This thesis seeks to review Urban Sustainability in cities of the Developing South within the broader spectrum of Sustainable Development. Notably, the Developing South has for many years struggled to embrace Sustainability in its general terms: in part, because of the fragile institutions that cannot be counted on to uphold sustainability in the truest sense of the word; and in part because of the numerous challenges that often distract any attempt to prioritize Sustainable Development. Sustainability then becomes an option in the midst of other options, rather than an option that should affect all other options. Narrowing it down further to matters urban makes it even stranger in a host of cities across the Developing South. It is against this backdrop that this study seeks to examine in depth the contextual challenges that have invariably stood in the way of Sustainable Development across the Developing South. While it may not be practically possible in a four-month study to offer outright solutions or recommendations that could address these challenges in entirety, this study nevertheless has endeavoured to stay true to the realities that are often ignored whenever challenges of Sustainable Development are mentioned on global platforms. Among these realities is the reality of slum presence in most cities of the Developing South that existentially complicates any equation for urban sustainability ever formulated to provide a way out or forward for these cities. State governments understand this too well, and so do Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) and international organizations alike involved in the crusade for improved living conditions for city resident, and in particular slum residents. Yet the State governments have never been as resolute in their quest for slum free cities. The question then remains: exactly what are the sustainable approaches for this noble cause? While the State governments have over the years insisted on enforcing conventional approaches (that include forced evictions, relocations and/ or redevelopment); one international network, however, thinks and responds differently to slum situations. The network is Shack/Slum Dwellers International (SDI). It is considerably this network of slum dwellers and their undeniably innovative approach to urban sustainability and inclusivity that largely frames the direction and general content of this study. Specifically, the methodology adopted in the study is one of a Case study - which in this case is SDI; and two separate Cases, namely Railway Relocation Action Plan (RAP) in Nairobi, Kenya and slum Re-blocking project in Joe Slovo, Cape Town, South Africa, respectively - as typical cases that captures in large part the enormous contribution that SDI is making towards inclusive and sustainable cities in the Developing South. In the discussion part, however, the study introduces Soft Systems Methodology (SSM) as a comparative methodology to SDI’s approach. SSM particularly benefits from LUMAS model and Social Learning – both key components that potentially reserve a dynamic capacity to enriching SDI’s approach as a future reference methodology for urban sustainability and inclusivity.

<p>Heterogeneous school communities are becoming more apparent under local and global conditions. A school community is more diverse and similar, not only racially but also in respect of&nbsp / economic, cultural, national and ethnic identities. Schools would require leaders who are mindful of the need for conflict sensitivity and social reconciliation within a globalising&nbsp / classroom.Through the lens of critical constructivism, I investigated the extent to which a higher education institution achieved the aims of the ACE in School Leadership, a continuing&nbsp / professional development programme. I relied upon a qualitative research approach to gather rich descriptive data from interviews conducted with nine school leaders who had graduated from the ACE School Leadership programme. The Literature Review is based on readings regarding critical constructivism, globalisation, conflict‐sensitivity and reconciliation.I found that the&nbsp / programme expanded the school leaders&rsquo / basic knowledge about conflict sensitivity and social reconciliation, but not sufficiently in terms of developing a critical consciousness to deal with&nbsp / conflict effectively. I concluded that conflict‐sensitive schools required school leaders that produced knowledge critically through a rigorous process of engagement and reflection. The ACE School Leadership programme had limitations in the extent to which it could prepare and equip school leaders in this regard.</p>

