Browsing by Author "Patel, Zarina"

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    An analysis of urban form as an approach to social sustainability: a comparative study of contrasting housing developments
    (2018) Botha, Deirdre; Patel, Zarina; le Grange, Simone
    This research study aims to determine the impact of urban form on social sustainability. Definitions of urban form vary in the literature. One of the definitions describe urban form as spaces that enhance the sense of community, healthy communities and place attachment, while promoting environmental mitigation and adaption measures (Eizenberg & Jabareen, 2017). Likewise, social sustainability has not been clearly defined and universally understood and as a result its importance has been compromised (Vallance, Perkins & Dixon, 2011). This study of urban form also includes testing the success of the process of implementation, with the aim of providing evidence with regards to its success in the shaping of urban form. Important implementation processes of urban form include: planning processes, policies, processes of collaboration and partnership between different agencies, local participation, financial incentives, tax incentives and investment (Burton, Jenks & Williams, 2003). The case study of the research includes two contrasting housing developments that are at opposite ends of the housing spectrum. Masiphumelele, an informal settlement, and Lake Michelle, an Eco-Estate. Both these housing developments are situated between the areas of Noordhoek, Fish Hoek and Sun Valley in the City of Cape Town. This research project makes use of a multidisciplinary approach. Due to the spatial and social nature of the research, methods from both Geography and Urban Design were used. Qualitative methods were used, including interviews, field observation, volunteer work at an NGO, and spatial mapping. The research study finds that urban form does have an impact on social sustainability. The findings reveal that the measure of social sustainability is a result of firstly, the type of urban form. Secondly, it is a result of the nature of the implementation process of urban form. Third, it is a result of the residents’ response to the urban form. Social sustainability is thus not predictable, but the relationship between urban form and social sustainability is predictable. Both high-density and low-density urban forms have positive and negative results, depending on the specific context. Furthermore, the selected criteria with which to define both urban form and social sustainability will have an impact on the relationship between the two. Thus, calling for a uniform definition of both urban form and social sustainability, and the need for a context-specific approach to the design of urban form.
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    Deconstructing the boundary between environmental sustainability and social justice: decision-making and obscured rationalities in government-led housing in Johannesburg
    (2024) Fatti, Christina Culwick; Patel, Zarina
    The idea of ‘just sustainability', which is based on the aspiration of aligning social justice and environmental sustainability imperatives, has become a focus among scholars and practitioners in addressing contemporary social and environmental crises. Despite claims that environmental sustainability and social justice can coexist, reconciling these goals proves challenging in theory and practice. The disjuncture between policy commitments and the practical achievement of just sustainability is rooted in the need for deeper engagement with how the boundary space between social justice and environmental sustainability is theorised. There's a growing acknowledgement among scholars of the need for a nuanced understanding of this boundary space for identifying trade-offs and understanding how conflicting rationalities impact decision-making within cities. Given that urbanisation, poverty, and climate change impacts are concentrated in cities in the global South, the challenge of building socially just and environmentally sustainable cities predominantly lies with Southern cities. As a coalescing point for infrastructure and urban development, government-led housing has been linked explicitly to building just and sustainable cities. South Africa's government housing programme is responsive to both environmental sustainability and social justice concerns through improving access to shelter and basic services, and facilitating access to amenities and opportunities. However, there is little consensus among scholars or practitioners regarding how government in South Africa should balance the immediate need for housing while addressing unsustainable and unjust urban forms, resource constraints and high levels of inequality. This project uses government-led housing in Johannesburg, South Africa, to examine the boundary space between social justice and environmental sustainability, and how knowledge and decision-making interact with this space. The study first examines the practical outcomes of government-led housing. Second, it considers the policy and decision-making processes involved in developing government-led housing projects, and third, it interrogates the theoretical challenge of bringing social justice and environmental sustainability together in Southern cities. This multidisciplinary study, which uses two case studies, Lufhereng and Pennyville housing projects, employs various analytical and data collection methods, incorporating qualitative and quantitative approaches, to undertake a dynamic assessment of government-led housing outcomes and decision-making processes. This research innovatively combines photo essays with traditional research methods, creating a unique synergy between objective and subjective perspectives on government-led housing projects. By underscoring the intricate interplay between justice and sustainability in government-led housing projects, instances are revealed where outcomes are aligned in some instances and conflictual in others. The research argues that linear, reductionist relationships between social justice and environmental sustainability are unhelpful in building nuanced understandings of the interaction between these imperatives. Furthermore, Watson's (2003) concept of conflicting rationalities, which represents irreconcilable perspectives, is extended and applied in new ways. The idea of ‘obscured rationalities' is developed to denote subtle conflicts within decision-making processes, and how these can influence outcomes, rather than obvious conflicts, such as those between social justice and environmental sustainability. The argument is made that developing nuanced understandings of the interplay between social justice and environmental sustainability is crucial for theory development, policymaking, and practical outcomes. Highlighting uneven knowledge approaches and addressing this through expanding theorisation from the global South is necessary for realigning the structural elements leading to inequality and unsustainability.
