Faculty of Engineering and the Built Environment (ETDs)

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Has files: YesSubject: search.filters.subject.SDG-5: Gender equality

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    Investigating Ways in Which the Profile and Identity of Women Affects their Capacity to Work Effectively in the Urban Management Field
    (University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2024) Mazamane, Zintathu Sigcine
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    Gendered strategies and aspirations of black women inhabiting borderland spaces: a case study of Musina local municipality
    (University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2024) Muzanenhamo, Chido Anna Maria; Harrison, Philip
    This research focuses on how black femininity is constructed and embodied in an African borderland at the intersections of rural-urban and transnational interfaces. Conducted in Musina local municipality, this study posits that a double borderland identity – an identity formed through the spatial overlaps of transnational, rural, and urban existence – shapes how black women are caught in-between idealized conceptualizations of black femininity and the processes of dislocation and adaptation that accompany pressures of assimilating into a borderland society. Utilizing qualitative research methods, including a case study analysis, reflexive photography and journalling, and 43 semi-structured interviews, this study explored the concepts of intersectionality, liminality, and borderlands. The findings suggest that black femininity is an ideal constructed largely of three components: selfhood, wifehood, and motherhood. These ideas frequently mirror the perception that certain categories – like gender, geography, and nationality – are fixed and unrelated. However, the study shows that gender identity in the municipality is performatively intersectional, leading to diverse liminal experiences. Identities in an African borderland can be fluid, hybrid, invisible or visible depending on the context. This study provides a more nuanced understanding of identity formation in borderland spaces. The double borderland identity is particularly important because it subverts and transforms commonly perceived notions of black femininity, being the catalyst for the experiences and embodiment of intersectional identities, often leaving many women in a permanent state of in- betweenness.
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    Feminized Water Geographies: Harnessing Urban Design Principles as a response to the water needs of women living in the informal settlement known as Gabon, Daveyton
    (University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2024-02) Mogola, Itumeleng; Mavuso, Nkosilenhle
    Feminized water geographies is a concept concerned with the improvement of the livelihoods of women living in urban contexts of water scarcity such as informal settlements (Dixon & Jones, 2006). The complexity of the concept cannot be reduced to a single theoretical thread but is understood and investigated through the understanding that the relationship between women and water is complex and is defined through four theories namely, the Feminization of water which advocates for women’s access to clean and safe water while reducing the laborious tasks that limit their economic, social, and political participation. Secondly, African Ethnographies explores African culture and Black African female identities and the resultant vocabularies and expressions of surviving urban informality, thirdly, urban informality begins to spatialise the water responsibilities of women that occur within contexts of resource deprivation which has an impact on a woman’s urban experience of accessing water. Lastly, the theory of Feminist Geographies strives to improve the livelihoods of women by unpacking the urban, social, cultural, and economic landscape that women have to navigate to survive (Dixon & Jones, 2006). As a result, the need to address the precarious conditions of informal settlements within water-scarce contexts to try to create urban environments that are responsive and sensitised to women’s water needs is important and forms the crux of the research. By harnessing urban design principles including water-sensitive urban design principles that address the spatial implications of water scarcity in contexts of urban informality while being sensitised to women’s needs, the research can begin to explore and answer the possibilities of creating sustainably inclusive spaces.
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    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.
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    Ponte; Realness. Symbiotic parasitism in drag
    (University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2023-09) Georgiev, Victor Geoergiev; Bahman, Dirk
    The intended investigation explores queer identity and the extent to which it can symbiotically co-inhabit an outdated structure to create social cohesion and integration resulting in a regeneration. Consisting of interventions exploring identity representation and familial programmes to create a sense of community. Research focuses on vulnerable communities present within Ponte (a structure containing aspects of familiarity to Ballroom spaces) and their synergy with the Ballroom community in Johannesburg. Through architectural processes engaging with space making and programming, aims value the creation of space. Encouraging educational models through social engagement which facilitate acceptance, sex, and gender expressions through a mutual occupation. Theories identified in queer spaces and Hertzburgers writings provide solutions through familiarity and atmospheres that allow for a symbiosis of community. Research outcomes indicate an adaptive re-use of Ponte through a reprogramming relating to investigations that highlight the buildings previous intentions as a vertical city.