Leveraging the private sector to enable the delivery of well-located affordable housing in Cape Town

Includes bibliographical referencesAffordable housing in Cape Town tends to be located far away from economic opportunities, social facilities and public transport infrastructure, which serves to reinforce inequality, burdening poor households and the City. This dissertation explores the current challenges in bringing well-located, affordable housing units to market in Cape Town; the opportunities for greater private sector participation; and the public interventions required in order to enable actors to overcome these challenges and capitalise on the opportunities. These issues were gradually refined from a global scale to a local area, beginning with a review of the relevant urban development and housing economics literature in order to form a theoretical framework, followed by an overview of the local housing market and national housing policy. Precedent, interviews and a workshop were then conducted with participants from the private and public sectors, NGOs and academia in order to explore the key challenges, opportunities and potential solutions in Cape Town. Finally, these challenges and opportunities were investigated and interventions proposed in a particular context, namely Parow train station precinct within the Voortrekker Road Corridor (VRC) in Cape Town. While a comprehensive review of national housing policy and funding is required, the focus of this dissertation is on the many city-scale interventions which are possible within a short- to medium-term, which tackle inefficiencies in the market and regulatory system in order to leverage the power of the private sector towards the goal of well-located affordable housing. The findings for Cape Town indicate that the greatest challenges for developers are the limited availability of well-located land at affordable prices; lack of depreciated, higher-density buildings for redevelopment; excessive parking ratios; delays in the development process; and a lack of nuanced market demand information. Fortunately, there are many opportunities, including a capable and facilitative municipality in Cape Town; growing private sector interest in affordable housing; the power of small-scale landlords and innovative design; a shift from ownership to rental; and potential synergy between affordable housing, transit-oriented development (TOD) and urban regeneration (provided policy and public spending are aligned). Key recommendations for public intervention, applicable both city-wide and to the Parow Study Area, are: firstly, to urgently develop programmatic (national and city scale) and area-based (precinct scale) strategies which position affordable housing (including social housing) as a catalyst for urban regeneration and TOD, and align public investment in order to incrementally densify appropriate areas; secondly, to protect and package public land for affordable housing and other public benefit uses; and thirdly, to remove obstacles to private sector provision of affordable housing by both institutional and small-scale actors (for example, by reducing parking requirements and restrictive development parameters (potentially through affordable housing overlay zones), making market data available and fast-tracking approvals). An essential institutional intervention is the creation of an inter-departmental 'affordable housing task-team' within the municipality to champion and facilitate such interventions

The Concept and Development of Land Value Assessment

Problem in land acquisition increasingly complex, this problem can be related directly to the land acquisition process from planning to project delivery, as well as indirect effects of the reasonableness of the value of the land. Land value is expected to accommodate attributes as physical development and infrastructure projects in a more comprehensive city, thus the value of the land can represent a reasonable condition and can be estimated in accordance with the development that is influenced by multiple attributes (discrete and continuous) as well as the spatial effect of the gradient measured geographical. Based on a review of empirical, conceptual and literature, the value of land is affected by several variables that can be explaned as follows: supply and demand ; highest and best use ; phisic, legal, social and economic. The method can combine the data value of the land and the land characters are more accurate and spatially, it is necessary to use Computer-Assisted Mass Appraisal (CAMA) and Geographic Information System (GIS

Evaluation of GOCE-based global gravity field models over Japan after the full mission using free-air gravity anomalies and geoid undulations

