Urban Regeneration of Industrial Areas: Affordable Housing for Low Income Populations in Cities

The UK-China Sustainable Development Dialogue (SDD) is a partnership between the UK and Chinese Governments to promote collaboration and good practice on sustainable development. It is framed by a 2004 joint Prime Ministerial declaration and was formally established in 2005 by an agreement signed by UK Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott and State Councillor Tang. The SDD was founded on the recognition that, in an interdependent world, international co-operation is needed to ensure that learning is shared and efforts are made collectively towards achieving common goals. This report is the 13th and Final Paper in the SDD (Urban Strand. It draws together the core conclusions from the previous twelve papers and offers recommendations for taking the dialogue forward

ALMOS many-core operating system extension with new secure-enable mechanisms for dynamic creation of secure zones

International audienceMany-core architectures are becoming a major execution platform in order to face the increasing number of applications to be executed in parallel. Such an approach is very attractive in order to offer users with high performance. However it introduces some key challenges in terms of security as some malicious applications may compromise the whole system. A defense-in-depth approach relying on hardware and software mechanisms is thus mandatory to increase the level of protection. This work focuses on the Operating System (OS) level and proposes a set of operating system services able to dynamically create physical isolated secure zones for sensitive applications in many-core platforms. These services are integrated into the ALMOS OS deployed in the TSAR many-core architecture, and evaluated in terms of security level and induced performance overhead

Governance of relocation: an examination of residential relocation processes in housing market renewal pathfinder areas in England

This thesis examines governance processes shaping policy-induced residential relocation in a differentiated polity. It has been known since the post Second World War slum clearance that demolition and residential relocation present some of the most complex forms of planning intervention. Whilst intended for the benefit of the wider community, when mismanaged, housing demolition and relocation may incur heavy psychological costs of enforced relocation and the social cost of the destruction of healthy communities. Launched in 2002, Housing Market Renewal (HMR) was the largest housing demolition initiative devised in the UK since the post Second World War slum clearance. Its key feature was the high degree of responsibility devolved to new sub-regional partnerships, the Pathfinders. The government did not provide standards nor guidance for residential relocation process or its outcomes. Pathfinders were entrusted to develop their strategies in response to their circumstances and contexts. Between 2002 and 2011, HMR partnerships demolished over 30,000 homes and acquired an additional 15,000. This caused approximately 50,000 residents to move from their homes. Yet research about residential relocation remains limited in several ways. Since the 1960s and 1970s, residential relocation has been examined as a matter of social and political debates, focusing mainly on negative residential relocation outcomes long after the process was over. This was no different in the case of HMR. HMR attracted the attention of critical gentrification research. This body of research argues that the gentrification in HMR is orchestrated by the state as the key actor and presents relocation outcomes as predominately negative. This study challenges that stand. Drawing on governance theory this research argues that understanding cross tenure residential relocation in the context of a differentiated polity entails an ability to grapple with disparate matters, such as institutional complexity, governmental fragmentation, multiplication of agencies and complex webs of relationships. Distinctively, it focuses on procedure and works towards devising a theoretical vehicle that shows how governance has a profound impact on relocation delivery. The thesis uses a sociological approach to research underpinned by grounded theory as qualitative methodology. The key primary source of data are over 40 face-to-face interviews conducted with important stakeholders from public, private and community sectors in two pilot studies, a qualitative survey of ten Pathfinders and an in-depth case study of Bridging Newcastle Pathfinder between 2007 and 2011. The findings show that cross tenure residential relocation in a differentiated polity is delivered by a complex network of actors from public, private and community sectors. Residential relocation practices vary on project scale and are shaped by interaction of five distinct processes. The relocation outcomes are the result of a network operation, differ on sub-regional, local authority, project and household level and are both positive and negative. The thesis recommends further exploration of „governance of relocation‟ as a model for researching residential relocation in other differentiated polity contexts and provides recommendations for future policy design

Tenants and residents associations and council collaboration: rhetoric and reality

