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 report is an investigation of urban parks as public space in Johannesburg inner-city. It investigates the current situation of a deteriorating degree of public space in Johannesburg due to growing levels of privatisation and incapacity of the public sector to design, manage and maintain good quality, inclusive and safe public open spaces in the city. My research aims at being a radical re-imagining of Inner-city of Johannesburg, through urban design, in how the inner-city can be (spatially) transformed and reconfigured through open public space, as part of the decolonization agenda for African cities. In my study, I investigate the nature of urban parks in Johannesburg’s inner-city, in an attempt to understand the ways they are being used by different user groups and how this is affected by the way they are physically designed and managed. It presents three chosen parks of study; Joubert Park, End Street Park (North and South), and Nugget Street Park, located in Doornfontein Johannesburg, and look into the chosen park’s connectivity and accessibility to streets and other public spaces. I assess how the parks’ location and proximity to activities and public infrastructure/amenities (such as housing units, retail outlets, schools and public transport interchanges) affects the number and type of users that use them as well as the kind of activities within them. As part of this assessment will be the issue of safety and security within parks and how current management approaches have been used to address the issue. I, through my research, question current urban design and management approaches; aimed at achieving increased levels of use and safety in terms of the impact they have had on the city’s public open spaces. Questions are asked on the effectiveness of safety measures such as fences, gates and security cameras and personnel and how they impact on the degree of ‘publicness’ and safety in the city’s public open spaces. As part of its aim of understanding the nature of parks in the inner-city of Johannesburg, the research reviews existing literature that has been written on public space/public park use and design and the ‘ideal’ approaches to good design and management. It focuses on the ideal of an ‘Open City’ and questions of ‘publicness’ in park use and management. The notion of decolonising Johannesburg as an African city (in its current neo-apartheid segregatory form) is also interrogated. Questions are asked on the definition of what African urban space is and the principles of its form and function, based on precolonial African city examples. The principle of common space and collective ownership and use is discussed as an essential principle that framed the configuration of african public space, which was lost in the introduction of colonial city formations. The report1 presents an analysis of End Street North and South Park located on the north and south ends of the railway line along Nugget Street in Doornfontein. It assesses the process in which End Street South Park was (re)designed and upgraded in 2009 as part of the Ellis Park precinct development for the 2010 World cup, and critically assesses the outcomes of its design in terms of both the successes and failures of the upgrade. In the analysis the report illustrates how though the park’s upgrade reduced violent crimes such as muggings in the park, the park contains illicit activities such as gambling and drug use spots along its edges and corners. The use of high fencing in the new design and deployment of private security in the park was found not to be entirely solving issues of safety in the park. Although the fence was intended to assist in the management and control of who accesses and uses the park for safety reasons, it contributes towards creating hidden spaces for gambling, drug use and bullying to occur away from the eyes of the public. The analysis of End Street North Park involves the documentation of the End Street North Park upgrade pilot project that tests a participatory approach to park design and management for safety. The objective of the project was to demonstrate an integrated stakeholder approach to public space design and management that involves sector contributions from different city departments as well as engagement with city residents and other park users in designing a safe, inclusive and sustainable public space though participatory tools and methods. This set of findings from End Street North and South Parks reveal that park use and safety issues cannot be completely addressed through design and installation of physical safety measures such as high fences, law enforcement and regulation of use by security guards or park managers alone. The report indeed proposes a radical and aggressive urban design framework and/or strategy towards transforming inner-city Johannesburg’s spatial fabric through urban park and open public space design. Part of this process involves looking into alternative design related ways of dealing with aspects of use and safety in parks as well as aspects of public participation, community co-design and comanagement processes. / XL2018

This document is submitted in partial fulfilment for the degree: Master of Arch[Prof] at the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, in the year 2015 / Domestic workers in South Africa are a vulnerable work force who are not financially or socially recognised for the significant role they play in sustaining homes, suburbs and society. The topic of domestic work serves as a lens through which to analyse the intersectional issues of race, gender and class in South Africa and their spatial manifestations. I have found that spatial principles employed, historically and currently, play a substantial role in creating or upholding the unbalanced power relationship governing domestic work. The spatial techniques of separation, isolation, concealment, surveillance, front to back and leisure to work relationships for example, have become so mundane and normalized in South African society that it is difficult to identify these factors as facilitators of race, gender and class discrimination. My spatial approach is to utilize these principles in a way that disrupts and draws attention to their original objective. The program aims to recognise the significance of this occupation, give domestic Workers collective power to negotiate their working conditions and facilitate social mobility. The building is a mix-use centre which incorporates business, accommodation, communal and public facilities, activities and gathering spaces a landscaped park. The business facilities incorporate existing services in a more formalized, professionalized manner, ensuring fair remuneration and recognition for quality services. The centre additionally provides services in more interactive, sustainable and economically efficient ways than they are traditionally provided for in individual private homes. These communal services include a children’s day care, public laundry and eatery. The intention is to create a prototype that may be reproduced in any suburb thereby creating a network of centres. The selection of the park in Norwood as a site serves to reactivate an underutilized public space and in so doing challenge the existing relationships of work and leisure, public and private and social hierarchies in the suburb. The position of this project in the relatively, sparsely populated suburbs would change the racial and financial demographic. It would be a new typology for high density, low cost/ government subsidised housing in a way that integrates infrastructure and public space. / EM2017

