"Circe among cities": Images of London and the languages of social concern, 1880-1900
London, social conditions, nineteenth century, 19th century, literature, social problems in literature
This thesis is an investigation of sociological, documentary and literary texts whose central concerns are the social conditions in London during the period 1880-1899. London is chosen as a focus because during this time it was perceived as being in a state of crisis which produced an unprecedented amount of writing in response. The investigation has two complementary objectives: (i) to analyse, through the changing presentation of London in literary texts, the response of novelists working within the realistic tradition to the challenge of divesting language and form of inherited social meanings; (ii) to ascertain how conditions in London were articulated in a wide range of non-fictional writings, and to assess the role played by discourses inherited from Christian perspectives of society in absorbing, hindering, expressing or developing radical thought. The first part of the thesis will establish what the dominant images of London were. It will concentrate on the inner city texts of the 1880s and the suburban texts of the 1890s. What these images reveal about changing moral and political responses to social issues are assessed. The second part will be concerned with a London of spiritual and moral significance. Certain doctrinal, sociological and fictional works which attempted to make Christian terminology appropriate to the contemporary city will be considered. The impact of Socialism on religious and fictional discourses is evaluated. The thesis will conclude with a discussion of London as a political construct and assess how far such a perception sets up a break with tradition. Fictional texts assume a peculiar importance here since they are strongly differentiated from each other and from their literary tradition. In fictional texts in particular, images of London highlight the particular difficulty of redeploying a tradition of realism to accommodate radical ideas and the consequent formal challenges. The presentation of London in a diverse body of literature can therefore be seen to offer a variety of perspectives on the process of change in both language and form.
"La révolution urbaine" Henri Lefèbvres Philosophie der globalen Verstädterung
Praxisphilosophie, Raumproduktion, Verstädterung, Recht auf die Stadt
Die These einer globalen Urbanisierung beansprucht bei Lefèbvre eine umfassende geistige Konfrontation, die im Übergang von ruralen zu urbanen Strukturen zentrale Elemente von gesellschaftspolitischer und philosophischer Relevanz aufzeigt. Von der konkreten politischen Situation im Paris der sechziger Jahre ausgehend, entfaltet sich Lefèbvres provokative These von der Auseinandersetzung mit der "Praxis" als Kritik des Alltags ("critique de la vie quotidienne") über entwicklungstheoretische Fragestellungen und Konzepte bis hin zu ästhetischen Debatten um zentrale Probleme des Urbanismus. Unterschiedlichste Aspekte werden schrittweise in ein umfassendes Konzept eingebunden. Einerseits die praxisorientierte Ausrichtung der These der globalen Verstädterung, die am politischen und gesellschaftlichen Alltag dokumentiert wird, andererseits die philosophische Dimension, die Schaffung einer zweiten Natur, der urbanen, ausgehend von der ursprünglichen, der ruralen als Entfaltungsprozess des Menschen. Beiden Lesarten, die sich zum Teil ergänzen, zum Teil schwer in ein schlüssiges Konzept einzubinden sind, wird in der Arbeit Rechnung getragen. Die philosophische Ausrichtung wird anhand der Bezüge zum praktischen und theoretischen Umfeld sowie der Einbindung in das Gesamtwerk progressiv erarbeitet. Die Arbeit am Original, allein schon durch die zum Teil irreführenden Übersetzungen und die Sperrigkeit einiger Textpassagen unumgänglich, steht für die Intention einer Wiedergabe und einer Interpretation aus erster Hand. Die Schwierigkeiten und Herausforderungen einer möglichst umfassenden Darstellung bestehen in der Tatsache, dass Lefèbvres Texte zur Stadt auf unterschiedlichen Ebenen zu lesen sind. Methodisch begegnet die Arbeit der These der globalen Verstädterung mit einer Darstellung von "La révolution urbaine", um darauf aufbauend, zentrale Elemente und Aspekte erneut aufzugreifen und weiterzuentwickeln. Im Laufe der Arbeit ergibt sich eine zunehmende Verdichtung, die es erlaubt, die These der globalen Verstädterung als Kernaussage der Philosophie Lefèbvres ‚fugenartig’ darzustellen und zu deuten. Die Stadt als "oeuvre" und die globale Urbanisierung als "oeuvre total" zu bestimmen, erlaubt die "strategische Hypothese" der globalen Verstädterung über jede soziologische Dimension hinaus im "praxisphilosophischen" Zusammenhang zu deuten und Lefèbvre in philosophischen Kontext zu setzen. Der Bezug zur Gegenwart ergibt sich durch eine selektive Bestandsaufnahme, sowie den Versuch die These der Urbansierung zu aktualisieren.
