adolescents over 30 days does not affect offensive aggression in males or females as adults.

Poverty and underdevelopment are long standing concerns that characterise San communities in Botswana. Several policies and programmes have been put in place to address these concerns one of which is the Remote Area Development Programme (RADP), in place since 1974. Whereas past studies have reported on the failure of the RADP, this study employs it as a vehicle to understand the San’s development landscape. The main purpose of the study was to explore and describe the San’s perceptions and experiences of development A qualitative multiple-case study approach using semi structured interviews and focus groups were adopted to capture the experiences and perceptions of the San as they evolve within their environment. Critical social theory, which argues that all social relations are power relations and those who are dominant use their power to (re)produce their position of privilege, was used to construct the theoretical framework for the study. Data analysis produced three key findings. Key finding one was that development is a politicised concept interlocked within the politics of power. While the San are on the periphery of power as objects of the development process, the dominant Tswana speaking groups are located within the centre of power where they are privileged to control the development process, by deciding who gets access to resources. This creates a ‘virtuous cycle of self-reinforcing development’ for the dominant Tswana groups and a ‘vicious cycle of poverty’ for the powerless San. Key finding two was that poverty is a by-product of processes seated in unequal social relationships of power. Key finding three presents the politics of participation. Participation becomes evidence of the power and control of each group in the development process. This study thus concluded that poverty and underdevelopment are not economic in their mutation, but are by-products of unequal power relations embedded in a struggle of class interests.

The main aim of this thesis is to examine urban movements in Istanbul, Turkey. More specifically, the research has two principal objectives: first, to expand the existing conceptual framework of urban movement studies by critically examining the present literature on urban movements and considering people’s experiences in the cities of global South; and second, to make an empirical contribution to the literature on urban movements in general and the developing literature on urban movements in Turkey, in particular by analysing political mobilisation surrounding contested urban regeneration projects in Istanbul, Turkey. The thesis argues that the research framework of current urban movements’ literature is too static and limited to be able to develop a dynamic, relational and comparative approach to the analysis of mobilisation in urban space in different geographies. The case materials presented demonstrate that the political and social relations established between actors of urban politics are enmeshed in a dynamic political process, and that the motivations that inform the development of urban movements can change over time. In addition, the issues causing conflicts and political mobilisation are perceived and experienced differently under different conditions, which results in a diversification of the ways in which mobilisation is pursued. As such, a-priori assumptions about the emergence and goals of political mobilisation in urban space – for example, assumptions that urban movements necessarily are progressive and a part of a wider political agenda – is shown to be inadequate for examining the dynamics of mobilisation in different settings. In developing these theoretical arguments, the research constructs a dynamic relational framework to the analysis of political mobilisation in urban space, contributing in turn to the existing conceptual framework of urban movement and political mobilisation studies. Empirically, these issues were explored through case studies of two urban renewal areas in the historical neighbourhoods of Istanbul, Turkey, using a qualitative Critical Realist methodology. Like many other megacities, Istanbul has experienced an immense process of socio-economic and spatial restructuring in which the state has played a fundamental role. Moreover, in these new urbanisation dynamics, urban renewal projects have become conspicuously contested, leading to mobilisation at a variety of spatial and governmental scales. This thesis focuses on the different responses of local people in two urban renewal areas in order to examine the factors that enable and inhibit mobilisation. Specifically, the research is framed around two contrasting cases: the Fener-Balat-Ayvansaray renewal area, which is taken as a case of political action, and the Suleymaniye renewal area, which is taken as the case of inaction. The research findings show that the intervention of the state is not the only factor causing mobilisation in the localities. Other factors include: the condition of the built environment and the formation of spatial relations in the localities; the condition of the property market and how property owners value their assets in terms of its exchange and use values; the political relations between the state and the residents; social relations within the localities; and the implementation process of the urban renewal projects. These factors are derived from the empirical findings of the research and combined into a dynamic conceptual framework that contributes to reconfiguring existing analyses of urban movements. As such, by its critical relationship to existing urban social movement theory and through its novel methodology, the thesis aims to make significant contributions both to the conceptualisation and empirical analysis of contentious politics in urban space.

This research study sets out to identify and examine the ways in which the white majority have traditionally comprehended ethnic minority coninunities with particular reference to the role played by television in representing such coninunities. In the British context, television has come to dominate social and cultural life to the extent that the Reithian principles for television (that is, to educate, inform and entertain) have become crucially important in the maintenance, if not absolute creation, of notions of national culture. Given the concentration of ethnic minority corrinunities in mainly inner-city areas, for the majority of white people, their only contact with such corrrnunities is through the vicarious experience afforded by television. The medium's role in representing ethnic coninunities honestly and realistically is thus vital and if for no other reason deserves careful examination. My principal hypothesis is that television, through its characterisations of ethnic minority comunities, maintains, reinforces and perpetuates stereotypical assumptions already held by the white majority about such corrinunities, which hinder the pursuit of a harmonious and multi-cultural society. In order to test this hypothesis, a survey was conducted with 650 white students attending further education colleges in the Midlands which sought to ascertain their attitudes towards ethnic stereotypes and television. Professionals working in the television industry were also interviewed and a short monitoring study of contemporary television fiction was later conducted. The survey findings suggest, inter alia, that young white people do make stereotypical judgments about ethnic minority people which conform to traditional assumptions; that inter-ethnic friendship tends to mediate the propensity to make more unfavourable assessments of ethnicallyspecific characteristics; and that the perception of ethnic minority coninunities in the real world closely parallel those which exist in the world of television fiction. The specific merit of this study lies in its detailed examination of a significant and important sample population, the study both identifying general attitudes towards ethnic minority coninunities and also relating these general beliefs to student attitudes towards the ethnic portraits typically found in television. The study is thus able to establish that the ethnic stereotypes which exist in the popular white consciousness are regularly rehearsed through the contemporary medium of television.