One of the challenges confronting cities in non-industrialised countries today is the fact that cities are growing at unprecedented rates, sizes and densities. Growth trends in these cities are largely unregulated. In these countries, cities have…
Trends towards ‘informalization’ are looming large in the world today. African cities have long been characterised by the presence of an ‘informal sector’ but are now experiencing new waves of ‘informalization’. Policies of liberalisation and…
An increasing number of North American cities are demonstrating vocal resistance to perceived homogenization and corporatization of the urban landscape. In Austin, Texas, a grassroots movement has emerged as a form of resistance to these cultural and…
This study explores the factors urban residents consider when making residential location decisions. The context of the study is informal residential areas in a rapidly urbanising African city – the city of Dar es Salaam in Tanzania. A central…
This research presents the case of growth in Buenos Aires since the late 1970s, when the decentralization of urban planning powers in the Province of Buenos Aires began, until 2001, when an economic crisis submerged -even if transitorily- more than…
This study explores and reiterates the significance carried by the notions of place, multiplicity and experience in the approaches to the study of architecture, in the shaping of cultures, and in the construction of urban (hi)stories and…
This thesis is an interpretative ethnographic of two illegal hawker agglomerations sustained in the post-colonial Hong Kong. The focus of concern is on researching the everyday life resistance of the urban underclass living in a polarizing global…
The thesis examines the main factors that have led to changes in socio-spatial residential pattern in Tallinn, the capital city of Estonia, and its surrounding region in the post-socialist period, and analyses transformation of this pattern during…
This thesis documents the genealogy of the development of Jakarta’s urban water supply infrastructure from 1873 (the inception of the first colonial water supply network) to the present. Using an analytical framework of governmentality, supplemented…
The ambition to redevelop post-World-War Two [post-WWII] neighbourhoods (built between 1950-1975) is derived from the slow degradation process that often affected them during the last decades. The urban-restructuring processes mostly take place…
In recent years, within the fields of urban geography and urban studies, increasing attention has been paid to the multidimensional concept of urban deprivation. The majority of work on this topic has focused on British and U.S. urban areas with less…
The deliberative turn in recent political theory ties legitimacy to public deliberation about reasons, offered for and against exercises of authority by informed and sincere citizens, who share a commitment to finding mutually acceptable terms of…
This thesis interrogates the dynamics of urbanisation, gender and migration in contemporary Johannesburg through the voices and images of migrant women from the rest of the African continent, now living in Johannesburg. By revealing the lives of a…
Through a comparative examination of Montreal and Brussels, this thesis considers the way city dwellers shaped the social and cultural significance of urban space in terms of sensorial experiences and bodily practices. The analysis is based primarily…
A city is more than a physical imprint. Through its architecture and human use of urban space, it is an extension of its residents, an expression of their culture.
This investigation is situated within the domain of urban historical geography,…
From the third decade of the 20 century onward, Iranian cities have experienced a rapid transformation resulting from swift social, economic and political changes. These changes, stemming from many global factors such as industrial revolution, led to…
This dissertation investigates the history and political economy of two Chinese cities, Shanghai and Hong Kong, in the context of debates about globalization and ‘global cities.’ My inquiry focuses on the interwoven relationships between…
This thesis explores urban poverty and the adaptations of the urban poor in the slums of the megacity of Dhaka, Bangladesh. It seeks to make a contribution to understanding and analysis of the phenomenon of rapid mass urbanisation in the Third World…
Dar es Salaam in Tanzania is one of the fastest growing urban agglomerations in Africa and projected to become a megacity (i.e., a city with more than 5 mil. inhabitants) by 2025. Rapid urban growth under poverty has outstripped the capacities of…
This study formulates conditions for sustainable impacts of inclusive and responsive governance through ‘invited spaces’ offered by the government and ‘claimed spaces’ created by the poor. The study questions how increased contributions to poverty…
