Academic literature on the topic 'Urban Malawi'

There are good reasons why the remarkable outpouring of work on Southern African urban history that has taken place over the last twenty years has largely bypassed Malawi. To the overwhelmingly rural character of the Malawi economy must be added the weak impact of settler colonialism in the interwar period and hence the failure of Blantyre, one of the oldest colonial settlements in Central Africa, with a history going back to the foundation of the Blantyre mission in 1876, to develop as a substantial commercial centre. This feature was reinforced in turn by Sir Harry Johnston's decision, taken in 1891, to site the colonial capital at Zomba and by the construction in 1907 at Limbe, five miles from Blantyre, of the railway terminus for the protectorate.Urban development in Malawi was therefore not concentrated on a single dominant commercial and administrative centre, as was the case in neighbouring Tanganyika. Rather it was split between three equally impoverished settlements, containing small populations ranging in size in 1945 from approximately 4,600 in Blantyre and Zomba to 7,100 in Limbe. Far more Malawians, in consequence, experienced urban culture as labour migrants in Johannesburg or Salisbury, where an estimated 10,000 Malawians were living in 1938, than they did working at home.

This paper explains the methods that were used to study environmental health problems in Karonga, a rapidly growing secondary urban centre in Malawi. The study used existing information from hospital records and consulted local health officials and academics on how best to use it. The aim was to position the hospital as a disease surveillance site by using its records to generate disaggregated health data at the intra-urban scale. This paper identifies the strengths and limitations of using hospital data to inform joint urban planning and public health interventions. It also provides a summary of the key findings, including a discussion of the implications for enhancing urban health intelligence and urban policy formulation in Malawi and other rapidly urbanizing countries. This paper is intended to show researchers how existing information in low-resource settings can be used to generate needed health data for urban populations, with a particular interest in secondary centres.

ObjectivesThis study was designed to assess patterns of objectively measured physical activity (PA) and sedentary behaviour in a sample of adults in a rural setting from a low-income Sub-Saharan African country (Malawi). The patterns of PA and sedentary behaviour in Malawi were compared with US data collected and analysed using the same methodology.MethodsThe Malawi PA data were collected as part of a survey experiment on the measurement of agricultural labor conducted under the World Bank Living Standards Measurement Study program. ActiGraph accelerometers (model GT3X) were worn on the right hip in a household-based sample of 414 working-age adults (15–85 years).ResultsMean total and 95% CIs for PA by category in min/day for Malawi adults were: sedentary 387.6 (377.4–397.8), low-light 222.1 (214.7–229.5), high-light 136.3 (132.7–139.9), moderate 71.6 (68.8–74.5), vigorous 1.1 (0.5–1.8) and moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) 72.8 (69.7–75.9). Mean of PA and sedentary behavior (min/day) summed across age and sex groups are compared between Malawi and US samples: sedentary behaviour, 387.6 vs 525.8 (p<0.001); low-light, 222.1 vs 217.0 (p=ns); high-light, 136.3 vs 45.6 (p<0.001); moderate, 71.6 vs 28.0 (p<0.001); vigorous, 1.1 vs 2.5 (p<0.001); MVPA, 72.8 vs 30.5 (p<0.001). Compared with the USA, Malawi participants averaged consistently less sedentary time/day and more minutes/day in all intensity levels of PA, except for low-light and vigorous PA.ConclusionOverall, levels of MVPA and high-light activity in adults in Malawi were substantially higher and sedentary time was substantially lower than those observed in US samples using near identical data collection, scoring and analysis.

One way in which international water operator partnerships can contribute to capacity development is through the exchange of experiences with water institutions in different countries. This paper looks at a partnership between water operators in the Netherlands and Malawi to see to what extent institutional experiences in the Netherlands can contribute to capacity development of the Lilongwe Water Board in Malawi. For this, it combines insights from policy transfer, with a conceptual framework based on the Institutional Analysis and Development framework. Stylized game theoretic models are used to analyze in-depth the institutional (dis)incentives that contribute to improved performance for customers. Experiences in the Netherlands are analyzed by studying four specific action situations, such as asset management at drinking water company Vitens NV. Potential lessons are derived from this, which are evaluated for potential transfer to Malawi. The analysis suggests ways in which improved information gathering and data management can support allocation of investment and budgets for operation and maintenance. Furthermore, it suggests ways to increase the frequency of encounters between government and financing institutions and water utilities, as well as the use of a system of benchmarking to provide a platform for sharing best practices and to create competition.

AbstractIn Blantyre, Malawi's main urban centre with a population of over 400,000, there are some thirty to forty young preachers who between them run fifteen or so organisations that constitute the Born Again movement. The organisations include ‘ministries’ and ‘fellowships’ as well as ‘churches’. The movement started c.1974. What is significant is that all the leaders were then teenagers; even today the second ‘generation’ of preachers are teenagers or in their early twenties. One theme dominates their message: vehement opposition to involvement in practices of a largely secretive or malevolent nature, witchcraft and ‘politics’ in particular. The young preachers assume these forces to be the basis of the power that elders wield in the villages or in urban townships. Yet in Blantyre, where political surveillance over everyday life is very marked, they have to be wary of challenging this older, powerful generation if they are to preserve the ‘intellectual space’ that religion offers them. The article ends by arguing that the theories which are used to explain urban Zionist Churches elsewhere in southern Africa are not relevant to the analysis of a Born Again movement run by successful young urbanites.

