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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.

In this thesis I study the role of artificial lighting in the everyday urban life of older residents living in the London Borough of Newham. Newham's light infrastructure is currently undergoing change as the borough's entire 19,000 street lamps are being re-placed with Light Emitting Diodes and as a range of regeneration projects provide public spaces designed with new lighting. By increasing visibility and encouraging everyday activity into the evening, the Council claims that the changes in public light-ing will provide 'eyes on the streets' and encourage 'eyes from the windows' of build-ings, contributing to increasing 'natural surveillance'. The Council's avowal of every-day practices in streets and in homes, has made me question how lighting affects the way older residents move through streets and carry out domestic practices as dark-ness falls. The study explores how light planning, lighting design and everyday, rou-tine practices in the public realm and inside homes co-produce the urban, lit environ-ment. Two major contributions of the thesis lie in the (post)phenomenological ap-proach I develop to study everyday experiences of urban lighting, and the methodo-logical framework I employ to research such practices, which combines mobile and visual methods. I have conducted 11 in-depth interviews with nine different planners and designers, 12 walk-along interviews with 22 residents between 58 and 79 years old, and a collaborative photography project with 14 residents between 68 and 96 years old. As I show how older residents experiences different lighting technologies, layers of light, and different lit spaces in their neighbourhoods, I discuss how urban lighting makes them see, feel and carry out routine practices in particular ways. Based on my findings, I argue that urban lighting shapes what, and how, people see, but how people see depends on how they negotiate changes in lighting. In a range of examples where residents mould the urban, lit environment or respond to lighting in different ways, I show how they play and active part in co-producing ways of seeing. I argue it is crucial that light planners and lighting designers recognise such co-constitutive role of everyday practices in order to ensure better lighting for our future cities.

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.

Thesis (Ed.D.)--Baylor University, 2005. / Includes bibliographic notes (p. 210-220).

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Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Nebraska--Lincoln 1980. / eContent provider-neutral record in process. Description based on print version record. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 404-423).