For the first time, the world now has a higher urban than rural population, with the urban to rural ratio growing at a steady rate. Much of this urban growth and urbanisation (from rural areas to cities) is happening in low and middle income countries, with city authorities often unable to keep up and ‘formally’ meet new housing demands. This has led to growth in ‘unplanned-for’ parts of our cities (from a formal planning perspective), in the form of (among others) informal settlements, often referred to in international literature as ‘slums’. International best practice and contemporary housing policy in South Africa propose ’passive’ approaches to informal settlement intervention, such as in-situ upgrading. In Johannesburg planning and housing authorities are generally reluctant to implement such approaches however; opting rather for more ‘active’ approaches such as relocation to formal housing (Huchzermeyer, 2009; Harrison, Personal Communication, 2013). This study makes two contributions. The first, and overall objective, is a pragmatic one, the second a theoretical one, both intended to improve engagement between the residents of informal settlements and city authorities. The overall pragmatic objective aims to contribute to an evolving understanding of informal settlements in South Africa. This is specifically in bringing balance in thinking to often polarised understandings of informal settlements; for example, government’s focus on ‘vulnerability’ and scholarly attention to the positive role played by informal settlements in our cities. The report argues that we do need to acknowledge the vulnerabilities of residents living within informal settlements but that we must also recognise the positive role played by informal settlements within the broader urban system, and within the lives of mainly poor individuals and households. The report shows that informal settlements do offer the means for individuals and households to build personal, household and community resilience in an urban context. It is because of this understanding that the report does not propose ‘radical’ strategies to intervene in informal settlements such as relocation or even high-level formalisation. It argues for incremental – perhaps, seemingly, passive – approaches such as in-situ tenure, infrastructure and housing upgrades. However, these approaches do need to be pursued systematically and consistently to ensure real and enduring impacts at both settlement and city wide levels. As part of its pragmatic contribution the report addresses methodology of interventions. It shows that interventions should be case specific and tailored to the circumstances of individual informal settlements. To this end, the first step to any informal settlement intervention should be in depth research into the specific context and set of living conditions in the settlement. The study argues, too, that the method of this investigation should build on the knowledge of residents within the settlement, combining traditional technical analysis with recently developed methods in which residents themselves play a leading role in informal data collection and analysis. The theoretical contribution brings together three streams of theory relating to three key concepts, being ‘urban informality’, ‘vulnerability’ and ‘resilience’. More specifically, it aims to bring concepts of urban informality into engagement with ideas of urban resilience, as suggested by Miller, et al. (2010). Two general views of informality and informal settlements are outlined, which are termed ‘informality as vulnerability’ and ‘informality as resilience’. The former often leads to a response that seeks to ‘eradicate’ informal settlements either through relocation or formalisation. The latter recognises the positive, adaptive nature of informal settlements as real and functional parts of our urban landscapes, calling for their integration into rather than exclusion from our cities. It is the adaptive capacity of informal settlements – or, rather of the individuals and households within the informal settlements – that provides the links between notions of informality and notions of resilience. In this sense, the idea of resilience in relation to informal settlements is a short-hand for discussing the extent to which informal settlements are able to: bring residents into a closer relationships with jobs, livelihood opportunities and services; provide poor households with access to land and affordable accommodation; and, provide a form of shelter that can adjust to the changing needs of households through their various life-cycles. The report recognises that resilience is an elastic concept used in various ways which is both a conceptual strength and limitation. The report outlines, for example, the differences between ‘equilibrist’ and ‘evolutionary’ conceptions of resilience. This work is positioned closer to the evolutionary conception as it views resilience as the capacity to adapt on an on-going basis to a continually changing world. However, it acknowledges that the equilibrist notion also has value as there are instances when for example, a settlement or a household should resist or recover from a shock (fire, flooding, a criminal attack or the loss of a job) and restore what may approximate an original circumstance. The report also acknowledges that resilience may be used as an analytical or normative term. Analytically, the idea of resilience – and the methodologies linked to it – is a means to test the adaptive capacity of households or other social formations, including human settlement. As a normative concept, resilience is an aspiration (as used, for example, in the City of Johannesburg 2040 Strategy). Although it is used normatively here, the report acknowledges that resilience is not intrinsically positive. Many negative features of a city may also prove to be highly resilient such as, for example, the spatial legacies of Apartheid rule. This ‘perverse resilience’ does require special attention. Within informal settlements, many of the ‘vulnerabilities’ may prove to be hugely resilient. This report focuses however on the positive dimension of resilience - on the extent to which the environment provided by informal settlements enhances the adaptive capacity of individuals and households. Through an investigation into the positive and negative aspects of living in Kya Sands, the study argues that when considering and engaging with informal settlements, planning authorities should not focus only on their undesirable characteristics (from which vulnerability is inferred). Authorities should also consider the benefits that informal settlements provide to their residents and the city at large (to which resilience is compared, but not equated). While interventions in informal settlements should address the clear vulnerability to a number of hazards that many of their residents face, interventions should not ‘eradicate’ the benefits that residents gain from living there. It is argued that resilience of informal settlements is based on the creativity and adaptive capacity through which their inhabitants have gained access to the city, despite their effective (formal) exclusion from it. A final contribution of the study is the empirical information is offers on one informal settlement in Johannesburg. Although there have been various investigations into the scale of informal settlement in the city, in-depth study of particular informal settlements are still rare.