The performance of Gravity field and steady-state Ocean Circulation Explorer (GOCE) global gravity field models (GGMs), at the end of GOCE mission covering 42 months, is evaluated using geoid undulations and free-air gravity anomalies over Japan, including six sub-regions (Hokkaido, north Honshu, central Honshu, west Honshu, Shikoku and Kyushu). Seventeen GOCE-based GGMs are evaluated and compared with EGM2008. The evaluations are carried out at 150, 180, 210, 240 and 270 spherical harmonics degrees. Results show that EGM2008 performs better than GOCE and related GGMs in Japan and three sub-regions (Hokkaido, central Honshu and Kyushu). However, GOCE and related GGMs perform better than EGM2008 in north Honshu, west Honshu and Shikoku up to degree 240. This means that GOCE data can improve geoid model over half of Japan. The improvement is only evident between degrees 150 and 240 beyond which EGM2008 performs better than GOCE GGMs in all the six regions. In general, the latest GOCE GGMs (releases 4 and 5) perform better than the earlier GOCE GGMs (releases 1, 2 and 3), indicating the contribution of data collected by GOCE in the last months before the mission ended on 11 November 2013. The results indicate that a more accurate geoid model over Japan is achievable, based on a combination of GOCE, EGM2008 and terrestrial gravity data sets

Evaluation of GOCE-based global gravity field models over Japan after the full mission using free-air gravity anomalies and geoid undulations

The performance of Gravity field and steady-state Ocean Circulation Explorer (GOCE) global gravity field models (GGMs), at the end of GOCE mission covering 42 months, is evaluated using geoid undulations and free-air gravity anomalies over Japan, including six sub-regions (Hokkaido, north Honshu, central Honshu, west Honshu, Shikoku and Kyushu). Seventeen GOCE-based GGMs are evaluated and compared with EGM2008. The evaluations are carried out at 150, 180, 210, 240 and 270 spherical harmonics degrees. Results show that EGM2008 performs better than GOCE and related GGMs in Japan and three sub-regions (Hokkaido, central Honshu and Kyushu). However, GOCE and related GGMs perform better than EGM2008 in north Honshu, west Honshu and Shikoku up to degree 240. This means that GOCE data can improve geoid model over half of Japan. The improvement is only evident between degrees 150 and 240 beyond which EGM2008 performs better than GOCE GGMs in all the six regions. In general, the latest GOCE GGMs (releases 4 and 5) perform better than the earlier GOCE GGMs (releases 1, 2 and 3), indicating the contribution of data collected by GOCE in the last months before the mission ended on 11 November 2013. The results indicate that a more accurate geoid model over Japan is achievable, based on a combination of GOCE, EGM2008 and terrestrial gravity data sets

Urban Planning principles as mechanisms for improving informal trading opportunities: A case study of inner-city Johannesburg

The inner city of Johannesburg presents a high number of informal traders who seek to make use of urban public space in their livelihood strategies. However, the forces driving the performance of informal traders have not led to positive development of opportunities for traders. Operation Clean Sweep in 2013, was a means of strongly enforcing the informal trading by-laws and removing traders from the pavements and public spaces in the inner-city Johannesburg. Regulation of informal trade has been conducted by the progressively formulated informal trading policy, however, it possesses ineffective implementation strategies. This research addresses the driving forces that affect informal traders' opportunities and the issues that arise from these present forces. The three driving forces which are of greatest impact on informal traders and are investigated in this research, institutions, regulatory and infrastructural forces. The study shows that informal traders experience complex dual realities affected by these driving forces and their need to engage in the informal economy to meet their livelihood strategies. The research seeks to address the use of urban public space by informal traders in meeting their needs, while understanding how these spaces are shaped and determined. The study aims at evaluating the performance of three case study areas located within the inner-city Johannesburg. The performance is measured in terms of meeting the needs of informal traders and providing opportunities for their economic and social development, while ensuring that the needs of the collective public are addressed as well. The background reading and desktop study were used to establish research questions before conducting interviews. These interviews were conducted with informal traders, government officials, private sector, NGOs and civil society. Using case study and discourse analysis methods, and the previously mentioned techniques, this study addresses the issues that informal traders face in light of the driving forces. It also examines how these have shaped the performance of urban pubic space in meeting the needs of informal traders as well as the collective public. The study aims to address these issues with urban planning principles and supplements these with policy recommendations to improve opportunities afforded to informal traders. While the recommendations put forward in this study require a long-term plan, such a plan also requires improved integration between governing departments and managing bodies. This research aims to improve this integration and governing structure, through recommending that increased responsibility for informal trading be taken up by the Johannesburg City Council Development Planning Department

