This document is submitted in partial fulfilment for the degree Master of Architecture (Professional) at the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa , in the year 2015. / Shack fires in townships have been a prevalent issue within Johannesburg, especially as the Emergency Management Services are under strain due to a lack of fi re service amenities. A significant cause of these fires includes utilizing paraffin stoves for cooking in a high dense population. This is specifically relevant to the Soweto Township in Johannesburg and results in a large number of vulnerable residents. Research aims and objectives include uncovering a new typology for Johannesburg fire stations. This typology will aim to successfully integrate the community in order to simultaneously support the community in the event of shack fires as well as educate the community in terms of safe cooking, fire prevention and fire management. This typology might become a step in the right direc on in order for fire stations to evolve into non-bureaucratic architecture which blurs with functions that will create a 24-hour opera onal mixed-use building. Furthermore this will provide a sense of security to the surrounding community. Numerous fire stations in Johannesburg were visited in order to investigate how the current and conventional fire station typology integrates into the Johannesburg context, if at all. These visits included interviewing firefighters and volunteers who are employed at the stations by means of semi-structured informal interviews. It was discovered that the architectural typology of a fire station is in essence fluid and not fixed, it evolves with society. This is evident as the various fire stations studied in Johannesburg as well as international precedents have been blurred with educational, commercial, hospitality, cultural and even private upmarket residential programmes. In Soweto it was discovered that the three existing fire stations are all small and isolated from the community. Furthermore there is no centralized or main fire station in Soweto. This is needed for training facilities but more importantly to have a centralized control room which in turn will optimize response mes to all emergencies in the en re Soweto. Fire sta ons which created a sense of awareness and belonging to the community generally had lower fi re incident rates as ci zens were aware of the dangers of fi re (CSIR & DPSA, 2012). Fire policy initiatives within Soweto and the City of Johannesburg should thus engage all stakeholders. This especially includes educating and training community members in order to potentially have a network within the community which will fight fires in conjunction with the Johannesburg fire brigade. The proposed fi re sta on in Orlando West in Soweto thus includes a public market in a public park which sells equipment and fuel for safe cooking at discounted rates should you a end the educa onal seminars in the outdoor amphitheater which doubles up as a mul -functional space. Other areas of the park will be a food market. This will result in the inversion of the current bureaucratic architecture that we often encounter with fire stations. / EM2017

A research report submitted to the Faculty of Engineering and the Built Environment, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science in Development Planning, Johannesburg 2016 / The spatial transformation project in post-Apartheid South Africa aims to change the alienating urban form that resulted from planning policies based on racial segregation. Johannesburg’s municipal government aims to capitalise on its investment on the Rea Vaya Bus Rapid Transit (BRT), through the principles of Transit Oriented Development (TOD), to catalyse densification and diversification of land uses along the Rea Vaya’s corridors. This research sought to discover whether these objectives are being realised in Diepkloof and Orlando East, Soweto. In order to answer the research question, the results of a qualitative survey of people residing around these stations were analysed in conjunction with GIS data and records of Town Planning applications for properties located around BRT stations. The following findings emerged: the rate of densification has intensified but remains constrained mainly because of restricted access to finance; land-uses have remained the same but with increased activity levels. All spatial development strategies in the study area need to be aligned to the principles of TOD. This research hopes to achieve two things. Firstly, enrich the scarce literature on spatial transformation through transit investments, particularly the BRT in South African Townships. Secondly, guide spatial planning policies in similar contexts across the country / XL2018

Thesis submitted in partial fulfilment for the degree Master of Science in Development Planning to the Faculty of Engineering and the Built Environment, School of Architecture and Planning, University of Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2017 / A sustainable approach to development brings together social, economic and environmental aspects. However this does not occur in a vacuum, development decisions take place in a palimpsest of underlying decisions and a myriad of conflicting uses and tensions. The sustainable development of parks entails making trade-offs within a conflicting environment. This study reflects on officials’ practices in the processes of park developments. It evaluates the decision-making terrain for park developments to understand the challenges, the advantages and the limitations in achieving an integrated and sustainable park. To this end, I have reviewed JCPZ (Johannesburg City Parks and Zoo) officials’ practices in the park development of an urban wetland in Mshenguville, Soweto. The methodology used for this paper is mainly the case study approach and reviewing archival documents used for the development process. What makes this case study interesting is that this park has some contested, proposed and appropriated land uses such as golf, cattle grazing, and an eco-park. The research report mainly shows that a balance or win-win approach to development is not easy to attain especially in highly contested developments but rather a compromise can be reached provided that the other forces ( stakeholders) within the sustainability triangle (particularly social, economic and environmental) persistantly negotiate their space to be included in the development plan. / XL2018