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    Exploring expected roles and responsibilities of waste pickers and homeowners in the waste picker integration process: a case study
    (2024) Fraser, Sally; Patel, Zarina
    Informal waste collection in South Africa is carried out by some of society's most vulnerable individuals. Their work often operates in middle- and upper-class areas, where many homeowners have been found to hold negative perceptions towards street waste pickers and their work. In this relationship, homeowners have the ability to not allow waste pickers to access recyclables by withholding waste or closing off communities to waste pickers. Recently, it has become an important aspect of advocacy for waste picker integration in South Africa to include waste pickers in formal waste collection systems and the overall recycling value chain. This would involve including waste pickers in planning and decision-making and as active stakeholders in these two systems. The tension found in the relationship between waste pickers and homeowners is a potential barrier to waste picker integration, and could go as far as to exclude waste pickers from waste management systems and the recycling chain entirely. The perceptions and expectations of both waste pickers and homeowners of what roles and responsibilities each party plays in contributing to waste systems could offer insight into how a more effective integration process can be brought about. This study focuses on the relationship between waste pickers and homeowners in an uppermiddle-class area of Cape Town, and what perceptions and expectations there are between the two groups. An exploratory qualitative with some quantitative aspects was the approach with a case study design was used for this research. The sample was made up of 15 homeowners and 15 waste pickers, with the homeowners receiving a different questionnaire than the waste pickers. The data collection was done through a phased participatory approach. Both groups first participated in an unstructured questionnaire, which then informed the semi-structured questionnaires used in the interviews with participants. The data was then analysed through a thematic analysis and a framework of social constructionism, identifying the common themes used by both groups to frame their perceptions and expectations of informal waste collection and their relationship with the other group. Four main themes emerged from the data, namely: motivation for waste picking and recycling; experiences of vulnerability; solutions; and appreciation. It was found that some of the greatest barriers to integration could be contrasting motivations for recycling between the two groups, and the lack of a communication and knowledge sharing pathway between the groups. Opportunities for improved integration could be to explore effective communication pathways between the groups.
