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This thesis examines two 'urban regeneration' projects ongoing in peripheral. post-industrial areas of Edinburgh (Scotland). Both areas have suffered from long term underinvestment, and are classic examples of Neil Smith's 'rent-gap'; the plans for both envision higher prices, richer residents, less (or no) council housing and hold onto the notion of integration into 'Edinburgh' proper. The way in which land must become a form of fictitious capital is in evidence as both fuel and aim: rising land values is the ideal; rising land values is the way to achieve that ideal. The aim of this thesis is twofold. on the one hand, I seek a detailed history of these two projects, to provide a portrait of urban change in areas of Edinburgh that are almost totally absent from the literature. Edinburgh is consistently perceived as a 'successful' and affluent city, and the history portrayed herein challenges this perception, illustrating how it is only maintained through the eviction of other notions of the city. In this sense the work of critical geographers is brought to bear on an urban environment not widely seen to offer insight into the visceral fault lines of profit-seeking urban redevelopment. At the same time, this thesis mounts a theoretical intervention vis-à-vis the conception of 'the state' in work on gentrification and urban regeneration. The state has assume growing importance as an actor in narratives of gentrification, so much so that the phenomenon is often perceived as state-led. In my two case-studies the habit for institutionally declaring a denial of state agency is in full force: both projects were led by elusive public/private 'partnerships', but in both cases they were in fact much more 'public' than they wanted to appear. In this sense state agency is (intentionally) hidden behind an unaccountable façade of separation. At its simplest, my research challenges the notion that 'the state' gentrifies because it know what it is doing. There is a presumed intentionality behind notions of state-led gentrification that appears to be missing: rather, this is gentrification enacted by assumptions, limitations, a lack of imagination, lack of money; in other words by the neoliberalisation of the state itself. In this sense gentrification is not occurring because it is chosen as a policy outcome, but is chosen because it is perceived as the only policy outcome. This can best be understood by challenging the notion of a state/economy dichotomy that is implicit in most research on gentrification. Both projects were ambitions, and both suffered spectacularly as a result of an ongoing financial crisis caused in no small way by the very strategies of real-estate valorisation they typify themselves. These are landscapes rendered by demolition and land values that catastrophically failed to rise, indicative of two epochs slain in quick succession: the Keynesian-industrial era, flattened to make way for the entrepreneurial city that lies in crisis. Attention to the way they were planned, the way they failed to succeed and the way no alternative plan has arisen haves us a treatise on the way planning is seemingly locked into a certain path. This thesis prompts a more critical engagement with 'the ate' of gentrification, and is ultimately guided by a political commitment to more equitable, democratically accountable urban policy where the legitimacy of state involvement needs constant renegotiation. The paradigm of neoliberal urban policy is - to use Neil Smith's phrase - 'dead but dominant', and we need to try and understand how.

Savannas receive a fraction of the policy and research attention of forests and are therefore some of the least known biomes in the world. Fundamental to the protection of these unique systems, and the billion people who rely on them globally, is to gain a new understanding of both their evolutionary history, which has structured diversity within them, and to categorise their present-day diversity. This thesis addresses the historical assembly of savannas globally using the widespread and ecologically variable genus Ziziphus as an exemplar, and provides new data on the flora of poorly studied savannas in Asia. Chapter two investigates how functional traits enable Ziziphus to occupy several distinct biomes across the tropics. To do this I collated and examined trait and distributional data. I found that the unusually wide distribution of Ziziphus can be explained by its diversity of habits which enable occupation of different biomes spanning continents. Results showed that liana species are restricted to closed forests and the geoxylic habit is found only in open savannas. For Ziziphus species, habit facilitates range size, with trees having larger ranges than shrubs and lianas. Surprisingly, biome is not correlated with range size. Cultivated species have ranges ~10 times that of non-cultivated tree species and with significantly different and broader environmental niches. A diversity of habits, along with the usage of fruits of many Ziziphus species by people, expands the range and environmental occupation of the genus. Chapter three explores whether geography or ecology structure Ziziphus' phylogeny to gain a new understanding of the history of the assembly of the savanna biome globally. To do this I created a phylogenetic tree based on chloroplast and nuclear ribosomal internal transcribed spacer (ITS) sequences. I found that at a global scale geography (i.e., the barrier of dispersing amongst continents) structures Ziziphus' diversification more than ecology (i.e., switches amongst major biomes). Based upon dating the ITS phylogeny, Ziziphus originated in closed biomes in Asia during the Oligocene and subsequently long distance dispersal from Asia to Africa resulted in the novel occupation of two biomes, the tropical savanna biome and the desertic biome. In keeping with the younger age of the savanna biome and the Pliocene radiation of geoxylic species, the youngest species in Ziziphus are found in open biomes, and the most recently evolved habit is geoxylic. Leaf hair is likely to be a key innovation enabling occupancy of drier environments, while occupation of closed biomes is associated with the development of the liana habit. Chapter four investigates the floristic composition and resilience of ground layer vegetation in Southeast Asian savannas via new floristic surveys in 50 sites across four savanna types. I found that the heterogeneity of Southeast Asian savannas means that systematic botanical survey work that incorporates the diversity of savannas is necessary and urgent. Total plant species richness decreased under increasing tree cover, although patterns differed between functional groups. Crucially, research and management should not conflate monocot and dicot herbs due to their divergent functional responses to shade, as non-graminoid monocots are the most affected by increasing tree cover. Further, Southeast Asian savannas support distinct grass assemblages, with implications for assessments of species diversity and for future management of these ecosystems. This thesis expands our understanding of the processes that drive diversification and trait evolution in savannas, and characterises the understory floristic diversity of little-known savanna systems in Southeast Asia. Further work is necessary to assess whether trait and evolutionary patterns seen in Ziziphus across the major tropical and subtropical biomes are replicated in other, unrelated and more species-rich genera, and to characterise the non-graminoid communities of Southeast Asian savannas to determine whether they represent distinct associations compared to the dominant woody flora.