This thesis is being submitted for the Degree of Masters In Urban Design at the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg. / Current understandings of Urban Design point towards the fact that it is the art and science of city making. Like other aspects of Architecture, it begins with a site analysis, followed by the formulation of a vision for the built environment and thereafter a process of transforming the vision into reality (Carmona et.al, 2003). Thus, Urban Design is perceived as a discipline that gives rise to the form and defi nition of the full spectrum of forces including social, economic, cultural, ecological, political and aesthetic dynamics (Dixon, 2005). The role of the Urban Designer can therefore be understood as central to a number of other stakeholders such as Traffi c Engineers dealing with vehicular movement, Civil Engineers concerned with structural design, Architects designing built form, Landscape Architects designing open space, Urban Planners formulating policy and the Property Developers involved in aspects of land investment. However, as urban populations grow, become more diverse and fragmented, the function of Urban Design and the role of the Urban Designer becomes questionable (Madanipour, 1996). The past tradition of thought in Urban Design (visual artistic approach) incorporated a fi rm belief in the physical aspects of city making relying on built form as a primary informant. This tradition has, however, been replaced by a more recent tradition (social usage approach) which incorporates a fi rm belief in interpreting phenomena occurring in public space. This served as a response married to the phenomenon of increased population density and rapid urbanisation persistent in the developing city context due to global migration patterns (Watson, 2009). Consequently, in its plight to reframe Urban Design to sequence developing cities, this thesis conducts a comparative analysis between developed and developing world cities regarding national migratory, population density and urbanisation trends and the effects that it poses on regions, cities and localities. In so doing, it progresses to a realisation that increased living densities in turn spills over into the public realm and onto the street edge for retail and social service access purposes. Thus, a greater mix of uses in the built environment is forged. The increased density of people on sidewalks in essence stimulates transport movement as a collector service which structures street connectivity systems around retail facilities and social services. From the analytical fi ndings here, this thesis recognises that there exist relationships between built form confi guration and socio-economic activities occurring in public space. In light of the above, the thesis employs the combination of the visual artistic and social usage approaches to form the making places approach, which can be appropriate for Urban Design in developing cities. After establishing a new approach, the thesis structures the above-mentioned operations into an evolved conceptual framework. Thus, the conceptual framework recognises that time change in developing cities in conjunction with population density and migration cause overlapping relationships between building density, housing and social services, retailing, land use mixes, transport/movement and street connectivity across various scales and within the formal, semi-formal/semiinformal and informal realms. With this being the case, the thesis analyses current literature which argues that the broader problem is the fact that the interrelatedness of the above-mentioned concepts is negated in theory. It develops the problem statement further by stating that a lack of the interrelatedness of the concepts contained in the conceptual framework has in turn infl uenced a lack of such in current research and urban design practice in developing cities. This is confi rmed through measuring the extent to which three South African Urban Design practice case studies consider concepts of building density, housing and social services, retailing, land use mixes, transport/movement and street connectivity across various scales and acknowledging the lack thereof. As a means of responding to the problem identifi ed above, a set of research techniques is investigated using a Yeoville/Bellevue, Johannesburg site-specifi c case with the aim of assisting designers to better apply the evolved conceptual framework. Simultaneously, the thesis uses Yeoville/Bellevue as a focus area to illustrate the manner in which building density, housing and social services, retailing, land use mixes, transport/movement and street connectivity can be considered across various scales. This essentially progresses into the creation of an Urban Design Framework for Yeoville/Bellevue that strengthens the linkages between housing and social services, retailing and transport/movement through using principles of street connectivity, land use mix and building density creation. An implementation strategy for the Design Framework is then established. Through the execution of the above process the collective consideration of building density, housing and social services, retailing, land use mixes, transport/movement and street connectivity across various scales serves as the basis for reframing Urban Design to suit developing cities.

A 50% dissertation presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Commerce at the University of Witwatersrand. / Information asymmetry creates a gap between management’s perception of the firm’s value and the market value of the firm. It is thought that management engage in information signalling activities in order to close the gap created by information asymmetry. There is a need to understand why management engage in their chosen transactions as this will provide investors with insight into market activities, as well as allow for more accurate investment strategies. While research is available on the market’s reactions to signalling events, the problem is whether management’s intentions have been correctly interpreted by the market. The starting point to gaining this understanding is to ask the question: What signals do management send when they issue and repurchase shares? This study attempts to answer this question by investigating whether companies listed on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE) issue shares because management perceive their market values to be overvalued and repurchase shares because their market values are undervalued. For the period 1 January 2003 to 31 December 2012, a total of 295 share issue announcements are considered for 102 companies; and a total of 183 share repurchase announcements are considered for 83 companies. The results of this study reveal that managerial equity market timing may exist in the presence of excess returns, where management are better able to predict returns in advance than the market. However, there is also evidence suggesting share repurchases are made to return excess cash to shareholders and issues and repurchases decisions are linked to capital structure planning. The fact that there are other potential reasons for share issues and repurchases, means that the market must be able to determine what the real intentions of management are when shares are issued and repurchased; and hence determine whether their intentions suggest equity market mispricing.

