Signs in time : An interpretive account of urban planning and design, the people and their histories
urban planning, urban culture, urban history, urban design
From the General Introduction : This dissertation is... about urban planning and design as well as it is about people, history and place. Urban planning and design are linked, as people history and place are. Boundaries between planning and design are considered to be contingent, dependent on context and culture, result of ever renewed negotiations. The triad of history, people and place holds central place in the book. We intend to explore the relations between them, in order to answer our reasearch question : how can history, historical knowledge and historical objects, play a positive role in urban planning and design? We intend to show that answering this question requires a careful scrutiny of history, people and place. Using history implies there is a goal to reach. What could the use of history be? We want to assume - and this is an assumption - that history can be useful in planning and design and that we just have to investiage carefully what this use might be. In this book history can mean old things and places, under and above the ground, visible and invisible, it can refer to characteristics of a given place and to stories attached to a place. History is simply the past of people.
Urban environmental problems in Ghana : a case study of social and environmental injustice in solid waste management in Accra and Sekondi-Takoradi
waste, waste management, urban environment
Unsustainable urbanization in Ghana has resulted in poor environmental conditions in urban settlements in the country. Solid waste disposal, in particular, has become a daunting task for the municipal authorities who seem to lack the capacity to tackle the mounting waste situation. This study investigates the nature of the solid waste problem in two Ghanaian cities, Accra and Sekondi-Takoradi. It describes the waste situation in the study areas and identifies the causes of the problem from the perspective of key stakeholders in the waste sector. The delivery of solid waste collection services across different socio-economic groups of the urban population and the siting of waste disposal facilities are also examined in relation to the concepts of social justice and environmental justice respectively. For the empirical investigation, a mixed methodology was used which combined questionnaire and interview data from stakeholders in the waste sector, together with documentary and observational data, to examine the issue of solid waste disposal in the two study sites. The key issues identified by the study include: that Ghanaian cities are experiencing worsening solid waste situations but the municipal governments lack the capacities in terms of financial, logistical and human resources to cope with the situation; that while several causes of the urban waste crisis can be identified, the lack of political commitment to urban environmental management is the root cause of the worsening solid waste situation in Ghanaian cities; and that social and environmental injustices are being perpetuated against the poor in the delivery of waste collection services and the siting of waste disposal facilities in Ghanaian cities. Based on these findings, it has been argued that the solution to the worsening environmental conditions in Ghanaian cities lies in the prioritization of urban environmental management and commitment of Ghana’s political leadership to urban settlement development and management.
Towns, tenements and buildings : Aspects of medieval urban archaeology and geography
street, urban form, urban development, Middle Ages, spatial analysis, archaeology, urban planning
This thesis will argue that the most effective way of understanding the physical development of medieval towns, particularly the larger, more complex, towns and those which lack extensive and detailed contemporary documentation is by a structured integration of the data derived from the archaeological investigation of individual sites with detailed town-plan analyses following the methodology introduced and developed by Conzen. This will be demonstrated by two case-studies, designed to explore the Interaction of the different sources of evidence at two different scales of investigation. The first case-study is a detailed analysis of the plan and development of the whole of a large medieval town,(Worcester), the second is a study of a single street (Pride Hill) in Shrewsbury. The analysis of Worcester illuminates, in particular, the boundaries and internal layout of the late 9th-century burh, suggesting that it was an extension to the pre-existing Roman earthwork circuit and incorporated an area subject to regular town planning, possibly following Wessex models, and an area of irregular settlement that included the bishop of Worcester's haga recorded in 904. The defences were, it is argued, partly dismantled for the extension of urban settlement. The Shrewsbury case-study examines an unusually concentrated building pattern of halls behind the street frontage, and sets this in its contemporary context by an analysis of the contemporary plot-pattern, identified in part by its association with surveyed medieval undercrofts. The earlier history of the area is explored through further analysis of the plot-pattern which predates and is cut by the town wall. It is suggested that the area in question was, like other sectors of the early medieval urban fringe, possibly subject to some type of regular land-allotment for grazing and access to the riverbank. Issues, illustrating the mutually-illuminating character of town plan analysis and urban archaeology, arising from the two case-studies, are discussed. These include the role of archaeology in reconstructing morphological change, the problems of the chronology of urban extensions, archaeology and the interpretation of cartographically-recorded features, and the role of plan-analysis in establishing a contemporary spatial context for individual and multiple archaeological investigations in early medieval towns.