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    Exploring the potential contribution of Environmental Impact Assessments for water resilience: a case study of in-situ upgrading of the Monwabisi Park informal settlement, Cape Town, South Africa
    (2022) Bieding, Natasha; Patel, Zarina; Simpson, Nicholas Philip
    Internationally, water resource management is complicated by a myriad of factors. Climate change is just one of such factors that has globally complicated water resource management due to erratic weather patterns, including extreme and prolonged drought. However, there also exist other factors such as rapid urbanisation, migration and inadequate infrastructure which have contributed towards water resource management being complicated. Water resource management therefore spans a wide scope ranging from managing the direct impacts of climate change on water availability to ensuring that water remains accessible to all. From a national perspective, water access is particularly a topical issue in South Africa, due to its ever-expanding cities and informal settlements. Cape Town is no different and in the same way, water access is directly affected by a myriad of factors including natural and social. Natural factors include drought, while social factors include rapid urban expansion, wastage and increasing demand by competing user groups. However, for informal settlements where limited access to water and inadequate socio-economic living conditions are the norm, water access remains a problem. The pre-existing conditions in this regard heightens informal settlements' challenge for access to water. Learning from the severe drought of 2015 to 2018 one of the impacts of climate change in the context of this research, the City of Cape Town introduced long-term policy interventions to ensure water access and promote water resilience by developing both the Cape Town Resilience Strategy and Water Strategy. Despite this progress at a strategic level, guidance on tools for environmental governance of project and local level water resilience remains lacking. This research uses a case study approach to explore Environmental Impact Assessments' potential contribution for water resilience in informal settlements. Water resilience in the context of this research implies that actions are implemented so that water remains accessible for informal settlements while its more vulnerable residents are empowered, in spite of the threat and impacts of future drought scenarios. The Environmental Impact Assessment is therefore explored as a ‘vehicle' or means through which such actions could be implemented and in so doing, contribute towards water resilience in the real world context. An Environmental Impact Assessment application of the in-situ upgrade of the Monwabisi Park Informal Settlement in Cape Town, South Africa, is analysed based on three themes of how contributions towards water resilience relevant to informal urban settings could be implemented, namely: (1) addressing the relationship between the ecological and social elements of the environment, (2) engaging with aspects of future threats of drought and the need to plan ahead and (3) supporting the Cape Town Resilience Strategy and Water Strategy with implementation to further achieve water resilience. The shortcomings of the case study revealed that the Environmental Impact Assessment addressed pragmatic issues relating to the decision-making attributes of the tool rather than substantive water resilience matters. Social and ecological elements were not treated as one system and planning ahead failed to incorporate relevant water resilience imperatives, even though the opportunities to do so exists through need and desirability criteria, which requires the tool to use forward planning policy and frameworks to inform development projects. Despite these two shortcomings, EIAs hold potential to align with and strengthen environmental governance plans, policies or programmes. This was found to be possible through mandated procedures and normative outcomes such as public participation, environmental education and community involvement, conserving and diversifying sources of water and environmental monitoring. These synergies between Environmental Impact Assessment and the Cape Town Resilience Strategy and Water Strategy provide entry points for Environmental Impact Assessments to contribute towards water resilience. However, the potential contribution of Environmental Impact Assessments to water resilience in informal settlements remains highly contingent on addressing systemic vulnerabilities exhibited in the social-ecological context and adequate preparation for future shocks and stressors.
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    An investigation into the relationship between information and environmental behaviour : a case study of Cape Town's Smart Living Campaign
    (2015) Buckton, Karl; Patel, Zarina
    Environmental campaigns have generally relied upon using information alone as a way to get messages across to the public. This approach is based on the assumption of a linear relationship between information and behaviour: it is believed that educating people will lead them to be more environmentally responsible. An example of this is the information deficit model. The information-deficit model (Blake, 1999), suggests that experts inform individuals about the environment in order to achieve behaviour change. Contrary to this model, dissenters claim that the information-deficit model is not participatory or deliberative and that human behaviours are determined by factors such as individual lifestyle. This dissertation tests the assumption behind the idea that added information leads to improved environmental behaviour. The research used a case study of an urban South African environmental education program: the Smart Living Campaign in the City of Cape Town. The study is split into two sections, the first which focuses on the workplace of the companies. The second which is aimed at the households of the employees of the companies. The study focused on two variables, the impact of waste management in terms of recycling, and energy usage in terms of electricity consumption on their behaviour.