Thesis (M.Arch. (Professional))--University of the Witwatersrand, Faculty of Engineering and the Built Environment, 2016. / The landscape of Parktown tells a story of possession, dispossession, building and demolition. This thesis challenges the history of the Parktown ridge as always being a place that has been associated with hegemony, elitism and uncertainty. Instead, it asks: Can the ridge become a nurturing environment, a place of ‘meditative pause’? Can it become a cathartic place that reshapes new territorial orders? In order to do this, two main contextual issues are explored; institutions and land... Institutions - Parktown forms a large part of the institutional belt of the city. However, these institutions lie like an archipelago; they are urban islands that do not interact with one another. This project challenges and deconstructs the traditional notion of the institution as being trapped in a modernist paradigm - caught up in a late modernist definition of health, body and mind that speaks of authority, control and isolation. The building thus becomes the antithesis of this; it is an open, permeable structure that becomes a public space. The programme of the building aims to re-conceive the institutions’ role in the city. It provides a framework for the currently separated health, education and business communities of Parktown to interact with one other and cross pollinate their knowledge in the hope that new transgressive orders will emerge. Being sited next to the largest institution, the Charlotte Maxeke Hospital, allows it to become a central gathering space in Parktown and provides the opportunity for the new structure to start interacting with the hospital. It focuses on the importance of mental health in two manners; it provides a framework where visitors and outpatients can deal with their trauma, loss and illness in a holistic environment. Secondly, it explores the myth that the hospital is a contained object, and looks to explode the issue of health and allow the hospital to have a reciprocal relationship with the city. The building becomes a central hub where research experiments are carried out in the city by citizens to study the mental health of the city. Land - Parktown lies on the Witwatersrand ridge; the founding and defining feature of the Witwatersrand. However, the ridge’s narrative of mining has perhaps remained stagnant and has not evolved after mining. Man has become disconnected from the land and the project sees the ridge as a device through which this relationship can be repaired, as the ridge moves into a new generation. This thesis emerges when architecture is used as the method through which these two issues, of institutions and land, interrogate and interrupt each other. Harmony between nature versus geometry is explored, which results in a ‘lyrical brutalist’ style. ‘Land’ or nature is used to humanise the ordered, authoritarian nature of the institution as it carves itself into the building and fragments and softens the rigidity of the gridded concrete structure. Symbiotically, the building gives new importance to the traumatised landscape of the ridge. With nature becoming such an important part of the building, man is encouraged to reconnect with the land. The ridge no longer becomes a barrier between the north and the south, but a connector, bringing communities together. The intervention becomes a place of refuge, a sanctuary in the modernist landscape. It is a landscape of re-cognition and encourages one to think more holistically; to break away from the traditional geometries that have dominated how we think and have new embodied experiences with the land. In so doing, the project not only acts as a catalyst in the rehabilitation of the scarred natural landscape but also speculates on an alternative future for technology, health and education. It gives a new level of social and cultural significance to the hospital and surrounding institutions, while reclaiming a land we feel disconnected from. Key words: Parktown, ridge, nature, concrete, land, landscape, institutions, hospital, education, communities / EM2017

Thesis (M.M.(Finance & Investment)--University of the Witwatersrand, Faculty of Commerce, Law and Management, Wits Business School, 2016 / Co-location on the JSE took place on the 14th of May 2014. This dissertation looks at the impact this event has had on the market. In order to measure the effects of colocation, market quality factors are examined before and after the event to see whether there were any significant changes. A regression is then undertaken to see the correlation between co-location, liquidity and volatility. Our results suggest that colocation benefits market liquidity but we are unable to assess the relationship with volatility. This means that the growing liquidity in the market can be used to attract more institutions and firms wishing to run trading algorithms and strategies. Trades originally meant for dark pools can be now traded on the JSE co-location servers. By moving trades from dark pools to co-location servers at the JSE and encouraging institutions to use these facilities, transparency can be increased. Exchanges should implement kill switches if it is apparent that they are being impaired or flooded with erroneous orders. The deployment of kill switches, circuit breakers and other system compliance will improve investor confidence and market stability. Subsequent research can lead to better understanding by investigating the correlation between colocation and volatility. / MT 2018

