The Elephant Marsh is a seasonal wetland that lies on the floodplain of the Lower Shire River in Malawi. This is one of the most productive ecosystems in Malawi that plays an important role in supporting the livelihoods of the local community (Kosamu, 2012) through fisheries, livestock grazing, and agriculture. The Elephant Marsh also plays a significant role in flood storage, attenuation, and purifying sediment-rich water. Furthermore, it is a habitat for over 110 water bird species (Bayliss, 2019). Unfortunately, upstream development, commercial sugarcane farming, human encroachment, and severe land degradation such as soil erosion, sedimentation, and deforestation within the Shire River Basin have resulted in a decline in remaining natural areas which have led to a decrease in infiltration and water holding capacity in the basin. This project aims to create a resilient system using fingerponds and rainwater harvesting practices that embrace the process of flooding and precipitation during the wet season by holding water and allowing it to infiltrate into the landscape. Furthermore, the project aims to reconnect the riparian community to a century-old traditional practice of harvesting and weaving reeds and palm leaves into mats and baskets to allow for a deeper relationship to form between the people and place while also creating more opportunities for the community. The term landscape resilience in this project is an aspect of wet theory, which is a way of accommodating flow and other boundary-blurring phenomena of motion, disturbance, and change through fluid occupancies of land and infiltration (Mathur & Da Cunha, 2009). Furthermore, the resilient landscape in this project is also linked to the preservation of traditional knowledge systems that are connected to the landscape to ensure the long-term success of the proposed sustainable practices. Through research, a site visit, and interviews, the study first uncovers the sense of place and identity of the landscape. Elements of the site are then synthesized through map analysis and visual narratives to understand the different relationships between the social and ecological aspects of the site. Finally, these relationships are then tested in a design intervention that aims to accommodate for uncertainty and forms a more integrated agriculture, aquaculture, and traditional system that retains the functioning of the wetland improves the wetland edge and empowers the community.

The West Coast of South Africa is a place that one might feel a sense of desolation, however, the harsh environment is one of beauty and richness. This thesis will look at socio-ecological issues linked to the Olifants River Estuary, and the fishing communities of Ebenheaser, more specifically Papendorp, which is situated approximately 350km north of Cape Town . The issues present can be described in two scales: The first, on a broader ecological scale, the ongoing expansion of mines across the West Coast threatens highly biodiverse habitats that support both ecological and human communities. The proposed new mines East and West of the Olifants River Estuary threatens the ecological systems as well as social systems as communities are directly affected by the health of the estuary (Sowman, 2016). The second scale is concerned on a social level as the communities struggle to maintain their livelihoods and ways of life as fish stocks within the estuary have been on the decline (Sowman, 2009). This decline has forced the need for secondary forms of income for the communities (Olifants River Estuarine Management plan (v.7), 2017). In-order to create a holistic understanding of the issues at hand the thesis will aim to map the patterns and processes of the estuary, its catchment and the landscape which it finds itself in through a lens of extraction. It is proposed that through this method, ecologically activated alternatives to mining might be achieved, ones which harnesses the processes of the natural systems and can provide economic relief and resilience for the community of Papendorp. This intervention also aims to highlight the translation of natural resource extraction towards one of abstraction. Traditionally, many interventions have failed to fully understand the interwoven nature of ecologies and the Anthropocene, this has led to the marginalization of groups (such as small-scale fishers) and the disregard for their cultural heritage and rights to natural resources. This multi-scalar approach aims to include all aspects of the study area, ecological, cultural, social, and economical to create a layered approach that allows for a detailed understanding of the site, its challenges and its opportunities. It is hoped that through this approach the outcome will allow for a better integration of ecology and conservation with social and economic aspects and therefore produce an intervention that aids in the improvement of both communities and ecologies.

Twenty-seven (27) years of democracy in South Africa, communities in townships formed by the apartheid government, live in dire conditions brought by the legacy of apartheid. The lack of economic opportunities and resources make South African citizens creative and innovative, communities from Pretoria north townships gather daily at municipal landfills to collect, sort valuable and recyclable waste in exchange for cash. This study focuses on informal waste re-claimers working conditions at Soshanguve landfill and Soshanguve township communities residing in the vicinity of an active landfill that is situated within an environment that is rich in history and heritage. The aim of this study is to investigate the daily activities of the informal waste re-claimers; and hopes to inform innovative and functional ways to create a tolerable working environment during the operational phases of the landfill with the intention of transforming it to a sustainable public open space upon decommission. The study approach considers a pragmatic research using both qualitative and quantitative study methods to collect data through In-depth interviews, statistical observations and theoretical investigation.

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