In its aim to redress the inequalities of the past, the South African cities of today turned a blind eye to the urban, rural, natural & social needs of citizens. Our cities, as they stand today, reflect an urban form that is neither sustainable nor equitable. Our cities do not invest in social capital nor aim to react to the reality of diminishing recourses. They are not ‘civic in nature, pedestrian friendly, nor environmentally smart’. When did our cities become so unimportant and disconnected from society? Through this Research & Design Report it is explored whether South African cities (case study: Springs, Ekurhuleni Metropolitan Municipality, South Africa) can be transformed through retrofitting cities, building cities, making cities, unmaking cities, redeveloping cities, restructuring cities by placing the needs of citizens and nature first_ to inform urbanization, natural resources and the infrastructure that feeds it. It is examined here whether the answer could lie with the application of measured urbanization. It is within the measurement of these urban elements that the future of South African cities can be imagined, it is through the SMART application of these measured responses that broad based realistic and true change will be brought about; that the urban barriers of segregation, isolation & exclusion will be overcome.

A dissertation submitted as partial fulfilment of the requirements for Master of Urban Design in the Department of Architecture, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, October 1993 / No abstract supplied.

M.A. (Economics) / The purpose of this study was to determine whether the developmental experience pertaining to urbanization in Malaysia and South Korea is applicable to South Africa. Urbanization, urbanization policy and the consequences of urbanization in South Africa are investigated. Urbanization in Malaysia and South Korea, with specific reference to Seoul, is investigated after which the developmental experience in relation to urbanization of these countries is applied to South Africa. Research was also done to determine to what extent urbanization is addressed by the Reconstruction and Development Prograrrune and the White Paper on Reconstruction and Development. From the study, the conclusion can be drawn that from the developmental experience regarding urbanization in Malaysia and South Korea, definite lessons can be learned and solutions found on how to accommodate urbanization in South Africa. The developmental experience regarding urbanization in Malaysia and South Korea has shown that the unequal structuring of the community and economy of Malaysia had given rise to conflict and competition between racial groups which had been counteracted by urbanization. Urbanization in Malaysia was accompanied by industrialization and the upliftment of the rural areas couldn't retard urbanization. Urbanization occurred with continuous economical growth and the New Economic Policy of Malaysia played an important role in the restructuring of the community and the economy of the country. The government played a constructive role in urbanization in Malaysia and followed a non-spatial goal in its strategy for urbanization and industrial settlement. Land ownership complicated urbanization in Malaysia. An enabling process was followed to make ethnic Malaysians part of the urban economy. This led to a negative feeling towards the New Economic Policy amongst the non-Malaysians. Urbanization was very successfully managed in South Korea, with a land redistribution process that accommodated urbanization and established participatory urban service systems. The applicability of the developmental experience regarding urbanization in Malaysia and South Korea on South Africa is vested in the fact that South Africa also has an unequally structured community and economy that has to be restructured and transformed by means of urbanization. The industrial settlement policy of South Africa will have to be adapted to accommodate urbanization. Ethnic polarization must be prevented in the development of the rural areas.