M.A. / Please refer to full text to view abstract

M.A. / It has been proven that all over the world informal settlements have come about as a result of housing shortage. Housing crisis is directly associated with rapid population growth which in turn leads to rapid urbanisation. Rapid urbanisation which puts tremendous stress in infrastructure available in the cities, is a process which cannot be reversed or stopped. It needs to be managed by the city authorities. That also is problematic because cities do not always have the resources to cope with this demand. This thesis puts forward suggestions that could be used to alleviate the dilemma facing the Greater Johannesburg Metropolitan Council, with the cum of throwing light on how informal settlements can be dealt with in the changing economy of South Africa. In order to address the research problem and fulfil the research objectives, a literature study was done, which gave various strategies that have been adopted in other countries. The literature study has been largely used to compare South Africa with other countries such as Brazil, Peru, Kenya, etc. who are faced with rapid urbanisation. A historical overview of urbanisation in South Africa, beginning in the early twentieth century has been given. This was done to illustrate the evolution of the South African legal system in an attempt to cope with events emanating from the discovery of gold in the Johannesburg area. Attempts by the new government to support the local authorities, particularly the Greater Johannesburg Metropolitan Council have been acknowledged. For example, the establishment of the Development Facilitation Act, the Botshabelo. Accord, the repeal of laws which made it impossible for people to take control of their destinies, are a few of these attempts. The emphasis in this study a placed on the involvement of people as a management tool in the development process.

Ph.D. (Energy Studies) / The purpose of this research was to assess the influences of transport infrastructure on urban development and mobility in emerging megacities. The method is demonstrated using the Gauteng City-Region as a case study. The main criteria were to assess how past urban growth patterns have been influenced by the established transport infrastructure, to assess the transport energy implications of past trends and on this basis, develop land-use/transport scenarios that optimise space, transport accessibility and energy. The procedure involved a time-series analysis of Landsat satellite-derived land-use change at three decadal intervals (1991, 2001 and 2009), spatial analysis of corridor (ribbon/linear) development using a series of urban growth maps in conjunction with transport infrastructure, estimation of the transport energy implications of current and past urban structures and the development of possible urban land-use/transport scenarios. The land-use change and urban growth trends analysis was based on a method combining land-use/cover mapping of Landsat5 Thematic Mapper (TM) and Landsat7 Enhanced Thematic Mapper Plus (ETM+) satellite imagery, supervised classification and post-classification. Effects of transport infrastructure on land-use development were assessed by analysing urban growth densities within buffer zones of major roads and railway stations, at 0.5 km intervals. To estimate the transport energy implications of current and past urban structures, satellite imagery derived urban growth data are combined with products of the Gauteng Transportation Study 2000 (GTS 2000) model developed on the EMME/2™ platform. Future land-use/transport scenarios are developed within the framework of critiqued urban growth models, success and failures stories in other city-regions, policy positions of the three spheres of Government and preceding results of this study...

