Dissertations / Theses: 'City planning – South Africa – Johannesburg'

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Witek, Joseph F. "Johannesburg: Africa's World City?" Ohio University / OhioLINK, 2013. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ohiou1366646542.

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Kwangwane, Thulani Thompson. "Assessment of different approaches to public service provision by the City of Johannesburg Metropolitan Municipality." Thesis, Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2008. http://hdl.handle.net/10019.1/2941.

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Thesis (MPA (School of Public Management and Planning))--Stellenbosch University, 2008.
Since its establishment in the 19th century, the City of Johannesburg has metamorphosed from a gold mining dormitory, a segregated town to a modern metropolitan municipality that is one of the flagships of South African municipalities. The formerly apartheid city had the legacy of fragmentation along racial lines based on the disintegrated economic logic that systematically developed areas disproportionately with black urban and peri-urban areas at the mercy of the white urban areas1. The advent of democracy in 1994 necessitated the city’s transformation into a democratic, non-racial, developmental and mega municipality encompassing the townships that were previously on its periphery. This required the national government, as the superior government to formulate a regulatory framework for local government to foster a developmental orientation, democracy, good governance and accountability to the constituent inhabitants, provincial and national government. Similar to all other municipalities country wide, it became paramount to improve the provision of public services to cover the backlogs that were created by the previous separate development policies of apartheid, but specific to Johannesburg, to maintain its position as the biggest city by population, gross domestic expenditure and economic growth. In this study the researcher maintains the seven assumptions advanced by Caiden (1982:14-6) about public administration i.e. that it is unavoidable, expects obedience, has priority, has exceptional size, has political top management, poses difficulties in performance measurement and that more is expected from it. Although public management is not entirely unique in the above ways due to the phenomenon of new public management (NPM), it is easy in the South African context to identify public administration through the schedules in the Constitution (1996), the Public Finance Management Act, 2002 (PFMA)2 and the formation structures of service providing municipal entities. Public policy analysis literature documents the paradigm shift in public management from traditional bureaucratic structure to decentralisation, NPM and policy networks amid the complexity theory in the public service endeavour to provide services. The local legislature i.e. the municipal council is granted the authority over the sphere of work of the municipality and therefore has the final say in the running of the municipality to meet the expectations of the electorate. In this study the researcher focuses on the analysis of the council’s choices of the above public management structures or policies options in exercising its authority. The council has to decide on functional activities i.e. municipal services from what the Constitution (1996) allows and decide on the executive institutions that are tasked to execute the functions within the budgetary allocations. Regarding research methodology, annual reports, departmental reports, AG performance reports, community complaints, council meeting minutes, provincial government reports, national treasury reports and primary data from questionnaires and expert interviews were consulted to answer the questions on the levels effectiveness and efficiency. It was found that the provision of services has substantially improved as from the beginning of the 21st century and the reason for this improvement is the public service reforms that include NPM. The semi permanency of entities and utilities could inhibit the provision of services in future. It was also found that the weaknesses with the utilities and entities can well be covered by the implementation of policy networks and the municipality finds it difficult to cope under exogenous complexity challenges.

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Woodard, Davon Teremus Trevino. "FRAMES OF DIGITAL BLACKNESS IN THE RACIALIZED PALIMPSEST CITY: CHICAGO, ILLINOIS AND JOHANNESBURG, SOUTH AFRICA." Diss., Virginia Tech, 2008. http://hdl.handle.net/10919/104658.

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The United States and South Africa, exemplars of "archsegregation," have been constituted within an arc of historical racialized delineations which began with the centering, and subsequent overrepresentation, of European maleness and whiteness as the sole definition of Man. Globally present and persistent, these racialized delineations have been localized and spatially embedded through the tools of urban planning. This arc of racialized otherness, ineffectively erased, continues to inform the racially differentiated geospatial, health, social, and economic outcomes in contemporary urban form and functions for Black communities. It is within this historical arc, and against these differentiated outcomes, that contemporary urban discourse and contestation between individuals and institutions are situated. This historical othering provides not just a racialized geo-historical contextualization, but also works to preclude the recognition of the some of the most vulnerable urban community members. As urbanists and advocates strive to co-create urban space and place with municipalities, meeting the needs of these residents is imperative. In order to meet these needs, their lived experiences, and voices must be fully recognized and engaged in the processes and programs of urban co-creation, including in digital spaces and forums. Critical to achieving recognition acknowledging and situating contemporary digital discourses between local municipalities, Black residents, and Black networks within this historically racialized arc is necessary. In doing so, explore if, and how, race, specifically Blackness, is enacted in municipal digital discourse, whether these enactments serve to advance or impede resident recognition and participation, and how Black users, as residents and social network curators, engage and respond to these municipal discursive enactments. This exploratory research is a geographically and digitally multi-sited incorporated comparison of Chicago, Illinois, and Johannesburg South Africa. Using Twitter and ethnographic data collected between December 1, 2019, and March 31, 2020, this research layers digital ethnographic mixed methods and qualitive mixed methods, including traditional ethnographic, digital ethnographic, grounded theory, social change and discourse analysis, and frame analysis to explore three research goals. First, explore the digital discursive practices and frames employed by municipalities to inform, communicate with, and engage Black communities, and, if and how, these frames are situated within a historically racialized arc. Second, identify the ways in which Black residents, in dual discursive engagements with local municipalities and their own social networks, interact and engage with the municipal frames centering on Blackness. Third, through ethnographic narratives, acknowledge the marginalized residents of the Central Business District of Johannesburg, South Africa as "agents of knowledge," with critical and valuable knowledge claims which arise from their lived experiences anchored within racialized place and space. In doing so, support the efforts of these residents in recentering the validity of their knowledge claims in the co-creation of urban place and space. Additionally, in situating the city within a historically racialized arc develop novel frameworks, the racialized palimpsest city and syndemic segregation, through which to explore contemporary urban interactions and engagements.
Doctor of Philosophy
The United States and South Africa, exemplars of "archsegregation," have been constituted within an arc of historical racialized delineations which began with the centering, and subsequent overrepresentation, of European maleness and whiteness as the sole definition of Man. Globally present and persistent, these racialized delineations have been localized and spatially embedded through the tools of urban planning. This arc of racialized otherness, ineffectively erased, continues to inform the racially differentiated geospatial, health, social, and economic outcomes in contemporary urban form and functions for Black communities. It is within this historical arc, and against these differentiated outcomes, that contemporary urban discourse and contestation between individuals and institutions are situated. This historical othering provides not just a racialized geo-historical contextualization, but also works to preclude the recognition of the some of the most vulnerable urban community members. As urbanists and advocates strive to co-create urban space and place with municipalities, meeting the needs of these residents is imperative. In order to meet these needs, their lived experiences, and voices must be fully recognized and engaged in the processes and programs of urban co-creation, including in digital spaces and forums. Critical to achieving recognition acknowledging and situating contemporary digital discourses between local municipalities, Black residents, and Black networks within this historically racialized arc is necessary. In doing so, explore if, and how, race, specifically Blackness, is enacted in municipal digital discourse, whether these enactments serve to advance or impede resident recognition and participation, and how Black users, as residents and social network curators, engage and respond to these municipal discursive enactments. This exploratory research is a geographically and digitally multi-sited incorporated comparison of Chicago, Illinois, and Johannesburg South Africa. Using Twitter and ethnographic data collected between December 1, 2019, and March 31, 2020, this research layers digital ethnographic mixed methods and qualitive mixed methods, including traditional ethnographic, digital ethnographic, grounded theory, social change and discourse analysis, and frame analysis to explore three research goals. First, explore the digital discursive practices and frames employed by municipalities to inform, communicate with, and engage Black communities, and, if and how, these frames are situated within a historically racialized arc. Second, identify the ways in which Black residents, in dual discursive engagements with local municipalities and their own social networks, interact and engage with the municipal frames centering on Blackness. Third, through ethnographic narratives, acknowledge the marginalized residents of the Central Business District of Johannesburg, South Africa as "agents of knowledge," with critical and valuable knowledge claims which arise from their lived experiences anchored within racialized place and space. In doing so, support the efforts of these residents in recentering the validity of their knowledge claims in the co-creation of urban place and space. Additionally, in situating the city within a historically racialized arc develop novel frameworks, the racialized palimpsest city and syndemic segregation, through which to explore contemporary urban interactions and engagements.

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Woodard, Davon Teremus Trevino. "Frames of Digital Blackness in the Racialized Palimpsest City: Chicago, Illinois and Johannesburg, South Africa." Diss., Virginia Tech, 2021. http://hdl.handle.net/10919/104658.

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Abstract:

The United States and South Africa, exemplars of "archsegregation," have been constituted within an arc of historical racialized delineations which began with the centering, and subsequent overrepresentation, of European maleness and whiteness as the sole definition of Man. Globally present and persistent, these racialized delineations have been localized and spatially embedded through the tools of urban planning. This arc of racialized otherness, ineffectively erased, continues to inform the racially differentiated geospatial, health, social, and economic outcomes in contemporary urban form and functions for Black communities. It is within this historical arc, and against these differentiated outcomes, that contemporary urban discourse and contestation between individuals and institutions are situated. This historical othering provides not just a racialized geo-historical contextualization, but also works to preclude the recognition of the some of the most vulnerable urban community members. As urbanists and advocates strive to co-create urban space and place with municipalities, meeting the needs of these residents is imperative. In order to meet these needs, their lived experiences, and voices must be fully recognized and engaged in the processes and programs of urban co-creation, including in digital spaces and forums. Critical to achieving recognition acknowledging and situating contemporary digital discourses between local municipalities, Black residents, and Black networks within this historically racialized arc is necessary. In doing so, explore if, and how, race, specifically Blackness, is enacted in municipal digital discourse, whether these enactments serve to advance or impede resident recognition and participation, and how Black users, as residents and social network curators, engage and respond to these municipal discursive enactments. This exploratory research is a geographically and digitally multi-sited incorporated comparison of Chicago, Illinois, and Johannesburg South Africa. Using Twitter and ethnographic data collected between December 1, 2019, and March 31, 2020, this research layers digital ethnographic mixed methods and qualitive mixed methods, including traditional ethnographic, digital ethnographic, grounded theory, social change and discourse analysis, and frame analysis to explore three research goals. First, explore the digital discursive practices and frames employed by municipalities to inform, communicate with, and engage Black communities, and, if and how, these frames are situated within a historically racialized arc. Second, identify the ways in which Black residents, in dual discursive engagements with local municipalities and their own social networks, interact and engage with the municipal frames centering on Blackness. Third, through ethnographic narratives, acknowledge the marginalized residents of the Central Business District of Johannesburg, South Africa as "agents of knowledge," with critical and valuable knowledge claims which arise from their lived experiences anchored within racialized place and space. In doing so, support the efforts of these residents in recentering the validity of their knowledge claims in the co-creation of urban place and space. Additionally, in situating the city within a historically racialized arc develop novel frameworks, the racialized palimpsest city and syndemic segregation, through which to explore contemporary urban interactions and engagements.
Doctor of Philosophy
The United States and South Africa, exemplars of "archsegregation," have been constituted within an arc of historical racialized delineations which began with the centering, and subsequent overrepresentation, of European maleness and whiteness as the sole definition of Man. Globally present and persistent, these racialized delineations have been localized and spatially embedded through the tools of urban planning. This arc of racialized otherness, ineffectively erased, continues to inform the racially differentiated geospatial, health, social, and economic outcomes in contemporary urban form and functions for Black communities. It is within this historical arc, and against these differentiated outcomes, that contemporary urban discourse and contestation between individuals and institutions are situated. This historical othering provides not just a racialized geo-historical contextualization, but also works to preclude the recognition of the some of the most vulnerable urban community members. As urbanists and advocates strive to co-create urban space and place with municipalities, meeting the needs of these residents is imperative. In order to meet these needs, their lived experiences, and voices must be fully recognized and engaged in the processes and programs of urban co-creation, including in digital spaces and forums. Critical to achieving recognition acknowledging and situating contemporary digital discourses between local municipalities, Black residents, and Black networks within this historically racialized arc is necessary. In doing so, explore if, and how, race, specifically Blackness, is enacted in municipal digital discourse, whether these enactments serve to advance or impede resident recognition and participation, and how Black users, as residents and social network curators, engage and respond to these municipal discursive enactments. This exploratory research is a geographically and digitally multi-sited incorporated comparison of Chicago, Illinois, and Johannesburg South Africa. Using Twitter and ethnographic data collected between December 1, 2019, and March 31, 2020, this research layers digital ethnographic mixed methods and qualitive mixed methods, including traditional ethnographic, digital ethnographic, grounded theory, social change and discourse analysis, and frame analysis to explore three research goals. First, explore the digital discursive practices and frames employed by municipalities to inform, communicate with, and engage Black communities, and, if and how, these frames are situated within a historically racialized arc. Second, identify the ways in which Black residents, in dual discursive engagements with local municipalities and their own social networks, interact and engage with the municipal frames centering on Blackness. Third, through ethnographic narratives, acknowledge the marginalized residents of the Central Business District of Johannesburg, South Africa as "agents of knowledge," with critical and valuable knowledge claims which arise from their lived experiences anchored within racialized place and space. In doing so, support the efforts of these residents in recentering the validity of their knowledge claims in the co-creation of urban place and space. Additionally, in situating the city within a historically racialized arc develop novel frameworks, the racialized palimpsest city and syndemic segregation, through which to explore contemporary urban interactions and engagements.

