This dissertation proposes an automated land-use zoning system based on the context of an urban scene. Automated zoning is an important step toward improving object extraction in an urban scene.

Includes bibliographical references. / Water is essential to life. However, the current urban water system and environment is degrading freshwater ecosystems, nature’s ability to replenish resources and the relationship between people and the environment due to unsustainable consumption and discharge patterns. This is an international phenomenon and in the City of Cape Town, where water is considered a scarce resource, it is particularly urgent and important. This is due to the expected population growth, and an increased water demand as the current services backlog is addressed and living standards increase which when combined with the stresses of Climate Change and the associated future uncertainty make it even more alarming. These issues have direct and indirect implications that are too often hidden from and invisible to the public, especially with regard to the spatial form and structure of the City, which occurs through formal or informal processes of management and investment. While there is a movement towards tackling these issues, through the Integrated Urban Water Management Paradigm, there has been little physical change manifest in urban areas where the source and effects of these problems are so acutely experienced. This study has therefore sought to understand how spatial planning can be utilised as a tool to aid the transition to a more water-secure future through enabling sectoral integration and spatial co-ordination; where water influences the form and structure of the City. This is based on the premise that freshwater ecosystems and the role and effects of the urban water system are poorly addressed in spatial planning. Strategic Spatial Planning, unlike land use management, is a process of long term future imagining that is well-positioned to address the conflicts and tensions that arise through the implementation of a variety of sectoral policies with competing interests while including the voice of multiple stakeholders. In light of this, this study has undertaken a review of international and local literature to theoretically locate this study. This is followed by a contextual spatial and policy analysis of Cape Town to better understand the key priorities for water and urban development in the area. Using these two as a platform to guide appropriate intervention, a Spatial Development Water Framework (SDWF) has been created to propose a new water and development paradigm in Cape Town. This plan is governed by the principles of reverence, restoration, restraint and responsibility. Through acknowledging the spatial relationships between people, their activities and freshwater ecosystems this SDWF offers the opportunity to promote a more cyclical flow of resource use, the use of ecosystem services for more resilient and less energy dependant infrastructure, increased local subsistence and an improved relationship and connection between people and their water environments. It is through these strategies that it could be possible to transition to an increasingly secure water future in the City of Cape Town for improved social and ecological health, connected communities, shared prosperity and an intelligent water system.

Includes bibliographical references. / The inner city of Port Elizabeth has faced a series of problems since the 1960s. These include forced removals, relocation of critical functions and the implementation of obdurate infrastructure. One of the most destructive of these forces was the construction of the Settlers Way Freeway in 1963. This freeway cuts through the inner city and had many buildings and neighbourhoods demolished for it to be realised. Since then it has caused more harm than good by only serving a select few while degrading inner city public space for others. This project investigates the possibility of the demolition of the Settlers Way freeway as it is essential for the appropriate future growth of Port Elizabeth's City centre. This will also have a large positive impact on the metro area in terms of spatial and economic benefit. The city centre is centrally located in the region and has a major spatial advantage in terms of trade and commerce. This alone should be enough reason for concern when it comes to social and economic reasons. An argument is formulated for the removal of the Settlers Way freeway and suggests a viable and realistic alternative in its place. This is done through a lens of economic rejuvenation of the inner city by using the freeway removal as a catalytic device for future development by unlocking land that is currently underutilised. This initiative is now more urgent than ever as continued urban sprawl is occurring on the peripheries of the city in the form of shopping malls drawing much needed economic investment further away from the city centre.

Includes bibliographical references. / The project developed out of a theoretical inquiry into the use of food as a design tool to facilitate urban regeneration. The need for change arises from the loss of public space due to corporate control over food and food retail taking place in privatised environments. This socio- spatial polarisation becomes visible when mapping the change from historic marketplace to supermarket. The two primary concerns which arise from this socio-spatial polarisation are that of food being viewed as a utilitarian commodity, which allows routine shopping to take place in a supermarket rather than a market, and an evacuation of the public realm with the disappearance of food from public marketplaces. Spatial and infrastructure analyses of existing food retail models within the existing food system in Cape Town identify an appropriate supermarket-market hybrid that facilitates the flows of people and produce while regenerating public space.

Darwin's theory of natural selection defines a conscious process of self organisation in which traits become more or less common in such a way that an organism is able to survive and flourish in a particular environment. Rapid growth in the last fifty years made possible by more and more efficient ways of harvesting resource has created rapid environmental change. Intricately balanced ecologies that have taken millions of years to evolve are suffering from unravelling diversity. It is essential that ballooning populations around the world develop systems in which individual settlements positively affect surrounding ecologies. The effect of sick ecologies and drained resources are most harshly felt by the poor in developing countries. The situation boils down to provision of an element which firstly provides the vital requirements for survival while positively affecting the ecologies of which it is a part; secondly allows settlements to adapt over time according to the traits of users in an environment rather than those of a hierarchical disconnected third party and thirdly insures that survival does not depend on having lots of children. The seed pod aims to grow a localized ecology which allows urbanisation for the poor in developing countries to follow self organizing settlement patterns. Goals: Healthy living becomes possible in the local ecology without employment (unemployment is a reality) Financial resources are freed up for facilities such as schools Social support networks strengthen Minimization of strain on resources allows diversity to flourish Construction of instant communities is replaced by a robust self organizing process of development with the capacity to adapt to rapidly changing conditions The seeds are sown and the settlement grows organically from each unique social and ecological environment Empowerment, self reliance and local skills are generated A community lease and a community-managed register of rights holders with the potential for upgrade to individual ownership provides people the opportunity for long term investment in a great living environment. Resolution at a micro scale is likely to result in more conflict then provision of large scale identically defined units. If systems are put in place to help resolve conflict, however, the process would be tangibly more democratic. The seed pod goes hand in hand with a system for conflict resolution illustrated by the phased growth of Green Park an informal settlement in Driftsands Nature Reserve and by notionally suggesting the integration of the education system into the community through a transition of safe, contained learning spaces and permeable public spaces.

