Student Number : 0005386G - MSc research report - School of Architecture and Planning - Faculty of Engineering and the Built Environment / The research recognises the IDP as an important post-apartheid planning tool that can potentially lead to integration within the City of Johannesburg. However, for the IDP to attain its mandated goals, an enabling institutional culture of the City and its units need to prevail. The gap/challenge is that the institutional culture of the City and its departments/units are shaped by Joburg 2030, a purely economic strategy that does not embrace the principles needed for attainment of IDP goals. The principles needed for successful formulation and implementation of the IDP are found in equity planning theories and New Institutionalism. These are the principles that do not form part of the Joburg 2030 vision. The solution is for the Joburg 2030 to include the planning principles as already highlighted. This solution will affect departmental practices for the better.

Van Rensburg and Robertson (2003a) stated that the CAPM beta has little or no relationship with returns generated by size and price to earnings sorted portfolios. This study intends to demonstrate that a reformulated CAPM beta, estimated using return on equity as opposed to share returns, unravels the size and value premium. The study proves that the “cash-flow” generated beta partially explains the cross-sectional variation in share returns when measured over the long run, specifically when portfolios are sorted on book to market, however the cash flow beta is less successful when attempting to explain the small size premium. The premise of the study is that the cash flow dynamics of share returns eventually dominate the first and second moments and thus result in cash flow based measures of risk and return that should succeed in explaining the cross-sectional variation in share returns. The study makes use of vector autoregressive models in order to examine the short term effect of structural shocks to the cash flow fundamentals of a stock or portfolio through impulse response functions as well as quantifying a long-term relationship between cash flow fundamentals and share returns using a VECM specification. The study further uses fixed effects, random effects and GMM/dynamic panel data cross-sectional regressions in order to examine the ability of the cash flow beta explaining the value and size premium. The results of the study are mixed. The cash flow beta does well in explaining the returns of portfolios sorted on book to market, but fails to do the same with size sorted portfolios. In the cash flow betas favour, it performs far better than the conventionally measured CAPM beta throughout the study.

Student Number : 9102146D - MA research report - School of Graduate School - Faculty of Humanities / This is a study of local integration of Congolese refugees from The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) living in Johannesburg. The point of departure is from Jacobsen’s assertion that refugees are de facto integrated when they are not in physical danger, are able to sustain livelihoods through access to land or employment, and can support themselves and their families, are socially networked into host communities so that intermarriage is common, ceremonies like weddings and funerals are attended by everyone and there is no distinction between refugees and local communities. The study looks at the amount of interaction between refugees and South Africans, the dynamics involved in social integration and the perception of integration by refugees and service providers. Refugees and service providers in Johannesburg were interviewed and conclusions are drawn from their responses and the literature consulted.

Student Number : 0111065D - PhD thesis - School of Architecture and Planning - Faculty of Engineering and the Built Environment / This thesis deals with self-help housing networks in Nairobi, Kenya and Johannesburg, South Africa. It starts by discussing some of the current manifestations and challenges of self-help housing in the two contexts. It locates these against neo-liberal development paradigms in Kenya and South Africa. It reviews some of the main theories and concepts that have been applied to understand self-help housing, arguing that there are many issues that these lenses fail to explain. Amongst these are the relationships amongst actors and the ways resources are exchanged in self-help housing. The thesis discusses some of the key resources used for self-help housing in Nairobi and Johannesburg, namely: land, finance, labour, materials and technology, and infrastructure and services. It develops a case for network analysis of these resources and actors in self-help housing. The second part of the thesis is dedicated to analysis of self-help housing networks in Nairobi and Johannesburg, based on empirical data. The three categories of networks analysed are: individual-based ego-centric networks; group-based networks of collective action; and content-of-ties-based networks of exchange. The study compares self-help housing networks in Nairobi and Johannesburg. On one hand, lack of the state intervention in Kenya has resulted in self-help housing in Nairobi being accessed almost exclusively through networks. On the other hand, state intervention in South Africa has resulted in weakening of ties within local groups and domination of state/market hierarchies in access to various self-help housing resources in Johannesburg. The major conclusion from this study is that, in both cities, networks remain a viable third way of provision of housing, in addition to (not instead of) housing production through state/market hierarchies and decentralised models. Networks tend to overcome lack of inclusion dominant in state/market hierarchies and lack of capacity, endemic in decentralised models. In terms of analysis, the study shows that network theories are relevant to understanding the operations of actors and access to resources in low-income housing, complementing sector-based understanding, which remains dominant in analysis of low-income housing today.

