This dissertation examines the Kings Cross regeneration scheme from a circular cities perspective, addressing the three circular capacities of looping, adapting and regenerating. It also draws on the research on heritage-led regeneration to study the role of the site's rich heritage that has been preserved development. The research is based on a qualitative content analysis of planning documents and interviews with professionals involved in the project. The analysis concludes that the scheme exhibits looping, adapting and regenerating capacities to some extent and demonstrates the multidimensional benefits that emerge from a circular approach to urban regeneration.

This research aims to provide an overview of the cultural-creative industries (CCI) in the Medina of Tunis and to understand pathways for socioeconomic development in the historic quarters. While the cultural heritage efforts, the history of craft and folk-art, and the function of souks in the Medina have been documented by scholars, little scholarly work has been carried out to analyse the link between socioeconomic development and the CCI in the city, despite the efforts of local civil society organisations. This work aims to provide an analysis of local socioeconomic challenges with a focus on labour and gender, to understand the relationship between the cultural-creative economy and the socioeconomic dynamics in the Medina, through a mixed-methods approach. Further, this research aims to add to the knowledge on economic development and creative industry development in a heritage context and specifically in countries in the Middle East and North Africa. While the majority of creative economy discourse is focused on the global North, this research aims to explore potential pathways for a heritage-led creative economy approach to economic activation through a comparative case study of other craft and folk-art heritage cities in the MENA region to inform pathways for change in the Medina. Finally, the notion of value is integral to bridging the gap between cultural heritage and economics. This research aims to map out the forms of value the cultural-creative economy can generate multiple and cross-disciplinary forms of value to contribute towards the work in measuring value in the Medina.

After a brutal 15 year civil war, Lebanon, and specifically its capital Beirut, underwent a historic reconstruction process lead by a semi-private company, Solidere. The reconstruction erased much of the city’s heritage in order to hide all remnants of war and to present the city as an emblem of modernity. In line with a state sponsored amnesia, that discourages the discussion of war to sustain the existing political discourse, the Lebanese are still suffering from a segregated society, due, largely to a lack of reconciling the war. However, a handful of buildings managed to survive the destruction of the historic city centre, as a result of conflict between their shareholders. These buildings, or urban scars, bear witness to the war and remind locals of the turbulent past by presenting them with bullet holes and shelling marks. Often abandoned and derelict, these buildings await an uncertain future. In this dissertation I argue that these buildings present locals with stark reminders of the dangers of war and that they have the potential to reconcile the past. I do so by looking at two case studies; Burj El-Murr and Beit Beirut to understand local perceptions of the urban scar and the existing discourse of memorialisation. This will inform future conduct with these sites of dissonant heritage.

Located at the centre of Swindon, the Swindon Railway Village (SRV) was a residential and social hub for Swindon and its Great Western Railway (GWR) locomotive and carriage works. The SRV was established in 1841 to the designs of the famous engineer Isambard Kingdom Brunel and expanded throughout the latter half of the nineteenth century to serve the GWR’s needs. By 1891, it comprised of around 287 cottages, a large mechanics’ institute, a market, a cottage hospital, an expansive company park, an Anglican church, a Methodist chapel, swimming baths and a medical dispensary. The SRV was a complex multi-functional space that could support a railway worker from cradle to grave. This report aims to reinvigorate an understudied area and to answer the central research question— what were the architectural and ideological functions of the SRV?