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Ghisleni, Carina. "Surreal city escape: discovering escapism within the unaccommodating Johannesburg city fabric." Thesis, 2015. http://hdl.handle.net/10539/17711.

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This document is submitted in partial fulfilment for the degree: Master of Architecture (Professional) at the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa, in the year 2014.
This thesis explores theories of escapism and applies them to the Johannesburg precinct in the form of a socially interactive public space. Our day to day banal realities do not satisfy our innermost desires, as a result; we choose to disconnect from our realties. We often become passive consumers in a world dominated by production, fuelled by retail advertising and marketing media, and in turn we frequently overlook the shaping of our own social existence and choosing healthy forms of flight. I feel that our city does not provide opportunities for escape in the form of urban rituals and therefore a sense of belonging is inadequately specified. I aim to provide a positive form of escape which supports urban rituals, and thereby define a place within Johannesburg. A public space enables social interaction and individual exploration and is therefore a temporary from of escape. Our city is often perceived as dangerous and unaccommodating, but there is vast opportunity within the precinct due to the many existing connections and vibrant pedestrian life. My chosen site is an existing heritage building and the active node, Gandhi Square, currently existing divided by a sprawl of busses through which pedestrians are forced to navigate through. Through the redesign of this space, I intend to encourage a pedestrian dominant city, and a civic space that enhances public life and further facilitates urban renewal. My intervention involves 3 elements; an outdoor theatre, the redesign of the Metro Bus facility and a public space to promote a harmonious transition zone between the two. The contemporary theatre I am proposing forms space without physical walls, as light and sound evolve to stage events. The theatre functions within the reshaping of an existing heritage building located on site. It is a flexible space where intense sensory events can occur and carve the avenues into a socially interactive city. This engaging atmosphere caters for the collective as well as the everyday encounter, transforming to the needs of Johannesburg. My intervention will define a place where the celebration of community is lacking and in turn seek to change the perceptions of our city. Through the experience of the whole, my design facilitates chance interactions in which mystical moments can be manifested within a public space devoted to civic escape.

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"Renewal of the city from within the Doornfontein precinct." Thesis, 2014. http://hdl.handle.net/10210/8809.

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M.Tech. (Architectural Technology)
The once racially segregated urban fabric of Johannesburg is experiencing dramatic transition with different needs, attitudes and cultures. Patterns of use have altered and so has the social demography of the city and the urban fringes_ "The large business sector continues to move to the suburbs in a bid to find growth and security to be replaced with small retail outlets lessening the amount of money available to the Johannesburg council to revamp the CBD". Finance Week, Politics and Urban Renewal, June 19-25 1997, p17. Depressed areas, areas Jacking council funding within the city need to attention to divert possible neglect, to restore greater confidence within the business sector. The Doornfontein area of Johannesburg is one such area with a new collective vision created by the community, professionals, business, and local and provincial government, may possibly lead the CBD on a road to recovery. This eclectic area consisting of commerce, retail, commercial, educational, light-industry, and housing sectors, all working independently from one another and from the rest of the CBD could possibly benefit from a unified urban renewal project incorporating all sectors of the community. Doornfontein and Johannesburg's "metropolitan system is presently facilitating urban decay". Finance Week, A Tale of Two Cities, September 0410 1997, p16…

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Kok, Tatum Tahnee. "Exploring high streets in suburban Johannesburg." Thesis, 2016. http://hdl.handle.net/10539/20997.

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Traditionally the high street serviced residents in the local suburb. The proliferation of entertainment and leisure activities on the high street in suburban Johannesburg has appealed to people in the broader region. These social spaces within the suburb provide a simultaneous interaction of individuals who can carry out their daily activities of shopping, dining and socializing and essentially has contributed to these high streets being successful destination points. Patrons, the foot traffic of the high street, sustain businesses on the high street. Some business owners neglect to implement city by-laws and comply with licensing regulations often perpetuating unfavourable circumstances for residents in the suburb. Noise, petty crime and parking constraints detract from the street's allure. Alternatively, some residents enjoy easy access to the street's activities. Using a mixed method research approach, this research reveals some of the perceptions, regulations and tensions regarding the prominence of entertainment and leisure activities on the high street. Three case studies (7th Street in Melville, 4th Avenue in Parkhurst and Rockey/Raleigh Street in Greater Yeoville) are explored to evaluate the role of entertainment and leisure on the suburban high street.

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English, Larry. "Streets for exchange a restructuring of the inner city: Johannesburg." Thesis, 1993. http://hdl.handle.net/10539/22764.

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This discourse is submitted to the Faculty of Architecture, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, in partial fulfilment of the degree Master of Urban Design, Johannesburg, October 1993
Johannesburg's inner-city is in crisis. Physically; the city is deteriorating. Daily, the media reports of increased crime figures, and yet another corporation moving to suburbia. Institutions which remain in the city intensify their security and offer internalised canteens, gymnasiums and parking to their staff so that they need not venture out onto the streets. It is therefore doubtful that institutions which remain do so out of love for the city; rather, it would appear that these decisions are motivated for reasons of retaining their property investments. In reaction. city politicians (who live in suburbia) have embarked on cosmetic urban design upgrades and programmes to keep Johannesburg clean, or green, while others campaign for transportation solutions and stadiums driven by manifestos to make Johannesburg a truly 'world' city - Eurocentric images of what great cities should be. [No abstract provided. Information taken from introduction].
MT2017

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Bam, Angela Phindile. "A discourse analysis of the urban imaginaries represented in tourism marketing for Johannesburg in the post-apartheid era." Thesis, 2016. https://hdl.handle.net/10539/24113.

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A thesis submitted to the Faculty of Engineering and the Built Environment in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Urban Studies, Johannesburg 2016
Like many cities around the world Johannesburg began marketing to attract tourists in the 1990s. Johannesburg has in the last couple of years become a ‘hot’ tourism destination and is increasingly ranked among the top global tourist destinations. Tourist cities market their cultural, historical shopping, entertainment and lifestyle attractions to attract tourists and wealthy residents. They also regenerate older historical districts or build new attractions in the form of high profile infrastructure and architecture. To attract tourists, cities use discourse to represent themselves in certain ways to the prospective tourist. This discourse found in tourism marketing and other communications; creates certain expectations or commonly held imaginings of a city as a tourism destination. These are referred to as tourism imaginaries. In cities these ‘tourism imaginaries’ become absorbed as urban imaginaries that shape not only tourist spaces, but the whole city. The research aims to deconstruct the imaginaries represented in Johannesburg’s tourism marketing to understand how tourism is shaping Johannesburg in line with this view. Discourse analysis is used as a method to achieve this. Michel Foucault understood discourse as a system of representation, where discourse is a way of creating meaning by representing knowledge and exercising power around a subject at a certain time in history and in a particular way. Besides the content analysis of the tourism marketing, the discourse analysis also captured how tourism businesses in three case study sites namely Newtown Precinct, Vilakazi Street and Montecasino Entertainment Complex have responded to the discourses in the City’s tourism marketing. A central argument made is that the drive to create tourist cities reinforces rather than reduces power inequalities and creates further fragmentation by creating pockets of exceptionalism reserved for tourists. The research contributes to the recent interest in the cultural and political understandings of cities which considers the often invisible or overlooked manifestations of power that shape cities. In the research tourism imaginaries are conceptualised as central in the generation and shaping of social practices in the City. It was concluded that the move to create tourist cities has given tourists and other tourism actors symbolic power, shaping the city by remote control, and therefore reinforcing global power dynamics that have shaped the world since colonial times.
XL2018

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Pepu, Mawethu. "Urban livelihood strategies of internal migrants and the response of the City of Johannesburg." Thesis, 2014.

