>Magister Scientiae - MSc / Although the interior operators correspond to a special class of neighbourhood operators, the closure operators are not nicely related to the latter. We introduce and study the notion of topogenous orders on a category which provides a basis for categorical study of topology. We show that they are equivalent to the categorical neighbourhood operators and house the closure and interior operators. The natural notion of strict morphism with respect to a topogenous order is shown to capture the known ones in the settings of closure, interior and neighbourhood operators.

Background: Dementia is a public health priority due to the growth in the ageing population, resulting in an increase of people living with dementia both nationally and internationally. Whilst dementia has been framed as an economic and societal burden, this is not the whole story. People living with dementia have rights and an asset-based approach outlines the contribution that they bring to relationships in the everyday places and spaces where life is lived. To continue to enable people living with dementia to stay in their own home and community and to offer opportunities for social participation and contribution, the neighbourhood is one focus of ageing and dementia policy supporting enabling environments. Although the literature illustrates the significant impact, from multiple dimensions, of the neighbourhood on people living with dementia and their carers, there is a scarcity of evidence about how they define, construct, and interact with their neighbourhood. Aims: This longitudinal study employed narrative inquiry as a methodological frame and used a participatory approach, together with multiple data collection methods, to uncover the meaning, construction and place of neighbourhood in the lives of people with mild dementia and their carers to gain in-depth knowledge of the dynamic relationships between people and environment and of their daily lived experience of dementia. Findings: A total of five couples, where one partner had mild dementia, located in an East Midlands county of England, participated in the study and the age range for people living with dementia was from 66 to 86 years. Participation was longitudinal with the researcher conducting a total of 65 home visits and collecting over 57 hours of interview data alongside other data sources, such as participatory neighbourhood maps. Each case was outlined using the same headings allowing for cross-case analysis and emphasis was placed on the creation and pictorial representation of the neighbourhood maps with data collection led by the persons living with dementia and/or their carers. A cross-case analysis was then applied to the data set where a meta-theme of biographical connectivity to the neighbourhood emerged, supported by two themes of connecting to people and connecting to places. The meta-theme highlighted the significance of personal biographies in influencing neighbourhood connectivity, which further shaped personal biographies. Within this cumulative process, resources and relationships had an effect on biographical connections to the neighbourhood, particularly affecting how the persons living with dementia negotiated environmental opportunities and challenges. The resulting model illustrated the fluid, dynamic relationships between participants and their neighbourhood through the lens of personal biographies. Conclusions: The meta-theme of biographical connectivity to the neighbourhood presented the significance of personal and relational biographies in influencing the subjective view of the experiences of interactions with the neighbourhood. This is the first study where people living with dementia and their carers co-produced neighbourhood maps with the researcher to bring their understanding of spaces, places, and people to life. The study is also an early attempt to support a bottom-up approach to neighbourhood constructions and meanings where the intersection of the life of the person to their self-identified neighbourhood becomes the focal point for supportive interventions. The thesis concludes with a re-contextualisation of biographical connectivity to the neighbourhood and its supporting properties to the literature and outlines its implications for policy, practice, education, and research.

