Transforming car-oriented streets into functional public spaces and pedestrianised environments have typically been undervalued in conventional transportation, planning, and health literature. Yet urban regeneration initiatives have the potential to create environments that support active transport (e.g., walking and cycling), social interaction, and economic development. There is very little evidence-based research, however, around pedestrianisation. Few international studies have examined the association between pedestrianisation with health, social and economic outcomes from a stakeholder perspective, and there was a dearth of evidence in the New Zealand context. Limited knowledge also existed regarding the similarities and differences in attitudes toward pedestrianisation for key stakeholders, and how this impacted on the urban planning process. As such, the aims of this thesis were to determine: 1) who the users were, how they travelled, and how much money they spent in the Takapuna shopping precinct; 2) how the spending habits and travel behaviours of adult shoppers may be influenced by pedestrianisation in Takapuna’s shopping precinct; and 3) the shopper, retailer, and local government attitudes and behaviours toward pedestrianisation in Takapuna’s shopping precinct. A comprehensive literature review formed the theoretical framework for the following two research chapters (Study 1 and 2), where data was gathered from face-to-face surveys and semi-structured interviews using adults drawn from the Takapuna shopping precinct. In Study 1, a total of 325 shoppers and 62 retailers participated in a cross-sectional survey between May and June 2009. The majority of shoppers accessed the shopping precinct by motorised transport (65.8%). The main finding of this study is although median spend per trip was similar for shoppers across all transport modes ($20.00 per trip), those who actively transported to the shopping precinct visited the area more frequently than shoppers who travelled by automobile (median 12 versus 6 trips per month, respectively; p-value = 0.032). This resulted in shoppers using active transport modes spending more money in total than shoppers who travelled to the precinct by motorised transport. Shoppers reported a more negative perception of the shopping precinct when compared with retailers’ perceptions. Retailers’ perceptions of shopper mode of transport to the area, perceptions of traffic flow, and pedestrian access were similar to those reported by shoppers. Subsequent changes to the urban environment that support the increased use of active transport modes may enhance economic development through increased purchasing frequency and provide public health benefits through greater accumulation of physical activity. Study 2 investigated the perceived benefits of pedestrianising the shopping precinct in Takapuna, Auckland with key stakeholders. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with nine stakeholders drawn from three groups: shoppers, retailers, and local government. Shoppers and retailers perceived pedestrianisation schemes as a way of improving aesthetics, connectivity and accessibility, safety, public transport infrastructure, and walking and cycling levels within the area. Retailers were concerned about the impact of short-term construction on retail revenue. Local government respondents realised the potential of pedestrianising the area to improve existing infrastructure and to become more economically competitive with other nearby retail options. All stakeholders recognised the importance and benefit of securing collaborative input into urban regeneration schemes, and identified that the initiatives must be considered within a long-term cohesive strategic framework. This research adds to the growing body of urban regeneration research by identifying associations with physical activity and economic outcomes, and substantially contributes to the knowledge base within the New Zealand context. The evidence presented in this thesis supports that changes to the urban environment that support pedestrianisation in shopping precincts will likely provide long-term benefits, namely greater economic spend within the area and opportunities to accumulate physical activity.

On 6th July 2005 the London Olympic bidding committee won the right to host the 2012 Olympic Games. Some seven years later London’s Olympic venues were built on time, Team GB accumulated an unprecedented medal haul and no significant security incidents occurred. These outcomes facilitated an understandable positive evaluation of the 2012 Games. It would be churlish not to be positive; Olympic venues experienced during Games are breathtaking. World records and Olympic contests are exciting. Olympic narratives that bond competitor and audience alike are inclusive and unifying. However, the prevalent belief that Olympic hosting provides unambiguous benefits to local communities is less sound. The evaluation of this assumption provides the focus for this inquiry, it follows French sociologist Pierre Bourdieu by considering that ‘one cannot grasp the most profound logic of the social world unless one becomes immersed in the specificity of an empirical reality’ (1993, p. 271). Accordingly, this research contrasted the rhetoric and reality of 2012 Olympic-delivery via an ethnographic inquiry in the Olympic borough of Newham. This location is defined as a ‘non-place’ wherein the majority of the Olympic restructuring and events occurred. This research addresses Olympic-delivery issues of inclusion, exclusion, power relations, ideology and identity, in doing so it argues that the relatively short Olympic-delivery time-frame necessitated a divisive segregation between ‘Olympic’ and ‘non-Olympic’ Newham. Furthermore, it is argued that 2012 Olympic-delivery was orientated towards the needs and goals of Olympic migrants, of various description, rather than enhancing the lives of those living within a community that was rife with crime, poverty and deprivation. Consequently, this research considers that the Olympic milieu disseminated the capitalistic norms and values to global, national and local audiences. The outcome of such processes facilitated a renegotiation of place-identity and place ownership within Newham that was orientated toward attracting a future affluent populace whilst concomitantly vilifying the pre-Games community. This research concludes that such attempts to re-mould Newham into a post-Olympic utopia where prosperous and educated families, to follow the Newham council strap line, ‘live, work and stay’ are based upon the short-sighted assumption that creating an aesthetically pleasing entertainment location is tantamount to creating a desirable location for sustainable family life.