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Thessis (M.Sc.(Development Planning))--University of the Witwatersrand, Faculty of Engineering and the Built Environment, School of Architecture and Planning, 2006
Migration is indubitable one of the most complex and urgent phenomenon that will emerge as a robust agenda in global cities’ policy and spatial planning trajectory. Internal migrants have been recorded as constituting a relatively significant part of the population of Gauteng and Johannesburg, and any development policies for the City need to account strongly for in-migration (Peberdy, et al, 2004). The importance of migration was also strongly highlighted by the Executive Mayor of the City of Johannesburg, Amos Masondo in his 2004 State of the City address: “Johannesburg has become a magnet for people from other provinces, the African continent, and indeed, the four corners of the world”. He also referred to the challenges posed by migration; “While migrancy contributes to the rich tapestry of the cosmopolitan city, it also places a severe strain on employment levels, housing and public services”. Kok (2003) postulated that the relationship between migration and City spatial development planning will definitely influence the country’s future and that many cities cannot absorb new entrants in the labour market and this means that high population growth will constitute a major future challenge for cities. Kok et al (2004) postulated that the bulk of the research has been conducted on why migrants leave rural areas to urban areas, but little on how they organize, prepare, survive, network, and organize assets and resources, and access services in urban areas. The livelihood strategies that in-migrants depend on when they arrive in the “unknown urban territory” remain an enthralling phenomenon. The aim of the study was to investigate and provide a conceptual insight into the urban livelihood strategies of in-migrant newcomers in the City of Johannesburg, and to reflect on the City of Johannesburg municipality’s policy agenda particularly, Growth and Development Strategy (2006) and Human Development Strategy (2005) and other pertinent strategic planning frameworks-responses to internal migration. Qualitative research informed by surveys, interviews, with open-ended questions and observations in the form of fieldwork was followed. Twelve respondents were interviewed, comprising of seven females and four males coming from the Eastern Cape Province, currently based in Johannesburg, Yoeville suburb. The study unmasked that in-migrants find their foothold in income generation or employment through family, kin, partner and friend network connections predominantly derived from members coming from the same province of origin. Their livelihood strategies are negotiated and limited to background networks; beyond network connections is what the researcher view as an “incessant impediment in their lives”. Regrettably, most in-migrants encountered lacked training, skills, close-knit social networks, market intelligence and education tools necessary to climb the economic ladder in the urban terrain. Generally, those who are unemployed were not engaged in income generation activities while those employed supplemented their wages by income generation activities such as spaza shop and shebeens. A glaring reality is that respondents were not taking advantage of the booming informal market economy of Johannesburg which has a potential to sustain a livelihood. This is also compounded by the fact that none of the respondents participated in the civic society sector as way of participating in the City developmental trajectories and also a way of sustaining a livelihood. In a nutshell, a mere background network connection to the person from the area of origin, predominantly family member and friend was found to be the core livelihood strategy to access basic needs and employment opportunities for Eastern Cape internal migrants. The documented response of the City of Johannesburg Metropolitan strategic policy agenda is seen through two broader policies. Firstly, iv Growth and Development Strategy in its principle of “proactive absorption of poor”. Secondly, Human Development Strategy which focuses on interventions such as; safeguarding and supporting poor and vulnerable households in their efforts to access local and provincial social safety nets, championing rights and opportunities for those who suffer the effects of structural inequality in the City; and building prospects for social inclusion by developing partnerships between the City and its residents. Both GDS & HDS policy responses to migration are discussed at length in the report. The current study argues that the City must devise novel robust policy and planning strategies to understand the profound urbanization trends, socio-economic context of migration patterns and how these impacts on the City infrastructure planning in the long-term growth of the City. Future studies in this line of investigation must consider taking forward this kind of research to a highest level. It will be proper to extend the study by investigating livelihood strategies of migrants in Johannesburg coming from different provinces and those from the selected African countries for the purpose of comparison using the qualitative approach. It will be appreciated to include investigation of broader urbanization impacts and readiness of City infrastructure provision, planning and growth.

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Russo, Tatum. "The story exchange: narrative sharing as a catalyst for creative change in Orange Grove." Thesis, 2017. http://hdl.handle.net/10539/23650.

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Thesis is submitted in partial fulfilment for the degree of Master of Architecture (Professional) to the Faculty of Engineering and the Built Environment, School of Architecture and Planning at the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2017
Ever since we as humans sat around fires in caves, we have been sharing stories in an attempt to understand life and the need to survive. Storytelling is an integral part of human experience. We define our lives in narrative form. It gives us a means to explain the inexplicable and understand our lives in the context of a greater whole. The increasing prevalence of technologies like cell phones, tablets, and laptops has lead to a phenomenon of disconnection between people in the physical dimension. Instead of communicating faceto-face, with all of our senses engaged, we rely on technology to interact with friends and share our stories. South Africa’s current political climate, and particularly the protests on University campuses across the country in the past year, has emphasised the idea that society is suffering from a lack of real communication. This research proposes that stories can create change in the built environment, through building design, in the same way that stories affect our personal beliefs and understanding. Thus the concept of narrative and memory and how it manifests itself in architectural design and discourse is explored. This report finds that nostalgia and phenomenology play a significant role in producing connections between people and the built environment and these theories must be employed to create strong narratives in architecture. Orange Grove, once a vibrant suburb along Louis Botha Avenue, has suffered from a lack of investment and development since the 1990s. Ultimately I employ perceptual and conceptual design philosophies to design a sustainable intervention within the already rich context of Orange Grove. The Story Exchange building design proposes that only through art, craft and open tactile interaction (that involves all the senses) - can one produce architecture that becomes a catalyst for the creative upliftment of the area and its community.
XL2018

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Uys, Jacobus Johannes. "Taxicity: reconfiguring the inner city and taxi industry through an urban taxi terminal." Thesis, 2016. http://hdl.handle.net/10539/22310.

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Thesis (M.Arch. (Prof.))--University of the Witwatersrand, Faculty of Engineering and the Built Environment, School of Architecture and Planning, 2016.
This thesis explores the role of the Johannesburg Minibus Taxi Industry as a city- making device, both as a concentrator as well as a separator of different people and different industries. The taxi industry’s role in the city oscillates between an activity- generator and inhibitor depending on what state the mini-bus taxi is in. By concentrating people during drop- off or pick- up phases of a commute, the density of commuters afford traders and other commercial entities an accessible market to exploit and sell their wares to, but during off-peak hours the taxi industry is static and doesn’t attract activity, other than taxi- centric activity. The city provides limited amount of space for the taxi to operate in, which forces taxis to territorialise public streets spaces during off- peak hours when the industry is in a lull. These territorialised spaces are then limited to a set taxi- centric function and are prevented from becoming spaces with a greater variety of function or activities. By introducing a space that allows taxis to park, or hold, off street as a means to allow current streetscapes, currently defi ned as taxi spaces, to become open to a reinterpretation by citizens and to fulfi l needs of the citizenry will afford the city a greater level of workability and engagement from all parties involved. In order to achieve a city that is reinterpretable by its citizenry and to do it successfully, the need to establish what constitutes a good urban form is paramount. Dense, diverse, multi- functional and interesting urban morphology is key, but none of this can be addressed if the status quo of the urban environ remains the same. By proposing the construction of a mixed-use taxi holding space on the existing Jack Mincer Taxi Rank, in order to allow taxis currently parking and holding on street to be able to hold in a safe and secure building. This proposal will serve as a catalyst in development for the surrounding urban context which will allow for the redesign of these previously taxi- focused urban spaces to evolve into mixed- use developments that provide housing, commercial opportunities as well as recreational spaces in the existing End Street Park. R einvigorating the existing urban condition through reconfi guring the surrounding urban condition, there is an opportunity to relook at the existing taxi industry itself and its workings and reimagine it. To create a system that allows for greater economic opportunities for associations, owners and drivers. However, in order to achieve a greater level of effi ciency in the current taxi industry, numerous changes need to be made to implement these processes, the least of which will drastically affect and reduce the amount of taxi drivers on the roads. Since drivers are already in a constricted position in terms of job opportunities, these individuals will invariably be victimised and be forced into a position of joblessness, due to South Africa’s struggling economy. By introducing an enterprise component to the project that will help facilitate skill- creation and foster entrepreneurship in drivers, and former drivers, the industry becomes an important stepping stone in developing a workable economy that supports and engenders greater and varied economic activity, by directly encouraging the development of entrepreneurs and skill development. Furthermore, by not just targeting the taxi industry directly, but also by engaging with industries dependent on the taxi industry, this intervention further develops the market district in the region, and further enables traders in the region to exploit the pedestrian market and encourage a richer economic activity on the chosen site, and the surrounding urban context. This intervention is not just reconfi guring an urban condition, but also an industry’s effect on that condition, through the introduction of the Urban Taxi Terminal.
EM2017

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Clur, Gavin. "The public realm: part of a balanced city." Thesis, 2015. http://hdl.handle.net/10539/16937.

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Chiwetu, David Ngonidzashe. "Harnessing small scale developers in the development of the inner city of Johannesburg." Thesis, 2019. https://hdl.handle.net/10539/29369.

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A research report submitted to the School of Architecture and Planning, University of the Witwatersrand, in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science in Development Planning.
The strategic spatial plans of the City of Johannesburg have been centered on densification as a key spatial planning tool to address spatial fragmentation by facilitating development of affordable housing through the private sector. City of Johannesburg and Johannesburg Development Agency have developed a working relationship with TUHF Pty Ltd to co-promote priority areas for affordable housing development. TUHF is a financial provider that provides access to finance for entrepreneurs to purchase and subsequently convert or refurbish buildings in the inner cities of South Africa. The research examines the support being provided by City of Johannesburg, Johannesburg Development Agency and TUHF in supporting small scale developers in the inner city of Johannesburg. One of the key concepts of the research is that of the small scale developer which is a slippery term to define. In order to ground the research and define a sample , small scale developers were defined at the inception of the research according to TUHF’s recognition and support of emerging property entrepreneurs operating in the inner city. The conceptual framework explores the complexities of the interaction of the small scale developer with the municipal instruments to gain development approval and with financial institutions to access credit to finance developments. The research uses the inner city as a case study as it provide an ongoing site based application of initiatives that are supposed to support small scale developers. The research uses semi-structured interviews, participant observations and secondary data to examine how small scale developers are being supported. The main research finding is that there is no nuanced definition of the small scale developer from the perspective of the City of Johannesburg and TUHF. Small scale developers face administrative, technical and financial challenges in the property development process and the collaboration between municipal agencies and financial institutions plays an important role in the support of small scale developers.
TL (2020)

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Thomas, Cassandra. "Architecture under the influence: a brewpub for the diverse city of Johannesburg." Thesis, 2016. http://hdl.handle.net/10539/22075.

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This thesis is submitted in partial fulfilment for the degree Master of Architecture [Professional] at the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa, in the year 2015
This thesis explores the concept of social and cultural inclusivity and urban regeneration through a brewpub that celebrates South Africa’s rich drinking history. Growing up in a household where alcohol has been viewed as a negative factor that can actually destroy the family, I have always wanted to know if it could in fact ignite some positivity in the lives of society. Common social perception dictates our individual views and opinions on alcohol, and these perceptions sometimes differ from society to society, and from culture to culture. The history of beer is deep rooted in the soil of South Africa: from the traditional African beer makers who practiced ritual through their craft; to the notorious beer halls that were described as ‘drinking cages’ by the mine workers of Johannesburg. Today, the act of drinking beer is shared across multiple social spectrums – from the regular shebeen patrons to the trendy hipsters that crawl the city. Can these various social groups interact together over the common act of enjoying a beer with friends? Can a multi-cultural brewery overcome the many issues that occur within our diverse city? The three themes of health and morality, sociability, and state and nation, as suggested by Mack P. Holt in the book Alcohol: a social and cultural history, are the analytical tools that have been used to dissect the interesting body that is society and drinking. Ultimately, it is the understanding of these different aspects of consumption that has led me to the design of a new hybrid drinking establishment that could benefit the community in which it is situated. On a site known as the gateway to the Maboneng Precinct, the brewery houses all the functions necessary for the production of beer as well as a restaurant, coffee shop, curio shop, offices and a small learning centre. The brewery also offers the opportunity for aspiring brewers to occupy a brew lab and test their brewing skills on the market. The main patrons include the visitors of Arts on Main, residents in the area, Ellis Park spectators, students from the Doornfontein campus as well as people from many other walks of life. Hagaman says that beer holds a place “[…] in the total socioeconomic and ritual life of its brewers and drinkers,” and only once we learn from the past, take notes from the unknown and allow inevitable changes to happen, can such a place truly feel welcome and open for all.
EM2017

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Nkooe, Ernestina Seanokeng. "Contested public spaces: a Lefebvrian analysis of Mary Fitzgerald Square." Thesis, 2016. http://hdl.handle.net/10539/19858.

