Doctoral Degrees (Urban and Regional Planning)

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Open Access
Exploring the strategies employed by the greater Grasland community, Mangaung in accessing basic services
(University of the Free State, 2015-05) Mphambukeli, Thulisile Ncamsile; Nel, Verna; Chipkin, Ivor; Okorie, Victor
There was a spatial arrangement that the colonial-segregation-apartheid systems put in place in South Africa – a physical spatial relationship setup that segregated people mainly according to their race and class. In 1994 a ‘new ideology’ emerged – the delivery of adequate basic services – aiming to make a difference through transforming previously segregated spaces, using ‘new’ legislation and policies. Hence, democracy brought excitement of a ‘new South Africa’, ‘a rainbow nation’ as some called it, which was going to free people and transform the country. However, there were other forces that prevented the full realisation of this ‘new ideology’ that were, and are still at play even today. For instance, it has been a struggle for South Africa to move towards adequate basic service provision despite the significant changes and roll-out of basic services. The prevalence of high influx or (in)migration of people from neighbouring countries and the broader movement of rural depopulation (particularly farm evictions) to places like Grasland, are but some of the challenges that have contributed to basic service delivery inadequacies prevalent in the study area. Social justice, defined as values, process and practices for empowerment that disallow oneself to be oppressed, the promotion of values that disincline one to oppress others, and practices that enable equality and justice. Consequently, the study suggests that it was not useful to look at issues of inadequate basic service delivery from the lenses of spatial planning policy alone, but that we must also explore the practices of citizens through their lived experiences, as well as through the broader political processes and struggles. The thesis argues that only then can we start to recognise what really is at play and why the relevant policy and legislative was not effectively implemented. This thesis explores the strategies employed by the greater Grasland community in accessing basic services, especially in conditions of inadequate basic service delivery in and through formal municipal planning processes of the Mangaung Metropolitan Municipality (MMM). The study also attempts to understand how inequitable political and social power relations affect access to basic services within the community of Grasland and the implications for social justice in planning. The research was qualitative in nature, a descriptive phenomenological approach. Phenomenological research design approaches are less commonly used in urban and regional planning practice. Interviews were conducted with Grasland residents selected through snowball sampling as well as the relevant ward councillors. It was deduced that the Grasland residents took initiative to deal with challenges of access to basic services through various strategies. The thesis argues that these strategies can enable the MMM to plan with the local community towards adequate basic service provision. The study therefore provides some new insights for the planners and local government on how inadequate basic service delivery may be resolved through partnerships with local residents of Grasland, provided there is a willingness to learn from the improvised strategies that are employed by the residents. The key reason why this thesis is important is that it identifies factors that South Africa needs to grapple with towards making just spaces. Just spaces are those that do not constrain access to adequate basic services. The power relations evident in Grasland called into question government’s responsibilities towards its citizens versus the responsibilities of the citizens. This study vividly demonstrated that whilst ‘the state of temporariness’ of basic service provision and inadequacy persists in Grasland, planners and local government may learn something about how people take initiatives and employ strategies to access basic services. The anticipation from the recommendations is that a certain level of conscientising will ensue that speaks to the enabling use of power to enable effective and constructive social change, free of oppression.
Open Access
Improving the climate change resilience of informal settlements in mountainous regions of Africa: comparative case studies of Qwaqwa in South Africa and Konso in Ethiopia
(University of the Free State, 2017-02) Melore, Tamirat Wangore; Nel, Verna; Worku, Hailu
The aim of this study is to search for the strategies to improve climate change resilience of informal settlements in mountainous regions of Africa. The multidimensional and dynamic fea-tures of resilience require the use of a systems approach to research in the field. In line with this, informal settlements’ resilience to climate change needs to be recognised as a phenom-enon that is multidimensional and complex in its characteristics. Thus, the assessment em-phasised analysing various social, economic, spatial and physical variables. Accordingly, the conceptual framework of this study was developed by adopting a systems approach to assess climate change resilience of informal settlements in mountainous regions of Africa. This ap-proach encourages the use of integrated techniques in order to obtain a comprehensive insight into and to investigate the critical factors that determine vulnerability and resilience of informal settlements for climate change-induced risks. Accordingly, the philosophical position of this study can be categorised as a pragmatic re-search paradigm. This research paradigm allows the use of mixed research methods. A com-plex and dynamic system can be understood better by identifying the characteristics of the whole system, such as its interconnectedness, processes and adaptation patterns over time by using a combination of qualitative and quantitative methods. Therefore, a mixed method of research was employed and the findings were confirmed by triangulation of both research methods. Furthermore, a comparative case study method was used, with the rationale of in-vestigating in-depth information about contextual-vulnerability and assessing place-based re-silience capacity. The assessment of resilience capacity of the case study areas was done by using a combination of two approaches, namely “principles to build a resilient system” and “capitals for disaster resilience”. These approaches were customised to the context of the case study areas. The capitals existing in the study sites were assessed against those principles needed to build a resilient system. The case studies were conducted at the peripheries of Phuthaditjhaba in South Africa and Karat in Ethiopia. The cultural and natural landscapes of the surrounding areas of the two small towns were registered as world heritage sites by UNESCO. The influence of