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    Low carbon energy transitions for informal settlements: a case study of iShack South Africa
    (2017) Glasser, Zachariah; Patel, Zarina
    The majority of informal settlements in South Africa do not have access to reliable, safe, and clean energy. Infrastructural constraints, poor service delivery, the inapt application of policy, and the financial constraints of those living in informal settlements all contribute towards this problem of energy poverty. This dissertation argues that low carbon energy transitions, such as solar home systems, are a viable means for overcoming issues of energy poverty in informal settlements. This dissertation examines the role of urban experimentation in implementing low carbon energy transitions within informal settlements in South Africa, through exploring interactions between policy, technology and justice. The iShack Project (improved Shack) is used as a case study, to identify, analyse, and discuss the ways in which solar home systems have resulted in social and financial changes amongst the residents in Enkanini, Stellenbosch. These relate to changing fuel use patterns, reducing shack fire risk and addressing issues of access and affordability. Multilevel perspective (MLP) and the political ecology approach are the two analytical tools used to discuss the broader conditions that give rise to transitions, as well as providing a more in-depth look at the experiences of those making up the 'social' aspect of socio-technical transitions. These analytical tools informed a series of interviews, which is the primary method through which data was gathered, by highlighting prominent components of agency and power - providing greater understanding of the lived realities of the Enkanini residents. The interviewing process provided an opportunity for residents of Enkanini to voice their opinions on this urban experiment and discuss the impact iShack has had on their lives. Photographs accompany many of the findings in this dissertation and provide a valuable lens through which the lived reality of the Enkanini residents can be more accurately represented. Using the case study of the iShack Project in Enkanini, the findings of this dissertation highlight that policy, technology and justice come to positively reinforce one another in addressing the issue of energy poverty in South Africa. For example, the granting of the Free Basic Electricity (FBE) subsidy to the iShack Project has made it possible for the intermediary to address justice issues, such as the poor being able to access and afford reliable, safe, and clean electricity. Furthermore, iShack's technological innovations, such as "Flash" and the "Flash wallet" have brought about foundational changes in some values, goals, operational procedures and decision-making processes taking place in the community - especially around the notion of monetary savings. This also points to the fact that these technological innovations are physical manifestations of policy itself. The findings show that low carbon energy transitions can be a viable means of overcoming energy poverty in informal settlements and addressing issues of access and affordability for the poor. However, local government plays an important role in being able to adapt local policy in such a way that it creates an enabling environment for an intermediary to be supported or strengthened in this.
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    (Re)framing sustainable transitions: perspectives from a city in the global South
    (2018) Roux, Saul; Patel, Zarina; Shearing,Clifford D
    This study analyses the conditions under which socio-technical systems transition to more sustainable configurations. It does so through an exploration of the City of Cape Town’s electricity distribution arrangements. This investigation is situated within debates on sustainable socio-technical transitions in general and the multi-level perspective (MLP) in particular. This study considers four themes that are important for understanding the conditions under which socio-technical regimes change - regulation, organisations, geographical context and scale. These themes structure an empirical study of an energy transition in a city (scale) in the Global South (geographical context) and an examination of the role of regulatory and organisational conditions in shaping sustainable transitions. In turn, the implications of this case for transition theories is explored. The site of the study is a local government in an African city, Cape Town. This southern geography offers unique conditions, particularly related to the ways in which the technical interacts with the social, in conditions where poverty and inequality are prevalent. In exploring the City’s electricity system, field-work was undertaken using a participatory, engaged and grounded theory approach. Notably, research was conducted within a knowledge co-production setting that involved spending three years in the City, embedded in its Energy and Climate Change Unit. This provided invaluable access to the tacit knowledge of practitioners and a unique view into the internal workings of the City. The results of this field-work have implications for sustainable transition theory. In the City, systemic tensions and contestation were prominent in relation to the incumbent electricity system. Notably, it was found that reconfiguration agendas, represented in the City’s Energy and Climate Action Plan, are disrupting developmental values, such as cross-subsidisation, which underpin the incumbent electricity system. Accordingly, regime reconfiguration based on environmental values competes with developmental values embedded within incumbent regime structures. This provides the basis for conceptualising socio-technical transitions as conflicts related to contested values. These value tensions are repeated across scales, manifested by contestation between urban energy autonomy and security on the one hand and national developmental transitions on the other. The presence of systemic value tensions in the City also has a bearing on the conditions and pathways for socio-technical transitions. In this regard, this study applies a constructivist approach to exploring socio-technical reconfigurations through identifying two broad energy trajectories that the City is able to pursue; a centralised or distributed trajectory. This informs a heuristic to explore the socio-economic outcomes of reconfigurations. It further identifies potential reconfiguration processes present in the City that forms the basis of alternative theoretical reconfiguration typologies that are cognisant of value contestations. Through evaluating formal rules that regulate the City’s electricity system, this study finds that regulatory systems are used as a tool to assimilate, codify and stabilise dominant value sets into socio-technical regimes. Further, it was found that separate City departments are aligned to divergent socio-technical values. Thus, competing values create contestation within organisations in framing transition processes. Overall, the study offers an alternative conceptualisation of socio-technical regimes as systems produced and reproduced through value contestation. By drawing on the case of the City’s electricity system, the study provides evidence to show that value tensions related to socio-technical regimes are played out in regulatory, organisational and political landscapes. The study thus argues that these competing value systems are integral in the co-evolutionary process of regime configuration and reconfigurations.
