This thesis analyzes the validity of main assumptions of housing classes approach, which is a Weberian mode of analyses developed to explain the effects of spatial stratification on social structures of cities, in an empirical level through a case study. According to this approach, housing is a scarce resource which is subject to processes of competition between different social groups and struggles among these groups to get access to desirable housing types constitute the basis of urban social processes. In this context, it is suggested that housing type resided in has apparent effect on individuals&rsquo / position in social stratification system and their life chances are restricted in the style and location of housing to which they could get access. It is seen that the way of analysis proposed by housing classes approach has certain effects on urban studies conducted in Turkey, as well. These studies suggest that differences in accessed housing types and in living spaces on a large scale affects life chances of social groups residing in there. By the same token, apartment and squatter (gecekondu) have been used as two concepts representing the relationships of different social sections with the city and they have been considered as two different social environments or neighborhoods. In this context, in addition to analyzing the main assumptions of housing classes approach in an empirical level, this study also questions the mode of analysis used in studies conducted in Turkey insofar as they share the main assumptions of this approach, within the frame of transformations experienced in gecekondu neighborhoods. In this study, in the light of the findings gathered through case study, it is concluded that spatial stratification arising from the housing ownership is parallel to the social divisions based on labor market. Moreover, it is found out that gecekondu and apartment being constructed during transformation processes in gecekondu areas do not indicate different social environments or living spaces which represent opposite forms of social relations and, therefore, which separate from each other through definite lines.

Thesis (M.A.) - Carleton University, 2005. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 93-99). Also available in electronic format on the Internet.

Thesis (MTech (Town and Regional Planning))--Cape Peninsula University of Technology, 2010. / The accelerated influx of migrants into Windhoek after the attainment of independence in 1990 caused progressive settlement growth on open council-owned land as well as considerable shelter and servicing problems for the Windhoek City Council (WCC). This study analyses the spatial growth of informal settlements in Windhoek over a 10 year period from 1998 to 2008. The study use GIS as a tool to measure and analyse the spatial growth and development of informal settlements. It involves the mapping exercise to generate a sequential process of assessing the feasibility study that helped in the selection of two detailed case studies. Results of the analysis show two patterns of informal settlement development: between 1998-2003 and 2003 to 2008. The first is the acceleration of development of shanty towns immediately after independence to 1988 as associated with processes of spatial consolidation and densification in the former period and increased sprawl in the latter period. Second the study analysed the socio-economic characteristics of informal settlements. This was complemented by livelihood assessment (LA) that was used in identifying the types of livelihoods and coping mechanisms used by residents of informal settlements. The livelihoods assessment clearly shows that most of the people in informal settlements rely heavily on informal sector activities for a living. In-depth interviews were conducted with selected households to explore their coping strategies and survival mechanisms and also to determine how their earnings are being distributed. The continued growth of squalid and unplanned informal settlements is a clear indication that policies and practices need further intervention and regularization. The establishment of reception areas between 1991 and 1999 proved futile. The reception areas attracted more people instead of controlling the growth. Pit latrine toilets are provided in all the settlements but people do not use them and this is a major human and environmental threat. The study shows that the population growth has a significant impact on the growth of informal settlements in Windhoek. The study also shows that the livelihood assessment of households assist with a better understanding of household’s coping mechanisms and this will assist the city Council in making informed decisions when addressing the needs of the people. Livelihood assessment is a tool that assists with the better understanding of the affordability levels of lowincome people, therefore assisting the city Council in providing services that align with the affordability levels of the residents.