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A degree submitted for the requirements of Masters of Arts in Geography School of Geography, Archaeology and Environmental Studies
Mary Fitzgerald Square is an iconic public space in Newtown, Johannesburg. In spite of its iconic status, prolific social history and commercial role in the city, there is very little that is known about it and its users. In 2009 and 2010 I undertook an ethnographic exploration of the public space using Henri Lefebvre’s (1974/1991) conceptual spatial triad, the Right to the City and Elements of Rhythmanalysis frameworks. Through informal interviews, unstructured participant observation and exploration of archived newspaper articles, public space governance by-laws, published urban literature and research, I managed to situate this public space in urban geographical discourse as contested public space. By means of conceptual analysis, this research found Mary Fitzgerald Square to be an important public space that is dominated by neoliberal politics that create struggle for inhabitants to use it meaningfully in the context of everyday life. The proliferation of neoliberal relations of urban governance have led to a situation whereby the public space is subjected to private management practices that encourage its elitist uses and thus prioritizing its commercial exchange-value over its use-value. This process as the research uncovered, undermines the public space’s use-value and consequently leads to a subliminal marginalization of ordinary inhabitants who require and desire it for their varied practices in the context of everyday life. Urban management strategies like human surveillance, Public Open Space by-Laws, architecture and planning design, public-private partnerships, and the removal of the television monitor, discourage creative African youths, skateboarders, the urban poor and elderly in the city from appropriating Mary Fitzgerald Square. Inhabitants using Mary Fitzgerald Square manage to do so by overriding and transgressing existing spatial prohibitions by conducting their social practices in the contested space outside official policing times. Other inhabitants, through play and creative expression, have devised alternative means to challenge their marginalization in and uses of the public space in spite of existing by-laws, changing architecture, and visible human surveillance including law-enforcement that are conceived in an effort to deter their social uses of it. This research proposes a return to Mary Fitzgerald Square that warrants a critical discourse analysis of the public space in an effort to gain a better and deeper understanding of inhabitants’ everyday life experiences and their political situation in the current city through the public space. This should enable a sound critique of the production of Mary Fitzgerald Square in the African metropolis where the abstract struggle between private interests and public need for the public space materializes. Key words: Mary Fitzgerald Square, Henri Lefebvre, Johannesburg, Geography, South Africa.

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Stelli, Jenna Chantal. "A new vision for Johannesburg: investigation of the mining brownfields and the development of a green, sustainable strategy to intergrate the reclaimed land." Thesis, 2014.

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The City of Johannesburg exists primarily due to the discovery of gold, and its urban form has largely been shaped by the mining strip that runs from east to west along the gold reef. The City initially grew along the mining axis, with the Central Business District (CBD) developing just to the north of the belt. Today, the strip of mine tailings and slimes dams creates a vast space of leftover, mostly undeveloped land adjacent to the City centre. The south of the City is physically separated from the north by this strip of wasteland, and most current development is usually only directed northwards towards Sandton and Pretoria. This study considers the future significance of the mining brownfields and how the land can be re-claimed, re-used and re-developed in order to structure and enhance the urban landscape of Johannesburg. The mining strip represents the divisive and collective history of the City and can potentially be used to create the connective tissue that could address this division and ultimately form a cohesive Johannesburg. The linear mining strip is currently supported by railways and industry and as such, provides an ideal setting for development, as useful infrastructure is already present. Brownfield sites, which are previously-developed urban sites with a potential for redevelopment, and specifically mining brownfield sites, form the core of the research for this study. The tailings and slimes dams of Johannesburg require extensive reclamation and reprocessing, yet provide the ideal landscape for redevelopment. The variety of brownfield sites, as well as the different ways to approach them is discussed within this document. In order to validate the extensive effort that is required to overcome the many issues associated with redeveloping the Johannesburg mining sites, the theory of Compact Cities pioneered in the Netherlands has been investigated and is used as a case study in this document. The current segregated and dispersed format of Johannesburg is not sustainable, and all future development should aim for a denser City, greater mixed-use environments and the predominance of public transport. The focus initially will be on developing the land within the City, rather than that on the outskirts, focusing primarily on the vacant land of the mining belt. Careful consideration will be given to the fact that the natural environment is a key aspect to a future sustainable City, and reviews of where this theory has been successfully implemented form a basis to the proposal of this design. This study considers the use of natural landscapes as the catalyst for development within Johannesburg. Natural systems are crucial to the form of the City and can create the base for the linkage of open space systems, which is used to structure future development. Natural mitigation techniques are also one of the best ways to remediate brownfield sites Lastly, the specific history and character of the City of Johannesburg, and specifically the mining belt, is considered in this document, as certain factors will define the process of re-development. The existence of the Witwatersrand Reef and the historical development of the City have led to the current status quo of the City. This thesis studies the patterns of growth that the City has followed and how it has been impacted by gold mining. The design portion of this thesis begins by forming a proposal to create a movement system within Johannesburg based on the existing natural space networks. It considers integrating the mining belt with this system in order to create a new structuring device to inform the development of the urban form of the City. The second part of the thesis attempts to construct a strategy that can be used in the development of the vacant land along the mining belt, based on the above-mentioned open space system for Johannesburg. A pivotal site within Johannesburg has been identified in order to test the principles and concepts that have been explored. There are many challenges that arise when developing on former mining land and this thesis attempts to address these issues spatially, through an urban design framework.

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Michael, Tarryn. "Party sanctuary: Boksburg's home to hedonism." Thesis, 2014. http://hdl.handle.net/10539/15639.

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Boksburg’s landscape is home to many left-over, forgotten, and wasteful spaces which offer no return. This dissertation will explore these elusive landscapes, and through design, breach one of these thresholds. Humans long for refuge. Nature should return. This dissertation explores the theory of ‘liminality’. This theory was used to understand the notions related to event. The application of the ‘liminal’ occur in a transient and a material manner. The three narratives, within this dissertation, that marry this theory are: the ‘cloud’, the ‘wetland’ and the ‘landscape’. The youth culture of Johannesburg seeks release from the quotidian. Can an understated city on the East Rand of Gauteng host a public space that caters for different user groups? Can this public space be appropriated for events? Can this public space supply Johannesburg with a definition for a ‘beach’ in a landlocked city? The architecture is to conjure a sense of liberty and choice within the users and the role of architecture is to create a platform for diversity. The design aims to construct a place where society can re-create itself; where nature can reconcile the damaged environment; and where event can serve to produce ephemeral architecture to make [other\younger\ better\greener] worlds.

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Norwood-Young, James. "Access (the modern paradox): a student clinic law hub re-scripting the border between institutional infrastructure and the public realm, in Braamfontein, Johannesburg." Thesis, 2016. http://hdl.handle.net/10539/21478.

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Abstract: Access (the modern paradox): Borders, much like Architecture, can be described in one of two ways. The one is the simple way, and the other a more complex – but unsettling – way that is open to contradiction. On the surface, a border is a threshold or boundary that constrains the separation of two or more entities. Yet, the more complex understanding is harder to define and because of that it requires limitations, or a different point of view to be able to comprehend. In the case of defining architecture, it can be seen that Architecture is: the art and science of building. Although, this isn’t actually the case, if it was the case practicing Architecture and designing buildings would be easy. There is a complex, more pluralistic way of interrogating Borders and Architecture. Put simply, borders define themselves in the eye of their user. This means that a border to a sociologist, or anthropologist, will be read in a completely different way to an engineer, or will be read differently by a geographer to an immigrant. It becomes obvious that there can never be a complete, all encompassing understanding of what a border is, or can be. A border will always be limited in one way or another, and will always be contested once it has been mapped on to paper. Could there possibly be a way to subvert, dilute or transgress a border or the notion of a border though architecture? Is there an architectural intervention, either physical or metaphysical, that could take on the role of the subversive, dilutor or transgressor? Can a border become actionable and create a place of ACCESS?
MN (2016)

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Mkhize, Thembani. "Managing urban (neighbourhood) change for whom? : investigating the everyday practices of building managers in eKhaya neighbourhood CID Hilbrow South." Thesis, 2014. http://hdl.handle.net/10539/15529.

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Research report submitted to the School of Architecture and Planning, University of the Witwatersrand, March 2014, in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Master of Urban Studies. Supervised by Professor Claire Benit-Gbaffou.
A response to socio-economic issues (crime, disinvestment) and management-related problems (grime) in Johannesburg’s urban neighbourhoods; Residential City Improvement Districts (RCIDs) are seen as a powerful strategy on the road to socio-politico-economic prosperity for inner city areas, and are thus increasingly being implemented. Having led to the renovation/regeneration of public furniture – ‘sanitised’ lanes, upgraded pavements characterised by surveillance cameras and functional lighting – and attraction of business; RCIDs such as Hillbrow’s eKhaya appear to slowly but surely be reconfiguring perceptions of inner city neighbourhoods as ‘slums’ and/or ‘no-go crime hot spots’. Yet in so far as RCIDs appear to be effecting positive urban neighbourhood change, their impacts on the (‘inside’ management of) buildings comprising them still remain to be seen. Using the interesting case of eKhaya Neighbourhood CID Hillbrow South – a ‘voluntary’ RCID which is arguably the first of its kind in a densely populated low-income urban neighbourhood – this research focused on the relationship between internal building management and external public space management in inner city Johannesburg’s RCIDs. The study was particularly concerned with uncovering the extent to which norms and rules governing eKhaya’s public space may infiltrate the governance/politics of the internal building governance and/or supervision. In attempting to do this, the study used the eKhaya RCID building caretakers/managers – in their capacity as transmission belts and brokers between RCID drivers (property owners, RCID coordinators) and tenants - as its primary objects. Drawing from, among others, the Foucauldian concept of ‘Neoliberal Governmentality’, Lipsky’s ‘Street-Level Bureaucracy’and Olivier de Sardan’s ‘Practical Norms’; the study made use of housing supervisors’ daily micro-practices to uncover the extent to which rules and norms governing eKhaya are internalised, appropriated, negotiated, bent, and resisted within – and around - residential buildings constituting eKhaya RCID

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Adank, Janine Claire. "Tailoring Burghersdorp: a processing centre and archive for lost frabrics between Fordsburg and Newtown." Thesis, 2016. http://hdl.handle.net/10539/22973.

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This document is submitted in partial fulfilment for the degree: Master of Architecture (Professional), Faculty of Engineering and the Built Environment, School of Architecture and Planning at the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2016
This thesis examines a number of issues that exist in Johannesburg across a series of scales, the urban, the architectural and the programmatic intervention. The project, situated between Fordsburg and Newtown, examines the East-West city connections and aims to provide an identity for the lost inbetween fabric of Burghersdorp. The project is made up of four themes, Disconnection, Memory, Textiles and Recycling, within a scope that examines the present based on themes from the past: The city fabric is fragmented, mainly due to city spatial planning and city politics. There is the potential and need to physically stitch or darn city fabrics through urban planning. The project looks at an urban regeneration scheme that incorporates urban devices as the tools used to stitch the street back together. There is potential to darn the programmatic functions in the city, potentially weaving local communities together, and provide a platform for the exchange of knowledge and skills.The thesis also examines the need for buildings as mnemonic aids. Historically, city fabric was erased for the building of the Oriental Plaza. The memories attached to these buildings and spaces were lost. There is a possibility for regenerating a space for memory in the city, re-weaving this forgotten city fabric into a new node and identity for Burghersdorp. The area is defined by the activities of the community that surround it. Textiles are a significant part of defining the area’s identity. A substantial amount of textiles are discarded. Waste is a valuable commodity, evidently seen from the existence of the informal waste collectors. There is an opportunity to connect these communities while closing the loop, a proposal for a circular economy for textiles in the city.
MT2017

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Hattingh, P. S. "Johannesburg's sphere of influence." Thesis, 2015. http://hdl.handle.net/10539/16741.