Neighbourhood design is a part of sustainable development, and attempts to create better places for people by reflecting residents' values, as well as coordinating powers, resources, and actions between stakeholders. This research aims to investigate neighbourhood regeneration plans using an activity-based approach. It explores how daily social activities can be modelled using the case study of Brunswick, to develop the analytical and decision-support roles of modelling in the urban design process. The literature about the role of design in urban development argues that the designers' attempts to predict how new environments will actually be used have not often been successful. It is assumed that if the design process incorporates human-centred activities in creating and maintaining neighbourhood places, the certainty and reliability of any future vision will be enhanced. Following a critical review of the concept of activity in urban design and urban modelling, the daily activities of Brunswick residents are investigated through the residents' completion of daily diaries. This data contributes to an analytical activity-based approach. The outcomes provide the analyses of the following areas: the activity choices of individuals and how these choices are linked with the socio-demographics of residents, how current local agencies and the existing physical environment provide opportunities and restrict residents' participation in local activities, and the future activity-based scenarios of change as a result of the neighbourhood regeneration proposal submitted to the Manchester City Council. Ultimately, an activity-based framework is proposed which enables the qualitative analysis of regeneration planning statements, community consultation reports, institutional programmes, and policy documents. The framework then outlines the method of integrating the three above mentioned quantitative results with the qualitative data, and the formation of activity scenarios. This thesis demonstrates how this framework assists local agencies, authorities, service providers, and regeneration teams with regard to improving their services, promoting social integration of residents in neighbourhoods, and linking neighbourhoods to their wider contexts. The modelling results reveal that the elderly residents of Brunswick are isolated, the Brunswick spaces are not frequently used in the evenings, and the existing activities are not popular for male, employed and highly qualified residents. Although Brunswick Church attempts to be the community centre of the Brunswick neighbourhood, the provision of activities in this place is via other organisations. Medlock School and the Sure Start Children's Centre are the community hubs for parents and children to socially interact with other members. In addition, the new layout of the Brunswick neighbourhood after the regeneration scheme will improve the safety level of the Brunswick spaces, but will partially link Brunswick to Manchester. There is the lack of exchanging data as well as the absence of the indication of the reasons and processes that have contributed to the current challenges in Brunswick. Hence, there is inconsistency between the stakeholders' views towards the neighbourhood issues, and limited evidence is available for stakeholders to have a robust future outlook to the regeneration plan.

Chan Wai Shun. / Thesis (M.Phil.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2009. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 193-216). / Abstracts in English and Chinese. / ABSTRACT --- p.III / 緒論 --- p.IV / ACKNOWLEDGEMENT --- p.V / TABLE OF CONTENT --- p.VII / ABBREVIATIONS / LIST OF TABLES / LISTS OF FIGURES --- p.XII / Chapter CHAPTER 1: --- INTRODUCTION --- p.1 / Chapter 1.1 --- Policy Background --- p.4 / Chapter 1.2 --- Research Questions and Hypotheses --- p.6 / Chapter 1.3 --- Conceptualization of Terms --- p.8 / Chapter 1.4 --- Thematic Framework of the Whole Dissertation --- p.11 / Chapter 1.5 --- Methodology and Research Limitations --- p.14 / Chapter 1.5.1 --- The Selection of Case --- p.16 / Chapter 1.5.2 --- The Articulation of Narratives and Discourses --- p.17 / Chapter 1.5.3 --- The Source of Narratives and Discourses --- p.18 / Chapter 1.5.4 --- The Methodological Limitations --- p.20 / Chapter 1.6 --- Potential Contributions --- p.21 / Chapter 1.6.1 --- Contributions to Academic Community --- p.21 / Chapter 1.6.2 --- Contributions to the Diplomatic Community --- p.23 / Chapter 1.7 --- Chapter Summary and the Preview of the Dissertation --- p.24 / Chapter CHAPTER 2: --- A THEORETICAL REVIEW ON EUROPEAN NEIGHBOURHOOD POLICY --- p.25 / Chapter 2.1 --- IR Theories and their Application in European Neighbourhood Policy --- p.25 / Chapter 2.1.1 --- Realism and its Variation --- p.26 / Chapter 2.1.2 --- Liberal Institutionalism and Liberal Intergovernmentalism --- p.28 / Chapter 2.1.3 --- Constructivism and its Application --- p.30 / Chapter 2.2 --- Problems of the Traditional IR Theories --- p.34 / Chapter 2.2.1 --- The Maltreatment of Bargaining Game within EU --- p.35 / Chapter 2.2.2 --- The Maltreatment of EU Polity --- p.37 / Chapter 2.2.3 --- The Maltreatment of EU Foreign Policy --- p.38 / Chapter 2.3 --- From IR ThEories to Policy-oriented Analysis --- p.40 / Chapter 2.3.1 --- The Enlargement Experience of the Usual Reference --- p.41 / Chapter 2.3.2 --- The Cross-pillar Characteristics of ENP --- p.42 / Chapter 2.3.3 --- Criticisms of the Policy-oriented Approach --- p.43 / Chapter 2.4 --- Common Shortfalls of IR Theories and Policy-oriented Analysis --- p.44 / Chapter 2.5 --- Chapter Summary and Preview of Next Chapter --- p.46 / Chapter CHAPTER 3: --- THE TANGLED RELATIONS BETWEEN IDENTITIES AND INTERESTS --- p.48 / Chapter 3.1 --- The Political Context of European Union in the 21ST Century --- p.49 / Chapter 3.1.1 --- The End of Cold War --- p.49 / Chapter 3.1.2 --- The Rise of Transnational Challenges --- p.51 / Chapter 3.1.3 --- The Big-bang Enlargement in 2004 --- p.54 / Chapter 3.2 --- The Demand for a European Identity --- p.56 / Chapter 3.2.1 --- The Common Objective: the Maintenance of EU Institutional Stability --- p.57 / Chapter 3.2.2 --- The Established States: Striving for the Ownership of the Order --- p.60 / Chapter 3.2.3 --- The New Acceding States: Searching for Justification --- p.63 / Chapter 3.2.4 --- The European Commission: Pushing for the Supranational Europe --- p.65 / Chapter 3.3 --- The Supply of European Identities --- p.68 / Chapter 3.3.1 --- Europe as the Christendom --- p.69 / Chapter 3.3.2 --- Europe as a Disintegrated System of Nation-states --- p.70 / Chapter 3.3.3 --- Europe as the Frontier of Capitalism --- p.72 / Chapter 3.4 --- Unsatisfied Demand-Supply - The Limitations of European Identity --- p.74 / Chapter 3.4.1 --- Lacking of Shared Roots --- p.75 / Chapter 3.4.2 --- Absence of Territorial Space --- p.77 / Chapter 3.4.3 --- "Absence of the"" Others´ح" --- p.79 / Chapter 3.5 --- The Reconstruction of Post Cold War Identity --- p.81 / Chapter 3.5.1 --- The Symbolic Creation of the EU Commons --- p.82 / Chapter 3.5.2 --- The Copenhagen Criteria --- p.83 / Chapter 3.5.3 --- The EU Constitutional Project --- p.84 / Chapter 3.6 --- From Identities to Policy - Liberal-Discursive Constructivism --- p.86 / Chapter 3.6.1 --- Constructivist Understanding of European Foreign Policy --- p.86 / Chapter 3.6.2 --- Liberal Conception of European Identity Bargaining --- p.87 / Chapter 3.6.3 --- Discursive Reading of Boundary Formation --- p.92 / Chapter 3.7 --- Chapter Summary and Preview of Next Chapter --- p.98 / Chapter CHAPTER 4: --- THE CONTESTATION BETWEEN THE ACTORS - “PROXIMITY´ح --- p.99 / Chapter 4.1 --- EU Policies Prior to the Proximity Policy --- p.99 / Chapter 4.1.1 --- European Economic Area --- p.100 / Chapter 4.1.2 --- Euro-Mediterranean Partnership --- p.104 / Chapter 4.1.3 --- Partnership and Cooperation Agreements --- p.108 / Chapter 4.2 --- The Proximity Policy as the First Label --- p.110 / Chapter 4.2.2 --- Proximity as the Mapping of European Space --- p.114 / Chapter 4.2.3 --- Proximity as the Reflection of European Project --- p.118 / Chapter 4.3 --- Chapter Summary and Preview of Next Chapter --- p.120 / Chapter CHAPTER 5: --- THE COMMISSION-LED NARRATION - “WIDER EUROPE´ح --- p.121 / Chapter 5.1 --- Representation of “WIder Europe´ح --- p.121 / Chapter 5.1.1 --- Core Europe as the Land of Prosperity and Stability --- p.122 / Chapter 5.1.2 --- Wider Europe