Title from PDF of title page (University of Missouri--Columbia, viewed on Feb. 11, 2010). The entire thesis text is included in the research.pdf file; the official abstract appears in the short.pdf file; a non-technical public abstract appears in the public.pdf file. Dissertation advisor: Professor Carmen Chicone. Vita. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (M.U.D.)--University of Hong Kong, 1996. / Includes bibliographical references (leaf 86).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Texas at Austin, 2002. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references. Available also from UMI Company.

published_or_final_version / Architecture / Master / Master of Landscape Architecture

In theoretical development history, the issue of “urban public space” is one of the central themes in the domain of urban planning and design, which has played as a medium for interdisciplinary discussions on the relationship between built environment and the social relations behind. In present Chinese cities, the market economic reform in recent decades has brought profound impacts on Chinese society, which is mostly represented by an infusing of private realm to the universal public realm in the planned economic era at all dimensions of space production. However, the production of urban space in China under market economic reform is not lead by an articulated theory of public space. The notion of “Chinese urban public space” remains as a technical definition, and the essential attribute, namely, the “publicness” of urban public space, seems to be conspicuously absent from theoretical discourses in present Chinese urban planning and design. This dissertation is an empirical study on Chinese urban public space in cities under market economic reform. It aims to find out how space production mechanisms in the economic reform period constitute the nature—the attribute of “publicness”—of Chinese urban public space. The study is built upon a set of theoretical underpinnings— the public space theories in urban studies and the theories on the relationship between built environment and the socioeconomic background. In particular, the study adopts the sociospatial perspective of the “production of space” theory established by French philosopher Henry Lefebvre as the theoretical rationale for the methodology. It takes a case study method for its empirical exploration, for which, the city of Shenzhen is chosen as the case study area. Through case investigations, the study demonstrates that the universal socialist publicness of Chinese urban public space in the planned economic era has disappeared with the market economic reform. The production of urban public space in Chinese cities is no longer a technical issue dealing with merely the physical dimension of space, instead, it represents a process of conflicts and contradictions, in which different actors, interests, and ideologies fight as well as interact for the use, interest, and representation of space, and wherein sociospatial relations are reconstructed. Further, through investigation on the institutional forces behind space production, the study demonstrates that there are institutional paradoxes in present Chinese space production mechanisms, which are roots of the conflicts and contradictions in the production of public space. These paradoxes have led to a general “loss” of “publicness” in Chinese urban public space, which are represented in some common and yet fundamental aspects of changes. The findings of this study are considered to have important implications for understanding the nature of Chinese urban public space in Chinese cities in the market economic reform era. It also contributes to a better understanding on the space production mechanisms as well as their relationship with the social-economic settings in present Chinese transitional society. / published_or_final_version / Architecture / Doctoral / Doctor of Philosophy

How public’s social and political power can be sustained in public space? From Tahrir Square to Zuccotti Park, physical public space reminded us of its multiple ambitions and capabilities for accommodating consequential political activities as well as everyday practice of life. Put plainly, place still matters. ‘Design to Occupy’ is a starting point for the revolutionary making of space as well as the making of public. The Occupy toolkit is made for the public to fully utilize the place of the public, the richness and complexity of the toolkit helps users to open a discussion of the interrelationship between individual and the commons, private property and public commodity, the implementation of biopolitics and biopower. The idea of antagonism is used here as a type of programmatic generator, it is when two different positions or views collide between different groups of people. Rather than try to erase this moment, we, as landscape architects, should nurture it and make tools for its production. The three scenarios: the totalitarian, the utilitarian and the utopian, are the demonstrations for three representations of space. They may coexist or standalone in one place at one time. The intent of the design proposal is not trying to render an ideal democratic space, but to promote an independently operating public space that question public’s evolving dialogue with power and governance, especially in Hong Kong. The further intent of the proposal is to test a theory proposed by Michel Foucault, aiming to engage urbanism apparatus with biopower and biopolitics. To offer an idea that the usage of public space cannot be predetermined, but defined by discursive practice of everyday life. / published_or_final_version / Architecture / Master / Master of Landscape Architecture

The lively and enjoyable public spaces are of critical position to planning a great city (Burden, 2014). Public space is widely believed valuable for sustainable urban life due to its provision of physical environment for social interaction and possibly natural diversity. Throughout history, cities as production of human activities provide provision of spaces for public life, such as social communication and commercial activities (Unwin, 2000). Public space is also an important part of what defines the city. At early 1960s, academics in the West criticized that urban planning was abstract and humanly distant (Gehl & Svarre, 2013). Citizen groups fought for urban redevelopment plans in connection with the historical background such as the youth revolution, protests against nuclear power plants or anti-war protests. The activities all took place in public spaces and as now at political dimension public space have it very important position (Gehl & Svarre, 2013). Within the context of global competition, nowadays the provision of public spaces is believed as the enhancement of infrastructure asset for city marketing and promoting the population influx which keep the livability of the city (Gehl & Gemzoe, 2000). However, it’s criticized by scholars that public space has been aided with too much commercial interests and thus public sphere would be impoverished (Degen, 2008). Sequently, it is always critical to keep the public life flourishing. In spite of the commodification of contemporary urban public space, its ever-presented nature of public decided it would be always “in the process of being shaped, unshaped and challenged by the spatial practices of various groups and individuals whose identities and actions undermine the homogeneity of contemporary cities” (MacLeod, 2012; McCann, 1999). At present, the public open space in Hong Kong cannot secure the interest of public and in that case it is not successful to cater public everyday life. The social interaction is significantly affected by the physical arrangement as well as the way such public spaces cater for the specific characteristic of public life in Hong Kong. In this dissertation study, the main focus would be how does the public space of consumption interact with public social life and how could the institutional framework influence the whole process by its power. In context of Hong Kong, consumer culture has strongly influenced urban form by multiple scales of commercial developments, and the public life style has also been shaped by the physical setting and shopping habits. The interaction between human and material can be negotiated and guided by institutional power. By considering power, urban planning practitioners have the responsibility to provide recommendations for public space developments. The dissertation study will develop the research scope to a more specific scope – public open space of consumption in private development, i.e. shopping centers in Hong Kong. In order to carry out the study of public life, key concepts and issues will be examined through literature review. Institutional background of public open space of consumption in Hong Kong will be reviewed for a better understanding of the research. Both Hong Kong and overseas best practices will be studied to find out problems and reference experience in design and managing public open space of consumption. In the end, possible recommendations for planning public open space will be proposed to achieve quality public life. / published_or_final_version / Urban Planning and Design / Master / Master of Science in Urban Planning