Decline and regeneration : Policy responses to processes of change in post-WWII urban neighbourhoods
neighbourhood, housing, council housing estates, housing policy, participation, social mix, social cohesion, housing complex
The large carefully planned housing estates built after the Second World War were once attractive places in which to live. Nevertheless, across Europe the reputation of many of these areas has changed for the worse. In addition to general impoverishment, in some areas social tensions, high levels of unemployment, crime, social exclusion, and physical decay prevail. With the emergence of the problems, the political as well as the scientific attention paid to large housing estates has increased. Existing studies on regeneration policies on the local level are often limited to the analysis of just one policy strategy. In the research reported here, the focus is on several key-aspects of regeneration policy, which have all obtained increased attention during the past decade. Some of the strategies or aspects focus on the housing stock (demolition/new-building), while in others the local population is central (residents’ participation; social cohesion), and again others concentrate on the cooperation between different actors (integrated approach; public-private partnerships). By contrasting the situation in the Netherlands with various other European countries, the research also brings out the differences in the way problems are encountered and enables them to be explained. It is demonstrated that the institutional framework determines to a large extent whether and how particular policy strategies are implemented; not every country encounters the problems in the same way. Moreover, local characteristics are of influence on the way a strategy is put into practice and thereby on its effects. In addition, it is put forward that particular regeneration strategies might oppose rather than strengthen each other.
Unruly urbanisation on Delhi's fringe : Changing patterns of land use and livelihood
urbanisation, peri-urban, peri-urbanisation, outskirts, land use, environment, living environment
From the introduction : Metropolitan cities grow beyond imaginable proportions, particularly in the developing world. Urban issues therefore warrant - and receive - increasing attention. The national capital of India, Delhi, is a city where indisputable economic progress related to urbanisation is accompanied by tremendous environmental concerns, congestion, poverty, and housing shortages. This thesis focuses on the rural-urban fringe, which is the ultimate 'battlefield' of the environmental and socio-economic change brought about by urbanisation. The population of urbanising villages is confronted with new problems and possibilities regarding their livelihood and living conditions.
urban space, urban density, urban morphology, urban form, urban planning, spatial planning, Spacematrix
The concentration of humans – in some cases judged as too high, in others not high enough – and the problems connected to this, have resulted in discussions on density. Prior to the 20th century, density in European cities was merely an outcome of complex circumstances. During the second half of the 19th century, high densities in industrializing cities were argued to be one of the major causes of fires, diseases and social turmoil. In this period, density was introduced as a tool to analyse and diagnose the quickly growing and often overcrowded cities. In a following period of increased state intervention, the concept expanded into an instrument used to propagate alternatives and prescribe maximum densities in order to guarantee certain physiological and social qualities of urban environments (such as air, light and privacy). We can observe a shift from urban density as a mere result of city development and migration to a tool used to analyse problems; and, later on, to an instrument applied to offer improved solutions. More recently, minimum densities are argued for to support amenities and public transport, and as part of the solution to produce more sustainable urban environments with potential for vital human interaction (‘urbanity’). In spite of the practical advantages of the concept of urban density in urban planning, critics have argued that the use of density for anything but statistical purposes is questionable, as it is perceived as a too elastic concept. Many professionals, as well as researchers, hold the opinion that measured density and other physical properties are independent of each other. Besides the argued lack of relationship between density and form, density is also considered with suspicion because of the confusion regarding the definition of plan boundaries and the scale at which these are measured. There is no one accepted measure of density in or shared by different countries. This research takes off with a critical review of the origin, content and practical usefulness of the concept of urban density, and aims at revising and reviving the concept to the benefit of both the planning and design process, and scientific research. This doesn’t mean that an old instrument is just taken out of the basement, dusted off and reignited. No, the shortcomings of the existing density measurements methods in conveying information about urban form and performance are certainly very real, as others have pointed out. Those shortcomings, however, have led many to the conclusion that the concept as such is flawed and even dangerous. We insist, though, that the problem with the most commonly used density measurements methods is one of representation and resolution, and not of the concept itself. The development of the Spacematrix method to measure density and identify a series of associated properties is the main result of this research. We have redefined density as a multivariable and multi-scalar phenomenon to counter the existing Babel-like confusion in the terminology currently being used by those working in the urban field. Further, through the use of this multivariable and multi-scalar approach, density can be related to potential urban form and other performances. This makes it possible to reposition the concept of density in the field of urban planning and design, and research. From an instrument to prescribe the programme of a given area, density can become a tool to guide both quantitative and qualitative ambitions, and thus fuse urban planning and design into true urbanism.
