This thesis considers the question of socio-cultural encounters and conviviality in the context of urban retail marketplaces. It elaborates on the concept of 'conviviality' through two case studies in Greater Manchester, UK. With a focus on town centre marketplaces, this thesis considers what underpins conviviality across three elements: physical and spatial ordering, socio-cultural structure, and management and local governance. In the study of the first element, the role of the built environment and physical dimensions of place is considered in shaping encounter. The social domains of encounter are studied in more depth to explore the second element. And the final element is studied to understand the role of management bodies in shaping and mediating encounter. Marketplaces as a type of micro-public have always been much more than places of economic exchange. As flexible spatial and temporal assemblages, they can provide and provoke vivid and inclusive public spaces. However, their role in the urban fabric has been challenged by the forces of changing shopping habits, a declining economic situation of the high street, and changing urban demographics and cultural composition. While a growing body of literature explores the changing position of marketplaces, there is a gap in the exploration of their social composition, and their capacity to provide a socio-spatial expression of multicultural conviviality. The findings of this research highlight that marketplaces are sites of plural, heterogeneous and distributed practices, identities and cultures that accommodate casual relationships. Based on empirical findings in Bolton and Tommyfield (Oldham) marketplaces, this research concludes that social encounters as means of fulfilling the need for urban social experience should be mediated as well as acknowledged. Therefore, the aim of conviviality and socio-cultural understanding would not be achieved without; first, understanding the mundane practices and social encounters of marketplaces and then, inculcation and facilitation of them by the relevant authorities. This study argues that it is important to maintain the role of marketplaces in the urban public realm, as they have the spatial and social potential to contribute to the social regeneration of cities and communities. This research makes an original contribution to knowledge in terms of (1) developing wider theoretical debates about social encounter and diversity, (2) highlighting the changing role of marketplaces within the wider realm of public spaces and local governance and (3) contributing to the development of a new methodological approach to study social encounters in urban micro-publics.

Urban regeneration has become a frequently and widely used urban transformation strategy in many cities since the beginning of the 1990s. A number of urban regeneration projects have been implemented in declining city centres, old-industrial and harbour sites, and the working-class residential areas and undermined historical heritage sites of cities. The rise and mushrooming of such projects all over the world however brings about the questions related to their success level. This thesis aims to assess the success level of urban regeneration projects according to the measurable (qualitative and quantitative) features of integrated planning approaches. It seeks to develop a model to examine the success level of urban regeneration projects in physical, environmental, economic and social terms. Using case study as a research method, the research focuses on the on-going &amp / #8216 / Rehabilitation of the Fener and Balat Districts Programme&amp / #8217 / in the Istanbul Historical Peninsula, and tries to answer the question of how far this Programme can be successful in terms of regenerating the Fener-Balat Districts physically, environmentally, economically and socially.

No / In this article, the ability of partnerships to generate goods that enhance the quality-of-life of socially and economically deprived urban communities is explored. Drawing on Rawl¿s study on social justice [Rawls, J.: 1971, A Theory of Justice (Harvard University Press, Cambridge)] and Sen¿s capabilities approach [Sen, A.: 1992, Inequality Re-Examined (Harvard University Press, Cambridge, MA); 1999, Development as Freedom (Oxford University Press, Oxford); 2009, The Idea of Justice (Ellen Lane, London)], we undertake an ethical evaluation of the effectiveness of different approaches to partnership activity in city neighbourhood regeneration. We focus, in particular, on their impact on the social regeneration of disadvantaged communities. Governance of cross-sector partnerships, built upon negotiated values and strong community voice, may result in a greater sense of procedural justice, as well as improvements to orderliness in local neighbourhoods. However, distributive justice, the accumulation of, and access to, goods that enable greater participation in society, remains largely elusive within neighbourhood partnership activity. We conclude that social provision that deals fairly with the causes of disadvantage by enhancing the capabilities of local communities and increasing social capital is likely to be a more effective and sustainable approach for partnerships, despite being a longer-term and more costly endeavour.