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

Thesis is submitted in partial fulfilment for the degree of Master of Urban Design to the Faculty of Engineering and the Built Environment, School of Architecture and Planning at the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2017 / The modern day cultural landscape of man is no longer shaped by mere geology – but by the forces of culture, economics, social activity, politics and technology (Silva, 2012). Still, there are cases where geographical scars divide the cityscape, leaving voids in infrastructure and islands of open space within a thriving metropolis around these vacant patches of land. These vacant patches of land are often termed brownfield sites – once productive infrastructural components actively contributing to the formation of cities and industry. The mining belt of Johannesburg and some of its surrounds (particularly the area around the Heidelberg interchange and Faraday taxi rank) is a classic example where open patches of land exist, surrounded by a concrete jungle which is Johannesburg – “a world class African city” (joburg. org). According to Steyn (2007) the rate of urbanisation in Africa far exceeds that of the western world, which means that un-programmed, unprotected open land becomes soft targets for those prospecting ‘statistics’ flocking to the city – lured by the illusion of opportunity. Centrally located open land therefore becomes an extremely valuable commodity – a commodity that may aid in dealing with the rapid urbanisation issues that 21st century cities face. Not only are urbanities of the 21st century confronted by issues of rapid urbanisation and urban sprawl, but these urbanities need to combat issues in three omnipresent spheres – environmental, social and economic. It is within urban planning that these spheres have their closest overlap (Un-Habitat, 2009) and it is within this overlap that the concepts of resilience and sustainability can be best explored. As a result of their primary use, these fragmented wastelands are not well-suited for living, but do sometimes become the dwelling places of people willing to live in sub-standard living conditions. The mining belt of Johannesburg and its immediate surrounds is littered with brownfield sites - sites that share the characteristics of polluted, underutilised, fragmented, large stretches of vacant land, and are lacking in programme and urban form. This dissertation aims to pioneer a type of urban design uniquely developed for urban void landscapes – leftover sites otherwiseknown as brownfields – whilst addressing greater issues of sustainability and resilience. The study strives to understand how a landscape approach to urban design can be applied to revive and reclaim the drosscapes of Johannesburg. By reviewing a body of literature surrounding the theme of sustainable urbanism and investigating theories such as landscape urbanism, ecological urbanism, and compact cities, combined with understanding the life cycles of brownfield sites and how these sites can be revived to aid in solving issues faced by the 21st century city, the designer hopes to distill a set of urban design principles that can be applied over a variety of scales and integrated with other disciplines to revive brownfield sites and transform them into productive urban landscapes. Additionally, the designer endeavors to express the value of centrally located land; bridge the divide created by post-industrial landscapes; understand brownfield remediation processes and time-lines; integrate urban programmes and systems and link to and expand existing urban networks, based on the assumption that the drosscapes of Johannesburg possess the latent potential to positively add new dimensions to the current urban condition / XL2018

A dissertation submitted to the School of Language, Literature and Media, Faculty of Humanities for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy, March 2017 / Although the burgeoning fields of linguistic and semiotic landscapes (LL and SL) studies provide extensive coverage of urban settings around the globe, it lacks a focus on urban development and the associated phenomenons such as gentrification, with the notable exception of Lou (2016). This dissertation looks at the neighbourhood of Marshalltown, located in the inner city of Johannesburg. Marshalltown is known as the mining district because of its proximity to the original goldmines that sparked the growth of the city. The neighbourhood’s SL has radically shifted from a place of urban decay to a trendy neighbourhood since the late 1990s, after urban development efforts financed by the private sector made the area stand out from the rest of the inner city. The developers working in Marshalltown have purposefully filled it with signs indexing the mining heritage its businesses which tend to cater to the middle-to-upper-classes, thus excluding poorer residents which make up most of the inner city’s population. Against this backdrop, the dissertation aims to answer the following three research questions: 1) How is Marshalltown constructed as a space of heritage, both in its materiality and in its representation in a corpus of media texts? 2) Considering that heritage entails a selection process from a more general historic field, which sections of history are curated in Marshalltown’s SL, which are silenced, and what are the implications for the narratives displayed in the context of post-apartheid South Africa? 3) How is Marshalltown’s urban environment experienced by social actors in a context of globalized trends in urban design which rely on heritage and authenticity to market formerly ignored city centres? The data for this study consists of a corpus of 25 media articles from various outlets, 255 photographs of Marshalltown and its vicinity, ethnographic field notes written between 2012 and 2016, as well as interviews with developers, heritage architect, a deputy director of immovable heritage at the City of Johannesburg, shop owners and people who work in the area. This dissertation aims to contribute to the young field of SL studies, while bringing forth Scollon and Scollon’s (2003) methodological toolkit of geosemiotic which allows for an analysis of signs in place and how people interact with them to draw a pertinent analysis of the construction of place. Geosemiotics is coupled with specific themes for each analytical chapter which brings forth a new way of analysing a SL. Those themes are 1) the language of urban development which drawing on Markus and Cameron (2002) helps analyse the representation of city neighbourhoods; 2) heritage, which brings a temporal perspective to SL studies that I call a chronoscape; 3) authenticity, which brings a visual analysis addition to the recent debate on the topic within sociolinguistics scholarship (Coupland 2003, Bucholtz 2003 and Eckert 2003) and its focus on the discursive construction of what counts as authentic. This study argues that Marshalltown’s post-apartheid SL is carefully designed by a majority of (white) developers wanting to give the area a heritage feel, borrowing from the mining history of the city; thus anchoring a European influenced heritage within their own interpretation of what an African city should look like. The heritage feel of Marshalltown is part of a broader plan to reclaim the city, which means changing the image it acquired previously during an era of urban decay as a dangerous no-go area, into an attractive tourism-friendly urban space. Those changes are achieved by inserting development efforts into the market for authentic urban lifestyle which Marshalltown can provide thanks to its preserved history. The neighbourhood stands out from the rest of the inner city by being privately controlled and maintained thus distancing itself from the popular discourse of inner city Johannesburg and instead developers redesign it as an ideal space for consumption. / XL2018