Weimar cities : Assimilating urban modernity in the Weimar Republic, 1919-1933
economics, city politics, governance, local management, local authorities, urban history, Weimar Republic
Many Germans perceived the Weimar Republic of the 1920s as an "urban republic" dominated by the power and cultural preeminence of the large metropoles, particularly Berlin. German cities had new and important roles after the war, firstly as the biggest spenders in reconstruction efforts, and secondly as the administrators of new welfare and unemployment programmes. Yet at the same time, municipal finance was undermined by the Reich's new centralized tax structure, in which cities were last to receive distributed revenues. State bureaucrats, bankers, and the private sector exhibited strong hostility towards city governments, accusing them of corruption and nepotism, irresponsible borrowing, and improvident spending. In sum, it was just as Weimar's cities assumed considerable new responsibilities, administering social services that were central to the nature and success of the republican experiment, that they were denied the financial and political support necessary to carry out their new roles. This dissertation examines the Deutsche Staidtetag (German Congress of Cities) as a focal point for the larger issues associated with city power and efforts to manage urban modernity in the republic and, by extension, the feasibility of the experiment itself. Dynamic agents of modern change, cities viewed themselves as regulated by state and financial administrations bound by traditional forms and practices, and saw their financial weakness as part of a larger, systemic failure to meet the needs of a growing and increasingly sophisticated network of urban centres. Through the Stadtetag, municipalities campaigned actively in the later 1920s for firm institutional connections with Reich ministries, an official place in the federal parliament, and seats on various bodies that managed the Weimar economy. These initiatives ultimately failed. Sliding deeper into depression and crisis after 1930, local governments were last in line for federal financial aid. As a consequence, they experienced financial hardship out of all proportion to their roles in the republic's power structure, and suffered a critical loss of authority and legitimacy when state-appointed commissioners implemented unpopular cost cuts and imposed new taxes. In 1933, subverting and taking over local governments was one of the primary objectives of Hitler's National Socialists; many local studies have shown the ease with which they achieved their goal.
"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.
Historical urban agriculture : Food production and access to land in Swedish towns before 1900
This doctoral thesis analyses the role of historical urban agriculture in a long-time perspective, through a combination of overarching surveys of Swedish towns and detailed studies of one town – Uppsala in east-central Sweden. The study shows how agricultural land – town land – of various sizes was donated to towns repeatedly during medieval times and in the 16th and 17th centuries. The study examines urban food production at three points in time, and concludes that grain production and, later, potato production as well was substantial in many towns, indicating high levels of urban self-sufficiency. This allows new perspectives concerning the interpretation of urban food provision, as urban dependency on countryside food production might have varied considerably between towns. In addition, the study shows how urban agriculture was connected to social welfare systems, in particular aiming at supporting urban widows. The results in this thesis provide an historical context to the increasing discussions about present-day urban agriculture globally, and identify a number of factors that may create or counteract opportunities for urban agriculture.
The foundation, planning and building of new towns in the 13th and 14th centuries in Europe : an architectural-historical research into urban form and its creation
urban form, urban morphology, urban planning, urban history, history of urban planning, history of architecture, new town
The urban environment is the physical and social habitat for almost half of mankind in the present day world. In ‘developed’ regions such as Europe even almost three quarters of the population live in towns and cities. This urban environment has strongly contributed to the shape of our personal and common identity, our culture, both in the past and in the present. For instance, many important facets of our modern world are essentially urban in origin. This holds true for, among other things, the core family as social unit (instead of extended families or tribes), for the freedom of person and personal possession, for the freedom of trade and profession (and thereby for professional specialisation and the recognition of the importance of schooling), for market trade, money and democracy. Conversely, the physical and social urban environment also expresses our common identity. And the forms of historic towns and cities also express the identity and aspirations of our ancestors, which is also important for our own identity, giving us a place in history. Generally speaking, the historic manmade landscape offers us a tangible idea of the long history of our culture and of our own position in history. This holds particularly true for the landscape with many historic buildings, in old villages, towns and cities. This built landscape offers us a strong suggestion of the connection with our ancestors that created (elements of) this landscape in the past, and it makes us more or less conscious of both cultural change and continuity in the course of the centuries. Therefore, the historic urban landscape, as it exists, has to be treated with care and respect. And therefore it also deserves to be studied, and if possible, explained. That is what this study is mainly about. The greatest part of urban space in Europe has been created since the industrial revolution, which, depending on the region, generally took place in the late 18th to early 20th century. The general development of the strong urbanisation in this period is relatively well known to us. But many, or probably even most, of the towns and cities that presently exist have originally been created in the period of about the 12th to 14th centuries. In this period there was also a high degree of urbanisation, which is quite well-known as a general fact, but relatively little is known of what precisely happened. Therefore, this study seeks to understand more of this period of strong urbanisation, and more precisely about the spatial or architectural aspects of this urbanisation. In particular, this study focuses on towns that were intentionally created from very humble beginnings within a relatively short period of time. It is a known fact that many towns were newly created in this way throughout Europe particularly in the 13th and 14th centuries, but very little is known of how this actually happened, and it appears that part of the ideas that people presently have concerning this subject, are largely erroneous. Therefore this dissertation is intended to shed more light on the subject of the creation of new towns in Europe in the 13th and 14th centuries, by analysing the towns and the relatively sparse written sources on the subject.
