3. Electronic Theses and Dissertations (ETDs) - All submissions
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Item Perspectives of the impact of urbanisation on urban agriculture landuse in Johannesburg, South Africa.(2018) Annobea, Ernestina M.N.Urban expansion and development have caused potential agriculture land to decrease at an alarming rate. Studies conducted around the world exposes the dangers of losing urban agricultural lands to infrastructural development. The conversion of arable lands to infrastructural development causes serious ramifications for long-term agricultural sustainability in urban areas like the City of Johannesburg such as urban food security, especially for the low economic income group. It is in view of this that this study was undertaken to understand the drivers of the City of Johannesburg's urban growth and its impact on urban agriculture land use. The study builds on a previous research by the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development (DARD) in the Gauteng province which revealed that in addition to high urbanisation rates in the City of Johannesburg (CoJ), it also has high agricultural potential land. To this extent, about 28.7% of the land was conducive for optimum agricultural land use at that time of the study, 2002. However, given the accelerated urbanisation trends in CoJ, several pieces of land are losing their natural functions, including land parcel suitable for food production. Given the multidimensional nature of the research aim and objectives, this study employed a mixed-method research design. To effectively achieve the set aim and objectives of the study, primary data was collected using structured questionnaires, interviews, and Landsat Satellite images. The aim of the study is positioned within a literature frame of reference and several thematic considerations that reflects on the positive and negative effects of urbanisation and urban growth in the world, South Africa, and the City of Johannesburg in particular.Item Investigating the experiences of workers in exclusionary communities: a case study of waterfall estate(2018) Ajibade, AbrahamResearchers, in the past, have found that the development of satellite cities has reduced the strain upon the infrastructure of the parent cities. These developments have had negative side effects as well, with urban sprawl proving to not only be an infrastructural challenge, but an environmental problem as well. One of the major critiques that has been levelled against urban sprawl is that it contributes towards pollution by encouraging long commutes and traffic congestion. These negative effects have been factored into the decision-making processes of residents in these areas, as they usually own at least one car that allows them to commute freely between their homes and the metropolitan centre. However, their lifestyle changes also affect another demographic, namely the workers who service these areas. The impact that the distance from the metropolitan area has on their physical, emotional and economic wellbeing has yet to be fully understood. Therefore, the purpose of the research report was to investigate and unpack the experiences and working conditions of domestic workers in Waterfall Estate. This included a representation of the sociological profile of the domestic workers in terms of their class, gender and employment history as well as an understanding of the different ways that the workers access and utilize the same space. The report also shed some light on their experiences, working conditions, relationship with employers and responses to the challenges faced by these individuals, contributing towards contemporary literature regarding the evolution of domestic service in exclusionary communities. The effects of commuting from the periphery to the city affect all who dwell within Exclusionary Upscale Communities, both upper class residents and workers alike. In addition to the socio-economic impact, power dynamics between the employers and workers provide an additional layer of complexity to the workers experiences. The research utilized both qualitative interviews with 5 workers, as well as the distribution of 31 surveys to workers in the area to not only gain a deeper understanding of the forces at play but also to get a sense of what the collective worker experience was. It was found that the domestic workers were heavily reliant on transit nodes such as taxi ranks in order to commute to the estate. In addition to this most of the domestic workers were found to be paying the cost of diverted care resulting in strenuous relationships with their families, resulting in cases where other family members had to care for their children and a negative outlook on the profession and their fulfillment of their roles as mothers.Item An assessment of the spatio-temporal urban dynamics in the city of Tshwane, South Africa(2018) Magidi, James TakawiraUrbanisation, urban sprawl and loss of biodiversity in urban environments are major phenomena of the 21st Century cities and towns in both developing and developed countries. A study of the City of Tshwane (CoT), South Africa has shown that the city had been affected by unprecedented urbanisation, which led to encroachment of urban areas into non-urban environments. There is a need to monitor, quantify and predict urban dynamics for the sustainable management of urban environments. The advent of remote sensing and Geographical Information Systems (GIS) techniques have enabled researchers and decision-makers to have a historical perspective of the earth and detect change in urban areas. Remote sensing and GIS are powerful, cost-effective and efficient tools that are used in quantifying, monitoring and predicting land cover change using multi-temporal and multi-spectral spatial datasets. This helps decision-makers in designing decision support systems that are useful in evaluating alternative management scenarios and in the formulation of land use policies that are effective in the sustainable management of urban areas. Landsat TM (Thematic Mapper), ETM+ (Enhanced Thematic Mapper Plus) and OLI (Operational Land Imager) satellite imagery from 1984 to 2015 were used for the long-term change detection. These remotely sensed data were classified into two classes, which are built-up (urban) and non-built-up (non-urban) areas using the supervised maximum likelihood classifier (MLC) Post-classification change detection methods and landscape metrics were used to assess change and quantify the degree of urban sprawl. Short-term change detection was performed in the low, medium and high-density areas using classified SPOT (Satellite Pour l'Observation de la Terre) satellite imagery of 2008, 2012 and 2015. To predict future scenarios in urban dynamics the study made use of the classified land cover maps of 1986, 2005, 2009 and 2009 (Landsat TM and Landsat OLI) coupled with transitional areas, transitional probabilities and the Cell Automaton-Markov (CA-Markov) model. The prediction model was validated using the predicted maps and classified maps of 2009 and 2013. Change in vegetation was assessed using time series analysis, which was run on MODIS (MODerate-resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer) NDVI (Normalized Difference Vegetation Index) datasets with a 250m spatial resolution and a 16-day temporal resolution. Temporal (NDVI) profiles generated in different land cover classes coupled with the Mann-Kendall Statistic and Sen’s Estimator were used to assess the seasonal trends in vegetation from 2000 to 2016. Retrieval of change in land surface temperature (LST) was done using winter (August) and summer (December) Landsat imagery of 1997 and 2015. NDVI, emissivity and satellite temperature of the two different years and seasons were inputs in the retrieval of LST. There was a comparison of LST between the two years (1997 and 2015) and between seasons (winter and summer). Cross-sectional transects were run across different land cover types to show variations in LST. Results revealed an increase in urban areas in the CoT between 1984 and 2015. Urban predictions revealed an anticipated future increases in urban sprawl. Short-term land cover changes using SPOT imagery revealed an increase in urban areas in the high-density as compared to the low-density and the medium-density areas. Human settlements in the high-density areas especially the informal ones are also encroaching into areas earmarked for conservation. There were also remarkable seasonal variations in vegetation cover based on the MODIS NDVI temporal profiles. Mann Kendall trend analysis revealed a decreasing trend in vegetation cover in different land cover types. Temperature change in the CoT is evident as there was an increase in LST between 1997 and 2015 with high LST in summer and low in winter. The main aim of this study was to use remote sensing and GIS techniques to quantify, monitor and predict urban dynamics in the CoT. The objectives were to assess long-term and short-term land cover changes, to predict urban dynamics and to use available proxies such as vegetation cover, land surface temperature to assess urban growth. Keywords: Urban Sprawl, Urban growth, Predictive Modelling, GIS, Remote Sensing, Sustainable Development, Landscape Metrics, Land Surface Temperature, Time Series AnalysisItem Realising nodal development through development implementation agencies : the case of the Johannesburg development agency(2017) Paulsen-Woods, ImaanNationally and locally in South Africa, at present, service delivery issues dominate the public sector. Furthermore, the coordination efforts between different spheres of government and departments within government are not agile and robust enough to manage the bureaucracy and red tape that exists, to be optimally efficient in the delivery of services. The types of interventions or project initiatives that are required to alleviate delivery issues and poor inter-governmental coordination, currently in South Africa, are complex and multi-dimensional. Interventions, such as nodal developments could be viewed as a way of responding to specific problems in a specific location, or a form of urban development that concentrates a range of public and private resources within a specified area. Nodal development/projects assume a variety of institutional forms and are used as a means to address complex development problems in developed and developing countries alike. The desire to identify the best institutional arrangements to address the complexity of larger projects has been a huge undertaking for local governments for the past few decades. Hence, the potential effectiveness of using development implementation agencies to implement complex and multi-levelled projects has become a prominent topic in urban development recently. Literature suggests that development implementation agencies (DIAs), as one institutional form, may have potential in realising nodal development. DIAs can be seen as a complementary way to achieve the objectives of its parent municipality, rather than a replacement of the parent municipality’s abilities. The DIAs offer useful skills for collaboration between multiple entities, a sense of financial prudence and accountability (as necessitated in terms of their terms of reference) and they have the ability to generate context-specific solutions as opposed to merely replicating what is deemed global best practice. The need for DIAs in South Africa is supported by government itself, with the existence of various other development agencies, such as the Housing Development Agency (HDA). This research investigates the institutional arrangements of development implementation agencies and how these arrangements could facilitate the more effective delivery of nodal development on behalf of government. It focuses on the way in which a DIA has undertaken nodal development initiatives in Johannesburg. It uses exploratory research methods, interviews of selected respondents and analysis of various secondary data sources. The Johannesburg Development Agency (JDA), has been chosen as the case study for this research. It was established by the City of Johannesburg (CoJ) to activate and to support area-based economic development initiatives across Johannesburg. The JDA as a case study, seeks to provide insights into local practices of DIAs and their potential effectiveness in delivering a range of services to the public, in a climate where accountability, inclusivity and collaboration are increasingly of concern to the state. This research report, also investigates the DIA’s specific institutional structures and processes. It also examines the relationship between the public sector and the DIA, the features of the DIA, and the emerging lessons for institutional forms that are able to deliver improved service delivery and nodal development.Item The role of the city development agencies in the urban regeneration of the inner city of Johannesburg(2014-02-04) Ntshona, Nonkululeko ImmaculateThe purpose of this research is to investigate the impact of the City Development Agencies on the regeneration of the Johannesburg inner city. Urban degeneration within Johannesburg has been a major challenge, which has an adverse impact on crime, pollution and loss of revenue. This study will investigate public private partnership city development agencies which play a role in establishing sustainable communities. The City Development Agencies and their objectives are reviewed with the principle intention of establishing how successful they are in achieving these objectives. Interviews with senior management from these organizations provided conclusive evidence about their effectiveness and the state of regeneration. These structured interviews incorporated challenges associated with urban degeneration. Key performance indicators were established to measure the success of the organizational structures. These are reviewed against the data from the interviews and government reports. The results of this study show that organizational structures have a positive impact on the sustainable regeneration process and are structured to foster continuous regeneration. Management, communication and fiscal issues were identified as areas of difficulty Organizational structures are essential for the regeneration process, as they provide a structured platform for managing the process. Proper management, communication and adequate funding will help in ensure sustainable regeneration.