"Saving metropolis" : Body and city in the "Metropolis" tales"
literature, film, catastrophe, destruction, architecture, body, Metropolis, Lang Fritz, Osamu Tezuka, Rintarô
The image of the destruction of the city has a long history, and resonates disturbingly with current events. It seems to question the very possibility of creating an architecture – that is, of giving the world a form and thereby a meaning. This thesis charts mutations of that imagery as it emerges in three visual narratives punctuating the last century: the "Metropolis" tales. These are Fritz Lang's film of 1926, Tezuka Osamu's manga or graphic novel of 1949, and the 2001 work of anime or Japanese animated film by director Rintarô. Despite their differences, these tales exhibit a fundamental overlap of concern: each deals in its own way with crises in modern conditions of life, crises articulated not only in the imagery of the city but also in that of the broken bodies central to it. The thesis argues that this imagery, hovering at the brink of and ultimately passing beyond the line of apocalypse, articulates an undiminished human yearning to engage in a life project. In our time this yearning, this desire, takes on a new form in which the city and the body adopt a precarious and problematic relationship to their image. But perhaps the seeming instability of this condition as articulated in disrupted bodies and cities is a more faithful reflection of the fundamental human anxiety reflected in myth, and the more foundational destructuring involved in our perception and making of the world, than any whole and healthy body, than any utopia.
A comprehensive approach to the study of the housing sector in Iraq with special reference to needs, standards, inputs, density and costs as factors in the analysis of housing problems in Baghdad
housing, urban growth, urban density, urban planning, housing policy
Iraq has a stock of buildings, particularly dwellings, many of which are neither physically fit nor capable of meeting the economic and social needs of today. Many people, particularly in the cities, live in overcrowded and insanitary conditions. Many dwellings are badly located and mixed with derelict land. Population is expected to grow and even without any rise in standards, this would greatly increase the need for building and works of all kinds. At the macro level the main cause of the housing problem must be attributed to the process of migration and urbanization, which have contributed to the creation of slums and squatter settlements. At the policy level, the existing machinery of planning is scarcely adequate. Housing has conventionally received only scant attention in national development plans and this central neglect is mirrored by a similar failure at the municipal level. At the micro level, with which this study has primarily been concerned, it must be emphasised that housing is not simply an economic commodity but has deep social and political as well as environmental implications. The increasing gap between incomes and housing costs has to be contained and this can only be done by operating on a number of fronts simultaneously. The purpose of this study is to examine the housing sector in Iraq with special reference to the city of Baghdad-from the point of view that housing is not only a shelter which provides protection from the elements but a synthesis in which social, economic, physical and political forces interact. The study also develops an argument that housing density is not simply another planning index to be used with others in the formulation of town plans but a crucial variable which once fixed will have far reaching effects not only to the inhabitants of the housing areas but also to the social, economic and physical environment of the urban structure as a whole. The study adopts two related approaches. The first approach is a general survey of the causes and effects of housing problems and the interrelationships of housing aspects. Then, having identified particular topics of concern, the study examines some of these, such as housing needs, standards, housing inputs, i. e. land, finance building materials, labour and the construction industry, housing densities and costs relationships, in some detail. The study stresses the need to establish principles and processes of comprehensive analysis stems from the importance of housing as a community problem area, since housing is a major land use and its form reflects and influences, in a critical way, the pattern of urban experience and activity. Throughout, the aim has not been to produce a model or concrete figures so much as to analyse present trends and suggest some likely future developments in the hope that, with modification and. improvement, this study could act as a basis for further detailed study of the housing sector and assist in the formulation of long - term housing programme.
A conceptual model for city branding based on semiotics
city branding, semiotics, city marketing
Currently change in cities is accelerating intricately and diversely because of technological advances, information floods, increased openness, and the rising standard of living. While city development depended on the activation of urban marketing, a city of importance and recognition is highlighted as one brand. To increase city brand value, it has become necessary to study the brand equity held by cities and to develop a strategy based on a new approach. The main purpose of this thesis is to investigate how a city brand can be developed and through which kind of method. Therefore, the phenomenon of a city was investigated and analysed based on semiotics underpinning the communication of all phenomenon. The purpose of this research was to suggest a new perspective for city branding strategy and to develop a conceptual model for a city branding strategy that is an improvement on the strategies being used by industry and in academia. The proposed perspective is based on semiotics which is the analysis of the interaction between general objects and cultural phenomena. The conceptual model takes elements constituting a city and identifies the core categories comprising branding. From this, it is clear that sustainable city branding is possible, as city assets are developed and brand value is formed. The conceptual model of the city branding process has been positively evaluated through three case studies and five in-depth interviews with experts. The proposed model provides the basis for a city research plan and a tool for the management of the city branding process. The conceptual model offers several advantages as shown below:1. A holistic view of city branding strategy development; 2. A new perspective of city interpretation through semiotics; 3. An understanding of the interaction between city users (residents and visitors) and city with a cognition process and associated image; 4. A clarification of the roles of all component elements within the city branding strategy; 5. An integration of the component elements and core categories for city branding; 6. A new approach to city branding strategy through the conceptual model. Therefore, this research presents a robust theoretical basis for developing a new city branding strategy through the conceptual model.