Thesis (PhD)--Stellenbosch University, 2014.
ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Cities in Malawi continue to be sites and spaces of resistance, struggle and contest over urban spaces. Since the introduction of colonial modernist planning with its adherence to segregation through functional zoning, homogenisation, and fragmentation of urban areas, squatting and land invasions on urban land have remained one of the widespread struggles for space in urban Malawi. Continued occurrence of squatting, land invasions, and encroachments on urban land reflect the inability of urban planning and its attendant land policies to provide land and housing to the majority of urban dwellers mainly the middle income as well as the marginalised urban poor. Over the years, government efforts have not decisively addressed the issue of land contestations in urban areas in spite of numerous reports of increasing cases of conflicts and competing claims over urban land in Malawi including land dispossessions, conflicts over land uses in urban and peri-urban areas and most significantly contestations manifested in squatting and land invasions on state land leading to growth of spontaneous settlements. In urban areas, efforts to address these competitions have included relocation; titling programmes, sites-and-services schemes, land reform programmes, and forced evictions, but struggles such as squatting and land invasions persist. In urban Malawi, the question is: why is urban planning, as it is conceived and acted upon (i.e. as mode of thought and spatial practice), a creator and not a mediator of urban land conflicts? The study aimed to answer this question, by using Lefebvre’s conceptual triad of social production of space, to gain an in-depth understanding of how the contradictions between people’s perceptions and daily life practices in relation to space, on one hand, and planner’s conceptions of space as informed by colonial, post-colonial, and neoliberal perceptions of space, generate perpetual struggle for urban space in Malawi. The study also investigated spatial strategies and tactics which urban residents employ to shape, produce and defend urban spaces from possible repossession by the state. Finally, the study explored lived experiences and the multiple meanings that urban residents attach to spaces they inhabit and these are used to contest imposition of space by state authorities while at the same time to produce their own spaces. Mixed method approaches were used to gather geodata, quantitative and qualitative data in the two neighbourhoods of Soche West (Blantyre city) and Area 49 (Lilongwe city) where there are on-going tensions over land between state authorities and urban residents. Primary sources of data included household surveys, focus group discussions, key informant interviews, documentary sources, observations, and electronic and print media. In view of the magnitude of the data, three software were used namely, SPSS, ATLAS.ti, and ArcGIS 9.3TM GIS for quantitative, qualitative, and spatial data respectively. Content and discourse analysis were also used to analyse government documents and newspapers. The research found that although planning thought and practice is dominated by imported modernist conceptions of space, planning authorities in Malawi are unable to impose this space on urban residents. Specifically, the research identified a number of constraints faced by planning authorities ranging from human and technical capacity, corruption, cumbersome and bureaucratic procedures, archaic, rigid and contradictory in laws and policies, complexity of land rights, poor enforcement, political influence and emergence of democracy, incomplete reclassification of rural authority into urban authority and shortage of financing mechanisms. In view of these state incapacities coupled with peoples’s perception of the illegitimacy of the state to control urban land, the study found that ‘dobadobas’ (that is middlemen, conmen and tricksters) have taken over to contest planning practices of the state by employing both violent and non-violent spatial tactics to appropriate, and defend their claim for urban spaces, thereby generating conflicts between the state and users of space. Consistent with our argument regarding representations of spaces and representational spaces, the research found that in both Lilongwe and Blantyre cities, the multiple meanings attached to spaces represent divergent but true lived experiences that involve different core values that may or may not be recognised by those residents who do not share them. Finally, planners, therefore, have to reconcile the contradictions between planners’ visions and the experiences of those who experience the city in their everyday life. By way of recommendation, planners, therefore, have to reconcile the contradictions between planners’ visions and the experiences of those who live in the city. Planners’ emphasis on abstract spaces and their modernist images of order imply that viable alternative place-making processes are not well understood, partially because formal discourse in planning and place-making revolves around largely iterative representations of space and the persuasive capacities of one or another representation. Rather, this researcher recommends continued use of the conceptual triad to enable researchers to become more fully aware of complexity in the human dimensions of space before planning. In the same way, by focusing on the two neighbourhoods, the researcher recommends that planning requires considerable time and effort and that it should priotise the human or the micro scale. Planning ought to bring on board the multiple meanings of space as discussed in the study as these are the multiple dimensions that planning has to grapple with in its quest to organise and produce urban space. Since space is never empty as it always embodies meaning, it is imperative to understand various meanings that people attach to the spaces they inhabit and their attachment to these spaces. In the study the fact that spaces carry multiple meanings encompassing exchange value, use value, emotional value, historical value, and sacred values among others, has been explored. Continued advancement of colonial modernist conceptions of orderliness, segregation, functional zoning and commodification which are constructed largely, by dominant economic and political elites, provokes resistance by groups who defend and seek to reconstruct lived space. Also, in view of the incapacity of the state to impose its conceptions of urban space through spatial practice of planning, urban residents continue to devise their own spatial strategies and tactics violent and nonviolent, to shape their own space. In conclusion, the paper stresses that spaces are not exclusively shaped or moulded by planners and planning practices of the state only, but also by spatial practices of everyday life albeit clandestine and unofficial. In this regard, in Malawi, cities including the post-colonial city of Lilongwe should not be understood as being shaped by planners’ space only but also the changing experiences of the city and everyday life and ambiguities of the users of urban space. Thus plans and documents as conceived spaces should not be understood as the only mechanism to shape and organise urban space but also the changing experiences of the city and everyday life and ambiguities of the users of urban space.
AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Stede in Malawi is nog steeds plekke en ruimtes waar daar weerstand, worsteling, en konflik i.v.m. grond plaasvind. Sedert die invoer van koloniale, modernistiese beplanning wat assosieer word met segregasie deur middel van funksionele streekindeling, homogenisasie,en fragmentasie van stadsgebied, is plakkery en beslaglê op grond in stede algemeen in die stede van Malawi. Die aanhoudendende voorkoms van plakkery, indringing en oortreding op grond reflekteer die die onvermoë van stedelike beplanning en grond beleid om grond en behuising aan die meerderheid van die stedelike burgers , meestal die middelinkomste klas en die gemarginaliseerde stedelike armes te verskaf. Die regering het nie oor die jare daarin geslaag om die kwessie van konflik oor grond in stedelike areas suksesvol aan te spreek nie, dit ten spite van die feit dat daar toenemend meer gevalle van konflik en meededingende grondeise bestaan, asook onteiening in stedelike en omstedelike gebiede. Hierdie konflikte manifesteer in plakkery en indringery in staatsgrond wat lei tot die totstandkoming van nie-amptelike nedersettings. In stedelike gebiede het pogings om hierdie kwessies aan te spreek gelei tot onteiening,eiendomsreg-programme, grondhervormings-programme, gedwonge uitsettings, asook gebiede waar daar net grond en dienste verskaf word. Nogtans vind daar plakkery en indringing plaas. Met betrekking tot stedelike Malawi is die vraag: Hoekom is stedelike beplanning soos dit begryp word (d.w.s. as ’n denkwyse en ruimte-praktyk) die skepper en nie die bemiddelaar van konflik oor grond in stede nie? Daar is gepoog om hierdie vraag te beantwoord deur gebruik te maak van Lefebvre se drieledige konsep van die produksie van ruimte, om sodoende ’n in-diepte begrip te verkry van die teenstellings tussen mense se konsepsies en alledaagse praktyke met betrekking tot ruimte, en die beplanners se konsepte van ruimte wat die gevolg is van koloniale, post-koloniale en neoliberale sienings, en hoe dit lei tot ’n aanhoudende konflik oor stedelike grondgebied in Malawi. Strategieë en taktieke wat deur inwoners gebruik word om ruimte te skep en te verdedig teen moontlike onteiening deur die staat, word ondersoek. Laastens word die lewende ondervindings van die stadsbewoners ondersoek, asook die veelvoudige betekenisse wat hulle heg aan die ruimtes wat hulle bewoon. Hoe hulle hierdie betekenisse gebruik om die oorname van hierdie spasies deur die staat, te beveg en terselfdertyd hulle eie ruimtes te skep. Die gemengde-metode benadering is gebruik om geodata, kwantitatiewe en kwalitatiewe data in die twee buurtes van Soche West (Blantyre ) en Area 49 (Lilongwe ) waar daar aanhoudende spanning oor grond tussen die staat en die stadsbewoners is, aan te spreek. Primêre bronne van data sluit huishoudelike opnames, fokus groepbesprekings, sleutelinformant onderhoude, dokumentêre bronne, observasie,en elektroniese en gedrukte media in. Omdat daar so baie data is, is drie sagtewares, naamlik SPSS, ATLAS.ti, and ArcGIS 9.3TM GIS gebruik vir die ontleding van kwantitiewe, kwalitatiewe en ruimtelike data onderskeidelik. Inhouds- en diskoers analise is ook gedoen om die regeringsdokumente en koerantartikels te ontleed. Daar is gevind dat alhoewel beplanningsdenke en –praktyk oorheers word deur ingevoerde, modernistiese konsepte van ruimtes, kry die owerhede dit nie reg om die bewoners te oorreed om hulle siening van stedelike ruimte te aanvaar nie. Daar is tydens die navorsing bevind dat die owerhede die volgende kwessies moet aanspreek: menslike en tegniese bekwaamdede, korrupsie, lomp burokratiese prosedures, uitgediende en weersprekende wette en beleide, die kompleksiteit van grondregte, swak toepassing van wette, politieke invloed, en die opkoms van die demokrasie, onvoltooide reklassifikasiwe van landelike owerhede, en ’n tekort aan finanseringsmeganismes. Die staat se onbekwaamheid tesame met die mense se persepsie dat die staat nie volgens wet stedelike grond kan beheer nie, het gelei daartoe dat Doba Dobas (d.w.s. die middelman, en die skelms) die beplanning van konflik oorgeneem het en geweldadige en nie-geweldadige taktiek gebruik om grond te bekom en te verdedig, en sodoende konflik tussen die staat en die mense laat toeneem. Daar kan gesê word dat in beide Lilongwe en Blantyre die veelvoudige betekenisse wat aan ruimte geheg word, die werklike ondervindinge van die mense verteenwoordig. Hierdie ondervindings behels verskillende kernwaardes wat dalk nie deur ander gedeel word nie. Dit bevestig ook Lefebvre se argumente oor die ruimtes. Laastens moet die beplanners die beplanners se toekomsplanne en die alledaagse ondervindings van die burgers, versoen. Daar word dus aanbeveel dat die beplanners die klem op abstrakte ruimtes en die modernistiese beeld van orde moet versoen met die ondervindings van diegene wat in die stad woon. Die beplanners se klem op abstakte ruimtes en hulle modernistiese beeld van orde impliseer dat lewensvatbare alternatiewe plekmaak prosesse nie goed verstaan word nie, gedeeltelik omdat die formele diskoers in beplanning en plekmaak grootliks draai om herhaaldelike voorstellings van ruimte en die oorrredingskrag van die een of ander voorstelling. Hierdie navorser stel voor dat Lefebvre se drie konsepte liewer gebruik moet word om dit vir navorsers moontlik te maak om voor beplanners bewus te word van die kompleksiteit van die menslike dimensies van ruimte, Nadat hy gefokus het op die twee stede, besef die navorse dat beplanning baie tyd en moeite behels en dat die menslike of die mikroskaal voorrang moet geniet. Die veelvoudige betekenisse van ruimte, soos bespreek, moet in ag geneem word tydens die organiseer en skep van stedelike ruimte. Aangesien ruimte nooit leeg is nie en altyd betekenis het, is dit belangrik om die verskillende betekenisse wat mense aan die plekke waar hulle bly heg, te verstaan, asook hulle gehegtheid aan hierdie plekke. In hierdie studie word die verskillende betekenisse van ruimte, naamlik ruilwaarde, gebruikwaarde, emosionele waarde, historiese waarde, en gewyde waarde. Die bevordering van koloniale.modernistiese konsepte van orde, segregasie, funksionele sonering en kommodifikasie,. grootliks deur die dominante ekonomiese en politiese elite, lei tot weerstand deur groepe wat die ruimtes waarin hulle lewe wil verdedig en rekonstrueer. Omdat die staat nie deur middel van die ruimtelike praktyke van beplanning, sy siening van stedelike ruimte aan die bewoners kan oordra nie, hou die stedelike bewoners aan om hulle strategieë en taktieke, geweldadig en nie-geweldadig, te gebruik, om hul eie ruimtes te skep. Ten slotte word daar tot die slotsom gekom dat ruimte nie eksklusief deur beplanners geskep word nie, maar deur die praktyke van die alledaagse lewe, al is dit ongeoorloofd en nieamptelik. Die stede in Malawi, insluitende die post-koloniale stad, Lilongwe, moet nie beskou word as gevorm alleenlik deur die stadsbeplanners nie, maar ook deur die veranderende ondervindings van die stad en die alledaagse lewe en die dubbelsinnigheid van die gebruikers van stedelike ruimte. Planne en dokumente moet dus nie gesien word as die enigste meganisme wat stedelike ruimte vorm en organiseer nie.