as an Empire of Unity in Diversity --- p.126 / Chapter 5.1.3 --- European Union as a Benevolent Normative Civilian Power --- p.129 / Chapter 5.2 --- Policy Practice in Wider Europe --- p.134 / Chapter 5.3 --- Play of Discursive Practices in Winder Europe --- p.137 / Chapter 5.3.1 --- A Freezing Relation towards the WNIS --- p.138 / Chapter 5.3.2 --- A Pseudo European Economic Area --- p.140 / Chapter 5.4 --- Chapter Summary and Preview of Next Chapter --- p.143 / Chapter CHAPTER 6: --- THE COUNCIL-LED NARRATION - “EUROPEAN NEIGHBOURHOOD´ح --- p.145 / Chapter 6.1 --- Changes in Representation in ENP --- p.146 / Chapter 6.1.1 --- From Friends to Partners/Neighbours --- p.146 / Chapter 6.1.2 --- From Friendly Neighbourhood to Problematic Neighbourhood --- p.152 / Chapter 6.1.3 --- From Responsibility to Reciprocity --- p.157 / Chapter 6.1.4 --- More Differentiation but Less Distinction --- p.163 / Chapter 6.2 --- Policy Practice in ENP --- p.167 / Chapter 6.3 --- Play of Discursive Practice in ENP --- p.171 / Chapter 6.4 --- Chapter Summary and Preview of Next Chapter --- p.174 / Chapter CHAPTER 7: --- CONCLUSION --- p.176 / Chapter 7.1 --- Summarization of the Empirical Findings --- p.176 / Chapter 7.1.1 --- European Identity in Wider Europe --- p.178 / Chapter 7.1.2 --- .European Identity in European Neighbourhood Policy --- p.181 / Chapter 7.1.3 --- The Institutional Bargaining Game --- p.183 / Chapter 7.2 --- Further Implications from the Thematic Framework --- p.187 / Chapter 7.3 --- Application of the Framework in Other Areas of European Foreign Policy --- p.188 / Chapter 7.4 --- Future Research Possibility --- p.192 / BIBLIOGRAPHY --- p.193

Although several studies have demonstrated that differential parenting has a negative impact on the children exposed to it, only a small number of studies have attempted to understand why differential parenting occurs within families. The goal of the present study was to examine the contextual correlates of differential parenting. Specifically, the association between parental socioeconomic status (SES) and differential parenting and the association between objective and subjective indices of neighbourhood quality and differential parenting were investigated. Data were collected as part of the Kids, Families, and Places (KFP) study and analyzed using multilevel modeling. Six hundred and fifty families provided data on 881 children. Five hundred and ninety nine families included a father in the home. Close to seventy five percent of children included in the sample were less than six years of age. Differential parenting was assessed separately for mothers and fathers and across positive and negative parenting outcomes. The findings revealed that parental SES was significantly associated with differential parenting for three of four parenting outcomes. For mothers, SES was negatively associated with differential positivity and negativity. For fathers, SES was negatively associated with differential positivity but not negativity. The objective quality of neighbourhoods in which families resided (i.e., measured as a composite score that combined census tract data on neighbourhood disadvantage and interviewer observations of neighbourhood physical and social disorder) was positively associated with maternal differential negativity; however, this association was also moderated by mothers’ subjective perceptions of their neighbourhoods (i.e., measured using maternal reports of neighbourhood collective efficacy). In other words, when mothers perceived their neighbourhoods to be highly cohesive and supportive, exposure to objectively unfavourable neighbourhood conditions was less strongly associated with differential negativity. Objective neighbourhood quality was not associated with the other three differential parenting outcomes of interest. These findings highlight the important relationship that exists between contextual influences both within and outside of the immediate family and differential parenting. Moreover, they speak to the importance of including both mothers and fathers in studies of differential parenting. The merits of using multilevel modelling to investigate differential parenting and suggestions for future research are discussed.

