OpenUCT :: Browsing by Author "Whittal, Jennifer"

Browsing by Author "Whittal, Jennifer"

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Open Access
3D property objects in South African local government: the necessity of representing and managing the third dimension in the City of Cape Town property management system
(2021) Humby, Lara; Whittal, Jennifer; Simon Hull
The objective of this research was to analyse whether there is a need for a form of 3D Land Administration System (LAS)in South Africa (SA) based on the land administration functions of land tenure, land use, land development and land value. The investigation can be divided into two key focus areas that align with subsystems of the LAS: (i) the Land Tenure System (LTS) that is responsible for land tenure; and (ii) the Property Management System (PMS) that is responsible for land use, development and value. These two key areas fall within the SA LAS and make use of the cadastre as a foundation. Humby (2014) focussed on the first subsystem and found that there may be a significant need within the LTS for a 3D cadastral record or a 3D legal property object (LPO). The second subsystem is the focus of this study. To analyse the need for 3D in the PMS, the City of Cape Town (CCT) was adopted as a single case study, and modelled using systems thinking tools. The model focussed on the definition, use and management of property information, or the conceptual 3D property management object (PMO), to fulfil the land administration functions of land use, development and value within the CCT PMS. Established land administration theory, including the Land Management Paradigm, the good governance principles and RRR requirements, was used as a foundation against which the CCT PMS was analysed. This allowed for an increased understanding of the current CCT PMS's ability to achieve its land administration goals, policies and sustainable development. Following this, the current use of 3D within the CCT PMS was presented and analysed, along with the potential resulting benefits, uses and challenges of introducing 3D into that system. Semi-structured in-depth interviews, documentation evidence and participant and direct observations were employed in this section of the research. Furthermore, international land administration and 3D experiences, as presented in the literature review, were incorporated in this analysis. This study concludes that introducing a third dimension into the CCT PMS would have its challenges, but the uses and benefits that have been seen globally and that are recognised within the CCT, may outweigh those challenges. The research illustrates how a 3D Property Management Object would clarify the records and aid the land administration functions. Preferably, 3D would be introduced into the cadastre and LTS initially, and the PMS could then adopt that real RRRs LPO record as a foundation for the PMO records. However, the LTS has fallen behind in technology and it appears the CCT PMS will have to take the lead in introducing 3D into the SA LAS. It is recommended that a full cost-benefit analysis is conducted prior to any further research or development within the CCT.
Open Access
A framework for guiding cadastral systems development in customary land rights contexts
(2019) Hull, Simon; Whittal, Jennifer; van Belle, Jean-Paul
Land reform in South Africa is reported to be failing, and land tenure reform in customary contexts is the least well-addressed component of land reform. To address this failure, a framework for guiding cadastral systems development in customary land rights contexts is developed. Using a research synthesis methodology, this conceptual framework is derived from existing literature. It comprises of five evaluation areas (underlying theory, land administration system context, change drivers, change process, and review process), each of which is broken down into related aspects and elements. The three interrelated goals of success, sustainability, and significance permeate the framework. It is suggested that cadastral systems development (and, by consequence, land tenure reform) projects operating in customary land rights contexts fail when they are not sensitive to the significance of development processes and outcomes for customary land rights-holders. The conceptual framework is tested and extended through a progressive case study of four examples of cadastral systems development in Germany, the Netherlands, Mozambique, and South Africa. The elements of the framework are compared against context-specific descriptors that emerge from the case studies to assess how well they have been addressed. Thus, each case brings contextual relevance to the framework, sequentially increasing its groundedness. The European cases are chosen because they are seen to be examples of ‘good practice’ for their contexts and because developments in southern Africa have drawn from and been influenced by them. Hence, they are expected to add relevant insight to the conceptual framework. The southern African cases are chosen because they reflect the intended context of application of the framework and have been undergoing cadastral systems development for the past few decades. The framework was found to be useful in highlighting strengths and weaknesses in all four cases. Weaknesses in the European cases related to their insensitivity towards human rights, class and gender issues possibly arising from assumptions about the uniformity of their socio-economic context. There was also inadequate attention given to the review processes. Strengths arose from the developed nature of the countries as reflected in their good governance and well-functioning cadastral systems. In the southern African cases, the primary weaknesses arose from the adoption of inappropriate theory of development, leading to a loss of significance of development process and outcomes. Other weaknesses are related to the lack of developing status of southern African countries, as reflected in their poor land governance and low levels of technological capacity. Strengths related to acknowledgement of human rights issues and the need to address historical injustices in the southern African cases. The resultant, grounded framework is intended to be used as a tool by policymakers and cadastral systems developers. By taking note of the framework’s aspects and elements, it is proposed that cadastral systems development in customary land rights contexts will carry significance for the land rights-holders, encouraging their adoption and embrace of the process and outcomes of development, which in turn fosters the success and sustainability of development.
