Adopting a social constructionist methodology, this research explores the contexts, discourse and practices of cosmopolitanism amongst African migrants in Johannesburg, South(ern) Africa’s economic hub and top migrant destination. The research argues that the central function of this cosmopolitanism is to serve as a counter-narrative to an exclusive South African nationalism and as an expression of a more general struggle to overcome the unwarranted limitations of being born in a country which does not provide enough opportunities. On the basis of both qualitative and quantitative data collected between 2006 and 2008 in Johannesburg, this study challenges the still widely held assumption that cosmopolitanism is not for those whose mobility is ‘unprivileged’ and argues that this assumption becomes particularly unsustainable once situated in the contexts of Africa’s unachieved nation-states, hyper-diverse urban centres and multiple alternative systems of belonging and identity. Instead, this study argues that it is exactly these conditions that have actually allowed a particular type of cosmopolitanism to emerge rather than having suppressed it. The three empirical chapters explore how migrants’ counter-narrative to discourses of nationalism, exclusion and pathologisation of migration constructs notions of mobility and space in particularly cosmopolitan, de-territorialised terms; generates a concept of cultural diversity and the engagement with the Other as normal, enriching and unproblematic; and establishes a more inclusive and multifaceted cosmopolitan social order that is claimed to be morally superior to that of nationalism. Finally, the conclusion provides some pointers towards three central imperatives for future research on cosmopolitanism: firstly, the imperative to address the present disconnect between cosmopolitanism from above and from below – and as part of that the lack of attention to empirical forms of cosmopolitanism; secondly, the importance of paying more attention to the social, cultural and economic contexts in which forms of empirical cosmopolitanism are embedded; and, thirdly, the need to overcome the three ‘isms’ that the majority of research on cosmopolitanism and migration remains stunted by: ethnocentrism, class-centrism and, somewhat ironically, methodological nationalism. The study argues that if we want to know more about how individuals become cosmopolitan agents of change and reformulate social orders ‘from below’, we should begin to treat migrant populations, and particularly those who move within and across the African continent, as a crucial source of knowledge about how to negotiate both the uncertainties and the opportunities that are intrinsic to more de-territorialised, post-national forms of social organisation and identity.

This research report examines the effect of the announcement of corporate unbundling by South African corporations listed on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange. This research was carried out in order to update the literature and to analyse whether results confirm the previous research performed by Blount and Davidson (1996) or coincides with international trends, which displayed positive responses to unbundling announcements. The event study methodology was used for analysing the market’s reactions to corporate unbundling announcements. Abnormal returns were calculated using the market model approach with an event window of ten days and an estimation window of 120 days. A sample of 27 corporations were analysed in this research report during the period January 2002 to June 2011. The results indicated strong negative abnormal returns as a result of the corporate unbundling announcements. This finding confirms Blount and Davidson’s (1996) earlier research.

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A dissertation submitted to the Faculty of Science, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, in fulfilment of requirements for the degree of Master of Science. January 2015. / Stylized facts play a significant role in the testing whether models agree with known statistical anomalies and phenomena that occur in financial markets or not. Thus, we can use these stylized facts as a modelling tool or just to understand the general behavior of financial markets better. In the paper by Bouchaud et al in 2004 [1] we see the promotion of a new stylized fact that correlations in trade signs fail to die out, even after large lags. In fact, Bouchaud et al expressed the correlations as a slow power-law decay over trade ticks. In the results of our empirical study of JSE and BM&FBOVESP we find that the selected stocks show the this same power-law decay of correlations of trade signs. We also find that the stocks behave in a way which may allow for price manipulation at high enough trading rates as discussed by Gatheral [2].