The aim of the thesis is to fill a gap in knowledge about collaboration and the possibilities that exist for the achievement of collaborative advantage by examining in detail the way that institutional pressure and power impacts on tenants and residents association (TARA) and council collaboration. Three levels of analysis are used to examine relations between institutional forces and power at the macro-level (including legislation, traditions and customs) and their affect on the political environment within which organizations are located and collaborate at the meso-level and individuals in organizations act at the micro-level. The thesis uses ideas and concepts that are part of institutional theory and theory on power to show what affect the national political environment has had on mandated TARA and council collaboration. The focus is on how effectively existing theory on collaboration and collaborative advantage deals with institutions, the ways in which they can impact on relations between collaborating organizations and the role of mandated collaboration when there are large inequalities of power between collaborating organizations with very different cultures and values. The research design comprised a longitudinal single case study to examine and analyse TARA and council collaboration. I adopted an ethnographic and grounded research approach to obtain people’s views and perspectives on collaboration for later coding and categorization that led to the emergence of various ideas, concepts and relations. My new concept that helps to explain how organizations can be involved in a process where they are disadvantaged in collaboration is introduced and developed

Urban squatter policies (IV)

노트 : In collaboration with faculty of the Centre for Urban and Regional Studies, The University of birmingham, United Kingdo

Visions of delivery: Institutional capacity, governance and spatial planning in London Thames gateway.

This study is about the delivery of urban visions. New institutional landscapes are being formed across London and power is increasingly diffused across multiple sectors under a new multi-level network pattern of governance. The new institutional arrangements for London and the inauguration of the Greater London Authority in particular embody the contradictory New Labour modernisation agenda displaying evidence of centralism, managerialism and localism at the same time (Brooks, 1999). In London Thames Gateway the omnipresence of the central state is revealed despite the 'devolution' of power to a new citywide Mayor. This also suggests that Government is increasingly being 'hollowed-out' (Houghton and Counsell, 2004) but that central Government continues to 'steer' the course. If the last few years are anything to go by spatial planning and strategic planning projects in particular, are back in vogue. As in the post-war period London is faced with a projected population and jobs explosion, although for very different reasons. 'Big bang' strategic planning has returned with a vengeance but for London Thames Gateway the same old questions remain: delivery---how, who and where The current institutional apparatus continues to confuse and bemuse and this study is about contributing towards the task of converting paper plans and a multitude of competing urban visions into lived reality. A broader reconfiguration of the state, economy and civil society means that a more sophisticated understanding is required to get to grips with the different actors involved within networks and the relationships of these networks. In the context of institutional fragmentation London Thames Gateway is used as a 'window' into the current institutional framework to see how the New Labour modernisation agenda is working 'on the ground'. The study uses semi-structured interviews across the various governance tiers (i.e. central Government, pan-London and sub-regional levels) to analyse the internal and external working relationships of the various actors involved. The analysis suggests that for those organisations involved in London Thames Gateway there is a 'sense of a widely-held common project' (Amin and Thrift 1995) and that this is the 'institutional glue' that binds these organisations together. In this sense the study draws on anthropology by isolating typologies or generic characteristics to understand what binds (or not) these institutions together. The evidence also suggests that participation in developing an urban vision for London Thames Gateway has broadened to encompass sectors (such as the health sector) previously neglected in planning processes and this is a positive aspect of the reforms. In an analysis of the proposed Urban Development Corporation a number of positive (generic) components can be identified. However, the analysis also emphasises that the New Labour modernisation programme is likely to generate significant tensions and some of these are in evidence in London Thames Gateway. This is because the many changes and innovations that result from this programme are creating new institutional arrangements and there is evidence of competing cultures as emerging institutions bring with them a whole new set of values and rules-in-use. These new governance structures can be linked to London's position within the global economy, the 'flavour' of the new planning system and the spatial plans being produced to take account of these trends. The global economic race for economic competitiveness dictates that planners and planning must respond, whilst at the same time steering a course through social cohesion and environmental sustainability. It is argued that there is no spatial fait accompli and political institutions and civil society in London Thames Gateway are able to manoeuvre to steer these forces in a positive direction. And so, the broader of role of planners and their ability to deliver through these emerging institutional mechanisms is brought into question. In so doing we argue that this has forced them to cast aside traditional working practices and to develop new approaches to ensuring economic, environmental and social objectives are met through the prism of spatial planning