Modern cities do not only aim at focusing on economic development solely, but they also need to provide high quality of urban living environment which could achieve social, economic and environmental sustainability. Public open space constitutes an indispensible part in achieving this planning objective. Nevertheless, open space is not a unitary planning concept. It has been being constantly redefined to suit changing social and economic needs. This study investigates the development of land supply and land-use planning of public open space in Hong Kong. It attempts to examine how open space was understood, planned, and provided in different periods in Hong Kong. Open space is presumed to be influenced by the interplay of three main social forces, namely the government, the capitalists, and the people. The interplay of the three forces changes in different periods of time in Hong Kong, resulting in the changing meaning and transformation of open space in the aspects of locations, forms, distributions, and ways of provisions. My key arguments are as follows: In the pre-Second World War colonial period, extraction was regarded as the primary objective of the colonial government. Since the colonial atmosphere shared the idea of earning from re-exporting trade and temporal stay, public open space, except for private leisure facilities, was not truly a concern of any of the social groups. While recreational opportunities and open space were still necessary to attract foreign investments and provide political functions, the colonial government provided open space in a residual manner, utilizing urban fringe areas of Victoria City and existing land-uses for open space functions. To maximize the use of open space, though the government was reluctant to provide, open space was utilized for political functions to preach social conforming behaviours and Western lifestyle to the Chinese immigrants as well as to new Chinese generations. The post-Second World War open space development was characterized by an expansion of the scope of open space, as well as political reform of the municipal governments and the planning institution. Triggered by the large influx of Chinese refugees that migrated to Hong Kong and the rising population of the local-born Chinese youngsters, elected representatives were introduced to the municipal councils. These elected representatives endeavoured to urge the government to provide open space where available, persuading the government by giving new meanings to open space. The planning institution, however, continued to plan open space in a residual manner. Inspired by the Abercrombie Plan, open space was planned towards the countryside and new forms of open space were introduced to expand the scope of open space. The contemporary pattern of public open space is examined by quantitative analyses. Three kinds of open space are examined, namely zoned open space, administered public open space, and public open space within private developments. Results show that large-scale zoned open spaces tend to cluster in urban fringe areas and countryside, whereas zoned open spaces in urban areas tend to be fragmentary. Waterfront and coastal areas, whether in urban or rural areas, are commonly utilized for open space purposes. These findings echo the planning strategy, aiming at shifting open space from the inner urban areas to the urban fringe and rural areas. Administered public open spaces are found to be related to the income level and the ratio of occupational status of a community. The analyses of planning applications further suggest that open space serves as the potential land reserve for various uses instead of being a mere recreational site. Public open spaces within private developments are provided more flexibly compared to conventional public open space in terms of their physical forms and regulations. The manipulations are found to be wittingly introduced by the developers to suit their parochial interests. It is expected that open space will be subject to constant redefinition under further socioeconomic developments and changing compositions of the three social forces. / published_or_final_version / Urban Planning and Design / Doctoral / Doctor of Philosophy

There are many different notions of stratified spaces. This thesis concerns homotopically stratified spaces. These were defined by Frank Quinn in his paper Homotopically Stratified Sets ([16]). His definition of stratified space is very general and relates strata by “homotopy rather than geometric conditions”. This makes homotopically stratified spaces the ideal class of stratified spaces on which to define and study stratified homotopy theory. In the study of stratified spaces it is useful to examine spaces of popaths (paths which travel from lower strata to higher strata) and holinks (those spaces of popaths which immediately leave a lower stratum for their final stratum destination). It is not immediately clear that for adjacent strata these two path spaces are homotopically equivalent and even less clear that this equivalence can be constructed in a useful way. The first aim of this thesis is to prove such an equivalence exists for homotopically stratified spaces. We will define stratified analogues of the usual definitions of maps, homotopies and homotopy equivalences. Then we will provide an elementary criterion for deciding when a strongly stratified map is a stratified homotopy equivalence. This criterion states that a strongly stratified map is a stratified homotopy equivalence if and only if the induced maps on strata and holink spaces are homotopy equivalences. Using this criterion we will prove that any homotopically stratified space is stratified homotopy equivalent to a homotopically stratified space where neighborhoods of strata are mapping cylinders. Finally we will develop categorical descriptions of the class of homotopically stratified spaces up to stratified homotopy. The first of these categorical descriptions will involve categories with a topology on their object and morphism sets. The second categorical description will involve only categories with discrete object spaces.

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