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De, Villiers Sarah. "Idea bank: Watt street,Wynberg, Johannesburg." Thesis, 2015. http://hdl.handle.net/10539/17845.

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What if you could spend an idea to earn money? Detected through an anthropological lens, rather than a strictly economical one; the context of this thesis inherits a feverishly fluctuating South African economy. It is pitted against often contradictory and interchanging consciousness of opportunity in the so-called formalised and informalised markets; and within the flaring gap that exists between the two. This gap finds spatiality in South African post-Apartheid cities, in which physical buffers to dense marginalised communities remain visible; as in the particular case of Johannesburg. Investigations into the spatial orders of postmodern ‘money institutions’ (including the bank, shopping mall and casino) show that the urban phenomena of emergent ‘money borders’ also echoes itself in its architecture. Through historical analysis, the capitalist construct displays itself increasingly as a closed protected entity. Underneath the exquisitely woven Persian rug of privatised space, trapdoors to dubious and illicit spots often exist, In this space, it is all smoke and mirrors. The rules can be broken for the desires of those inside, and keep out the supposed risks of those who are not. Its detachedness is reconstructed through the theoretical perspectives of Michel Foucault and Georg Simmel; this examination providing grasp for spatial tools which, if altered, could recalibrate the way in which privatised spaces open and close themselves to the public. How can a reassembly of spatial and psychological thresholds in financial institutions assist in making capital more accessible to the idea-bearer? The results of this research propose reworked syntax of physical legibilities which make entry, participation and exit in financial systems understandable and therefore more possible. An idea trading floor (idea bank) is designated as the principal programme; where the possibility of intersection of capital, presented by an investor meeting an innovator with an idea is available, in a stripped down form. Beginning with the shell of the capitalist epitome ‘free market’ stock trading floor, a new re-mastered hybrid is born. Usually fascinatingly chaotic, these spaces are viscerally experiential but also remain inaccessible to many parts of society. What if we could sell stocks for entrepreneurial ideas, in a physical, space-folded, compact trading floor, partly quotidian like that of a supermarket, and partly fantastical and alluring? Fertile ground for such a transaction point is identified at an intersection in Wynberg, Johannesburg; which currently lies suspended along a highly-trafficked pedestrian movement route between Alexandra and Sandton, and is earmarked for a future transport interchange. Space-folding techniques underline the conceptual arrangement of the architecture; with the superimposition of idea bank with micro-factories and gathering spaces. These programmes are vertically punctured by a circulation vein to the proposed bus terminal below the site, revealing the processes of seed capital generation for a passing commuter or visitor: In addition, through spatially centralising the idea; creativity and the possibility for change; rather than money as an end in itself; this thesis speculates cause-led spatial practice rather than a profit-led one. Ultimately, if capital has a wall around it (literally and fi guratively), perhaps architecture could put a door in it; in doing so making cognizant the presence of the wall; and therefore the possibly to transverse through it.

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Parnell, Sue. "Johannesburg slums and racial segregation in cities, 1910-1937." Thesis, 1993. https://hdl.handle.net/10539/27961.

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Submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg,
Between Union in 1910 and the start of World War Two, urban racial segregation in South African cities evolved through three distinct periods. Initially, the predominantly white cities were the target of colonial planning initiatives to reduce overcrowding and prevent the development of industrial slums. After World War One, the regulation of African urbanisation was the primacy focus of urban policy. The living standards of the urban workforce were to be improved and controlled by excluding unemployed African people, by forcing the majority of the urban African workforce into compound quarters, and by establishing limited accommodation for African families in town. The racial administration of urban poverty was entrenched in the 1930s when, faced with the persistent growth of slums.the state bolstered white welfare initiatives and imposed even tighter residential restrictions on blacks living in urban areas. Abbreviation abstract)
Andrew Chakane 2019

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Parker, Alexandra Mary. "Images and influence: the role of film in representing Johannesburg and shaping everyday practice in the city." Thesis, 2015. http://hdl.handle.net/10539/17880.

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Colonial and apartheid policies imposed a segregated urban form on Johannesburg and have led to a limited and generally incoherent knowledge of the city across most segments of the population. Representations of the city in cultural mediums including film allow residents to cross boundaries and make conceptual and practical connections and are therefore important in addressing past legacies. Johannesburg’s moving image history is only ten years younger than the city and over this time the representation of the city in film has provided insight into the nature of this urban agglomeration. But the representation of the city in film has been inconsistent and erratic and requires close analysis. It is important to understand the ways in which the city has been represented and how it features in popular mediums of culture and also how it contributes to the discourse of the city. There is very little understanding of how films are being received by residents of the spaces and places depicted on the screen, and even less on how these films influence the everyday practices of these residents. This thesis draws on the idea of a ‘circuit of culture’ to explore both the representation of the city through film, and the impact of this representation on urban practice. To structure this analysis the thesis makes use of four lenses: materiality; identity; mobility; and crime. It provides an analysis of films with Johannesburg as a major location that were produced and screened after 1994. Surveys and interviews were conducted in four different locations in the city, each of which have been the site of film production and have been distinctly represented on the screen: Chiawelo; CBD; Fordsburg; and, Melville. The study concludes that film can facilitate a greater understanding of the complex city for the residents of Johannesburg but that there are nevertheless clear limitations to what film can achieve. Films provide information and ‘accessibility’ to unknown spaces, encouraging interaction with the city, through exploration, familiarity and comfort but film can also be a conservative medium that reduces and typecasts complexity. Films often reinforce spatial stereotypes but they can also produce a “resistant reading” that helps transgress spatial boundaries.

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Adelfang, Jacqueline Martina. "From ashes to life: a skin cloning laboratory and rehabilitation centre for burn victims in South Africa." Thesis, 2014. http://hdl.handle.net/10539/15486.

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This document is submitted in fulfilment for the degree: This document is submitted in fulfilment of the degree : Master of Architecture (Professional) at the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa in the year 2013. in the year 2013
Fire is part of our everyday life. As the relationship between man and fire grows, so does the danger of using it. In South Africa, the power of fire is unfortunately and commonly underestimated, resulting in more victims falling prey to the fire fiend. Facilities that provide specialized treatment for burn victims are limited. This includes treatment of the burn wound (cloned skin) and latent rehabilitation using physical and psychological therapy. The design of a building specialized for the needs of burn victims has been proposed. The facility will be mixed use and multi-functional: it will be a 2-part building consisting of a Skin Cloning Laboratory and a Rehabilitation Centre in Johannesburg. The site selected is located behind the Charlotte Maxeke Hospital (Joburg Gen). The site was chosen for its views, hospital connection and relationship to the Wits University Medical Faculty. The organic design was derived from the concept of “skin and the landscape”. The facade depicts the “element of water” and grows out of the excavated rock face wall.

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Sack, Mikhaela Anja. "Innovation to convention!: an exploratory study on the evolution of urban regeneration in Maboneng, Johannesburg." Thesis, 2016. http://hdl.handle.net/10539/20995.

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Maboneng displays an interesting approach to urban regeneration being driven by a single developer vision. Central to this approach has been the establishment of a new economy in support of an increasing property market which is being encouraged through a dominant branding and marketing strategy identifying the ‘neighbourhood’ and community as intrinsically artistic. This study aims to juxtapose this structure of urban regeneration and city based development as defined by the City of Johannesburg and to track the evolution of the precinct from an informal and innovative approach toward a more structured and conventional upgrading mechanism. Addressing the question of creating space within the inner city by exploring what the spaces are, who is using them and how the manifestation of a new identity affects the pre existing reality. The report thereby presents a discourse around the evolution of the Maboneng approach within the context of Johannesburg and determines the potential transferability of key principles that the City could draw upon in informing future growth and development agendas within the inner city.

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Van, Ryneveld Philippa. "Playscape: designing for children in Berea and Hillbrow." Thesis, 2014. http://hdl.handle.net/10539/15637.

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Th is document is submitted in partial fulfi lment for the degree: Master of Architecture [Professional] at the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa, in the year 2013.
A child’s world is one of imagination; of toys, play and stories. A child’s world is a world of its own with specific needs, which, if not met, will have long-lasting consequences into adult life. This is the unfortunate reality of children growing up in Hillbrow and Berea without opportunities for proper development and learning. It is through play that a child develops and learns to cope with his environment. This project therefore takes as its subject matter the place of play for city children. It constructs an argument for the ‘playscape’ which encompasses both, the spaces in which children (and adults) are invited to play as well as the idea of landscape which, from the start has been central to child design. This thesis proposes a ‘toy library’ within a larger park of play. It is a design of a child’s world and a world of play, characterised architecturally by playfulness and functionally serving the children, teachers and parents of Berea and Hillbrow.

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Schekman, Suzanne. "Architectural preservation: rehabilitating identity: a new chapter for an existing construct." Thesis, 2014. http://hdl.handle.net/10539/15636.

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This dissertation document began as a journey of discovery of a new city, filled with many hidden historical treasures, some sadly forgotten about, left abandoned and neglected falling to ruins, misused and unappreciated. Relocating from Durban to Johannesburg, my eyes where opened to a completely new city scape, sparking an interest in the layered history of it development and growth over the years. Through my journeys of the many streets of Jo’burg I began to notice the abundance of charmingly crafted architecture, quietly resting between the busy streets, many neglected and unused, creating a sense of sadness amongst the vibrant and multicultural movement surrounding them. I began to question the possibility of reviving such buildings to included them back into the city where they can once again be filled with life and no longer simply passed by without a care. The aim of the document was to research the many opinions and approaches surrounding preservation of historic architecture, resulting in a formal strategy of rehabilitating the old structures and breathing new life into them. The strategy adopted was to imagine the life of a building as a book of many chapter, with the view that building need not reach their final lines, through the continued writing on new pages, adding in whole to the layered tapestry of uses, events and years through which it was witness to. The new chapter proposed for the building became that of a safe house for victims of trafficking where the process of rehabilitating their identity and image of self became possible within a building which too had undergone a process of rehabilitation. Through research of statistical information and theoretical theories, strategies are formed to create a building in which layers of time are woven together and architecture is created allowing for users to feel safe whilst remaining connected to the city, regaining a sense of identity through contact with the building witnessing it transformation from once being in a state of disrepair to that of becoming a striking example of persevered architecture and history.

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Bothwell, Kier C. "Rotten potatoes: redefining perceptions and integrating the police station in city and suburban." Thesis, 2014. http://hdl.handle.net/10539/15499.

