Thesis (Ph. D.)--West Virginia University, 2005. / Title from document title page. Document formatted into pages; contains v, 295 p. : map. Includes abstract. Includes bibliographical references (p. 277-294).

This thesis presents an in depth study of the expansion of settlement in Christchurch between 1850-62, the pre-Municipal Council years. It is confined spatially to the 'central city' area within the four Avenues. Four research problems are studied: (1) The laying out of Christchurch by the New Zealand Company surveyors for the Canterbury Association, in particular, the reasons for the use of a grid street pattern. It was found that many factors were involved in its use. These included the personal preferences of the surveyors and the Association committee members, the topographic nature of the site chosen and contemporary planning convention. (2) The initial selection of town sections by the colonists and the reasons behind their choices. The 'orders of choice' of the sections have been tabulated and mapped to show section preference and how the settlers perceived the economic value of particular areas of the town grid for their commercial prospects. Town section auctions, leases, sales and subdivisions as well as church land are investigated. (3) The sale of the Town Reserves surrounding the town section area is also studied; the reason for their early sale, the nature and characteristics of the sales including prices and purchasers and their occupations. It was found that the prices paid were significantly related to the spatial positions of the lots within the Reserve blocks and to the time of their sale, in response to contemporary land values. There was no significant relationship between prices and the occupations of the buyers. (4) Public works undertaken by the Association and the Provincial Government are studied and their relationship with immigration and population figures. The scale of public works carried out at particular times was found to relate both to available finance and to immigration, the source of labour. Various aspects of public works, for example, street and footpath formation and bridging and drainage work were found to be indicative of differential growth between periods of depression and prosperity.

This thesis presents an in depth study of the expansion of settlement in Christchurch between 1850-62, the pre-Municipal Council years. It is confined spatially to the 'central city' area within the four Avenues. Four research problems are studied: (1) The laying out of Christchurch by the New Zealand Company surveyors for the Canterbury Association, in particular, the reasons for the use of a grid street pattern. It was found that many factors were involved in its use. These included the personal preferences of the surveyors and the Association committee members, the topographic nature of the site chosen and contemporary planning convention. (2) The initial selection of town sections by the colonists and the reasons behind their choices. The 'orders of choice' of the sections have been tabulated and mapped to show section preference and how the settlers perceived the economic value of particular areas of the town grid for their commercial prospects. Town section auctions, leases, sales and subdivisions as well as church land are investigated. (3) The sale of the Town Reserves surrounding the town section area is also studied; the reason for their early sale, the nature and characteristics of the sales including prices and purchasers and their occupations. It was found that the prices paid were significantly related to the spatial positions of the lots within the Reserve blocks and to the time of their sale, in response to contemporary land values. There was no significant relationship between prices and the occupations of the buyers. (4) Public works undertaken by the Association and the Provincial Government are studied and their relationship with immigration and population figures. The scale of public works carried out at particular times was found to relate both to available finance and to immigration, the source of labour. Various aspects of public works, for example, street and footpath formation and bridging and drainage work were found to be indicative of differential growth between periods of depression and prosperity.

abstract: Sustainable development in an American context implies an ongoing shift from quantitative growth in energy, resource, and land use to the qualitative development of social-ecological systems, human capital, and dense, vibrant built environments. Sustainable urban development theory emphasizes locally and bioregionally emplaced economic development where the relationships between people, localities, products, and capital are tangible to and controllable by local stakeholders. Critical theory provides a mature understanding of the political economy of land development in capitalist economies, representing a crucial bridge between urban sustainability's infill development goals and the contemporary realities of the development industry. Since its inception, Phoenix, Arizona has exemplified the quantitative growth paradigm, and recurring instances of land speculation, non-local capital investment, and growth-based public policy have stymied local, tangible control over development from Phoenix's territorial history to modern attempts at downtown revitalization. Utilizing property ownership and sales data as well as interviews with development industry stakeholders, the political economy of infill land development in downtown Phoenix during the mid-2000s boom-and-bust cycle is analyzed. Data indicate that non-local property ownership has risen significantly over the past 20 years and rent-seeking land speculation has been a significant barrier to infill development. Many speculative strategies monopolize the publicly created value inherent in zoning entitlements, tax incentives and property assessment, indicating that political and policy reforms targeted at a variety of governance levels are crucial for achieving the sustainable development of urban land. Policy solutions include reforming the interconnected system of property sales, value assessment, and taxation to emphasize property use values; replacing existing tax incentives with tax increment financing and community development benefit agreements; regulating vacant land ownership and deed transfers; and encouraging innovative private development and tenure models like generative construction and community land trusts. / Dissertation/Thesis / Ph.D. Sustainability 2013

