A nodal governance approach to understanding the barriers and opportunities for disaster governance : a case study on flood governance in an informal settlement in Cape Town, South Africa
Doctoral Thesis
2016
Permanent link to this Item
Authors
Supervisors
Journal Title
Link to Journal
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Publisher
University of Cape Town
Faculty
License
Series
Abstract
The premise of this thesis is that complex socio-environmental problems, such as those associated with urban disaster risk and climate change, cannot be managed by individual organisations or hierarchical forms of organisation, but require integrated, inclusive, and multi-actor forms of governance. By adopting the concept of 'disaster governance' and by drawing on governance discourse, this thesis argues that multiple actors with various capacities and understanding of the problem should be involved in disaster management processes. This thesis demonstrates that in practice, however, a collaborative, decentralised, and inclusive disaster governance approach, which often involves actors outside of taken-for-granted networks, is harder to design, implement, and maintain in cities of the global South. In this thesis, an embedded qualitative case study approach is adopted to explore how the local municipality in Cape Town manages flood risk in one of their high-risk informal settlements called Sweet Home, which is located in Philippi on the Cape Flats. Qualitative data is collected from in-depth, semi-structured interviews and multi-actor workshops with local government officials in Cape Town, residents from Sweet Home informal settlement, and non-governmental organisations involved in flood management activities. This research uses a nodal governance approach to describe and analyse the unique mentalities, resources, technologies, and institutions that shape actors' actions and decisions with regard to flood governance. Added to this is an in-depth look at what barriers might be present as a product of these characteristics, and how these barriers impact on the ability of these actors to collaboratively address disaster risk. This thesis demonstrates that by unpacking these characteristics and the potential barriers, the conditions needed to strengthen disaster governance can then be identified.
Description
Reference:
Waddell, J. 2016. A nodal governance approach to understanding the barriers and opportunities for disaster governance : a case study on flood governance in an informal settlement in Cape Town, South Africa. University of Cape Town.