Making Planning Popular explores the extent to which the design of new forms of online communication platform might enable a more mutual, agonistic relationship between popular discourse and public planning in England. Building upon an analysis of extant ‘planning’ discourse on popular online forums in the UK, a process of research through design led to a prototype platform, Building Rights, which provides a provisional test of how such a relationship might be created and reinforced online, in a manner that builds on the sympathies and practices already present in the popular domain. By failing to address the dichotomy between planning and the popular, the promise of a wider citizen engagement in public planning made in the era of Localism (for instance DCLG, 2012A: 6) has not been fulfilled, both on its own terms and in the context of a wider societal rejection of extant models of representative democracy. Meanwhile, recent critiques of contemporary public planning and of the democratic project in which it sits, such as in the work of Colin Ward, Leonie Sandercock and Chantal Mouffe, strongly suggest that a more mutual, agonistic relationship between planning and its ‘people’ is not only possible but desirable. Can the planning system, or part of it, be reconceptualised as an ‘open’, ‘agonistic’ political space in which the role of the public is as vital as the role of the trained professional? Can the emerging paradigm of the ‘collaborative’ planner be fulfilled or expanded upon by exposure to the popular? Can the paradigm shift represented by the ever-increasing significance of social media, and new forms of design, be used to aid in these transformations? This research firstly explores contemporary popular on-line discourse related to building activity and built environment decision-making in order to explore how the English public currently relate to and understand the planning system, and the terms through which ‘planning discourse’ is actually undertaken using social media and online discourse platforms. In parallel, a design research practice led to the development of a prototype digital platform, Building Rights. To test this prototype, a charrette (a design workshop wherein the on-line life of the platform 3 could be simulated and tested) was staged, the results from which form an analysis of the potential and limitations of such platforms in reconnecting English public planning with its public. Making Planning Popular is the first investigation of popular online discourse concerning public planning, the first to explore popular perceptions of public planning within social media and online discourse, and the first to test the role of the designer in expanding the significance of that discourse in the transformation of the built environment.

Over the past five decades, Riyadh, the capital city of Saudi Arabia, has witnessed many organisational, economic, social and demographic transformations, all of which have contributed to its rapid growth. This growth, which exceeded the city’s plans to meet the needs of a growing population, resulted in many neighbourhoods experiencing limited services and utilities. Along with governmental efforts to manage the spread of residential areas, several agencies accountable for providing residential services have sought to exploit the potential of geospatial technologies as a means for improving the planning, management and decision-making processes needed to address these issues. Government support has provided a major boost towards the improvement of geospatial technology usage in different areas. However, the use of these technologies in the context of residential infrastructure delivery is limited. This research investigates empirically how the implementation of geospatial technologies can be improved in the agencies concerned with the delivery of residential infrastructure, with the aim of developing strategies to enhance the exploitation of the available technologies in support of decision-making. To achieve the research objectives, the researcher carried out an extensive review of the literature, official reports and documentation, and conducted a Delphi study through three successive consultation rounds, involving a set of experts representing all concerned agencies. The results revealed that shortcomings in organisational, technical and human aspects are the primary reasons behind the limited use of geospatial technology tools in the planning process for residential infrastructure delivery. This in turn assisted in the development of consensus-based strategies for addressing these issues. The research contributes to the existing body of knowledge in the field of urban studies by offering a better understanding of how the employment of geospatial technology tools could be improved in the context of residential infrastructure delivery in rapidly growing cities in general, and the city of Riyadh in particular. It also offers a practical contribution to decision makers in the agencies concerned with residential infrastructure delivery, who work to improve the activities of these technologies to achieve the best use of their implementation. The research results are expected to help researchers to conduct further studies on the development of the use of geospatial technologies in the context of Saudi Arabia.

