is thesis explores the overarching topic of the capacity of strategic urban development decisions and initiatives (including planning initiatives) to positively and powerfully influence the ability of a city to promote sustainable patterns of development. The work is presented in six scientific papers, the first four of which focus on the development of an inter-disciplinary conceptual framework and research methodology. The concept of Situations of Opportunity and its related Field of Options is proposed as a means to identify and analyse periods in the growth of cities when urbanisation can be more easily managed so as to promote sustainable development goals. Historical studies in the cities of Stockholm, Dar es Salaam and Curitiba are used to develop the methodology. Another paper looks ahead and refines the methodology in combination with future studies, presenting a research strategy that employs Situations of Opportunity as a means to identify and explore periods in the future urban growth with significant potential for change. Building on the method developed, the remaining two papers consider the social dimension of sustainable development and how it can be promoted in the urban context, during ongoing Situations of Opportunity. The concept of social sustainability is reviewed and discussed from two different disciplinary perspectives (urban development; companies and products), exploring commonalities and differences in approaches, and identifying core themes that cross disciplinary boundaries. A case study of Eastside, a brownfield redevelopment site in Birmingham (UK), reveals how the retention of established small food outlets can provide opportunities for promoting social sustainability goals in an urban regeneration area. Overall, this thesis provides a better understanding of how transformative change can happen in cities. The Situations of Opportunity concept developed here can be a helpful way to study strategic initiatives that promote sustainability in cities. / <p>QC 20101216</p>

This paper puts forward a new approach to the revitalization of vacant and neglected buildings and spaces by introducing the use of temporary pop-up environments. The initial research establishes groundwork for pop-up environments and temporary use, while pointing to their potential. Records from specialists, Florian Haydn, Robert Temel, and Philipp Oswalt, exhibit various types of temporary uses and interim strategies. Strategies are displayed in their selection of sites and operation. These strategic approaches will support transitioning space and present interim projects, which have the prospect of utilizing space as a secondary means, while a more primary use of space is in development. The case studies will demonstrate the temporary use strategies and social factors, which may establish new meaning to facilitate change. By presenting possibilities of repurposing through temporary and interim uses, there is the opportunity for renewal and averting the dependence on massive (re)development, sustaining a city’s heritage.

Thesis (D.Phil. (Town and Regional Planning)--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2008.

Thesis (D.Phil. (Town and Regional Planning)--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2008.

Sustainable urban development is a concept that has become increasingly important as the urbanization continues and more and more challenges are focused to the cities.  The Swedish government and authorities regulates and sets goals for how a sustainable urban development is to be achieved. These laws and goals are vaguely defined, which leads to disputes between the actors about how the term should be interpreted. By examining Västermalms Strand, an urban development project in Stockholm, this study strives to describe how involved actors interpret the concept of sustainable urban development and what the consequences of this are for urban development in Stockholm from an ecological, social and economic perspective. A case study has been carried out where a document study and interviews have been conducted. The interviews were conducted with four key actors from the private and public sector. The study shows that there exists no unified definition of what sustainable urban development is among the interviewees. Possible consequences of this are that the economic aspect can gain higher priority than the ecological and social, this because the economics of a project rarely can be compromised. However, there is a large common desire to develop a good city, which can be seen as a prerequisite for future sustainable urban development in Stockholm.

Urban renewal policies in welfare state period are usually associated with the paradigm of social engineering that was dominant between 1940s and 1970s. However, in the wake of the fiscal crisis of the state in 1970s, and the following hegemony of the new right, urban policies including the renewal schemes have been ever-increasingly dominated by the deregulatory market oriented policies and rent seeking concerns. De-regulatory urban renewal policies focusing mainly in squatter areas have also dominated the urban policies and political discourse in Turkey since the mid-1980s and little attention has been paid to the negative consequences of these policies. Today, more than ever, residential redevelopment presents cities with a fundamental dilemma. In order to change the social and spatial condition of disstressed areas, alternative policies are implemented through either market or state-led redevelopment schemes. However, very same renewal schemes directly or indirectly leads to displacement of lower-income population, raising concerns over political equity. Likewise, overall success of these schemes often complicated by their impact on the macro-form of the cities. The main objective of this study is to discuss the impacts of de-regulatory urban renewal policies on the socio-spatial structure of contemporary Turkish cities in which, social exclusion and spatial segregation are becoming increasingly widespread. The case of Dikmen Valley Redevelopment Project provides us with the opportunities to conduct this discussion since it is one of the most significant urban renewal projects in Turkey and it is regarded as a model for the forthcoming gecekondu transformation projects. The thesis argues that although the scheme has been led by the local authority, the logic of market which revolves around the rent-seeking activities has dominated the redevelopment process in the area and main losers are the tenants who live in the squatters subjected to redevelopment.

Urban identity can be defined as the intuition of the user, concerning the unique appearance of a city, which unifies environmental, historical, sociocultural, functional, and spatial values in urban space. In that sense, whether negative or positive, the impacts of the urban developments and differentiations, on physical environment and the user, cause to differ the impression about the urban space and the identity features. Bodrum town started lose its spatial, architectural, socio-cultural, functional, local values and urban identity, which were remaining before 1970s, with the wrongly planned and managed developments. In that sense, the objective of the thesis is to analyze this transformation process through the framework of urban morphology, urban functions, and meanings in urban space, and besides three study areas that were chosen in neighborhood scale are going to be analyzed considering the urban transformation that take place after 1970s within the context of planning approaches. In conclusion, some suggestions will be given to strengthen and sustain the remaining urban identity features in present time.

This research is an investigation into the phrase 'intermediate landscape' and tests this concept in the re-development of the Sanya waterfront, China. The phrase is based on the 'missing link' in the current disconnection between the landscape and urban development in Sanya city. If the landscape is considered as a connection across scales and urban systems rather than an isolated system, then how can landscape affect the structure and function of urban development? The 'intermediate landscape' considers the impact of understanding landscape not as an additional layer, but as a structure that can connect the urban context at different scales while at the same time addressing its function. This project attempts to formulate strategies of 'intermediate landscape' to coordinate the transformation of developing cities.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--York University, 2003. Graduate Programme in Environmental Studies. / Typescript. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 341-370). Also available on the Internet. MODE OF ACCESS via web browser by entering the following URL: http://gateway.proquest.com/openurl?url_ver=Z39.88-2004 & res_dat=xri:pqdiss & rft_val_fmt=info:ofi/fmt:kev:mtx:dissertation & rft_dat=xri:pqdiss:NR00376.

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