Includes abstract.~Includes bibliographical referencees (leaves 109-121). / The mainstreaming of disability in development programmes is an attractive but elusive goal for the South African state. This research investigates the ‘life of policy’ that creates the conditions for the targeting of disabled people as participants in Working for Water - a flagship public works programme.

Includes bibliographical references. / Research on poverty and food insecurity in sub-Saharan Africa has tended to focus on rural households and urban areas known to have concentrations of low-income households. However, consequences and effects of the recent global economic crisis such as retrenchment coupled with increasing food and fuel prices have played a major role in generating many newly poor households. The economic crisis came at a time when most developing countries were still struggling with impoverishment mainly caused by Structural Adjustment Programs (SAP). SAPs laid bare the acute vulnerability of the urban dwellers to the slightest addition al shock such as economic shocks or high food prices. In view of these effects, this study was conducted in Chingola in the Copperbelt Province of Zambia to examine the impact of economic shocks on the food security of middle class households in urban areas. Focusing on one aspect of the economic shock (retrenchments), the thesis shows how once middle class households in Chingola perceived, experienced and grappled with retrenchment in the context of increasing urban poverty and high food prices. The central thesis is that due to the rising pattern of urban risk, it is not only the rural or structural urban poor that are vulnerable to food insecurity but middle class urban households too. The study employed a mixed-method approach, which took place in two main sequential data collection phases - the quantitative component served as a basis for the sampling of cases for the qualitative component. The findings revealed that food security of the retrenched households was compromised by the economic crisis with approximately 7.4 % food secure, 4.2% mildly food insecure, 19 .1 % moderately food insecure and 69 .3 % severely food insecure. A compounding factor was that there were insufficient social protection services by government and NGOs to assist households to increase resilience to food insecurity. To survive, households employed close to thirty different strategies and tactics such as letting their houses, limiting their consumption and engaging in lucrative but unlawful activities - illegal mining, prostitution and theft. In light of these findings, the study makes a contribution to urban development and specifically to the emerging field of urban food security as it departs from the more traditional focus on the ‘old poor’ by giving specific attention to previously middle income households’ food security in the context of widespread economic shocks within the formal economy. Furthermore, it contributes to the debate on retrenchment literature by providing new information, for example, on how urban dwellers deal with shocks and the mechanisms used to help them survive in a globalised environment. Lastly, the study contributes to literature on the livelihoods of Copperbelt residents as very few scholars have explored the lives of the residents since the implementation of SAPs and the subsequent economic decline in the area.

Increased urbanization coupled with the effects of urban stream syndrome and urban informal settlements are degrading rivers and causing a decline in habitat integrity and the delivery of ecosystem services. There is a need to implement river restoration programmes to alleviate the negative impacts on stream ecosystems. This study aimed to determine the ability of a contaminated urban stream, draining Langrug, an informal settlement, to enrich the biodiversity of species and organisms, following a rehabilitation intervention. It was investigated how nature, in the form of biodiversity of diatoms and macro-invertebrates, were observed in the Stiebeuel River when a range of habitats were created and restored through the replanting of indigenous vegetation within the Stiebeuel River channel. The focus of the study is on understanding the value of different types of bio-assessment and water quality methodologies for informing the rehabilitation of a river system. It also illustrates how a combination of methods as opposed to a single method is able to inform the ecological integrity of habitat restoration.The results showed the current physical and biological condition of the Stiebeuel River to be heavily degraded, critically modified, with poor river health and an ecological category between D and E/F. The low DO levels and high EC levels are correlated to low SPI scores and high %PT scores, which infers that there is a significant amount of organic pollution and nutrients in the wastewater discharges from Langrug, informal settlement. The miniSASS scores link to the SPI scores, such that the low sensitivity and low SPI scores are attributed to the highly polluted water quality dictating the abundance of pollutant tolerance species. The inflow of highly polluted water from Langrug, informal settlement is responsible for driving the distribution of species in the Stiebeuel River. This highly contaminated water as a result restricted the success of the habitat intervention to enrich biological diversity and improve the ecological status of the Stiebeuel River. The results from the bio-assessment and water quality monitoring overlap and confirms the link between the three monitoring methods

