AS 2008 Volume 15 Issue 1

Permanent URI for this collection

http://hdl.handle.net/11660/6886

Browse

Browsing AS 2008 Volume 15 Issue 1 by Issue Date

Filter results by year or month
Now showing 1 - 7 of 7
  • Thumbnail Image
    ItemOpen Access
    The meaning of place-making in planning: historical overview and implications for urban and regional planning
    (University of the Free State, 2008) Jordaan, Tarina; Puren, Karen; Roos, Vera
    English: In its course of development, urban and regional planning has been greatly influenced by the modernist movement, which left human environments with various problematic ecological and social conditions. In reaction to these conditions, alternative planning approaches branched from the planning profession, one of these being the development approach known as place-making. Place-making is the physical designing of a place based on locational contexts. Place-making is offered as an alternative planning approach to current planning practice to ameliorate and possibly prevent continuation of the problematic ecological and social conditions. However, this implies that there has to come about a shift in the focus and aims of current planning practice. The main implications of place-making are that planning should become more contextually driven, holistic, multidisciplinary, as well as human and quality centred. Also, it is proposed to increase research on place in the South African context.
  • Thumbnail Image
    ItemOpen Access
    An assessment of the feasible application of environmental valuation methods on Rand Water open-space
    (University of the Free State, 2008) Bouwer, Rinus; Hendrick, Richard; Taylor, Megan; Kruger, Andre
    English: Rand Water has contracted University of South Africa (UNISA) to develop a monetary valuation method for its open spaces and its inherent ecological functions. This article begins by reviewing existing contemporary definitions for open space in South Africa and then identifies the key characteristics thereof. Open Spaces in the Gauteng urban environment is in a crisis and factors such as open space coverage standards, sale of open space, crime and the impact of the apartheid legacy are briefly examined. Rand Water’s open space contributes to the total open space stock of Gauteng province. Any shortage of open space and threats to the sustainable management and expansion of the open space network of the province therefore has a direct bearing on how Rand Water views and manages its open space resources. Environmental resource economics provides economists and environmentalists with various instruments to place a monetary value on the environment. The available valuation instruments are briefly reviewed and questionnaires are developed from this to determine whether it can be applied by Rand Water staff to obtain values at a minimal cost, in a short space of time, and whether it assesses the various use and non-use values.
  • Thumbnail Image
    ItemOpen Access
    Facilities management: an analysis of evolving educational needs in a developing profession
    (University of the Free State, 2008) Hauptfleisch, Dries
    English: Internationally the development of property, being part of the creation of fixed investment and wealth, is taking place unabated. The absence of a universally acknowledged profession, designated to manage and optimise the utilisation of the ever compounding fixed investments in the products of the collective built environment (buildings, engineering structures and infrastructure), is observed. In practice it manifests itself in the attempts, by various professions and others, to cast themselves into the role of facilities managers. The problem at hand is to extract, from the present practice of facilities management, a knowledge profile and secondly to contextualise the results in terms of other applicable managerial concepts. The main objective is to structure a tertiary education programme. There are reasons to believe that facilities management is in the process of becoming a driving force, not only in the scientific management and optimisation of fixed assets, but as an initiator of development in the built environment. A literature study was undertaken to make an overview analysis and a limited statistical sample was made regarding the views of practising delegates attending continuing education short training courses in facilities management. The outcomes indicate some consistent omissions in the literature, while the views of practitioners contribute to form an overview.
  • Thumbnail Image
    ItemOpen Access
    Dimensions of a mature quantity surveying profession
    (University of the Free State, 2008) Verster, Basie; Hauptfleisch, Dries; Kotzé, Benita
    English: The initiative of this article was to identify those dimensions that are important determinants in establishing and developing an instrument/indicator to measure/indicate the level of maturity of a profession, in general and the South African profession. A questionnaire based on previous research results done by the authors (research on project management maturity) was compiled to identify and weigh the most important dimensions of a mature quantity surveying learned society. Leaders in the profession and some identified imminent professionals in South Africa, were requested to evaluate these dimensions according to the level of importance of each. Professional development work done by the South African Council for the Quantity Surveying Profession (SACQSP) and the Association of South African Quantity Surveyors (ASAQS) also contributed to the study. The following dimensions were selected and used for this study: education, training, mentorship, continuing professional development (CPD), research, marketing, infrastructure, law & legislation, standardisation, management practices and total quality management. The opinions of the respondents of the quantity surveying profession as a mature and learned society were also tested. A weighting of these dimensions was used to propose a maturity model for the quantity surveying profession. After the results were analysed it became clear that respondents regarded training to be more important than qualifications, thus identifying the need to clearly define the difference between education and training. Training, marketing and management practice were also evaluated to be of similar importance. However, this did not influence the identification of the various dimensions’ importance. The results showed the dimensions that are perceived to be of substantial importance for a mature quantity surveying society. Analysis of results also enabled the proposal of a maturity model for the quantity surveying profession as a learned society.
