Abstract Yeoville presents a particular context of the inner city in decline and has been identified by the city as a suburb in need of regeneration. In 2004, The Yeoville Rockey/Raleigh High Street Development was conceived as the urban regeneration strategy for the upgrading of the suburb. The objectives of this strategy were to upgrade strategic public facilities and to improve urban management of the area over a period of five years. Through the prioritisation of a privatised urban management system, the aim was to attract a new middle class back into Yeoville (gentrification). However, the absence of a plan for dealing with the socio-economic challenges faced by the existing poorer residents has leads to cultural and class conflicts. International experience has shown that in order to achieve the long-term, strategic regeneration of poorer neighbourhoods, social networks and community development should be prioritised. An effective regeneration strategy should budget for capacity building from the outset and should involve citizens in the design and decision making process in order to ensure that the needs of all the local actors are met and that all possible resources are mobilised. At the forefront of this approach are alternative methodologies like social network analysis, which aim to reconnect the social, cultural and economic dimensions of society to rhythms of space and time. The focus on the mapping of existing social capital resources helps to pinpoint the opportunities, and constraints presented within neighbourhoods and ultimately guide the restructuring process in a meaningful and relevant way.

London 2012 was the 30th Olympiad, and the third time that London had hosted an Olympic Games. The rationale for hosting the Games was to undertake a large-scale regeneration of Stratford and the East London region. The research explored the experiences of community representatives who live and/or work in East London. The research was inductive and focused on the empirical findings of the research via a sociological lens. Three overarching research themes (urban regeneration, socioculturalism, governance and economics). The original contribution to knowledge relates to the limited amount of research previously conducted which take into account all three of these overarching themes. 19 semi-structured interviews were conducted and analysed alongside official documents and newspapers using narrative thematic analysis and critical discourse analysis. Two main findings emerged from the analysis; Marginal Gains and the Ripple Effect. It is recognised that the positivity found throughout the presented narratives may have been present due to the time period in which the research was undertaken. Future research should focus on whether the time period has an influence on the experiences of community representatives and whether similar (economic and governance) is experienced by future host cities.

Student Number : 0415430J - MA research report - Faculty of Humanities / This paper investigates contemporary world city discourse, specifically in regards to the role of arts and culture, and with a focus on the implications of this discourse and policy in the urban African context. The historical legacies of colonial policies and thinking are explored in order to understand the current status of African cities within the world system. These dominant narratives are critiqued and some alternative modes of understanding Africa within the global context are explored. These various discourses are used to investigate the implications in a specific context - that of the current urban regeneration project taking place in Newtown, Johannesburg. This paper will contextualise the language and policy relating to arts and culture from a national government to a city level, in order to unpack some the assumptions that underpin these policies and the impacts that this language and policy have on the arts within a uniquely African urban context.

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Urban regeneration has been accompanying urban development since the earliest human settlement, and was emphasized after the World War Two. Several decades' experience and billions of dollars forced the decision makers to realize the importance of urban image, quality of life, and urban environment, which were recognized as prerequisites and catalysts for the economic development of cities. In this circumstance squares have been involved in urban regeneration projects to create symbol of the city and to provide space for residents, and have been proved to be effective for urban regeneration by many western countries. Dalian, a coastal city in Northeast China presented to be a successful case in the country in involving the construction of squares in regenerating central city to transform the city from a heavy industrial city to a garden city. In the circumstance of urban beautification movement in China, which began in 1990s and was partly symbolized by the construction of fancy, large, but under-used squares, a study on the success of Dalian is indeed needed. This study shed light on the major concerns of Dalian government to create squares in central city, the land use issues of squares, the usage on the squares, and the perception of squares by users. Through the application of key-informant interview, questionnaire survey, and onsite observation, the paper concluded that the construction of squares was part of the urban regeneration policies in Dalian, the major concern was to provide local residents with public open space to enjoy public life, and to improve urban environment. The construction of squares was carefully and systematically planned, the location of squares was pertinent to the land use pattern nearby and to the function of each of the three districts in central city, the squares are fully utilized, and are appreciated by both local residents and tourists. The squares were considered as catalyst in urban environment improvement, urban image enhancement, and tourism and economic development from the perspective of government officials, local residents, and tourists. Implication was provided for other cities in China based on the major findings and reviewed literature, future research opportunities were also suggested.