Cities as partners : The challenge to strengthen urban governance through North-South city partnerships
governance, local authorities, developing countries, partnership, co-operation, urban development, civil society, twinning
During the last decades, local governments have increasingly become recognised as actors in international development cooperation. It has been estimated that today 70% of the world’s cities are engaged in some form of international cooperation. Many of these relations connect the developed and the developing world (‘North’ and ‘South’). They put cities at the core of international cooperation, both as development agents and as beneficiaries. In the light of world-wide ongoing decentralisation of government, globalisation and urbanisation trends, the changing role of local government and increased attention to good governance as a precondition for development, municipal partnerships are more and more employed as instruments for cities and communities to assist one another by means of knowledge sharing, the transfer of resources and technology, and joint cooperation. Cities – both local administrations and civil societies - partner up and their partnerships seek to contribute to a variety of objectives, including poverty alleviation and institutional strengthening. The concept of urban governance recognises that decision-making power exists both inside and outside local government institutions, diminishing the distinction between the public and private spheres. In order to achieve good, participatory local governance that contributes to local development, people and institutions need to be brought together. Both a strong local government and citizenry are therefore needed. Set against this background, this study aims to gain insight into the relevance and potential of North-South city-to-city cooperation with regard to strengthening urban governance in the South. Moreover, it seeks to understand better the factors affecting this potential. These factors include (supra)national policies and legislation; local political and organisational conditions necessary for municipalities to operate in international cooperation; actors involved, their responsibilities and relations; and conditions to build capacity and exchange knowledge trough partnerships in a North-South context. Drawing on a comparative study of four North-South city partnerships involving cities in Peru, Nicaragua, South Africa, the Netherlands and Germany, this study shows that city-to-city cooperation is successful in improving the effectiveness of local government to supply good service delivery, while it proves more difficult to strengthen civil society to demand good services. Thanks to their specific municipal expertise, cities can be meaningful partners in international cooperation and generate results where other donors do not. Their role is also vulnerable however, as an official municipal mandate for international cooperation is lacking. Political resistance, little financial resources and insufficient knowledge of poverty and development processes may undermine this role.
Meeting-places of transformation : Urban identity, spatial representations and local politics in St Petersburg, Russia
Time-space, lifeworld, Hägerstrand, Habermas, Lotman, participant observation, post-Soviet transformation, time-geography, cultural geography, cultural semiotics, urban studies, everyday life, Soviet cartography, local self-government,
This study develops a model for understanding spatial change and the construction of space as a meeting-place, and then employs it in order to show an otherwise little-known picture of (sub-)urban Russia and its transformation from Soviet times to today. The model is based on time-geographic ideas of time-space as a limited resource in which forces of various kinds struggle for access and form space in interaction with each other. Drawing on cultural semiotics and the concepts of lifeworld and system, the study highlights the social side of these space-forming forces. Based on a long-term fieldwork (participant observation) in Ligovo/Uritsk, a high-rise residential district developed around 1970 and situated on the outskirts of Sankt-Peterburg (St Petersburg), the empirical material concerns processes of urban identity, spatial representations and local politics. The study explicates three codes used to form the image of the city that all relate to its pre-Revolutionary history, two textual strategies of juxtaposition in creating the genius loci of a place, and a discussion of what I call Soviet "stiff landscape" in relation to Soviet mental and ordinary maps of the urban landscape. Moreover, the study shows that the newly implemented self-governing municipalities have not realised their potential as political actors in forming local space, which raises questions on the democratisation of urban space. Finally, the study argues that the model that guides the research is a tool that facilitates the application of the world-view of time-geography and the epistemology of the landscape of courses in concrete research. The study ends with an attempt to generalise spatial change in four types.