Thesis (PhD)--University of Stellenbosch, 2002. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Suburbanisation is a world-wide phenomenon and is characterised by the decline of central business districts and accelerated growth of commercial activities in the suburbs. The impact of suburbanisation is wide-spread and multi-dimensional, affecting the whole urban system in terms of its structure, activity and transport patterns. In South Africa, suburbanisation, together with the impact of the former group areas policy, has made suburban developments less accessible to the low-income groups living on the edges of the metropolitan area. Planners have proposed various urban densification strategies for the rather unique problems of the spatially inefficient South African cities, including corridor development along main public transport routes and the development of activity nodes. In order to implement these urban densification strategies successfully, it is important to understand the locational choice behaviour of business managers, and the factors that will attract them to locate in a certain area. This will enable metropolitan authorities to evaluate and implement the best policies to promote development of priority corridors and nodes The research for this dissertation was motivated by the extensive problems of suburbanisation, the lack of knowledge on the relative impact of land-use transport factors on the locational choices of businesses, and the apparent limited application of stated preference (SP) survey techniques and discrete choice models to spatial choices of businesses for urban planning purposes. The main objectives of the research were to determine the locational choice behaviour of retail businesses in strategic spatial terms, and how this knowledge can best be used to manage suburbanisation. The dissertation reviews intemational and South African studies on the planning and policies of the main role players in the urban system relating to retail suburbanisation, i.e. the planning authority, retail firms and consumers. The dissertation discusses the results of the market research that was done among Cape Town retailers located in the CSO, and in low- and high-income suburbs. The survey collected quantitative information regarding the locational choice factors of retail managers, importance ratings of choice factors as well as stated preferences for CSO and suburban locations. The calibration results of various discrete locational choice models are discussed, including elasticities of choice factors obtained from model applications to the SP data. The development of a spreadsheet locational choice model based on typical characteristics of CSO and suburban locations is subsequently discussed. Elasticities of choice factors from the application of the spreadsheet model were determined and the model was also used to test a decentralisation trend scenario and a managed suburbanisation scenario. The dissertation makes conclusions and recommendations regarding the most important locational choice factors of retail managers, and the most effective policies and strategies for metropolitan authorities to manage suburbanisation and promote urban densification. The performance of SP models applied to spatial choices are also evaluated and recommendations are made regarding their application and further research needs. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Stedelike desentralisasie is 'n wêreldwye verskynsel wat gekenmerk word deur die verval van sentrale sakegebiede (SSG) en die snelle groei van handelsbedrywighede in voorstede. Die impak van desentralisasie is verreikend en multi-dimensioneel en beïnvloed die hele stadstelsel in terme van sy struktuur, aktiwiteite and reispatrone. In Suid Afrika het desentralisasie saam met die impak van die voormalige groepsgebiedebeleid voorstedelike ontwikkelings minder toeganklik gemaak vir die lae-inkomstegroepe wat op die rand van die metropolitaanse gebiede woon. Beplanners het verskeie stadsverdigtingstrategieë, insluitende korridorontwikkeling langs hoofvervoerroetes en die ontwikkeling van aktiwiteitsnodusse voorgestelom die unieke probleme van die ruimtelik ondoeltreffende Suid-Afrikaanse stede die hoof te bied. Om hierdie stadsverdigtingstrategieë suksesvol te implementeer, is dit egter belangrik om die liggingskeusegedrag van besigheidsbestuurders, sowel as die faktore wat hulle beweeg om hulle in 'n spesifieke gebied te vestig, te verstaan. Hierdie kennnis sal metropolitaanse owerhede in staat stelom beleid te evalueer en die beste beleidsopsies te implementeer om die ontwikkeling van voorkeurkorridors en nodusse te bevorder. Die navorsing vir hierdie verhandeling is gemotiveer deur die omvattende probleme wat deur stedelike desentralisasie veroorsaak word, die gebrek aan kennis oor die relatiewe impak van grondgebruik-vervoerfaktore op die liggingskeuse van besighede, en die klaarblyklik beperkte toepassing van verklaardevoorkeuropnametegnieke (V V) en diskrete-keusemodelle op die liggingskeuses van besighede vir stadsbeplanningsdoeleindes. Die hoofdoelstellings van die navorsing was om die liggingskeusegedrag van kleinhandelbesighede in strategiese ruimtelike terme te bepaal en vas te stel hoe hierdie kennis gebruik kan word om stedelike desentralisasie te bestuur. In hierdie verhandeling word 'n oorsig gegee van die internasionale en Suid- Afrikaanse studies oor die beplanning en beleid van die belangrikste rolspelers in the stadstelsel wat desentralisasie van kleinhandel betref, naamlik die beplanningsowerheid, kleinhandelfirmas en verbruikers. Die resultate van marknavorsing onder kleinhandelaars vanuit Kaapstad se SSG en lae- en hoë-inkomstevoorstede, word bespreek. Die opname het kwantitatiewe inligting oor die liggingskeusefaktore van kleinhandelaars, die belangrikheid wat hulle aan keusefaktore heg, en hulle verklaarde voorkeure ten opsigte van vestiging in die SSG of die voorstede, ingesamel. Die kalibrasieresultate van verskeie diskretekeusemodelle word bespreek, insluitende die elastisiteite van keusefaktore wat deur die toepassing van die modelop V V-data verkry is. Vervolgens word die ontwikkeling van 'n liggingskeusemodel in 'n spreitabel wat op tipiese kenmerke van SSG- en voorstedelike liggings gebaseer is, bespreek. Elastisteite van die liggingsfaktore is bepaal deur die toepassing van die spreitabelmodel, en die model is ook gebruik om 'n desentraliasietendensscenario en 'n bestuurdedesentralisasiescenario te toets. Ten slotte word daar gevolgtrekkings en aanbevelings gemaak oor die belangrikste liggingskeusefaktore van kleinhandelaars, en die mees effektiewe beleidsopsies en strategieë wat metropolitaanse owerhede kan volg om stedelike desentralisasie te bestuur en stadsverdigting te bevorder. Die werkverrigting van V V-modelle wanneer dit op die liggingskeuse van besighede toegepas word, word ook geëvalueer en aanbevelings word gemaak oor die toepassing daarvan en verdere navorsing wat nodig is