A geographical study of the evolution of the cities of Tehran and Isfahan
urban morphology, Persian cities, Tehran, Isfahan, urban development, Iran, origin of cities, townscape, urban form, urban geography, urban history, population, urban characteristics
The introduction to this thesis sets forward its aims which are to account for the present morphological features of Tehran and Isfahan and to examine in detail the characteristic features of Persian towns. It goes on to examine the sources for such a study and to describe some of the methods which have been employed. The thesis itself is divided into three sections. The first traces the historical development of Tehran and Isfahan from the earliest times. The periods during which the cities have been capitals of Persia, the Safavid period in the case of Isfahan and the Qajar and present Pahlevi periods for Tehran are considered in detail and the morphological effects of growth or decay are emphasised. The second part is a detailed examination of certain morphological features which have played significant roles in forming the townscape of Tehran and Isfahan and which are valuable as distinguishing features of the Persian town in general. Those studied are defences and palace quarters, bazaars, gardens and palaces, Islamic religious buildings, squares, baths and foreign establishments. A further chapter considers changes of population up to the present and the part played by minority groups. The third section uses the material thus presented in an analysis of urban characteristics in Persia. Finally an attempt has been made to apply modern theories of urban geography to Tehran and Isfahan especially those concerning the classifications of towns by typology and an urban hierarchy, and the trait complex.
À la recherche d'un autre développement ? : la dévitalisation urbaine et la revitalisation communautaire au centre urbain de Chicoutimi de 1960 à nos jours
centre-ville, développement communautaire urbain, Chicoutimi, dévitalisation, revitalisation, groupe communautaire, écologie humaine
Cette thèse emprunte la perspective de la recherche d'un autre développement pour examiner l'action des groupes de l'espace non institutionnel au centre urbain de Chicoutimi. Avec comme toile de fond la dévitalisation des quartiers centraux de l'arrondissement de Chicoutimi depuis les années 1970, cette étude cherche à voir comment les actions des groupes communautaires œuvrant sur le territoire urbain peuvent être perçues dans la recherche d'un autre développement. L'interrogation principale qui sous-tend la thèse est de savoir si les groupes communautaires peuvent êtres considérés comme des acteurs du développement et surtout comme les acteurs d'un autre développement, qui s'élabore non seulement dans les grandes officines internationales du développement, mais également sur le terrain des groupes œuvrant à la base, dans les territoires locaux, comme ceux du centre urbain de Chicoutimi. Au plan théorique, les théories du développement et plus particulièrement les théories du paradigme critique du développement et de l'après-développement représentent l'axe central de cette recherche. La présentation et l'analyse de ces théories, mises en lien avec l'action des groupes œuvrant au centre urbain de Chicoutimi, constituent le cœur de l'argumentation de la thèse. Pour réaliser cette passerelle entre les théories du développement et la pratique concrète des groupes de l'espace non institutionnel, îa thèse présente un portrait exhaustif de la problématique de dévitalisation qui existe au centre urbain de Chicoutimi depuis 1970, ainsi qu'un récit et une analyse minutieuse de l'action de quatre groupes communautaires œuvrant au centre urbain de Chicoutimi, depuis les années 1960 jusqu'à nos jours, chacun de ces groupes représentant une décennie selon son année de fondation. À travers la description et l'analyse de la désintégration territoriale et de l'action de ces groupes communautaires, c'est la dynamique de la dévitalisation et de la revitalisation communautaire que l'on voit se profiler. Cette recherche sur l'action des groupes communautaires à Chicoutimi s'inscrit dans le débat soulevé par plusieurs théoriciens du développement (Rist, Guichaoua, Goussault, Fontan, Latouche etc.) sur la reconceptualisation de îa notion de développement et sur l'élaboration du paradigme de l'après-développement, qui se veut en rupture et en dehors du paradigme développementiste. L'étude empirique de l'action de groupes communautaires à Chicoutimi, présentée dans cette recherche, sert donc de point d'ancrage pour tenter de répondre aux questions soulevées et pour contribuer au débat sur la reconceptualisation de la notion de développement. La thèse se veut aussi une contribution à l'histoire du mouvement communautaire, et particulièrement à l'histoire du mouvement communautaire en région périphérique.
Tremblay, Pierre-André. Directeur de thèse
A nice place to visit : Tourism, urban revitalization, and the transformation of postwar American cities
urban history, urban planning, urban renewal, tourism, urban policy
This dissertation examines the growth of tourism as a strategy for downtown renewal in the postwar American city. In the years after World War II, American cities declined precipitously as residents and businesses relocated to rapidly-expanding suburbs. Governmental and corporate leaders, seeking to arrest this decline, embarked upon an ambitious program of physical renewal of downtowns. The postwar urban crisis was a boon for the urban tourist industry. Finding early renewal efforts ineffective in stemming the tide of deindustrialization and suburbanization, urban leaders subsidized, with billions of dollars in public finances, the construction of an infrastructure of tourism within American downtowns. By the latter decades of the period, tourist development had moved from a relatively minor strategy for urban renewal to a key measure of urban success. This dissertation traces the development of postwar urban tourism in the cities of Baltimore, Cincinnati, Pittsburgh, and St. Louis. Each city provides a case study for a different type of urban tourist development: hotels, convention centers, stadiums, and festival marketplaces. Such tourist development fulfilled a multiplicity of desires and needs in the postwar city. First, tourism catered to the growing consumerist ethic of postwar America, in which not only goods but experiences became consumer objects; thus cities were remade into easily consumable entities. Secondly, it offered opportunities for urban revitalization that required little in the way of sacrifice from middle-class Americans, an attribute that became especially attractive after the conservative backlash of the late 1960s. Finally, tourist development allowed city leaders to project an image of urban vitality even while much of their cities remained in dire straits. While much of the scholarship on urban tourism has either celebrated its ability to renew cities or condemned its inauthenticity and delocalizing tendencies, this dissertation argues that tourism's often exploitative nature had little to do with its inherent characteristics but rather lay in the choices of leaders who saw a revitalized downtown as their highest goal, and were often willing to sacrifice the traditional measures of civic improvement to achieve that end.