Urban regeneration has been accompanying urban development since the earliest human settlement, and was emphasized after the World War Two. Several decades' experience and billions of dollars forced the decision makers to realize the importance of urban image, quality of life, and urban environment, which were recognized as prerequisites and catalysts for the economic development of cities. In this circumstance squares have been involved in urban regeneration projects to create symbol of the city and to provide space for residents, and have been proved to be effective for urban regeneration by many western countries. Dalian, a coastal city in Northeast China presented to be a successful case in the country in involving the construction of squares in regenerating central city to transform the city from a heavy industrial city to a garden city. In the circumstance of urban beautification movement in China, which began in 1990s and was partly symbolized by the construction of fancy, large, but under-used squares, a study on the success of Dalian is indeed needed. This study shed light on the major concerns of Dalian government to create squares in central city, the land use issues of squares, the usage on the squares, and the perception of squares by users. Through the application of key-informant interview, questionnaire survey, and onsite observation, the paper concluded that the construction of squares was part of the urban regeneration policies in Dalian, the major concern was to provide local residents with public open space to enjoy public life, and to improve urban environment. The construction of squares was carefully and systematically planned, the location of squares was pertinent to the land use pattern nearby and to the function of each of the three districts in central city, the squares are fully utilized, and are appreciated by both local residents and tourists. The squares were considered as catalyst in urban environment improvement, urban image enhancement, and tourism and economic development from the perspective of government officials, local residents, and tourists. Implication was provided for other cities in China based on the major findings and reviewed literature, future research opportunities were also suggested.

Much attention is paid to the increasing number of people living in cities while a relatively understudied but related phenomenon is silently gaining strength: that of “shrinking cities.” In the context of massive economic restructuring and increasing globalization, a growing number of cities in industrialized countries such as the United States and Canada are experiencing a population decline. The usual approach of planners in shrinking cities is either to do nothing or to focus on “growing” their cities to previous population levels. To date, both approaches have been largely unsuccessful. This leads to the question I ask in this thesis: What are other possible approaches to planning besides a population and economic growth orientation that might be successfully implemented in shrinking cities? A small but growing number of shrinking cities researchers are encouraging planners in shrinking cities neither to focus on growth nor to ignore decline but to focus on planning to meet the needs of the remaining population. While improving the quality of life of existing residents should be the goal of planners in all cities – growing or declining – what is different about this approach in the context of shrinkage is the belief that shrinking cities can offer a high quality of life. In this thesis, I use four general principles of “good planning” in shrinking cities, collected from the literature, as a point of departure for comparing the recent planning exercises in two shrinking cities: Youngstown, Ohio (which has begun to tackle the issues of population decline in a way that is ostensibly resembles the principles of good planning) and Sudbury, Ontario (which has opted for the traditional “growth is the only option” approach). Based on a mix of quantitative and qualitative data, I find that the principles of “good planning” for shrinking cities are in practice difficult to achieve. Whether or not planners in shrinking cities will decide to adopt these principles is influenced by a number of factors, including the presence or absence of young, innovative leadership, levels of devolution and autonomy, current fiscal structures, local economic structure, and political dynamics.

In the 60s, a new notion gentrification was used as a kind of residential transformation and gained importance in the 1970s and 1980s through the world. The notion used for the quarters invaded by upper income people and transformed to eloquent and expensive quarters after some renewal projects. This process is criticized because of some negative effects such as, displacement of old residents, increase of the prices in the area, appearance of conflict between the people of community and disappearance of social diversity. Different waves of gentrification caused transformations in some urban quarters of istanbul. Yeldegirmeni, as an early 20th century historical urban quarter of Kadik&ouml / y, is a potential area that may face with the threat of gentrification in the coming years because of some properties like historical character of the quarter, location that is close to the Kadik&ouml / y center, diverse transportation facilities and the existence of pioneers and investors. Considering that sustainable settlements of a city upgrade the environmental quality and life patterns of the inhabitants, provide social unity between them, increase the social consciousness, this thesis proposes a sustainable regeneration model for Yeldegirmeni to avoid gentrification. iskele Street in Yeldegirmeni is selected to make the spatial and social analyses in the quarter. According to these analyses, a pilot regeneration proposal which includes physical needs, physical interventions, functional decisions, social and environmental recommendations and average total cost is provided for iskele Street. Taking into the pilot regeneration proposal of one street, some decisions are constituted for the regeneration process throughout Yeldegirmeni.

