No abstract available. / Thesis (M.T.R.P.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, 2007.

The concept of revitalization made its début within the localized context between 1993 to 2003 and is evident in Cato Manor, Warwick Junction and iTrump initiatives in the Durban South African context. The concept and its benefactors encourage others in and around the city to utilize it as a tool promoting self sufficiency and sustainability within developing and developed neighborhoods. Sparks, as an example of a neighborhood within the jurisdiction of the Ethekwini Municipality, has played a part in the process. The difficulty of the area is that it has all the facilities and services of a functioning neighborhood but when one looks closer, a different reality exists. The study proposes to examine the blockages preventing an effective functioning of a cohesive, co-ordinated and harmonious community. The examination of revitalization taking place in Sparks is an attempt to identify factors which explain the partial revitalization observed in the neighbourhood. This study identified role players and established the characteristics of the local residents and their contribution to the revitalization process. Qualitative information was obtained through interviews with key role players including the ward Councilor, Municipality officials, residents and business owners of the area. The finding of this study revealed that Sparks as a node has all the elements to function successfully to make a good neighbourhood. The study found that the residents are not included in the revitalization decision making processes by the municipality and that there was little public participation the revitalization in the neighborhood is occurring sporadically in the form of upgrading roads, renovations on private property, installation of traffic lights and speed breakers. The revitalization in Sparks is problematic and needs to be addressed more systematically in the Municipality and by the residents of the area. The research revealed that public participation needs to be encouraged in Municipal initiated projects. The researcher concluded that revitalization needs guidance from the municipality, and that proper public participation strategies should be put in place for successful implementation. / Thesis (M.T.R.P.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2011.

In the context of globalization and neo-liberal urban restructuring, cities have been attempting to reposition themselves within the competitive global landscape through focusing on their images and their enhancement since the 1970’s. Rebuilding the city became the goal of urban policy through the process of urban regeneration, and large-scale, emblematic urban development projects or ‘mega-projects’ began to play a major role in this endeavour. However, in the current landscape of uncontained economic growth, social decline and ecological destruction, sustainability has become a critical concept, and the pursuit of a ‘sustainable city’ is a desirable goal. Urban policy consequently focuses on urban regeneration and sustainability as parallel agendas. This study focuses on the South African city of Durban, KwaZulu-Natal, where regeneration has become particularly evident in recent years, with the focus intensifying when the country was awarded the bid for the 2010 FIFA World Cup, sparking the planning and construction of a number of mega-projects. Simultaneously sustainability has gained greater focus, as the need to develop within environmental limits has been recognized. Three particular mega-projects within the city are investigated: the Moses Mabhida Stadium, Warwick Junction Mall, and the Point Development; in order to explore the relationship between the two dominant agendas of contemporary urban policy. This is achieved through the exploration of the urban policy and regeneration landscape of the city, and the particular role which mega-projects play. Subsequently, the three mega-projects are assessed in terms of sixteen sustainable city principles to determine the extent to which they incorporate sustainability, and thereby the extent to which sustainability is considered in the city’s urban regeneration. The research findings reveal that although sustainability is present in the policy and planning rhetoric of the city, the mega-projects and urban regeneration do not include these principles to any meaningful extent. It is therefore concluded that these two policy strands are currently conflicting agendas within the planning and development landscape of Durban. There is a consequent need for sustainability to be practically incorporated to a greater extent in order to ensure a sustainable future for the city. i / Thesis (M.Sc.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Westville, 2012.