Thesis (MTech (Public Management))--Cape Peninsula University of Technology, 2009 / Access to basic water and sanitation services in South Africa is considered a basic human right, and constitutionally, local government is responsible for the provision thereof. However, in the informal settlements in towns and cities, residents continue to be exposed to environmental health risks that result from poor and inadequate basic sanitation provision. Municipalities are under pressure to address the sanitation backlog according to the national target that is based on the Millennium Development Goals (MDG). The provision of infrastructure alone does not account for the provision of an improved, safer and more hygienic environment for its users. A badly managed sanitation facility is an environmental health risk, and it encourages inappropriate and unsafe sanitation practice. Municipalities cannot claim to meet the sanitation backlog targets unless appropriate and effective management systems are in place to operate and maintain the basic sanitation facilities provided. Through the Integrated Development Plan (IDP) process, local government is encouraged to develop partnerships to promote economic development and job creation, particularly in areas of extreme poverty and high unemployment through the delivery of services. Public participation, social learning, empowerment and sustainability are the key components of the people-centred development approach that currently guides the delivery of municipal services South Africa (Davids,I. 2005). The White Paper on Local Government advocates municipalities to work with communities to find sustainable ways to meet their needs through an approach that is driven by formulating linkages between development, service delivery and local citizen participation (Mogale, T. 2005:219). It is also argued that the only way to effectively link poverty reduction strategies and improved service delivery is through the formation of partnerships that are based on meaningful participation (Mogale, T. 2003). Public participation also allows for an opportunity for increased community buy-in and support that is essential for the sustainable delivery of services to informal settlements so as to reduce incidents of misuse and vandalism. Communication and collaboration across municipal departments is also required, as sanitation service delivery in its broad definition, falls across the Water Services, Health and Solid Waste Departments. Hence the need for an integrated and inclusive approach to planning is required. Using a participatory action research (PAR) process, this study proposes to investigate whether there are local community-based opportunities for the procurement of some of the operation and maintenance tasks for the recently refurbished public ablution blocks in an informal settlement within the City of Cape Town. Public ablution blocks are one of the sanitation technology options available for the provision of shared basic sanitation services provided to informal settlements within the City of Cape Town. The research is divided into three stages. The first two stages serve as the building blocks for the third stage of the research. The objectives are to obtain an improved understanding of the “local knowledge” at community level, to obtain an understanding of the operation and maintenance activities in informal settlements currently being undertaken by City of Cape Town, and to initiate contacts and develop relationships with key stakeholders for their participation in the focus group discussions in the third stage. The third stage of the research proposes to adopt a participatory approach involving key stakeholders to identify the opportunities and make recommendations to the City of Cape Town to consider for the development of an operational plan for the operation and maintenance of the Khayelitsha Ablution Blocks.

Dissertation submitted in fulfillment of the requirements for the degree Magister Technologiae: Public Management in the Faculty of Business at the Cape Peninsula University of Technology / This study interrogates the process followed by the South African government in transforming informal settlements into formal settlements, with specific reference to Khayelitsha Township, located just outside of Cape Town. Three informal settlements within Khayelitsha Township (Nkanini in Makhaza, RR and BM both in Site B) were identified for purposes of conducting this study. This study aims to interrogate the government’s effort to eradicate informal settlements. It employed a quantitative tradition where a structured questionnaire was distributed to 100 subjects. These included ward councillors, government managers, researchers on Community-Based-Organisations and Non-Governmental Organisations. The study revealed that research participants believed that there were no changes taking place in the informal settlements and they are growing in a fastest pace. The study findings also depicted that in order to transform informal settlements all key stakeholders should work in collaboration with each other. This study will contribute to the body of knowledge as there is paucity of data regarding the transformation of informal settlements to formal housing.

D.Ed. / This study applied a qualitative, explorative, descriptive and contextual approach. The purpose of the study was to develop, implement and evaluate a peer counselling psycho-educational programme to facilitate healthy sexual behaviour among late adolescents in informal settlements around Gauteng. Based on the purpose of the study, the objectives of this research were: a) to explore and describe the experiences and challenges related to life threatening behaviour challenges among late adolescents; b) to develop a conceptual framework as basis for a peer counselling psycho-educational programme on peer education to facilitate healthy sexual behaviour among late adolescents in informal settlements; c) to describe a peer counselling psycho-educational programme to facilitate healthy sexual behaviour among late adolescents in informal settlements; d) to formulate guidelines and principles for the implementation of a peer counselling psycho-educational programme to facilitate healthy sexual behaviour among late adolescents in informal settlements; and e) to evaluate this peer counselling psycho-educational programme to facilitate healthy sexual behaviour among late adolescents in informal settlements. To achieve the purpose of this research, the research method followed four phases to develop, implement and evaluate the psycho-educational programme. Phase one was a situational analysis by means of fieldwork. Phase two outlined a conceptual framework for a peer counselling psycho-educational programme that was developed from the results of phase one and the literature. Phase three was the outline of the implementation, and phase four the evaluation of the developed peer counselling psycho-educational programme to facilitate healthy sexual behaviour among late adolescents in informal settlements around Gauteng. ii The researcher sought to understand the targeted area and targeted populations; this exercise helped the researcher to identify and address the research problem and also to gain knowledge on the attitudes, norms, and values, and also the lived experiences, of the targeted community. It gave the researcher an understanding on cultural norms and beliefs and assisted in demarcating the extent of the problem. The importance of this exercise was to help the researcher to know the population demographics and the demarcation of the targeted area, which also assisted with resource allocation. During this situation analysis, the researcher identified the need for the exploration of life threatening sexual behaviour challenges among late adolescents in informal settlements. He identified these young people by observing them during site visits in their communities and also through conversations with them. Therefore, the researcher underwent experiential learning to understand the life threatening sexual behaviour, experiences and problems among late adolescents in informal settlements around Gauteng.