Public spaces are the fundamental elements of urban space. Their quality significantly enhances the quality of urban life. Despite their inevitable significance, the &lsquo / inclusivity&rsquo / of public spaces has been threatened, especially in contemporary cities, primarily by the neoliberal policies, globalization and the recent advances in communication technologies. Besides, the declining &lsquo / inclusivity&rsquo / of public spaces is also resulted from the provision and management policies, leading to exclusive places, rather than creating inclusive spaces for all. Public spaces are no longer inclusive spaces, melting pots of the urban arena. They are rather spaces of exclusion due to exclusionary design and management policies. This research aims to examine the notion of &lsquo / inclusivity&rsquo / of public spaces and to identify the attributes, which describe this notion. It focuses on Gen&ccedil / lik Parki in Ankara &ndash / one of the biggest urban parks in Turkey and one of the most important open public spaces of the Republican regime. It examines the changing &lsquo / inclusivity&rsquo / of this urban park from its construction to nowadays under four historic periods regarding four types of &lsquo / access&rsquo / : physical access, social access, access to activities and discussions, and access to information. Based on the findings, it discusses the factors and urban design strategies for the improvement of the &lsquo / inclusivity&rsquo / of Gen&ccedil / lik Parki. It also makes more general recommendations for the enhancement of the &lsquo / inclusivity&rsquo / of public spaces in the city center of Ankara and other Turkish cities.

In today's world there is a need for products and services that are accessible to all individuals. Universal Design is the concept that products and environments should be usable by all people, to the greatest extent possible, without the need for adaptation or specialization. There is a growing need for such products. However, many products are not accessible to all potential customers, arguably due to a lack of experience, design tools, and engineering methods for creating universally designed products. This research compares paired products to determine the differences between "Universal Design (UD)" and "Standard" Products. For each pair of products, a functional model and activity diagram were developed and analyzed. For each product pair, the identified differences in the products were recorded in a Universal Design differences database. Through systematic analysis of the Universal Design differences database and other research in Universal Design, a set of three Handheld Universal Design Tools was created. The toolset consists of the Handheld Universal Design Checklist, The Handheld Universal Design Guidelines, and the Handheld Universal Design Matrix. These three tools are designed to be used in the concept generation phase of product design or redesign. The Handheld Universal Design Tools were evaluated using a human subjects experiment. Control and test groups were asked to generate concepts for redesigning a product. The metrics of quality, universality, laterality, senior usability and inclusivity were used to evaluate the design concepts. The results of the study suggest that Handheld Universal Design Tools assist engineers in generating design concepts appropriate for Universally Designed products. As a part of the research, Universal Design was presented to first year mechanical engineering students with pre- and post- surveys on the students' perceptions of engineering. Subsequent analysis of the surveys indicated that exposure to Universal Design affects students' perceptions of engineers' overall role in society and their capacity to help others. The Handheld Universal Design Checklist, Guidelines and Matrix represent an initial step to provide engineers with tools to create Universally Designed products. / text

<p>Heterogeneous school communities are becoming more apparent under local and global conditions. A school community is more diverse and similar, not only racially but also in respect of&nbsp / economic, cultural, national and ethnic identities. Schools would require leaders who are mindful of the need for conflict sensitivity and social reconciliation within a globalising&nbsp / classroom.Through the lens of critical constructivism, I investigated the extent to which a higher education institution achieved the aims of the ACE in School Leadership, a continuing&nbsp / professional development programme. I relied upon a qualitative research approach to gather rich descriptive data from interviews conducted with nine school leaders who had graduated from the ACE School Leadership programme. The Literature Review is based on readings regarding critical constructivism, globalisation, conflict‐sensitivity and reconciliation.I found that the&nbsp / programme expanded the school leaders&rsquo / basic knowledge about conflict sensitivity and social reconciliation, but not sufficiently in terms of developing a critical consciousness to deal with&nbsp / conflict effectively. I concluded that conflict‐sensitive schools required school leaders that produced knowledge critically through a rigorous process of engagement and reflection. The ACE School Leadership programme had limitations in the extent to which it could prepare and equip school leaders in this regard.</p>