A variety of factors are responsible for the degeneration and decay of an urban area. A neglected urban area rife with decay, negatively affects the economic, social and environmental sustainability of a neighbourhood. A direct link can be established between the state of an urban area and the quality of life the residents of that area may experience, the performance of the local economy and the condition of the surrounding natural environment. This study examined whether Clare Estate has experienced urban decay, what the possible causes are that have contributed towards the decay are, how the existing decay can be addressed and whether or not Clare Estate requires and can benefit from urban renewal intervention. Through various methods of research such as conducting questionnaire surveys, interviews, observation studies, mapping and analysis of Clare Estate it was deduced that the suburb is experiencing economic, social and environmental decay. It was found that Clare Estate is experiencing frictional, functional, physical and economic blight. The abandoned and neglected buildings, vacant sites, illegal landJ uses, lack of public open spaces and exceedingly high crime levels have all contributed to the decay of the area. The overwhelming amount of informal settlements within Clare Estate and the location of the Bisasar Road landfill are also both significant contributors to the deterioration of the area. They have created an unappealing aesthetic environment, which has consequently created an unpleasant environment for residents, patrons and community members. Clare Estate has experienced years of neglect and mismanagement, which can be attributed to poor coordination and communication between stakeholders. In order to reverse the effect years of decay has had on Clare Estate; the implementation of urban renewal initiatives is required. The community of Clare Estate will gain a stronger local economy, reinforced and intensified community bonds and a healthier and safer environment, through the use of urban renewal intervention. The recommendations made for the renewal of Clare Estate involves an approach that requires input from all stakeholders. In order for the renewal of Clare Estate to occur in a sustainable manner, a publicJprivate partnership that encourages and supports the involvement of the community members of Clare Estate was seen as the most fitting method of urban renewal. Addressing the issue of high crime rates, informal settlements, landfill rehabilitation and road maintenance is instrumental in the renewal process. The use of an onJgoing urban management programme is essential in ensuring the community of Clare Estate continues the proper maintenance and upkeep of their surrounding environment as this will ensure the longevity of Clare Estate. / M.T.R.P. University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban 2014.

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

Street trade within South Africa contributes to a significant portion of the informal sector and is now seen as something that contributes to the economy as well as the character of the city. It plays an active role incontributing to the livelihoods of many people ofthe informal sector. The informal sector has almost become synonymous with South Africa becoming a democratic entity as people that had struggled through exclusion from entering the cities, now had a platform towards citizenship to the city. Historically street trade has always been perceived as a nuisance in the city and as a result traders were marginalized to use spaces which did not present proper opportunity to support the needs of the traders. Urban public space has become one of the most valuable assets to people entering the informal sector, therefore it is important to understand the properties that play a role in the meaning of urban public space with for the users within the informal sector. The square, the street and the buildings make up the public face of towns and cities. The street has the opportunity to become a comfortable environment when the user is able to perceive it in such a way that they are able to orientate themselves with it. Further the street can be examined as a series of integrated spaces and when the physical elements of space are ordered a central point of relation to the user develops. The problem arises whereby urban public space in general has for some time been analyzed and interpreted from a first world viewpoint. One of the primary aims of this dissertation is to understand the various factors involved with third world developing countries, more specifically the informal sector and to understand how these factors may be supported and enhanced by the existing knowledge of place to aid in the design of meaningful architecture aiding in urban revitalization. The case studies outlined within this paper seek to demonstrate the importance of creating architecture that acknowledges that relationships between its, cultural, economic, and environmental, contexts of which can have the ability to sensitively and positively have an impact on its surrounding urban fabric. / Thesis (M.Arch.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2012.

This study examines public participation in post-apartheid planning projects, using the KwaMashu Urban Renewal Project as a Case Study. A qualitative approach was adopted in the investigation. This study made the use of unstructured open ended interviews and observation to obtain primary data, which was thereafter analysed though the use of the thematic method. The study revealed that the process of Public Participation within the planning field has evolved substantially within the context of South Africa. There is adequate legislation and the necessary structures for public participation are present within the community. However, there is insufficient depth in legislation to ensure that public participation has an impact on final decision making. The extent of participation in the KwaMashu Renewal Project as a whole was minimal. This is mainly due to the nature of the participatory methods that were used which did not allow the community to fully engage with the planning processes within the different sub projects. It was evident that these [participatory methods] were mainly applied to fulfil the regulatory obligation for public participation in spatial development projects. The challenges of public participation that were noted within the case study include internal politics, land ownership and illegal occupation in state owned buildings. The study recommends early inclusion of the community in such projects and allowing for the community to be part of the creative process in projects. Secondly, this study also recommends that there needs to be a diffusion of power and diminishing limits of public participation within planning projects. / Thesis (M.T.R.P.)--University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2013.