The needs of young people in classroom based HIV/AIDS Education in Malawi, the extent to which current classroom practices respond to these needs, and the factors influencing these responses have been explored using questionnaires, interviews, lesson observations, and document analysis. In contrast to previously reported literature on HIVIAIDS Education in Malawi, the present study has drawn pupils' needs directly from the pupils' themselves, focussed on classroom practice, and triangulated the various data sets to give a comprehensive picture of HIV/AIDS Education in Malawi. Pupils identified a need for open discussion climates on HIV/AIDS issues despite a conservative cultural and religious adult world that is not open. They also identified a need for explicit and accurate knowledge on HIVIAIDS issues, opportunities to acquire behavioural skills for HIV prevention, and involvement of external speakers. The needs of the pupils have not been adequately addressed by the current classroom practice. Factors which influenced this can be linked to lack of policies that are responsive to culture and religion, ineffective and inadequate teaching policy guidelines, and lack of a policy prioritising HIV/AIDS education by making it examinable. The findings suggest that in future, effective HIV/AIDS Education needs to be informed by the pupils' needs. To address these needs, support from the wider society and related policies, coupled with appropriate management and classroom practice will be required.

Climate change is one of the most pressing concerns facing the twenty-first century. As natural environments change, their ability to support productive and sustainable natural-resource dependent livelihoods is affected. More specifically climate stresses create continuous pressures on rural households and shocks may create dangerous living conditions. As such, migration to areas that can support human survival and aspirations for a stable existence emerges as a possible consequence. In a rapidly urbanising world, a more stable existence may be found outside of the countryside and in a town. If rural dwellers choose to settle permanently in urban centres then urbanisation will occur. This study examines how the stresses and shocks associated with climate change affect rural urban migration in Malawi. More specifically, the study develops a theoretical framework that examines Malawi's migration system through a 'capabilities' and 'aspirations' lens. Using an aspirations and capabilities framework can help explain some key questions of migration system theory including how patterns of movements are determined; what situations may encourage or discourage the rate of movement between the rural area and the city, including stresses and shocks; and, how a rural individual becomes a permanent city dweller. The findings suggest that rural-urban migration aspirations may increase as rural life gets harder and, at the same time, young rural dwellers are exposed to alternative urban lifestyles. However, stresses reduce the migration capabilities that are needed to move to town. This has repercussions across the migration system, which results in fewer people who are able to leave the village. Following shocks, migration aspirations are at their lowest. This is because those who would have once migrated to town now feel an obligation to remain in the village where they are able to help their rural family overcome the shock. At the same time, regional level shocks affect the ability of urban migrants to maintain their urban livelihoods with implications for return migration. The research was approved though the University of Leeds Ethical Review Team and was conducted under the ethical guidelines agreed during the review.