This research thesis presents an organisational framework for the management of virtual cities for hosts to adopt when seeking to produce and maintain a virtual city for use as a tool for urban planning related activities. The framework functions as an over-arching business model or structure, a general methodology for defining the organisational processes of virtual city enterprises. In achieving this aim, the research outlines standards and protocols for its creation, legal issues for its distribution and suggested processes for the update of 3D data. The diverse issues and needs of various stakeholders are addressed (Horne et al., 2006) in order to challenge the organisational issues and common concepts involved in creating, hosting and managing a city model (Voigt et al., 2004). Preliminary investigations showed that extensive research has been carried out on 3D and virtual city modelling techniques and their application, but the theoretical organisational and management issues for hosting 3D virtual city models needs to be addressed (Hamilton et al., 2005; Dokonal and Martens, 2001) through a ‘guiding source book’ for the creation and use of 3D city models(Bourdakis, 2004). This thesis explores the current state of virtual city modelling and its origins through literature research as well as an investigation into suitable business modelling practice. Pilot studies and an interview process with current virtual city hosts informed the research of current practice in the field. An organisational framework is subsequently put forward that combines elements from each of these investigations using a business model ‘canvas’ that can be adopted by current or prospective hosts and adapted to suit their circumstances, applications and users. The framework addresses the technical aspects of establishing a virtual city model, such as 3D data capture methods, spatial data infrastructure and modelling protocols in order to present a roadmap for virtual city enterprises. This correspondingly outlines a development from traditional and static datasets of geometry in ‘3D city models’ to more serviceable and user-centric ‘virtual city enterprises’. The organisational framework introduces 7 key areas that virtual city hosts should address for sustaining their enterprise that encompasses the technologies and expertise. Hence, this research makes significant contribution to knowledge by bringing together the many considerations that virtual city hosts must consider when creating a sustainable process to support urban planning.

During the 20th Century, concern started to grow that the towns of England were losing their individual identity. This unease became most evident in the development of new houses. The aim of the study is therefore to produce a framework that encapsulates recommendations to assist in the development of regionally responsive houses. The research is located in England, and specifically in the market towns of the North East. This is because Northumberland is perceived as a remote county, and therefore strongly expressive of the region. Within the county, the market towns are centres of traditional lifestyles, and therefore places where regionalism is most likely to be found. The focus is on domestic architecture, as this is individuals’ most immediate and personal interaction with the built environment. An early part of the study was to investigate the concepts of regionalism and regional architecture. The history of regionalism has been a transition from local methods to increasingly standardised approaches to design. This has resulted in a loss of identity through the use of design strategies that are not context driven. It is a lack of focus on region that makes similar architectural responses ubiquitous. Without a concerted focus on specific places, the nuances of climate, culture, and materiality cannot be sufficiently explored. Although there has been significant research into variation of architectural response and material use, there is no overall picture of the significance of vernacular architecture. However, as these houses are historic by nature, questions emerge about their relevance and whether they are replicable. The neo-vernacular revival may be a response. The study confirms the widely-held belief that speculative housebuilders dominate the market for new homes in England. These housebuilders started to produce the same houses all over the country, with little challenge from development control. The response was residential design guides, which aim to preserve the unique qualities of the built environment that have contributed to the character of market towns. However, their consistent emphasis on the past, does not offer the basis for developing a framework that can deliver contemporary regionally-expressive domestic architecture. Thus, a fundamental appraisal of home was undertaken, as a means of unpacking positive interaction between people, place and building that can form a set of socio-cultural values. The purpose of the appraisal was to identify aspects that may contribute to regional identity. This was applied in terms of the development of market towns in England, and a system for the architectural analysis of their houses. Corbridge in Northumberland, was selected as a typical market town, and the system was employed to assess its houses. The outcomes were verified by similar analyses of schemes in three other market towns in the region. Residents in all four towns were interviewed to determine the factors that influenced their purchase of the houses. Architects, planners and house developers were also interviewed to determine their perspectives. All parts of the study contributed to the framework, which is organised in terms of historical context, geographical context and design considerations based on the architectural analysis.