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Living in a country plagued by high crime rates and negative perceptions of the South African Police Service, South Africans are relying more and more on devices such as siege architecture and fortification to attain a sense of safety and security. However, these fortified enclaves do not just provide people with a sense of safety, they also serve as manifestations of Apartheid memory: intensifying segregation and ‘othering’, discouraging the growth of community and working against the development of healthy and inspiring civic spaces. At the same time, society’s obsession with police criminality, intensified by the influence of the media, has made policing one of the most contentious topics in post-Apartheid South Africa. Consequently, the relationship between the police – the state’s strong-arm of power – and the people is fragile, tense, and unpredictable, symptomatic of the palpable divide that separates the state and the people, a divide which is reinforced by a lack of spatial justice and a relic architecture which neither the state nor the people can identify with. As a tangible tool of cultural expression and a discourse of time and place, architecture embodies a nation’s shared history, its present, and its future aspirations. Architecture is also fundamental to the cause of change, serving as a catalyst and an interface through which the divide between the state and its people may be reconciled. However, the police station as an institutional building – a social incubator – remains apathetic to the ‘everyday’. This archetype demands a drastic rethinking of both parti and contextual setting. Such a reform could potentially transform the police station into an integral, effective, and active facilitator of relationships and make possible the goal of ‘community policing’.

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Ngidi, Zinhle Sinenhlanhla. "Assessing the role of public transport-oriented development in promoting investment: the case of Johannesburg's Rea Vaya and the Louis Botha corridor of freedom." Thesis, 2019. https://hdl.handle.net/10539/29697.

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A research report submitted in partial fulfilment of the Degree of Master of Commerce (Applied Development Economics) in the School of Economic and Business Sciences, University of the Witwatersrand
Transit Oriented Development (TOD) in practice dates back to the 1880s. The definition and concept were more recently coined by urban practitioner, Peter Calthorpe in the 1980s. The concept has evolved over time, however, the fundamentals remain universally accepted. TOD is a multidisciplinary tool that can be used for the achievement of social, economic and environmental benefits. It has been observed that the popularity of TOD as an urban transformation tool has increased internationally. The outcomes on the other hand have been varied depending on the unique features of the location where it is implemented. Johannesburg is one of South Africa’s pilot metropolitan areas for TOD. The Corridors of Freedom (CoF) initiative among other things aims to crowd in private sector investment into areas that are in much need of urban renewal. This paper probes the progress that has been made in achieving private sector investment in property development in the CoF between 2013 and 2017. Theories incorporating geographic and economic thought aid the contextualisation of TOD within the greater body of work within the field of development. Results show that there is private participation in the development of high-density, mixed use buildings. It is however argued that developments that have taken place so far rely heavily on the principles of property development as opposed to TOD principles.
NG (2020)

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Martin, Leigh. "Future-proofing the urban landscape: Green Infrastructure as a primer for resilient urban development." Thesis, 2015. http://hdl.handle.net/10539/22085.

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A research report submitted to the Faculty of Engineering and the Built Environment, University of the Witwatersrand, in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Urban Design
Many forgotten and resurfacing emerging theories in the field of urbanism are starting to recognise highperformance landscapes and green infrastructure as an essential urban element toward more resilient urban development. This report, entitled ‘Future-proofing the Urban Landscape: Green Infrastructure as a Primer for Resilient Urban Development’ addresses the question of whether Green Infrastructure can become the primary structuring element towards achieving more resilient development, and how this structure influences public place-making. The strategy is tested on a the Frankenwald site, one of the last remaining greenfield sites in Johannesburg. The proposed development comprises of guidelines and an indepth phasing strategy for development and intermediate natures that add long-term value towards future-proofing the city. The document establishes that green infrastructure is a highly relevant subject to consider for the planning of future cities. As a discourse it adds value to the profession of urban design and questions the urban designer’s capacity to offer more productive landscapes and assist in protecting and enhancing the ecosystem services of cities. The multi-layered nature of priming for green infrastructure services make available a variety of natural elements to be exposed and designed by means of meaningful place making.
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Mavuso, Nkosilenhle Thabo. "Rethinking park spaces in Johannesburg : decolonising the African urban landscape through public space design." Thesis, 2017. https://hdl.handle.net/10539/24111.

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Thesis is submitted in partial fulfilment for the degree of Master of Urban Design to the Faculty of Engineering and the Built Environment, School of Architecture and Planning at the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2017
The report is an investigation of urban parks as public space in Johannesburg inner-city. It investigates the current situation of a deteriorating degree of public space in Johannesburg due to growing levels of privatisation and incapacity of the public sector to design, manage and maintain good quality, inclusive and safe public open spaces in the city. My research aims at being a radical re-imagining of Inner-city of Johannesburg, through urban design, in how the inner-city can be (spatially) transformed and reconfigured through open public space, as part of the decolonization agenda for African cities. In my study, I investigate the nature of urban parks in Johannesburg’s inner-city, in an attempt to understand the ways they are being used by different user groups and how this is affected by the way they are physically designed and managed. It presents three chosen parks of study; Joubert Park, End Street Park (North and South), and Nugget Street Park, located in Doornfontein Johannesburg, and look into the chosen park’s connectivity and accessibility to streets and other public spaces. I assess how the parks’ location and proximity to activities and public infrastructure/amenities (such as housing units, retail outlets, schools and public transport interchanges) affects the number and type of users that use them as well as the kind of activities within them. As part of this assessment will be the issue of safety and security within parks and how current management approaches have been used to address the issue. I, through my research, question current urban design and management approaches; aimed at achieving increased levels of use and safety in terms of the impact they have had on the city’s public open spaces. Questions are asked on the effectiveness of safety measures such as fences, gates and security cameras and personnel and how they impact on the degree of ‘publicness’ and safety in the city’s public open spaces. As part of its aim of understanding the nature of parks in the inner-city of Johannesburg, the research reviews existing literature that has been written on public space/public park use and design and the ‘ideal’ approaches to good design and management. It focuses on the ideal of an ‘Open City’ and questions of ‘publicness’ in park use and management. The notion of decolonising Johannesburg as an African city (in its current neo-apartheid segregatory form) is also interrogated. Questions are asked on the definition of what African urban space is and the principles of its form and function, based on precolonial African city examples. The principle of common space and collective ownership and use is discussed as an essential principle that framed the configuration of african public space, which was lost in the introduction of colonial city formations. The report1 presents an analysis of End Street North and South Park located on the north and south ends of the railway line along Nugget Street in Doornfontein. It assesses the process in which End Street South Park was (re)designed and upgraded in 2009 as part of the Ellis Park precinct development for the 2010 World cup, and critically assesses the outcomes of its design in terms of both the successes and failures of the upgrade. In the analysis the report illustrates how though the park’s upgrade reduced violent crimes such as muggings in the park, the park contains illicit activities such as gambling and drug use spots along its edges and corners. The use of high fencing in the new design and deployment of private security in the park was found not to be entirely solving issues of safety in the park. Although the fence was intended to assist in the management and control of who accesses and uses the park for safety reasons, it contributes towards creating hidden spaces for gambling, drug use and bullying to occur away from the eyes of the public. The analysis of End Street North Park involves the documentation of the End Street North Park upgrade pilot project that tests a participatory approach to park design and management for safety. The objective of the project was to demonstrate an integrated stakeholder approach to public space design and management that involves sector contributions from different city departments as well as engagement with city residents and other park users in designing a safe, inclusive and sustainable public space though participatory tools and methods. This set of findings from End Street North and South Parks reveal that park use and safety issues cannot be completely addressed through design and installation of physical safety measures such as high fences, law enforcement and regulation of use by security guards or park managers alone. The report indeed proposes a radical and aggressive urban design framework and/or strategy towards transforming inner-city Johannesburg’s spatial fabric through urban park and open public space design. Part of this process involves looking into alternative design related ways of dealing with aspects of use and safety in parks as well as aspects of public participation, community co-design and comanagement processes.
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Mngaza, Banele Mompati. "Understanding the increase in demand for accommodation in the Johannesburg Northern suburbs from the black middle class." Thesis, 2016. http://hdl.handle.net/10539/22678.

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Thesis is submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Masters of Science in Development Planning to the Faculty of Engineering and the Built Environment, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2016
The current increase in demand for accommodation in the Johannesburg northern suburbs is linked to the political and demographic changes that took place within South Africa post 1994. During this time there was a flight of affluent white South Africans away from what was then the centre of the country’s economy, the Johannesburg Central Business District (Garner, 2011). There has been an increase in the size of South Africa’s black middle class post 1994, due to the removal of racist legislation impeding the economic advancements of black South Africans, as well as due to the progressive affirmative action policies designed to fast track the advancement of black South Africans (Southall, 2016). Consequently, there has been a steady increase of black middle class people moving into the northern suburbs of Johannesburg. The study was conducted in the Sandton suburbs of Johannesburg, Gauteng. It sought to understand what factors have led to the increase in demand for accommodation in these suburbs from the black middle class. 27 interviews were conducted with participants in the case study areas of Illovo, Sandton Central Business District, Sandown, Bryanston and Sandhurst. The researcher made use of direct observations during the semi-structured interviews. The results showed that research in this area was imperative as it helped to explain the buying and renting patterns of the black middle class. This is important for property developers and the government because the black middle class is a fast growing economic subgroup within the country. This can impact on policy and property development in the country. The study found that the black middle class are moving to the northern suburbs for pragmatic reasons and that proximity to their places of work, proximity to amenities and security are the most important factors causing them to move.
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Kridiotis, Joanne Alexandra. "Altered States: a youth centre & safe house for at-risk adolescents in Westbury, Johannesburg." Thesis, 2016. http://hdl.handle.net/10539/22187.

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Thesis (M.Arch. (Professional))--University of the Witwatersrand, Faculty of Engineering and the Built Environment, 2016.
Drug abuse, particularly among younger generations, is an issue of increasing concern in South Africa. According to recent reports on global substance abuse, South Africa was named as having some of the highest rates of youth drug use in the world. This not only has dire impacts for local communities and their youth, but has led to increasing crime rates and unemployment in these communities. One such community, plagued with youth drug abuse and addiction, is Westbury, a former coloured township in Western Johannesburg. Westbury has, in turn, been selected as the focus area for this thesis due to prevailing struggles with youth drug addiction, high rates of drug-related crime and a community outcry for a solution. This thesis aims to investigate a means of alleviating degrees of drug use, and other risky youth behaviours, by introducing an architectural intervention. This intervention – defined as a Youth Centre and Safe House – will attempt to address the search for identity and meaning within the liminal state of adolescence, and the often risky behaviours that arise as a result, by providing a sense of ‘place’ and belonging for the ailing youth. With the main focus group being at-risk adolescents, and in order to create an architecture that speaks of the liminal state of adolescence, threshold and ‘the space between’ become important design concepts. This thesis attempts to investigate the movement between distinct spaces, the experience of transition, and the physical and psychological effects thereof. The resultant design proposes an architecture of liminality, where soft, implied thresholds and a celebration of ‘the space between’ become the manner in which the liminal subject can negotiate the built environment and establish a sense of ‘place’ within it.
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Adegun, Olumuyiwa Bayode. "Informal settlement intervention and green infrastructure: exploring just sustainability in Kya Sands, Ruimsig and Cosmo city in Johannesburg." Thesis, 2016. http://hdl.handle.net/10539/22349.