This thesis examines the process of urbanization in Malawi, with special reference to the new capital city, Lilongwe. At independence Malawi inherited an extremely underdeveloped urban system. It is argued that colonial Nyasaland's involvement in the migrant labour system and its reluctant membership of the Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland were contributory factors, both of which related to Nyasaland's economically and politically subordinate position in Southern Africa. Analysis of the static and dynamic nature of independent Malawi's urban system shows it to be very simplistic. It is emphasized that the growth of the truly 'urban' population in most of the small centres in the urban hierarchy has been slow, and that institutional hindrances and government perceptions of the urban process may dissipate the impact of policies designed to promote their development. The major aspect of urban policy since 1964 has been the development of Lilongwe, which the government emphasized had two objectives: to create a new capital replacing the colonial creation of Zomba, and to develop a growth centre to promote greater regional equality and act as a counterattraction to the commercial 'capital' of Blantyre. President Banda's key role in the: instigation of this project is empahasized, and it is suggested that the second objective was rhetorically promoted as a justificatory expedient. The results of original research on urban policy implementation and private sector investment in Blantyre and Lilongwe support the contention that government commitment to Lilongwe as a growth centre is weak, and also draws attention to problems inherent in applying such strategies in small, underdeveloped economies such as Malawi's. Lilongwe's economic development has not been in theoretical accordance with that of a growth centre. Nevertheless although it is proposed that a new capital programme per se cannot be used as a surrogate for a regional development policy, major infrastructural developments in Lilongwe have allowed it to provide a degree of economic competition to Blantyre. These are argued to be mainly associated with government commitment to its development as the capital city rather than its weakly developed growth centre role.

Background: Burn injuries disproportionally affect the world’s poorest regions. However, there is a lack of data from these areas to determine the true extent of this public health problem. Children in Malawi are at high risk of burn injuries and poor health because of the nature of their environment, and the paucity of burn prevention programmes. At present, the research that reflects the factors associated with these injuries has been limited to the interpretation of quantitative, hospital based data, which may provide patterns of burns risks, but does not reflect the context or perception of burn injuries necessary to create culturally appropriate and targeted prevention initiatives. Moreover, while it has been suggested that the use of improved cookstoves (ICS) in these areas might mitigate children’s exposure to burn injuries more research is needed. Aim: To explore the factors associated with paediatric burn injuries in rural and peri-urban Malawi. Methods: This study employed a qualitative approach to explore the contextual factors, associated with paediatric burn injuries, across four villages in Malawi. Three of these villages had been previously exposed to an ICS intervention. In addition to conducting observations of household environments, multiple perspectives of burn injuries were sought from 32 parents, 12 health professionals and 6 key stakeholders using semi-structured interviews. Focus groups were conducted with household participants to gain a better understanding of safety in relation to their cooking methods. The data obtained were analysed using thematic analysis. Results: The study revealed a number of environmental and social factors which put children at risk of burn injuries across rural and peri-urban Malawi. Parents are often limited in their ability to provide adequate protection against such injuries because of: a lack of knowledge about injury prevention, a lack of safety equipment, a lack of control to make alterations to their housing and an inability to adequately supervise children. Additionally, health professionals reported that, due to a lack of time and resources, they were unable to consistently provide information to parents and caregivers about preventing burn injuries in the home. Those working with existing ICS initiatives in Malawi revealed that, although kitchen safety is currently discussed as part of organisations’ promotional activities, there is a lack of data measuring the effectiveness of this teaching. Conclusion: The factors associated with paediatric burn injuries and prevention, both actual and perceptual, are multifaceted and intertwined with the complex nature of the household environment and those who live within it. This study has provided a starting point from which to understand these factors and gives a voice to those affected. Overall the results demonstrate that there is an urgent need to raise an awareness of the burns problem to policy makers, key stakeholders, health professionals and parents, to initiate the development of comprehensive prevention initiatives. Future strategies need to consider the integration of multilevel support to address the challenges faced by families living in rural and peri-urban Malawi.

A key feature of urbanisation in African and many other Global South cities is the prevalence and persistence of urban informal settlements. Despite planning attempts and claims to directly address and contain informal settlements, informality nonetheless continues to be the dominant form of shelter. However, there is insufficient understanding of how and why informality persists in the African urban context and why urban planning seems unable to engage with this aspect of urban growth and change. This situation also prevails in Malawian cities. This study sought to explore and understand the role of state-society engagements in the production and proliferation of housing informality in Mzuzu City. The thesis is informed by a recognition that planning theory has predominantly relied on Global North (Western) ideologies such as Habermesian inspired collaborative and communicative planning approaches which argue that consensus can realise planning goals and visions. The appeal, and hence adoption and application of these approaches in the Global South have largely failed to deliver the kind of planning outcomes seen in the Global North for many reasons, including the different political power dynamics and colonial historical contexts within which planning operates. The state-society engagements in the Global South contexts show that the state, rather than regulating development, is implicated in the production of informality in ways similar to those of inhabitants. These contexts point to the need to develop planning concepts which have a better relevance in rapidly growing and under-resourced urban settlements in the Global South. The thesis contributes to an emerging body of knowledge that has come to be called the Global South Planning Theory Project. The scholars promoting this project argue for the importance of context in planning theory development and in this case the need to consider the contribution of the Global South to planning and understanding of the urbanisation processes. In this regard, the thesis draws on various Global South concepts such as informality as a mode of urbanisation (Roy, 2009), gray spaces (Yiftachel, 2009), conflicting rationalities (Watson 2003), quiet encroachment (Bayat, 2010), insurgency (Holston, 2008) and hidden transcripts (Scott,1990) to frame the analysis of housing informality in Mzuzu City. The case study method (Yin 2014) was used to collect and analyse data from three informal settlements of Luwinga, Salisburyline and Geisha each having developed on land of a specific tenure: customary, public and private, respectively. Interviews and discussions were held with state officials, chiefs, block leaders, clan leaders, and senior citizens as well as groups of inhabitants in form of focus group discussions. Observations, literature review and archival data supplemented the information from the interviews and discussions. The analysis of the results indicates that state-society engagement in the informal settlements is about the application of the various strategies by each side in seeking to either achieve planned orderly urban growth or the right to land and life in the city. The study also shows that these strategies manifest, from the perspective of the state, through several laws, policies, regulations, and an assortment of practices that the planning system uses as a tool of the state. Among the state strategies are threats of evictions, demolitions and organising citizens to participate in development committees. However, when the state utilises these strategies, it is not always for the achievement of planned orderly urban growth as professed, but on many occasions for revenue generation through property taxation, for land control, for vote-gaining or for personal gain. On the other hand, inhabitants use threats of court action, violence, collaboration with state actors, hidden transcripts (Scott, 1990), spatial protests ( Yakobi, 2004) and quiet encroachment (Bayat, 2010) to achieve their objectives to retain their land rights, to provide their basic need of shelter and to stay in the city. The inhabitants seeking survival strategies were also found not immune to the clientelist ambitions of local politicians. The study noted the shifting state discourses of informal settlements from a view of them as utter illegality to gradual political acceptance or regularisation of their existence. Finally, the study found many aspects of rationality conflicts, which either occurred between the state and society directly, among state actors, among citizen actors and across the two spheres. Within the state, ethical conflicts in which state officials deliberately frustrated the visioning of planned orderly urban growth were found to be rampant. State-society engagements therefore can be said to be a contributor to housing informality. In the case of Mzuzu, these engagements occur in multiple settlements regardless of land tenure situation. These engagements suggest that rationality conflicts occur within multi-layered settings, across state-society spheres as well as beyond specific project interventions implemented within single settlements.

