Progressive spatial segregation of Whites from other ethnic races in South Africa started in 1886. Apartheid rulers evicted three and a half million Blacks, Coloureds and Indians from white urban and residential areas between 1904 and 1994. Apartheid planners used natural, mining, industrial, and infrastructural buffer zones to spatially enforce segregation. They based their apartheid spatial governance on separation and control and not on urban development. Today remnants of apartheid remain deeply embedded in the urban framework, where large buffer zones continue to enforce segregation and disrupt economic growth. Victims of apartheid legislation believed the eradication of apartheid in 1994 meant the right to live in the city and the end of forced evictions. Since then the post-Apartheid government has conducted 2 million evictions, reminiscent of the 3.5 million evictions during the apartheid years. In an attempt to make Johannesburg a `world class city`, the municipality forcefully removed the poor from the city, and relocated them to rural locations where their livelihoods are severely challenged. To many, a new ``apartheid` has been born; one that segregates the rich and the poor. The government has released several strategies to provide land for the poor near the city, but the high cost of land in urban areas has disrupted implementation. The thesis proposes a three-fold strategic design intervention to provide land for the poor near the city and dissolve the apartheid-designed buffer zone between Soweto and Johannesburg. The site, a landmark from the apartheid spatial legacy and part of the Witwatersrand gold mining belt, separates Soweto, home to four million Blacks, from the city of Johannesburg. About one and a half million people commute to the city each day passing by the 14 km stretch of this toxic mining land. The thesis proposes three urban design strategies to transform the site into a community, which the local people would build: Remediation strategies to address the toxic mining landscape, infrastructural strategies to provide basic services and economic strategies to promote economic growth. These strategies operate in a codependent structure. Co-op centres implement these strategies, transfering strategy technologies to the local community.

The dissertation explores how distinctive institutional factors related to property rights determine urban development patterns and housing tenure modalities in a developing economy context. The first part proposes a choice-theoretic model that explains the existence of the Antichresis contractual arrangement as a way to temporarily divide property rights. The model explains why the Antichresis contract dominates the Periodic-Rent contract in terms of landlord profits for certain types of property in which the gains in expected profits from solving the problem of adverse selection of tenants offset the loss of expected profits created by the moral hazard in landlords investments. The empirical section of the dissertation provides evidence in support of the model. Using data from Bolivia, I find that property types that require less landlord maintenance investment have higher capitalization rates under Antichresis contracts than they would under Monthly-Rent contracts and vice-versa. Additionally, the model shows that the Antichresis contract has limited capacity for helping the poor as suggested by recent literature. On the contrary, it can be hurtful for the poor in markets were landlords have limited information about tenants, in markets with inefficient court systems, or in markets with tenant-friendly regulations. The second part of the dissertation explores the issue of squatter settlements in the developing world. The theoretical model presented in this part explains how the landlord squatter strategies based on credible threats drive capital investment incentives and ultimately shape urban land development in areas with pervasive squatting. The model predicts that squatter settlements develop with higher structural densities than formal sector development. This prediction explains why property owners of housing that originated in squatter settlements take longer periods of time to upgrade than comparable property owners who built in the formal sector even after they receive titles to their property. The higher original structural density increases the marginal benefit of waiting in the redeveloping decision creating a legacy effect of high-density low-quality housing in these types of settlements. Geo-coded data from Cochabamba, Bolivia, support the hypotheses proposed by the theoretical model and raise questions about the unintended consequences of current policies affecting informal development.