A social perspective on the reformed urban housing provision system in China : Three cases in Beijing, Xi'an and Shenzhen
In the 1990s, the Chinese housing reform reached a pivotal moment. The dismantling of the old public housing system and the high price of the commercial housing left the housing needs of a large number of the population unresolved. In 1998, a new multilevel housing provision system was schemed to solve this dilemma. The focus of this thesis is to bring the social housing perspective to this new development in the Chinese housing reform. In terms of theorization and methodology, the housing study is characterized by being atheoretical and positivist work. As a response, social constructionist methodology has been gradually introduced which alerts housing researchers to the unrecognized metanarratives embedded in their studies. The debate on the divergent and convergent views on the social housing development is introduced for two purposes: on the one hand, their generalization can serve as the background knowledge to the different roles and forms of social housing; on the other, the debate serves as a reminder of the author the complicated relationship between social housing and its historical and social context. The present definition of social housing serves as the start point of discussion. The main method of this study is historical-informed and discourse-aware case studies. At the beginning of the thesis, a historical study of the policy changes of the Chinese housing reform since the early 1980s suggests the affordable housing issue has gradually become the driving force of the reform especially in the 1990s. This social housing perspective on the reform is tested in explaining the persistent work-unit housing phenomenon in the 1990s. The argument is that, with the affordability question of the commercial housing, the work-unit has been fastened to the role of the affordable housing provider before alternative housing provisions emerge and take over. In the light of this, the housing reform policy of 1998 is understood as an effort to construct such housing provisions. Three types of new housing provisions are brought under investigation in the following chapters: the Economical and Comfortable Housing (ECH), the Low-Rent Housing, and the New Local Authority Housing. The first two are prescribed on the 1998 policy, while the latter is a unique practice of the local authority of Shenzhen. Each of these provisions is studied by relating a case-study project to its local contexts. The process, product and performance are analyzed in terms of their beneficiaries, affordability, and land, planning and design features. Serving as the housing for the mid- and low-income population, ECH in Beijing has encountered difficulties, both in targeting the desired population and regulating the affordability. The reasons are the multi-intentions attached to it and the conflicting expectations of it by the parties involved. It reveals that releasing the state from housing responsibility is still the priority of the housing reform, while the strategy of making profit-driven developers affordable housing providers is problematic and makes their role ambiguous. The first Low-Rent Housing project in Xi’an is still in standstill two years after its completion in 2001. Though defined clearly as housing for the disadvantaged population, in practice, the actual needs are underestimated. Besides, there are no concrete financing measures and significant advantages facilitate the implementation of the project These questions have resulted in the local authority hesitating to continue such development. The New Local Authority Housing in Shenzhen is a very special phenomenon. On the one hand, it has successfully transformed the old public housing into a new system based on the privatization principle; one the other, its benefits are mainly restricted to the municipal employees, and their needs are measured by the bureaucratic hierarchy instead of actual housing needs. The societal needs of affordable housing are neglected in this new system. This complicated and fragmented scenario of new housing provisions is brought to a theoretical examination in the Conclusion. By relating the historical study and the three new housing provisions to the theoretical framework of social housing, the nature of the new housing provisions are discerned; furthermore, the implication and limitation of present knowledge to the understanding of the Chinese housing reform are identified. Although providing valuable knowledge on the roles and forms of social housing, the present knowledge fails to support fruitful analysis of the complicated expectations and contexts attached to the new housing provisions in China. At the end of the thesis, the paradoxes in these new housing provisions are identified, and alternative solutions are suggested. Further theoretical and empirical investigation are anticipated for the social housing issue in the Chinese housing reform.
Norwegian University of Science and Technology - NTNU
scale, metropolitan, land use, urban growth model, urban, population growth, spatial interaction, urban sprawl, world cities
An urban growth model is conceptualized as a metropolitan change model consisting of multiple scales: global, regional and local. The baseline model operates in a free trade environment, in a space initially without consideration of the regulatory and redistributive forces of national and state governmental levels. Space in this study is abstracted as a metropolitan envelope, which is defined to start at the beginning of the twentieth century with the emergence of the New York, London and Tokyo metropolitan systems, and expanded one hundred years later into a system of four hundred major central cities and their associated commuter hinterlands. The expectation is that this system will continue to expand in the twenty-first century, as the primary engine of global economic diffusion and development. The purpose of this research is to model economic spatial interactions that generate investment flows that in turn convert into economic activity after the construction and placement of private and public infrastructure. The global model provides a set of allocated investment flows to regions, and the regional model provides employment and residential allocations to the local model, which displays land use changes. One major goal is to test the systems ability (or not) to achieve partial convergence of per capita incomes across the set of metropolitan spaces over multiple scales. For a variety of tested scenarios, temporal convergence and rank-size rule metrics can be evaluated at multiple spatial scales.