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A thesis submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy to the Faculty of Engineering and the Built Environment, University of Witwatersrand, 2016
This thesis is concerned with the relationship between informal settlements and green infrastructure. It uses the concept of just sustainability to explore the ways green infrastructure can contribute to more just and sustainable informal settlement interventions. The study draws on a case study design, with three low-income areas in Johannesburg serving as case studies. The first, Kya Sands, is an informal settlement that has not experienced substantive intervention. The second, Ruimsig, is an informal settlement that has experienced in situ intervention through reblocking. The third, Cosmo City, is a green-field housing development where households from informal settlements were relocated. The thesis utilised qualitative methods (semistructured interviews, transect walks, focus group discussion) for data collection across the case studies. These were supplemented by a quantitative component for data collection in an individual case and in-depth interviews with purposively selected key informants. The three cases reveal how the low-income residents in these areas derive a range of ecosystem services from natural ecosystems. A range of ecosystem disservices also came to the fore. In Ruimsig settlement, reblocking involved spatial reconfiguration that created opportunities for greening. Co-producing the in situ intervention involved some processes and outcomes related to equity and inclusion but also included situations that were exclusionary. Relocation from informal settlements into a new housing environment in Cosmo City formally created spatial opportunities for greening and reduced dependency on the natural ecosystem for certain basic resources. However, the course of events leading up to relocation and postoccupancy trajectory of green spaces reveal shortfalls in relation to justice and incognisance on socio-ecological and socio-economic realities at the planning stage. Juxtaposition between the cases of Ruismig and Cosmo City shows that in situ intervention can fulfill more principles of just sustainability in comparison with relocation. This thesis argues that careful assessment of the relationship between poor households living in informal settlements and green infrastructure — their interaction with natural ecosystems should influence the approach to informal settlement interventions. The cases reveal that achieving just sustainability in relation to green infrastructure in informal settlement intervention is not straight-forward, but not impossible. Progress towards just sustainability in the form of improvement in quality of life and in the environment requires navigating (with foresight rather than hindsight) the intricacies and dynamics obtainable in contexts into which informal settlements are embedded.
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Grant, Taryn Ann. "Kwena Malapo: to belong to the city." Thesis, 2014. http://hdl.handle.net/10539/15667.

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This thesis is based on a community called Kwena Malapo near Lanseria. It is a group of people that sit between the threat of relocation and the opportunity to develop along with the new proposed development of Cradle City. The land on which the informal settlement exists sits on the border of this development and the community are fighting to stay where they are. They lack basic services and infrastructure have poor education and no skills investment which makes them vulnerable. The aim of this thesis is to put forward the design of a community hub that will serve the community, give them an opportunity for learning and contribution as well as the ability to develop with the new economic growth, instead of facing relocation. Along with skills development and business opportunity the hub aims to serve the 13 informal settlements that surround Kwena Malapo.

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Plaskocinska, Patrycja. "Between hair and the Johannesburg art gallery: a hair museum mediating the disjointed context by inspiring public ownership through the celebration of an African Art Form." Thesis, 2015. http://hdl.handle.net/10539/17581.

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Master of Architecture [Professional] at the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa, in the year 2014.
In the case of Johannesburg, unlike cities around the world that experienced inner city decline, its city centre was never entirely abandoned. It experienced rapid social change. As Johannesburg was beginning to change, the Johannesburg Art Gallery (JAG) was experiencing a declining number of visitors. Unable to engage with the changing social structure, a fence was built around it and JAG turned itself inwards. This thesis explores the intention to take advantage of the rich and dynamic informal industry of hair that has emerged around JAG. Hair is loaded with social, sexual and political undercurrents. In an African city that has been colonized and becoming increasingly globalised, hair’s relevance in terms of politics must be brought to the forefront. By acknowledging the thriving inner workings and its contributors and by engaging in a critical discussion that people can relate to, JAG will be embraced by the community again. An intervention of mediation through architecture is proposed. A Hair Museum perched on the opposite side of the railway that weaves JAG closer into its current context by opening and improving dialogue between the disjointed surroundings. A new museum as a mediator explores the idea of museum-asurban system. The question is asked whether a public institution is capable of assisting a society through a museum by looking at the concept of the Greek ideal of kalokagathia, which means the perfection of the body and city based on balance, justice and proportion. This thesis essentially explores Julian Carman’s idea of a museum1; that the key to JAG’s survival and upliftment lies only if it inspires public ownership. This thesis will explore the significance of celebrating hair in an African city with visible impacts of an imperialist past. By celebrating hair, thereby beginning the discourse of it’s connotations, will allow for a transgression into where society and its’ perception of itself stands in a globalizating world. Museum’s play a key role in society to not only preserve memories but also re-ordering them and making sense of them for later generations (Watson, 2007: 4). The proposed Hair Museum as mediator is not so much about saving a contested and feared city- as much as it is about embracing the new spirit of the city and encouraging the potential held within. 1 Julian Carman, Author of ‘Uplifting The Colonial Philistine: Florence Phillips And The Making Of The Johannesburg Art Gallery’. See References.

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Mchunu, Nokubekezela. "Thresholds: activating the Braamfontein cemetery through an interpretation centre." Thesis, 2015. http://hdl.handle.net/10539/17592.

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A green palisade fence is not all that separates the urban, kinetic Braamfontein from it’s dormant cemetery. It’s a long-standing perception that the two spaces are not related despite their proximity. And for this reason, you too have likely driven past it’s sixty metre long edge without having given it too much acknowledgement. Granted, it’s easier to overlook a space supposedly devoid of rational markers from their neighbours because of rhythmic disturbance in function and social experience or even their inability to mirror their adjacent counterparts: a derelict building, a desolate parking lot in the evening, a twenty one hectare cemetery in a city. However, what makes the green, park-like Braamfontein Cemetery different from any other in Johannesburg is that it was the first cemetery in the city. As a result, is the final resting place of significant contributors of the country’s history. It is then, currently a commemorative landscape in which events, social and burial practices of Johannesburg and South Africa are recorded. For this reason, one could say that this cemetery is very much a part of urban Braamfontein in 2014. How then to negotiate the de-alienation of this remarkable space while preserving its beauty.

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Mbokazi, Hlanzekile Purity. "The shift from freehold titling to using permits in regularising tenure in informal settlements in South Africa, with reference to City of Johannesburg." Thesis, 2014. http://hdl.handle.net/10539/15497.

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This study explores how City of Johannesburg came to adopt its Regularization of Informal Settlements Programme with permission to occupy as a preferred tenure option. Firstly, the study examines tenure issues and debates around tenure including different forms of tenure. Secondly, it explores the policy shift in City of Johannesburg towards regularisation and what this entails. It further reviews international forms of tenure with reference to Brazil and Namibia. The study argues that there is a need for improved intervention strategies that allow informal settlements to be recognised as part of the city in a manner that would consider their livelihoods. It also argues that freehold titling is not necessarily the best form of tenure for informal settlement residents. The study concludes that there is an acute need to recognise informal settlements as part of the City. Furthermore, City of Johannesburg had insufficient funding which limited them in their Regularization of Informal Settlements Programme. The Development Facilitation Act 67 of 1995, The Less Formal Township Establishment Act 113 of 1991 and the amendment of City of Johannesburg Town Planning Scheme influenced the City in their approach to issuing permits. City of Johannesburg can draw lessons from City of Windhoek’s approach to informal settlements.

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Ngcobo, Kulunga. "Hillbrow wellness: Occupational Therapy & Rehabilitation Center." Thesis, 2014. http://hdl.handle.net/10539/15632.

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Located in the Hillbrow health precinct, the Occupational Therapy and Rehabilitation Centre serves the Hillbrow community which is currently subject to various social ills – such as crime, violence, substance abuse, and poverty – which often times are the root cause of unhealthy lifestyles, sickness, and disease amongst the citizens of Hillbrow. The proposed site for the building is an existing parking lot, adjacent to the Hillbrow Community Health Centre/Clinic. There is an existing rehabilitation department in the clinic, consisting of occupational therapists, physiotherapists, paediatrics department, speech and hearing specialists, social workers, and psychologists. The new proposal seeks to incorporate this rehabilitation department within the new development, while expanding its program to incorporate greater social upliftment programs and employment options through vocational rehabilitation.

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Serrao, Gabriella. "Fair ground : festival phenomena : an urban park upgrade and transformation of the Southwest Bank of Wemmer Pan in Johannesburg South." Thesis, 2014. http://hdl.handle.net/10539/15633.

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“wherever the human spirit is free, people celebrate. All cultures commemorate what makes them distinctive and worthy in their own eyes. Periodically, a common humanity in us all sets aside the work and worry of everyday life and blossoms into festivity, sometimes even in the face of cultural domination and economic deprivation.” (Rinzler & Seitel, 1982, p.7) Various cultures exist and the display of specifi c group’s values, traditions and crafts in the form of an event becomes the ‘exciting experience’ longed for by the inhabitants of the city who crave an outlet from the everyday pressures and routine of life, desire a sense of belonging, want to express their suppressed desires or share an interest in the ideals or products being portrayed. These events require space, of various nature and size, which facilitate its range of needs from culturally relevant locations to necessary features. Globally, the urban setting has proved to be ideal when computing these space requirements and municipalities are going out of their way to create or maintain spaces to host these events for the wealth of social, spatial and economic stimulation they hold.

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September, Ntombekhaya Yvonne. "Management of informal settlements : a challenge for the Greater Johannesburg Transitional Metropolitan Council (TMC)." Thesis, 2012. http://hdl.handle.net/10210/7391.

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M.A.
It has been proven that all over the world informal settlements have come about as a result of housing shortage. Housing crisis is directly associated with rapid population growth which in turn leads to rapid urbanisation. Rapid urbanisation which puts tremendous stress in infrastructure available in the cities, is a process which cannot be reversed or stopped. It needs to be managed by the city authorities. That also is problematic because cities do not always have the resources to cope with this demand. This thesis puts forward suggestions that could be used to alleviate the dilemma facing the Greater Johannesburg Metropolitan Council, with the cum of throwing light on how informal settlements can be dealt with in the changing economy of South Africa. In order to address the research problem and fulfil the research objectives, a literature study was done, which gave various strategies that have been adopted in other countries. The literature study has been largely used to compare South Africa with other countries such as Brazil, Peru, Kenya, etc. who are faced with rapid urbanisation. A historical overview of urbanisation in South Africa, beginning in the early twentieth century has been given. This was done to illustrate the evolution of the South African legal system in an attempt to cope with events emanating from the discovery of gold in the Johannesburg area. Attempts by the new government to support the local authorities, particularly the Greater Johannesburg Metropolitan Council have been acknowledged. For example, the establishment of the Development Facilitation Act, the Botshabelo. Accord, the repeal of laws which made it impossible for people to take control of their destinies, are a few of these attempts. The emphasis in this study a placed on the involvement of people as a management tool in the development process.

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Scholes, Alexandra Alice. "Speak memory: an Oral History Centre in Braamfontein, Johannesburg." Thesis, 2016. http://hdl.handle.net/10539/22077.