This minor field study has explored what factors cause vulnerability to community members living in informal settlements exposed to localized urban flooding. Particularly, the effects of flooding that women living in Bwaise Parish III, Kampala, Uganda have to encounter were studied. Eight weeks were spent in Kampala, Uganda for field work, which included interviews and a workshop with community members from Bwaise Parish III, interviews with scientists at Makerere University and thesis writing. Generally, small-scale disasters surface because of poor urban management. The results showed that inadequate urban planning was affecting the poor that were living on marginal lands. Bwaise Parish III had emerged on a location that was both hazardous and unhealthy. The analysis showed that poor people were limited in their options of risk limitation because of their lack of basic capabilities. Women in Bwaise Parish III were affected by flooding directly and indirectly through the loss of livelihoods and belongings and through time spent getting water out of their houses. Women were generally disproportionally affected by flooding because of their vulnerabilities such as lower socioeconomic status and responsibilities that confined them to their homes. The way forward in order to mitigate localized flooding impacts would entail reducing vulnerabilities, strengthening capabilities and developing infrastructure. / Denna Minor Field Study har undersökt vilka faktorer som orsakar sårbarheter för samhällsmedlemmar som bor i informella bosättningar som exponeras av småskaliga  översvämningar. Det som studerades var effekterna av dessa översvämningar och hur kvinnor i Bwaise Parish III i Kampala, Uganda drabbades. Åtta veckor tillbringades i Kampala för fältarbete som innehöll intervjuer och en workshop med samhällsmedlemmar från Bwaise Parish III, intervjuer med forskare vid Makerere Univeritetet samt uppsatsskrivande. Generellt sätt så brukar småskaliga katastrofer uppstå på grund av dålig stadsförvaltning. Resultaten visade att bristande stadsplanering påverkade de fattiga som levde på marginella marker och att Bwaise Parish III låg på en plats som var både farlig och ohälsosam. Analysen visade att fattiga människor var begränsade i sina möjligheter att minska sina risker på grund av att de saknade grundläggande förutsättningar. Kvinnor i Bwaise Parish III påverkades av översvämningar både direkt och indirekt genom förlusten av försörjningsmöjligheter och tillhörigheter och genom att de var tvungna att spendera tid med att få bort vatten från deras hem. I allmänhet drabbas kvinnor oproportionerligt av översvämningar på grund av deras sårbarhet såsom lägre socioekonomisk status och ansvar som begränsar dem till deras hem. Vägen framåt för att minska småskaliga översvämningar och konsekvenser skulle innebära att minska sårbarheten för samhällsmedlemmarna, öka deras förutsättningar och utveckla en fungerande infrastruktur.

Tillgång till sanitet är en mänsklig rättighet och en förutsättning för liv och hälsa. Trots det lever miljontals människor världen över med bristande sanitet. Den här uppsatsens syfte är att studera hur sanitetssituationen i informella bosättningar kan se ut och hur den upplevs av de boende, samt hur det är möjligt att förbättra den situationen. Genom att utföra en intervjustudie i den informella bosättningen Kibera i Kenyas huvudstad Nairobi, har de boende där fått ge sin bild av hur de upplever sanitetsproblemen och hur det gått till när sanitetslösningen Peepoo introducerades i området. I den här uppsatsen står själva förändringen i centrum och Kurt Lewins teori om förändringsprocessen används som teoretiskt verktyg. Med hjälp av den har informanternas svar analyserats för att se hur processen fortgått och vilka krafter som drivit respektive hindrat förändringen. Det framkom att ett framgångsrikt sätt att genomföra en dylik förändring är genom att minska motståndet till den genom information, både från formella och informella kanaler. Det är också viktigt att det finns tydliga incitament till att genomföra förändringen, både direkt märkbara och ur ett längre perspektiv. / Access to sanitation is a human right and a prerequisite for life and health. Despite that millions of people worldwide lives without adequate sanitation. The aims of this thesis is to study how the sanitary situation in informal settlements might look like and how the situation is perceived by the residents, as well as how it is possible to improve the situation. By conducting an interview study in the informal settlement of Kibera in the capital of Kenya, Nairobi, the residents got to give their own view of how they experience the sanitary problems and how the implementation of the sanitary solution Peepoo was conducted in the area. In this thesis the change itself is in the centre and Kurt Lewin's theory of change is used as theoretical tool. With this tool the informants' answers were analysed to see how the process of introducing Peepoo proceeded, and what forces drove and hindered the change. It emerged that a successful way to implement such a change is by reducing the resistance through information, both from formal and informal channels. It is also important that there are clear incentives to implement the change, both directly perceptible and from a longer perspective.

This report documents the growth of renting in Texas colonias, low-income informal settlements along the US-Mexico border. Historically, owner-occupied self-help and self-managed housing has been the norm in these settlements, so scholarly treatment of renting in colonias has been very limited. I begin with a literature review of housing development and housing policy in colonias, before turning, for comparison, to a discussion of renting in the US as well as in informal settlements in the developing world. Chapter 2 draws upon data from the US Census Bureau to describe the nature and extent of the colonia rental market in the six Texas counties with the largest colonia populations: my analysis reveals that renters now make up more than one in five colonia households. I expand on this discussion by examining differences between renter and owner households, paying particular attention to factors that make renters more vulnerable than owners. Chapter 3 employs a variety of regression models to identify the determinants of varying rental rates in colonias. The results suggest that larger, older, and more densely populated colonias have higher rates of renting. In Chapter 4, I utilize a mixed methods approach -- including household surveys, key informant interviews, and intensive case study interviews -- to a) better understand the tenure decisions of colonia renters and to place such decisions within a context of extreme socio-economic vulnerability and b) examine the factors that incentivize a turn toward renting among property owners. I conclude with a discussion of potential policy solutions to ensure that colonia rental accommodation remains affordable, accessible, and of sufficient quality. / text

