Walking is a widely accessible mode of transportation, yet our urban environments are automobile dependent. Automobile dependence, in turn, led to a rise in the level of inactivity amongst urban residents. Studies investigating the relationship between urban form and human health created walkability indices measuring urban environmental features contributing to the walkability of an area. However, walkability has only recently become the subject of research within urban planning. Within a South African context limited research is available on walkability and to date, there is no metropolitan-wide walkability index for any South African metropolitan. The research presented in this dissertation addresses the gap in South African walkability studies through the composition of a walkability index for Cape Town. From previous studies, the research identifies three main measures of walkability. These measures and a fourth Cape Town specific measure of walkable areas around informal and formal destinations are quantified and mapped using GIS research methods and techniques. The GIS results are validated against field validations points depicting streetscapes within enumeration areas. Based on the results and the validation thereof the study suggests possible applications of the walkability index for non-motorised transport planning in Cape Town.

Includes bibliographical references / Affordable housing in Cape Town tends to be located far away from economic opportunities, social facilities and public transport infrastructure, which serves to reinforce inequality, burdening poor households and the City. This dissertation explores the current challenges in bringing well-located, affordable housing units to market in Cape Town; the opportunities for greater private sector participation; and the public interventions required in order to enable actors to overcome these challenges and capitalise on the opportunities. These issues were gradually refined from a global scale to a local area, beginning with a review of the relevant urban development and housing economics literature in order to form a theoretical framework, followed by an overview of the local housing market and national housing policy. Precedent, interviews and a workshop were then conducted with participants from the private and public sectors, NGOs and academia in order to explore the key challenges, opportunities and potential solutions in Cape Town. Finally, these challenges and opportunities were investigated and interventions proposed in a particular context, namely Parow train station precinct within the Voortrekker Road Corridor (VRC) in Cape Town. While a comprehensive review of national housing policy and funding is required, the focus of this dissertation is on the many city-scale interventions which are possible within a short- to medium-term, which tackle inefficiencies in the market and regulatory system in order to leverage the power of the private sector towards the goal of well-located affordable housing. The findings for Cape Town indicate that the greatest challenges for developers are the limited availability of well-located land at affordable prices; lack of depreciated, higher-density buildings for redevelopment; excessive parking ratios; delays in the development process; and a lack of nuanced market demand information. Fortunately, there are many opportunities, including a capable and facilitative municipality in Cape Town; growing private sector interest in affordable housing; the power of small-scale landlords and innovative design; a shift from ownership to rental; and potential synergy between affordable housing, transit-oriented development (TOD) and urban regeneration (provided policy and public spending are aligned). Key recommendations for public intervention, applicable both city-wide and to the Parow Study Area, are: firstly, to urgently develop programmatic (national and city scale) and area-based (precinct scale) strategies which position affordable housing (including social housing) as a catalyst for urban regeneration and TOD, and align public investment in order to incrementally densify appropriate areas; secondly, to protect and package public land for affordable housing and other public benefit uses; and thirdly, to remove obstacles to private sector provision of affordable housing by both institutional and small-scale actors (for example, by reducing parking requirements and restrictive development parameters (potentially through affordable housing overlay zones), making market data available and fast-tracking approvals). An essential institutional intervention is the creation of an inter-departmental 'affordable housing task-team' within the municipality to champion and facilitate such interventions.

Includes bibliographical references / Since the collaborative turn, planning has been 'captive to an inclusionary view of society' and to the assumed value that public participation automatically confers on development outcomes. In the global South however, the extreme diversity of people and activities coupled with 'advanced marginality', perhaps inspires different interpretations of 'public' and 'private' space and the activities enacted within each, as well as of the universal acceptance and application of formal processes which aim 'to include'. In this dissertation I explore the implicit value of public participation when planning with informality, for 14 skarrelers in Cape Town's Southern Suburbs, as well as the potential for a 'deepening' of democracy through more genuine and flexible forms of engagement and learning. This involves research participants setting the terms and settings of engagement prior to the development of objectives. Joining research participants 'on the skarrel', I learn that ontologies are fluid rather than fixed, with skarrelers expressing different desires for inclusion than expected. I argue that, at the heart of such engagements with informally organised and/or marginalized groups, there should be an ethic of care and justice, with a morality that is based on responsibility and relationships rather than rights and rules. This suggests a relational approach to planning that embraces principles of democracy and pluralism, and of difference and multiculturalism - one that is thoroughly flexible in both form and ontology, and that is able to achieve far more nuanced conceptions of what it means to be included - with genuine intentions to plan with informality, rather than for it.

Includes bibliographical references / Cities in South Africa are currently experiencing rapid urbanisation, especially Cape Town. Infrastructure development has long been a critical component with a large amount of money invested in the development of hard infrastructure. However, in light of excessive stormwater runoff, the increased deterioration of surface water resources, degraded water quality, and the rapid progression of climate change around the global, many cities including Cape Town have progressed towards more sustainable forms of infrastructure development. Discourse surrounding sustainable development often encourages the improvement of the quality of urban areas without compromising the carrying capacity of ecosystems. This is a fairly new model in South Africa, which challenges the underlying principles of conventional infrastructural design and management. There is particularly an enthusiastic interest in the promotion of green infrastructure as a water sensitive design strategy in the management of stormwater and surface water. Presently, drainage systems for urban areas in Cape Town are constructed using principles of hard infrastructure, which often consist of complex man-made networks of underground tunnels and pipes that gather and direct stormwater runoff towards a surface waterbody. However, the extensive development of drainage infrastructure has led to increased stormwater runoff volumes, flooding, and flows. Urban stormwater runoff is known to be one of main sources of pollution and degradation of waterbodies, which has in turn resulted in the degradation of other environmental assets. Therefore, the planning, design, and implementation of infrastructural solutions there is a need to move towards a more sustainable and water sensitive model, in order to remediate these problems. Green infrastructure in this respect offers an opportunity to better manage both stormwater and surface water in a more holistic, cost-effective, efficient and ecological sound manner. The main objective of green infrastructure urban water management is to mimicking the natural hydrological cycle through various stormwater management interventions, in order to achieve what conventional drainage systems currently do and beyond their existing capacity. This dissertation uses Paarden Eiland as a case study and experimental project site in order to assess and investigate how green infrastructure can be utilised to effectively manage stormwater runoff and surface water within a heavily developed urban area. It explores the potential benefits this method of management provides in comparison to a conventional infrastructural approach of management. This study also highlights some of the critical issues and barriers that urban practitioners need to take into account when implementing such systems. A green infrastructure urban water management framework and conceptual layout are presented in order to demonstrate potential green infrastructure tools and strategies that may be used in retrofitting heavily developed areas, as well as provide guidance on how spatial planning can be utilised as a tool in the planning, design, and implementation of green infrastructure as well as in overcoming identified financial, technical, and institutional barriers.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dept. of City and Regional Planning, 1965. / "June 1965." / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 389-394). / by Mahmoud Yousry Hassan. / Ph.D.

Thesis (M.C.P.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of City and Regional Planning, 1961. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 69-70). / by Miriam Libby Blank. / M.C.P.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of City and Regional Planning, 1969. / Vita. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 247-259). / by Alan Rabinowitz. / Ph.D.

Thesis (M.C.P.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of City and Regional Planning, 1964. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 94-95). / by Selma A. Hershdorfer. / M.C.P.

Thesis (M.C.P.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of City and Regional Planning, 1961. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 82-89). / by Noe V. Ilano. / M.C.P.

Thesis (B.C.P.) Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dept. of City and Regional Planning, 1947. / Bibliography: leaves 65-66. / by Kevin Lynch. / B.C.P.