The home as informal business location: Home-based business (HBB) dynamics in the medium-sized city of George

Home-based businesses (HBBs) are often considered the most ‘formal’ of the informal business sector types, where a formal structure such as a house or shack provides some form of security for these businesses. Notwithstanding this structural ‘security’, HBBs are merely a reflection of broader urban economic and spatial processes taking place in South African cities, resulting in a dual-natured business space. The role, impact and contribution of home-based businesses to urban economies, urban growth and spatial relations with the formal economy have not received much attention from policymakers in South Africa. The study investigates the complexity of HBB dynamics in the mediumsized city of George, and focuses on three aspects: first, a conceptual link between house and business is provided; second is an overview of the spatial transformation ofbusiness space in the city between 1995 and 2005, and third is an analysis of a survey conducted among 98 HBBs in George, in which aspects related to the business start-up, location, history, problems experienced and policy context are examined. The article concludes with several policy and planning recommendations.&nbsp

Inner-city change in Pretoria: social and spatial trends

The Pretoria inner-city area and, more specifically, the high-density Sunnyside residential area have experienced major social and spatial changes since the mid-1990s. As in other metropolitan areas, the city’s spatial structure has been shaped by urban developmental processes such as decentralisation, desegregation and deconcentration. This article’s assessment of these changes in the context of the ways in which the inner city is transforming and positioning itself sheds some light on what we consider an inner-city success story in terms of adaptation to radical changes

Knowledge-based service industry in a South African university town : the case of Stellenbosch

Adendorff, A. & Donaldson, R. 2012. Knowledge-based service industry in a South African university town: the case of Stellenbosch. Development Southern Africa, 29(3):418-433, doi:10.1080/0376835X.2012.706038.The original publication is available at http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/0376835X.2012.706038Knowledge-based service industries, because they are geographically ‘footloose’, have the potential to contribute to small town and city economies. The university town of Stellenbosch, identified as having a high growth potential, is the location of a growing IT and knowledge-based service sector. Data from questionnaires completed by 104 Stellenbosch companies provided some insight into why they chose this town. Most said that, provided sufficient IT is available, they would be able to function as effectively in another town. This implies that they locate in Stellenbosch as a matter of preference rather than necessity. The paper provides insights into the reasons for the spatial clustering in South African non-metropolitan areas and how companies decide where to locate.Post-prin

Opening up to the World: An Exploration of Residents’ Opinions on and Perceptions of St Helena Island’s Tourism Development

Donaldson, R. & Forssman, A. (2020). ‘Opening up to the World’: An Exploration of Residents’ Opinions on and Perceptions of St Helena Island’s Tourism Development. African Journal of Hospitality, Tourism and Leisure, 9(6):944-958. DOI: https://doi.org/10.46222/ajhtl.19770720-61St Helena Island, often regarded as one of the most remote places on earth, is an Overseas Territory of the United Kingdom and generally considered geographically as ‘part’ of Africa. Economically, the island is wholly dependent on British aid. Once important as a stop for trading ships for some 400 years, the island has suffered the same problems faced by many other small island economies: a lack of natural resources, diseconomies of scale, net outmigration, and a dependence on aid and remittances. Tourism has been earmarked as an important sector which has the potential to contribute significantly to the economy of St Helena, especially after the completion of the St Helena Airport. The purpose of this research reported here was to determine the level of tourism development on St Helena since its ‘opening up’ to the world after the first passenger flight touched down in 2017, by applying Butler’s tourism area life cycle model and Doxey’s irridex model. These models provided the framework for qualitatively determining the level of tourism development. An e-survey was conducted among residents about their expectations of tourism development. St Helena has been trapped in the involvement stage for decades while being inhibited by its remoteness and accessibility issues. It is clear from the evidence that some of the island’s tourism characteristics relate to the involvement stage, whereas others are synonymous with the development stage. It is thus reasonable to argued that St Helena currently lies in a flux between the involvement and development stages of the Butler model. The opening of the airport is conceivably the springboard necessary for leaving behind all the impeding features of the involvement stage

