Governance is defined here as the process of decision-making and implementation. Public participation which leads on from good governance is a process leading to a joint effort by stakeholders, technical specialists, the authorities and the developing agent who work together to produce better decisions than if they had acted independently. Environmental decision-making and environmental partnerships go hand in hand in the sense that good environmental decision-making can only take place if sustainable environmental partnerships are formed. This thesis focuses on the case study of the Warwick Junction Urban Renewal Programme as an example of an area based management development project in the eThekwini Municipality. Warwick Junction is a vibrant trading and transport node in the heart of the city. The area is complex in terms of its biophysical, societal, economic and political structures. The purpose of the implementation of an Urban Renewal Program in July 1996 in Warwick Junction was to uplift and upgrade this inner city area so as to provide an improved trading and residential environment. A large number of projects that fall under this renewal programme have been completed. Community involvement in these projects has been implemented via community representation on a steering committee. It is proposed that a process of good governance is necessary to integrate sustainability into all spheres of development. The aim of this research therefore is to assess the decision-making processes for a number of environmental projects in Warwick Junction. The following projects that have already been completed will be the focus of this study: The Warwick Triangle Playground, Herb Traders Market, Bovine Head Cookers facility, Mealie Cookers Facility and the Badsha Peer Project. Theories of urban governance, public participation, environmental decision-making and environmental partnerships under the broader framework of sustainability, form the conceptual framework for this study. A qualitative approach has been employed in this research. Primary data has been derived from focus groups and open-ended interviews. A set of social sustainability indicators that was derived from the theoretical framework was used to determine the most successful project. Results show that the Mealie Cookers Project displayed all the characteristics of good urban governance. It is also considered to be a sustainable project because as part of its commitment to the urban renewal programme it has balanced the social, economic and environmental needs of present and future generations in Warwick Junction. This was the most successful project out of the five projects as it ranked very high on the social sustainability indicator table followed by the Muthi Traders market, the Badsha Peer Shelter, the Playground Facility and lastly the Bovine Head Cookers facility. The Muthi Market ranked as high as the Mealie Cookers Project on the social sustainability indicator table. This is due to adequate participation with affected communities which allowed them to contribute towards the decision-making process. The strength of the Badsha Peer Shelter Project lies in the good governance and good environmental decisions being taken, win-win partnerships and overall empowerment of stakeholders. The Playground Facility brought with it many political tensions as there were two civic associations that were at loggerheads with each other surrounding the whole project. The strength of this project lies in its transformative participation as the affected communities ideas were used to decide on the location of the park. There were also many political tensions among the Bovine Head Cookers. As a result of the cookers belonging to different political parties, an issue of territory was brought to the surface. Due to serious conflict between cookers and the renewal team, this project has taken three years to implement. It is thus considered to be the most unsuccessful project out of the five projects researched. It is therefore evident that three out of the five projects have been successful, displaying appropriate environmental governance. The results indicate that the environmental decision-making mechanisms that have been employed by the urban renewal team have been transformative in the sense that they not only give a voice to the communities, but also have empowered them in the process. Adequate public participation has also contributed to the success of the programme along with win-win types of partnerships that have formed. It is therefore concluded that the urban renewal decision-making mechanisms implemented in the Warwick Junction have contributed to the sustainability of the development programme. / Thesis (M.Sc.)-University of Natal, Durban, 2004.

