The manifestation of street safety and security as spatial (in)justice in selected small rural towns of Vhembe District, South Africa

Safe and secure street spaces for pedestrians translate to spatially just urban environments. This study examined pedestrians’ safety and security elements on street spaces in three selected Small Rural Towns (SRTs) in South Africa and assessed the users’ physical perceptions of street safety and security in SRTs and their implications on spatial (in)justice. Forty-three street spaces from three SRTs in South Africa were purposively sampled and assessed in this study. The study adopted a mixed-method approach and a street safety spatial (in)justice case study survey design. Data were collected through key informant interviews, a questionnaire survey and observations. The distribution of safety and security elements across the studied 43 street spaces reflect the existence of justices and injustices concurrently. Users’ theoretical perception of the meaning of street safety differs significantly from their actual experiences. The study recommends that the design and management of streets be informed by users’ vision of street safety and security and innovative project financing strategies by local municipalities to ensure spatial justice on street spaces.

Domestic Space As a Survival Strategy for Low-income Women

Low-income government provided housing has been continually transformed by its beneficiaries, especially women. The transformations are a major sign that there is discontentment about the houses since low-income households are excluded from the design process of these houses. By transforming the houses, the low-income households are trying to fit their houses or environments to their ways of living. This paper intends to review the housing transformations at the Masese Women’s Self-Help Housing Project at Masese, Jinja, in Uganda to understand how women practice space. Studying the spatial alterations can help guide architects towards finding inclusive housing design approaches that can benefit the low-income households and prevent governments and donors from spending finances on futile housing prototypes that get eventually abandoned. The paper adopts a qualitative methodology comprising of precedent studies at Masese, and a literature review to analyse the various housing transformations in an attempt to address the problem of inadequate housing for low-income households.

Editorial

The discourse on inclusion and exclusion in contemporary cities goes beyond the mere physical manifestation of the various dimensions of inclusivity and exclusivity. While it is acknowledged that this discourse has been raging for years in the history of cities, its conceptual and physical manifestation has also been changing in line with societal dynamics. It is an undeniable fact that forces at work in contemporary cities are driven by power, race and class (among other factors) which in turn provide a platform for calculated and coordinated practices that contribute towards inclusion and exclusion. There is therefore need to consistently and progressively interrogate this phenomenon in order to create a dialogue that is responsive to contemporary cities in the 21st century. While conceptual, theoretical and epistemological frameworks might not provide instant solutions to challenges under consideration, their articulation of contemporary issues provide deeper insight and understanding which contributes towards achieving sustainable solutions. Would it be fair to interrogate the manifestation of inclusionary and exclusionary practices in contemporary cities without taking a nip from the past? The reality of the matter is that there are underlying perculiarities which provide continuous meanings – thereby offering comparative gazes for diagnosis, understanding, elaboration and which allow for subverting inclusionary tendencies, attitudes and practices. Therefore, those historical “moments” of action can be instrumentalised into plans of action for the new agenda in the creation of inclusive cities. However, contemporary cities are made up of a multiplicity of activities – therefore, it is this diversity which equally impact on inclusivity and exclusivity.

A Comparative Analysis of Environmental Justice Between Urban Neighbourhoods

Inequality and spatial disparities in the provision of amenities and services is a serious problem that often expressed itself in the realms of social and environmental justice. This study investigated the level of environmental justice or otherwise in the provision of amenities and services in selected Northern and Southern neighbourhoods of Minna. Qualitative and quantitative data were acquired through physical surveys and direct observations of amenities and facilities to aid identification of salient features while a checklist was used to guide the research and converting field data to a digital tool using the Open Data Kit (ODK) tool. With purposive sampling technique, descriptive statistic, spatial data analysis and the Gini coefficient; it was shown that injustice in the provision of environmental amenities is both a cause and effect of distributive and procedural inequities across space. Although there is a moderate level of environmental justice (GC=0.33) on the aggregate in the study area, this is not even across sampled amenities, as there is a low level of equality in the provision of schools (GC=0.51). However, the provision of facilities like water boreholes (GC=0.37) and waste dumpsites (GC=0.28) performed fairly with moderate environmental justice; it is, worrisome to note that access roads recorded a high level of inequality (GC=0.19) – particularly as Bosso town with 40% of the residents of the metropolis only has 20% of access roads, while, Tudun Wada South is having 22% of the road for just 7% of the population. The study, therefore, recommended equitable construction of more access roads across the neighbourhoods; imbibing equity and justice in the provision of more water boreholes and waste dumpsites to help institute more sustainable development and management in Minna and similar cities.

Challenges and Survival Strategies of Vulnerable Groups Under covid-19 Induced Lockdown: The Case of Durban Waste Pickers

Despite the notion that waste pickers are amongst the economically excluded groups in urban South Africa, little is known about their lockdown experience. This study explores the survival strategies of waste pickers in Durban during the COVID-19 induced level 5 lockdown. It employs a case study to illuminate the challenges and various survival strategies adopted by the waste pickers in response to harsh living conditions imposed by the lockdown measures. Two empirical questions are asked in this study- what are the challenges faced by the waste pickers? and what were the surviving strategies employed by waste pickers? Data for this study were collected using semi-structured interviews with pickers. Using a convenience sampling technique, n=15 waste pickers from the South Beach area were interviewed. The study revealed that the pickers lost income and their assets. As a means of survival, the pickers resorted to drugs, crime, and moved to shelters.