This dissertation revolves around the topic of office decentralisation. The literature review chapter first discusses a systems approach to planning, and how it is the relationships between the objects within a system that makes the system as a whole useful. This chapter also discusses theories relating to city planning with reference to Kevin Lynch in terms of city elements as well as city planning typologies. Edmund Bacon’s theory of how movement systems of cities become powerful forces in terms of how the city is used and viewed is also discussed. Ebenezer Howard’s Garden City concept is discussed due to its intentional decentralisation but also for the manner in which nodes are linked. New Urbanism is touched on because many sprawling cities are turning this type of development in attempt to reduce the outward push of low density developments. Seeing that Apartheid city planning was informed by Modernist city planning, both of these concepts are looked at critically in relation to one another. This is to form the background on what impact office decentralisation has had on South African cities, and whether the locations of such decentralised office nodes have been in the correct locations in order to provide access to jobs to those who were marginalised during the years of Apartheid. With this background, office decentralisation is discussed in general, touching on office building typologies, the effect transportation technologies had on city planning, what causes office decentralisation, and the issue of office decentralisation in South African cities. Examples of how office decentralisation has been used as urban renewal projects have been discussed because it is of the opinion of the author that this needs to occur more often, especially in South Africa. Precedent studies of three cities which have undergone office decentralisation have been discussed in the next chapter. One is a South African city; one is another African city; and one an international city. This chapter discusses briefly their past, and the issues decentralisation is causing for the cities, as well as their solutions to the issues. Durban is used as a case study in the next chapter where decentralised office nodes have been identified and analysed. The challenges this decentralisation brings to the city are then discussed and possible solutions drawn from the abovementioned precedent studies have been suggested. These solutions were tested in a questionnaire which was sent to a selected group of working people. The results of which are discussed and analysed in chapters 5. / Thesis (M.Arch.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2011.

Since the turn of the 20th century, industrialisation and technological development of the machine has brought about mass production of almost everything from spaces, food, environments, experiences, and architecture. The dominance of machine-based processes has diluted the experience of the hand-made environment, once rich with tactility, quality, honesty, and craft; by means of reproduction and standardisation (Frampton, 1983). This has inevitably created a ‘“universal sameness” (Augè, 2008:xii) which spans the globe and reiterates what Ricouer (1961) declares as the formulation of a ‘Universal Civilisation’. Modern Architecture, which is formulated exclusively through machine construction methodologies, has also influenced a sense of “placelessness” (Frampton, 1983:26) whereby the built environment is facing a surge of monotonous machine generated interventions. Within a predominately machine built environment, there are, however, concurrent calls for a reflective engagement of Craft (Pallasmaa, 2005). Although craft has not disappeared, there is a weakening of one’s connection to an ‘existential ground’ (Pallasmaa, 2009) through the advent of the machine and its ability to render mass-produced environments that are not necessarily honest to its place and its inner workings (Pallasmaa, 2009, Sudjic, 2008). A more directly hand-made crafted architecture could then, by definition, have the ability to respond and reignite one’s existential ground and strengthen one’s relationship with the built environment. This could then have a direct influence for one’s reconnection and experience with architecture in the progressive yet inhumane machine-built environment so evident in the Modern world today. This dissertation sets out to explore where architecture is positioned within the 21st century of universal technique, standardisation, industrial processes and contemporary consumer culture. A dialectical method will set the discourse of the research, which is made up of 3 components. The thesis; being architecture as a Machine, the opposing antithesis; being architecture as Craft and the synthesis; being architecture as a dialectic modern handcrafted. This dissertation seeks a unification of machine-built and hand-made technologies through machine processes richly layered with craft, that may well perpetuate a progressive and responsive modern handcrafted dialectic architecture in South Africa. This research could then be implemented towards the design of a collaborative skills development facility in Durban. / Thesis (M.Arch.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2012.