Magister Educationis - MEd / Heterogeneous school communities are becoming more apparent under local and global conditions. A school community is more diverse and similar, not only racially but also in respect of economic, cultural, national and ethnic identities. Schools would require leaders who are mindful of the need for conflict sensitivity and social reconciliation within a globalising classroom.Through the lens of critical constructivism, I investigated the extent to which a higher education institution achieved the aims of the ACE in School Leadership, a continuing professional development programme. I relied upon a qualitative research approach to gather rich descriptive data from interviews conducted with nine school leaders who had graduated from the ACE School Leadership programme. The Literature Review is based on readings regarding critical constructivism, globalisation, conflict‐sensitivity and reconciliation.I found that the programme expanded the school leaders’ basic knowledge about conflict sensitivity and social reconciliation, but not sufficiently in terms of developing a critical consciousness to deal with conflict effectively. I concluded that conflict‐sensitive schools required school leaders that produced knowledge critically through a rigorous process of engagement and reflection. The ACE School Leadership programme had limitations in the extent to which it could prepare and equip school leaders in this regard. / South Africa

The nature of Matthew’s community has been investigated by a number of scholars in the past and present. Currently, the debate centers on whether the Matthean community was a society with egalitarian structure consisting of equals. This study has also focused on the social structure of the Matthean community. The basic question is whether (or not) the Matthean community was an egalitarian group in an ancient advanced agrarian society in the first century Mediterranean world. If so (or if not so) does the Matthean community lack a hierarchical structure? This study suggests that the Matthean community was not an egalitarian structured society. The term “egalitarian” would not be applicable to the Matthean community, because the term “egalitarian” is a modern Western political and philosophical concept, which has its origin in the French revolutionary movement. The Matthean community was rather a socially stratified group in an ancient advanced agrarian society in the first century in the Mediterranean world. Consequently, the Matthean community was not a society with an egalitarian structure; rather, it was an inclusively structured society. This study has utilized two methodologies. Firstly, the investigation uses narrative criticism to analyse Matthew’s intention of his inclusive structured community depicted through Jesus’ inclusive ministry. This methodology considers the narrator’s point of view concerning Jesus’ ministry as he journeyed from Galilee to Jerusalem. Secondly, this research uses social scientific criticism to explore the Matthean text in order to consider Jesus’ ministry. This approach on Jesus ministry was reflected in the context of Matthew’s inclusive structure community. The Matthean community was socially mixed, consisting of Israelites and Gentiles. It was written in the years between 80 to 90 CE. The city of Antioch was the most likely setting for Matthew’s inclusive community, however hierarchically structured. A narrative point of view reading of Matthew’s story shows that Jesus was the protagonist involved in an inclusive ministry in accordance to God’s plan for the salvation of all people. The Israelite leaders are antagonistic to Jesus’ ministry, and they exclude social and religious outcasts. The disciples of Jesus help Jesus with his inclusive ministry, while the crowds help the Israelite leaders. However, there are times when the disciples do not understand Jesus’ inclusive ministry. The audience of Jesus’ inclusive ministry was the crowd. This inclusive ministry shifts from Galilee to Jerusalem and his ministry comes into conflict with the ideology of the Israelite leaders. Jesus’ focus was inclusive but the Israelite leaders were exclusive. Matthew’s depiction of Jesus’ inclusive mission completed with his death on the cross. A social scientific approach reveals that Matthew’s interpretation of Jesus’ inclusive ministry is directed to social and religious outcasts. His ministry includes sick people, sinners and tax collectors who are from the lower classes within a hierarchically structured society. Jesus’ ministry was reflected in the context of Matthew’s inclusive community. This study shows that the Matthean community was not a society with an egalitarian structure; rather, it was an inclusively structured society within a hierarchical context. / Thesis (PhD (New Testament))--University of Pretoria, 2006. / New Testament Studies / unrestricted

The Swedish Armed Forces can be considered a hegemonic masculine organisation with deeply embedded patterns of patriarchy, as well as fratriarchy represented by notions of homogeneity and the male soldier. Women are highly underrepresented and face multiple double standards related to their performance of gender and more precisely performance of femininity. However, the Swedish Armed Forces claim to be an inclusive organisation and advertise this through different recruiting strategies, which display women in uniforms. This thesis uses the methodology of qualitative research by combining the methods of critical discourse analysis and critical visual analysis to analyse the representation and the performativity of gender in a recruiting advertisement for inclusivity by the Swedish Armed Forces. I argue that this advertisement led to a certain form of reproducing stereotypical notions of femininity by representing women who embody certain requirements connected to beauty standards. At the same time, notions of hegemonic masculinity and patriarchy are challenged through the representation of women in military uniforms.