Assessing the Inclusiveness of Housing Conditions in Ogbomoso Township, Nigeria

It is against the background of deficit in housing stock in Nigeria major cities and its associated exclusion in that this study evaluates housing condition in Ogbomoso Township. This is with a view to proffering recommendations that will aid the achievement of sustainable and inclusive housing in the town, and other ones with similar socioeconomic characteristics. Assessed were the socioeconomic characteristics of residents in the study area, characteristics and condition of housing units and impact of the identified condition on residents. The study utilized a multistage sampling approach to sample 150 buildings, and questionnaire administered to an adult resident in each of the sampled building. Data obtained were summarized using tables and percentages while analysis of variance was used to evaluate variation in the condition of housing units across political wards in the study area. The study discovered that 50.7% of the residents are male, and 52.7% are youths. Also, 50.7% of the respondents are single as about 29.3% are students, and 46% of the residents earn below N18, 000 monthly. About 44.7% of the residents have been living in their residences for less than 5 years, 26.7% have used 6-10 years in their residence while about 8% have used 16-20 years in their residences. Thus suggesting frequent change of residences by residents to adjust and readjust to various exclusion tendencies. The predominant housing type in the study area is flat (58.7%), and 69.3% of the housing units were constructed between 1 and 3 years. Meanwhile, 78.7% of the housing units have good roof, 12.0% are leaking and 9.3% are sagging. 48.7% of the housing units were perceived to be substandard, 45.8% were standard building while 5.5% were dilapidated. With F=13.050, p=0.000; there is variation in the condition of housing units across political ward in the town. Urban renewal, granting of loans for housing renovations as well as subsidizing of building materials were therefore recommended. The study concluded that sustainable and inclusive housing can only be achieved with conscious policy and planning intervention.

Integration of the Demographic Dividend into Government Plans: A Case of the Kwazulu-Natal Province of South Africa

The Population reference Bureau policy brief, (Gribble and Bremmer, 2012):1) described the demographic dividend as “…the accelerated economic growth that may result from a decline in a country’s mortality and fertility and the subsequent change in the age structure of the population. With fewer births each year, a country’s young dependent population grows smaller in relation to the working-age population. With fewer people to support, a country has a window of opportunity for rapid economic growth if the right social and economic policies developed and investments made”. Several South Africa based studies have explored age structure and the prospects of a demographic dividend. These studies range from those that explore timing of the dividend to those that investigate readiness to harness the dividend. Three aspects of the demographic dividend are investigated by this research. Firstly, the paper will explore the age structure of KwaZulu-Natal population to ascertain the timing of the age-structure (youth bulge) that is a pre-requisite for the dividend. Secondly, demographic, health and education characteristics that are knows to affect the achievement of the dividend will be examined. Lastly, the extent of integration of the demographic dividend into Integrated Development Plans (IDPs) in the province will be explored.

Socio-Environmental Effects of Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation Depot, Apata, Ibadan on the Adjoining Neighbourhoods

Nigeria, one of the major crude oil producing countries in the world, transports petroleum products through pipelines to several oil depots located across the country from where it is trucked to end users. Activities within these depots are known to have impact on their immediate environment due to the nature of operations and the externalities generated. This paper therefore examined the socio-environmental effects of the Nigerian National Petroleum Depot, Apata, Ibadan on its immediate neighbourhood. A case study approach utilising primary and secondary data collection was adopted in which 205 residential buildings and respondents were proportionally selected for sampling from four neighbourhoods within 500 metres radius of the facility. An environmental audit including ground water samples were randomly collected for testing and analysis from Adebisi stream and residential hand-dug wells. Findings revealed local access road incapacitation emanating from indiscriminate parking of fuel tankers and spiralling into constant traffic congestion on major roads. Desludging of fuel storage tanks (79.5%) resulting into regular effluent discharge into the Adebisi stream and fume emission (62.6%), were attested to by residents. Water quality analysis revealed a high concentration of lead (pb.0.06mg/l) above the maximum permissible limit of (0.01mg/l) for potable water. Other detected metals, Cadmium (0.003mg/l), Copper (0.006mg/l) and Zinc (3.0 mg/l) were all within the appropriate recommended limits. The study recommended a periodic environmental audit and regular dialogue with stakeholders of the host communities for socio-environmental sustainability.

Comparative Analysis of Ecological Footprint of Urban and Rural Households in Minna Emirate of Niger State, Nigeria

Nigeria is an unsustainable country due to an ecological deficit arising from the excessive utilization of natural resources. Resources are consumed more than their bio-capacity. Lifestyle and variation in the needs of households have exerted demands on the natural resources and eventually on the global environment. This research therefore aimed at estimating the Ecological Footprints of the average individual in a household in the urban and rural areas of the Minna region in Nigeria. It identifies the types of resource consumption; the impact of consumption on the EF and compares the EF of both about the level of sustainability. Data were collected employing primary and secondary sources for the study. A total of 400 households was selected for the study. Questionnaire administration was employed to collect the data and random sampling was employed. The data were analyzed through explanatory and inferential statistics. The result of the study shows that the EF of Minna and Maikunkele were 1.10 and 0.892 gha. Households require an average of 0.91 and 0.74 planets to sustain their living standard and generate 6.2 and 4.3 tonnes of CO2 annually. 9 and 6 factors influence EF. It is recommended that the lifestyle of the household in the Minna region has to be modified to reduce pressure on environmental resources and the emission of GHG for sustainable development.