Thinking Shanghai : A Foucauldian interrogation of the postsocialist metropolis
globalisation, global city, networks, public space, Foucault Michel, network society, colonialism, urban culture, inhabitants, post-socialist city, metropolis
This work is an investigation into Shanghai’s role in the twenty-first century as it attempts to rejoin the global city network. It also examines the effects this move is having on the city, its people, and its public spaces. Shanghai’s intention to turn itself into the New York of Asia is not succeeding, in fact the city might be better trying to become the Chicago of Asia instead. As one of Saskia Sassen’s ‘global cities’ Shanghai functions as part of a network that requires face-to-face contact, but it has also been able to benefit from links that were forged during the colonial era (1842 to c.1949). In fact, the new global elites who have made cities like Shanghai their home have ended up living much like former ones; with the result that their needs are pushing out the very people who used to call this city ‘home’. These are the people who inhabit what Manuel Castells calls the ‘Fourth World’ (what this research refers to as the ‘analogue archipelago’). Manuel Castells’s notion of the ‘network society’ also shows how recent developments in globalisation have resulted in qualitative social and economic changes because they operate in real time. Globalisation, however, does not necessarily mean Westernisation. In fact, there is a strong neo-Confucian ethos underpinning China’s recent resurgence, which in turn has important ramifications for how Chinese people perceive public space. Shanghai’s new public space is curiously dead – and while Asians tend to blur distinctions between public and private more than we do in the West (which can render these spaces harder to read for Westerners) – the fault lies more with the fact that some of Shanghai’s new public spaces are simply ‘left-over’ spaces, particularly in front of the newer skyscrapers. This space has been designed for movement, not for use, and it contrasts starkly with the traditional alleyway houses of the colonial-era city where communal activity, graduated privacy, and organised complexity made for a rich and dynamic street life. Part II of this thesis deals with colonialism, noting how Shanghai has benefitted from its justly famous colonial history in its attempts to rejoin the global city network. Colonialism is carefully differentiated from imperialism, although it is noted that both were premised on industrial innovations, particularly Britain’s, in the nineteenth century. Part II also examines Hong Kong’s and Singapore’s role in the global city network, the better to understand Shanghai; and a useful comparison has been made between Shanghai’s alleyway houses and the Singapore shophouse with regard to public space and the possibilities for rehabilitation and reuse. Part III is perhaps the most important section of this thesis, particularly its use of Michel Foucault’s theories of space and power relations and how these are inscribed in a built environment. This Part also highlights the use that has been made of Foucault’s work by other academics, notably Edward W. Said in Orientalism. Said saw some good things as having resulted from Western hegemony over that part of the world he defines as the Orient but generally tends to regard imperialistic influence as debilitating and dangerous. Use has also been made of some critics of Said’s work, notably Robert Irwin and Ibn Warraq, who maintain that Said overvalued the role of the intellectual, and, more dangerously, misunderstood the Foucauldian notion of discourse, which is what led him to make some of his most damaging statements about European racism against the Orient. By way of contrast, David Grahame Shane’s application of the Foucauldian notion of the heterotopia – to Hong Kong’s Kowloon Walled City – is an apposite and accurate use of one of Foucault’s theories. Part IV examines China’s rich and ancient culture, noting as it does so that cultures are constructed, and, more importantly, asking how they are constructed. Manuel Castells sees the construction of identities as using materials from history, geography, biology, productive and reproductive institutions, as well as from collective memory and personal fantasies, and even from power apparatuses and religious revelation; this thesis’s examination of the Chinese mentalité is an important exercise in helping to comprehend what is happening in Shanghai today. Cities are not about buildings and streets; cities are about people, and their networks of interaction. Any study of a city must take account of the warm life of its inhabitants and not allow itself to be blinded by the cold geometries of stone. This examination of what has gone wrong with Shanghai’s new public spaces was greatly aided by an understanding of the Chinese language itself, which in turn led to the conclusion that the Western term ‘public’ might be better transliterated into Chinese as chang (which means ‘open-air’) rather than the more usual gong (or ‘public’), especially when describing Shanghai’s new public space.
Just environments : Politicising sustainable urban development
eco-friendly living, sustainable urban development, diversity, justice, postpolitics, discourse, normalisation, discipline, othering
European cities are becoming increasingly multicultural and diverse in terms of lifestyles and socioeconomic conditions. However, in planning for sustainable urban development, implications of this increased diversity and possibly conflicting perspectives are seldom considered. The aim of this thesis is to explore dimensions of justice and politics in sustainable urban development by studying inclusionary/exclusionary effects of discursive power of official strategies for eco-friendly living on the one hand and everyday lifestyles on the other, in ethnically and socially diverse areas. Two case studies have been conducted, one in a city district of Stockholm, Sweden, and one in an area of Sheffield, England. The empirical material consists of interviews with residents, interviews with planners and officials and an analysis of strategic planning documents. The case study in Stockholm illustrated the prevalence of a dominant discourse among residents in which Swedishness is connected with environmental responsibility in the form of tidiness, recycling and familiarity with nature. In Sheffield there are more competing and parallel environmental discourses. The mainstream British environmental discourse and sustainability strategies are being criticised from Muslim as well as green radical perspectives. The mainstream discourse is criticised for being tokenistic in its focus on gardening, tidiness, recycling and eco-consumption, and hence ignoring deeper unsustainable societal structures. This can be interpreted as a postpolitical condition, in which there is a consensus around “what needs to be done,” such as more recycling, but in which difficult societal problems and conflicting perspectives on these are not highlighted. In the thesis it is argued that the strategies for urban sustainability are underpinned by Swedish/British middle-class norms, entailing processes of (self-)disciplining and normalisation of the Other into well-behaving citizens. It is argued that an appreciation of the multiple and others’ ways of saving natural resources would make the sustainability strategies more attuned to social and cultural diversity as well as more environmentally progressive. Finally, the importance of asserting the political in sustainability strategies is stressed, highlighting the organisation of society and possible alternative socioenvironmental futures.
