Abstract
This thesis has been driven by the underlying mission to understand and find a new way for us as architects and designers, to understand urban rejuvenation. Should one think of urban rejuvenation off the mind, one might associate it with gentrified streets of yore, with throngs of tourists engaging in endless consumption along that thoroughfare. Instead of the endless avenues of consumption that numerous urban revitalisation schemes have adopted upon, can we rethink of other means too revitalise our neighbourhoods? The qualitative analysis of various urban revitalisation schemes worldwide provides an exposure into the deeper seated issues of renewal, which is often, associated with the term “displacement”. The socioeconomic influence of certain paradigms have successfully helped alleviate the pre-existing buffer that prevented the lower-strata of society from climbing the upwards mobility ladder within their social circles. It can be argued that a wholesome, all-encompassing framework for urban renewal is to then, take into account of these social issues, and search for methods to better the lives of the city dwellers, via both their social well-being as well as their environmental well-being.