MA, Faculty of Humanities, University of the Witwatersrand, 2011 / The Newtown Cultural Precinct came about as one of government’s interventions to turn around Johannesburg’s Inner City degeneration as a result of big business’s migration to the North in the nineties when urban management and land use controls collapsed. Government’s approach to culture-led urban regeneration was by means of large public sector capital development. The research covers the history of the concept of Newtown as a cultural precinct and how it came into being. It explores the criteria for cultural precincts in terms of international best practice and whether Newtown meets these requirements. It determines whether what was planned for Newtown by government has been achieved, and is being implemented. A review of strategies, business plans, projects and activities related to the development of Newtown as a cultural precinct was undertaken, as were interviews with key stakeholders, in order to establish why the notion of a cultural precinct took root when it did, and whether it is a success or not.

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.

This research is about lease incentives, concessions and inducements provided by landlords to tenants in the commercial property industry in Johannesburg, South Africa. Landlords must provide lease incentives to prospective tenants in order to remain competitive or they run the risk of losing these tenants to their competitors. This research seeks to study the subject of lease incentives, and determine their effectiveness in securing tenants. In order to achieve this, the researcher investigates a number of factors:  The drivers behind a tenant signing a lease on a vacant space  The methods that landlords use to find tenants  The different incentives in the market  The methods of establishing the lease incentive values  The factors that affect which incentives a landlord can offer  The importance and effectiveness of providing lease incentives A qualitative research approach is used and focuses on meaning, experience and understanding to analyse the data that has been acquired through the use of a survey questionnaire. The sample population in the survey is made up of property specialists that deal in the subject under study as part of their daily work responsibilities. The research is conducted in the city of Johannesburg. The research concludes that the top two tenant drivers for office space are location and rental. Landlords need to effectively market their vacant space to attract tenants to their properties and the best method of doing this is through the use of vacancy schedules sent out to property brokerages and agencies. The top two lease incentives provided in the market are the rent-free period and the tenant installation allowance. These two incentives need to be provided by landlords to effectively compete with their competitors. The most important factors to consider in deciding which incentives to provide in the marketplace are the current economic conditions and the state of the space markets. Landlords understanding all these key variables will effectively reduce vacancies by securing more tenants and increase their overall competitiveness in the marketplace.

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

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 Masters of Architecture (Professional), Johannesburg 2017 / This thesis studies the place and nature of the concept of play in society through the exploration of objects and spaces that stimulate, encourage or deter the notion of play. Nominated spaces that will ideally contribute to the study of play are reviewed, focusing in particular on areas within the local context of Johannesburg where a notion of play takes or could inherently take place. But in order to draw an understanding and a cognitive inspiration, toys are reviewed as objects of play. Toys are studied with the intention of identifying the role it encompasses and the integrity of the notion of play, with a focus on local toy design and manufacture in relation to the international market. / XL2018

Master of Arts - Forced Migration Studies / The purpose of this study is to establish the impact of socio-economic interactions between Hutu Burundian refugees (living in Johannesburg) and South African populations on Burundian refugees’ national and ethnic identities. Although this is a case study on Burundian Hutu Refugees in Johannesburg, Rwandan refugees and South Africans were also included for comparative purposes. The snowballing technique was used to identify respondents and in-depth face-to-face interviews were used to collect data. Questions probed respondents’ pre-relocation national and ethnic identity loyalties; the nature and frequency of interactions between them and local populations and other foreign nationals; and the respondents’ current national and ethnic identity loyalties. The study finds that despite regular contact with the host populations, refugee respondents maintained their ethnic and national identities, thus challenging the assumption that to become uprooted and removed from a national territory automatically causes people to lose their identity, traditions, and culture. Further, apart from the adoption of some new situational practices particularly by refugee respondents, the study finds no significant ‘renegotiation’ or ‘contestation’ of group identities in the cosmopolitan Johannesburg as both South Africans and refugees/migrants in the city seem to be firmly holding on to their distinctive identitive ideals. Although not conclusive, the study suggests that the negative nature of interactions between refugees and the host society, which compromises the possibility of assimilation and integration, as well as other internal and external factors such as the refugees’ belief in the temporariness of their situation, may be among important factors that accounted for this maintenance of group identity.