Blots on the face of the city : the politics of slum housing and urban renewal in Toronto, 1940-1970
housing, urban renewal, disadvantaged district, social movement, social housing, city centre, slum, history of urban planning
This thesis seeks to overcome the myopia of previous studies of urban renewal in Toronto through a historical approach to the interaction between state housing policy and community activism in the politics of urban renewal. First, it examines the continuities and discontinuities in the history of planning and social housing activity and activism in Toronto. In particular, the thesis examines the long history of community activism in Toronto, and how local residents resisted--sometimes successfully, most times not--the Haussmannization of inner-city Toronto. Vigorous community opposition to urban renewal, though only successful in the late 1960s was by no means a recent development in Toronto. Second, the thesis places the local politics of slum clearance and urban renewal schemes within the context of Toronto's chronic low-income housing shortage which conditioned how these programs played out and how Torontonians reacted to them in the ways they did. Third, and finally, it is a central contention of this thesis that the destruction of inner city neighbourhoods under the guise of renewal was due, in large part, to the way in which these neighbourhoods were portrayed in popular discourse. Thus, the thesis examines the idea of community as "contested terrain" in two different ways--physical and ideological. The battle for control over the renewal of Toronto's inner-city neighbourhoods concerned real spatial sites, the conditions of many of which were harmful to the physical and material interests of their residents. As a result, planners, politicians, and residents of inner-city Toronto neighbourhoods struggled daily to prevent further decay of individual and collective residential environments. Nonetheless, the primary battle waged over the control of inner-city neighbourhoods was ideological. Planners, politicians, social housing activists, the popular media, community activists, and inner-city residents aft struggled over the definition of inner-city neighbourhoods as "slums." All too often Toronto's working class neighbourhoods were viewed through the lens of the "Victorian slum" and universally portrayed as landscapes of disease, despair, and degeneracy--both physically and morally. The inability of Torontonians to move beyond a kind of "Victorian environmentalism" to comprehend the diverse realities of inner-city neighbourhoods led to the physical and social destruction of much of working-class Toronto. Ironically, wiping these "cancerous blots" from the face of the city through massive urban renewal and public housing projects was the most costly solution of all and undermined the nation's entire urban housing program. Indeed, the fundamental contradictions between the discourse and the reality of poor housing districts were vital to the struggle of politicalhegemonies that eventually brought slum clearance and urban renewal schemes to a halt by 1970.
Homeowners' architectural responses to crime in Dar Es Salaam : Its impacts and implications to urban architecture, urban design and urban management
urban planning, security, architecture, crime, homeowner
This study is about Homeowner’s architectural responses to crime in Dar es Salaam Tanzania: its impacts and implications to urban architecture, urban design and urban management. The study explores and examines the processes through which homeowners respond to crimes of burglary, home robbery and fear of it using architectural or physical elements. The processes are explored and examined using case study methodology in three cases in Dar es Salaam. The cases are residential areas of Mikocheni B, Ilala Kasulu and Chang’ombe Housing. The findings from the three cases are compared and the common findings are illuminated and discussed using criminology, economic and social theories and concepts. The results of the study show that, homeowners physically and architecturally modify their home environments for many reasons. Homeowners do so by building or erecting wall fences around their houses and install or barricade doors and windows using metal bars. From the study, the notable main reasons are security and protection from burglary, thefts, home robbery and visual and physical privacy. Others include property marking, disputes and misunderstandings between neighbours and property encroachment by neighbours. In the study, it has been established that, the actions by the homeowners in responding to crime of burglary, thievery and home robberies have impacts and implications on the built environment. The impacts are: affects the visual experience of the built form by limiting view to houses; keeps neighbours apart thus limiting social interaction among residents; segregating public spaces and thus making them empty without people; encroaching on the streets; reducing surveilability of streets and neighbouring dwellings; create the impression of ‘private appearance’ therefore stigmataizing the residential neighbourhoods, all of which increase the vulnerability of areas as well as enhancing the ‘subjective’ feeling of fear in the areas. Furthermore, the responses pose risks to residents when fire evacuation from homes is required, including the effects that affect the environmental comfort conditions of homes and the overall built environment. Despite of the impacts to the built environment as summarised in the foregoing, the study has shown that, homeowners still erect wall fences and barricade their homes due to fear arising from previous crimes. On the basis of the impacts, a new approach to planning of residential housing areas is recommended in which the question of security against crime is included as design factor particularly in urban design. Either an approach to architectural design of houses and the layout of houses that considers crime as an important factor in addition to ‘target hardening’ approach is recommended to increase visibility and surveilability of built environments. The study concludes by highlighting five implications to urban architecture, urban design and urban management at planning and architectural design, considerations which may be of impacts towards improving built environment and management of the urban residential arena. The study ends by outlining and recommending areas of further research.
