About eighty percent of Addis Ababa’s settlements are considered “slum”. The study examines the phenomenon of urban upgrading in tenant-dominated non-planned inner-city settlements of the city. It focuses on tenants’ responses and spatial…
This thesis describes, conceptualizes and explains the segregated spatiality of everyday life of young affluent heads of households in post-war Beirut, Lebanon. It tracks how young affluent heads of households have come to produce the living spaces…
The economy of Oman, was traditional in character before the development of the oil sector which set in motion the present structural transformation. Economic prosperity gave the opportunity to the public to possess their own private means of…
Issues within the context of the present cannot be isolated from their spatial or temporal context. Neither the past (tradition) nor the future (modern technology) can provide solutions to the problems of the present. Their value lies in the fact…
The state of Qatar provides an interesting illustration of a nation that has recently witnessed spectacular urban development worthy of investigation. Indeed, during the past three decades huge oil revenues have enabled the country to embark on…
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.…
This work is a study in urban history, in particular, one that examines a crucial period in the rise and development of large cities and metropolises in the region of Sogdiana within Central Asia, between the seventh and tenth centuries. The primary…
This dissertation discusses the mainly unpublished empirical, or "concrete", studies of urban space by Henri Lefebvre (1901 - 1991) and demonstrates that Lefebvre's theory of production of space cannot be understood without taking these studies into…
Megacities of over 10 million population are a phenomenon not seen before in human history. Among 19 Megacities, 14 are in developing countries and 11 are in Asia. Dhaka represents one of the most extreme examples of rapid Megacity growth having a…
During recent decades, urban transport systems in Southeast Asia’s industrialising high growth economies were transformed. The ownership and use of privatelyowned cars and motorcycles grew in all cities, simultaneous to the introduction of new forms…
This thesis posits that throughout history, the Western city has been made and understood according to a shared image of the cosmos. It argues that though the contours of this cosmos have changed over time and place, collectively held understandings…
This study examines the effects of globalization on state restructuring and the status of cities and local governments. I conduct a comparative case study of two Japanese world cities, Tokyo and Osaka, Japan. Existing globalization theories offer…
In the rapidly urbanizing world, the informal settlement has been forming a significant part of the common urban scene in many cities in the developing countries. It holds a particular role in the city as it houses millions of urban poor who has no…
The idea of a “historic city” is a rather recent phenomenon. As a conceptual framework, it evolved over the course of the 1970s and 1980s from the intellectual foundations of modernist urban design. This is especially well illustrated in East Berlin,…
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…
This thesis deals with the urban phenomenon of minority clusters, which are invariably referred to as 'ghettos'. A review of the literature on 'ghettos' suggests that the clustering of identifiable minorities is commonly associated with segregation -…
Following decades of sweeping social change, a 'new' Thai middle class emerged to become the main agents of the mass demonstrations which have rocked Bangkok for the better part of the past four years. Yet, the academic literature reveals a marked…
It is hard to overestimate the scholarly impact of Saskia Sassen’s global city theoretical framework, which revolves around the impact of economic globalization on the social, economic, and political reality of cities in advanced economies. Yet, more…
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…