M.A. (Psychology) / Please refer to full text to view abstract

Rural-urban migration appears to be an ongoing process in South Africa. This is attributed to various reasons. In itself, the process contributes towards an ongoing demand for services such as housing, water, sanitation and transportation systems. Rural – urban migration plays a key role in urbanization. The living conditions in rural areas appear to be the main contributing factors towards rural-urban migration. This indicates that the challenges facing rural communities include the creation of conducive environments within those communities. Hence, the issue of rural-urban migration should be addressed from the spatial and socio – economic perspectives. In an attempt to address human settlements needs, South Africa has a policy framework which supports the right to housing as it has been accorded to South African citizens by their Constitution. The objective is to ensure that there is adequate housing for South Africans. This study investigated and analysed the relationship between rural-urban migration and housing delivery in Clermont Township in the Province of KwaZulu-Natal. The participants included the residents of Clermont Township and the representatives of the eThekwini Municipality. Among others, the study found that rural-urban migration is an ongoing process which affects housing delivery in urban areas. As a result it continues to make the objective of ensuring that there is adequate housing for South Africans unattainable. Hence, attention should be paid to the effects of rural-urban migration in housing delivery.

Black urban schools in South Africa are frequently beset by problems such as inadequate facilities and resources; poor motivation among teachers and pupils; poor family relations and a high incidence of violence. Against this background and in view of evidence that effective parent involvement in education addresses many of these problems, this study explored parent involvement in black urban communities. A literature study investigated existing theories and models of parent involvement; the urbanisation of and educational provision for black people in South Africa in historical perspective and the limited involvement of black parents in schools. Furthermore, legislation concerning education and parent involvement since 1994 was reviewed. A qualitative investigation of parent involvement in three primary schools in a black urban community in Gauteng was conducted. Data gathering was done by participant observation; in-depth interviews with three principals and focus group interviews with three groups of teachers and four groups of parents. Data were analysed, discussed and synthesised. The major findings emerged: school-home relations are shaped by the context of a particular school and community; as a result of changing family structures, children are cared for by different caregivers who require advice on parenting; poverty and overcrowded living conditions adversely affect family life and thus, home-school relations; caregivers experience difficulty in adjusting to changed family circumstances; young people often display behavioural problems and a lack of discipline; poor motivation to learn; are sexually active and require parental and teachers' guidance. Conditions in urban schools were exacerbated by disruption in primary and secondary schools during the apartheid era. Parents require advice in preparing children for school and supporting them at school. Teachers need parental support to fulfil their multiple roles; guidance in implementing a school policy on parent involvement; improving communication between the school and home; involving parents in children's home learning and decision making in the school. While the current government policy to establish governing structures in schools is commendable, it is recommended that, because comprehensive parent involvement programmes have long-term positive effects, parent involvement should be implemented more broadly than envisaged by present policy. / Educational Studies / D. Ed. (Comparative Education)

