Simplicial Gravity and Strings
  String theory, as a theory containing quantum gravity, is usually thought to require more dimensions of spacetime than the usual 3+1. Here I argue on physical grounds that needing extra dimensions for strings may well be an artefact of forcing a fixed flat background space. I also show that discrete simplicial approaches to gravity in 3+1 dimensions have natural string-like degrees of freedom which are inextricably tied to the dynamical space in which they evolve. In other words, if simplicial approaches to 3+1 dimensional quantum gravity do indeed give consistent theories, they may essentially contain consistent background-independent string theories. 
John Swain
gr-qc hep-th