Accommodating places : A migrant ethnography of two cities (Hong Kong and Sydney)
immigration, urban space, migrant, ethnography
This ethnography is based on fieldwork in two very different cities, Hong Kong and Sydney. It traces the movements of subjects from Hong Kong through the analysis of differing modes of inhabiting urban space. The texture of lived spaces provides an analytic focus for examining a highly mobile migrant group. This ethnography explores the mesh of objective structures and migrant subjectivities in a mobile field of migrant ‘place’. A basic assumption of this study is that people from Hong Kong have acquired a common array of dispositions attuned to living in a specific environment. Hong Kong’s dense and challenging urban space embodies aspects of the singular historical ‘production of space’ underpinning a colonial entrepôt that has expanded into a major global economic node. The conditions of lived space are examined through an historical analysis of urban space in Hong Kong and an ethnographic analysis of spatial practices and dispositions. The sprawling spaces of suburban Sydney clearly differ sharply from that of Hong Kong. Interview accounts of settling in Sydney are used to investigate the ‘gap’ in spatial dispositions. Settling entails both practical accommodations to new and unfamiliar localities and an interweaving of cultural and ideological elements into the expanded everyday of migrant subjectivity. Language and speech are integral to spatial practices and provide means of referencing and evaluating ongoing social relations and trajectories. The ‘discourse space’ of interview accounts of settlement in Sydney and movements back to Hong Kong are closely examined, yielding an array of perceptions and representations of different, and contested styles of urban life. All the senses are brought into play in accounts of densities and absences in people’s everyday worlds. At the same time this thesis provides a perspective from which to interrogate contemporary interpretations of ‘transnational’ migration, suggesting the need for an analysis grounded in a specific economy of capacities and dispositions to appropriate social and symbolic goods.
Acteurs et pratiques de la production foncière et immobilière à Ourossogui (Sénégal)
développement local, Sénégal, acteurs, marché immobilier, production foncière et immobilière, mutations sociales, renégociation de rapports sociaux, processus ségrégatif
Quelles sont les mutations sociales qui s'opèrent dans les localités en transition entre le rural et l'urbain ? Comment peut-on les saisir ? Quel est l'impact de ces mutations sur le processus de développement local ? Ces interrogations, qui articulent une problématique multipolaire, sont au centre de cette étude qui a pour cadre la localité d'Ourossogui (Sénégal). Ourossogui est située dans la partie septentrionale du pays. Nous avons choisi de partir de l'observation et de l'analyse du système de production foncière et immobilière pour rendre compte des mutations sociales en cours dans cette localité. Ce choix se fonde sur le fait que les rapports fonciers et immobiliers sont essentiellement des rapports sociaux. L'observation et l'analyse des acteurs et de leurs pratiques sur la scène foncière et immobilière nous a conduit à tirer quelques conclusions essentielles. Nous avons d'abord saisi les facteurs qui peuvent être à la base de l'émergence d'un marché foncier et immobilier dans une localité en transition entre le rural et l'urbain. Nous avons aussi montré que les pratiques des acteurs avaient plusieurs caractéristiques. Elles sont opaques dans la mesure où il y a un hiatus entre les discours des acteurs et leurs pratiques sur la scène foncière et immobilière. Elles sont aussi opportunistes et rationnelles. Elles sont composites en ce sens que les acteurs se réfèrent à la fois à la tradition et à la modernité, ce qui montre que les rapports sociaux sont renégociés et reconstruits. Les pratiques sont décalées par rapport aux lois et aux règlements. Nous assistons ainsi à la production de nouvelles normes qui relèvent à la fois des coutumes, de la loi, de la tradition et de la modernité. Ces caractéristiques, ainsi que la production de règles nouvelles, témoignent d'une aptitude certaine des acteurs à se mettre au diapason des changements affectant leur localité. Cependant, cette aptitude ne milite pas forcément en faveur de l'émergence d'un développement local. En fait, cette aptitude masque un processus ségrégatif dans lequel il y a des acteurs gagnants et des acteurs perdants et vulnérables. Par ailleurs, la production par les acteurs de normes nouvelles, décalées par rapport aux lois et aux règlements, ne va toujours dans le sens d'un ancrage du développement local. Certes, ces normes sont parfois efficaces dans le fonctionnement de tous les systèmes dans les espaces en transition, mais il est peu probable que l'on puisse bâtir un développement dans « la défaite de l'État », pour reprendre le terme de Hernando De Soto.