Although several studies have demonstrated that differential parenting has a negative impact on the children exposed to it, only a small number of studies have attempted to understand why differential parenting occurs within families. The goal of the present study was to examine the contextual correlates of differential parenting. Specifically, the association between parental socioeconomic status (SES) and differential parenting and the association between objective and subjective indices of neighbourhood quality and differential parenting were investigated. Data were collected as part of the Kids, Families, and Places (KFP) study and analyzed using multilevel modeling. Six hundred and fifty families provided data on 881 children. Five hundred and ninety nine families included a father in the home. Close to seventy five percent of children included in the sample were less than six years of age. Differential parenting was assessed separately for mothers and fathers and across positive and negative parenting outcomes. The findings revealed that parental SES was significantly associated with differential parenting for three of four parenting outcomes. For mothers, SES was negatively associated with differential positivity and negativity. For fathers, SES was negatively associated with differential positivity but not negativity. The objective quality of neighbourhoods in which families resided (i.e., measured as a composite score that combined census tract data on neighbourhood disadvantage and interviewer observations of neighbourhood physical and social disorder) was positively associated with maternal differential negativity; however, this association was also moderated by mothers’ subjective perceptions of their neighbourhoods (i.e., measured using maternal reports of neighbourhood collective efficacy). In other words, when mothers perceived their neighbourhoods to be highly cohesive and supportive, exposure to objectively unfavourable neighbourhood conditions was less strongly associated with differential negativity. Objective neighbourhood quality was not associated with the other three differential parenting outcomes of interest. These findings highlight the important relationship that exists between contextual influences both within and outside of the immediate family and differential parenting. Moreover, they speak to the importance of including both mothers and fathers in studies of differential parenting. The merits of using multilevel modelling to investigate differential parenting and suggestions for future research are discussed.

The main goal of this study is to investigate the spatial patterns of police-reported crime rates across select Canadian urban neighbourhoods and to explore their relationships with both neighbourhood- and city-level characteristics, as well as neighbourhood spatial dependence. Analyses were based on aggregated data from the 2001 Incident-Based Uniform Crime Reporting Survey (UCR2) and the Census of Population for six Canadian cities: Edmonton, Halifax, Montreal, Saskatoon, Thunder Bay and Toronto. Exploratory spatial data analysis (ESDA) was used to examine the spatial distribution of crime as well as to test for spatial dependence in the crime data. By using multilevel modelling and spatial regression techniques, neighbourhood violent and property crime rates were modeled respectively as a function of both city- and neighbourhood-level contextual variables while controlling for spatial dependence. The results show that crime is not distributed randomly, but tends to be concentrated in particular neighbourhoods, notably around the city centers of these cities. Neighbourhood variance in crime rates is not only dependent on local neighbourhood characteristics, but also on the characteristics of surrounding neighbourhoods, as well as the broader city environment where neighbourhoods are embedded. These findings suggest that strategies aimed at preventing or reducing crime should be developed in light of specific local neighbourhood contexts, while taking into account social forces external to the immediate neighbourhood in the wider social environment.

This dissertation examines how to evaluate a place-based poverty reduction program across different sites and scales. Unpacking urban planning’s dominant, normative construction of poverty, neighbourhoods, youth, and evaluation, this thesis presents an alternative view of evaluation, which recognizes the complexity and diversity of qualitative narratives describing the impacts of targeted human service programs on the places and peoples they serve. To answer this question, I crafted a theoretical framework linking the concept of the right to the city as presented by Lefebvre (1996), to Uri Bronfenbrenner’s (1977, 1979), 1995) understanding of the micro, macro, and meso systems in which children and youth operate. I then conducted a small-scale, qualitative case study of Pathways to Education Canada as it replicated and expanded, to examine and explore different ways of evaluating the success of a place-based poverty human service program. Using a participatory methodology, I listened to different stakeholders’ voices, particularly those of youth and staff, to examine and explore tensions in the construction of success.

