This thesis explores social relations in Ottessa Moshfegh’s My Year of Rest and Relaxation (2018) through Doreen Massey’s conceptualisation of space. With the assumption that social relations are formed through and by space, the thesis analyses the protagonist’s interactions with space in the novel. It is explored how the protagonist navigates space through unconscious actions, blurring imagined public/private distinctions, as well as how occupying space may be an alienating experience, pointedly sensed as a growing distance between body and mind. Continuing, the thesis examines the protagonist’s attempts to negotiate space and problematises the effectiveness of these attempts against the ubiquity of space. Following this is a reflection on the limitations of Massey’s theory, along with concluding remarks concerning potential shortcomings and opportunities for further research.

Experienced by thousands of children every year, professional theatre for young audiences TYA) is still a relatively new and understudied phenomenon in Canada. The purpose of this research has been to learn why teachers bring their students to the theatre, specifically Young People’s Theatre (YPT), and to determine how these connect to the perceptions of those who work at and with the theatre. In order to understand the complexities of the impetus to bring students to YPT, the limitations and successes teachers encounter in doing so, this ethnographic study was situated at the intersection of spatial and curriculum theories and has included surveys, interviews and participatory observation. This research provides greater understanding of the challenges and benefits of including theatre-going in one’s educational repertoire. These new insights contribute to contemporary scholarship on aesthetic education and arts-based community building and provide opportunities for further research about teaching and learning through theatre.

Experienced by thousands of children every year, professional theatre for young audiences TYA) is still a relatively new and understudied phenomenon in Canada. The purpose of this research has been to learn why teachers bring their students to the theatre, specifically Young People’s Theatre (YPT), and to determine how these connect to the perceptions of those who work at and with the theatre. In order to understand the complexities of the impetus to bring students to YPT, the limitations and successes teachers encounter in doing so, this ethnographic study was situated at the intersection of spatial and curriculum theories and has included surveys, interviews and participatory observation. This research provides greater understanding of the challenges and benefits of including theatre-going in one’s educational repertoire. These new insights contribute to contemporary scholarship on aesthetic education and arts-based community building and provide opportunities for further research about teaching and learning through theatre.

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本文主旨在以空間理論的方法，探討選舉制度與競選策略的關係。即是以形式化的演繹方法，討論候選人或政黨在不同的選舉制度下，各種策略的選擇會導致何種結果，從而推論出候選人或政黨所應採行的最適策略。全文共有五章，分別略述如下： 　　第一章導論，第一節介紹研究的動機與目的，第二節介紹研究的範圍與方法。 　　第二章則是選舉制度，競選策略與空間理論基本模型的說明。 　　第三章討論單一選區制下候選人的競選策略，包括多數決的二人爭一席模式，相對多數決的多人爭一席模式，與絕對多數決二段投票制。 　　第四章討論非單一選區制下的政黨競選策略，包括頓特最高平均數法名單比例代表制，單記可讓渡投票制，與單記非讓渡投票制。 　　第五章結論，第一節總節主要的研究結果，第二節則提出研究的限制與對未來研究的建議。

By examining five types of astronomical and celestial phenomena—comets, constellations, the zodiac, planets, and the music of the spheres—this thesis posits not only that early modern dramatists were influenced by established and emerging natural philosophy as habits of thought that manifested in their writing, but also that astronomical phenomena operate within the drama, performance, and in the theatre as elements for creating and developing a distinctly spatial dramaturgy. Using theories from the spatial turn, this thesis maps the positions, edges, disturbances, and motions of celestial properties within the imaginary and physical space of early modern drama and theatre. It argues that the case study plays examined within this thesis demonstrate a period-wide engagement, rather than an authorial-, company-, theatre-, or even genre-specific practice. Dramatists developed techniques using astronomical phenomena as dramatic methods that occasionally underscored early modern astronomical thought. However, in many cases constructed plots, characters, visual and sound effects, and movements transgressed astronomical expectations. Dramatists broke down constellations, inserted new stars in the heavens, created zodiacal females, launched pyrotechnical comets, moved planets unexpectedly across the stage, and played (and refrained from playing) celestial "music" for the audience. Recognising composite and often contradictory astronomical constructions within the drama, this thesis moves the critical discussion away from an intellectual history of natural philosophy and gravitates toward an active astronomical dramaturgy.

