An assessment of the use of Geographic Information System (GIS) in monitoring and evaluating the progress of in-situ upgrading of informal settlements : a case study of Cato Crest Informal Settlement, eThekwini Municipality.

Master of Housing.As a point of departure, this study investigates the innovative use of geographic information system (GIS) as a technological tool for urban governance in South Africa used for monitoring and evaluating informal settlement upgrading projects, using the case of Cato Crest informal settlement in eThekwini municipality. In South Africa, the number of informal settlements continues to increase perpetuated by phenomena such as rapid urbanisation and poverty; notwithstanding of the goal of the Department of Human Settlements to eradicate all informal settlements by 2014. The BNG advocates for in-situ upgrading as the preferred approach for settlement upgrading as it seeks to improve settlements in their current location through the provision of services, and secured land tenure. In-situ upgrading is a holistic approach with an emphasis on eliminating social exclusion, poverty, and vulnerability. Favouring neoliberal policies has resulted in increased poverty as people are not able to compete in formal housing markets due to insufficient capital. Technological adaptation is barred by lack of support from top management and capital resources. This research adopted a qualitative research design, utilizing primary and secondary sources of data, employing semi-structured interviews, questionnaire, observation, GIS based methods of digitizing, and buffering as data collection methods. Data is analysed through thematic analysis and GIS technology, and findings presented in cartographic display. The research has found that, among other things, eThekwini municipality utilizes GIS through the ISP to inform decisions for housing projects. However, GIS continues to face barriers in monitoring and evaluating in-situ upgrading of informal settlements as spatial data is updated annually; thus unable to map spontaneous land invasions as they occur throughout a year cycle. Notwithstanding, the in-situ upgrading of Cato Crest informal settlement has impacted the community positively through the provision of services, and secured land tenure, preserve socio-economic networks, and integration of the settlement into the broader urban fabric

Reconfiguring the city in the global South: rationalities, techniques and subjectivities in the local governance of energy

Debates around climate change and resource security are reshaping the way cities conceive and develop their infrastructures. Electricity systems play a key role in this transformation, as cities across the world set out to implement local energy strategies via decentralised and low carbon energy systems. Such transformation is of particular relevance for cities in the global South, where rapid economic growth and an increase in energy consumption coexist with acute social needs and unmet infrastructure provision. Through a comparative study of two cities (Thane, in the Mumbai Metropolitan Region, India, and São Paulo, in Brazil) this thesis evaluates the way in which public and private stakeholders are implementing a new form of local energy generation through the use of domestic solar hot water (SHW) systems as a mechanism for reducing electricity consumption. By focusing on the governing mechanisms involved in scaling-up solar technologies and the ways by which these are mobilised to serve contrasting interests in the city, the thesis examines the emerging local governance of energy in the global South. The thesis uses Foucault’s analytics of governmentality as a conceptual tool aimed at unpacking the different ways by which energy in the city, in its material and socio-political formations, is thought of, mobilised, and transformed. Through a combination of interviews, site visits, and ethnographic techniques, it examines how this transformation in urban infrastructures is changing the manner in which energy is governed, the spatial and socio-political implications of this transformation, and the way in which the material dimensions of SHW systems influence the transformation process. The thesis discusses the governmental rationales involved in the making of a local governance of energy, the key governmental techniques involved in operationalizing a solar energy regime, and the multiple ways in which energy subjects are imagined within this process

ISIPTA'07: Proceedings of the Fifth International Symposium on Imprecise Probability: Theories and Applications

B

An analysis of the policy process of the Indian National Food Security Act of 2013 in relation to urban food insecurity