Bibliography: pages 93-96. / Purpose of this report *to assess and evaluate the land use potential of the Black-Liesbeeck River Confluence Area based on the limitations imposed by the biophysical, social, economic and developmental factors operating in the area. *to make general recommendations on which types of land use activities are appropriate for the Confluence Area. Background The Interim Metropolitan Development Framework (IMDF) identifies intensification of existing residential and industrial areas~ as a possible solution to the current trend of urban sprawl in Greater Cape Town. Furthermore, this document states that intensification of existing urban areas should not occur at the expense of maintaining the green open spaces in the city. To achieve this aim a proactive, holistic and integrated approach to environmental planning will be required. This study presents the ideal opportunity to test this planning approach. The Confluence Area is unusual in that it contains large, unutilized open spaces that are surrounded by suburbs with medium to high residential densities. In addition, the Confluence Area is located near one of the largest business centres (the CBD-Salt River-Woodstock-Maitland-Epping-Ndabeni complex) in Greater Cape Town. This study forms part of a planning initiative underway in the Culemborg-Black River (CBR) Area that is adjacent to the northern boundary of the Confluence Area. The aim of this planning initiative undertaken by the Cape Town City Council (CCC) and South African Transport Services (SATS) is to investigate the land use potential of the CBR area. The findings of this study of the Confluence Area will be incorporated into the final planning proposals for the Culemborg-Black River Area.

Proponents of transfrontier conservation areas (TFCAs) make a number of claims in favour of this relatively new conservation strategy, one of which is that it leads to an increase in tourism. Despite the growing body of literature on the subject of TFCAs, very little research has been conducted on whether or not this assumption is true. This study therefore draws on and situates itself within this literature on TFCAs and the neoliberalisation of nature and seeks to test this claim through the use of the Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park (KTP) as a case study. This is achieved firstly by assessing the changes in tourism development that have taken place both within the Park and in the area surrounding it as a result of the KTP's formation, and secondly by comparing the KTP's tourist levels prior to becoming a TFCA with those from after the TFCA was established, in order to determine what trends and changes have taken place as a result of this development. In doing so, this paper challenges the claim that TFCAs automatically lead to an increase in tourism and tourist development by showing that the link between the two is tenuous at best. It also broadens the scope of enquiry on the subject of TFCAs by analysing the relationship between TFCAs and the small scale, nature-based economic activities that take place around them, a matter which is largely ignored in the literature and, in doing so, critiques the assumption that all nature-based economic activities are part of a wider neoliberal agenda.

A presente Dissertação tem por objetivo abordar questões que envolvem tanto a geografia cultural quanto os estudos sobre o Neo-Realismo português. Através da análise de dois contos de Manuel da Fonseca, Campaniça e Aldeia Nova, ambos vinculados à literatura neo-realista, procura-se estabelecer a importância da geografia na análise da constituição dos espaços presentes nos textos aqui abordados. Esta análise permite ratificarmos, no par de contos a que nos referimos, a existência de dois espaços que se configuram de modo distinto: o espaço da opressão, associado à paisagem de Valgato, presente no conto Campaniça e o espaço da liberdade, representado pelo cenário que constitui a Aldeia Nova, no conto homônimo / This thesis aims to address issues involving both the cultural geography as the studies on the Portuguese Neo-Realism. Through the analysis of two stories of Manuel da Fonseca, Campaniça and Aldeia Nova, both linked to the neo-realistic literature, seeks to establish the importance of geography in the analysis of the formation of these spaces in the text addressed here. This analysis allows ratify, in the pair of stories that we talk, the existence of two spaces that are up so distinct: the space of oppression, coupled with the scenery of Valgato, present in the story Campaniça and space of freedom, represented by the scenario hat is the Aldeia Nova, in the homonym tale

