The anatomy of access: re-imagining essential service provision in complex urban neighbourhoods

Jackson, Lizelle Kay

The anatomy of access: re-imagining essential service provision in complex urban neighbourhoods

Thesis / Dissertation

2025

Publisher

University of Cape Town

Department

School of Architecture, Planning and Geomatics

Faculty

Faculty of Engineering and the Built Environment

Abstract

Nearly three decades after end, the spatial legacy of Apartheid still scars the Cape Town landscape. Large urban centres remain the key destinations for peripheral suburbs and townships placing increasing pressure on the landscape as rapid urbanisation is underfoot, constantly altering the urban fabric both on the edge and within lower-income accessible neighbourhoods. These shifting states of existence produce vulnerabilities that make it difficult for access by the state for effective service provision in these neighbourhoods. This project looks at this reality of access for people living in Dunoon, a dense residential area that sits immediately south of the junction of the N7 and Malibongwe Drive. Dunoon is investigated in relation to the larger Blaauwberg District and the greater Cape Town Metropolitan and this macro analysis is paired with the more micro analysis gained from contextual nuances of the neighbourhood. The project will make proposals for reimagined service provision that claims space within the public realm as a common amenity in the dense character of the neighbourhood. I look to scholars of the Global South where, relating to this concept of peripheral urbanisation and self-constructed neighbourhoods, writing includes work by Bayat (2013); Caldeira (2017) and Roy (2011) which become crucial to grounding the research in real-world Dunoon life. Further writing on systems and infrastructure that offer deeper understanding of existing access & service models and their shortfalls in provision in a South African context are also explored (Hanyurwumutima & Gumede, 2021; Jaglin, 2014; Larkin, 2013). Building on the academic conversations surrounding these topics, the research explored the spatial implications of individually driven neighbourhood making processes on the spaces of collective occupation in Dunoon? From the research, which was undertaken using critical theory, desktop study, site visits, model building and storytelling, findings directed the question of how urban design intervention could reimagine the way in which state and user interact in complex urban environments to allow for safe and equitable conditions within these diverse urban realities. Proposal for neighbourhood structuring intervention that combines scalable spatial strategies of pricks, points, clusters and centres with scalable ownership strategies, allowed a reimagined way of working in complex urban environments like Dunoon and offers new ways for city making in the future that accommodates rapid urban growth.

Keywords

Urban

Service

Reference:

Collections

Masters

Full item page