The (re)positioning of the Spanish metropolitan system within the European urban system (1986-2006)
urban growth, metropolisation, spatial planning, economics
The thesis seeks to demonstrate that during the period between 1986 and 2006, some of the principal cities of the Spanish metropolitan system, have undergone significant change in terms of their European competitiveness. It is suggested that in the case of Madrid and Barcelona in particular this change has been of such a magnitude to proportion them a much more important place within the European spatial configuration than that which they occupied in the mid-1980s. Empirical evidence is offered to support this conjecture. The thesis lies wholly within the framework of spatial planning at the European territorial scale. It charts the comparative ascent of the Spanish cities from the moment of Spain’s entry into the European Union (EU) in 1986 against the background of the development of European spatial policy, increased economic integration across Europe, the increased importance of the ‘territorial’ dimension of EU cohesion policy and an eventual waning of the applicability of the terminology of ‘core’ and ‘periphery’ to describe European geographical location. Part One (Chapter 1) addresses the processes of urbanisation in general from a global perspective and then focuses on metropolitan growth in a number of different historical contexts from the start of the 19th Century. Parts Two (Chapters 2-5) and Three (Chapters 6-9) of the thesis carry out analyses at two contrasting but complementary spatial scales. Part Two examines the metropolitan growth processes in Spain, in the period since 1857, detecting the historical moments in which there were surges in the metropolitan populations of the seven cities of the metropolitan system. The dimensions of the spatial units of analysis corresponding to the seven Spanish metropolitan urban regions are described, based upon a methodology first developed by the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (UPC) in the context of a transnational spatial planning project of the INTERREG community initiative. These seven spatial units form the basis for a socio-economic analysis of the structure of the metropolitan system, drawing upon data principally from the 2001 Census. If by 1930 one of the key characteristics of Spain’s urban system was having not just one but two cities (Madrid and Barcelona) belonging to the group of 27 cities across the world with populations in excess of 1 million inhabitants, this same differentiation between the country’s two largest cities and the remainder of the urban system is equally valid today. Spain’s urban system remains clearly bicephalous in being dominated by these same two cities in terms of demographic and economic strength. Part Three begins by examining the evolution of European spatial policy against the background of an ever-enlarging European Union and changes with regard to the notion of cohesion – from a concept understood in terms of economic and social factors, to one in which the territorial dimension has become increasingly important. The European urban system is then critically examined through a number of key and influential studies, with particular regard to the rankings and hierarchies of metropolitan urban regions deriving there from and the changes in the placing of the Spanish metropolitan urban regions therein. Taking inspiration from the seminal contribution of Manuel Castells in the context of the structural changes resulting from the informational and technological revolution, the thesis seeks to replicate the concept of a ‘space of flows’. This is carried out through a ‘network analysis’ approach drawing upon air passenger flows between some 28 European metropolitan urban regions of the EU15+2 group of countries, enabling the analysis of the interaction between these 28 cities. This methodology enables arriving at a number of descriptive indicators which in turn, through the application of a multi-dimensional scaling mathematical technique, permits comparing the functional and physical distances of each of the metropolitan urban regions from the centre of the ‘conceptual space of air passenger flows’ and the centre of gravity. The resulting map of the functional positioning of the cities offers a spatial vision of metropolitan Europe quite different to that based upon Cartesian coordinates. Such an approach enables demonstrating that cities such as Barcelona, Madrid, Helsinki, Lisbon and Athens, traditionally considered as physically peripheral to the European core area, appear to be more favourably positioned in functional terms. Furthermore in the case of Spain the results indicate that Barcelona lies closer to the centre of the conceptual ‘space of air passenger flows’ than Madrid. In light of this empirical evidence, together with the signs of increased economic integration across some parts of Spain, the prospects of Spain forming part of a wider European territorial concentration of flows and activities, and the recognition of the territorial capital of Madrid and Barcelona within recent EU spatial policy declarations, the thesis concludes in Part Four that these two metropolitan regions have undergone a clear consolidation and (re)positioning within the European metropolitan hierarchy.
