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This doctoral thesis examines the introduction and spread of brick architecture in the county of Flanders in the 13th and 14th centuries. By use of building archaeology of existing buildings, supplemented with archaeological and iconographical information about no longer extant monuments, the thesis lifts medieval brick architecture from the determinist view of brick as a cheap substitute for stone, the common explanation for the rise of medieval brick architecture. Through the analysis of building techniques, building typologies and architectural forms, we conclude that brick served as a material medium through which Gothic architecture was introduced in Flanders. Brick was not used because clay was readily available but because of all local materials, which in Flanders also includes stone, it was most suited for the realization of Gothic architecture. As such, the introduction of brick signals the arrival in Flanders of Gothic thought,nbsp;being a modular approach to architecture and rationalization of the building site. In Flanders, the first brick buildings were erected around 1225 by abbeys (the Cistercian abbeys of The Dunes and Boudelo), collegiate chapters (St. Walburga in Veurne) and, proper to the highly urbanized Flemish society of the time, urban patrons (St. John's hospital and Ourrsquo; parish church in Bruges). By the end of the 13th century, brick architecture was present in the entire area between the North Sea coast and the river Scheldt, in cities and also on the countryside, where parish churches of newly formed villages were built at the initiative of local noblemen. The 14th century saw the consolidation of brick as a common building material. The creation of fixed brick sizes by city councils bears witness to the large scale and commercial character of brick production in Flanders in the 14th century. Building ceramics were known in Flanders as early as the 10th century, however this tradition cannot be considered as the direct precursor of the first monumental brick buildings in the early 13th century. We suspect that brick production was introduced in Flanders out of Northern-Germany, where grand brick architecture was being built as early as the years 1170. The verynbsp;experiments in brick production and brick in Flanders may have happened in the seaport town of Bruges, through its contacts with trading cities in Northern-Germany, especially Lübeck. While Flanders was not the first region in medieval Europe where brick architecture was built, the county did pioneer Gothic brick architecture.nbsp;reflects the geography of Flanders, at the crossroads of the brick tradition of Northern-Europe and Gothic architecture from Northern-France.

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The PhD research examines social and spatial polarisation in the context of one of Kenyas rapidly urbanising areas: the Nairobi Region. Its overall objective is to analyse how the states development strategies are reinforcing socio-spatial polarisation in the Nairobi Region and also how communities through their community-based organisations are countering urban and regional socio-spatial polarisation. In addition, it focuses on the institutions that govern the actions of the ensemble of actors in the Region, and considers the socio-political as well as spatial relations of the capitalist and non-capitalist forms of economic development in Nairobis urban core and in the neighbouring southern Kajiado County. Furthermore, it employs an integrated analytical approach to study these inter-related aspects of socio-spatial polarisation.To research socio-spatial polarisation and the transformation which is realised through the agency of the communities, a theoretical approach has been adopted that links the theory of Africas moral economy/the economy of affection, with the regulationist theory perspective on uneven development and the social innovation theorys perspective on spatial development within an integrated analytical framework. Since African societies display a combination of both capitalist as well as non-capitalist social relations, the research necessitated the adoption of an integrated conceptual approach that incorporates both types of relations. Furthermore, each theory complements the other theories and therefore enriches the overall framework through the analytical tools each provides. The economy of affection conceptualises the non-capitalist relations (indigenous and informal institutions) in African societies from a moral economy perspective, while the regulation approach provides a political economy perspective derived from neo-Marxism which focuses on the dynamics of accumulation and regulation in capitalist societies (formal and informal institutions). The regulationist perspective on uneven regional development draws on the concept of path-dependency to explain how a regions development is significantly dependent on past development strategies. Ultimately, the social innovation perspective on spatial development links the satisfaction of human needs in regions and urban areas, to innovation in the social relationships of governance as they are embedded in the urban area and in the region. The PhD consists of a collection of papers for publication. The first paper, Towards an Enriched Regulationist Perspective of Polarisation in Kenya - The Case of Nairobi combines three approaches deriving from Marxian perspectives, specifically the regulation school, uneven geographical development and Africas economy of affection. The combined theoretical perspective is used to empirically examine Kenyas uneven spatial development and the maintenance of inequality, characterised by an indigenous capitalist group and a middle class group on the one hand and informal urban labourers on the other. The second paper is a monograph titled Building Inclusive Post-colonial Urban Dynamics in a Context of Informalisation: The Case of Commercial Activities in Nairobis Eastleigh Neighbourhood. It considers the urban context of Nairobis Eastleigh commercial centre in which two urban communities are analysed: i.e. the Somali entrepreneurial and the Non-Somali informal street vending communities. The analysis examines the methods used by the Somali entrepreneurial community for economic empowerment resulting in the social and spatial transformation of Eastleigh neighbourhood. Additionally, it examines the methods used by the non-Somali street vending community in their contestations for access to trading space in Eastleighs commercial centre. The third paper on An Integrated Area Development Strategy for Empowering Communities in Kajiado - Nairobis Southern Metropolitan Region, analyses the specific nature of Kajiados uneven development. The paper combines Africas economy of affection concept, with the regulationist perspective on uneven development, and the social innovation perspective on spatial development. The combined theoretical perspective is used to analyse the social and spatial processes that are enhancing or obstructing the Maasai communitys capacity for empowered action to counter the fragmentation arising from conflicting land-use rationalities in Kajiado. The PhD research finds that the highly uneven social and spatial structures which were established through the introduction of capitalist development during Kenyas colonial period have been reproduced in post-colonial Kenya. The research further finds that the emerging empowerment processes being put in place by both the regional and urban communities through their community-based organisations are geared towards the transformation of governance relations in Nairobis urban and regional development. Consequently, the research argues that Nairobi is in need of a new, urban and regional development framework which is integrated and also bottom-linked. The relevance of this approach is not only limited to its ability to provide insights into processes that may facilitate the satisfaction of unmet needs; but also includes its ability to provide insights into processes that enhance the development of inclusive governance dynamics between Nairobis diverse urban and regional communities and key development actors.

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This PhD research focuses on the social production of urban space within two rapidly transforming secondary cities of Kenya—Voi and Kisumu. The aim is to examine the conditions under which urban space is produced and used in contemporary Voi and Kisumu, vis-à-vis the current realities and exigencies of urban transformation dynamics within the two cities. The study assesses the institutional capacity and practices of both the ‘official’ and ‘popular’ agents involved in the production of urban space, and examines how their respective knowledges, demands, practices and views on space are unrolled and integrated in (re)producing various urban spatialities. Using the perspective of social constructionism, the study conceptualizes urban space not as a fixed objective entity but as a ‘social construction’ that is highly contingent upon a series of events, experiences, practices and power geometries that shape the relations between various social groups and institutional logics in the city. The PhD research leverages on the Lefebvrian concepts of the production of space and the right to the city to provide a critical reading of how marginalized groups employ various forms of social innovation and insurgent urbanism to appropriate and defend crucial spaces of livelihoods, shelter and urban services. Besides providing a framework for a critical understanding of contested spatial productions within rapidly transforming cities of the Global South, the analytical tools employed in this PhD research could facilitate a better framing of urban dynamics and contribute to policy solutions that are more attentive to the complex African urban experience. This is not to say that the conceptual and theoretical insights are limited only to Africa. On the contrary, the conceptual framework employed here is critically reflexive of the power relations between different groups, and seeks to imagine the possibilities of learning between different contexts in ways that differ from historical patterns of urban knowledge production and sharing. The aim therefore is to foster learning between different (geographical) contexts that might eventually help pluralize the production of urban knowledge across the North-South divide.