Bibliography: leaves 56-58. / The initial work for this project was a photographic survey of the existing wood and iron buildings in Athlone. I was at the time a volunteer in the Urban Conservation Unit of the Cape Town City Council (hereafter UCU). My task was to docment the existing wood-and-iron buidlings in order to aid later development control decision-making. to a large extent, it was the results of the fieldwork, which both uncovered a need for further research and directed later archival and textual research.

Submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, / Between Union in 1910 and the start of World War Two, urban racial segregation in South African cities evolved through three distinct periods. Initially, the predominantly white cities were the target of colonial planning initiatives to reduce overcrowding and prevent the development of industrial slums. After World War One, the regulation of African urbanisation was the primacy focus of urban policy. The living standards of the urban workforce were to be improved and controlled by excluding unemployed African people, by forcing the majority of the urban African workforce into compound quarters, and by establishing limited accommodation for African families in town. The racial administration of urban poverty was entrenched in the 1930s when, faced with the persistent growth of slums.the state bolstered white welfare initiatives and imposed even tighter residential restrictions on blacks living in urban areas. Abbreviation abstract) / Andrew Chakane 2019

Thesis (MS en S)--Stellenbosch University, 2000. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The importance of and the need for metropolitan planning and government structures in the development of cities have become evident over the last century. Internationally, the approach to metro governance has evolved from informal metro management structures into, for example the more formalised two-tier or single tier systems of London and Toronto. The recent changes in these systems indicate that there is not one system that is universally accepted as the best. South Africa has not escaped the metropolitan development process and the resulting problems that went hand in hand with this. The first form of metropolitan planning in South Africa occurred in 1940, with the inception of the Joint Planning Committees. Later, in 1986 the institution of Regional Services Councils served as the first form of metropolitan governance. In 1995 the first democratic Local Government elections hailed the entry into democratic metropolitan government structures. With the proclamation of six new metropolitan areas South African metropolitan governments adopted the two-tier metropolitan system. Since 1995 South African local government structures have undergone major transformations. Proponents of the current two-tier system failed to anticipate the pressures of Central Government for change to the one tier, megacity or unicity model. Critics of the government's plans argued strongly for the retention of the current two-tier model and for minimal organisational change. The disruption that yet another transformation will cause, is one of the main objections. In the Cape Town and Durban Metropolitan Areas the consensus seems to be that the present two-tier system is working well and that it should be retained. In the case of Johannesburg Metropolitan Area many problems were encountered, especially the inability to redistribute local government income. The consensus there is that a unicity model will work better. Whether the unicity model is the answer to urban sustainability for all metropolitan areas of South Africa, is still a disputed fact. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Die belangrikheid van en die behoefte aan metropolitaanse beplannings- en regeringstrukture in die ontwikkeling van stede het oor die afgelope eeu baie ooglopend geword. Die benaderings tot metropolitaanse bestuur in internasionale kringe het beweeg van die meer informele metropolitaanse bestuurstrukture na die meer formele een- of tweevlak stelsels van byvoorbeeld Londen Of Toronto. Die onlangse veranderinge in hierdie stelsels is 'n bewys dat daar nie een stelsel beataan wat universeel as die beste aanvaar word nie. Suid Afrika het nie die proses van metropolitaanse ontwikkeling en die gepaardgaande probleme daarvan vrygespring nie. Die eerste vorm van metropolitaanse beplanning in Suid Afrika was die instelling van die Gesamentlike Beplanningskomitees in 1940. Later in 1986 met die totstandkoming van streekdiensterade was daar vir die eerste keer sprake van 'n vorm van metropolitaanse regering. Met die eerste demokratiese verkiesing van plaaslike regeringsisteme in 1995 is ses tweevlak metropolitaanse egerings in suid Afrika ingestel. Sedert 1995 het plaaslike owerhede in Suid Afrika grootskaalse veranderinge ondergaan. Voorstanders van die huidige tweevlak stelsel het nie daarin geslaag om die druk van Nasionale Regering om te verander na 'n eenvlak, unistad of megastad sisteem, af te weer nie. Kritici van die regering se planne het hewige argumente aangebied vir die behoud van die huidige sisteem asook vir minimale organisatoriese veranderinge. Die hoof beswaar was die grootskaalse ontwrigting wat nog 'n transformasie proses sou meebring. In die Kaapse en Durbanse Metropolitaanse Gebiede is daar konsensus oor die werkbaarheid van die tweevlak stelsel en ook dat dit behoue moet bly. Johannesburg Metropolitaanse Area daarenteen het etlike probleme ondervind, veral met die verdeling van munisipale inkomste. Daar is konsensus dat' n unistad model waarskynlik beter sal werk. Of die unistad model die antwoord is op stedelike volhoubaarheid in alle metropolitaanse gebiede in Suid Afrika, is steeds 'n debatteerbare punt.