Laurent, Pierre-Joseph. Directeur de thèse
After resurgent regions, resurgent cities? : Contesting state geographies in Hungary and England
region, geography, State, urban policy, neoliberalism, governance, spatial analysis
This thesis was motivated by an interest in the phenomenon commonly labelled as ‘new regionalism’ and in how ‘new regionalism’ underwent a change as attention turned to cities and city-regions from around the year 2000. The main objective of this study was to develop a framework for understanding how regions and city-regions have – if at all – ‘resurged’ in Europe as new objects and subjects of policy-making. I examine new (city-)regionalism in view of the general ‘neoliberalization’ of the state and of the related changes in the role of the state as the primary unit of socio-economic regulation, political organization and identity-building. To use a much-recurring term of the body of literature that inspired this study, I approach the actual outcomes of state spatial reorganization processes as the spatial manifestations of “actually existing neoliberalisms” (Brenner and Theodore, 2002). On this basis, my aim was to elaborate a theoretical and conceptual perspective from which the ongoing struggles to (re)define the spatial organization of the state can become better understood and the concrete outcomes of the struggles be better explained.
Al-Balad as a place of heritage: Problematising the conceptualisation of heritage in the context of Arab Muslim Middle East
heritage, Middle East, Arab city, Islamic city, Al-Balad, Amman, built environment, identity
This thesis addresses a problem affecting places of heritage throughout the world as represented by the case of al-Balad, the historical centre of Amman in Jordan: despite the increasing efforts expended on the conservation of built heritage, most social groups appear to be uninterested; this contradiction results in problems of neglect, dilapidation and lack of participation in its construction and representation. The research explores three possible sources of contradictions that cause this problem: the process of meaning construction in capitalist societies, the global conceptualisation and institutionalisation of heritage, and the role of dissonance of identities in creating dissonance in the construction of heritage. In order to explore such a subjective topic in a manner that would produce generalisable findings instrumental for purposes of urban planning and development, the chosen methodology is structural and positivistic and relies on frameworks of semiotics, mapping, media topic analysis, and most importantly on the findings of an extensive questionnaire survey that was made possible by the gradual opening up of public expression in Jordan. The first source of contradictions explored manifests through the construction of meaning. In an investigation of frameworks that explain the process, the semiotic framework of the myth developed by Barthes is synthesised with the ideas of Baudrillard and Lefebvre who also explored the process of production and consumption of meaning in bourgeois societies that is of particular relevance to the neo-liberal economic framework in Jordan, which caused a focus on cultural tourism and revitalisation of heritage as drivers of economic development. An application of the semiotic framework to the attributes of al-Balad showed that although al-Balad is becoming known as a place of heritage (a place of the past), for the majority of the Ammanis it is still conceptualised as a market (a place of the present). The second source of contradictions emerges from the global conceptualisation and institutionalisation of heritage. An analysis of the plethora of definitions of heritage in literature leads to re-instating its historical role as a legitimiser of social identities, and the significance of this role for the newly emergent nations that accompanied the advent of the age of Enlightenment and modernity and espoused its ethos and latent contradictions. The major contradiction in this process is conceptualising an interruption between the present and the past, which renders the past frozen and dead. The third source of contradictions is the dissonance of identities in Jordan. An exploration into the society of Jordan reveals several hybrid identity groups: Islamist, Arab, Jordanian nationalist, tribal and Palestinian; it also reveals that the construction of heritage in Jordan is dominated by an exclusivist Hashemite narrative constructed by the Royal family for purposes of self-legitimization, and by an attempt to create a historically unique Jordanian identity rooted in pre-Islamic history to counter the threat of Israel. Despite the dominance of these two narratives in the Jordanian historical discourse, in reality heritage narrative is strongly shaped by US funded tourism industry, resulting in an emphasis on Jordan’s Christian past. The resulting manipulation of narrative in the construction of heritage for purposes of political empowerment or economical revenue excludes most identity groups from the process, and thus they find the resulting urban heritage of little meaning or relevance; it becomes “abstract space” in Lefebvre’s terms. The conclusions of the exploration of the three sources of contradictions are discussed against the results of statistical analyses performed on the findings from the questionnaire survey revealing that despite al-Balad’s deteriorating status in the urban dynamics of the city, the Ammanis still find it significant, however they perceive it primarily a place of function, and do not fulfil its potential as a place of heritage by using it to legitimise their identities. Understanding the complex socio-cultural processes that accompany the construction of heritage in Amman reveals numerous aspects of urban practices in Arab Muslim cities at a point in time directly preceding the Arab Spring.
Amélioration de l’approche démographique pour la prévision à long terme de la mobilité urbaine
transport, mobilité résidentielle, Lille
La prévision de la mobilité urbaine à long terme est un des grands défis de la planification des transports urbains. L’utilisation de l’approche démographique et l’emploi d’enquêtes répétitives permettent de rendre compte de la dynamique du comportement des individus lors de différentes étapes du cycle de vie, appartenant à plusieurs générations. La décomposition des effets temporels en un effet d’âge et un effet de cohorte de naissance permet de tracer le profil-type au cours du cycle de vie et d’estimer leurs déformations temporelles. C’est le concept fondamental du modèle âge-cohorte. L’objectif de ce travail de recherche est d’améliorer les modèles de projections à long terme de la mobilité urbaine basés sur l’approche démographique. Le point de départ de l’étude est la spécification du modèle âge-cohorte développée à l’INRETS. Les deux nouvelles propositions de spécification du modèle âge-cohorte concernent la taille du ménage et l’activité de la population. La comparaison des projections du modèle âge-cohorte avec celles obtenues par de facteurs de croissance montre la pertinence du modèle démographique. Les tests de sensibilités du modèle, ainsi que la capacité du modèle à effectuer des simulations sont également examinés. Tout au long de la thèse nous tentons de donner des explications plausibles aux effets d’âge et de cohorte, ce qui nous a conduit à proposer un nouveau modèle âge-cohorte-vitesse pour la projection des distances quotidiennes de déplacement. L’introduction de la vitesse individuelle dans le modèle permet de proposer plusieurs scénarios d’évolution du budget-distance et d’envisager plusieurs actions dans la planification des transports. L’application du modèle concerne l’agglomération de Lille, où nous disposons de trois enquêtes espacées d'environ 10 ans.