The electric vehicles (EVs) are emerging as an alternative solution to the conventional gasoline vehicles. The EV market faces different issues related to limited range, which are associated with the battery technology and the charging network. A clear emphasis is placed on how well the supporting recharging facilities (RFs) are deployed in order to reduce the limited range. The aim of this study is to investigate how suitably the locations for RFs can be chosen in order to satisfy the demand. Charging demand is a multifaceted problem, the majority of them charge at home and do not experience the maximum range of the EV in an attempt to avoid being stranded with a flat battery, and the deployment of rapid chargers is costly. A desired balance between supply and demand can be achieved by identifying the most influential factors affecting the design and use of the RFs. The fundamental monitoring of the use of RFs would reflect the quality of design, highlight the emerging design needs, and assist with the strategic deployment of the RFs. The interest in alternative transport is shaped primarily by consumer perceptions and users’ feedback. This thesis integrates visual and statistical elements in order to understand the end-­‐user emerging design needs and to model the RFs. In this thesis, over 12,725 charging events were analysed in conjunction to 20 interviews with EV users and stakeholders. With the use of an agent-­‐based modelling technique, it has been possible to capture and simulate the electric-­‐mobility system. By means of integrated spatiotemporal modelling, the results indicated that the proposed model is capable of identifying candidate locations for deploying RFs. A multi method approach is presented to understand the concepts of, model and design the RFs. The outcome of this research should be of interest to planning authorities and policy makers of alternative means of transport.

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Ever since the 1990s, when the Private Finance Initiative (PFI) was developed as the primary method for delivering major public-sector capital projects in the UK, it has been severely criticised for the lack of design quality in the buildings that it produced. The main driver for this thesis was to redress that situation. The development of an Architectural Design Quality Evaluation Tool was based on a live project with a metropolitan council in the North East of England. The aim was to improve the design quality of schemes that had been submitted through a PFI to replace the council’s entire sheltered housing stock. The Tool has two functions. It was a substantial part of the assessment process, which selected the preferred bidding consortium from the original six bidders, through a series of stages. However, it was also directed at improving the quality of all submitted designs through an iterative process. While existing tools provide useful benchmarks, and some offer means of structuring an evaluation, none are totally applicable in the context of PFI competitive bidding processes. Moreover, the existing tools are good for evaluating performance attributes of buildings, and these are important, but do not substantially tackle the less tangible amenity attributes that are vital to engendering the feeling of home. This Tool emphasises the amenity attributes without neglecting performance, thus generating a design quality hierarchy. The criteria for assessment are derived from academic publications. In order to reflect the hierarchy, each criterion was weighted on a scale of one to five, in accordance with multivariable utility theory. The percentage allocation to each main heading of the Tool was determined by the local authority Project Team. A User Guide was developed to assist the evaluation of schemes. The Tool itself was appraised at the final stage, assisting the selection of the preferred bidder. The designs were evaluated in three reviews, thus providing 156 results. The Tool and its development have been published, and the Tool and the User Guide accepted by the Homes and Communities Agency as an example of good practice. Both currently appear on its website. The Tool continues to assist other social housing providers with the design quality of their own projects.

The number of social housing developments in the city of Campo Grande, Brazil, has undergone a significant growth over the past few years. Between 2014 and 2016, averages of 3,000 new homes per year have been constructed in the city, which has around 860,000 inhabitants. However, there seems to be a mismatch between the provision and residents’ needs. This research investigates the history of housing for the lower income people in Brazil; and its development in the city. The theoretical perspective focuses on the concept of community and the nature of home; and the data collection analyses whether these are being delivered in practice. The studies on the history of housing for lower income people in Brazil and its development in Campo Grande identified top down strategies adopted by the government and local authority. By contrast, the investigations of community and home development demonstrate that the residents’ views should be incorporated into any development strategy. The data collection was based in six social housing estates in the city, built between 2011 and 2015, using both quantitative and qualitative methods. The first stage was an investigation of documentation regarding social housing programmes and the local regulations. The second phase involved questionnaires with 464 residents; and the final part centred on interviews with heads of departments in the local authority and 36 residents. The data collection discovered issues regarding a lack of community facilities, and inflexibility in the layout and materials of the houses; especially regarding alterations and extensions. The outcome of the thesis is a set of Guidelines for the Development of Social Housing within the My House My Life Programme, to supplement the local regulations in Campo Grande. They provide guidance from the layout of the estate, to the design of the houses. They have been evaluated by the local authority departments, who have responded positively, and stated that they are willing to incorporate them in future proposals.

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