Ng, Matthew Kok Ming;
(2020)
Urban Growth in Brunei: the Interplay between Policy, Land-use, and Accessibility.
Doctoral thesis (Ph.D), UCL (University College London).
Preview |
Text
thesis_corrections.pdf - Accepted Version Download (102MB) | Preview |
Abstract
Urban growth is a process that, evermore, involves an increasing proportion of the global population. Its numerous drivers and implications are relatively well-documented within the academic body of literature — and, so too are the many models of urban expansion used to describe it. Today, urban investigations have been integral in providing a sound foundation to the current understanding of the various dimensions of urban growth. However, despite this, there remains a large number of cities — both established, or at the frontiers of rapid expansion — that have persisted without monitoring and detailed investigation. Efforts in global monitoring have shown a large proportion of these cities exist in developing regions of the world, like Southeast Asia. Cities in these regions might not conform to many of the well-established accounts of urban growth seen in academic literature. More in-depth studies are still needed. This thesis details a trajectory of urban growth exhibited by the small nation of Brunei. It focuses principally on how development policies set out by Brunei’s centralised government have driven urban growth. With further appreciation of data limitations that exist in Brunei, this thesis has approached this investigation through the use of remote-sensing and modelling of urban spatial interactions. Essential land-cover data was derived from the United States Geological Survey’s Landsat Programme. From this, Brunei’s urban land-consumption and land-use were quantified; and, its historical road network and residential land-uses were extracted. The integration of these novel datasets with census data forms the basis for this thesis’ subsequent accessibility analysis — which is proxied by a cumulative-opportunities measure and a gravity-based potential model. In particular, these models were used to interrogate Brunei’s national development policies for improving urban accessibility throughout the country. The results of this thesis provide the essential baseline information necessary to substantiate policy-making on the current development practices. These results can also be used to inform policy-makers on essential aspects of equity and equality in line with land-consumption and population trends. This thesis, however, also has broader implications, not only, in positing Brunei as a relatively understudied case of urban growth; but, as a possible exemplar of top-down, policy-driven growth for numerous countries that fall under similar administrations.
Type: | Thesis (Doctoral) |
---|---|
Qualification: | Ph.D |
Title: | Urban Growth in Brunei: the Interplay between Policy, Land-use, and Accessibility |
Event: | UCL (University College London) |
Open access status: | An open access version is available from UCL Discovery |
Language: | English |
Additional information: | Copyright © The Author 2020. Original content in this thesis is licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) Licence (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). Any third-party copyright material present remains the property of its respective owner(s) and is licensed under its existing terms. Access may initially be restricted at the author’s request. |
UCL classification: | UCL UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL SLASH UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL SLASH > Faculty of Arts and Humanities UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL SLASH > Faculty of Arts and Humanities > Arts and Sciences (BASc) |
URI: | https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10095054 |
Archive Staff Only
View Item |