Cette thèse analyse les relations entre consommateurs et marques de luxe, etcomment cette relation évolue au 21ème siècle. Face au défi de la désacralisation face aux mutations de la société, liées à l’hypermodernité, à la démocratisation du luxe, à Internet et aux médias sociaux, les marques de luxe traditionnelles recherchent desmoyens de rester pertinentes et sacrées. Nous décrivons comment le sacré évolue etcomment les marques utilisent les propriétés du sacré pour rester des marques de luxe.Notre hypothèse principale est que le concept de sacré dans la société évolue etnous proposons donc un cadre théorique qui décrit un nouveau sacré potentiel pour que les marques de luxe restent souhaitables pour les consommateurs du 21ème siècle.Nous avons mené des entretiens approfondis avec les consommateurs de marquesde luxe, analysé les données Instagram et effectué des analyses ethnographiques etnethnographiques sur les ensembles de données, ce qui nous a permis de donner unpremier aperçu et de découvrir le rôle et l’importance du caractère sacré des marques de luxe.Nos résultats montrent trois tendances dans les relations des consommateurs avecles marques de luxe, qui sous-tendent différentes visions du sacré. Celles-ci vont du (1) sacré traditionnel, à savoir l'exclusivité, au (2) nouveau sacré, à l'inclusivité, et (3) à la fusion de l'exclusivité et de l'inclusivité. / This thesis analyzes the relationship between consumers and luxury brands, and how this relation is changing in the 21st century. Facing the challenge of being desacralized by the changes in society, stemming from hypermodernity, the democratization of luxury, the Internet, and social media, traditional luxury brands are looking for ways to remain relevant and sacred. We describe how sacredness is evolving and how brands are using the properties of sacredness to stay luxury brands.Our main assumption is that the concept of sacredness in society is evolving, and we therefore propose a theoretical framework that describes a potential new sacredness for luxury brands to remain desirable for consumers in the 21st century.We conducted in-depth interviews with luxury brand consumers, analyzed Instagramdata, and performed ethnography and nethnography analyses on the data sets, allowing us to provide first insights and findings on the role and importance of sacredness for luxury brands.Our findings show three patterns in the relationship of consumers to luxury brands,underlying different visions of sacredness. These range from (1) traditional sacredness, i.e. exclusivity, (2) new sacredness, i.e. inclusivity, and (3) a fusion of exclusivity and inclusivity.

Many scholars have researched on the effects of individual mediation strategy following the categorization by Touval and Zartman (1985), and Bercovitch (1991). Despite the growing recognition of the potential synergetic effects among different strategies, not many systematic studies have been done on that aspect. This thesis contributes to this understudied aspect of mediation approach by asking What is the impact of mediation strategy on quality peace after civil war? The study adopts the method of structured, focused comparison along with the detailed process tracing on four cases of peace agreements and their mediation process from Northern Ireland, Mindanao, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Niger. The study aims to test a theoretical argument linking combined-application of mediation strategies with high quality peace. The empirical findings provide a modest support to hypothesis and a weak support to the causal mechanism, as not all cases, having applied all three strategies, have achieved high quality peace and have promoted third-party guarantee and inclusivity. While the empirical findings point to other contextual factors that may affect the peace agreement implementation, the findings also indicate a potential promising mediation approach that combines directive strategy either with communicative-facilitative or procedural strategy putting more weight on the latter strategy.