Thesis is submitted in partial fulfilment for the degree of Master of Architecture (Professional) to the Faculty of Engineering and the Built Environment, School of Architecture and Planning at the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2017 / Ever since we as humans sat around fires in caves, we have been sharing stories in an attempt to understand life and the need to survive. Storytelling is an integral part of human experience. We define our lives in narrative form. It gives us a means to explain the inexplicable and understand our lives in the context of a greater whole. The increasing prevalence of technologies like cell phones, tablets, and laptops has lead to a phenomenon of disconnection between people in the physical dimension. Instead of communicating faceto-face, with all of our senses engaged, we rely on technology to interact with friends and share our stories. South Africa’s current political climate, and particularly the protests on University campuses across the country in the past year, has emphasised the idea that society is suffering from a lack of real communication. This research proposes that stories can create change in the built environment, through building design, in the same way that stories affect our personal beliefs and understanding. Thus the concept of narrative and memory and how it manifests itself in architectural design and discourse is explored. This report finds that nostalgia and phenomenology play a significant role in producing connections between people and the built environment and these theories must be employed to create strong narratives in architecture. Orange Grove, once a vibrant suburb along Louis Botha Avenue, has suffered from a lack of investment and development since the 1990s. Ultimately I employ perceptual and conceptual design philosophies to design a sustainable intervention within the already rich context of Orange Grove. The Story Exchange building design proposes that only through art, craft and open tactile interaction (that involves all the senses) - can one produce architecture that becomes a catalyst for the creative upliftment of the area and its community. / XL2018

M.Com. (Development Economics) / According to section 152 (1) of the Republic of South African Constitution Act (No. 108 of 1996), the municipalities are required by law to provide basic services in a sustainable manner to their respective communities. However, the municipalities have been facing challenges in carrying out their mandate successfully. One of the major obstacles in this regard has been the increasing rate of urbanisation due to various factors. Service delivery protests by the respective communities continue to be on the rise as well due to insufficient access to the basic services provided by the municipalities. The main aim of this paper was to explore the impact of urbanisation on the delivery of basic services by the municipalities in Gauteng Province. In this study, the four basic services categories namely, access to water, electricity, sewerage and sanitation as well as solid waste management formed an integral part of the weighted service delivery index and thus the dependent variable. Urbanisation, capital expenditure and operating expenditure were the explanatory variables. The research has demonstrated that urbanisation does have an impact on the level of basic service delivery. Even though the government mobilises resources towards the delivery of basic services, these resources are insufficient to cater for the needs of the population as a whole.

Colonial and apartheid policies imposed a segregated urban form on Johannesburg and have led to a limited and generally incoherent knowledge of the city across most segments of the population. Representations of the city in cultural mediums including film allow residents to cross boundaries and make conceptual and practical connections and are therefore important in addressing past legacies. Johannesburg’s moving image history is only ten years younger than the city and over this time the representation of the city in film has provided insight into the nature of this urban agglomeration. But the representation of the city in film has been inconsistent and erratic and requires close analysis. It is important to understand the ways in which the city has been represented and how it features in popular mediums of culture and also how it contributes to the discourse of the city. There is very little understanding of how films are being received by residents of the spaces and places depicted on the screen, and even less on how these films influence the everyday practices of these residents. This thesis draws on the idea of a ‘circuit of culture’ to explore both the representation of the city through film, and the impact of this representation on urban practice. To structure this analysis the thesis makes use of four lenses: materiality; identity; mobility; and crime. It provides an analysis of films with Johannesburg as a major location that were produced and screened after 1994. Surveys and interviews were conducted in four different locations in the city, each of which have been the site of film production and have been distinctly represented on the screen: Chiawelo; CBD; Fordsburg; and, Melville. The study concludes that film can facilitate a greater understanding of the complex city for the residents of Johannesburg but that there are nevertheless clear limitations to what film can achieve. Films provide information and ‘accessibility’ to unknown spaces, encouraging interaction with the city, through exploration, familiarity and comfort but film can also be a conservative medium that reduces and typecasts complexity. Films often reinforce spatial stereotypes but they can also produce a “resistant reading” that helps transgress spatial boundaries.

