No abstract available. / Thesis (M.T.R.P.)-University of Natal, 2002.

South Africa is faced with the challenge of delivering priority community services. Research shows that past development policies and practices were "top down" with the planners planning and implementing projects without involving communities. Community participation was generally of a token nature and limited to tHe early phases of the project. It was this lack of interaction between the professionals and the community that was often blamed for project failure. Also planners often produced documents or plans that technically appeared right but were not a priority for the communities. The extensive use of technical terminology and planning jargon resulted in the plans often being inaccessible to the communities for which they were prepared. Due to such failures, the process of community participation in development has become a major influence upon development thinking and practice. It is the subject of continuing debate in modern society. Community participation has been recognised as an effective way of helping rural and urban people to focus energy and resources in solving community problems. This is because, when community members organise, plan or share tasks with the professionals, it contributes financially to the projects and helps them take decisions about formulating activities that affect their lives which better meet their needs. / Thesis (M.T.R.P.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, 2005.

No abstract available. / Thesis (M.Sc.U.R.P.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2008.

No abstract available. / Thesis (M.T.R.P.)-University of Natal, 2000.

Abstract not available. / Thesis (MTRP)-University of Natal, Durban, 1995.

No abstract available. / Thesis (M.T.R.P.)-University of Natal, Durban, 1998.

No abstract available. / Thesis (M.Sc.U.R.P.)-University of Natal, Durban, 1995.

Betterment Planning is the major form of rural development planning which has been implemented in the Reserve areas of South Africa. The first Bettemnent schemes were begun after 1939. Whilst Betterment Planning has undergone certain modifications in theory and implementation over the past 42 years, it is still being implemented by the 'homeland' governments. This paper is of necessity only a preliminary study or working paper, the aim of which is to explore the theoretical and concrete issues which a comprehensive evaluation of Betterment Planning would need to confront in detail. I have chosen to analyse Betterment Planning for a number of reasons. First, whilst preparing a report on settlement patterns in KwaZu1u/Natal for the Buthelezi Commission early in 1981, I found that there was very little published material on Betterment Planning. Further, in the course of this research, I was surprised to find that practising planners and academics in Natal seemed to know little about it. Second, reports on development planning for the homelands ignore Betterment Planning entirely. For example, the "Towards a Plan for KwaZulu" (1978) makes no mention what soever of the Betterment Planning in KwaZulu, let alone undertakes an analysis of the successes/failures of its implementation. Yet it stresses that: "the reform and development of the agricultural sector should be accorded the highest priority. Failure to make progress in this area will jeopardise all the objectives of the Plan." (Thorrington-Smith et al 1978 : 22). To undertake rural development planning without an analysis and understanding as to why it is necessary, can only result in the proposed plans being at best superficial and, at worst, ones which exacerbate the problem they set out to solve. All too often development planning is nothing more than problem-solving oriented: the problem is identified and described, and the planners put forward a solution to solve it. However, for a solution to have even a chance of being successfully implemented, the causes and history of the problem must be fully analysed and understood. It is just as crucial to analyse and evaluate previous attempted solutions to the problem. For, in failing, they may have become additional constraints, i.e. in themselves the previous solutions may have become part of the problem. Third, most of the homelands are politically 'semi-independent' or 'independent'. They have their own agriculture and planning departments which have realized that rural development is a priority in any homeland development. Consequently in recent years, these homelands have been looking for new rural development strategies. In the light of my second point above, it is therefore important that Betterment Planning is analysed and evaluated. Fourth, the writings of neo-Marxist and Marxist theoreticians on South Africa have almost completely failed to address the role and function of Betterment Planning in the transformation of the South African social formation. Most of their attention has been focussed on the white agricultural areas. / Thesis (M.T.R.P.)-University of Natal, 1982.

No abstract available. / Thesis (M.T.R.P.)-University of Natal, Durban, 1995.

One of the most controversial and dramatic features of recent city development is the phenomenon of access to land through informal means, which is a reflection of the lack of alternative delivery systems. Constraints on the supply of land for housing the urban poor have resulted in a large housing backlog, reSUlting in overcrowding, the emergence of unplanned housing such as backyard shacks and free standing informal settlements. In South Africa, the majority of the popUlation who have been historically constrained by racist and restrictive land allocation processes found it difficult to access well located and affordable serviced land. These constraints have resulted in poor people obtaining access to land through informal delivery systems. This effective exclusion of the urban poor from the formal land market has resulted in the emergence of the informal systems of land delivery, such as land invasions etc. Both internationally and in South Africa, informal settlements and squatting have represented a way of addressing and challenging market relations and state regUlation and thus, allow for poorer people to move into better located areas. The existing informal settlement within the Cato Manor area (Cato Crest) can be regarded as an example of this kind of urban process. The purpose of this dissertation is to assess the performance of the informal delivery systems in Cato Crest, to establish whether these systems have reached the urban poor and to look for ways of dealing with informal land mechanisms in the future. The findings from the survey indicated that in Cato Crest these illegal land supply systems have benefitted poor people in terms of job opportunities, proximity to the city and location. A number of recommendations can be made in this regard: that there is a need for a land policy on informal land supply systems, that which should seek to make strategically located land available for low income housing in the future. If this is not accomplished, illegal land occupation will continue unabated until no land will be available for low income housing. / Thesis (M.Sc.U.R.P.)-University of Natal, Durban, 1995.