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Rapid economic development and urban expansion of the Bangkok Metropolitan Region (BMR) places pressure on biomes and communities alike. In a world suffering from the increasing effects of climate change, unchecked urbanisation comes at the expense of carbon sequestrating environments. The modernisation, concretisation and gentrification of this low-lying, deltaic, monsoonal metropolis has seen its traditional, water-based urban morphology replaced with a solid state of perception, parallel to a loss of flood mitigating infrastructure. As the metropolis’ boundaries expand into its hinterlands, agriculturally productive land is being converted to residential, commercial and industrial development and the fate of low-income urban populations and farmers lies in the hands of speculators hoping to capitalise on increasing land values. Combatting this backdrop of neoliberal urbanisation is legislative framework intended to prevent speculation, yet it results in additional ecological damage as landowners clear natural-growth forests and mangroves to meet tax-reducing criterium. The purpose of this thesis is to examine the reasons behind and consequences of under-regulated urbanisation and gentrification and the effects this has had on the vulnerable ecology and communities of the BMR. It provides lessons on how previous short sighted and poor development regulations will have enduring social and environmental consequences long into the future and how adoption of traditional morphological ways-of-life and legislative amendments can limit further damage. The legacy of neoliberal urban development resulting in gentrification and underpinned by conflicting local planning laws are analysed and supported by various theoretical materials, field studies and interviews.

Né en 1727 à Briançon, Jean-Antoine Morand a 14 ans lorsqu’il se lance, suite à la mort de son père, dans une carrière artistique. C’est à Lyon qu’il s’installe et fonde, en 1748, un atelier de peinture. Il reçoit des commandes officielles et privées, travaille régulièrement pour la Comédie, se spécialise dans la peinture en trompe-l’œil et la scénographie, y compris les machines de théâtre. À la fin des années 1750, encouragé par Soufflot, il se tourne vers l’architecture et l’embellissement, ainsi que l’y disposent différents aspects de sa première carrière.Architecte autodidacte, Morand souffre d’un déficit de légitimité et tente d’y remédier en recherchant la reconnaissance publique. Mais ses succès, en particulier la construction à titre privé d’un pont sur le Rhône, n’y suffisent pas. La carrière de Morand est tiraillée entre fierté entrepreneuriale et appétence institutionnelle. Son image pâtit de l’opposition entre spéculation foncière et promotion du bien public. Cela concerne en particulier son grand œuvre, un projet d’agrandissement de Lyon sur la rive gauche du Rhône, compris dans un plan général donnant à la ville la forme circulaire.Morand a peu construit et il ne subsiste presque rien de son œuvre pictural. On dispose en revanche d’un fonds d’archives privé d’une grande richesse, sur lequel s’appuie cette thèse, afin de mettre au jour les intentions, les relations et la psychologie d’un architecte autrement méconnu. / Born in 1727, Jean-Antoine Morand is 14 years old when he embraces an artistic career, following his father’s death. Having settled down in Lyon, he establishes his own painter’s workshop in 1748. Receiving public and private commissions and working for the theatre on a regular basis, he specializes in trompe l’œil painting and stage-setting, including machinery. In the late 1750s, spurred on by Soufflot, he turns to architecture and city-planning, as various aspects of his previous career could have prompted him to.As an autodidactic architect, Morand suffers from a lack of legitimacy against which he pursues public recognition. But his successes, which include the building of a privately-owned bridge across the Rhône, aren’t enough. Morand’s career is torn between entrepreneurial pride and his longing for tenure. His public image is marred by the alleged opposition between land speculation and the defense of public good. This concerns mostly his great work, a project for the extension of Lyon on the left bank of the Rhône, included in a circular general city plan.Morand hasn’t built much and very little remains of his pictorial work. This thesis is based on an extensive private archive that allows us to explore this otherwise unsung architect’s intentions, relations and psychology.