This study explores how City of Johannesburg came to adopt its Regularization of Informal Settlements Programme with permission to occupy as a preferred tenure option. Firstly, the study examines tenure issues and debates around tenure including different forms of tenure. Secondly, it explores the policy shift in City of Johannesburg towards regularisation and what this entails. It further reviews international forms of tenure with reference to Brazil and Namibia. The study argues that there is a need for improved intervention strategies that allow informal settlements to be recognised as part of the city in a manner that would consider their livelihoods. It also argues that freehold titling is not necessarily the best form of tenure for informal settlement residents. The study concludes that there is an acute need to recognise informal settlements as part of the City. Furthermore, City of Johannesburg had insufficient funding which limited them in their Regularization of Informal Settlements Programme. The Development Facilitation Act 67 of 1995, The Less Formal Township Establishment Act 113 of 1991 and the amendment of City of Johannesburg Town Planning Scheme influenced the City in their approach to issuing permits. City of Johannesburg can draw lessons from City of Windhoek’s approach to informal settlements.

The City of Johannesburg exists primarily due to the discovery of gold, and its urban form has largely been shaped by the mining strip that runs from east to west along the gold reef. The City initially grew along the mining axis, with the Central Business District (CBD) developing just to the north of the belt. Today, the strip of mine tailings and slimes dams creates a vast space of leftover, mostly undeveloped land adjacent to the City centre. The south of the City is physically separated from the north by this strip of wasteland, and most current development is usually only directed northwards towards Sandton and Pretoria. This study considers the future significance of the mining brownfields and how the land can be re-claimed, re-used and re-developed in order to structure and enhance the urban landscape of Johannesburg. The mining strip represents the divisive and collective history of the City and can potentially be used to create the connective tissue that could address this division and ultimately form a cohesive Johannesburg. The linear mining strip is currently supported by railways and industry and as such, provides an ideal setting for development, as useful infrastructure is already present. Brownfield sites, which are previously-developed urban sites with a potential for redevelopment, and specifically mining brownfield sites, form the core of the research for this study. The tailings and slimes dams of Johannesburg require extensive reclamation and reprocessing, yet provide the ideal landscape for redevelopment. The variety of brownfield sites, as well as the different ways to approach them is discussed within this document. In order to validate the extensive effort that is required to overcome the many issues associated with redeveloping the Johannesburg mining sites, the theory of Compact Cities pioneered in the Netherlands has been investigated and is used as a case study in this document. The current segregated and dispersed format of Johannesburg is not sustainable, and all future development should aim for a denser City, greater mixed-use environments and the predominance of public transport. The focus initially will be on developing the land within the City, rather than that on the outskirts, focusing primarily on the vacant land of the mining belt. Careful consideration will be given to the fact that the natural environment is a key aspect to a future sustainable City, and reviews of where this theory has been successfully implemented form a basis to the proposal of this design. This study considers the use of natural landscapes as the catalyst for development within Johannesburg. Natural systems are crucial to the form of the City and can create the base for the linkage of open space systems, which is used to structure future development. Natural mitigation techniques are also one of the best ways to remediate brownfield sites Lastly, the specific history and character of the City of Johannesburg, and specifically the mining belt, is considered in this document, as certain factors will define the process of re-development. The existence of the Witwatersrand Reef and the historical development of the City have led to the current status quo of the City. This thesis studies the patterns of growth that the City has followed and how it has been impacted by gold mining. The design portion of this thesis begins by forming a proposal to create a movement system within Johannesburg based on the existing natural space networks. It considers integrating the mining belt with this system in order to create a new structuring device to inform the development of the urban form of the City. The second part of the thesis attempts to construct a strategy that can be used in the development of the vacant land along the mining belt, based on the above-mentioned open space system for Johannesburg. A pivotal site within Johannesburg has been identified in order to test the principles and concepts that have been explored. There are many challenges that arise when developing on former mining land and this thesis attempts to address these issues spatially, through an urban design framework.

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M.Phil. (City Planning) / Vanderbijlpark is the first new town in South Africa, specially developed and planned to accommodate the needs of a large steel industry; the South African Iron and Steel Corporation (ISCOR). The object of this study is to determine the success of this newly planned town centre and its functioning within the metropolitan framework of the P.W.V.-metropolitan region. An attempt will be made to provide guidelines for the future development of the city centre ...