Thesis (MPhil)--Stellenbosch University, 2011. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Integrating the poor into the fibre of the city is an important theme in housing and urban policies in post-apartheid South Africa. In other words, the need for making place for the ‘black’ majority in urban spaces previously reserved for ‘whites’ is premised on notions of equity and social change in a democratic political dispensation. However, these potentially transformative thrusts have been eclipsed by more conservative, neoliberal developmental trajectories. Failure to transform apartheid spatialities has worsened income distribution, intensified suburban sprawl, and increased the daily livelihood costs of the poor. After a decade of unintended consequences, new policy directives on informal settlements were initiated through Breaking New Ground (DoH 2004b). Local governments have nevertheless been slow to implement this new instrument despite more participatory, flexible, integrated and situational responsive policies contained therein. The City of Cape Town was one of the first applicants for Upgrading of Informal Settlements Programme (DoH 2004a, DHS 2009) funding in upgrading Hangberg’s informal settlement after effective lobbying by local civic Hout Bay Civic Association (HBCA) assisted by the Cape Town-based NGO, Development Action Group (DAG). However, in September 2010 the upgrading project came to a standstill when Metropolitan Police clashed violently with community members who allegedly broke a key agreement when building informal structures on the Sentinel Mountain firebreak. Using the case study research methodology, the study seeks to unravel the governance complexities elicited by this potentially progressive planning intervention. Four theoretical prisms are used to probe and investigate the primary case study (Hangberg) due to the different ways of ‘seeing and grappling’ and ‘narrating’ a complex tale. This is characterised by the dialectics of power and powerlessness; regime stabilisation and destabilisation; formalisation and informalisation; continuity and discontinuity. These prisms are: urban informality, urban governance, deepening democracy, and socio-spatial justice. By utilising these four theoretical prisms, the study found the Hangberg case to be atypical of development trajectories, on the one hand, and conforming to the enduring neoliberal governance logics, on the other. In the concluding chapter, the study critically engages prospects of realising post-apartheid spatialities by considering recent policy shifts and programmes with the potential of realising the poor’s ‘right to the city’. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: ‘n Belangrike tema in post-apartheid behuising- en stedelike beleide is die integrasie van arm mense in die weefsel van die stad. Anders gestel, die nodigheid om plek te maak vir die ‘swart’ meerderheid in stedelike spasies wat voorheen vir ‘wittes’ uitgesonder is, is gebaseer op die uitgangspunt van regverdigheid en sosiale verandering in ‘n demokratiese bedeling. Hierdie potensiële hervormings-nosies is egter verduister deur meer konserwatiewe, neo-liberale ontwikkelings-trajekte. Die mislukte pogings om apartheids-ruimtes te omvorm, beteken dat inkomsteverdeling vererger is, wydstrekkende verstedeliking in meer intensiewe vorms voorkom, en die daaglikse lewenskoste van die armes verhoog het. Na ‘n dekade van onopsetlike gevolge is nuwe beleids-riglyne vir informele nedersettings voorgestel deur Breaking New Ground (DoH 2004a). Plaaslike owerhede was egter tot dusver traag om hierdie nuwe instrument te implementeer, ten spyte daarvan dat meer deelnemende, buigsame, geïntegreerde en situasioneel-aanpasbare beleide daarin vervat is. Die Stad Kaapstad was een van die eerste applikante vir Upgrading of Informal Settlements Programme (DoH 2004b, DHS 2009) befondsing om Hangberg se informele nedersetting te opgradeer, nadat effektiewe druk uitgeoefen is deur die Hout Bay Civic Association (HBCA), met ondersteuning van die NRO, Development Action Group (DAG), wat in Kaapstad gebaseer is. Maar in September 2010 het die opgradering-projek tot stilstand gekom nadat die Metropolitaanse Polisie gewelddadig met gemeenskapslede gebots het, omdat die gemeenskap na bewering ‘n belangrike ooreenkoms gebreek het deur informele strukture op die brandstrook te bou. Deur van die gevalstudie navorsing-metodologie gebruik te maak, beoog hierdie studie om die bestuurskompleksiteite te ontrafel wat deur hierdie potensiële omvormde beplannings-intervensie uitgelok is. Vier teoretiese prismas word gebruik om die primêre geval (Hangberg) te ondersoek in die lig van die verskillende maniere waarop hierdie komplekse narratief gesien kan word. Dit word gekenmerk deur die dialekte van mag en magteloosheid; stabilisasie en destabilisasie van die staatsbestel; formalisering en deformalisering; samehangendheid en onsamehangendheid. Die prismas is: stedelike informaliteit, stedelike bestuur, verdieping van demokrasie en sosio-ruimtelike regverdigheid. Deur van hierdie vier prismas gebruik te maak, wys die studie tot watter mate die Hangberg geval aan die een kant atipies tot ontwikkelings-trajekte is, en aan die ander kant konformeer tot die voortdurende neo-liberale bestuurslogika. In die slothoofstuk, is die studie krities bemoei met die vooruitsig om die post-apartheid-stad te realiseer deur huidige beleidsveranderinge en programme te ondersoek met die vergrootglas op hul potensiaal vir transformasie en om die armes se ‘reg tot die stad’ te bevorder.