Measuring the formation of world cities : The case of Shanghai
global city, world city, globalisation, urbanisation, economics
The global shift of production activities from the developed to the developing countries, induced mainly by the explosive development of information technology (IT), has brought profound changes to the world economic system and tremendous transformations in the spatial organization of our society. Instead of a dispersed distribution of human settlements, some core cities, along with their hinterlands, have stood out functionally as the world's most important centers for gathering information, coordinating production, marketing, distribution, finance and delivering commands. To capture such fundamental changes and the accompanying new urbanization trend, the concept of world city, substantiated by Friedmann in his papers of 1982 and 1986, has been generated and developed... However, in spite of the achievements of past studies on world cities, there are still a confusion and grounds uncovered. Particularly obvious is the lack of a systematic measurement on the formation of world cities, which is greatly needed when many cities, especially many key cities in Pacific Asia, such as Hong Kong, Singapore, Taipei, Seoul, Bangkok, Kuala Lumpur, Shanghai and Beijing, are aspiring to be a world city. The present thesis is thus aimed at filling the gap by devising a measuring methodology based on quantifiable indicators to chart the extent of a city in its development towards a world city.
The urban experience as seen from the park : Spatial practice in neighbourhood parks of Bogota, Colombia
park, public space, social interaction, community
Latin American research has addressed the role of urban landscapes in contributing to a sense of community, to social relationships, to the quality of urban life and to community development. This thesis analyses, compares and evaluates spatial practice in two local parks of Bogotá, Colombia. Spatial practice in this research is defined according to Lefebvre’s writing on the production of space. Spatial practice refers to the sensorial level of spatial phenomena ; it involves uses, interactions, perceptions, influences and transformations in the everyday relationships between space and people. The two parks under investigation are located in and belong to different socioeconomic areas and the cross-class comparison of parks and spatial practice is important in a highly segregated city such as Bogotá. Locally, the two parks are part of the innovative municipal government program, ‘Parks for Learning How to Live,’ (1998-2000).This project transformed public space physically as well as residents’ perceptions of public space, parks, and outdoor recreation and leisure. The research design was qualitative because it sought information on perceptions, uses and feelings of park users.The findings identified that despite the two parks being similar in terms of their physical characteristics, they display different spatial practices that in turn reflect the socio-economic status, history, and expectations of the communities that use them. This research provides an in-depth analysis of the spatial practice in these two parks in order to start building a bottom-up framework that may be instrumental for future planning.
City fragments : Space and nostalgia in modernizing Quito, 1885-1942
urban history, social inequality, urban segregation, history of urban planning, urban life
Quito radically altered during the fin-de-siècle, growing from a small Andean hamlet into a burgeoning metropolis. This process increasingly took on a spatial dimension after 1908, when the completion of a railroad between the Ecuadorian capital and the port of Guayaquil accelerated the development of an industrial sector on the southern edge. Quito's elite abandoned the colonial center for mansions on the northern environs in ensuing years, propelling a clear socio-racial segregation. A master plan developed in 1942 codified this situation while incorporating the wide avenues and parks typical of the City Beautiful movement ever since Haussmann drove his boulevards through the slums of old Paris. Nevertheless, the plan avoided demolishing the old city, giving the city's segregation a temporal cast. This dissertation examines how perceptions of space, modernity, and memory influenced the production of the shifting - yet static - cityscape that developed between 1885 and 1942. It begins with a discussion of the panoramic gazes of cartographers and municipal planners, whose attempts to reorder the city according to the molds of science and progress disguised the perpetuation of traditional social inequalities. It next moves to urban dwelling with a discussion of everyday life across three city districts and a review of the architecture and acculturation of a Swiss immigrant family. A review of allegorical imagery follows, beginning with laudatory portraits of Quito as the locus of Ecuador's Spanish heritage and continuing with the contrasting conceit prevalent in liberal and socialist novels that the city represented a social battleground. Finally, it traces the development of a pastiche among chroniclers using the vignette to overcome a perceived division between modernity and tradition, often incorporating folkloric themes and narrative styles. By juxtaposing these fragments, the dissertation argues that Quiteños from across temporal, spatial, and social boundaries coped with the pressures of modernization by redefining the city as a nostalgic place populated by the ghosts of a fictitious past.