Thesis (DTh)--University of Stellenbosch, 2002.
ENGLISH ABSTRACT: This dissertation develops a theory for doing Malawian urban ministry called "Holistic hermeneutical practical theology." The effects of urbanization: secularization, disorientation, poverty and pollution in Malawi's urban centers make it difficult for the CCAP to implement successful ministry that deals with the shantytowns' circumstances. Chapter one: The first chapter describes the Malawian urban context. It defines the five components of the researcher's topic of study: "Urban poverty as a challenge for ministry within the Malawian (African) context" and the three components of the methodology: "Holistic hermeneutical practical theology." Four relational hypotheses are formulated to guide the study. Different research methods applied to gathering information for chapters of this dissertation are documented at the end of this chapter. Chapter two: The second chapter examines the CCAP's existing ministry practice and addresses the first hypothesis: "Its rural background and theory of ministry prevent the CCAP from developing an effective urban ministry that adequately addresses the problems of the poor." The missionaries introduced a comprehensive ministry approach to the early leaders of the CCAP Nkhoma Synod. In the process of blending the missionary approach to ministry in the local Chewa context, a philosophy of ministry that emphasizes spiritual salvation (neglecting the physical needs) was developed in the CCAP Nkhoma Synod. This approach poses a problem for the Church to adequately address the physical needs and realities of Malawians in the cities. Chapter three: The third chapter discusses the poverty situations of Malawian and South African shantytowns and slums and is the result of research conducted in order to examine the validity of the four hypotheses. The responses of the groups interviewed were helpful for an understanding of the current congregational challenges and ministry opportunities in urban areas. This chapter addresses issues of this thesis positively: research objectives, the population growth data of urban inter-censal, a brief historical description of Malawian cities, the government efforts to address urban challenges and problems, the CCAP ministry approach to urban ministry, and a brief description of two South African poverty scenarios. The research reveals that the church and the government work independently of each other. In this way the validity of the third hypothesis: "A holistic approach to urban ministry with joint forums for development is needed to address urban poverty problems," is confirmed. Chapter four: This chapter describes the extent of poverty in Malawi, which is most disturbing. The recent studies on Malawian poverty indicate that the poverty scenario is a pervasive problem affecting approximately 60% of the population; urban poverty, in particular, is 65%. Furthermore, chapter four discusses a number of issues, some of which are: a description and Christian views of the poor, an overview definition of urban poverty, the causes of poverty and the vocation of the urban church. The cities' informal economies can make a huge difference in the lives of the poor. All of the four hypotheses form the background to this chapter. Chapter five: Chapter five examines four different approaches of the urban ministry in poverty areas. The purpose of this chapter is to understand the approaches of current work in poverty areas. Various approaches are discussed: community organization, effective congregationally based advocacy ministries, a liberation model, and a church in solidarity with the poor and oppressed. This chapter repeatedly confirms the first and the fourth hypotheses. Chapter six: In this chapter the theory of a holistic, hermeneutical practical theology is applied to a number of activities called pillars, juxtapositioning it with the four hypotheses. This is presented as a model for doing urban ministry in Malawian (African) cities. In the process of describing or developing the model, the four hypotheses - that have already been thoroughly proved and discussed - now serve as orientation markers pointing the CCAP towards its future role in urban ministry. The model emphasizes a hermeneutic-communicative praxis, which makes it constantly concerned with understanding the Christian meaning produced in the past, and relating it to interaction with the present-day faith community. Thus, the church in urban Malawi will address the challenges presented by the effects of urbanization and industrialization. The model's ten pillars are discussed: i) ministry in a new era and context, ii) urban ministry among the poor requires community participation, iii) proclaiming the Gospel in word and deed, iv) Christian faith development, v) urban evangelism, vi) effective pastoral care, vii) the need to build faith communities, viii) the need to equip the urban mission, ix) moving towards ecumenical alliances in African cities, and x) the importance of congregational studies. Chapter seven is a summary and conclusion of the dissertation. It discusses issues of this thesis positively: orientation of the study hypotheses, congregational study methods used in each chapter, the study's path and results, the contribution the study has made to the existing knowledge, and the conclusion of the whole dissertation. Urbanization is Africa's new missionary challenge for this century. The Christian task in Africa is the mission of the continent, which is in the process of rapid urbanization. If the church delays its adaptation to the urban context (the theories of which are changing constantly) it will forsake her strategic mission of being a foreign body in the world, where the old and new overlap in her, rendering her too early for heaven and too late for the earth.
AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Hierdie proefskrif ontwikkel 'n teorie vir die Malawiese stadsbediening wat beskryf word as 'n "Holistiese hermeneutiese praktiese teologie." Die invloed van verstedeliking, sekularisasie, disorientasie, armoede en besoedeling in Malawi se stedelike sentra maak dit moeilik vir die CCAP om suksesvolle bediening, onder plakkersdorp-omstandighede, te implementeer. Hoofstuk een: Die eerste hoofstuk beskryf die Malawiese stedelike konteks. Dit omskryf die vyf komponente van die navorser se studie-onderwerp, "Stedelike armoede as 'n uitdaging vir die bediening binne die Malawiese (Afrika) konteks" en die drie komponente van die metodologie, "Holistiese hermeneutiese praktiese teologie." Vier verwante hipoteses is geformuleer om as riglyn vir die studie te dien. Verskillende navorsingsmetodes, toegepas vir die inwin van inligting vir hierdie tesis se hoofstukke, word aan die einde van hierdie hoofstuk beskryf. Hoofstuk twee: Die tweede hoofstuk ondersoek die CCAP se huidige bedieningspraktyk en is gerig tot die eerste hipotese: "Die CCAP se landelike agtergrond en teorie van bediening verhinder die kerk om 'n doeltreffende stedelike bediening te ontwikkel wat die armes se probleme toereikend kan aanspreek." Die sendelinge het 'n omvattende bedieningsbenadering vir die vroee leiers van die CCAP Nkhoma Sinode ingestel. In die proses om die sendingbenadering tot die bediening in die plaaslike Chewa konteks in te voer, is 'n filosofie van bediening wat die geestelike verlossing beklemtoon (terwyl fisieke behoeftes verwaarloos word) in die CCAP Nkhoma Sinode ontwikkel. Hierdie benadering veroorsaak 'n probleem vir die Kerk om die fisieke behoeftes en realiteite van stedelike Malawiers toereikend aan te spreek. Hoofstuk drie: Die derde hoofstuk bespreek die Malawiese en Suid-Afrikaanse plakkersdorpe en agterbuurtes se toestande van armoede. Die hoofstuk is die produk van navorsing wat die geldigheid van die vier hipoteses ondersoek het. Die reaksies van die groepe met wie onderhoude gevoer is, het bygedra tot 'n begrip van die huidige gemeentelike uitdagings en bedieningsgeleenthede in stedelike gebiede. Die proefskrif spreek die volgende kwessies in hierdie hoofstuk aan: navorsingsdoelstellings, die tussentydse data van die bevolkingsgroei van stedelike gebiede, 'n kort historiese beskrywing van Malawiese stede, die regering se pogings om stedelike uitdagings en probleme aan te spreek, die benadering van die CCAP tot stedelike bediening en 'n kort beskrywing van twee Suid-Afrikaanse armoede-tonele. Die navorsing toon dat die kerk en die regering onafhanklik van mekaar werk. Dus, die geldigheid van die derde hipotesis: "'n Holistiese benadering tot die stedelike bediening met gemeenskaplike forums vir ontwikkeling is nodig om stedelike armoedeprobleme aan te spreek" is hiermee bevestig. Hoofstuk vier: Hierdie hoofstuk beskryf die ontstellende impak van armoede in Malawi. Die onlangse studies, met betrekking tot Malawiese armoede, toon dat die armoede-toneel 'n deurdringende probleem is wat ongeveer 60% van die bevolking raak; stedelike armoede, in die besonder, is 65%. Hoofstuk vier bespreek 'n aantal kwessies, sommige hiervan is: 'n beskrywing en Christelike perspektief op armoede, 'n oorsigtelike definisie van stedelike armoede, die oorsake van armoede en die roeping van die stedelike kerk. Die stede se informele ekonomiee kan 'n baie groot verskil in die lewens van die armes maak. Al vier hipoteses vorm die agtergrond van hierdie hoofstuk. Hoofstuk vyf: Hierdie hoofstuk ondersoek vier verskillende benaderinge tot stedelike bediening in areas van armoede. Die doel van hierdie hoofstuk is om die benaderinge in arm dele te verstaan. Verskeie benaderinge word bespreek: gemeenskapsorganisasie, doeltreffende gemeentelik-gebaseerde voorspraakbedienings, 'n bevrydingsmodel en 'n kerk in solidariteit met die armes en verdruktes. Hierdie hoofstuk bevestig herhaaldelik die eerste en die vierde hipoteses. Hoofstuk ses: In hierdie hoofstuk word die teorie van 'n holisties-hermeneutiese praktiese teologie toegepas op 'n aantal aktiwiteite, wat pillare genoem word, en stel dit naas die vier hipoteses. Dit word voorgestel as 'n model vir stedelike bediening in Malawiese (Afrika) stede. In die proses om die model te beskryf of ontwikkel, dien die vier hipoteses (wat reeds deeglik bewys en bespreek is) nou as orientasie merkers wat die pad vir die CCAP vir sy toekomstige rol in die stedelike bediening aanwys. Die model beklemtoon 'n hermeneuties-kommunikatiewe praktyk, wat gedurig in verband gebring word met die verstaan van die Christelike betekenis wat in die verlede teweeggebring is en wat dit, deur interaksie met die huidige geloofsgemeenskap, in verband bring. Dus, die kerk in stedelike Malawi sal die uitdagings wat deur die uitwerking van verstedeliking en industrialisasie gebied word, aanspreek. Die model se tien pilare word bespreek: i) bediening in 'n nuwe era en konteks, ii) stedelike bediening onder die armes benodig gemeenskapsdeelname, iii) die verkondiging van die Evangelie in woord en daad, iv) Christelike geloofsontwikkeling, v) stedelike evangelisasie, vi) doeltreffende pastorale sorg, vii) die behoefte vir die opbou van geloofsgemeenskappe, viii) die behoefte om die stedelike sending toe te rus, ix) die vorm van ekurneniese alliansies in die stede van Afrika, en x) die belangrikheid van gemeentelike studies. Hoofstuk sewe is 'n opsomming en afsluiting van die proefskrif. Dit bespreek hierdie proefskrif se hoofpunte: die orientasie en die hipoteses van die studie, die navorsingsmetodes geimplementeer in elke hoofstuk, die studie se ontwikkeling en resultate, die bydrae van die studie tot die bestaande kennis, en die afsluiting van die werk. Afrika se stede is die nuwe sendinguitdaging. Die Christelike taak in Afrika is die evangelisasie van die vasteland wat tans in die proses van snelle verstedeliking is. Indien die kerk in gebreke bly om in die stedelike konteks aan te pas, sal die kerk sy strategiese missie versaak om lig in die wereld te wees.