traditional lead-ership at the periphery of the two towns is high. The two small towns are both located in moun-tainous regions of Africa with an altitude exceeding 1 650 metres above sea level. These are the justifications to the selection of the two case study areas for the purpose of this research. To achieve the intended objectives of the study, a theoretical review has been conducted by considering different schools of thought about vulnerability and resilience assessment. The outcome revealed that there is no single universally applicable and accepted vulnerability and resilience assessment framework or model. This is mainly because of the complexity and con-ceptual pluralism of the concepts. Therefore, to minimise the drawbacks of using a single frame-work, it is recommended that the hybrid frameworks are used to generate comprehensive and reliable context-based outcome. In addition, flexibility in terms of devising fit-for-the-purpose frameworks is one of the fundamental considerations in theoretical and applied studies. The findings in the case of Phuthaditjhaba indicated that the area is vulnerable to climate change threats such as shortage of water, flash flooding caused by heavy seasonal rainfall, extremely cold weather conditions during winter, and strong and damaging winds. This result in damage to houses in the informal settlements, soil erosion and rock falls from hillsides that damage the informal settlements situated at the bottom of the Drakensberg Mountains. In the case of Karat, the area is vulnerable to climate change shocks such as periodic droughts, rainfall variability and increasing temperature. This causes reduction of agricultural productivity and makes the local community susceptible to a shortage of water and food. In order to im-prove resilience, the local communities used to practise indigenous knowledge to build terrac-ing and stonewalls to conserve water and soil, and they used to plant drought-resistant trees. One outcome of this study revealed that the African indigenous knowledge system that en-courages local solutions for local problems must be promoted for resilience planning. Building climate change-resilience capacity of informal settlements requires the successful application of indigenous knowledge and its integration with scientific knowledge. In line with this, the crit-ical question is how to maximise the potential use of indigenous knowledge to cope with com-plex climate-change risks in informal settlements found in mountainous regions of Africa. Therefore, integration of the indigenous and scientific knowledge systems by considering the contexts of the application is one of the critical strategies to cope with climate change-induced risks. To realise this, the combination of both bottom-up and top-down planning approaches need to be practised and there must be local institutions that facilitate the ’hybridisation’ pro-cess. Finally, to improve climate change resilience of informal settlements in both case study areas, it is recommended that customised, hybridised and flexible climate change resilience planning needs to be promoted.
Open Access
Infusing disaster resilience thinking and practice into rural settlement planning, development and management in Zimbabwe
(University of the Free State, 2021-11) Chirisa, Innocent; Nel, Verna; Chakwizira, James
Rural areas in Zimbabwe, as elsewhere, are undergoing various transformations, some induced by natural processes and others by human interventions. One has to acknowledge the increase anthropogenic actions on the Earth since the 1950 that have partly triggered the challenges facing the planet. Infusion implies a deliberate mainstreaming with debates, practices and policies of an agenda. In this case, in education, health, social policy directions and related matters, resilience thinking needs to be the bottom line of discussion. That away positive results are expected. This thesis contributes to the debate on planning, development and management of rural settlements under the impact of environmental disasters largely induced by climate change. The thesis suggests measures towards the infusion of disaster resilience thinking and practice in rural settlement planning. Publications in the study are informed by various methodologies, including literature review, archival, fieldwork, interviewing and surveys. The thesis is structured into four major sections. The first section, Section A covers Preliminary Pages of the thesis that include Dedication, Preface, Executive Summary and Abstracts of Publications and Acknowledgements. The second section, Section B is Introduction, Literature and the Study Local Context and covers three chapters, Chapter 1, the Introduction, Chapter 2, Natural Disaster Resilience, Rural Settlement Planning and Housing: A Literature Review and Chapter 3, Understanding Zimbabwe: Disaster Resilience Thinking and Practice and Rural Settlement Planning, Development and Management. The third section, Section C (see also Appendix 1) contains the articles and publications. Under this section, three categories of publications are presented, A, B and C. A are those papers that speak to the situation analysis regarding the incident of climate change and environmental challenges as they reflect in the rural areas. B speaks to those papers that try to speak to measurement and indicators of climate resilience plus global and regional experiences in the same. The C category speaks to possible options and initiatives that can be done for rural disaster resilience practice enhancement. The last section is Section D entitled Study Synthesis, Conclusion and Options. Quite apparent in the foregoing discussion and thesis is the acknowledgement that disasters and risks with the paraphernalia of their impacts are growing to be part and parcel of life at a global scale. As such resilience thinking is the way to. The buffeting shall continue but systems have to be proofed and designed that the readiness is always in place. Preparing for disasters and risks begins by the general awareness, followed by a deliberate step in putting ‘cushions’ in place. A collaborative approach is required. In the thesis, the study has demonstrated that the players are many and includes individuals, organised (and unorganised communities, divided by aspects of gender, age, professionalism, spatial boundaries, etc, government (local and central) and non-state actors (community – based organisation and corporates). There have different capacities and contributions to the debate and practice of resilience, mitigation and adaption. These players should have a principal agenda of tapping on the diversity to bring solution to different scales of intervention – site, community, district or precinct, regional, national or even international. They have to live above besetting politics towards creating consensus for wise action. The study proposes an 8Ss Model for inculcating resilience thinking and practice in rural settlement planning and management as a strategy for managing disaster risk.