In its aim to redress the inequalities of the past, the South African cities of today turned a blind eye to the urban, rural, natural & social needs of citizens. Our cities, as they stand today, reflect an urban form that is neither sustainable nor equitable. Our cities do not invest in social capital nor aim to react to the reality of diminishing recourses. They are not ‘civic in nature, pedestrian friendly, nor environmentally smart’. When did our cities become so unimportant and disconnected from society? Through this Research & Design Report it is explored whether South African cities (case study: Springs, Ekurhuleni Metropolitan Municipality, South Africa) can be transformed through retrofitting cities, building cities, making cities, unmaking cities, redeveloping cities, restructuring cities by placing the needs of citizens and nature first_ to inform urbanization, natural resources and the infrastructure that feeds it. It is examined here whether the answer could lie with the application of measured urbanization. It is within the measurement of these urban elements that the future of South African cities can be imagined, it is through the SMART application of these measured responses that broad based realistic and true change will be brought about; that the urban barriers of segregation, isolation & exclusion will be overcome.

This document is submitted in partial fulfillment for the degree: Master of Architecture [Professional] At the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa, in the year 2016 / Sound, in the form of speech and song was celebrated in all preliterate societies. Oral history has recently come back into prominence, with the realisation that it can be more inclusive than traditional academic history and contribute to a shared experience within a group. In Post-Apartheid South Africa it played an important role in the TRC hearings. Organisations such as StoryCorps, have discovered the important therapeutic value gained by the sharing of stories between individuals and groups. The Speak Memory Oral History Centre aims to encourage historians to engage with oral history as a medium for memory recollection and to create a body of populist oral history testimonies. Oral history deals with memory and so the relationship between architecture and memory was investigated, with a particular focus on the neurological mechanisms involved in memory. An approach to the design of an Oral History Centre used these neurological mechanisms as design tools for a building that would facilitate the recording and recall of memory. / EM2017

Thesis (M.Arch. (Professional))--University of the Witwatersrand, Faculty of Engineering and the Built Environment, 2016. / The landscape of Parktown tells a story of possession, dispossession, building and demolition. This thesis challenges the history of the Parktown ridge as always being a place that has been associated with hegemony, elitism and uncertainty. Instead, it asks: Can the ridge become a nurturing environment, a place of ‘meditative pause’? Can it become a cathartic place that reshapes new territorial orders? In order to do this, two main contextual issues are explored; institutions and land... Institutions - Parktown forms a large part of the institutional belt of the city. However, these institutions lie like an archipelago; they are urban islands that do not interact with one another. This project challenges and deconstructs the traditional notion of the institution as being trapped in a modernist paradigm - caught up in a late modernist definition of health, body and mind that speaks of authority, control and isolation. The building thus becomes the antithesis of this; it is an open, permeable structure that becomes a public space. The programme of the building aims to re-conceive the institutions’ role in the city. It provides a framework for the currently separated health, education and business communities of Parktown to interact with one other and cross pollinate their knowledge in the hope that new transgressive orders will emerge. Being sited next to the largest institution, the Charlotte Maxeke Hospital, allows it to become a central gathering space in Parktown and provides the opportunity for the new structure to start interacting with the hospital. It focuses on the importance of mental health in two manners; it provides a framework where visitors and outpatients can deal with their trauma, loss and illness in a holistic environment. Secondly, it explores the myth that the hospital is a contained object, and looks to explode the issue of health and allow the hospital to have a reciprocal relationship with the city. The building becomes a central hub where research experiments are carried out in the city by citizens to study the mental health of the city. Land - Parktown lies on the Witwatersrand ridge; the founding and defining feature of the Witwatersrand. However, the ridge’s narrative of mining has perhaps remained stagnant and has not evolved after mining. Man has become disconnected from the land and the project sees the ridge as a device through which this relationship can be repaired, as the ridge moves into a new generation. This thesis emerges when architecture is used as the method through which these two issues, of institutions and land, interrogate and interrupt each other. Harmony between nature versus geometry is explored, which results in a ‘lyrical brutalist’ style. ‘Land’ or nature is used to humanise the ordered, authoritarian nature of the institution as it carves itself into the building and fragments and softens the rigidity of the gridded concrete structure. Symbiotically, the building gives new importance to the traumatised landscape of the ridge. With nature becoming such an important part of the building, man is encouraged to reconnect with the land. The ridge no longer becomes a barrier between the north and the south, but a connector, bringing communities together. The intervention becomes a place of refuge, a sanctuary in the modernist landscape. It is a landscape of re-cognition and encourages one to think more holistically; to break away from the traditional geometries that have dominated how we think and have new embodied experiences with the land. In so doing, the project not only acts as a catalyst in the rehabilitation of the scarred natural landscape but also speculates on an alternative future for technology, health and education. It gives a new level of social and cultural significance to the hospital and surrounding institutions, while reclaiming a land we feel disconnected from. Key words: Parktown, ridge, nature, concrete, land, landscape, institutions, hospital, education, communities / EM2017