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Orfeuil, Jean Pierre. Directeur de thèse
Aménagement et dynamique urbaine : étude du projet McGill College, 1984, en rapport avec le mouvement City Beautiful
aménagement urbain, Montréal, projet urbain, mouvement City Beautiful
Dans un contexte caractérisé globalement par une sollicitation générale de l'aménagement spatial, nous nous sommes données comme objectif premier de comprendre quelle est la nature des liens étroits existant entre le retour en force du design urbain et les changements observés au sein des rapports entre les groupes sociaux dans nos sociétés occidentales. Nous nous sommes posées la question du sens à attribuer à ce retour. Est-ce un retour simplement à l'histoire, qui se traduit par la réalisation de formes urbaines et architecturales appartenant au répertoire traditionnel, ou plutôt une re-définition des pratiques sociales, des enjeux de l'aménagement urbain et, par conséquent, du rôle des professionnels de cette discipline? En dehors de l'urbanité recherchée et des volontés exprimées à l'égard de la conservation et de la protection du patrimoine urbain, quels sont les éléments de base qui définissent le design urbain en question? De quelle esthétique urbaine parle-t-on? Plus en profondeur, le cas de l'événement McGill College nous présente l'hypothèse centrale de recherche suivante: La nouvelle tendance d'aménagement spatial contenue dans l'événement McGill College présente un retour du mouvement City Beautiful. En d'autres termes, il faut vérifier le degré et la nature de ressemblance, d'une part, entre les deux projets d'aménagement urbain et, d'autre part, entre les deux contextes de société qui les ont produits. Appuyées sur des documents écrits et des dessins d'architecture que nous avons soumis à une analyse descriptive fine et objective, nous avons d'abord construit notre cadre conceptuel, soit celui du mouvement City Beautiful, en analysant ce mouvement d'aménagement urbain en rapport avec les caractéristiques de son contexte général de société. Par la suite, nous avons étudié l'événement McGill College en tant que projet d'aménagement urbain mis de l'avant par les acteurs sociaux, de même que le contexte général montréalais dans les années 1980. Puis, nous avons procédé à une analyse comparative entre les deux cadres conceptuels du mouvement City Beautiful et de l'événement McGill College, considéré comme une manifestation d'un mouvement plus large.
An enquiry into new methodologies for evaluating sustainable urban form
urban form, flows, sustainable development, atmosphere, ambience, urban morphology, urban metabolism
The motivation for this research is a perceived gap in knowledge regarding the complex relationships between the physical form of the urban environment; its environmental performance as expressed through stocks and flows of materials and energy (urban metabolism); and its experienced physical and psychological qualities (urban ambience). The objective is to develop a practical methodological structure which, through investigating the relationships between these domains, may help inform the evaluation, design and development of more sustainable human settlements. One expression of this apparent knowledge gap is the ambiguity around the classification of urban form and identification of a suitable taxonomic framework to support analysis. Urban morphological research and practice is critically reviewed to derive a rigorous definition of the “urban structural unit” (USU) to facilitate the subdivision and description of urban form across spatial scales. Application of this construct to a study site in Sydney, Australia provides the basis for subsequent exploration. Investigation of theoretical and applied perspectives on urban ecology, metabolism and design enables distillation of a utilitarian set of structural, functional and ambience properties of the USU. A variety of quantitative methods pertinent to evaluation of these properties is systematically examined to derive a streamlined analytical methodology, integrating hemispherical image analysis, space syntax, isovist and material accounting methods within the USU framework. The efficacy of this methodological “toolkit” is tested in the final, empirical stage of the research, focussing mainly on the campus of the University of New South Wales. Determination of a range of material, microclimatic, ecosystemic, fractal, syntactic and isovist metrics provides a preliminary quantitative description of the campus USU in terms of its interrelated metabolic and ambience properties. This is further explained and interpreted through multivariate statistical analysis. The results suggest that the USU represents a robust framework for urban evaluation, and application of a relatively parsimonious suite of analytical methods enables a useful initial examination of the relations between significant aspects of urban form, metabolism and ambience. The outcomes of such an evaluation can directly inform built environment practice from a sustainability perspective, and also highlight areas for more detailed investigation.
