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M.A. / The following study investigates the Landless People’s Movement (LPM) which is a grassroots movement in South Africa. While there have been many movements to emerge, the LPM was formed in 2001 in response to increasing housing evictions and insecure land tenure. The formation of the movement was met in some cases by minor state concessions but also by state brutality. This study focuses on the experiences of the urban landless and argues that the manner in which the movement frames its demands, together with the political opportunity structure, have an impact upon the extent to which the LPM has effectively mobilised around land issues, as well as upon the cycles that the movement has undergone. In order to unpack the experiences of the landless, two theoretical concepts were used to frame the discussion, namely, political opportunity structure and the cycles of protest. Analysing the changing political opportunity structure proved useful in demonstrating some of the constraints and opportunities faced by movements in their attempts to attain land, while the notion of cycles of protest was useful in showing the phases undergone by the movement from its inception in 2001 until 2010. In order to understand the experiences of the urban landless regarding the manner in which they frame their demands and mobilise around land issues, a qualitative research design was employed by making use of a case study method. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with both leaders and supporters of the movement. In addition, focus groups, meeting attendance and informal discussions helped to enrich the data included in this case study on the experiences of the urban landless.

Thesis (M.Arch. (Professional))--University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, Faculty of Engineering and the Built Environment, 2016 / Globalisation is a considerable catalyst for the state of the world today, and so it is evident through industrialisation, modernism and capitalism that the power and spatiality of food has shifted. Food has always brought people together as it is an universal language that is understood by everyone. However food no longer exists as this valued product of necessity but has now become a product of consumerism. Large corporations control our food industry which has lead to an economic food crisis where our basic needs have become too expensive. This is a consequence of increased population, demands, immoral farming methods and greed. Not only is it affecting our economies but our natural resources. Food production systems need to change along with our attitude towards the environment. In an age of technology, branding and mass production, people have become disconnected from nature, regarding the food we eat and where it comes from. In South Africa, this has resulted in increased food insecurity, obesity, malnutrition and health risks. The necessity of honest, healthy and nutritious clean-living has been lost. So how can we overcome this pressure before we collapse as a society and as a planet? The quality of food affects our daily productivity, well-being and psyche, our primal need. How can architecture instigate a change for the free food philosophy? How can it challenge profit margins in the food system through urban contexts by re-establishing our connection with nature? Investigating the journey through the history of farming, politics and food, I will observe the gradual change in the food industry from the farmer to corporation to consumer, exposing the cultural power plays, which can be reconsidered through architecture. This thesis proposes an holistic approach towards propagating parks and public spaces through food education in an urban context. It concentrates on re-igniting the relationship between man and nature through small-scale agriculture using small-scale architecture: ‘agritechture’. Establishing its roots in Joubert Park, Park Station Precinct, Johannesburg, the strategy unfolds biophilia characteristics observing the intricacy of Persian architecture and soil structures stimulated by modular systems, grid proportions and layering. The prairie ecosystem becomes a precedent study for heterotopian architecture rooting itself as homogeneity. Creating catalytic nodes of urban renewal, it unifies communities while defending its territory, similar to the original African settlement, ‘the Kraal’. / MT2017

Thesis. 1979. M.C.P.--Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dept. of Urban Studies and Planning. / MICROFICHE COPY AVAILABLE IN ARCHIVES AND ROTCH. / Bibliography: leaves 293-294. / M.C.P.

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This dissertation tests the proposition that the spatial structure of street networks affects the distribution of urban land use. Specifically, it examines patterns of commercial land use utilizing parcel based data on retail and service businesses location. While previous studies report a correlation between spatial structure and patterns of commercial land use, these studies do not typically control for the effect of key variables likely to contribute to the spatial distribution of retail and service establishments. In order to redress this balance, and using the City of Buenos Aires as a case study, this dissertation studies the correlation between commercial land use frontage and street connectivity measures, while controlling for street widths, density of population and employment, interstore externalities, zoning regulations, and distance to transit stations. Buenos Aires is chosen for its regular plan radiating from a well-defined CBD, a plan which would be expected to conform to standard urban attraction models of retail location. Results of multiple regression models indicate that, after controlling for these variables, measures of street connectivity account for key aspects of the distribution of retail, including linear distributions along major radial and peripheral streets at a distance from the CBD. Thus, the dissertation supports the thesis that "urban attraction" should not be conceptualized in terms of distances from a unique central location, or a number of central locations, but rather in terms of a model of distributed centrality governed by the structure of street networks.

published_or_final_version / Urban Planning / Master / Master of Science in Urban Planning

Not available

published_or_final_version / Housing Management / Master / Master of Housing Management

Much of the sustainable community planning and design discourse has been about prescribing and defining ends. A large gap exists between goals for sustainability and the ways and means to achieve them. Multiple barriers are encountered when implementation attempts are made. The research addresses the question: In what ways can demonstration projects increase social learning of effective planning, design and policy alternatives that assist in developing sustainable urban communities? Demonstration here is an area based, site specific planning and design process and built project showing potential adopters the benefits of employing various innovations. Five fields of scholarship and research (land-use and sustainable development; planning and design participation; urban experimentation and demonstration; innovation, diffusion and social learning; action for innovation and implementation) are drawn upon to inform the objectives. An analytical-evaluative framework for sustainable planning and design is developed, then applied in a detailed case study. The case study of Egebjerggard, a 928 dwelling, mixed use neighbourhood in Ballerup, Denmark provides an analysis of how leading practice can contribute to a better understanding of the potentials and challenges for advancing community policy, design and implementation at the neighbourhood and city-wide level. The analysis enables the interpretation of the Ballerup experience and the transfer of principles to the Canadian context. Two initiatives in sustainable community development in Calgary and Vancouver indicate the issues, opportunities and the state of practice. A proposed demonstration strategy outlines possible new institutional and organizational capacities and relationships in the Canadian residential planning and delivery system. The main contributions include: i) an empirical and descriptive-analytical case study providing a detailed account of integrated planning implementation and policy development in Denmark, ii) a strategy, its structure, organization and functions to carry out demonstration / exhibition in Canadian municipalities, iii) a normative proposition for and the evidence to support an expanded notion of demonstration directing attention to their value and potential. The benefits and returns outlined serve as a general argument for proceeding with a neighbourhood scale fully featured demonstration in any city in Canada.