Open Access
Analysis of the impact of location factors derived from different techniques on the predictive accuracy of CAMA models
(2004) Musekiwa, Themba; Whittal, Jennifer
Includes bibliographical references (leaves 112-115).
Open Access
Analysis of the land administration and housing management systems in view of adequate self-built incremental housing development in Lesotho
(2024) Mabesa, Mamphaka Jeanett; Whittal, Jennifer
This research analyses the effect of Lesotho's post-reform Land Administration System (LAS) and Housing Management System (HMS) in view of supporting and promoting adequate housing delivery through Self-built Incremental Housing (SBIH) development. SBIH is key to Lesotho's realisation of the Africa Agenda 2063, Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) 2030 and New Urban Agenda (NUA). This research seeks to provide an integrated and holistic view of SBIH using an approach based on a critical realist ontology. It relies on overarching theoretical and analytic lenses of conflicting rationalities and spatial planning. Ethnographic case study research methodology (ECSRM) is adopted, using a mixed-methods approach. Multiple conflicting rationalities about SBIH development are identified. These are between the central and local governments, governments and LAS and HMS, and the State and the SBIH Dwellers. Looking at the existing land and housing legislative, policy and process frameworks, and their implementation, SBIH continues developing in a fragmented, siloed, conflicting rationality space. Further analysis using the theory of spatial planning provides compelling insights into the LAS and HMS. These include poor policy integration, lack of coordination, and a lack of adaptation of the systems to SBIH Dwellers' needs. Disconnection between these systems and the lived experiences of SBIH Dwellers, particularly their everyday struggles to access adequate housing, remain critical barriers to the success of these systems in meeting the goal of adequate housing through SBIH. The results of this research could guide the design of appropriate SBIH policy and legislative frameworks in Lesotho and feed into State housing delivery processes in line with social needs and SBIH practices and the goal of adequate housing for all. In support of SBIH, this research recommends the integration of the LAS and HMS in Lesotho. All Land Administration and Housing Management aspects should embrace a human-rights-based approach to adequate housing and consider social housing in some form. Furthermore, spatial planning at the local government level should be harmonised with national strategic development plans while capacity development in all arms of the State dealing in this sector, is required. Finally, SBIH guidelines should be produced to mainstream this form of housing delivery. These should include the strategic objectives of SBIH along with performance indicators that seek to address conflicting rationalities and policy disintegration in this space.
Open Access
Do Design Science Research and Design Thinking Processes Improve the ‘Fit’ of the Fit-For-Purpose Approach to Securing Land Tenure for All in South Africa?
(2021-05-04) Hull, Simon; Whittal, Jennifer
In South Africa, land tenure security is a challenge for 60% or more of the population who hold interests in land outside of the formal system of registered title. There is a need for the cadastral and land administration systems to be reshaped, and for new land tenure forms to be developed to record all land rights and interests so as to improve land tenure security for all. In this paper, we undertake a reflective retrospective of the processes of land administrative reform in South Africa using a thematic framework that includes fit-for-purpose, design science research, and design thinking processes. Literary sources are coded using the thematic framework to identify potential contributions of foregrounding design science research and design thinking in fit-for-purpose land administration (FFP LA) approaches. Design science research paired with tools of behavioral science add value in understanding the context, problems, needs, and objectives and in communicating the results of critical reflection. The design thinking process has much to offer in capitalizing on the human abilities of empathy, deep understanding, and challenging assumptions, setting the scene for unconstrained creative thinking. Design science research and design thinking within FFP LA may promote innovations in land administration systems reform initiatives that deliver restorative justice in the South African land sector.