A dissertation submitted to the Faculty of Science, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science. Signed on 10 September 2016 in Austin, Texas, USA. / This dissertation investigated the possible connection between the two constructs of metacognition and the strands of mathematical proficiency. Using a small convenience sample of Grade 12 learners at a public all-girls high school in Johannesburg, South Africa, the teacher/researcher examined if training in metacognitive knowledge influenced the learners’ conceptual understanding, procedural fluency, strategic competence and heuristic strategy use. Two instruments (pre-test and post-test) developed by the researcher and completed by the students were on-line assessments of metacognition utilising written self-reports of strategy use that occurred simultaneously with mathematical problem solving. Qualitative analyses were applied to the data and learners demonstrated declarative, procedural and conditional metacognitive knowledge in their explicit heuristic and content-specific strategies. The learners also demonstrated strategies which could be inferred from their working. The study showed evidence of mixed transferability of metacognitive training to mathematical proficiency. Questions for further research are provided. / LG2017

This document is submitted in partial fulfilment for the degree: Masters of Architecture (Professional) University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa, 2014 / This thesis is part fantasy, part real and part ironic. The automobile enthusiast market has evolved into a fully-fledged entertainment industry where driving is a mere portion of the car experience. With a rich cultural, social, political, spatial, and economic presence in South Africa, it is clear that this informal culture has a religion and following all to its self. Reflecting this, Lenasia, located south of Johannesburg (a predominately Indian township as a result of the apartheid regime) has become notorious for modified cars, loud music and raging petrol-heads. With minimal infrastructure in and around the urban footprint to support this growing culture, car enthusiasts have no option but to take to the streets of the residential suburbs to flaunt their glistening cars and test their roaring engines. This in turn has become a conflicting issue between some frustrated community members and passionate car enthusiasts. More importantly, it has also become a life threatening predicament which has claimed several lives within the community thus far. This recurring conflict has emerged as the vital point of enquiry for this thesis. Addressing the concerns with which this stimulating yet life threatening culture is synonymous, the location of the site plays a vital role in this proposal. The chosen site, Albert Street, is located on the edge of the township. It has a history of being drag raced on and is embedded in an established and robust industrial district which hosts a range of depleted automobile and other workshops which build, “pimp” and recycle cars. This intriguing juxtaposition of construction, de-construction and transformation has proven to be a suitable theme with which to engage in terms of appropriating the anatomy of the street arena and associated fabric into a celebrated “motor-tainment” utopia by night and after hours, but also preserving the current industrial networks of production, retail and repairs by day and during working hours. It will boast programmes amongst others: an appropriated drag racing strip, a multi-purpose activity capsule, a customisation and training facility, various “rent a workshop” spaces and safe spectatorship areas with medical, security and various other support facilities.

In the rapid technological urbanisation of the built fabric of the city during the 21st century it has changed the way we engage spaces within the city. It has had both a positive and negative effect on existing social structures. The more digitally reliant society becomes the more essential the role of architecture and infrastructure networks become. The city is plugged in. The young tech savvy generations have become consumed by technology in the era of mobile phones, tablets and personal computers while the older generations can feel overwhelmed or even rejected by the new technologically orientated processes and functions of the city. The city has become a network of information exchange; environments of high technical performance and reliance. This has created labour and work environments that require a more skilled work force with digital comprehension and technical proficiency. It calls for an education system that includes advance digital literacy as part of basic education requirements to make students well equipped in a technological utopian state of living (Teletopia). In the context of Johannesburg, South Africa, with our diverse cultures and beliefs we struggle with both past and new social inequalities. In the telecommunication global village technology has no bias for race, age or culture if you are not technically proficient you are rejected and left behind. The permanence of architecture gives it strength and integrity. The solidity of concrete, brick, steel and building materials that are assembled aid to the capacity to withstand loads and stresses. A built form that responds to contextual issues and the resolution of construction details that collectively makes for good design. The integration of technology within architecture calls designers to question its value it will add to the spaces created to the initial capital costs. Would a more technological orientated education system be able to address the issues of schooling in South Africa today? Will technical solutions reach students who can’t afford the high cost of education, the shortage of quality teachers or the struggle to get text books to schools and liberate the school of the timetable and the availability of teachers? The role of technology in both schools and architecture will be determined by the demands of society. The internet is an agent like fire and water only given direction and purpose by those who use it. The true influence will how it will encourage spaces in schools to become more fluid and adaptable which will encourage accidental learning and peer-to-peer learning environments. The role of schools is vital to the social development of the younger generation. They are more than just academic institutions but become community catalysts for the areas they serve. The more technical savvy generation growing up today have become a lot more self-absorbed with Facebook and other social media making the youth more concerned about the way other people perceive them. This makes the role of schools even more important to not only prepare students with the relevant technical skills required to engage the digital “Teletopian” city they live in but to develop the social skills that allows them to engage the physical environments of the city too. Society has drawn to technological advancements like a moth to a light bulb but no matter how technologically orientated we become we will always be tangible beings who need physical interaction with the spaces we appropriate from our homes, offices and schools.