A revision of the 2004 growth potential of towns in the Western Cape study

CITATION: Van Niekerk, A., Donaldson, R., Du Plessis, M. & Spocter, M. 2010. A revision of the 2004 growth potential of towns in the Western Cape study. Stellenbosch University.One of the objectives of the Department of Environmental Affairs and Development Planning (DEA&DP) is to undertake spatial planning that promotes and guides the sustainable future development of the Western Cape province and redresses spatial inequalities. This goal led to the development of the Provincial Spatial Development Framework (PSDF), which identifies the areas of growth in the province and the areas where, in terms of the sustainable development paradigm, growth should be emphasised in the future. It also addresses the form that this growth or development should take and further emphasises the restructuring of urban settlements to facilitate their sustainability. To provide guidance and support for implementing the PSDF, a thorough understanding and knowledge of the characteristics and performances of all the settlements in the province is needed

Compiling a land audit in large rural areas: Results from the methodology applied in the non-urban areas of the Matzikama municipal area

To compile a comprehensive land audit in large, mainly rural-based municipalities such as the Matzikama Municipality in the Western Cape warrants an alternative methodology than that conventionally done through exhaustive property visits. This study attempts to showcase such an alternative methodology to compile the land audit for the municipality. The end result of the audit was a geographical information system (GIS) database that contains a wide variety of information required for spatial planning and land use management purposes. Each of these elements required a unique data-collection methodology that included spatial data collection; aerial photography and satellite image pre-processing; mapping of property boundaries; defining area of interest; determining land ownership through property valuation rolls; establishing the status of access roads and routes; mapping current land uses, and overlaying land use control measures in order to infer land uses and deriving potential land use zoning. The methodology applied succeeded in successfully linking land parcels as follows: valuation data: 3 731 out of 4 176 (89.3%) were linked; state land audit: 378 out of 4 176 (9.1%) were linked, and deeds data: 1 680 out of 4 176 (40.2%) were linked. The study found that creating and updating land audits require advanced skills in GIS and it is recommended that municipalities employ suitably qualified officials in this regard. Working with outdated planning scheme legislation/policy can become a time-consuming and costly exercise for municipalities

Albiglutide and cardiovascular outcomes in patients with type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease (Harmony Outcomes): a double-blind, randomised placebo-controlled trial