Open Access
Enhancement of digital elevation models using tree-based ensemble machine learning algorithms
(2023) Okolie, Chukwuma; Whittal, Jennifer; Smit, Julian
Geospatial practitioners and national mapping agencies (NMAs) in Africa are constrained to rely on open-access remote sensing datasets, even as they struggle to meet up with best practices on spatial data infrastructure and topographic map revision. Thus, global digital elevation models (DEMs) have gained worldwide prominence due to their free availability; a prime advantage when compared to prohibitively expensive airborne topographic surveys. However, the accuracies of global DEMs are affected by several anomalies that diminish their quality and compromise their adequacy for applications where precise and accurate terrain information is needed. This research proposes an explainable tree-based ensemble feature-level fusion framework for enhancing satellite DEMs using Cape Town, South Africa as a case study. The enhancement methodology combines elevation and terrain features data alignment (co-registration and resampling) with feature-level fusion (ensemble learning) into a DEM enhancement framework. The training datasets are comprised of eleven predictor variables including elevation, slope, aspect, surface roughness, topographic position index, terrain ruggedness index, terrain surface texture, vector ruggedness measure, percentage bare ground, urban footprints and percentage forest cover as an indicator of the overland forest distribution. The target variable (elevation error) was derived with respect to highly accurate airborne LiDAR. Initially, the qualities of two satellite-derived interferometric DEMs (NASADEM and Copernicus) and two photogrammetric DEMs (ASTER and AW3D) were comparatively examined in a series of qualitative and quantitative tests in five different landscapes spread across Cape Town: urban/industrial, agricultural, mountain, peninsula and grassland/shrubland. Based on their performances, Copernicus and AW3D DEMs were selected for further analysis. The next phase involved a comparative evaluation of ten treebased ensembles for enhancement of Copernicus DEM over agricultural lands. At two implementation sites, there was a 6 – 13% reduction in the MAE and 15 – 29% reduction in the RMSE, and the corrected Copernicus DEM showed several topographic improvements such as smoothing of rough edges, enhanced stream channel conditioning and diminution of coarse/grainy pixels. Following the comparison, three recent implementations of gradient boosting, the extreme gradient boosting (XGBoost), light boosting machine (LightGBM) and categorical boosting (CatBoost) were selected for the development of a robust DEM enhancement framework. After training and testing, the models were applied for correcting the DEMs at two implementation sites spread across the five landscapes. Going further, a rigorous hyperparameter tuning strategy was implemented for the three models using a principled, robust and computationally efficient Bayesian optimisation scheme. The optimisations were operationalised with ten steps of random exploration for diversification of the exploration space, and 40 - 50 iterations to increase the likelihood of finding an optimal combination of hyperparameter values. The uniqueness of the optimisation scheme is the very wide diversification of the search space for random exploration. The performance of the models was compared based on default hyperparameters versus Bayesianoptimised hyperparameters. The result is a sequential correction and fusion scheme to increase the vertical accuracy and reduce errors in the final DEMs. The corrections achieved significant and highly competitive accuracy gains of up to 64% RMSE (68% MAE) reduction in Copernicus DEM and up to 78% RMSE (82% MAE) reduction in AW3D DEM. The robustness of the proposed framework was proven in several performance evaluations and comparative assessments. Summarily, it outperformed a globally acclaimed corrected DEM and the authoritative South Africa national DEM, and surpassed the achievable accuracies of several previously proposed strategies, including multiple linear regression. Moreover, three-dimensional terrain analysis and lineament mapping showed the potential of the proposed scheme for enhancing deliverables in topographic and geologic mapping. The proposed approach also incorporates explainability measures to describe the interactions between predictor variables and their influence on the predicted DEM errors. It provides a cost-effective framework and ‘minimal' computation expense. The innovative DEM enhancement scheme proposed in this research is applicable to other global landscapes.
