In China, huge population and limited arable land resources constitute one of the basic contradictions in urban mass housing design. As a stereotype, medium-rise apartment buildings were constructed to attain high densities all over the country during the 1980s. The extensive use of the housing typologies caused problems in many aspects. This reflects the poverty of architectural solutions and the consequences of the socio-economic systems of the country. / Focusing on the aspects of single building design and site planning, this thesis analyses the methods to reach high building densities in medium-rise mass housing design in Beijing from 1979 to 1990. The study is conducted through the review of the socio-economic issues and the introduction of mass housing design of the country. It intends to see the interrelationships between ways to attain high building densities and the socio-economic backgrounds. / The research indicates that methods to reach high building densities are many. Ways used in Beijing during 1980s were based on the socio-economic system at the time being. These ways are not appropriate in terms of the unique urban context of the city and could be thus replaced by others.

Over the last forty years, China has been facing major problems resuIting from rapid urban growth. In the last decades, great efforts were made to solve the dramatic housing shortage and to improve the appalling living conditions in overcrowded areas. In 1990, the Beijing municipal government launched a program for the renewal of the old city center. A series of residential projects has been implemented in traditional neighborhoods since then which have affected the character of the old city and the lives of its residents. So far, very few studies have been conducted to assess the implementation of the renewal program. This thesis provides an overview of the regeneration projects implemented in the inner-city of Beijing since 1990. It identifies the diverse approaches currently used, along with their impacts on the traditional environment and its population. The main weaknesses of the renewal program are discussed and suggestions are made for its future transformation.

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published_or_final_version / Education / Doctoral / Doctor of Philosophy

The aim of my PhD project has been to understand how Hutong residents' ideas about living space have been different from those living in the high-rise compound and how their concept of living space has been changed by both internal and external factors, meaning additional affiliated functions and governmental city-planning. I conducted my fieldwork in Beijing between July 2009 and September 2012: fourteen months in total, interspersed with trips to St. Andrews. I spent ten months from July 2009 to May 2010 living in a Hutong called Xingfu Street (the word translates as ‘happiness'). Then I moved into a high-rise apartment outside the inner city, called Suojiafen Compound, for a further four months. This study concerns space in the contemporary city of Beijing: how space is humanly built and transformed, classified and differentiated, and most importantly how space is perceived and experienced. In the end I have developed the concept “overlapped” space as a way to detect the “personality” of space in both Hutong and high-rise apartment: how they differentiated from each other and how they have been transformed in different way by the residents inside.

Beijing is the most important and dynamic city in China. A vital ingredient in that success has been its historic environment- its imperial palaces, its temples, its siheyuans, its hutongs- which provides the texture of the Old Beijing city. The historic environment is key to Beijing’s prosperity and a social asset of value. Nearly all the most prosperous and desirable areas in Beijing, the places where people most want to live, work and visit, are those where the historic environment is a dominant influence. The article, “World Heritage Areas: A Critical Analysis”, written by Peter Neville, Hadley in National Post Canada says: UNESCO's World Heritage List is intended to help preserve historic sites, but in China, inclusion on the list can be the kiss of death. The major "carrot" of heritage designation is the increased levels of tourism its prestige generates. Apparently, not only the designated heritage sites, but all the heritages are faced with the fate of being destroyed by tourism and development. Old buildings and lanes in Beijing never stop drawing visitors. The city, even the whole country is now proud of prosperous tourism which is always associated with ‘economic flourishing’. Virtually, every introduction tourism text contains at least one chapter discussing the social, cultural, and environmental impacts of tourism. This topic has also been the subject of extensive investigation in the academic literature. However, in regions that are undergoing rapid development and where an ethos of conservation has not been established, often surprising ignorance of the negative consequences of tourism exists. In China, the attitude is still that the benefits of economic development outweigh any adverse costs such development may have. However, such an attitude is now seen as being shortsighted. As a result, a more balanced approach to tourism is advocated, acknowledging both its beneficial and detrimental effects on host communities and their cultures. Conservation is about ensuring that we make the best use of our historic environment. It is a tool for managing change. Some still believe that conservation is simple about preserving the fabric of old buildings unchanged and developing the economic potential of tourism. They failed to see that conservation is an overarching work, the opposite of a wasteful society. It is easy to destroy - and today we have the tools, the money and the technology - but difficult to create. Cultural heritage, areas, landscapes and communities are a finite resource. Once lost they are lost forever. The purpose of conservation is to ensure that destruction is kept to a minimum while allowing creativity and innovation to flourish. We should preserve the town of the past for the man of the future. / published_or_final_version / Conservation / Master / Master of Science in Conservation

published_or_final_version / Politics and Public Administration / Doctoral / Doctor of Philosophy

published_or_final_version / Education / Doctoral / Doctor of Philosophy

Gender mainstreaming is defined as “[the] efforts to scrutinize and reinvent processes of policy formulation and implementation across all issue areas to address and rectify persistent and emerging disparities between men and women (True 2001)”. This explanation serves to highlight the dynamic nature of the concept while recognizing the eternal presence of the relational aspect of female/male interaction within society. What strand of institutionalism is employed in the diffusion of gender mainstreaming in the process of development at the various levels of implementation; what are the consequences of improperly conceived institutions as they apply to gender mainstreaming and development; what are the implications for the future institution construction; What if anything is hindering the progress of gender mainstreaming and development; How was relatively similar gender mainstreaming progress achieved by two countries with such different economic capacities? This paper will further consider the answers to these questions as supplied by international organizations, non-governmental organizations, as shown through their development initiatives in Rwanda and South Africa. Gender mainstreaming is the innovative inclusion and dramatic reshaping of power hierarchies through the manipulation of both formal and informal institutions. This paper will reveal the importance of contextual considerations in the creation and reform of institutions in developing states, as they strive to adhere to international standards of gender inclusive development. KEYWORDS: Beijing Platform for Action; Development; Gender Mainstreaming; Institutionalism; Institutions; Transformation; Rwanda; South Africa