The City of Tshwane is currently facing many challenges in terms of economic development. It continues to underperform when compared to other local cities. As a capital city, it’s meant to be the heart of a thriving government system but this is seen as absent to many. In order to combat the above, a framework has been put into place by the City. It sets out spatial and sectoral strategies for interventions that will diversify, repopulate and regenerate the inner city. Within this framework, tourism has been identified as a component that could play a vital role towards achieving the above. The tourism sector within Tshwane has the potential to thrive and contribute substantially to the city’s economy. Reasons for this large gap between the tourist offer and the tourist demand may be as a result of a lack of marketing and good infrastructure around the various tourist attractions. All of the notable tourist attractions require a driving force behind them that spurs on a greater demand for such an outstanding offer. Apart from this, the city must be marketed as an urban tourist destination. Urban tourism, for many, may be seen as an intangible incident. This is due to its abstract nature - cities are not built specifically for the pleasure seeking tourist. Urban tourism does, however, exist as a component of the city’s functioning. It finds itself intertwined with the day to day activities of the city. Services and facilities available do not make a distinction between residents and tourists. Being a capital city, Tshwane’s identity is meant to be synonymous with government presence. However, many problems are faced in this regard such as government departments shunning itself away from the public behind high fences. By further establishing the city’s identity as a centre of government activity, visitor numbers to the city can increase. The presence of government must not remain inaccessible to the public. Rather, through architecture we can create a system of noticeable government whereby government officials, residents and tourists begin to share common platforms of interaction. Our buildings must stand as symbolic signs of a thriving and open government in a democratic society. They must become representations of the city’s contemporary identity - an identity that is composed of a multitude of cultures, races and social classes. Ultimately, the urban environment shaped through government presence must become a must-see destination for the urban tourist. With the above in mind, a catalyst can be formulated that seeks to drive a greater demand for tourism in the area. At the same time, a stronger and more noticeable government presence can be formulated. Eventually, the city’s goals of urban, economic and social regeneration can be achieved.

M.Tech. (Architectural Technology) / The once racially segregated urban fabric of Johannesburg is experiencing dramatic transition with different needs, attitudes and cultures. Patterns of use have altered and so has the social demography of the city and the urban fringes_ "The large business sector continues to move to the suburbs in a bid to find growth and security to be replaced with small retail outlets lessening the amount of money available to the Johannesburg council to revamp the CBD". Finance Week, Politics and Urban Renewal, June 19-25 1997, p17. Depressed areas, areas Jacking council funding within the city need to attention to divert possible neglect, to restore greater confidence within the business sector. The Doornfontein area of Johannesburg is one such area with a new collective vision created by the community, professionals, business, and local and provincial government, may possibly lead the CBD on a road to recovery. This eclectic area consisting of commerce, retail, commercial, educational, light-industry, and housing sectors, all working independently from one another and from the rest of the CBD could possibly benefit from a unified urban renewal project incorporating all sectors of the community. Doornfontein and Johannesburg's "metropolitan system is presently facilitating urban decay". Finance Week, A Tale of Two Cities, September 0410 1997, p16…

This document is submitted in fulfilment for the degree: This document is submitted in fulfilment of the degree : Master of Architecture (Professional) at the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa in the year 2013. in the year 2013 / Fire is part of our everyday life. As the relationship between man and fire grows, so does the danger of using it. In South Africa, the power of fire is unfortunately and commonly underestimated, resulting in more victims falling prey to the fire fiend. Facilities that provide specialized treatment for burn victims are limited. This includes treatment of the burn wound (cloned skin) and latent rehabilitation using physical and psychological therapy. The design of a building specialized for the needs of burn victims has been proposed. The facility will be mixed use and multi-functional: it will be a 2-part building consisting of a Skin Cloning Laboratory and a Rehabilitation Centre in Johannesburg. The site selected is located behind the Charlotte Maxeke Hospital (Joburg Gen). The site was chosen for its views, hospital connection and relationship to the Wits University Medical Faculty. The organic design was derived from the concept of “skin and the landscape”. The facade depicts the “element of water” and grows out of the excavated rock face wall.