M. Tech. Architecture (Professional) / South Africa has some way to go before it catches up to developed countries in terms of musical education and production. Since musical skills are expensive to develop, and not currently taught at school level, a lack of funding results in many impoverished individuals missing out on the opportunity to develop musical skills that could ultimately bring about multiple career opportunities. This dissertation involves the design of a music centre on the periphery of Sunnyside, for surrounding school pupils and local youths. The centre will function as a musical education facility and public meeting space, in an urban district. The development of this new facility would hopefully act as a catalyst for the rejuvenation of the pedestrian walkway next to the Walker Spruit; by integrating and redesigning the green space next to the proposed site

M. Tech. Architecture (Professional) / This dissertation responds to the current urban situation in Pretoria's Central Business District and entails the design of a Creative Hub through the rejuvenation of Pretoria's Burlington Arcade in the Church Square node. The Creative Hub will function as an incubator space for the creative industry, as well as potentially becoming a catalyst for the rejuvenation of the inner-city of Pretoria. Tshwane's inner-city's economic role has reduced dramatically compared to cities such as Johannesburg. Private and public sectors turn their investment interest away from the city towards the suburbs. A solution needs to be found to encourage investment and increase visitor confidence in the city's long term commitment to change. As with any urban regeneration project, it would require dedicated investment from the all sectors, over a lengthy period of time to initiate this change. The Creative Hub acknowledges urban renewal as the long term goal for the inner-city, but aims to evoke interest within the Church Square node to serve as a vehicle for change to occur through the introduction of "a people's place". Students, creative individuals and professionals, tourists, city dwellers, city goers as well as artisan traders are invited to meet within the space to promote Church Square as the historically rich, culturally textured environment it is.

Thesis (MTech. degree in Architecture (Professional))--Tshwane University of Technology, 2011. / Probably one of the strongest common threads running through the multi-cultural society of South Africa is its passion and love for the public performing arts. The thesis therefore encompasses the design of a Performing Arts Centre in Pretoria. The intention is to use the building and surrounding urban space to promote performing arts activities, where they can be taught, refined and performed. The intent is to provide a building which will not only house the performing arts, but also engage the urban place as a public performance stage.

Thesis (MTech. degree in Architecture: Professional)--Tshwane University of Technology, 2011. / This dissertation encompasses the design of a low security correctional facility to function as a community re-entry centre in central Pretoria. In recent years, the Department of Correctional Services realised that alternative approaches and innovation is desperately required to deal with the issues of overcrowding, recidivism, known as the habitual return to a life of crime, as well as the spiralling cost of incarceration in South African prisons. This dissertation proposes a new detention building type in South Africa within which the education, rehabilitation and reintegration of inmates can be dealt with holistically. In the proposed building, the designer will attempt to create awareness about the plight of offenders and their recovery from a life of crime while incorporating research with regards to sustainable architecture. It aspires to realising the opportunities that could arise from the human capital locked away in our correctional facilities if successful rehabilitation within an appropriate architectural environment could be implemented.

Thesis (MTech. degree in Architecture: Professional)--Tshwane University of Technology, 2010. / This dissertation focus on repopulating the north-west section of Pretoria's city, known as Marabastad. Evoking densification together with urban regeneration through a mixed-use affordable housing development, it will also acknowledge the presence of the remaining Marabastad and support the relationship between formal and informal trading whilst contributing to the overall existing function of the area as being a major transportation interchange node. The site that has been chosen is on the northern edge of Bloed Street and lies between Jerusalem Street and the Steenhoven Spruit.

Thesis (MTech. degree in Architecture (Professional Design)--Tshwane University of Technology, 2009. / The aim of this thesis is to design a music school [in Tshwane, South Africa] that will contribute to the development of our rich and vibrant music culture, which will furthermore assist in the promotion of the often unrecognized and struggling music industry as a major player in the South African economy. The building will contain practice and recording studios, together with classrooms for teaching music as well as performing spaces and administration facilities. The design attempts to introduce the building as a fully integrated element in the urban fabric and social infrastructure of the city so as to promote music and the performing arts to the broader public and help to redefine this precinct as the cultural heart of the inner city.

Thesis (MTech. degree in Architecture: Professional)--Tshwane University of Technology, 2010. / The thesis comprises the design of a building to facilitate teaching and learning for mature learners, specifically in the creative professions, in the centre of Pretoria. The building offers facilities and spaces for visiting artists, tutors and mentors as well as for courses and workshops in continuous professional development. A limited number of short term living quarters are also provided for visiting artists. Because of the central urban location, the building will also include retail components as well as exhibition and multimedia spaces for the general public. The design involves a new development as well as the renovation and embracing of the Ons Eerste Volksbank building.