University of New South Wales - Sydney (Australie)
An investigation into the policy for urban poverty alleviation in Thailand through the study of urban slum communities
It is estimated that there are currently 3.9 million people living in urban poverty in Thailand, without the existence of an effective social assistance safety-net. This thesis presents an analysis of Thai governments’ urban poverty alleviation policy. The central aim of the thesis is to question whether Thai government policy on urban poverty alleviation can be effective for the poor and the poorest in urban slum communities. Qualitative methods are used, supported by documentary research, and the author’s own experience of being a community development worker and researcher in the urban slums of Thailand over a period of 18 years. I have endeavoured to elicit information from the range of stakeholders engaged with contemporary urban poverty alleviation policy in Bangkok. Thus the research includes the perspectives of policy makers, the poor, and the poorest. I distinguish between these latter two groups by describing those who have access to some government provision for the urban poor and those who are excluded from such provision. I interviewed 18 policy makers, 15 community savings groups committee members, and 65 of the excluded poorest. I investigated the development of policy relating to the urban poor through an analysis of key government reports and documents. I examined all of the government policy documents relating to policies for urban poverty alleviation and the Thai Governments’ five year National Economic and (later) Social Development Plans from 1961 to 2006. I also analysed each of the fifty four Government statements on their policies to the National Assembly covering this period. This research produced two major new vehicles for understanding and interpreting Thai government urban poverty alleviation policy. First, the policy document research enabled me to construct a critical account of the historical development of policy relating to the urban poor, particularly those in slum communities. Second, the interviews produced a unique view of the often desperate lives lived by some Thai citizens who are part of communities residing in what is estimated as 2,000 slums in Thailand. This view is seen through the eyes of both the urban poor and the policy makers. I found attitudes of the policy makers towards the urban poor contain a number of diverse stances, both negative and positive. The Government’s preferred way of helping, previously by housing improvements, and recently by promoting credit and loan schemes with a low interest rate to strengthen community-based organisations and emphasise self-reliance, does help some of the poor; it also excludes others. An important discussion in the thesis is about self-reliance. This is widely referred to by all stakeholders-from HM The King, through leading thinkers including Buddhist scholars, to the poorest in the slum communities. I analyse what such a concept means to each of these groups. I have found there may be little agreement, either on what is being spoken about, or what the implications of self-reliance are for helping Thailand’s poorest citizens. The thesis is also concerned with how to improve the situations of the poor. There is therefore a review of some curricula relating to the training of social/community workers to assess how well students are prepared for their work. The conclusions make some practical recommendations for change at a policy level, via civil society, and in professional education. The direct education and training of the poor is seen as crucial to any substantial improvements. My own experience, producing the thesis in a western country, is included throughout. This is in order to reflect on my learning and the challenges of researching within and outside the Thai social structure.
An urban geography of globalisation : New urban structures in the age of hyper-connectivity
urban planning, urban geography, globalisation, urban space, global city, economics, networks, urban form
How is Globalisation changing the form and spatial structure of cities today? Deceptively simple, this question presents us with a number of methodological challenges and unanswered theoretical problems. What is globalization? Can we define a series of distinctive new phenomena constituting a coherent and logical outline? Do these phenomena influence the structure of cities today? If so, how? Our hypothesis is that processes related to globalisation have resulted in convergent transformation in urban spatial structure in some areas of global cities. However, convergent transformation emerges from very particular spatial, historic and social contexts. Old and new processes are in constant interplay and spatial outcomes are very different at first sight. The dichotomy between 'globalizing' and 'non-globalizing' spaces may contribute for social and spatial division and polarisation in cities. It also represents a new challenge for planners, who have to deal with often contradictory processes stemming from the global and local arenas. The primary hypothesis is supported by empirical evidence on the location patterns of command activities in the Randstad-Holland and Sao Paulo Metropolitan Region. Impacts on the distribution of economic activity, the constitution of business centralities and changes in spatial structure are evaluated in the two cases. We conclude that despite time-space compression caused by developments in transportation technologies and ICT, there is an enduring tendency towards agglomeration of advanced services. We argue that this is a result of the role played by urban technical networks and urban milieux in the organisation of economic activity. We simultaneously emphasize the importance of accessibility, visibility and face-to-face contacts, as necessary elements for the development of synergies between different agents: the urban 'buzz', essential for the appearance of innovation and creativity. The organisation of functional networks in urban territories where global flows are intense ('global cities') obeys a new logic derived from the acceleration of flows and increasing complexity of functional and technical networks in Post-Fordism. These new logic has produced new polycentric urban landscapes, with 'corporate centralities' structured around hubs of connectivity and transferability, where the transfer between several scales of operation (from local to global) is facilitated.
Análisis locacional de la vivienda social en el Gran Santiago : hacía la identificación de posibles territorios de interés urbano-habitacional periódo 1980-2003
logement social, politique du logement, SIG système d'information géographique, Santiago (Chili)
Se analiza la localización de los conjuntos de vivienda social el interior del Área Metropolitana de Santiago. Se generan procedimientos apoyados en Sistemas de Información Geográfica (SIG) con el fin de determinar posibles zonas que presenten algún nivel de deterioro físico-espacial, identificando territorios que requieran algún tipo de mejoramiento e intervención en materia urbano-habitacional. Por último, se constatan los resultados mediante visita a terreno a diversos conjuntos de vivienda social, así como también se establecen como principales conclusiones los impactos urbanos generados por una política habitacional que durante 25 años a desconocido la localización como factor preponderante para la inclusión social.