Thesis (MTech (Architectural Technology))--Cape Peninsula University of Technology, 2017. / Informal settlements are increasing in the cities of the global South in line with the rapid rate of urbanisation that is taking place in countries of this region. The growth of informal settlements in these countries has been exacerbated by factors that are unique to this region, factors such as scarcity of resources, colonial legacies and rapid urbanisation. Cape Town, a city that relates to the global South both in terms of geographical location and socio-economic context, has also seen a rapid growth of informal settlements, particularly in the last two decades. Like other cities in this region, Cape Town has ambitions of being regarded as a global city. Global cities are modelled on cities of the global North such as London, New York and Tokyo. Beyond the economic prestige that is generally associated with the cities of the global North, the imagery that they conjure up is also seen as an inspiration to be emulated by cities across the world, and it does not include informal settlements. As such, informal settlements generate a host of attitudes. Attitudes towards informal settlements don’t just emanate from political authorities, but emanate from across the spectrum that constitutes inhabitants and interest groups in these cities, including the creators of informal settlements themselves. These individuals and interests, according to their social standing and thus influence, have varying degrees of agency in the matters related to informal settlements. The aim in this study is to probe the effect of these attitudes on housing delivery to the poor. Attitudes not only influence the choice of what is regarded as the norm, but also how any entity that is regarded as the ‘other’ is evaluated. Almost without exception, cities that have been characterised by large numbers of informal settlements have attempted, without success, to eradicate informal settlements from their urban fabrics. An overarching assumption in this study is that the resilience of informal settlements says something about their necessity, and the failure by some, to recognise this necessity or the utilitarian value of informal settlements is influenced by attitudes. This research is done by first using a literature review to elucidate on: • the social condition, that is, the phenomenon of informal settlements, • the relevant theories applicable to the academic field the thesis is anchored in (architecture) and other social orders impacting architecture such as modernism, • the construct of attitudes and its impacts on beliefs, evaluations and perceptions on the affect of objects. The Joe Slovo informal settlement is then used as an analytic case study to investigate the effects of attitudes on the dynamics that have seen the site being transformed into what had been conceived as a prototype for transforming informal settlements to formal housing. The study shows that such transformations, although often carried out in the name of changing the lives of the inhabitants of informal settlements, do not necessarily entail them remaining at the site post its transformation. In the case of Joe Slovo, it actually resulted in a sizeable number of the original inhabitants being relocated to a new, less favourable site.

published_or_final_version / Social Work and Social Administration / Doctoral / Doctor of Philosophy

This thesis is concerned with the housing and service needs of the poor (slum dwellers) in Bombay and how they are articulated and satisfied. It discusses how the poor perceive the constraints on slum servicing and improvement, their involvement in community organizations, and the role the community and its leaders play in influencing state action. Since housing and servicing issues directly impinge on the interests of politicians and bureaucrats as well as on those of the poor, patterns of provision mirror closely the nature of the relationship between the poor and how political and administrative power operates at various levels. Chapter 1 provides the research aims and objectives while Chapter 2 reviews the literature on community participation. Chapter 3 on Bombay places housing development in context and also serves as background study to the thesis. This research studies three different slum settlements housing migrants to Bombay. Two surveys of these three slum settlements were carried out, involving interviews with 135 households. Chapter 4 describes the characteristics of these households, while chapters 5, 6, and 7 give the arguments of the thesis. It is shown that, despite an established system of representative community organisations and a pro-participation rhetoric in bureaucratic discourse, most slum dwellers are excluded from participating in decision-making. A patron-client relationship exists between politicians, bureaucrats and community leaders, both in determining the community leaders' power as well as the level of services and physical benefits that he/she could win for the slum community. Leaders are generally better educated, better employed, more prosperous and highly motivated than most of their community. The NGO in this study has acted mainly as intermediary between the government and the slum-dwellers.

This thesis is about the use of the term social exclusion in contemporary Scotland and how it has given rise to the idea of 'excluded spaces' in political and academic commentaries on deprived neighbourhoods. It argues that, despite criticism, the term offers a useful way of re-assessing disadvantaged places, such that space (for example, in the guise of socio-spatial segregation) should be considered not only an outcome but also an input into processes of exclusion. This is illustrated through exploration of the reproduction of the frequently negative place-images surrounding two deprived neighbourhoods in urban Scotland. The thesis explores how such representation may stigmatise residents therein, ultimately resulting in the production of landscapes of exclusion. Use of a range of qualitative methods (though primarily biographical interviews) demonstrates how negative place-images are constructed and remain resilient to change while also revealing the concrete outcomes of such 'imagined' geographies. Overall, the thesis makes three main points. First, that the construction of 'imagined' and 'real' places are fluid and dynamic processes and differences between 'images' and 'realities' of places are neither as clear cut, nor as 'true' or 'inaccurate' as might be assumed. Second, that 'real' and 'imagined' representations of place are reproduced through practices in, and attitudes towards, place. And third, that migration processes are influenced by, and influential to, the construction of social and place identities. Construction of socio-spatial stereotypes reveals space to be both an outcome and input into processes of exclusion while also demonstrating how many of the taken-for-granted assumptions about disadvantaged neighbourhoods might be considered place-myths.