The Nubia-Somalia boundary is one of the least well defined plate boundaries. The southern extension, as it extends through the latitudes that are co-incidental to South Africa's geographical extent has not been defined. This project analyses Trignet data, supplemented with other available Nubian GPS data, to determine whether the North East Region of South Africa is segregated from the Nubian Plate. A ten year GPS time series (processed using the Bernese 5.0 precise GNSS software) is minimally constrained to the ITRF2008, using the reprocessed IGS08 products. This processed data was managed to alleviate GPS time series bias, which includes seasonal effects, the determination of GPS velocity uncertainty using a white+ icker noise model, discontinuity detection using Roggero's (2012) discontinuity algorithm and an outlier detection using an algorithm developed for this project for each of the 104 stations incorporated in the network. The computed velocities were compared to the ITRF2008 published velocities and a RMS of the post t residuals of 0.4, 0.4 and 0.7 mm/yr for the North, East and Height were computed respectively. This RMS is of similar magnitude to the WRMS of the post t velocity residuals in computing transformation parameters from ITRF2005 to ITRF2008, suggesting that the threshold of ITRF2008 velocity precision has been obtained. The resultant Euler vector was scrutinised on three fronts: an Euler vector rep- resenting the geographical extent of South Africa, an Euler vector in which the height velocity was minimised to zero and an Euler vector representing the North East Region of South Africa. All computed Euler vectors are consistent, suggesting a uniform South African GPS velocity field. The Euler vector representative of South Africa's uniform velocity field has an angular velocity of 0.273 deg/Myr, with a pole of rotation at lat 50.85 and long -82.83 degrees and is consistent with the Euler vectors computed by Altamimi et al. (2012) and Malservisi et al. (2013) for Africa and South Africa respectively. The consistency of the Euler vector suggests that South Africa is underlain by a single plate (i.e. the Nubian Plate), and that the East African Rift valley does not extend into South Africa. Hence, for future tectonic studies and long term reference frame solutions, stations such as HARB, HRAO and RBAY should be included, as they are not located in deformation zones.

Bibliography: p. 84-86.

Summary in English. / Bibliography: leaves 148-150. / This thesis investigates the contribution of land information systems (LIS), integrated with video evidence, to improving security of tenure during the creation of a communal property association (CPA). To this end a case study was conducted of the Algeria community, a community in the process of creating a CPA.

Bibliography: leaves 161-174. / The traditional methods for the documentation of archaeological heritage sites are challenged today by developments in geomatics, information technology and the computer industry. Non-contact spatial measurement methods, as well as new spatial information systems technologies and computer visualisation tools have introduced a new age for conservation and site research. This thesis uses the instance of the documentation of the 3.6 million-year-old hominid footprint trackway in Laetoli, Tanzania, to address the need for an adequate scientific method to acquire, manage and visualise spatial data for the re-creation of archaeological heritage sites in a three-dimensional virtual world. The Laetoli site presents the first physical evidence of human bipedalism. Its consequent significance to human evolutionary science justifies the need for highly detailed and accurate documentation of its characteristics. The thesis explores digital photogrammetric techniques as data acquisition tools for this kind of close range archaeological environment. Specifically, it examines issues such as non-contact measurements, cost-effectiveness, and functionality in harsh conditions.The data collected at Laetoli had to be organised, managed and presented to allow future research on the footprints and to allow the general public to "visit" the site. This thesis shows how a spatial information system is used to manage spatial and meta data, while an integrated visualisation tool offers a virtual 3D reconstruction ofthe heritage site.

Includes bibliographical references (leaves 107-111). / Recent studies indicate that the population of Cape Town generates approximately 2.2 milliontons of waste annually. Numerous waste minimization strategies have been developed whichhave not been successful in reducing the amount that needs to be disposed of at a landfill site.This results to mounting pressure on existing waste disposal sites thus necessitating an urgentneed for a new regional landfill. According to CCA Draft Environmental Impact Report (2006),the former Cape Metropolitan Council (CMC) appointed technical consultants in 2000 to identifyand assess the potential sites for a landfill to service Cape Metropolitan Area (CMA), presentlyreferred to as the City of Cape Town (CCT). The construction of a landfill has significant impacts on the environments. It is for that reason Integrated Environmental Management (IEM) has to be followed to assess the impacts. The principle of IEM is broadly interpreted as applying to the planning, assessment, implementation and management of any project proposal or activity that has a potentially significant effect on the environment. Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) process, which lies in the heart of the IEM, is enforced to examine the environmental effects of development. These impacts are directly related to the physical location of the project. That makes site selection for proposed project a very important stage of the EIA process. Laws have been enacted to minimizeenvironmental impacts, including strict guidelines for siting landfills. Using landfill siting criteria and site selection methods, the technical consultants identified four potential sites, Atlantis being the only site falling within the City of Cape Town. The interviews, backed by secondary data sources such as websites and project reports, revealed that the techniques used to identify potential sites for the landfill, even when combined are costly and time consuming. Several scenarios were run using various ArcGIS extensions, including the ModelBuilder to identify sites that met the stated criteria. GIS analysis yielded agreeable results with the recommendations from the consultants who used techniques other than GIS to identify the regional landfill. The research findings demonstrate that GIS is an efficient and dependable stand-alone technique that can be implemented in landfill site studies thus expedite the decision making process.