D.Litt. et Phil. (Sociology) / This study explores local state constructions of citizenship for the residents of informal settlements in urban South Africa during the first decade of local democracy, with a focus on the last electoral term of this period. While many studies in the social sciences have reported on citizenship experiences and self-help strategies of various categories of residents of post-apartheid South Africa, few have directed their gaze at the state, or studied up by investigating powerful respondents or sites and processes of power. Given that the state has its most direct dealings with the grassroots at local government level, and that compared to ordinary people it holds a disproportionate amount of power over citizenship, the character and strategies of the local state in South Africa are critical for a comprehensive understanding of post-apartheid urban citizenship. The study focuses on the policy area of housing as a key response to informal settlement. A constrained developmental local state has emerged in the post-apartheid period in South Africa, exhibiting both Weberian and non-Weberian qualities in its political-administrative interface. While very little evidence of a skills shortage or limited capacity has surfaced in the policy area of housing in the metropolitan municipalities of Johannesburg and Tshwane, respondents in both sites reported that the available funds from the central state were vastly insufficient for addressing the identified housing need. This severely limited local state capacity to respond to the priorities identified by community consultation and systematic needs assessment and resulted in a perceived imperative to limit responsibility and supplement funds. Consequently, the two local authorities have managed their level of responsibility by changing definitions of informal settlement. In an attempt to lower dependence on the local state, they have also moved some responsibility for responding to informal settlement and housing need away from the local state. Although the lack of funds was deplored in both cities, their specific strategies have differed in important ways. In the City of Johannesburg, the local state recognised that housing shortages and informal settlement could not be adequately addressed if categories of nonqualifiers such as foreigners were excluded from city programmes. Elected councillors therefore argued for a relaxation of the criteria in the national Housing Code. To access more funds, the local state has relied heavily on the private sector, but this is likely to push the poor out of the urban centre and to isolate them from economic opportunities, which reinforces the apartheid spatial distribution. In order to reach a larger proportion of the population in need of assistance, the City of Tshwane preferred to focus its efforts on the provision of serviced sites rather than on housing. This strategy was implemented in addition to severe repression in the form of eviction and destruction of informal settlements as well as a policy of zero tolerance of new informal settlement, for which two related rationalisations were offered by respondents: the high portion of non-qualifiers who live in informal settlements and, in particular, the presence of foreigners, for whom they would not accept responsibility. While the City of Johannesburg’s outsourcing of low-income housing serves to extend the disproportionate influence of the private sector over elements of urban citizenship, the City of Tshwane’s exclusion of non-qualifiers and its forced removal of informal settlements represent a unilateral approach to constructing citizenship. In both cases, the result is a degree of continuity with the early colonial administrations and the apartheid government. Both methods have also inflated the achievements of the cities. The overall result has been the construction of a narrow, shallow and punitive urban citizenship for residents of informal settlements in South Africa since the advent of local democracy in 2000.

This study uses the re-blocking policy adopted by the City of Cape Town to explore an alternative approach to the housing backlog crisis in South Africa. The two re-blocking projects examined in Mshini Wam and Kuku Town illustrate the benefits of re-blocking and the challenges that were overcome in both of these informal settlements. This study is descriptive in nature and explores the challenges that informal settlements present not only for their inhabitants, but also the impact these challenges have on the city itself. The re-blocking policy is explored as a potential approach to addressing these issues and how the in situ upgrading approach to informal settlements is an improved and sustainable approach for South Africa. Key findings suggest that the Re-blocking Policy can potentially address the challenges that informal settlements present and it could serve as a sustainable housing model for improving service delivery to informal settlements.

Bibliography: leaves 273-276. / The thematic focus of this dissertation is the specificity of user requirements for domestic energy applications in informal urban settlements and how these are fashioned by the contextual pre-conditions of poverty and instability. The fieldwork focused on a group of people who can be defined by the facts that they are people who house themselves, possibly fall into the lowest or no income sector of the population, are peripheral to the mainstream economic activity in the country and are temporary or permanent or roving urbanites. The research approach is done from the viewpoint that user requirements should inform the design of systems for domestic energy applications and that these subjective requirements constitute the correct point of departure from which to evaluate the efficacy of energy support services. The bulk of this dissertation consists of recounts of research interviews, illustrating some aspects of user requirements. These are presented as 'primary data' with the purpose of rendering the research more transparent and of feeing an information resource with the option of re-interpretation by the reader. The dissertation concludes that appropriate energy services will have to be characterised by adaptability and diversity as well as by sensitive responses to the micro networks of urban subsistence household economies.

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