HOUSING-LED REGENERATION IN EAST DURHAM: UNEVEN DEVELOPMENT, GOVERNANCE, POLITICS

This research investigates housing-led regeneration in the post-industrial area of East Durham to examine whether a gap exists between policy expectation and regeneration, on-the-ground. By engaging with the themes of uneven development and stigma and marginality, the thesis argues that housing-led regeneration policies have exacerbated already existing unevenness and marginality, in their bid to regenerate areas and promote sustainability. This process is played out in the face of shifting economic and political issues. The housing and wider economic market boom of the early to mid 2000’s witnessed a shift in the emphasis placed on housing as a driver to renewal in East Durham; an approach which was sharply hit by the housing market slump, credit crunch and accompanying austerity measures. These funding cuts placed a greater emphasis on the private sector to fund (amongst other things) housing. In addition a rescaling of governing structures from regional and local authority to sub-regional has, the research contends, further influenced and shaped uneven development and marginality. Through the lens of post-political theory, this thesis engages with the relationships between those involved in housing-led regeneration to examine conflict within the process, to show how consensus is managed. Empirical data was gathered using the case study of East Durham. This involved the examination of secondary data in the form of government publications, official statistics, and media reports. The data is derived from extensive, in-depth interviewing of a sample of representatives from County Durham Unitary Council; builders and developers; private surveyors and planners; private landlords; social housing providers; property managers; central government agents; and third sector representatives. A range of county, local and community meetings and forums were attended to provide an ethnographic insight into the process of governing and the relationships which exist within the area

Developing the application of systems thinking within the policing and community safety sector : an action research study

The increasingly complex, dynamic and pluralistic nature of the policing and community safety environment is presenting a significant challenge to the problem structuring and solving approaches traditionally used by managers in this sector. In light of deficiencies of traditional approaches, developments in the field of systems thinking have sought to tackle problem situations more holistically, employing a variety of systems approaches in combination to improve success in problem situations of greater plurality and complexity. In particular, Critical Systems Thinking (CST) has evolved as a theory and philosophy to support multi-methodology problem solving. This action research focuses on the actual and potential use of systems approaches in the policing and community safety environment.The opportunity to address prevailing real-life problems through a series of practical systems interventions within a large UK police organisation, producing learning for both practitioners in the sector and for systems thinking more widely is the foundation upon which this action research study is justified and a number of salient findings have emerged that are of relevance to both communities.This action research has recognised the opportunity to improve the impact of CST through the wider devolution of appropriate capability. A recursive model to reflect upon the deployment of approaches appears to provide a coherent framework for recognising the concurrent existence of CST at different ‘application’ levels and for informing a deeper understanding of the role of the facilitator of CST; be that a specialist, an organisational leader or a member of the workforce involved in change. A particular value is seen in enhancing such development through the employment of culturally acceptable approaches, including the concept of policing problem archetypes that provide a platform for demonstrating the practical value of a diverse range of systems approaches.The research has identified value in the facilitator gaining and sustaining an appreciation of the landscape of diversity within problem situations and identifying centres of gravity in terms of defining features. It has also emphasised the validity and practical value of employing multi-methodology in parallel in both modes 1 and 2 in problem situations involving a variety of stakeholders that reflect multiple paradigm diversity. As the problem situations encountered in the policing and community safety sector increasingly involve multiple agencies, recognition of an improved capability for deploying such systems thinking is of particular relevance, such as through participative large group processes.An extensive exploration of the role of the facilitator of CST through the employment of a complexity lens has added clarity to the nature of that role within typically wicked problem situations. Extending the concept of the effective interventionist beyond the boundaries of the facilitator’s direct influence and recognising the variety of capability that the facilitator might require to secure improvement in diverse client systems.The research has also resulted in the development of a heuristic to enhance understanding of the role of the facilitator of CST. This formula identifies the variables that the facilitator of CST might need to handle in order to secure improvement in pursuance of an objective function for optimisation comprising a range of relevant measures associated with a variety of paradigms, subject to the incremental fulfilment of the condition for change reflected in the ‘Beckhard’ change formula