Architecture, Building and Planning - Theses
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ItemThe practice of citizenship: place, identity and the politics of participation in neighbourhood houses( 2001)How people enact citizenship and participate as active and engaged citizens in the communities and society in which they live is a vexed question in the 2lst Century. As Australian cities such as Melbourne become increasingly socially, culturally and economically diverse and polarised, how people fulfil their personal needs and aspirations whilst at the same time, feel part of and contribute to community becomes more complex. This dissertation takes up the themes of engendering participation in urban environments through a focussed study on how people enact citizenship in Neighbourhood Houses of Melbourne. The role of citizenship is gaining increasing attention as both a juridical and moral tenet through which the dilemmas of participation and notions of inclusivity are waged. A major problem with juridical citizenship, however, is its inability to relate to people's everyday experiences of participation. As a result, there is a substantial gap between the formal and informal enactment of citizenship. This undermines its political and everyday application as well as its capacity to be a mechanism through which formal improvements to the participatory experience can be made. Rather than abandoning citizenship, however, this dissertation argues that it is better re-conceptualised as practice and informed by people's everyday experiences. This could be achieved by understanding the informal machinations of participation including how and where people negotiate their identities and gain the necessary skills and knowledge to participate. To explore the practice of citizenship, the dissertation examines the role Neighbourhood Houses in urban localities of Melbourne play in enabling a range of people to achieve the endeavours of citizenship: that is, to be active and engaged individuals who feel part of community and society. Neighbourhood Houses are non-government community initiated organisations located in urban streets throughout Australia. Through a range of formal and informal activities, they attempt to respond to the educational and social support needs of local residents within a geographical area. By examining the role of Neighbourhood Houses, this dissertation makes a theoretical and practical contribution to understanding the functionalities of enacting citizenship. In particular, it brings new light to the role of geography by exploring the relationship between place and identity at the local scale. The socio-spatial relations brought to bear in the neighbourhood house context shows that the presence of informal, low-cost forums in urban streets are critical mechanisms that ameliorate certain barriers to participation and in doing so, facilitate a positive citizenship experience for a range of individuals and groups. People begin to regard themselves as active and engaged citizens who are also part of a community. Importantly, however, whilst supportive social networks are established in the neighbourhood house context, the range of people passing through their doors also facilitates the establishment of communities of difference. In doing so, the understanding of citizenship is broadened to include those who are often excluded but who form part of the heterogeneous public of Australian cities.
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ItemDynamics of upgrading processes: a case study of a participatory slum upgrading in Bangkok( 2013)Participatory slum upgrading (PSU) has been practiced across the globe and has become more prevalent in the past few decades. This form of urban, low-income housing project is offered as an effective housing solution that responds to a variety of social, economic, cultural and political conditions in each local context. This study systematically investigates upgrading processes in a PSU program in Thailand called Baan Mankong (BMK). Although a number of studies have examined its processes and outcomes, no study to date has looked at the upgrading processes in relation to the incremental development of outcomes in terms of social, physical and political empowerment terms. This study seeks a nuanced understanding of how upgrading processes in the BMK project influence the incremental development of project outcomes over time. The study employs a qualitative approach utilizing case studies and ethnography with multiple research methods, including document and archival review, mapping, direct observation, and interviews, in order to examine the upgrading processes and to capture the upgrading outcomes as they develop over time. The Samakkee Ruamjai (SMK) and Bangbua Lang Kong Kanparp (BB) communities were chosen as case studies. Though they share demographic, social and cultural characteristics, and have both gone through a similar procedure under the BMK project, residents in these two BMK communities implemented the BMK program differently, thus experiencing different upgrading processes and arriving at different outcomes. The findings indicate that the upgrading processes in the BMK project are contextual and dynamic depending on external influences and internal factors. External influences include pro-poor policies, decentralization-enabled planning schemes, and the emergence of civil society. Internal factors relate to individual, household and community characteristics, micro politics, and human and social capital-led collective actions. While external influences serve as contents providing a broad upgrading framework and possible ways to conduct upgrading processes, internal factors are uniquely embedded in each community that affect ways in which local residents can conduct on-the-ground upgrading processes at the community scale. These two levels have both concurrently influenced upgrading processes throughout the project implementation and beyond, which have eventually directed incremental development of upgrading outcomes over time. The study also finds that the synergy of upgrading outcomes in social and physical dimensions, as well as political empowerment, is crucial for successful BMK, projects. Communal, social, cultural and politically motivated activities in space near the home and public open spaces are key elements to maintain the momentum of upgrading towards desired outcomes. The lessons learned from this study are valuable and can be used to inform future BMK projects and other participatory slum upgrading projects, as well as community-based development policies and practices elsewhere.