WIReDSpace
Welcome to WIReDSpace(Wits Institutional Repository on DSpace)
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Communities in WIReDSpace
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- This community is for all faculties and schools' theses and dissertations by masters and doctoral students.
Recent Submissions
Revitalizing the vintage: Supporting novel ways of living for older adults in Galicia, Spain
(University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2024-02) Vila, Sabela Rey; Gantner, Garret
The abandonment of rural areas has been an issue of concern for several decades in Galicia. Past endeavours to revive abandoned villages have primarily concentrated on strategies such as reforestation, museumification, tourism, and resettlement. However, as far as the research shows, none of these approaches have tackled root causes or focused on assisting the remaining populations, who are primarily elderly individuals. To fill this gap, this thesis draws on a range of different themes including the spatial organization of villages, the abandonment of Galician villages and its causal factors, various approaches to revitalizing abandoned villages, the needs of elderly people, as well as the architecture, landscape and imaginaries of Galician culture. For the design of typologically varied buildings, the study of heritage and conservation theories, and theories on elderly care were explored. Specific design requisites for the elderly were considered, and an examination of the winemaking process also contributed to the research. Moreover, substantial research was dedicated to locating an appropriate site conforming to the requirements of the proposed new masterplan for an abandoned village. These efforts culminated in using an existing abandoned village to devise a comprehensive new masterplan. This plan encompasses all essential elements required to restore it sustainably, while concurrently offering support to the elderly population. Additionally, it entails further detailed development of facilities such as an elderly day-care centre, residential units, and the establishment of a winery facility.
Bridging the Past: Redeveloping parts of Fordsburg to create secure and empowering environments for women
(University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2024-03) Dar, Sarah; Szentesi, Anita
The safety of women in public spaces has become an increasingly unsettling issue in South Africa. One of the most severe violations of human rights that still occurs in communities worldwide is gender-based violence, a phenomenon that has a foundation in gender inequity. Gender-based violence affects both men and women, but women and girls comprise most of victims. Public spaces have favored the safety of men, whereas women struggle for their wellbeing in the same space. There is a need for a re-imagined women only space concept, in which women can evolve in, in hopes of creating safer spaces. (UN-Habitat, 2015). The proposal for this thesis is a Skills and Development Centre for women. The Centre will aim to create women run businesses in male dominated spaces with the research focusing on women empowerment through education, and further investigating past architectural theories on women-only design.
Price Volatility in Maize Futures of Major Exporters
(University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2023-06) Sayed, Ayesha; Auret, Christo
Futures markets provide a platform for risk management and price discovery. Significant structural changes have taken place in futures markets over the last two decades transforming them into a volatile and fast paced trading environment, with heightened volatility expected to continue. Increased volatility in grain futures markets is of special concern to farmers, traders, academics, and policy makers as it impacts food security, renewable energy and the regulation of futures exchanges. Price volatility is investigated for maize futures listed in South Africa on the South African Futures Exchange (SAFEX), in the United States on the Chicago Board of Trade, in Argentina on the Mercado a Termino de Beunes Aires and in Brazil on the Brazilian Mercantile and Futures Exchange. A particular focus is placed on South African white maize futures, given its liquidity on SAFEX, its uniqueness as the only listed white maize contract traded on a futures exchange globally, and the importance of white maize as South Africa’s largest produced field crop and main staple food. This thesis investigates the effectiveness of price limits which are found to be ineffective in curbing volatility, and instead found to accelerate prices towards their limits prematurely, exacerbate volatility and impair market liquidity. The impact of sentiment as measured through volatility indices is also studied using a time-varying vector autoregressive framework. The results confirm the influence of sentiment on trading behaviour in white maize futures, and subsequently on price volatility. The level of speculative activity and its impact on price volatility is also examined using Granger-causality, variance decomposition and impulse response functions. Finally, volatility spillovers among key major exporters of maize is investigated using four multivariate GARCH models and a DCC-GARCH Connectedness approach, with the results confirm significant own and cross volatility spillovers and time-varying interdependence. This thesis makes novel contributions to the field of futures risk management. The work covered in this thesis is among the first to investigate price limits on SAFEX, the first to include SAVI White Maize in an empirical analysis, the first to quantify the level of speculative activity in the white maize futures market and the first to investigate spillover and dynamic connectedness in maize futures among key maize exporters