The majority of the people living with HIV in the North West Province are part of households living in an unfavourable economic situation (Kotze, Roux & Wessels 2001 :83). The AlDS pandemic has intensified their poverty situation even more, which is emphasized by Nattrass (2004:150) in the following statement: 'The AlDS pandemic is both a cause and effect of poverty.' Adding to this, the majority of the poverty-stricken people living with HIV in the Potchefstroom district do not feel supported after having been diagnosed HIV positive (Pienaar, 200455-58). Once there is a clearer understanding of how South Africans experience living with HIV. counsellors, nurses and other health care workers will be better equipped to meet the needs of these people (Coetzee & Spangenberg 2003:216). Therefore, guidelines that can serve as useful tools for professional nurses and other health care workers, including volunteers, who are working with poverty-stricken people living with HIV, were developed in this study in order to address the gap in the support during the HIV infection. The objective of this research was to explore the experience and to identify the support needs of poverty-stricken people living with HIV in the informal settlements in the Potchefstroom district and to formulate guidelines for effective support for poverty-stricken people living with HIV. A qualitative, phenomenological design was used which enabled the researcher to understand the way in which poverty-stricken people experience living with HIV and to identify their support needs. In-depth interviews, consisting of 24 one-to-one interviews and one focus group were conducted to obtain the data. The population studied in this research consisted of the poverty-stricken people living with HIV in the informal settlements in the Potchefstroom district in the North West Province, South Africa. Purposive sampling was used to select participants with the assistance of mediators who are working for the Non Governmental Organisations dealing with HIV and AlDS in the Potchefstroom district. The sample size was determined by data saturation, which was reached after 25 interviews. Data analysis was carried out simultaneously with data collection. In consensus discussions, the researcher and the co-coder reached consensus on the main and sub themes. From the research findings, six main themes were identified. The first two main themes are the facilitative and impeding experiences of poverty-stricken people living with HIV. The remaining four main themes include the needs of poverty-stricken people living with HIV, namely; basic needs, psycho-social needs, cultural-spiritual needs and self-actualisation needs. It could be concluded that the experience of poverty-stricken people living with HIV in the Potchefstroom district is closely related to their support needs. In order to address these needs holistically and to enhance the quality of life of poverty-stricken people living with HIV, the needs should firstly be addressed individually and according to culture. Following that, the collective needs can be addressed by a support system addressing basic, psychosocial, cultural-spiritual and selfactualisation needs for which an experiences and needs framework and guidelines were formulated. / Thesis (M.Cur.)--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2005.

This thesis is concerned with the lived experience of placemaking in Argentina’s Antarctic gateway port Ushuaia. Based on 12 months ethnographic fieldwork, it explores the relations between tourism, urban development, and socio-economic difference. As such, it investigates how agents from across the social spectrum conceive of, and construct their sense of place “at the end of the world”. As the world’s southernmost city, Ushuaia is attractive to tourists for its stunning landscapes, unique location, and strategic proximity to Antarctica. However, the image of a friendly tourist destination crucial to everyday life in this Patagonian city is contested by its stakeholders. This thesis looks beyond the image presented to tourists to explore frictions among residents, the city council, and touristic enterprises. Ushuaia is revealed as an urban location beset by growing unrest due to issues of population growth and social polarization. This is analyzed in relation to its geopolitical significance for the Argentine state, territorial struggles with Chile, and economic incentives for in-migration. Consequently, this thesis considers the dynamic and shifting character of the city’s population through an engagement with economic and lifestyle migrants, including those dwelling in non-legal settlements, and tourists who occupy Ushuaian space alongside more longstanding citizens. The thesis demonstrates how conflicting views collide regarding issues of urbanization, industrialization, tourism, and environmental conservation, analyzed in relation to the interests and concerns of different social constituencies. Through extensive interviewing with a diverse array of social actors, this thesis also explores the different levels of economic and socio-cultural attachment to Antarctica, suggesting a schism between Ushuaia’s touristic representation, Antarctic alignment, and the needs and interests of its inhabitants. This thesis, then, explains the diverging place-based ideas and aspirations of different social groups in relation to the governmental, socio-economic, and socio-cultural forces implicated in placemaking.