Thesis is submitted in partial fulfilment for the degree of Master of Architecture (Professional) to the Faculty of Engineering and the Built Environment, School of Architecture and Planning at the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2017 / The end of apartheid signalled the need to reinvent and re-configure South African cites not just spatially but economically as well, to be more inclusive of the people it once marginalized and excluded. South Africa’s urban identity is intrinsically intertwined with the history of apartheid to the point where it is impossible to have the one without the other. Johannesburg much like all the other cities in South Africa is and was an Apartheid project; the city was a tool used to perpetuate and enforce a system of economic exclusion which later developed into social and cultural segregation. Despite its nearly complete re-population after 1994, the city today, as dynamic and vibrant as it is, still poses remnants of the apartheid era. The people who had not been allowed into the city have become its primary residents, yet not its owners. And because the city was never designed for them, they have had to make, re-make and reconfigure the city for themselves. Through this process of making, re-making and re-configuring innovative solutions to everyday problems are tried tested and developed to integrate the urban African into the city. The changing demographics manifested growth through informal infill to create the Johannesburg we know today. It is by the process of negotiation between the formal and the informal economy that Johannesburg assumes its identity. The resilience of the informal economy could be attributed to the social networks that govern its relationships. The combination of social networks and the process of re-making the city suggest the informal as a strategy for urban regeneration that heals the city in its entirety by intervening in sensitive points in the urban fabric. This thesis investigates the shifting role of the informal in, the need for a change in approach when dealing with the informal and looks at the informal as a skill and form of knowledge. / MT2017

Thesis is submitted in partial fulfilment for the degree of Master of Urban Design to the Faculty of Engineering and the Built Environment, at the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2017 / Influenced by the thinking of the Garden City movement, gated and so-called lifestyle security estates have become overwhelmingly popular in many cities across the world. With demand fuelled by a combination of security concerns and a belief that such schemes provides enhanced efficiency and comfortability, these estates have come under severe scrutiny with regards to its apparent spatial and socio-economic impacts on the city structure as a whole. However, despite the severe criticism and awareness, these types of developments have showed very little signs of decline - thus perhaps illustrating a real economic rationale in the desire of people to reside in environments with higher perceptions of safety and control. Cities respond to this by clearly delineating urban development boundaries and even in some cases publish design principles that promote integration and inclusion. These more than often become contested by means of political- and private sector influences resulting in the perpetual realities of estate development and no real prohibiting actions and remedial recourse. Given these realities, what then does the future hold for our city landscape? Could we possibly reposition ourselves now to better the outcome later? Using Steyn City and Dainfern in the Fourways area, as two mega development case studies, this academic inquiry seeks to reflect on the status quo of estate developments and creatively find internal possible clues within the very structuring elements of such schemes that could potentially unlock and ‘un-gate’ developments and in the process improve access to opportunities in the city. This could surely not only provide new insights as to what the potential future can be, but it also provides the opportunity to redefine the ‘right to the city’ and opportunity in already deprived and isolated localities. / XL2018

A nine (9) point project report submitted to the Faculty of Engineering, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science in Engineering / The successful execution of urban development projects in South Africa's developing comunities is not, as recent experience has amply demonstrated, solely a matter of resolving the technical difficulties. This report motivates the opinion that other matters outside the traditional responsibility of the civil engineer are vital to successful urban development. These matters include planning for economic development. urban managerial and financial matters as well as peripheral project related issues. The report identifies and reviews the most important issues in each of the above mentioned categories, and, based on the author's experience in practice, suggests approaches to these matters. The report concludes that civil engineers, and particularly project managers, should reconsider their role in urban development, A need exists is in this field for project managers to broaden their scope to the management of development in its widest sense. Should timeous action not be taken by the engineering profession to prepare their members for this new role, the void is bound to be filled by another discipline. / Andrew Chakane 2018