South African cities were subjected to artificial, unnatural growth patterns brought about by apartheid planning that legitimated exclusionary practices in the city and which created and maintained racial, social and class differences between people. Post-apartheid South Africa has witnessed processes of urban fortification, barricading and the gating of urban space that are manifested in contemporary urban South Africa. This research showed that the privatisation of urban public space is not solely a post-apartheid phenomenon. Closure legislation has been, and still is, used by citizens to remove urban space from the public realm through its privatisation. Closures are largely citizen-driven, either individually or as a collective, and it is small public spaces that are privatised, hence the micro-privatisation of public space that could influence the immediate surroundings and erf-sized living space of individuals.

M.Tech. (Architectural Technology) / This dissertation explores the opportunity and necessity of a connection between Braamfontein and Newtown Johannesburg's landscape developed as a result of decades of socio-economic and geographic fragmentation where planning policies etched permanent boundaries of exclusion. The focus is to form a more integrated city fabric in the area to allow for a cross-pollination of people and activities between Braamfontein and Newtown At the same time the proposal aims to create a more socially Inclusive space that connects the urban users to each other and to the city as a whole...

Thesis (M.Arch. (Professional))--University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, Faculty of Engineering and the Built Environment, 2016 / Globalisation is a considerable catalyst for the state of the world today, and so it is evident through industrialisation, modernism and capitalism that the power and spatiality of food has shifted. Food has always brought people together as it is an universal language that is understood by everyone. However food no longer exists as this valued product of necessity but has now become a product of consumerism. Large corporations control our food industry which has lead to an economic food crisis where our basic needs have become too expensive. This is a consequence of increased population, demands, immoral farming methods and greed. Not only is it affecting our economies but our natural resources. Food production systems need to change along with our attitude towards the environment. In an age of technology, branding and mass production, people have become disconnected from nature, regarding the food we eat and where it comes from. In South Africa, this has resulted in increased food insecurity, obesity, malnutrition and health risks. The necessity of honest, healthy and nutritious clean-living has been lost. So how can we overcome this pressure before we collapse as a society and as a planet? The quality of food affects our daily productivity, well-being and psyche, our primal need. How can architecture instigate a change for the free food philosophy? How can it challenge profit margins in the food system through urban contexts by re-establishing our connection with nature? Investigating the journey through the history of farming, politics and food, I will observe the gradual change in the food industry from the farmer to corporation to consumer, exposing the cultural power plays, which can be reconsidered through architecture. This thesis proposes an holistic approach towards propagating parks and public spaces through food education in an urban context. It concentrates on re-igniting the relationship between man and nature through small-scale agriculture using small-scale architecture: ‘agritechture’. Establishing its roots in Joubert Park, Park Station Precinct, Johannesburg, the strategy unfolds biophilia characteristics observing the intricacy of Persian architecture and soil structures stimulated by modular systems, grid proportions and layering. The prairie ecosystem becomes a precedent study for heterotopian architecture rooting itself as homogeneity. Creating catalytic nodes of urban renewal, it unifies communities while defending its territory, similar to the original African settlement, ‘the Kraal’. / MT2017

Thesis is submitted in partial fulfilment for the degree of Master of Architecture (Professional) to the Faculty of Engineering and the Built Environment, School of Architecture and Planning at the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2017 / A consumable seed bank, market and food theatre that challenges the relationships between formal and informal and creates a solution to the need for food and encourages a healthier lifestyle through digesting architecture and walking urbanism in Johannesburg’s in between space. From the watershed above the river of gold, the Braamfontein Spruit flows towards the suburbs. Natural meanders and formal canals move with the winding bends of avenues, through golf courses and out into bird sanctuaries and parks to join the Jukskei river on its journey. This 50 km of between unbuilt space is the landscape in which this exploration takes place. At the beginning and end of this connection sits Dale Lace Park, divided by Barry Hertzog and united by the topography and spruit. The three-part theoretical essay focuses on natural processes and their relationship to people and architecture. By creating a compact theory for walking in public space, we can begin to understand how people react to space both positive and negative. This metaphor can be analysed through DNA and gene editing to create the desired space. Identifying DNA is achieved through a process called electrophoresis. Current moves through the gel in which DNA is injected. Certain strands move faster while others move slower. Is this not the same as the movement of people through public space? As we move up the plant through the stem, it becomes clear that the plant’s core is its roots. The permanence of this and the temporary nature of the leaves can link to the above and below ground of programmatic design. The second part focuses on nutrition and food in architecture. Modernism and its functional programmatic approach to design are used to emphasise the importance of functional planting in architecture. And as the plant escapes the soil, the light causes the adapting nature and evolution of the plant in its circle of life. Life and light and the purity of life will be used to analysis light and research space in buildings along with adapting to seasonal change. This third and final part will explore the combination of planting and people in space and architecture’s role in the human and social interaction. The deconstructed landscape will be explored. Through Architecture, the thesis aims to unearth the importance of seedling cultivation for consumption in an urban farm and research centre. Akin to the market it is a space of engagement and public identity. / GR2017