Report submitted to the Faculty of the Built Environment, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Masters in Architecture 2014 / Architecture is the appreciation for story-telling; fiction and literature, history, culture and conversation. It entails the unfolding of a plot, unfamiliar places and eccentric characters. These do not merely exist on dusty old pages in books but are an integral part of our imagination - our subconscious design. This report explores the role of the architect as the reader; and so, this thesis forms what I have ‘read’ this year. This thesis aims to interpret literature as a design methodology in order to understand site and develop a suitable architectural language. The process of oral traditions, written text and digitalised technology are used to deconstruct systems and principles that document change in architecture and the city. This project, The Doorn Paperback Project is located in a contested area set within the in-between yard spaces of New Doornfontein. The unsightly nature of the site gives rise to ephemeral slumming. The cracks that exist within the formal urban fabric are atypically inhabited by the marginalised. These hidden narratives of the people living on the site create new meaning to these abandoned and derelict spaces. The way in which people ‘hack’ the site and use it in ways opposed to what was originally intended forms the reality for which the architecture exists. The architecture needs to ‘tear down’ and ‘dismantle’ formal conditions on the site in order to mediate a space in which ‘life’ can be reinvigorated into the space. Thus the introduction of a literary program responds well to the educational and industrial conditions on the site.

M.P.H., Faculty of Health Sciences, University of the Witwatersrand, 2008. / The purpose of the study is to ascertain the knowledge, attitudes and practices of hospital management at the Johannesburg Hospital regarding disaster preparedness. Objectives: The study is to assess the current status of awareness of the management regarding disaster preparedness; to determine whether there are hospital specific plans; knowledge of whether the plans are regularly updated or not; to determine attitudes towards disaster management plans and drills and to determine current practices with regards to disaster preparedness . Study design: The study design was a cross sectional survey. The study population included the hospital administrators, head of clinical units, head of casualties, the chief porter, the chief clerk, the theatre matron, senior sisters and doctors in the casualty department, head of security, head of transport and the chief pharmacist The study was conducted utilizing a self administered questionnaire with structured and open ended questions. In case where management were not available, the person acting in that capacity was requested to complete the questionnaire. Twenty five out of the thirty five managers selected completed a self administered questionnaire. The response rate was 71,4%. Findings: The management at the Johannesburg Hospital was aware of the disaster preparedness of the hospital and its plans, and disaster management preparedness. Their attitudes to the plans and drill were largely positive. However, the practices were deficient and work still needs to be done in regard to ongoing training, performance of drills and the frequency of regular updating of the plans.

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ABSTRACT Huntington Disease (HD) is a neurodegenerative disorder that is inherited in an autosomal dominant manner, and for which testing is available. The aim of this retrospective file-based study was to analyse the numbers and demographics of individuals who had diagnostic, predictive or prenatal genetic counselling and/or testing for HD between January 1998 and December 2006 through the Division of Human Genetics, National Health Laboratory Service and University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg. Files for 287 individuals who had genetic counselling and/or testing for HD were included in this study, with 77% being diagnostic cases, 20% predictive and 3% prenatal. When the results obtained in this study were compared to a study by Kromberg et al. (1999) done previously in the same Division, it was found that there has been an increase in the number of diagnostic and predictive tests done per year during this study, with diagnostic tests making up a greater percentage of the total number of tests performed. One of the objectives of this study was to characterise the individuals who requested HD testing and to compare the characteristics of those in the diagnostic testing group to those in the predictive testing group. The median age of the individuals in the predictive testing group was 30 years, which was significantly different from the median age of 49 years for individuals in the diagnostic testing group (p<0.001). It was found that there were significantly more women than men requesting predictive testing (p=0.02), while the number of males and females in the diagnostic testing group was similar (p=1.00). There was also a greater percentage of employed (76.4%) versus unemployed (23.6%) individuals in the predictive testing group, while the percentages of employed and unemployed individuals in the diagnostic testing group were similar (45.5% and 54.5% respectively). Significantly more individuals in the diagnostic testing group had children (74.5%) compared to those in the predictive testing group, where 44.6% of individuals had one or more children. There was a greater percentage of white individuals in the predictive testing group (91% white; 3.5% black) compared to the diagnostic testing group (48% white, 42% black). The completion rate of the predictive testing process was 66.7%. In the predictive testing group, 39.5% of individuals tested positive for HD, and in the diagnostic testing group 53% of individuals tested positive for HD. Nine prenatal tests were requested by five different couples, and 7 tests were performed. Three of these fetuses tested positive for HD (including a set of twins) and these two pregnancies were terminated. Overall, there seems to be a lack of awareness of and/or access to the genetic services offered for HD through the Division of Human Genetics, National Health Laboratory Service and University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, particularly among black individuals and the professionals treating them. Information generated from this study can be used to understand the individuals seeking genetic counselling and/or testing for HD better, and can direct efforts to improve awareness and access amongst groups noted to be under-represented. It also serves as a starting point for further research.