This research seeks to explore what role the church can, should and does play in the dynamics of inner city housing. Given the experience of certain overseas church groups at the successful implementation of housing initiatives this research seeks to explore what certain groups are doing in various cities to establish their ideal of the new Jerusalem. This is in keeping with the vision of Isaiah in chapter 65-66.where the church has a responsibility to transform the place of the city to a place of hope and joy and celebration .This is the motivation that drives this study to see how the church can play a role in the housing development of the inner cities of South Africa. Very little has been written on this newly emerging field for the church in South African cities. Hopefully this will motivate, empower and encourage others to follow those who are already involved in this new challenge to the South African and African inner city church. Four cities in which contact with housing related projects has been established will be used as case studies. These four cities coincidentally cover the largest proportion of urbanised South Africa namely the Johannesburg/Pretoria urban agglomeration and the Durban/Pietermaritzburg area. Apart from the aforementioned reasons, the fact that there are limited church-based inner city housing initiatives in South Africa, it was felt that these case studies could provide an initial base for research. A more detailed rationale is listed in the section on the scope of the dissertation. / Thesis (M.Housing)-University of Natal, 2002.

ABSTRACT A SOCIOLOGICAL STUDY OF WORKING URBAN POOR IN ISTANBUL AND GAZiANTEP Neriman A&ccedil / ikalin PhD, Department of Sociology Supervisor: Assoc. Prof. Dr. Sibel Kalaycioglu Eyl&uuml / l, 2004, 242 pages In this study, the aim is to find some indications about urban poverty in Turkey, which recently became a major topic in sociological studies. In order to study this topic, the thesis focuses on working urban poor to be able to examine the effects of the changing labor market. Urban poverty in general, and more specifically the working urban poor, are analysed in three levels, namely macro, mezzo and micro. In the macro level, the effects of great transformations after the 1980&rsquo / s and the new international division of labor, on the emergence of new urban poor is discussed. In the mezzo level, &ldquo / Structural Adjusment Policies&rdquo / as one of the significant impacts of this transformation, which mostly have affected the underdeveleped countries like Turkey is understood. The thesis, however, will mostly focus on the micro aspects of poverty. In the micro level, family and kinship reciprocal relations and mutual ties of solidarity / values and customs about social and economic life / survival strategies / the effects of culture of poverty / and factors of disempowerment are examined. Furthermore, the starting definitions of the urban poor are based on Peter Lloyd&rsquo / s study, which was carried out in Peru. In this context, a field study was carried out in Istanbul and Gaziantep to find out some indications to understand the regional differences of the working urban poor in Turkey. Turkey has also been affected by the conjunctural changes in the world and a new urban poor has been also emerging. In terms of regional differences of working urban poor istanbul labor market reflects the effects of new international division of labour and the structural adjustment policies more than Gaziantep. istanbul has an urban labour market which mainly performs as the periphery of international capital. Urban labour market in Gaziantep however, includes rural and local elements of causal labour as well, besides its links to the new international division of labour. In the micro level, istanbul working urban poor represent more western and urban values, more literacy and higher level of education and more positive attributes to the role of education, better working conditions of casual labour, more feelings of isolation but also more hopeful for future prospects and more motivated for initiating coping mechanisms. On the other hand, Gaziantep working urban poor represent a very complicated and multi-step migration process compared to istanbul migrants and migrant women in Gaziantep tend to work more in pieceworking jobs due to agro-industry. Hence, the thesis argues that to designate urban poverty and more specifically working urban poor in Turkey, regional, cultural factors and dynamics of migration are significant.