A Manifesto for (De)growth: Disruptive (De)Growth Repository of Southern Ecosystems

Hunguta formed after the open call for the 2019 Oslo Architecture Triennale, taking the Xitsonga word for 'decrease' as its name. The multidisciplinary collective engages with degrowth practices in the context of the Global South. The project in SubSaharan Africa – developed through months and in dialogue with local communities –,was transformed into an atlas exhibited in Oslo in 2019. Through images, diagrams, and photographs, the collective both tests and challenges degrowth principles in a manifesto on the dynamic repository of southern ecosystems. In doing so, the atlas questions the absolute viability and application of degrowth principles in territories subjected to exploitation and 'slow growth' over decades – if not centuries

Digital Visualisation as a New Driver of Urban Change in Africa

Cities in Sub-Saharan Africa are growing faster than in any other part of the world, driven by expanding informal settlement (usually on the urban periphery) and the real-estate sector aiming for up-market property development. The continent currently has the highest real-estate value growth potential in the world. Much up-market property development is currently taking the form of new ‘cities’—sometimes a redevelopment of an entire city (e.g., Kigali), sometimes a new city on an urban edge (e.g., Eko-Atlantic, Lagos) and sometimes a new satellite city (e.g., Tatu City, Nairobi). These projects are driven by international property development companies often in collaboration with governments and sometimes with local planning and property partners. All manifest as plans in a new way: as graphics on the websites of international consultants. Most involve no public participation and attempt to by-pass planning laws and processes. Producing these new plans (as computer generated images) are a new set of professionals: architects, planners, visualisers, advertising executives and project managers, working together in offices in global capitals of the world. Their aim is commercial. Planning in these projects is no longer shaped by the materiality of the city and attempts to achieve socio-spatial justice and sustainability. Rather planning is shaped by the circulation of graphics through a network of software programmes and marketing professionals. This article will situate Africa’s new cities in theorisation of urban development and the role of urban planning through digital visualization

An investigation into the application of the Aerotropolis strategy to the Cape Town International Airport from a Global South Urban Planning perspective

Includes bibliographical referencesThe Aerotropolis is one of many airport led urban development concepts that challenge the way city's have traditionally been planned and managed. In the developed world, airports have evolved from military bases to decentralised and privatised Airport Cities and regionally linked Aerotropoli. On the other hand, although Africa has 12% of the global population and represents 1% of global airfreight and passenger volumes, these figures are expected to increase over time. As South Africa is considered the gateway into Africa, the national led Oliver Reginald Tambo International Airport in Gauteng and the King Shaka International Airport in Ethekweni Durban have recently pursued regional airport approaches. There is substantial scope to apply airport-urban theories to the Cape Town International Airport, which is situated 20km from a sea port, sees the second highest passenger count in South Africa and is set for 11.5 billion Rand in upgrades in the next 5 years. However, the decision to pursue a regional airport approach for the CTIA must be orientated towards the South African context of post-apartheid restructuring and social transformation. This is because the question simultaneously raised is how to stimulate development in the historically segregated South East Metro, with the economic potential of the decentralised and adjacently located CTIA being largely overlooked. The dissertation provides a twenty (20) year regional Spatial Development Framework for the CTIA. Interviews are held with 10 key actors in fields related to airport, urban and business related planning. The literature and findings of the dissertation reveal that firstly, the AeroScape and Airea are more appropriate for conceptualising the retrofitting of an existing airport while the Aerotropolis is best suited as a business model and not a physical form. Secondly, the aviation linked sectors in Cape Town are connected to the City’s unexploited comparative advantages in labour absorptive industries such as agri-processing, manufacturing and textiles which can be brought to the doorstep of the CTIA and South East Metro. Lastly, the functionality of these industries provides further opportunity to develop a sustainable closed loop metabolism between the CTIA, Phillipi East Industrial Node and Philippi Horticultural Area