A thesis submitted to the Faculty of Engineering and the Built Thesis is submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy to the Faculty of Engineering and the Built Environment, School of Architecture and Planning, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2017 / Cemeteries consume vast amounts of land and contest with other land uses deemed more urgent; yet they are rarely addressed in international policy dialogues. They are generally not viewed as part of the open-space system and are mostly mono-functional. Resilience thinking has become an important discourse influencing the way in which urban policy and planning is conceptualised. There is potential to use these ideas to further develop the new approaches to cemetery provision, which are influenced by the application of sustainability concepts, and see them as part of green infrastructure. However, resilience thinking needs to go beyond technical solutions to consider local institutional and socio-cultural contexts that affect their application. South African apartheid policies facilitated segregation that resulted in unsustainable approaches to cemetery planning and provision. New approaches that engage sustainability perspectives are being explored. This research explores the experience of implementing these approaches in the Johannesburg context, and what it might mean to reconceptualise cemetery planning further through a social-ecological resilience lens. This is achieved by establishing the relationship of cemeteries to social-ecological systems; investigating how the current design and provision of cemeteries can be reconceptualised in the context of resilience thinking; understanding whether newer cemetery planning approaches and designs adequately meet needs of users, and whether they would be willing to accept new ways of interment, and identifying barriers that would prevent the uptake of approaches that are consistent with resilience thinking. The study employs a case-study methodology focusing on a primary case - Waterval Cemetery, to understand the applicability of resilience thinking in cemetery planning in South Africa. Through engagements with key respondents in the municipality, interviews and focus groups with cemetery users, it seeks diverse participants’ perceptions of newer cemetery planning approaches, and alternatives to conventional burial. A secondary case examines Diepsloot Memorial Park, which integrates more innovative elements. Results show that the application of resilience in cemetery planning requires a strong understanding of local socio-cultural contexts. Although the idea of cemeteries contributing to the resilience of cities is conceivable, it could take longer for transformation to happen and for innovative ideas to be fully accepted. / MT 2018

Urbanization has increased rapidly throughout the world. The densification of urban areas has greatly reduced the number of natural areas occurring within the urban environment as well as impacting the ecosystem services that these areas provide. Urban greening and sustainable practices have been advocated as a means to once again provide the urban population with ecosystem services. Sacred natural areas that occur in surrounding forest, temple and cemetery sites have been known harbour a variety of biological diversity, as well as provide people with a number of cultural and spiritual benefits. Much of the literature on sacred natural sites comes from rural or eastern countries, leaving a large gap in the knowledge pertaining to information on these sites in both developed nations as well as urban areas. The aim of this study was to determine the abundance and composition of woody species, as well as the spiritual and cultural significance of sacred natural sites in Grahamstown. This study defined a sacred urban area as any form of garden surrounding a church, temple or mosque, as well as cemeteries. It looked at a total of 28 church gardens, one Hindu garden, one Mosque garden and five cemeteries in Grahamstown, South Africa. For each site the area was calculated and a tree and shrub inventory was done for all individuals above 1.5 m tall. Church/cemetery age, denomination and appearance were recorded as well as soil samples collected. An ordination of the data was done to summarize the community data, relating the community variation to environmental gradients. Questionnaires were completed by congregants who attended a religious building with a garden, as well as those that were not surrounded by a garden. These questionnaires were used to determine the cultural, spiritual and aesthetic value of trees and the sacred area, as well as the perceived and felt benefits that these areas provide. Those that were completed by congregants without gardens looked to find out whether or not it was believed that these areas would improve their experiences. There was an average plant density of 106.1 woody plants per hectare, with a total of 139 different species encountered. Of these, 56 percent were exotic species. This is slightly lower than that of studies done elsewhere in the world, but may be due to the omission of non-woody ornamentals and lawn species in this study. Of the top 11 most frequently occurring species, only two were indigenous. There was generally low similarity between plant assemblages found at the different sites. A significantly positive relationship was found between site size and woody plant basal area as well as the total number of woody plants. Site age and religious denomination had little influence on woody plant density, basal area, species richness or woody plant abundance. Congregants stated that a garden surrounding a religious building improved both their spiritual and aesthetic experiences. Stated spiritual and aesthetic experience was significantly influenced by basal area, while abundance significantly influenced stated aesthetic experience. Greenery was therefore important to many of the congregants, however, the species that were present were less influential. A greater sample size from a variety of religions and sacred areas within urban environments throughout the world would prove to be an interesting comparison for future research.