Towards a gender just transition: Principles and perspectives from the global South
(University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2024-06-19) Cerise, Somali; Cook, Sarah; Lehmann-Grube, Katrina; Taylor, Julia; Valodia, Imraan
A ‘just transition’ broadly refers to the principles, processes and practices used to ensure that transitions to a low-carbon economy are socially just. Gender justice, however, frequently remains marginal to mainstream debates and policies – whether about climate finance, technological solutions, corporate management approaches – or indeed most government transition strategies. This paper argues that ensuring a transition that delivers gender justice is both critical and urgent. Without explicit attention to, and clear prioritisation of gender justice across transition policies, climate change ‘solutions’ risk replicating or reinforcing structural gender inequalities. Examples of such risk include women’s continued limited access to economic opportunities, employment and social protection; their over-representation in precarious work; and women’s primary responsibility for social reproduction and care. Communities with few livelihood options and limited access to services rely heavily on natural resources to survive. These resources are vital to the provision of care and may be severely affected by environmental degradation. Care responsibilities expose women disproportionately to climate and environmental impacts. Women are the household members most likely to bear the burden of adapting to climate change. These realities reduce the likelihood that any climate transition can be just without a clear focus on the policies, strategies and implementation processes needed to achieve gender justice.
This paper asks what a gender just transition could and should look like, particularly in the global South. Based on an extensive review of conceptual and empirical literatures from a range of disciplinary perspectives, we examine how different approaches address – or ignore – gender dimensions of (in)justice in thinking about low-carbon transitions. We go on to offer a more expansive view of justice informed by perspectives drawn from feminist theory, and combine this with the pillars of distributive, procedural, recognitive and restorative justice.
The use of Self-service Technologies (interactive screens) in enhancing the shopping experience in selected South African shopping malls: a consumer/shopper perspective
(University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2024) Uta, Lloyd; Klopper, H. D.; Duh, H.
With the South African consumer market continuously evolving, it is imperative for shopping- mall owners to create more innovative shopping ways to satisfy the needs of the 21st century South African consumers. One of the innovative ways is to provide the use of self-service technologies (SSTs), which reportedly provides consumers positive cognitive, affective, and sensory customer experience benefits. Using SSTs in banks, shopping malls, hotels and other business environments have become a trend as customers do not only enjoy fresh and actionable experiences, they also get service quality, efficiency and entertainment that can be better and consistent than the human services. Despite these benefits, emerging markets such as India and South Africa respectively are slow to adopt SSTs, especially in the shopping mall environment. This study integrated relevant elements of technology acceptance model, diffusion of innovation theory, theory of planned behaviour and the flow theory to examine SST site factors (i.e., user interface, aesthetics and authenticity), the technology-related factors (i.e., relative advantage, complexity, perceived ease of use[PEOU], perceived usefulness [PU]) and consumer factors (i.e., subjective norms, perceived behavioural control, enjoyment and concentration) driving attitudes and behavioural intentions to use SSTs at some selected shopping malls in Johannesburg. The mediating roles of PU, PEOU and attitudes were also tested. Based on proximity to the researcher’s resident and malls similarities in size, ranking, and social class (i.e., middle and higher income) and socio-economic profiles of shoppers, the researcher selected three contemporary shopping malls which have been identified as super regional centres. These malls were Mall of Africa, Rosebank and Sandton City malls. Additionally, the malls have installed SSTs like information kiosks or interactive screens. A quantitative research study was conducted with data collected successfully from 260 respondents and analysed using structural equation modelling with Smart PLS. Sobel’s test was used to test mediation. Findings revealed that user-interface and aesthetics and authenticity positively impacted PU and PEOU. The PU and PEOU with relative advantage drove attitudes to adopt SSTs, which with perceived control, subjective norm and enjoyment were positive and significant drivers of behavioural intention to use SSTs. The mediating effects of PU, PEOU and attitudes were significant. Managerially, drivers of shoppers’ attitudes and intentions to adopt SSTS are exposed. Theoretically, the study’s integrated model enriches the explanation of the acceptance of a technology, that is SST, especially in emerging market and multicultural context