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

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 2013. / This design intervention takes place in the Olympia Park sports precinct in the town of Springs. Here, unique contextual conditions have informed the development of a Hybrid typology between industry and Public Park. A bicycle factory is proposed along with bicycle transport infrastructure that is implemented on an urban level. This intervention is aimed at creating an interface between the community and the existing, dilapidated sports and recreation facilities that exist within the precinct. Industriality is an important part of the ecosystemic organism called Springs. The new typology questions the notion that ““the harmony of natural landscapes as embodied in songs or poems, cannot be reconciled with the brutality and pollutant image of industriality” (Corner, [video] 2009). By using contextual elements, a design language and programmatic response emerges that could satisfy these criteria. The park by its very nature is a landscape that embodies a spirit of relaxation and relief. By using earth as a spatial device or building material, it is possible to integrate that spirit, and literally the park, into the building. James Corner, Landscape architect of the New York Highline Park says that; “The harmony of natural landscapes as embodied in songs or poems, cannot be reconciled with the brutality and pollutant image of industriality” (Corner, [video] 2009). The park and the industrial are two completely different bodies of thought. But by using the landscape in all its green glory as a foundation for and industrial building, one creates a condition where both these elements are overlapping in an effort to survive and thrive. The park typology signifies a desire to experience a specific kind of environment. By using landscape to soften the interface of the hard industrial aesthetic, the factory is absorbed into the romantic image normally associated with landscape. However, conceiving landscapes purely pictorially does have limitations. The imperative is to overlay a new layer of activity onto a landscape. By placing the factory and the bicycle infrastructure in the un-programmed park, you are creating a pragmatic and technical landscape. The design is therefore not conceived in a pictorial way, but in a productive and functional way. Scripting activities in the park does not force a specific set of activities but allows the user to have a subjective and interpretative experience. This will consequently also have a catalysing effect for new layers of activity to be imported through the passage of time. It is therefore not a concluding intervention but part of the process of progress and growth; or an engine for process. The design is conceived as a mechanical tree. The power of this metaphor lies in the fact that both a tree and a machine are process based. There is no climax state for the tree, only a useful life span. Similarly, the machine is made to be completed, but to be used. Its function is a process, like producing something and doing so continuously. Viewing cities and buildings as process driven organisms should be integrated into our perceptions of industry and sustainable environments.

A thesis submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy to the Faculty of Engineering and the Built Environment, University of Witwatersrand, 2016 / This thesis is concerned with the relationship between informal settlements and green infrastructure. It uses the concept of just sustainability to explore the ways green infrastructure can contribute to more just and sustainable informal settlement interventions. The study draws on a case study design, with three low-income areas in Johannesburg serving as case studies. The first, Kya Sands, is an informal settlement that has not experienced substantive intervention. The second, Ruimsig, is an informal settlement that has experienced in situ intervention through reblocking. The third, Cosmo City, is a green-field housing development where households from informal settlements were relocated. The thesis utilised qualitative methods (semistructured interviews, transect walks, focus group discussion) for data collection across the case studies. These were supplemented by a quantitative component for data collection in an individual case and in-depth interviews with purposively selected key informants. The three cases reveal how the low-income residents in these areas derive a range of ecosystem services from natural ecosystems. A range of ecosystem disservices also came to the fore. In Ruimsig settlement, reblocking involved spatial reconfiguration that created opportunities for greening. Co-producing the in situ intervention involved some processes and outcomes related to equity and inclusion but also included situations that were exclusionary. Relocation from informal settlements into a new housing environment in Cosmo City formally created spatial opportunities for greening and reduced dependency on the natural ecosystem for certain basic resources. However, the course of events leading up to relocation and postoccupancy trajectory of green spaces reveal shortfalls in relation to justice and incognisance on socio-ecological and socio-economic realities at the planning stage. Juxtaposition between the cases of Ruismig and Cosmo City shows that in situ intervention can fulfill more principles of just sustainability in comparison with relocation. This thesis argues that careful assessment of the relationship between poor households living in informal settlements and green infrastructure — their interaction with natural ecosystems should influence the approach to informal settlement interventions. The cases reveal that achieving just sustainability in relation to green infrastructure in informal settlement intervention is not straight-forward, but not impossible. Progress towards just sustainability in the form of improvement in quality of life and in the environment requires navigating (with foresight rather than hindsight) the intricacies and dynamics obtainable in contexts into which informal settlements are embedded. / MT2017