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民主國家中選舉是獲得政治職位、聲望或權力的主要途徑之一，有許多因素會影響選舉結果，其中選舉制度是決定在位者與挑戰者去留的關鍵，決定如產生當選者，選舉制度往往會影響候選人的參選動機、競選方式、選民的投票行為，甚至會造成不同類型的政黨政治。本研究主要探究立委選舉從第七屆開始實行單一選區兩票制後，區域立委候選人的政治立場相較於過去在複數選區單記不可讓渡投票制下，是否有所不同或發生改變。本研究以兩岸議題為例，以第五屆及第七屆區域立法委員候選人為分析單位，並依其選舉公報採內容分析法為研究焦點。本研究有幾個研究發現：首先、選制改革有相當程度反映在屆別的差異上，對立委候選人兩岸立場造成影響；其次、雖然新選制下立委候選人提出更多的兩岸政見，但所提出的兩岸政見，新選制相較於舊選制，不但統獨立場趨中，且論述語氣略微和緩，此一發現支持中位選民定理，也就是說，在單一選區相對多數決制之下，立委候選人的兩岸議題不管在方向或是程度上，相較SNTV制度均有往中間靠攏的趨勢，意即新選制下的立委候選人在政見立場方向，是符合理論預期往意識形態光譜中間移動，傾向提出方向趨中且統獨維持現狀或中立的兩岸政見。 / In democratic country, election is the main approach for the politicians to receive position, reputation, and power. Many factors affect the result. Electoral system is one of the key causes to determine who-incumbent and challenger- will win the election. In addition, electoral systems also affect the process of producing winner, the candidates’ motive and campaign, the electorate’s voting behaviors. and even different types of party politics. This paper targets on the district legislators’ behaviors. Do their behaviors change after the electoral reform transiting from SNTV to Single-District Two-Votes System? To be more specific, I focus on the fifth and seventh terms of legislators as the analysis unit, and explore their attitudes or campaign platform on Cross-Strait issue, which are published on the campaign communique. I used the content analysis to analyze the campaign communique. There are several findings implied from this research. First, electoral system indeed affects legislators’ positions on Cross-Strait issues. There is significant difference between the fifth and seventh terms of legislators. Second, comparing with the fifth term, although the seventh term of legislators propose more Cross-Strait-related campaign platform, their attitudes are more moderate. This finding supports the median voter theorem. Under the Single-District System, comparing with SNTV, legislators will stand on moderate position on Cross-Strait issue, no matter on direction or intensity. In conclusion, the findings fit to my expectation that the seventh term of legislators stand on moderate position on the political spectrum. They are incline to propose more neutral campaign platform. They prefer maintaining the status quo to unification or independence.

This thesis examines the proposed Österskans development in Halmstad, Sweden from the approach of critical urbanism. With a steady increase of population growth for the past decades and despite the income level of the municipality's population being above the national average - the socio-economic segregation in Halmstad is prevalent. The planned development of the Österskans area, a former node of public transport located in the city centre, would see the space refitted to house a large-scale skyscraper complex containing a hotel, an urban market, a restaurant and a rooftop bar. The development and imposed semi-privatisation of the current public place have sparked debate, and a referendum on the matter will take place at the time of the national elections in september of 2022. This study employs the method of critical discourse analysis to investigate how aspects of convivial urbanism embeds the discourse on public space in Halmstad, how the development of public places can be understood through the discourse on shared spatial qualities in the case of Österskans and what implications such qualities could have on segregation. The theoretical framework consists of theory of space and place, critical urban theory on the right to the city, uneven geographical development, the human body as accumulation strategy as well as theory on conviviality. By the examination of 13 texts as qualitatively selected representatives of the discourse, the analysis centered around on how narratives, intertextual relations and structures can be understood. In the analysis, matters of how the narratives on conviviality is positioned, how social sustainability is addressed and avoided, assumptions of who constitutes the public, market value and attractiveness, the portrayal of diversity and inclusion versus the reality of it, the feasibility of achieving togetherness and the potential harmful implications of the development are all discussed. The study concludes that while claims of conviviality clearly do feature, the narratives of the discourse overlooks crucial factors of social sustainability and leaves blind spots of how to tangibly achieve inclusivity - along with the understanding of the inside experience of the consumer being prioritized and that it could negatively impact segregation by imposing an even further further socio-spatial divide.