Open Access
Foreign direct investments in large-scale agriculture: the policy environment and its implications in Ethiopia
(2016) Persson, Atkeyelsh G M; Whittal, Jennifer; Ramutsindela, Maano
In most African states, arable land and other natural resources play a pivotal role for economic growth and development. Ethiopia is one of those countries where agriculture is the backbone of the economy. Since the time of Emperor Haile Selassie I, Ethiopia has been attempting to advance the transformation of its agricultural sector by moving away from small-scale subsistence farming to large-scale commercial farming. It thus encouraged Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in largescale agriculture. However, the military government that took power in 1974 reversed this. The current government of Ethiopia seized power from the military regime in 1991. Today the government once again advocates FDI in large-scale agriculture. This has led to an influx of foreign investors, especially in Gambella and Benshanguel-Gumuz Regional States. Various scholars, however, criticize the manner in which these investments have been taking place, arguing that the investments are neither pro-poor nor sustainable. Against this backdrop this research seeks to examine current policies, the patterns of investment they promote, and how these affect land-based resources and the wellbeing of communities. The study intends to provide information that may help improve the performance of FDI in terms of their sensitivity to poverty alleviation and sustainability. It also aims to boost current knowledge on FDI in agriculture in Ethiopia. The study was conducted using multiple data collection methods, including documentation, interviews, focus group discussions with the affected communities and direct observations in the case study areas. The results are analysed using pro-poor and sustainability frameworks for FDI in large-scale agriculture, along with findings of empirical studies on national FDI policies and practices in various parts of the globe. The analyses reveal that the Ethiopian investment policy's support to FDI in large-scale agriculture is inadequate. It focuses on giving incentives to attract FDI rather than ensuring the availability of quality institutions and sufficient infrastructure, which are vital for facilitating the operation and productivity of FDIs. Furthermore, the absence of community participation in the decision-making process for the agricultural investment projects in the case study areas portends significant negative implications for the wellbeing of local communities and the sustainability of the natural environment. The study recommends further research to investigate the economic viability of alternative land-based investments, such as eco-tourism, which is shown to be environmentally sustainable and can be shaped to be pro-poor. Also recommended is additional research into good practices for large-scale agricultural investments, that can be adapted to Ethiopian conditions, should the government opt to continue promoting FDI.
Open Access
Good e-Governance and cadastral innovation: in pursuit of a definition of e-cadastral systems
(2013) Hull, Simon; Whittal, Jennifer
The development and implementation of an e-cadastre, called Project Vulindlela, is underway in South Africa yet there is little literature/research to guide e-cadastral development and implementation globally. Also, the meanings of the terms ‘e-cadastre’ and ‘e-cadastral system’ are unclear. This paper seeks to address these limitations. We begin with a look at definitions of key terms in the field of cadastral development. Then an understanding of what constitutes an e-cadastral system is formed through an exploration of: good governance as related to cadastral development, e-government and e-governance, and a study of global cadastral and land administration trends and ‘future cadastres’. The e-cadastral system is thereafter defined as an electronic, parcel-based land tenure information system (LTIS) that combines the roles of the agencies in control of surveys and mapping, land registration, land valuation and land use / development in a manner that aims to broadly satisfy e-governance outcomes as related to cadastral systems development. Finally, the implied goals of the e-cadastral system are described. It is hoped that this exploration will stimulate further development of the concepts of e-cadastral systems such that formal critique of these systems will be possible in the future.
