A sociological exploration of sexual relationships and intimacy amongst a select group of participants in an informal settlement: a case study of Cato Manor, Durban.

Masters Degree. University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban.Humans have a general desire to belong and to love, which is usually satisfied within an intimate relationship. These relationships involve feelings of liking or loving one or more people, romance, physical or sexual attraction, sexual relationships, or emotional and personal support between the members. Sexual relationships and intimacy are very important in family life and societal stability, because they are the outcome of complex interactions between individuals who are conscious of belonging to organized groups and who behave according to a system of learned rules communicated through symbolic language. Thus, the outcome of sex and intimacy, for many groups, globally, is procreative marriage, even though modern sexual arrangements have a distinctive character, which sets them apart from pre-existing systems. In developed countries world sex cohabitation is something that is not shun upon, unlike in traditional societies, because as married couples, cohabiting men and woman have similar cultural traits, as they have rather similar social backgrounds and are often of the same cultural level. In traditional patriarchal societies, like Africa, the male is viewed as apprehensive towards intimacy, while the female is seen as having a great capacity to commit herself to love and to be intimate. It is in this context the study of family life, love and intimacy is studied within an informal human settlement context. The assertion is that irrespective of the nature and type of human settlements, intimacy, sexual relationships are universal human needs, and this study aims to ascertain as to whether this holds true within the context of informal human settlements. Informal human settlements by their very nature are compact, densely populated, deplete of basic infrastructure and lack privacy. It is characterized by shack dwellings, made from a host of materials within proximity with each. Given this physical characteristic of informal settlement, it is assumed that residents of these settlements are prevented from leading normal family lives. It constrains the expression of one’s intimacy, sexual relationship and family life which this study hopes to unfold

Developing a self-sustaining secondary construction materials market in South Africa

ABSTRACT Sustainable development has become part of Government policy across the world. In the construction industry it has been introduced through the promotion of “sustainable construction” or “green construction”. International trends show a gradual move away from wasteful construction industry practices that include high resource consumption, material wastage, inefficiencies in construction processes and a high percentage of waste that find its way to waste disposal sites and illegal dumps. This research report seeks to promote sustainable construction and waste minimisation as preferred models for achieving a balance in the economic, social and environmental impacts of development. It reviews South Africa’s construction and demolition site practice from the perspective of construction and demolition waste management, assessing waste management practice and the resultant waste disposal. To gauge South Africa’s performance it benchmarks South African practice against those of the United States, United Kingdom, Germany and the Netherlands. This approach highlights gaps in South Africa’s current practice and also provides some valuable lessons that can be used to ensure compliance with sustainable construction principles. Finally the research report proposes a framework for developing a self-sustaining secondary construction materials market in South Africa, which can prove to be a valuable tool for ensuring the absorption of sustainable construction in the construction industry

Improving infrastructure to promote the safety of non-motorised road users in South Africa

Paper presented at the 23rd Annual Southern African Transport Conference 12 - 15 July 2004 "Getting recognition for the importance of transport", CSIR International Convention Centre, Pretoria, South Africa. Pedestrians and cyclists are very vulnerable road users and accidents involving them usually result in fatalities or major injuries. Pedestrians, in particular, represented for many years a major part of road casualty statistics in South Africa. Although their percentage involvement in road accident fatalities has decreased from about 48 per cent to about 42 per cent of all road fatalities per annum in recent years, they still represent a significant component of road casualties in South Africa. Annually, more than 5 000 pedestrians are killed and another 30 000 injured, of which about 10 000 sustain serious injuries. Many factors contribute to this sad and undesirable state of affairs. This includes the human element through the undisciplined behaviour of pedestrians and drivers, the lack of effective traffic law enforcement, an inadequate road environment which in many cases do not cater for the needs of non-motorised road users, especially in the previously disadvantaged areas where facilities to walk alongside or to cross roads are often lacking. The lack of co-ordination between transport and land-use planning also results in pedestrians and other non-motorised road users having to cross major roads and freeways at-grade with grave consequences. Although the human element plays a major role in the incidence of these casualties, it is a proven fact that the lack of facilities for pedestrians and cyclists to cross roads or move alongside roads is contributing to these road casualties. This is especially the case in the less developed urban areas as well as on rural roads with high traffic volumes. Recently, a new set of guidelines, titled Pedestrian and Bicycle Facility Guidelines manual, was published by the National Department of Transport for the provision of safe pedestrian and cyclist facilities on South African roads. The purpose of this new manual was to evaluate, review and combine the existing Bicycle and Pedestrian Manuals into one, practical, user-friendly manual and to add new relevant, efficient and cost-effective standards and guidelines.The purpose of the paper is twofold. Firstly, it gives a brief overview of the facility guidelines contained in the new Pedestrian and Cyclist Facility Guidelines Manual, the appropriate design parameters to be used for pedestrian and cyclist facilities in South Africa and the methodologies to be used for pedestrian and cyclist network planning. Secondly, it illustrates how this manual could be used as a tool to support the implementation of government strategies and initiatives such as Moving South Africa (MSA), National Bicycle Programme, Integrated National Disability Strategy, Road to Safety Strategy 2001 – 2005, Integrated Development Planning (IDP), Integrated Sustainable Rural Development Strategy (ISRDS), Urban Renewal Programme (URP), and others.This paper was transferred from the original CD ROM created for this conference. The material on the CD ROM was published using Adobe Acrobat technology. The original CD ROM was produced by Document Transformation Technologies Postal Address: PO Box 560 Irene 0062 South Africa. Tel.: +27 12 667 2074 Fax: +27 12 667 2766 E-mail: [email protected] URL: http://www.doctech.co.z

Development policy and water services in South Africa: an urban poverty perspective

This paper explores the impact of overall macroeconomic development policy on water service delivery policy and urban poverty in South Africa. It scrutinises ambiguous definitions of 'urban' in the literature, which tend to obscure the extent of urban poverty in this country. This is crucial given that a large proportion of the urban poor live in informal settlements, which are sometimes lumped with rural areas. Informal settlements are generally characterised by limited essential services such as housing, water supply, storm-water facilities and sanitation services. Water services, like other social services, retain the racial imprint of apartheid. Consequently, water policy in South Africa attempts to address water issues from an equity perspective. By analysing the effects of the tariff subpolicy within the water policy, the paper recommends that free basic water should be made available only to poor households.