Johannesburg is by international standards, a young city. Yet in its brief existence, just under 120 years, it has exploded from a mining camp into a metropolis - The economic capitol of both South and Sub Saharan Africa (Johannesburg Development Agency, www.jda.co.za). The rapid, and in most cases, poorly planned development of the city has resulted in the destruction of many of the city's heritage resources. Today historical buildings and historical areas exist side by side with contemporary office and residential tower blocks - juxtaposing the city’s past and present in the constant struggle for new space for development and densification. Past and present exist simultaneously, if not always harmoniously - a collision in space and time. / Dissertation (MArch (Prof))--University of Pretoria, 2007. / Architecture / unrestricted

Within the contemporary urban renaissance, culture and visual arts act as catalysts for change. Art and culture-led approaches, working across disciplines, provide wide social and economic benefits that affect people, places and communities. The proposed design develops a synthesis between the arts, culture, economy and urban vitality by creating a platform for artists. The goal of the project is to connect Pretoria's multicultural richness and strengthen the network of creativity and cultural regeneration. The project is shaped and informed by the living urban surface in which it is set. It is specific to its site and program, rather than the product of a formal and aesthetically driven vision. The building is allowed to transform into a living connective skin that transforms between the fragments of unforeseen future programs, becoming part of the city skin. / Dissertation (MArch(Prof))--University of Pretoria, 2008. / Architecture / unrestricted

In this thesis I describe state directed transformation through urban regeneration policy in the context of Moss Side, Manchester in the North West of England. The thesis explores connections between the state project of urban regeneration and the lives of residents’ who were targeted by strategies. The thesis therefore moves from economic and political contexts that informed the policies of urban regeneration to how they were implemented and by whom, and then into the personal lives of residents in order to demonstrate connections between these. The latter half of the thesis focuses particularly on residents who were associated with the gang “GCG” who were often the targets of regeneration strategies. The thesis deals with a variety of themes: global cities, governance, constructing race, recognition politics, localities, simulations and violence. These are grounded in detailed ethnography describing Moss Side through residents lives which transformed as a result of regeneration policy. The thesis argues that urban regeneration strategies do not (as is often argued by regeneration practitioners) relieve the difficulties existing residents experience and yet often have far reaching consequences. I demonstrate this through a variety of examples: new governing structures, consultation processes, anti-social behaviour orders (ASBOs), gang members strategies opposing displacement, pirate radio disc jockeys searching for legitimacy, and the threat of sexual violence.

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The importance of the creative and cultural capital in the economic development of post-industrial inner cities has been widely demonstrated by urban development literature as it interacts with the physical environment and sustains regeneration processes. However, also in depressed and peripheral neighbourhoods, creative firms, museums, art-based nonprofit organizations, cultural associations, and independent artists can be identified as actors of substantial urban revitalization. The main purpose of this contribution is to understand the potential of third sector organizations related to the arts and culture in the emergence of virtuous patterns in urban regeneration strategies. Data and case study about not-for-profit entities engaged in revitalization projects through innovative artistic expressions in deprived areas of Naples, Italy, are analyzed. Within the general framework of urban redevelopment processes through specific not-for-profit models and tools, this research aims to understand if these actors can be identified as engines of urban regeneration and what lessons policy-makers may learn by these practices.

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