Open Access
Groundwater management using a GIS case study : Uitenhage Subterranean Government Water Control Area
(2000) Baron, Jane Helen; Whittal, Jennifer; Butcher, Shirley
The area around Uitenhage in the Eastern Cape forms the centre of one of the biggest artesian groundwater basins in South Africa. The Table Mountain Group quartzitic sandstones are overlain by a thickness of postPalaeozoic sediments giving rise to artesian groundwater. The most wellknown of this manifestation are the springs at Uitenhage which have been used since pre-historic times and are currently a principal source of water for the municipal supply. At the turn of the 20th century, with the introduction of drilling machines into the area a number of boreholes were constructed. The resultant tapping into the artesian supply resulted in the spring-flow lessening and a decline in groundwater levels on introduction of further boreholes. At the request of the local community this special region was proclaimed a groundwater protection area. Over the years the abstraction within the area has risen and is currently at 3.24 million m³/a. However the licensed, legally abstractable, figure stands at 6.15 million m³/a. Groundwater levels have declined although the flow from the boreholes has not. Using GIS aU the available and pertinent information required for the management of the control area and for the estimation of the groundwater resource has been brought together. Using raster modelling techniques the amount of groundwater available within the system and the viability of sustained abstraction were assessed. A site-specific raster model has been designed to visualise and quantify the expected effects of new boreholes in the area.
Open Access
High precision GPS data processing for the survey of South African tide gauges
(2000) Zimba, Robert; Merry, Charles; Whittal, Jennifer
Bibliography: leaves 72-78.
Open Access
Integrating land administration systems in peri-urban customary areas in Ghana
(2018) Obeng, Williams; Whittal, Jennifer; Mostert, Hanri
Dual land administration systems operate in many peri-urban customary areas in subSaharan Africa (Burns, 2007), yet the rationality behind them is different, and possibly conflicting (Watson, 2003). The conflicting rationalities between the dual systems have created binaries in land administration discourse. Some scholars have promoted statutory land administration systems over customary systems (Hardin, 1968). Many pre-21st century land administration systems theories were purely economy-based, and sought to discredit customary land administration and tenure systems (De Soto, 2000; Peters, 2009). The weaknesses of customary land administration and tenure systems have been widely articulated in economy-based land administration literature (Demsetz,1967). However, recent research findings seem to suggest that peri-urban customary land management could improve through hybrid land administration, incorporating both customary and statutory systems (Whittal, 2014). In this study, statutory and customary land administration systems are examined to understand how they can be integrated to improve effective land delivery at the peri-urban interface in Ghana. A case study analysis of hybrid forms of land administration was undertaken, using both primary and secondary data. Relatively successful case studies (from Ghana and other parts of sub-Saharan Africa) were deliberately chosen to learn good ways of managing peri-urban customary land. Land administration practices in such areas were assessed using the good land governance framework. The case study analysis reveals that hybrid land administration systems are appropriate in enhancing livelihood sustainability and tenure security of the local people. To this end, the study proposes some improvements in hybrid land administration practices to reduce conflicting rationalities between customary and statutory land administration systems.
Open Access
The land administration system of Lesotho : challenges and opportunities
(2011) Mabesa, Mamphaka Jeanett; Whittal, Jennifer
The increasing need for effective land administration systems that help eradicate poverty, boost economic growth and lead countries to sustainable development, have led countries to engage in the reform of existing systems. In this process researchers and practitioners use appropriate methods, tools and frameworks to examine, analyse and evaluate existing systems prior to the design and implementation of new systems. The attempt to find suitable designs which are aligned with the best practices frameworks in land administration systems, has led to extensive research to develop, identify and test suitable methods and frameworks and to apply these to case studies. This research investigates and analyses the land administration system in Lesotho from a critical realist perspective.
Open Access
Municipal boundary demarcation in South Africa: processes and effects on governance in traditional rural areas
(2013) Nxumalo, Cleotilda; Whittal, Jennifer
This research adopts a case study approach to investigate disputes involving municipal boundaries in rural communities under traditional authority. Further, a multiple case study approach is used to expose in-depth understanding of these disputes. The causes of the disputes are investigated and the processes of municipal demarcation and boundary dispute resolution are analysed against a number of frameworks such as the goals of good governance in land administration, management paradigm, rights, restrictions and responsibilities, Kotter's eight stages of change management, and 7Es performance measurement frameworks. From this critique, conclusions are drawn about the municipal demarcation processes and improvements are recommended. The study finds that the frameworks and tools applied are suitable for the analysis and evaluation of the municipal boundary demarcation process. The main findings indicate that several municipal demarcations negatively affected service delivery and threatened the role of traditional leaders.

Browsing by Author "Whittal, Jennifer"

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