The majority of the people living with HIV in the North West Province are part of households living in an unfavourable economic situation (Kotze, Roux & Wessels 2001 :83). The AlDS pandemic has intensified their poverty situation even more, which is emphasized by Nattrass (2004:150) in the following statement: 'The AlDS pandemic is both a cause and effect of poverty.' Adding to this, the majority of the poverty-stricken people living with HIV in the Potchefstroom district do not feel supported after having been diagnosed HIV positive (Pienaar, 200455-58). Once there is a clearer understanding of how South Africans experience living with HIV. counsellors, nurses and other health care workers will be better equipped to meet the needs of these people (Coetzee & Spangenberg 2003:216). Therefore, guidelines that can serve as useful tools for professional nurses and other health care workers, including volunteers, who are working with poverty-stricken people living with HIV, were developed in this study in order to address the gap in the support during the HIV infection. The objective of this research was to explore the experience and to identify the support needs of poverty-stricken people living with HIV in the informal settlements in the Potchefstroom district and to formulate guidelines for effective support for poverty-stricken people living with HIV. A qualitative, phenomenological design was used which enabled the researcher to understand the way in which poverty-stricken people experience living with HIV and to identify their support needs. In-depth interviews, consisting of 24 one-to-one interviews and one focus group were conducted to obtain the data. The population studied in this research consisted of the poverty-stricken people living with HIV in the informal settlements in the Potchefstroom district in the North West Province, South Africa. Purposive sampling was used to select participants with the assistance of mediators who are working for the Non Governmental Organisations dealing with HIV and AlDS in the Potchefstroom district. The sample size was determined by data saturation, which was reached after 25 interviews. Data analysis was carried out simultaneously with data collection. In consensus discussions, the researcher and the co-coder reached consensus on the main and sub themes. From the research findings, six main themes were identified. The first two main themes are the facilitative and impeding experiences of poverty-stricken people living with HIV. The remaining four main themes include the needs of poverty-stricken people living with HIV, namely; basic needs, psycho-social needs, cultural-spiritual needs and self-actualisation needs. It could be concluded that the experience of poverty-stricken people living with HIV in the Potchefstroom district is closely related to their support needs. In order to address these needs holistically and to enhance the quality of life of poverty-stricken people living with HIV, the needs should firstly be addressed individually and according to culture. Following that, the collective needs can be addressed by a support system addressing basic, psychosocial, cultural-spiritual and selfactualisation needs for which an experiences and needs framework and guidelines were formulated. / Thesis (M.Cur.)--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2005.

This thesis assesses the potential of Venezuela’s technical water committees (mesas técnicas de agua, MTAs) to address governance and logistical challenges for improving sanitation in the barrios (low income settlements) of Caracas. The MTAs are a radical experiment in urban planning whereby beneficiary communities map their own water and sanitation needs and help to plan infrastructure development, which is financed by the state. In addition to improving services, the MTAs aim to promote “popular” or “citizen power” as part of a broader political transformation, the Bolivarian Process (1999-present). Based on Hickey and Mohan’s (2005) four criteria for “transformative participation,” the paper argues that the MTAs have opened spaces for citizen empowerment and improved services in the barrios; however, participation at the local scale cannot resolve many of the challenges for improving sanitation such as institutional overlap and the financing gap, especially given that sanitation is the least profitable form of service provision in terms of economic and political payoffs.

Progressive spatial segregation of Whites from other ethnic races in South Africa started in 1886. Apartheid rulers evicted three and a half million Blacks, Coloureds and Indians from white urban and residential areas between 1904 and 1994. Apartheid planners used natural, mining, industrial, and infrastructural buffer zones to spatially enforce segregation. They based their apartheid spatial governance on separation and control and not on urban development. Today remnants of apartheid remain deeply embedded in the urban framework, where large buffer zones continue to enforce segregation and disrupt economic growth. Victims of apartheid legislation believed the eradication of apartheid in 1994 meant the right to live in the city and the end of forced evictions. Since then the post-Apartheid government has conducted 2 million evictions, reminiscent of the 3.5 million evictions during the apartheid years. In an attempt to make Johannesburg a `world class city`, the municipality forcefully removed the poor from the city, and relocated them to rural locations where their livelihoods are severely challenged. To many, a new ``apartheid` has been born; one that segregates the rich and the poor. The government has released several strategies to provide land for the poor near the city, but the high cost of land in urban areas has disrupted implementation. The thesis proposes a three-fold strategic design intervention to provide land for the poor near the city and dissolve the apartheid-designed buffer zone between Soweto and Johannesburg. The site, a landmark from the apartheid spatial legacy and part of the Witwatersrand gold mining belt, separates Soweto, home to four million Blacks, from the city of Johannesburg. About one and a half million people commute to the city each day passing by the 14 km stretch of this toxic mining land. The thesis proposes three urban design strategies to transform the site into a community, which the local people would build: Remediation strategies to address the toxic mining landscape, infrastructural strategies to provide basic services and economic strategies to promote economic growth. These strategies operate in a codependent structure. Co-op centres implement these strategies, transfering strategy technologies to the local community.