Much attention is paid to the increasing number of people living in cities while a relatively understudied but related phenomenon is silently gaining strength: that of “shrinking cities.” In the context of massive economic restructuring and increasing globalization, a growing number of cities in industrialized countries such as the United States and Canada are experiencing a population decline. The usual approach of planners in shrinking cities is either to do nothing or to focus on “growing” their cities to previous population levels. To date, both approaches have been largely unsuccessful. This leads to the question I ask in this thesis: What are other possible approaches to planning besides a population and economic growth orientation that might be successfully implemented in shrinking cities? A small but growing number of shrinking cities researchers are encouraging planners in shrinking cities neither to focus on growth nor to ignore decline but to focus on planning to meet the needs of the remaining population. While improving the quality of life of existing residents should be the goal of planners in all cities – growing or declining – what is different about this approach in the context of shrinkage is the belief that shrinking cities can offer a high quality of life. In this thesis, I use four general principles of “good planning” in shrinking cities, collected from the literature, as a point of departure for comparing the recent planning exercises in two shrinking cities: Youngstown, Ohio (which has begun to tackle the issues of population decline in a way that is ostensibly resembles the principles of good planning) and Sudbury, Ontario (which has opted for the traditional “growth is the only option” approach). Based on a mix of quantitative and qualitative data, I find that the principles of “good planning” for shrinking cities are in practice difficult to achieve. Whether or not planners in shrinking cities will decide to adopt these principles is influenced by a number of factors, including the presence or absence of young, innovative leadership, levels of devolution and autonomy, current fiscal structures, local economic structure, and political dynamics.

In a period of apparent new economic, political, social and cultural configurations in Western cities, a general diminution of belief in the ability of local government itself to affect significant policy change in response to the global restructuring of the economy has facilitated the emergence of new forms of urban governance in the post or neo-Fordist era, often following American models. Despite the fact that there are some differences in the interpretations of which new forms of urban governance are emerging, there appears to be a general recognition of the need for policy solutions represented by the development of partnerships and coalitions of interests ('regimes') in urban contexts, involving not only local authorities but also a range of private and semi-public actors. The rise of the entrepreneurial model among city governments also forms part of the socalled new urban politics of the post-Fordist era. Similarly, it is commonly argued that there is a growing inter-urban competition between cities for prominence as centres of consumption as one means to replace those traditional urban industrial activities which have gone into decline. This 'post-modern' strategy, including the use of a wide range of prestigious urban projects in areas of consumption such as sports, culture and leisure, has recently become commonplace in the restructuring of many Western cities. In Britain and Spain as elsewhere, some cities are using sport and leisure to drive the regeneration of their cities. Focusing on two European cities subject to large-scale deindustrialisation, Bilbao (Spain) and Sheffield (Great Britain), this thesis applies an urban regime analysis to evaluate the emergence and operation of public-private partnerships in a process of urban regeneration. This comparative study of urban politics also examines the role of sport and leisure in urban regime or coalition construction and the role of urban regimes or coalitions in the development of a sports strategy in the case of Sheffield and a cultural strategy in the case of Bilbao. Following an introductory chapter, the second chapter examines new practices and forms of urban governance, using traditional and 'new wave' urban theories, in particular the formation and operation of urban regimes and their implication for sports policy changes. The contribution of this thesis is to examine the applicability and validity of American models of urban change to the analysis of two different Western European cities that may help to understand how contemporary cities respond to contemporary urban problems. In addition, this thesis expects to expand the analysis of the role of sport in urban regime construction and the role of urban regimes in the development of sports or cultural strategies. The choice of regime theory has implications for both methodology and the subsequent interpretation of events. Thus, the third chapter addresses the general description of the ontological, epistemological and methodological assumptions underpinning regime theory. The fourth and fifth chapters review how urban planning and sport policies have evolved in Spain since the Spanish Civil War and in Britain since the World War II. This provides a context to the core of the thesis, which evaluate urban regime formation and operation and their implications in the development of sports strategies in Bilbao and Sheffield. The concluding chapter seeks to summarise the findings of the empirical research and relates the examples of Bilbao and Sheffield coalitions or urban regimes for economic regeneration to the nature and characterisation of contemporary urban and sports politics.