A presente Dissertação tem por objetivo abordar questões que envolvem tanto a geografia cultural quanto os estudos sobre o Neo-Realismo português. Através da análise de dois contos de Manuel da Fonseca, Campaniça e Aldeia Nova, ambos vinculados à literatura neo-realista, procura-se estabelecer a importância da geografia na análise da constituição dos espaços presentes nos textos aqui abordados. Esta análise permite ratificarmos, no par de contos a que nos referimos, a existência de dois espaços que se configuram de modo distinto: o espaço da opressão, associado à paisagem de Valgato, presente no conto Campaniça e o espaço da liberdade, representado pelo cenário que constitui a Aldeia Nova, no conto homônimo / This thesis aims to address issues involving both the cultural geography as the studies on the Portuguese Neo-Realism. Through the analysis of two stories of Manuel da Fonseca, Campaniça and Aldeia Nova, both linked to the neo-realistic literature, seeks to establish the importance of geography in the analysis of the formation of these spaces in the text addressed here. This analysis allows ratify, in the pair of stories that we talk, the existence of two spaces that are up so distinct: the space of oppression, coupled with the scenery of Valgato, present in the story Campaniça and space of freedom, represented by the scenario hat is the Aldeia Nova, in the homonym tale

Faisant émerger de nouveaux objets et de nouveaux acteurs, les pratiques spatiales des artistes sont une entrée féconde pour repenser les dynamiques rurales actuelles. En les considérant comme partie prenante des rapports sociaux et bien sûr des espaces géographiques qu’elles contribuent à produire, notre thèse analyse la place des artistes en milieu rural sur un fond de mutation sociale et institutionnelle caractéristique des espaces ruraux contemporains. Car si la culture y apparaît comme un argument de distinction dans un contexte de compétition territoriale, elle croise une logique résidentielle et d’ouverture de la part des acteurs ruraux, susceptibles de favoriser l’installation d’artistes et de divers professionnels. Ceux-ci sont à la recherche de nouveaux espaces de vie et de travail et croisent en retour les nombreuses pratiques associatives et amateurs qui irriguent l’espace rural. Aussi, à l’inverse d’une approche sectorielle, nous abordons ce sujet par la question de la pratique des lieux, afin de comprendre comment les artistes distinguent les espaces dans leur argumentaire et comment en retour ils contribuent à un renouvellement des espaces vécus. Afin de dépasser les frontières habituelles du développement local, ce travail considère les ancrages et les circulations individuelles qui articulent différentes échelles de ruralité. L’approche biographique permet en effet de penser le local dans ses interfaces, ses réseaux et ses mobilités ; et ce retour aux lieux montre les incidences que les artistes peuvent avoir sur la définition de la ruralité, engageant par là une réflexion plus large sur le statut de l’espace rural dans la société. Ainsi, l’originalité de cette thèse consiste à utiliser une méthode qualitative centrée sur les parcours d’artistes pour analyser leur positionnement et leur stratégie, en s’intéressant aux transformations contemporaines des savoirs, des espaces et des pratiques créatives en milieu rural. Grâce à une approche qui croise les échelles d’analyse, cette thèse montre le rôle des espaces de l’art dans la fabrique du rural, et la manière dont les artistes contribuent à l’émergence de nouvelles articulations entre l’espace rural et la ville métropolisée. / By drawing attention to new objects and actors, artistic practices are a fruitful entry point for rethinking current dynamics of French rural life. This thesis interrogates cultural development in relation to recent social and institutional changes in rural areas, without isolating such areas from social relations or the geographical spaces that underlie them. If culture appears as a distinction argument in a context of territorial competition, it intersects with a residential logic and an openness of rural actors to the cultural field. This, in turn, can initiate dynamic interactions with artists and various professionals. Such “creatives,” always on the search for new living and working spaces, are increasingly moving to rural areas, where they cooperate with the latter’s respective associations and amateur practices. Thus, contrary to a sectoral methodology, we consider this topic with a multipolar approach of culture, in order to understand how artistic actors distinguish territories, and how these territories become, in return, renewed living spaces. To overcome the usual boundaries of local development, we have chosen to put forward the multiple scales of rurality by considering artists as actors in motion, who play with various territorial resources. The microsocial approach makes here possible to think the local in its interfaces, its networks and its mobilities. And this return to the site shows the impact that artists can have on the definition of rurality itself, thus engaging to a broader reflection on the status of rural space in society. One of the originalities of this thesis is to use a qualitative method centered on artists’ analyses of their own positioning and strategies, vis- à-vis contemporary transformations of knowledge, spaces and creative practices in rural areas. Through an approach that correlates rural contexts and scales of analysis, this thesis shows the role of art spaces in the rural fabric and the way they contribute to the emergence of new articulations between rural areas and metropoles.