This dissertation describes the outcome of a sustainable livelihoods approach to assess the livelihood vulnerability of community structures in Cato Manor (an urban renewal project of Durban City, KwaZulu-Natal). The sustainable livelihoods approach used looked at the specifics of the nature of assets wealth, and how the poor made a living. The vulnerability of poor households and communities depends on the way the poor have combined available assets and capabilities within a particular context to achieve short and long term priorities. Amongst other contextual issues of developing countries, structural adjustment has affected urban survival strategies. This study explored whether the impact of post-apartheid policy had reduced livelihood vulnerability for members of ten community structures in Cato Manor (CM). The investigation was broken down into two sub-problems. Sub-problem one was to establish what impact post-apartheid policy outcomes had on livelihood strategies in Cato Manor. Sub-problem two set out to ascertain whether the livelihood strategies described by participants in Cato Manor reflect reduced livelihood vulnerability. A unique feature of this study was an agreement between community based facilitators from Cato Manor (Cato Manor Development Association (CMDA) team) and the researcher for the development of two research agendas. The CMDA team, comprised of five community facilitators from the Seliyabuya Housing Co-operative and a Cato Manor Development Association consultant, conducted sustainable livelihoods analyses as the first stage of strategic planning for community structures. A secondary case study analysis of livelihood vulnerabilities was carried out by the researcher using the secondary data from these sustainable livelihoods analyses. Ten of the thirty five community structures (29%) identified by the CMDA team as possible participants elected to participate in the sustainable livelihoods analyses. Members of these structures formed ten groups based on the focus of their structure goals. Each focus group conducted a sustainable livelihoods analysis that reflected the assets, strategies for livelihoods and constraints that affected structures' priorities. Each participant was also asked to complete a household survey questionnaire providing demographic data for the case study. The findings of this study showed a tension between government's structural adjustment goals and the realities of actual delivery. The development goals provided for an urban space with the physical structures for livelihood security and sustainability. The study identified that development has provided a significant accumulation of physical assets through infrastructure delivery. However, perceptions of the participants indicated that development has not provided sufficient economic opportunities; adequate housing; or educational, social and recreational facilities for desired livelihood outcomes. In addition, participants believed manufacturing and business growth dependent on the successful marketing of products was in direct conflict with the actual physical restrictions of the topography, housing density goals and conceptualisation of the economic opportunities existing in Cato Manor. Participants relied on survivalist strategies of micro-enterprises (such as informal trading), and reliance on collective community support as available rational options for survival. Livelihood vulnerabilities indicated by the study were: overcrowding of homes, both in formal and informal areas; national economic trends resulting in job shedding by the formal sectors; and the slow beginnings of local economic development. In addition, there would be the threat to this community of the unknown impact of or capacity for the eThekweni Municipality's continuing the development required in Cato Manor after closure of the Cato Manor Development Association; and the impact of HIV/AIDS on the human, economic and social capital. This study showed increasing vulnerability for households and community structures represented by the sample in terms of physical capital, financial capital, and human capital. This vulnerability was particularly characterised at community level by the perception of increased dependency on cash amidst a corresponding reduction in available cash. It has been recommended that a creative institutional response, using clearly defined roles and responsibilities, collaborate with the community to define and make use of entry points for the transfer of skills and Local Economic Development support for the creation of employment opportunities. In addition, it was recommended that local government make full use of their knowledge of the livelihoods activities, and human capital in Cato Manor to facilitate the speedy delivery of appropriate infrastructure and economic support in a manner that supports the sustainability of municipal management as well as increases the livelihood options of the poor. To complement this study, further research requires an ongoing evaluation of the impact of local government and the community's responses; and an exploration of how democratic citizenship can be developed through the facilitation of grass-roots collective organisational strategies. / Thesis (M.Agric.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2005.