Thesis (M.M. (Finance & Investment))--University of the Witwatersrand, Faculty of Commerce, Law and Management, Wits Business School, 2016 / Modeling and forecasting volatility is one of the crucial functions in various fields of financial engineering, especially in the quantitative risk management departments of banks and insurance companies. Forecasting volatility is a task of any analyst in the space of portfolio management, risk management and option pricing. In this study we examined different GARCH models in Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE) using univariate GARCH models (GARCH (1, 1), EGARCH (1, 1), GARCH-M (1, 1) GJR-GARCH (1, 1) and PGARCH (1, 1)). Daily log-returns were used on JSE ALSH, Resource 20, Industrial 25 and Top 40 indices over a period of 12 years. Both symmetric and asymmetric models were examined. The results showed that GARCH (1, 1) model dominate other models both in-sample and out-of-sample in modeling the volatility clustering and leptokurtosis in financial data of JSE sectoral indices. The results showed that the JSE All Share Index and all other indices studied here can be best modeled by GARCH (1, 1) and out-of-sample for JSE All Share index proved to be best for GARCH (1, 1). In forecasting out-of-sample EGARCH (1, 1) proved to outperformed other forecasting models based on different procedures for JSE All Share index and Top 40 but for Resource 20 RJR-GARCH (1, 1) is the best model and Industrial 25 data suggest PGARCH (1, 1) / DM2016

A 50% research report to be submitted in partial fulfilment for the degree of: MASTER OF COMMERCE (FINANCE) UNIVERSITY OF THE WITWATERSRAND / Several studies have assessed the forward-looking characteristic of share prices and confirmed their resultant capability as leading indicators of economic activity, especially in advanced economies. Contention however exists when evaluating the role of stock markets as leading indicators for less developed countries. This study examines the validity of the stock market as a leading indicator of economic activity in South Africa using quarterly time-series data for the period January 1992 to June 2014. Causality and cointegration between the JSE All Share Index against Real GDP and Real Industrial Production is evaluated by employing Granger-causality tests and the Johansen cointegration procedure. The empirical investigation indicates that unidirectional causality exists between the nominal and real stock indices and economic activity in South Africa, and confirms a long-run relationship between the JSE and GDP and Industrial Production. Therefore, similar to the study by Auret and Golding (2012), in a South African context, the stock market is in fact a leading indicator of economic activity. / MT2017

The mining that gave rise to Johannesburg as a city has left in its wake pieces of geologically disturbed, disused, and unusable land. These leftover fragments of landscape carry with them, not only memory of the city’s foundations, but scars of the mining processes that now render them unusable - Not only do these vaguescapes have potential for the memory within them to be unearthed, but they are highly polluted, and seek to be reimagined as productive city spaces. The chosen site, an abandoned piece of mineland with a concealed old mine shaft; on the edge of a highway on the fringe of the CBD, is simultaneously highly visible to the city, but forgotten to it. Its positioning is unique in that it allows for the potential for the extraction of the mine pollutants and site remediation to become a highly visible process. Understanding and uncovering layers and traces of the site as means of understanding what is possible on this highly polluted landscape became an important architectural and design generator. The architecture consolidates and reimagines the fragments of ruin, both physical and ephemeral, contained on the site, and curates the users experience through these forgotten traces. Its programme - a colour plant, which extracts useful metallic colour pigments from the contaminated earth, becomes a visceral reminder of these past traces ;and a recording device for the current consequences of past mining activity. The approach is an almost critical speculation. The age of the picturesque landscape is no more. Our effects on the land have depleted the earth and diseased its rhythms. But these unstable consequences hold possibilities that can be engaged with imaginatively; rather than merely re-mediated. How can architecture engage with this instability? The project accepts the presence of rising acid mine water; and imagines a new reality emerging from it. The project is a comment on our own epoch; one where waste, toxicity and radiation are so rife, that they are now a quiet, sinister backdrop to our world. More than an apocalyptic future, this project deals with a dystopian present. The precarious site conditions pose questions for an architecture which can engage with the instability, and not merely withstand it. The architectural concern is to render visible and intensify a consciousness of these traces, to investigate a palimpsest infrastructure. Colour, like architecture is a link between the conscious and the subconscious. It is a mediator between the realms. It holds possibilities for suggesting and molding atmospheres and perceptions. The architecture negotiates all the realms, concerned with past, present and future. It consolidates and makes apparent the traces but it is also developed with an awareness that it becomes part of these traces. It is an intervention which aims to heighten an awareness of the presence of the past in the life of the city; and also as palimpsest infrastructure; as a recording device for the geological happenings of the earth.