Research Outputs (Architecture and Planning)

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Browsing Research Outputs (Architecture and Planning) by Author "Boshoff, Brian"

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    The Disaster Management Act 57 of 2002: part panacea or ready recipe for disaster?
    (SA Public Law, 2003) Boshoff, Brian; Van Wyk, J
    Floods, earthquakes, landslides, volcanic eruptions, explosions, runaway fires, and transportation and other accidents are all occurrences with which we are familiar, if only vicariously. These events can presumably all be categorised as ‘disasters’. But can the same be said for the dumping of hazardous waste, ships running aground, farm invasions and large-scale evictions, major traffic accidents and the issue of cross-border or internal refugees? When is an event considered a ‘disaster’, who determines that an event is a ‘disaster’, who can do what to prepare for the ‘disaster‘ and what can be done to alleviate the effects of the disaster after it has happened?
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    An Interpretation of Sustainable Development and Urban Sustainability in Low-Cost Housing and Settlements in South Africa
    (University of Cape Town Press, 2003) Irurah, Daniel K; Boshoff, Brian
    The sustainable development paradigm can be viewed as a convergence of two paradigms that initially evolved in an antagonistic manner, possibly as far back as the industrial revolution. The first one is the growth and development paradigm, which was strongly rooted in economic growth based on the economic output of an economy as measured by GDP (gross domestic product). Until the late 1900s, governments and communities had committed themselves to a vision of improved standards of living through increasing the GDP of their respective economies, while paying minimal attention to environmental and resource impacts. Then in the 1950s to 1970s the environmental movement coalesced after almost a century of isolated pronouncements on resource and environmental degradation arising from exponential population growth as well as increasing levels of production and consumption. The movement argued that unless humanity voluntarily controlled population and economic growth, environmental and resource degradation would put a limit on human survival. The strongest substantiation of the argument was presented in the Club of Rome Report, Limits to Growth (Meadows et al., 1972).
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    Latter-day South African Spatial Planning And Problem Solving
    (ISoCaRP Congress, 2003) Boshoff, Brian
    The SA space economy and the striving for development has come a long way, but still faces great challenges. One of those challenges is to deal with globalisation -- a highly contested influence that has been shown by many authors to have myriad positive and negative effects and impacts. This paper has shown that globalisation has also influenced SA spatial frameworks and policies, in the context of competing, but related demands, as evidenced in GEAR and the RDP. I argue that there is a great danger of being simplistic and blinded by globalisation as a meta narrative and one should closely examine developmental goals and objectives, especially as they occur in a variety of contexts. For example, “just as Jhb’s citizens and managers must grapple with that city’s complexity, and devise creative ways of thinking about its future, and negotiating present dilemmas, so urban theorists need to move beyond globalisation and developmentalism, and embrace the ordinary, but dynamic complexity of urban life” (Robinson 2003: 278).