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    The role of engaged scholarship and co-production to address urban challenges: a case study of the Cape Town Knowledge Transfer Programme
    (2015) Miszczak, Sonia; Patel, Zarina
    The City of Cape Town is under increasing pressure to develop sustainable urban policies and plans to be able to mitigate and prepare for impacts of environmental change. Both city practitioners and academic researchers in Cape Town believe that one knowledge base is not sufficient to attempt to address the 'wicked problems' associated with environmental change, and that there is a need for collaboration among different knowledge types. This case study considers the value of facilitating an engaged interaction between academics and practitioners in order to co-produce knowledge that can be more relevant and useful for addressing sustainable urban planning challenges. A process of qualitative research by means of interviews with practitioners and researchers within the Cape Town Knowledge Transfer Programme revealed that a more engaged interaction between the researchers and the practitioners, who are the likely users of that research, generates more valuable knowledge and solutions for addressing sustainable urban planning challenges. This case study found that the engaged interaction was immeasurably valuable for both of the institutions, as well as the knowledge produced during the interaction, and the individuals involved in it. The results and implications for partnerships between academic researchers and city practitioners is discussed.
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    Towards an understanding of competing constructions of risk for impact assessment
    (2022) Day, Kirsten D; Patel, Zarina; Rother, Hanna-Andrea
    Since the inception of the Impact Assessment (IA) tool in the late 4567s, a pivotal role has been assigned to science and expert knowledge, in a rational scientific approach to anticipating the environmental effects of proposed projects. Embedded in this philosophy is a realist interpretation of risk, such that measurable properties are allocated that can be determined based on probabilities. The intention is to reduce uncertainty and improve the accuracy of forecasting. Whilst this approach adds value to IA, it has limitations in respect of the human dimensions of risk which influence the process and outcomes of the assessment. This research responds to this problem with an exploration into competing constructions of risk for the IA discipline. I begin this thesis by highlighting how IA has been affected by the passage of risk, over several decades, from the domain of science to a wider public discourse linked to fear and anxiety about living in a “Runaway World” (Giddens, L77L). Relevant in this context, are espoused sustainability principles for IA relating to inclusivity and equity. Underscored by numerous critics are associated challenges, particularly when it comes to incorporating social values and acknowledging the role of power in IA. I propose that these challenges can be linked to interpretations of risk - realist on one hand, and societal, cultural and cognitive on the other. The approach to uncovering the implications of competing constructions of risk for IA relies on the method of critical discourse analysis (CDA), and a Foucauldian notion of discourse linked to power. I describe three distinct theories focusing on the social, psychological, and cultural dimensions of risk. These include risk society theory, the psychometric paradigm and cultural theory. To demonstrate their relevance, each theory is applied in a discourse analysis of three South African case studies: a specialist study for a fuel storage facility, an environmental impact assessment (EIA) for a nuclear power plant, and a strategic environmental assessment (SEA) for proposed hydrofracking for shale gas in the Karoo. The studies highlight limitations to the realist interpretation of risk, particularly in morally and politically contested circumstances. My argument is for a richer understanding of risk for IA, along a continuum which accommodates pluralism. I conclude that alternative risk theories provide deeper insight into social values and power dynamics, with a view to advancing the IA discipline to meet the challenges posed by increasing levels of uncertainty in an everchanging world.