Background: Glucagon-like peptide 1 receptor agonists differ in chemical structure, duration of action, and in their effects on clinical outcomes. The cardiovascular effects of once-weekly albiglutide in type 2 diabetes are unknown. We aimed to determine the safety and efficacy of albiglutide in preventing cardiovascular death, myocardial infarction, or stroke. Methods: We did a double-blind, randomised, placebo-controlled trial in 610 sites across 28 countries. We randomly assigned patients aged 40 years and older with type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease (at a 1:1 ratio) to groups that either received a subcutaneous injection of albiglutide (30–50 mg, based on glycaemic response and tolerability) or of a matched volume of placebo once a week, in addition to their standard care. Investigators used an interactive voice or web response system to obtain treatment assignment, and patients and all study investigators were masked to their treatment allocation. We hypothesised that albiglutide would be non-inferior to placebo for the primary outcome of the first occurrence of cardiovascular death, myocardial infarction, or stroke, which was assessed in the intention-to-treat population. If non-inferiority was confirmed by an upper limit of the 95% CI for a hazard ratio of less than 1·30, closed testing for superiority was prespecified. This study is registered with ClinicalTrials.gov, number NCT02465515. Findings: Patients were screened between July 1, 2015, and Nov 24, 2016. 10 793 patients were screened and 9463 participants were enrolled and randomly assigned to groups: 4731 patients were assigned to receive albiglutide and 4732 patients to receive placebo. On Nov 8, 2017, it was determined that 611 primary endpoints and a median follow-up of at least 1·5 years had accrued, and participants returned for a final visit and discontinuation from study treatment; the last patient visit was on March 12, 2018. These 9463 patients, the intention-to-treat population, were evaluated for a median duration of 1·6 years and were assessed for the primary outcome. The primary composite outcome occurred in 338 (7%) of 4731 patients at an incidence rate of 4·6 events per 100 person-years in the albiglutide group and in 428 (9%) of 4732 patients at an incidence rate of 5·9 events per 100 person-years in the placebo group (hazard ratio 0·78, 95% CI 0·68–0·90), which indicated that albiglutide was superior to placebo (p<0·0001 for non-inferiority; p=0·0006 for superiority). The incidence of acute pancreatitis (ten patients in the albiglutide group and seven patients in the placebo group), pancreatic cancer (six patients in the albiglutide group and five patients in the placebo group), medullary thyroid carcinoma (zero patients in both groups), and other serious adverse events did not differ between the two groups. There were three (<1%) deaths in the placebo group that were assessed by investigators, who were masked to study drug assignment, to be treatment-related and two (<1%) deaths in the albiglutide group. Interpretation: In patients with type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease, albiglutide was superior to placebo with respect to major adverse cardiovascular events. Evidence-based glucagon-like peptide 1 receptor agonists should therefore be considered as part of a comprehensive strategy to reduce the risk of cardiovascular events in patients with type 2 diabetes. Funding: GlaxoSmithKline

The contribution of X-linked coding variation to severe developmental disorders

Abstract: Over 130 X-linked genes have been robustly associated with developmental disorders, and X-linked causes have been hypothesised to underlie the higher developmental disorder rates in males. Here, we evaluate the burden of X-linked coding variation in 11,044 developmental disorder patients, and find a similar rate of X-linked causes in males and females (6.0% and 6.9%, respectively), indicating that such variants do not account for the 1.4-fold male bias. We develop an improved strategy to detect X-linked developmental disorders and identify 23 significant genes, all of which were previously known, consistent with our inference that the vast majority of the X-linked burden is in known developmental disorder-associated genes. Importantly, we estimate that, in male probands, only 13% of inherited rare missense variants in known developmental disorder-associated genes are likely to be pathogenic. Our results demonstrate that statistical analysis of large datasets can refine our understanding of modes of inheritance for individual X-linked disorders

A model for South African urban development in the 21st century ?

Paper presented at the 20th Annual South African Transport Conference 16 - 20 July 2001 "Meeting the transport challenges in Southern Africa", CSIR International Convention Centre, Pretoria, South Africa.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

Small town tourism in South Africa

This book investigates small town tourism development in South Africa taking into account the most common strategies: branding, promotion, festivals and theming. The contents of the book resonate with the intersection of the power elite and their impacts on small town tourism. Because the book focuses on small town geographies in South Africa, the literature on small town tourism in the country is reviewed in Chapter 2 to provide a contextual background. Each subsequent chapter begins with an overview of international literature to give the conceptual context of the case studies each chapter explores. In Chapter 3 the concept of small town tourism branding is illustrated by an exploration of the Richmond book town. In Chapter 4 the branding theme is probed further in an investigation of two winners of the Kwêla Town of the Year competition namely Fouriesburg and De Rust. Chapter 5 documents the branding of Sedgefield through its proclamation as Africa’s first Cittaslow (slow town), a process driven by the local power elite to the exclusion of town’s poor who have no understanding of the intentions of the Cittaslow movement and its potential benefits for the town. Chapter 6 is a case study of Greyton’s tourism-led rural gentrification by which a small town has transformed in three decades to become a sought after place of residence for elite inmigrants so making the town a jewel tourism destination while reinforcing racial segregation. Because festivals and events - creations of the wealthy - have made significant financial contributions to small towns, Chapter 7 considers festivals and events as strategies to market and brand small towns in a particular way