Child pedestrian injury and mortality is an issue of significant public health concern in the city of Johannesburg, Gauteng, in South Africa. Since there is a paucity of studies in the last decade or more on fatal childhood traffic and non-traffic injuries in Johannesburg, this study aspires to address the disproportion in this domain of research, and provide more recent, and comprehensive empirical evidence over a ten-year period. The overarching aim of this study was to describe and examine the magnitude, circumstances, and neighbourhood characteristics of fatal pedestrian injuries among children (0-14 years) in Johannesburg for the period from 2001 to 2010. More specifically, the objectives of the study were: firstly, to provide a comprehensive epidemiological description of the magnitude, trends and occurrence of pedestrian mortality among children; secondly, to describe and examine the epidemiology of child pedestrian mortality in relation to children as motor vehicle passengers; thirdly, to describe and examine child pedestrian mortality in relation to non-traffic injuries, in particular, burns and drowning; and fourthly, to assess the influence of neighbourhood characteristics on child pedestrian mortality. The study conceptualised pedestrian road safety within an ecological systems framework. The study used quantitative descriptive, and multivariate logistic regression methods of analysis to examine child pedestrian mortality data. The study drew on data from the National Injury Mortality Surveillance System (NIMSS) and the Census 2001. The main findings indicated that black, male children aged 5 to 9 years (11.02/100 000) are the most vulnerable, and that mortality occurred predominantly during the afternoons and early evenings (12h00-16h00 and 16h00-21h00), over weekends, during school holidays, and to a lesser extent, during non-holiday months. In addition, neighbourhood characteristics that reflected concentrations of disadvantage, single female-headed households and residentially stable areas were associated with child pedestrian mortality. The study findings highlight the need for critical action in terms of investment in child pedestrian safety research, and appropriate prevention initiatives guided by stringent evidenced-based studies, and the design of safe pedestrian, vehicular and urban environments. / Psychology / D. Phil. (Psychology)

M.A. (Public Management and Governance) / Local government in South Africa faces many challenges. It is argued that these challenges could be addressed through training and skills development among senior municipal officials. This study set out to investigate the training and skills development challenges for senior municipal officials in the Johannesburg Metropolitan Municipality. The study further argued that training and skills development have the potential to direct thinking, activity and resources for the Johannesburg Metropolitan Municipality to achieve its strategic outcomes, especially the pressing issue of service delivery. This study found that despite a large financial budget being allocated to training and skills development in the Johannesburg Metropolitan Municipality, the budget is not adequately spent. The reason behind this, amongst others, rests on insufficient information regarding training opportunities, the relevant units not completing their training application requirements on time and the lack of capacity to inculcate a culture of lifelong learning. It has been found that the Johannesburg Metropolitan Municipality lacks the relevant planning and skills development initiatives for training and developing its senior managers. Investing in training and skills development would result in a cadre of senior managers who possess the relevant competencies to turn the Municipality into a world class African space. Finally, this study would prove beneficial to both policy-makers and the Department of Human Resource Development in the Johannesburg Metropolitan Municipality in that it could improve the skills development deficit.