  • Thumbnail Image
    ItemOpen Access
    Poverty alleviation of labour-based infrastructure delivery: the case of Dar es Salaam (Tanzania)
    (University of the Free State, 2008) Phoya, Sarah; Haupt, Theo
    English: Labour-based technology (LBT) is a strategy popularised by international organisations such as the International Labour Organisation (ILO), United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the World Bank, to address poverty, unemployment and infrastructure provision especially in informal urban settlements. More emphasis has been placed on using the LBT approach in subSaharan countries where unprecedented urbanisation is taking place leading to the formation of informal settlements, high levels of unemployment accompanied by poverty. The LBT approach has been implemented in many developing countries. However, there is little available evidence of the long-term impact of LBT on poverty alleviation and employment creation opportunities. This article reports on employment creation opportunities and poverty alleviation while delivering infrastructure using LBT in informal settlements in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. A qualitative research approach was used which included personal interviews of the residents who were directly involved in infrastructure provision in the Hanna Nasif informal settlement using LBT. The infrastructure delivery project in Hanna Nassif commenced in 1994 and was completed in 2000. The research was conducted four years after the project had been completed, namely in 2004. The findings reported in this article provide base line data for policy makers and researchers, while contributing to understanding the long-term impact on employment creation opportunities and poverty alleviation using LBT. The article concludes with a proposal for a LBT-Poverty Alleviation framework.
  • Thumbnail Image
    ItemOpen Access
    South African quantity surveyors: issues of gender and race in the workplace
    (University of the Free State, 2008) Bowen, Paul; Cattell, Keith; Distiller, Greg
    English: A web-based questionnaire survey of the opinions of SA quantity surveyors was undertaken to establish gender- and race-based differences in job satisfaction. Issues explored included demographic factors, issues of gender and race in the workplace, and gender and racial harassment and discrimination at work. ‘Significant’ differences on the basis of gender exist on a number of issues. Women, more than men, have strong positive feelings regarding their levels of job satisfaction, feel that their career expectations have been fulfilled, would choose the same career again, and would unequivocally recommend the career to others. Females see QS practices as male-dominated, see themselves as being blocked from advancement to managerial ranks, participating less in decision-making, and remunerated at a lower level than equivalent colleagues. Issues important to women include: gender representivity in the profession, flexible working hours and maternity leave above the statutory minimum. Although both gender groups report racial harassment and discrimination at work, women experience significantly more sexual and gender harassment and religious and gender discrimination than do males. ‘Significant’ differences on the basis of race are evident concerning: feelings of job satisfaction and views on maternity / paternity leave above statutory minima. ‘Highly significant’ differences on the basis of race arise over issues of: being subjected to greater supervision because of race, not being allowed to contribute meaningfully to the decision-making process, viewing PDI status as a valid basis for promotion, seeing race representivity in the profession as important in combating discrimination at work, having personally experienced racial harassment and discrimination at work, and seeing respect for individual diversity in the workplace as important - with ‘Whites’ viewing these issues less ‘empathically’ than their ‘Non-white’ counterparts. The results provide valuable indicators for how the quantity surveying firms can create a more conducive work environment for professional staff, particularly females.
  • Thumbnail Image
    ItemOpen Access
    The development of location adjustment factors for construction price estimating in Nigeria
    (University of the Free State, 2008) Oladapo, Adebayo; Aladegbaiye, Olusola; Aibinu, Ajibade
    English: This article explored the use of Location Factors (LFs) as an empirical tool for converting construction price at one location to price at another location. The objective was to generate LFs for selected locations to provoke interest in the concept. Firstly, locational factors influencing construction price were identified from literature. Then, based on a hypothetical project and using Lagos, Ibadan, Port Harcourt and Abuja as pilot locations (with Lagos as the base location), LFs were calculated for the four locations. The LFs obtained were validated using tender prices for the primary school projects of the Universal Basic Education Programme financed by the Federal Government of Nigeria. The results showed that tender price levels were higher in Abuja and Port Harcourt and lower in Ibadan, compared to Lagos (the base location) on the basis of their location differences. Although the results underestimated the actual values of the LFs by only 8%, which is well within the acceptable level of early price estimating accuracy for quantity surveyors, the insufficient and scanty data used limits their statistical reliability. It is hoped that more detailed studies, based on more locations and using more project samples, would be carried in the near future to further the development of LFs for construction price estimating in Nigeria.