Increasing cultural globalisation and the assertion of cultural identities present an interesting opportunity for cities in the postmodern Western World. An increasingly multi-situated polity must better reflect and serve an increasingly self-aware and heterogeneous population in search of better planning, community and social justice. A great deal of research in diversity issues has been conducted in various disciplines, but there is little integration of this theory and even less instruction as to its application. This thesis attempts to address the deficiencies - providing some rationale and some guidance towards the diversification of civic culture as a model of incorporation. Diversification requires a significant shift in our understanding of culture, identity, community and self - an end to mainstream and its hegemony. It places the onus for change on local institutions and operates on an assumption of difference, a desire for meaningful incorporation and a commitment to equality as equity. These principles translate into the pursuit of increasingly differentiated benefits, inclusive participation, varied discourse and inclusive definitions. For the transformation to be truly meaningful and systemic, it must take place in all agencies of civic culture: government, civil society, business, the media and family. A conceptual, prescriptive and evaluative framework for cultural diversification is thus elaborated. Change will require deliberate purpose and action. This thesis attempts to provide some direction by applying the discussion to a level at which most urban leaders, planners and cultural producers work. A local organisation in Vancouver, Canada - a reputed leader in diversity - is selected as a case to illustrate application of the developed framework and to enrich it with an initial investigation of how practitioners work towards the diversification of their individual institutions and their larger socio-cultural environment. It is hoped that strategies learned here, and in future applications of this research, can provide guidance for other organisations and that numerous small efforts will be rewarded with the gradual transformation of the whole.

Depression is the most common mental illness worldwide, and although aspects of the social environment, including social capital and neighbourhood disadvantage, have been linked to depression, the underlying mechanisms are not well understood. Debates within the social capital and neighbourhood disadvantage literatures have yielded mixed findings in studies of depression and an understanding of how social capital may differentially relate to symptomatology in men and women must be solidified. In the first manuscript of this thesis, I assess whether (1) network and psychosocial measures of individual social capital are each associated with depressive symptoms, and (2) the association varies according to whether the capital lies outside or inside an individual’s neighbourhood. The second manuscript investigates whether: (1) neighbourhood disadvantage has a stronger association with depression in women compared to men and (2) if specific social capital factors mediate the association between neighbourhood disadvantage and depression. Data came from the Montreal Neighbourhood Networks and Healthy Aging Study conducted in 2008. Data included telephone interview responses from 2624 adults from 300 census tracts in the Montreal metropolitan area. The CESD-10 instrument was used to assess depressive symptoms. Name and position generator instruments and self-reported questions were used to assess psychosocial and network components of social capital. Multilevel logistic regressions adjusted for a range of socio-demographic and economic characteristics. Manuscript 1 results indicated that core tie diversity as well as the psychosocial measures of generalized trust, trust in neighbours, and perceptions of neighbourhood cohesion may be beneficial to those suffering from depressive symptoms. Manuscript 2 results, stratified by gender, indicated that neighbourhood disadvantage was associated with depressive symptoms in women only and that perceived neighbourhood cohesion mediated this association. Core tie diversity, generalized trust and trust in neighbours were associated with depression in women but did not act as mediating variables. It is suggested that network and psychosocial, as well as general- and neighbourhood specific measures of social capital be included in studies of depressive symptoms. Health promotion initiatives meant to combat depression may wish to consider the gender differences in the design and implementation of neighbourhood or peer-based programs. / Thesis (Master, Kinesiology & Health Studies) -- Queen's University, 2012-09-21 09:32:28.57