Background. This thesis explores the Indian National Food Security Act of 2013 (henceforth NFSA) as an expression of Indian food policy, with specific focus on the extent that Indian urban food security was understood, considered and addressed during the policy formation of the NFSA. The NFSA seeks to provide up to 50% of the entire urban population access to the Public Distribution System (PDS). How such figures were agreed upon, and if other urban-focused entitlements were considered in the policy design, is of significance, to not only assess whether the NFSA adequately addresses the full range of urban food insecurity, but to also bring forward the motivations and interests of the policy-makers themselves. Methods. With the overall research objective to elucidate the role that urban food security played in the policy process of the NFSA, three research questions (RQs) arose to identify: RQ1. The main dimensions of urban food insecurity in India, and the urban planning and policy context; RQ2. The main actors involved in the policy process of the NFSA, and the extent to which urban experts were consulted; RQ3. The degree to which urban food security was considered, understood and represented in the policy formulation of the NFSA. Walt and Gilson’s Policy Analysis Triangle was utilised as the conceptual framework, situated within the broader tradition and approach of critical food policy analysis. The research adopted a multi-method approach, using 26 elite semi-structured interviews as the primary data source, and conducting analysis of official policy documents and transcripts of the Lok Sabha debates as secondary data sources. Research was primarily conducted in Delhi, within circles of academics, civil society activists, bureaucrats and experts in think-tanks, to map out and understand how and if entitlements focused on urban food security changed during the NFSA’s formulation and the extent that it garnered attention up to the final Act. Findings. The research analysis suggests that urban food security received limited attention during the formulation of the NFSA, with more focus on a broad food security approach, only differentiating between the urban and rural food insecure through eligibility. There is further evidence of long-standing urban neglect within poverty alleviation policies and a dearth of urban food security discourse within national urban programmes. This is further compounded by policies that affect the urban poor negatively, such as slum demolishment, displacement and illegalisation of slum-dwellers, as well as poor statistical evidence and understanding of urban food security by key policy-makers. The earlier drafts of the NFSA included comprehensive entitlements for the most vulnerable groups in urban areas, indicating that key actors in the policy process showed an understanding and concern towards urban food insecurity. Due to the tensions and negotiations between policy-makers, coupled with the possible undue influence of a key policy-maker, the potential of the NFSA in addressing urban food security was limited. Discussion. The findings suggest that urban food security was not of particular focus for the policy-makers involved in the NFSA, yet the initial draft of the Act, due to the influence of key academics, civil society activists and former bureaucrats within the National Advisory Council (NAC), contained substantial entitlements for urban vulnerable groups. The excising of these entitlements may have substantially weakened the potential of the NFSA to address urban food insecurity, even if perfectly implemented. Ultimately, the influence of growth-focused, economic rationalism among key governmental policy-makers tempered the vast and wide-ranging initial draft, streamlining it so that the content was ultimately only expanding upon existing policies and programmes rather than any novel approaches. More research is needed to more clearly identify and problematise the influence of commercial interests in the legislative branch, as well as to analyse the implementation of the NFSA, for its potential successes or failures. Conclusion. The thesis concludes that key reforms in urban governance and planning, implementing a multidimensional framework in identifying the urban poor, as well as reintroducing the removed entitlements would significantly strengthen the response to urban food insecurity in India. A more robust nutrition security approach would also greatly benefit the urban food insecure. The broader implications highlighted by this thesis is that continued urban neglect, exacerbated by systemic policy failures in addressing urban poverty coupled with the wholesale adoption of economic rationalism, will be a growing crisis for India as its urban populations grow, with little evidence that its existing programmes and policies are suited in addressing the highlighted issues, and sufficient evidence that continued food insecurity will persist despite rising living standards and rising incomes

Orchestrating the urban : politics of multilevel sustainable energy governance in urban India

Urban governments are emerging as ‘strategic sites’ for responding to global calls for sustainable energy transitions - not just in decentralised ways but also in more democratic ways. However, beyond ambitions, actual actions by urban governments have been underwhelming, including in India. In India, there is an emerging interest in understanding cities’ responses to climate change, including sustainable energy. However, the multilevel politics of urban and energy governance has been less critically explored. Responding to these under-explored avenues, this thesis explores the politics of sustainable energy governance in urban India as manifested in the power operationalisation within multilevel governing structures to shape the responses of urban governments. I adapt Barnett and Duvall’s multidimensional power conceptualisation and taxonomy to develop a framework for power analysis in the three cities of Surat, Pune, and Kolkata. The thesis bases its analytical framework on a processual notion of power, defined as the ‘production of effects’ to understand the ways different types of power are operationalised concurrently to orchestrate the actions of other actors in a multilevel governance system. The analysis is presented as a complex web of power mechanisms identified inductively in each of the case studies that are then generalised to unpack the larger politics of urban sustainable energy governance and understand the diversity of responses between different Indian cities. The study finds that evolving and path-dependent structures underlying India’s energy transition trajectory are privileging higher-level actors with more control over institutional and discursive realms. These actors utilise this control to centralise more power and relegate urban governments as non-entities or energy consumers. However, the study also highlights the mechanisms that can be cautiously considered to be green shoots and can potentially challenge this elite policy capture to some extent