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This document is submitted in partial fulfillment for the degree: Master of Architecture [Professional] At the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa, in the year 2016
Sound, in the form of speech and song was celebrated in all preliterate societies. Oral history has recently come back into prominence, with the realisation that it can be more inclusive than traditional academic history and contribute to a shared experience within a group. In Post-Apartheid South Africa it played an important role in the TRC hearings. Organisations such as StoryCorps, have discovered the important therapeutic value gained by the sharing of stories between individuals and groups. The Speak Memory Oral History Centre aims to encourage historians to engage with oral history as a medium for memory recollection and to create a body of populist oral history testimonies. Oral history deals with memory and so the relationship between architecture and memory was investigated, with a particular focus on the neurological mechanisms involved in memory. An approach to the design of an Oral History Centre used these neurological mechanisms as design tools for a building that would facilitate the recording and recall of memory.
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Toe, Dadley D. "An overview of facilities management strategies employed in shopping centers in Johannesburg, South Africa." Thesis, 2016. http://hdl.handle.net/10539/20010.

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A research report submitted to the Faculty of Engineering and the Built Environment, School of Construction Economics and Management, University of Witwatersrand, in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science in Building (Property Development and Management)
Purpose- The purpose of this study is to identify the facilities management strategies employed in shopping centres in Johannesburg South Africa. Furthermore it allows owners, shareholders, facilities manager and property manager etc. of shopping centres to know the facilities management strategy that bring tenants satisfaction and encourage them to renew their lease. To conclude the research seeks to find out the underlying factors that determine the choice of facilities management strategy to be employed. Key words – Facilities Management, In-House management, Out-sourcing, Out-tasking and Shopping Centers

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Jardine, Brandon. "Filmscape: socially integrating film production within the Johannesburg city context." Thesis, 2015. http://hdl.handle.net/10539/17710.

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M. Arch Thesis
Cinema has been considered the primary art form of the 20th Century. However, due the falling number of cinema goers the art form is under threat of losing its significance in modern day society. The decline in cinema goers has led to the decreased profitability of the independent film industry. This has led to the reduction of the complex narrative in films and an increased focus on special effects. As a result films, and the way in which they are perceived, are losing their artistic integrity as an art form. Through the formation of a cinematic architecture a more spatialized experience can be projected upon the audience. This creates a space of pure experience and hedonistic escape for the cinema goer. It can then be said that through architecture, the reinvention of the cinema typology and an increased approachability within the independent film industry, an experience can be created that could not be replicated in one’s home. The rise of the home theatre and internet based media has come to justify the need for the cinema to act as a social space. The non‐exclusivity that was once a strong driver of the 1930’s ‘Golden Age’ of cinema has become increasingly fictional in the present day context. The decline in cinema goers stems far beyond cinema and lies in the relevance of film to the common man. This thesis aims to break down the barriers that surround the film and cinematic universe and allow it to flood the surrounding city context embedding itself in the local culture. The physical design should programmatically encompass elements of pre‐production and postproduction with Johannesburg acting as the physical film set for production. The average man should have the ability to enter this building, gain the skills and knowledge to develop a film, rent the relevant equipment, edit the film and use the building as a platform to showcase work and earn an income. This ultimately transforms the building and its urban framework into a cultural knowledge database where depictions of local culture and time can be archived for future generations. Flexible professional workspace and the timesharing of highly specialised equipment allows for the rapid expansion and contraction common to the highly volatile industry. Park Station as a site choice acts as a cultural interchange. This provides vast interconnectivity that is needed to host large scale events such as the Jozi Film Festival and the South African Film and Television Awards (SAFTAs). A study of the history of cinema and its impact throughout has inspired and informed this work. The temporal progression of cinematic style has resulted in the loss of both luxury and ‘The Spectacle’ of cinema. This being said, this progression has improved the availability, variety and increased the immersion of the audience within the film. Cinema architecture, through a more inclusive approach, can be reinvented to once again act as the primary platform of display for the independent film industry. Film will thus start to form an integral part of the surrounding streetscape and pedestrians’ daily lives. The building design will cater for the escapist and the socially integrated; the in‐between and the excluded.

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Peens, Bradley C. "The influence of public participation on the Corridors of Freedom policy-making process and project: the case of Empire-Perth Development Corridor." Thesis, 2016. http://hdl.handle.net/10539/20606.

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A research report submitted to the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, ce public participation on the Corri om policy-making process and projec Empire-Perth Development Corridor Bradley C. Peens ted the Faculty of Engineering and the Built Environme nesburg, in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the of Science in Development Planning Johannesburg, 2015
In South Africa public participation is the cornerstone of our democracy, yet it often has limited influence over the final outcome and does not form an important part of the policy-making process. I investigate a controversial corridor development process in Johannesburg – Empire-Perth Corridor of Freedom and how participation influenced the process and content. Through in-depth interviews with key individuals and through analysis of various documents I stitch together how this participation process unfolded. The policy process was highly complex and faced many internal challenges. It was carried out by consultants and initially was technocratic with limited participation but through a mix of resident mobilisation, opposition, and co-operation the process shifted to a more open one where new spaces for participation emerged where the public were able to influence some decisions. For a process similar to this one to run smoother it is essential the project team use graphics and illustrations which are context specific and capture the essence of the project. Participation needs to be embraced from the start and clearly incorporated into consultant’s briefs, and a variety of spaces for participation need to be provided. These are essential factors contributing to the success of corridor policies which are arguably the most controversial in planning. Key words: public participation, policy-making process, corridor development, resident mobilisation.

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Bozzonetti, Claudia Lisa. "The culture in fabrication: the 21st century makespace as a flexible, open source tool to inspire a maker community." Thesis, 2017. http://hdl.handle.net/10539/22978.

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Thesis is submitted in partial fulfilment for the degree of Master of Architecture to the Faculty of Engineering and the Built Environment, School of Architecture and Planning at the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2017
The world is standing on the cusp of a third industrial revolution that will see an explosion of creativity, knowledge creation and innovation. South Africa is at the forefront of a different revolution, one that is concerned with the access to knowledge and education. While these revolutions are somewhat different, they fight for the same ideal; that is a world where information and education are available to all, such that people are inspired to innovate, create and empower themselves through the development and use of new knowledge. These revolutions will be facilitated by a number of factors, but what is architecture’s role? This research report discusses a makerspace as an architectural response to the coming knowledge revolution and what this typology means in the context of Johannesburg, South Africa. The author makes reference to the theoretical understanding of maker culture as the celebration of creativity and innovation and that a makerspace facilitates access to the tools and space required so that anyone can make. The intent of this research report is to create an architectural intervention based on extensive research of related theories, careful analysis of the context and various precedent studies. The key issue is determining how the typology affects and is affected by the context. The author utilises the context of Newtown, Johannesburg for the intervention due to its history as a primarily industrial area that grew into a cultural hub of the city. In a World where knowledge has become a privatised commodity, this research report explores how architecture, specifically in the form of a makerspace, can democratise access to information, empower the individual and the community, and boost a stagnant local economy through the encouragement of entrepreneurship.
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Sun, Samantha. "A cultural exchange hub: reviving the first Chinatown in Johannesburg." Thesis, 2015. http://hdl.handle.net/10539/17586.

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The diasporic movement of Chinese people to South Africa, through time and space, unfolds the current discourse of cultural identity within the multicultural flows of our society. Diluting the Chinese culture into a hybrid of Chinese and South African identity, results in a disconnection to their homeland and their loss of “Chineseness.” However, the global realities of diaspora in the 21st century render this condition inevitable and so, consequently, this thesis aims to celebrate the Chinese culture as well as the fusion of Chinese culture, through the creation of culturally integrative spaces. Sited at Ferreirasdorp in Johannesburg’s city centre, this project involves the design of a Chinese Cultural Institute in conjunction with retail and informal trade. The broad intention is to provide a catalyst for the revival of the earliest Chinatown within this historical corner of the city. Chinese migratory movement to South Africa occurred at different times, for different reasons and from a number of places in China, and this variation has resulted in the dispersal of these migrants throughout Johannesburg. The earliest Chinatown is one of these dispersed spaces. In addition to this larger scale diaspora, there are subcultural conflicts that exist between these Chinese communities that have further increased their dispersal. However, in this present-day atmosphere of celebrating cultural difference in Johannesburg and in light of the business relationship formed between China and Africa, there is a need to bring these diverse yet segregated Chinese communities together. The principal research question is: Can architecture become a translator that can facilitate communication across cultures and subcultures?” The building therefore consists of flexible spaces that can easily adapt and transform to suit the users’ needs. This includes meeting spaces, whether it be a formal office space or under tree in the courtyard, so that Chinese businessmen can communicate with businessmen from local industries. The project also provides a variety of cultural activities. This includes Chinese cooking classes for anyone interested in learning about the richly diverse cuisines across China. Pan-Asian activities such as Karaoke Bars and Thai Massages are also provided in order to acknowledge the existing variety of Asian cultures in the city, and to accommodate for a larger scope of users. This thesis therefore explores how spaces can facilitate interaction between these cultures as well as distinguish and celebrate the various Chinese subcultures that exist in metropolitan Johannesburg. In accomplishing the goals of this design, the building becomes a place of exchange. Through connections of movement and visibility, it allows new spatial and social opportunities to develop in order to create a variety of identities in our contemporary African city. The building encourages the Chinese communities to claim it as their own while simultaneously providing accessibility to a variety of other users who can experience cultures reverberating off each other, through a mixture of activities, from moment to moment.

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Doyle, James Oliver. "In preparedness for an integrated infrastructure asset management system for the City of Johannesburg." Thesis, 2016. http://hdl.handle.net/10539/20587.

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A research report submitted to the Faculty of Engineering and the Built Environment, School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science in Engineering. School of Civil & Environmental Engineering Johannesburg, September 2015
The research presented in this report set out to determine the extent to which cross-enterprise integration between three Municipal Owned Entities (MOEs) in Johannesburg, i.e. City Power, Johannesburg Water and Johannesburg Roads Agency (JRA), could be beneficial to the Council and users of the Council’s assets. The research included a comprehensive review of available literature to find the needs of / gaps in infrastructure asset management and examples of cross-enterprise integration. Interviews with MOEs’ personnel were conducted to determine current levels of infrastructure asset management. A library of the costs of potential hazards arising from damages caused by MOEs to other MOEs’ assets during maintenance tasks was compiled. A simulation exercise was conducted. The exercise involved the development and application of a computer program using Visual Basic for Applications programming tool. The program created a series of job cards for maintenance works by all MOEs using available asset data for a section of the city. Conflict areas were identified where work on one asset might compromise the integrity of other assets. Costs of the damage to the assets in terms of direct costs of repairs and users’ costs, due to lower levels of service, were quantified for each conflict point. The simulation exercise was run over a thirty year period. The average annual costs were costed using cost to benefit analysis. Expenses associated with the creation of new organisational structures and new cross-enterprise software systems were studied using available data in literature. The expenses and savings formed the basis of the cost to benefit analysis. The study shows that the introduction of a cross-enterprise integrated system can significantly reduce costs to the Council and users. There are several other benefits originating from cross-enterprise integration including more efficient use of skilled personnel, efficiency in issuing of way leaves, and improved integrity of asset data. The installation of such a system need not only service the three MOEs included in the study. It is possible that all owners of assets on Council property, including external organisations such as Telkom, Neotel, and Dark Fibre Africa, will benefit from cross-enterprise integration.

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Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'City planning – South Africa – Johannesburg'

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