AbstractMalaria is a persistent health risk for most rural communities in tropical wetlands of developing countries, particularly in the advent of climate change. This chapter assesses household access to water resources, livelihood assets, and vulnerability to malaria in the Okavango Delta of north-western Botswana. Data were obtained from a cross-sectional survey of 355 households, key informant interviews, PRA-based focus group discussions (FDGs), interviews with experts in various related fields, PRA workshop participant interviews, and literature review. There was high access to natural capital, and most households engaged in nature-based livelihood activities. Access to resources determined type of livelihood activities that households engaged in. However, there was no association between household exposure and/or susceptibility, and type of livelihood activities pursued by households. Household vulnerability to malaria was higher in remote and rural locations than in urban neighborhoods. Malaria prevention and vulnerability aversion programs need to be coupled with improvements in housing and well-being in the Okavango Delta and similar wetlands.

Son claros los efectos negativos del patrón de crecimiento urbano disperso y del enfoque de la planificación del transporte desde la oferta, en vez de hacerlo desde la demanda. Las medidas que buscan un incremento de la oferta de infraestructura viaria (mediante construcción de nuevas o ampliación de las existentes) con el fin de satisfacer la demanda creciente de tráfico motorizado, orientadas a la mejora del desplazamiento en vehículo privado, no sólo son insuficientes para solucionar el problema de la movilidad urbana, sino que, favorecen el crecimiento de los viajes en coche y con ello generan una mayor congestión. La idea del desarrollo sostenible, que propone crecer económicamente con equidad, sin dañar los ecosistemas y superando la pobreza, es una referencia obligada en las diversas actividades y disciplinas. El urbanismo no es la excepción, sobre todo si se considera que la ciudad transforma de manera intensa el medio ambiente. Por lo tanto, el urbanismo tiene una estrecha relación con la propuesta de sostenibilidad. Aparece una nueva tendencia conjuga urbanismo y movilidad, es el denominado DOT: “Desarrollo Urbano Orientado al Transporte Público”. Esta tendencia se basa en el desarrollo urbano en áreas adyacentes a estaciones de transporte masivo con el objetivo de fomentar un mayor uso del sistema de transporte público y a la vez potenciar la sostenibilidad financiera de dicho sistema mediante la concentración de la demanda de usuarios del transporte público a partir de la re /densificación urbana en zonas estratégicas. Los desarrollos DOT se diseñan según ocho principios ligados al urbanismo sostenible: Caminar, Pedalear, Conectar, Transportar, Mezclar, Densificar, Compactar y Cambiar. Se analizan tres experiencias internacionales de DOT estudiando la aplicación de cada uno de los principios DOT a través de un análisis comparativo de buenas y malas prácticas.DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.4995/CIT2016.2016.3182

This paper aims at recognizing the effects of social exclusion and the degradation process of public spaces and heritage environments in Spanish touristic destinations of Seville and Malaga. While it cannot be argued that after a lock-down as the experimented one, everything can return to the previous state, especially in environments where resilience has not been considered a value, in the early postCOVID lockdown days the mayors of these Andalusian cities reaffirmed the need to support the tourism sector as the only way to recover the economic breakout. We discuss the transformations that touristification and COVID-19 are driving into these cities, looking at the relaxed action of control and inspection on tourism activities and the offer of public “singular spaces” in the centre of the city for new activities related with the tourism industry and real estate speculation. Other European experiences are presented, showing that more focused measures on liveability and neighbour-centred recovery of urban life are possible.

The British intervention in Malaya resulted in the development of the railways as urgency of the expanding tin and rubber industries. This paper attempted to emphasize on the evolution of the station buildings’ plan types and its train-sheds. Railways were the pioneers of modern transportation introduced by the British in 1885 in Malaya. Although the terrain was the main difficulties in railway developments, they managed to connect the lines through West Coast and East Coast lines until Singapore on the southern part and Bangkok on the northern part in the year 1931. Case studies have been conducted and the analysis on plan type evolution will be made between the station buildings in Malaysia in parallel with station buildings around the world during that time. Together with the growth of the railway, the city blooms where it allows road constructions and buildings with different functions such as administrative buildings, railway station buildings and others started to fill major urban places.