D.Com.(Economics) / One of the current most topical aspects of economic activity in South Africa is the growth of the informal sector. In addition, with deregulation becoming a hallmark of government economic policy, local authorities have become increasingly aware of the growth of the informal sector. The aim of this study is to investigate the nature and extent of informal sector activities in the Johannesburg municipal area by means of a questionnaire method of research. After a study of the numerous definitions concerning the informal sector, it was decided that for the purpose of this thesis, the informal sector be defined as: Those businesses that do not conform to a diversity of legal requirements, while the market and price mechanisms determine the production, distribution, and consumption of goods and services. In Johannesburg, it was observed that the formal sector's inability to create sufficient employment opportunities for all its citizens led to increasing numbers of people becoming involved in the informal sector. As far as the nature of the informal sector is concerned, the survey carried out during August 1991 revealed that diverse types of economic activities are being carried out. The main activities of the informal sector in Johannesburg were found to be: (i) production (such as "furniture makers" and "knitters"); (ii) accommodation (such as sub-letting of land/property or premises); (iii) building construction (such as building contractors and plasterers); (rv) repair services (such as motor repairs, panel beaters and home appliance repairs); (v) retail distribution (such as food vendors and hawkers of fresh produce); (vi) transport (such as the transport of goods and passengers); and (vii) personal services (such as hairdressers and photographers). The most important activity was found to be retail distribution. Disproportionately more male than female entrepreneurs were involved in this sector. Most entrepreneurs were between the ages of 31 and 40 years. These entrepreneurs work long hours and frequently have to provide their services for seven days a week. Most of the undertakings were operated solely by the informal sector entrepreneur, and employees were only employed in exceptional cases. Informal sector entrepreneurs experienced great problems in obtaining finance and licences. Other problems included access to water and electricity. A unique method was developed in order to determine the extent of informal sector activities in Johannesburg. In applying this method it was found that 15,20 percent of the total number of unemployed households in Johannesburg participated in informal sector activities. Having taken account of the findings of the survey conducted in August 1991, the informal sector has an important role to play in the future, especially as an avenue for the employment of those who cannot be accommodated in the formal sector. The greatest challenge facing the Johannesburg City Council is to introduce development measures such as financial assistance, the provision of infrastructure, establishing a development fund, deregulation and training programmes in order to stimulate the expansion of informal sector activities without detrimentally affecting the formal sector activities. Africa is the growth of the informal sector. In addition, with deregulation becoming a hallmark of government economic policy, local authorities have become increasingly aware of the growth of the informal sector. The aim of this study is to investigate the nature and extent of informal sector activities in the Johannesburg municipal area by means of a questionnaire method of research. After a study of the numerous definitions concerning the informal sector, it was decided that for the purpose of this thesis, the informal sector be defined as: Those businesses that do not conform to a diversity of legal requirements, while the market and price mechanisms determine the production, distribution, and consumption of goods and services. In Johannesburg, it was observed that the formal sector's inability to create sufficient employment opportunities for all its citizens led to increasing numbers of people becoming involved in the informal sector. As far as the nature of the informal sector is concerned, the survey carried out during August 1991 revealed that diverse types of economic activities are being carried out. The main activities of the informal sector in Johannesburg were found to be: (i) production (such as "furniture makers" and "knitters"); (ii) accommodation (such as sub-letting of land/property or premises); (iii) building construction (such as building contractors and plasterers); (iv) repair services (such as motor repairs, panel beaters and home appliance repairs); (v) retail distribution (such as food vendors and hawkers of fresh produce); (vi) transport (such as the transport of goods and passengers); and (vii) personal services (such as hairdressers and photographers). The most important activity was found to be retail distribution. Disproportionately more male than female entrepreneurs were involved in this sector. Most entrepreneurs were between the ages of 31 and 40 years. These entrepreneurs work long hours and frequently have to provide their services for seven days a week. Most of the undertakings were operated solely by the informal sector entrepreneur, and employees were only employed in exceptional cases. Informal sector entrepreneurs experienced great problems in obtaining finance and licences. Other problems included access to water and electricity. A unique method was developed in order to determine the extent of informal sector activities in Johannesburg. In applying this method it was found that 15,20 percent of the total number of unemployed households in Johannesburg participated in informal sector activities. Having taken account of the findings of the survey conducted in August 1991, the informal sector has an important role to play in the future, especially as an avenue for the employment of those who cannot be accommodated in the formal sector. The greatest challenge facing the Johannesburg City Council is to introduce development measures such as financial assistance, the provision of infrastructure, establishing a development fund, deregulation and training programmes in order to stimulate the expansion of informal sector activities without detrimentally affecting the formal sector activities.

M.Cur. / The lack of experiencing a purpose in life, leads to high levels of internal frustration in an individual, which reinforces their desire to satisfy these needs. This desire is motivated by the need of an individual to function within a healthy lifestyle functioning. Should this healthy lifestyle functioning be lacking, some individuals may regard drugs as more obtainable and this intense experience of frustration cause the individual to become dependent on drugs. The drug dependent patient's experience of unfulfilled needs, reinforces his distrust in future expectancies. He tries to withdraw from life actions and its associated responsibilities. Withdrawal from these associated life actions in a given situation, causes the drug dependent person to subjectively experience an unfulfilled personal life. The inability to accept responsibility, also includes the inability to satisfy needs, effective interpersonal interaction patterns, effectively accomplishing projects and conducting thought processes productively. The drug dependent patient therefore cannot accept any responsibility in order to find a purpose in his personal life. As a result of the absence of an overall satisfactory life style, feelings of self actualization and satisfaction cannot be experienced by the patient. He therefore lacks the ability to internalize creative, esthetic and attitude values which are related to experiencing a purpose in life. Idealization of intrapsychic needs restrains the drug dependent patient in his isolated existence from experiencing a purpose, though the forming of unique interpersonal relationships.

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

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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