Open Access
Planning for affordable housing through inclusionary housing against the apartheid spatial landscape in the Western Cape Province, South Africa
(University of the Free State, 2017-07) Robertson, Raynita Nashlene; Nel, Verna
English: Past segregation-policies have left a profound imprint on the spatial landscape of the country, as well as the thinking of urban planners over the past six decades. Stuck in a rut, the planning and delivery of housing still replicates that of apartheid, rather than the desired integrated and sustainable human settlements plan. The continuation of unsustainable settlement patterns has a persistently negative effect on communities, the urban fabric and infrastructure; despite the recent policy and legislation geared towards integrated and sustainable human settlements. Instead, settlements and communities remain fragmented and disjointed, prone to social and economic ills linked to the distorted spatial structure. Thus, the aim of this research is to investigate more effective means for planning for integrated and sustainable human settlements through affordable and inclusionary housing in addressing the apartheid landscape and its related symptoms. In this study, the researcher used qualitative research. Interviews and focus group discussions formed the tools used to investigate the potential of affordable and inclusionary housing to contribute to sustainable settlements, in Cape Town, the study area. Interviews were conducted with professionals and town planners in the built environment across different platforms to determine their perceptions regarding integrated and sustainable human settlements, inclusionary housing and apartheid planning. The perceived thoughts, understandings and perceptions of professionals and town planners were tested against international (Birmingham, USA) as well as local (Cape Town) case studies, and brought into relation with the focus groups’ experiences in these settlements. Through this pollination of research methods, and gaining insights at different levels, the research proved that there are inconsistencies in the perceptions, understanding, implementation, and evaluation of broad definitions of key concepts, such as integrated and sustainable settlements, affordable housing, and inclusionary housing. These may contribute to the continuation of apartheid style development, despite many policy developments requiring well-located land for integrated settlements. Furthermore, the research results prove that there is a need for clarity as to what each of those concepts entails and how to apply them in practice, as well as measure them. Besides researching issues around the persistence of sustainable and inclusionary settlements, and the lack of integrated and affordable housing, this study also makes recommendations towards turning the situation around and developing settlements that unlock human and economic potential. Part of this is to acknowledge the contribution Habitat III will make towards the integrated and sustainable human settlement and housing environment, in South Africa.
Open Access
Public open space planning and development in previously neglected townships
(University of the Free State, 2013-02-01) Mashalaba, Yandisa Bavulele; Nel, Verna
English: The focus of this research was on the use of urban open spaces in the revitalisation of Galeshewe Township. It is an in-depth analysis of community perceptions, the provision of open space, land use planning and development of urban open spaces in the township. The study does not compare the Galeshewe Township to any other township that has successfully rolled out an urban renewal programme using public open spaces. The hypothesis of this research was that “by understanding the contextual meaning of the urban open space concept in Galeshewe Township; the perceptions of the Galeshewe community and the most important factors that affect the functionality of urban open spaces in Galeshewe, town and regional planners could improve the outcomes of the revitalisation of previously neglected townships”. The results proved that there is enough reason to believe that the current approach to urban open space planning in Galeshewe is out of context, i.e., it does not respond to the community’s values and needs. The results also showed something that is contrary to existing literature about the benefits of urban open spaces in urban areas, i.e., the value of urban open spaces. The community of Galeshewe Township does not regard urban open spaces as valuable, both in ecological; social and economic sense. The study concludes that the purpose of township revitalisation is to improve the quality of life and to decrease urban poverty. The provision of unsuitable types of urban open spaces in previously neglected townships will not lead to the improvement of the quality of life for township dwellers, mainly due to the low value that is associated with the main benefits of urban open spaces, i.e., ecological; social and economic benefits.. Urban open spaces in the townships are mainly used for pedestrian movements. It is suggested that the creation of urban greenways that are connected to unavoidable types urban open spaces (e.g., heritage sites; aquatic; and geological open spaces) and institutional open spaces is one way that will bring success to the use of urban open spaces in the revitalisation of previously neglected townships.

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