A characterization of the Banach spaces of type $C(K)$ that admit an equivalent locally uniformly rotund norm is obtained, and a method to apply it to concrete spaces is developed. As an application the existence of such renorming is deduced when $K$ is a Namioka--Phelps compact or for some particular class of Rosenthal compacta, results which were originally proved with \emph{ad hoc} methods.

We construct a continuum of mutually non-isomorphic separable Banach spaces which are complemented in each other. Consequently, the Schroeder--Bernstein Index of any of these spaces is $2^{\aleph_0}$. Our construction is based on a Banach space introduced by W. T. Gowers and B. Maurey in 1997. We also use classical descriptive set theory methods, as in some work of the first author and C. Rosendal, to improve some results of P. G. Casazza and of N. J. Kalton on the Schroeder--Bernstein Property for spaces with an unconditional finite-dimensional Schauder decomposition.

We study some questions concerning the structure of the set of spreading models of a separable infinite-dimensional Banach space $X$. In particular we give an example of a reflexive $X$ so that all spreading models of $X$ contain $\ell_1$ but none of them is isomorphic to $\ell_1$. We also prove that for any countable set $C$ of spreading models generated by weakly null sequences there is a spreading model generated by a weakly null sequence which dominates each element of $C$. In certain cases this ensures that $X$ admits, for each $\alpha < \omega_1$, a spreading model $(\tilde x_i^{(\alpha)})_i$ such that if $\alpha < \beta$ then $(\tilde x_i^{(\alpha)})_i$ is dominated by (and not equivalent to) $(\tilde x_i^{(\beta)})_i$. Some applications of these ideas are used to give sufficient conditions on a Banach space for the existence of a subspace and an operator defined on the subspace, which is not a compact perturbation of a multiple of the inclusion map.

This paper deals with generalizations of the notion of a polytope to infinite dimensions. The most general definition is the following: a bounded closed convex subset of a Banach space is called a \emph{polytope} if each of its finite-dimensional affine sections is a (standard) polytope. We study the relationships between eight known definitions of infinite-dimensional polyhedrality. We provide a complete isometric classification of them, which gives solutions to several open problems. An almost complete isomorphic classification is given as well (only one implication remains open).

If $\alpha$ is an ordinal, then the space of all ordinals less than or equal to $\alpha$ is a compact Hausdorff space when endowed with the order topology. Let $C(\alpha)$ be the space of all continuous real-valued functions defined on the ordinal interval $[0, \alpha]$. We characterize the symmetric sequence spaces which embed into $C(\alpha)$ for some countable ordinal $\alpha$. A hierarchy $(E_\alpha)$ of symmetric sequence spaces is constructed so that, for each countable ordinal $\alpha$, $E_\alpha$ embeds into $C(\omega^{\omega^\alpha})$, but does not embed into $C(\omega^{\omega^\beta})$ for any $\beta < \alpha$.