This thesis seeks to understand and analyze the livelihood strategies of urban women traders at Magaba in Harare (Zimbabwe) in the context of the contemporary economic and political crisis. The crisis emerged in the 1990s with the introduction of a structural adjustment programme and deepened further with the fast track land reform programme initiated by the Zimbabwean government in the year 2000. The crisis has involved a down-sizing of the Zimbabwean economy and a massive rise in the rate of unemployment in the formal economy. Consequently urban life became increasingly unbearable for poor blacks and informal economic activities blossomed and started to make a significant contribution to household income and livelihoods. The role of women in the informal economy was particularly pronounced. Theoretically, the thesis is underpinned by the sustainable livelihoods framework. In examining the vulnerability context of the Magaba women traders and the institutional interventions which complicate the lives and livelihoods of these traders, I identify and unpack their diverse livelihood activities and strategies and the resources (or assets) they deploy in constructing urban livelihoods. Though their livelihood portfolios complement any earnings from formal employment by household members and though they contribute to their household’s sustenance, there are a number of daily challenges which they face in their trading activities and which they seek to counteract through a range of often ingenious coping mechanisms. The thesis is important for a number of reasons. It fills an important empirical gap in the study of Magaba market specifically, it brings to the fore the gendered character of the informal trading activities in urban Zimbabwe, and it deploys the livelihoods framework in a manner which is sensitive to both structure and agency.

Objective. The purpose of this study is to examine the relationship between the COVID-19-related waivers and the number of Summer Food Service Program (SFSP) meals served, accessibility of SFSP sites, and implementation of the SFSP sponsored by the Office of Food and Nutrition Service (OFNS) of the New York City Department of Education (NYC DOE). Methods. This study is a convergent parallel mixed methods study. In the quantitative component, there are two research questions (“research question 1” and “research question 2”); the design is a non-experimental, one-group, completely within-subjects design; and the unit of analysis is NYC DOE geographic districts (n = 32). Research question 1 is “Among NYC DOE geographic districts, was there a significant difference in the number of SFSP meals served during the summers when the COVID-19-related waivers were used compared to the summers without the waivers?” Research question 2 is “Among NYC DOE geographic districts, was there a significant difference in the accessibility of SFSP sites during the summers when the COVID-19-related waivers were used compared to the summers without the waivers?” Both research questions 1 and 2 compare the first summer of the waivers (2020) to the six summers prior to the waivers (2014-2019) and the second summer of the waivers (2021) to the six summers prior to the waivers (2014-2019). In the qualitative component, there is one research question (“research question 3”); the methods consist of a document analysis of the policy memos for the waivers (n = 8) using the READ approach for document analysis of health policies. Research question 3 is “What were the intended relationships between the COVID-19-related waivers and SFSP participation, site accessibility, and implementation according to the policy memos for the waivers?” Data Analysis. For research question 1, the statistical tests are the repeated-measures analysis of variance (ANOVA) omnibus test and post-hoc analysis with Bonferroni adjustment. The primary outcome is the total number of SFSP meals served per student. For research question 2, the statistical tests are the repeated-measures ANOVA omnibus test and post-hoc analysis with the Bonferroni adjustment when the full sample is analyzed (n = 32), and the Friedman test and sign test with the Bonferroni adjustment when high poverty districts (n = 16), high non-White districts (n = 16), and high enrollment districts (n = 16) are analyzed. The primary outcome is the number of SFSP sites per 1,000 students. For research question 3, the analysis consists of deductive coding, inductive coding, and identification of themes. Results. For research question 1, the results show a significant increase in the number of SFSP meals served per student during the first summer of the waivers compared to summers 2016-2019 (p ≤ 0.01). However, there were no significant differences in the number of SFSP meals served per student during the second summer of the waivers compared to summers 2014-2019. Among the secondary outcomes, there was a significant increase in the number of breakfast meals served in August per student during both the first and second summer of the waivers compared to summers 2014-2019 (p < 0.05). For research question 2, the results show a significant decrease in the number of SFSP sites per 1,000 students during the first summer of the waivers compared to summers 2014-2019 (p < 0.01). Similarly, there was a significant decrease during the second summer of the waivers compared to summers 2015-2019 (p < 0.01). For research question 3, the results show that the Meal Service Time Flexibility Waiver may address pre-pandemic barriers in the SFSP, but the Parent/Guardian Meal Pickup Waiver may cause implementation issues. Conclusions. Among NYC DOE geographic districts, the waivers may increase the reach of breakfast meals served in August while decreasing the number of SFSP sites and making SFSP implementation easier. There is a need for a pilot study or more controlled study to establish causal relationships. Policymakers should consider making the Meal Service Time Flexibility Waiver and the Non-Congregate Feeding Waiver permanent flexibilities for summer meal programs.

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