This thesis critically examines the geography of the growth in the private rented sector (PRS) in England, changing living arrangements and how living in the PRS affects feeling at ‘home’. It moves beyond the grand narratives and individual anecdotes of the ‘housing crisis’ to explain what it means, for whom and where. An integrated mixed methods approach using quantitative analysis of 2001 and 2011 census tables, 2011 Census microdata, the English Housing Survey 2010-11 (EHS) and qualitative data collected through semi-structured interviews was combined to address the four key research questions:• How have tenure and household type changed nationally, regionally, at local authority and neighbourhood level between 2001 and 2011?• Who is moving into the PRS and why? What are the characteristics of households living in the PRS?• Do different household types in the PRS tend to live in particular neighbourhoods? What are the characteristics of these neighbourhoods and households?• How do people who live in the PRS feel at ‘home’?The growth of the PRS has led to spatial concentrations by household type and tenure in local authorities across England and changing living arrangements. This was particularly reflected by the concentration of other households with and without dependent children in London and some other areas. At neighbourhood level this revealed spatial polarisation by household type and tenure and the emergence of new urban landscapes caused by housing market constraints which were most likely to affect younger households and those who had migrated both from within and outside the UK. The EHS showed that the majority of newly formed households had moved into the PRS suggesting that it would continue to grow, the PRS was regarded as the least desirable tenure with the majority living in it planning to move, mostly into ownership, in the future and that the PRS led to high levels of relative poverty after housing costs exacerbated by higher fuel costs for some and poorer material conditions including higher levels of overcrowding, particularly for other households with dependent children, damp and cold. Despite these financial and material disadvantages there is evidence that households living in the PRS overcame tenancy constraints to enjoy the emotional, cognitive and social aspects of feeling at home and to engage in home improvement and home-making. As well as these substantive contributions to knowledge this thesis provided both methodological and policy contributions. The use of facet methodology provided critical insights from a number of different quantitative techniques that enabled the substantive contributions on the changing geography and demography of the PRS, residential decision making and feeling at home, and together the innovative of spatial econometric techniques to housing, into the emergence of new urban landscapes. The policy contributions are underpinned by the need to recognise the universal right to a home which: requires market interventions to rebalance landlord and tenant rights; provide a strong case to ensure that no household is forced to live in relative poverty after their housing and fuel costs have been taken into account; and that spatial planning needs to be based on a commitment to meet local housing needs and restrict the power of developers to deliver schemes that lead to gentrification, displacement and spatial exclusion.

This diploma thesis discusses the analysis of space polarisation in the Trutnov region and consequently it tries to suggest possibilities of development for peripheral areas. The first part is devoted to the theoretical concepts of the spatial polarization and the methodological analysis of this thesis. In the second part, the selected theoretical and methodological concepts are applied to area of the Trutnov region. The analysis of space polarisation in the Trutnov region was realised on the basis of using quantitative methods. Development of the peripheral areas between two time periods (around a year 1991 and present) was evaluated too. The final part of this thesis is aimed to the analysis of the peripheral areas in the Trutnov region and proposition of their possible development strategy.

This thesis deals with the long-term changes in the landscape of border areas of selected military bases in Bohemia  Brdy and Hradiště. Specifically, in these areas it is focused on land use changes since half of the 19th century to the present. Its main objective is to identify whether and to what extent military bases affect character and intensity of land use changes beyond their borders. The first part of the thesis is devoted to general solutions relating to the key topics/concepts representing thematic base for further work (landscape, spatial polarization and military bases). The methodology of this part is based on research and discussions of literature and other sources. In the second part of the thesis the focus is on the spatial definition and characteristics of both areas of our interest. The third part is based on the knowledge of the previous two parts, and is engaged in the land use changes research in both areas. This research has a quantitative nature and is based on the use of statistical data provided by the LUCC Czechia database, which were further processed and evaluated. Final part of the thesis is based on the results of the third part and discusses the possible impact of the military bases to changes in land use in the close border areas. Key words: landscape  landscape...

Glasgow fut une ville pionnière en Grande-Bretagne dans la mise en place au début des années quatre-vingt d’une politique de régénération urbaine, sociale et économique basée sur les arts et la culture, exemplifiant le tournant vers une gestion entrepreneuriale de la ville. Les arts et la culture sont ainsi devenus le levier principal de sa reconversion déterminée vers une économie de services et de tou-risme. Ce travail de recherche se propose de démontrer que cette politique, qui s’installe de manière irréversible pendant la période de gouvernement conservateur de M. Thatcher, a non seulement engen-dré des transformations économiques et physiques de grande ampleur mais qu’elle a également très clairement œuvré dans le sens d’une transformation tout aussi radicale de l’identité de la ville. Il apparaît que c’est un processus voulu par les élites travaillistes de la ville et revendiqué, assumé, organisé de fa-çon consciente et méthodique qui puise ses fondements idéologiques dans une vision néolibérale du développement économique et du rôle de la culture. Nous tentons également de démontrer que, en dépit de la mise en place de partenariats public-privés sous la forme de sociétés locales de développe-ment, ce processus n’a guère réussi à inverser une dynamique de relégation en périphérie des popula-tions les plus défavorisées déjà fortement ancrée depuis les décennies précédentes. Enfin, nous mon-trons que ce processus de régénération urbaine a provoqué diverses formes d’opposition et de résis-tance qui renvoient indiscutablement au passé de luttes industrielles et de politique radicale de la ville, éléments majeurs de son identité. / Glasgow was one of the first cities in Great-Britain to place the arts and culture at the heart of its economic and social urban regeneration policy in order to move from an industrial economy to a service and tourism-led economy and to recreate a positive image that would lure investment and people. This research aims at demonstrating that this process of economic, social and urban regeneration, which took momentum during Margaret Thatcher’s term as British Prime Minister between 1979 and 1990, led not only to large-scale economic and physical changes but also to a radical change of the city’s identity. It appears that this policy of urban regeneration was willingly and consciously implemented by the local Labour administration in a very systematic and assertive way and that it can clearly be associated to a deeply-rooted process of neo-liberalisation of the city space. We also try to demonstrate that, although public-private partnerships were set up in the peripheral neighbourhoods to implement programmes of urban regeneration including physical, social and economic dimensions, very little has eventually been achieved regarding the high level of deprivation in some of the peripheral estates. We finally show that this process of urban regeneration induced different forms of resistance and opposition whose patterns undoubtedly refer to the strong legacy of industrial dispute and radical politics which are key components of the city’s identity.

The aim of this degree project is to provide a description of the social movements that struggle against mega projects in Europe and of the relations between them. A body of literature on neoliberalism sets the context in which these struggles take place. The concept of rhizome, encompassing characters of multiplicity, heterogeneity, horizontality, is presented as a theoretical framework. These theoretical foundations are confronted with investigation on two levels. At a general level, internet-based research is carried out to map, at least in part, the constellation of movements involved. At a more focused level, participant observation is conducted in specific sites in order to grasp the ideas, discourses and meanings that colour the struggles. By setting the struggles in a wider political context and by experimenting alternative social and spatial practices, the rhizome of movements gives deeper significance to the contestation of mega projects and opens societal prospects.