1,720,967 research outputs found
The ANCHOR Framework: A Holistic Approach to Transdisciplinary and Regenerative Built Environment Education
Get PDFThis paper introduces the ANCHOR Framework, a transdisciplinary pedagogical model for Built Environment (BE) education, developed over a decade of iterative reflective practice (2020-2025). It addresses how conventional BE education, constrained by rigid, discipline-specific paradigms, leaves BE graduates ill- equipped for contemporary complex and systemic regenerative challenges. Utilising Schön’s reflective practices, the framework integrates ontological reframing (e.g., "waste" to "discards"), Lean practices, and systems thinking to cultivate paradigm agility. Data from practioner-led reflective cycles, student artefacts, and institutional feedback demonstrate enhanced student performance and disciplinary maturity. This pedagogy promotes cross-skilling, collaborative and transdisciplinary inquiry, and increase in student motivation for advanced, discipline-adjacent topics like circular economy or regenerative design. The ANCHOR Framework aims to prepare Built Environment graduates to move from siloed disciplinary thinking to actively navigating 'wicked problems' in interdisciplinary teams within transdisciplinary learning environments. This outcome of ANHOR aims to bridging the academic-industry gap by fostering collective adaptive reasoning and leadership for sustainable transformations. This practitioner-led reflection also highlights the need for broader applicability testing and further development. 
Grafting serious play : Creating a learning landscape as an educational resource junction for CBD schools in Johannesburg
Get PDFMini Dissertation (MArch (Prof))--University of Pretoria,2022.One of the biggest factors contributing to the socio-economic disproportion in South Africa is unequal access to educational resources in respective
primary and secondary schools. The provisional discourse of educational resources clearly manifests within the spatial mitigation of schools in
Johannesburg’s Central Business District (CBD). The project addresses the disparity in educational resource provision by creating a new learning
landscape typology that provides educational resources to CBD schools and their school children. The conceptual application of “grafting” frames the
project methodology for a new learning landscape typology. The analysis of Johannesburg school typologies, through sketches, established contextually
appropriate spatial guidelines for the provision of educational resources. Programmatic principles were acquired through secondary data analysis of
relevant programmes and initiatives appertaining to the Johannesburg City Library (JCL). Despite the relevance of these programmes and initiatives in the
JCL, which are directed at educational resource provision for schoolchildren, the influential potential on the educational resource disproportion remains
underdeveloped. A new learning landscape typology will express isolated programmatic initiatives within the JCL by creating engaging spaces that
equalise the educational discourse in Johannesburg.ArchitectureMArch (Prof)Unrestricte
Understanding urban social capital landscapes as an informant of digital twin use-cases in South Africa
Get PDFMini Dissertation (MArch (Prof))--University of Pretoria, 2023.In the coming decades, Sub-Saharan Africa’s urban growth is expected to be the highest globally (Dodman, D et al. 2017). These small to medium sized cities in Africa will experience rapid growth, more so than in urban centres, making it difficult to meet the requirements of infrastructure and services that can reduce urban risks (Dodman, D et al. 2017). These risks can happen across a spectrum, of varying scale, from everyday small events such as infectious diseases to larger less frequent risks such as earthquakes and storms, constant poverty, climate change and the problems that urban growth brings upon (Dodman, D et al 2017). Urban populations face genuine risks to their health, safety, and overall well-being due to the various challenges they encounter. In order to combat urban risk, urban resilience is required, because urban resilience is the adaptive capacity of a city or urban system to recover from shocks and various stressors such as urban risks (Harrison et al 2014). Urban resilience is not limited to technical and social aspects. Instead, social capital provides the flexibility that is able to support urban resilience and recovery effectively from those risks (Dobson (2017).Understanding the social capital landscape of an urban community offers a valuable means of comprehending the interdependencies and self-sufficiency of that community. This could lead to identifying appropriate and contextual urban strategies to enhance community well-being.
Emerging digital technologies could be effective tools to facilitate urban strategies for communities. One such technology is digital twins for cities. Digital twins for cities is the digitization of a city's physical elements, systems, and operations to observe and analyse its historical and current performance and actions (Davey et al 2023). These data driven responsive feedback tools can assist in bridging the gap between implementation and reality. However, most digital twins focus on the physical and technical (technology centric view) dimensions of the city (Ravid & Gutman 2022) such as the technical functionality of its infrastructure, data modelling, planning and management, as well as enhancing those related services (Nochta et al 2020). Nevertheless, this approach does not necessarily take into consideration what people do on the ground, how people navigate their built environment. As such, this approach may miss out on the social capital needs of urban communities and hinder the effectiveness of digital twins technologies in servicing real needs of people.
This paper explores how the understanding of social capital could inform relevant digital twins use-cases in South Africa. As such, by analysing the social aspects of a specific urban area, city makers can identify and leverage the opportunities, strengths, and needs of communities to articulate how digital technologies could be deployed to improve the effectiveness of urban interventions and help identify social issues in the city. This paper focuses on a middle-income case study of Hatfield, City of Tshwane, South Africa. Using a mixed-methods approach, this paper maps social capital metrics within a community, and analyses the mapping through a theoretical framework of grounded theory. This mapped information forms the data that can be used to build a viable digital twins city that takes into consideration the social aspect of communities.ArchitectureMArch (Prof)UnrestrictedFaculty of Engineering, Built Environment and Information TechnologySDG-03:Good heatlh and well-beingSDG-11:Sustainable cities and communitie
Collective emergence: An architecture for cultivating entrepreneurial growth in the isolated community of Khalambazo.
Get PDFMini dissertation (MArch (Prof))--University of Pretoria, 2021.Although national and local spatial development frameworks and approaches are satisfactory in their aspirations, very few practices translate down at street levels. This is often more severe within the less affluent urban settings, like Mamelodi. For example, Khalambazo neighborhood in Mamelodi, is severely stunted in its ability to meaningfully contribute to the local cultural-economic futures because it is structurally and spatially limited.
The historic context and fragmented urban relationships do not allow for cultural-economic emergence to spontaneously take place. As an antidote, communal/collective entrepreneurship is often seen as a catalyst which generates livelihood, liveliness and longevity within communities. However, without anchoring the identity of the place, livelihood and liveliness cannot be sustained.
As a means of combating this condition of urban sterility, this dissertation proposes the design of a new communal market & recycling facility within Khalambazo. Through the celebration of the existing and essential characteristics of the market typology coupled with principles of placemaking, this new communal facility offers perspective as to what is possible while working within the lines of the NDA and will act as a precedent for further interventions in similar contexts.ArchitectureMArch (Prof)Unrestricte
City Circular
No full textMini Dissertation (MArch)--University of Pretoria, 2021.The current spatial models and construction practices of architecture and city-making have a violent appetite. Linear resource consumption patterns, coupled with a rapidly increasing urban population, has pushed the planet to its ecological boundary. Although spatial designers have made massive leaps in the performance and energy efficiency of the interventions they design and construct, being “less bad” on the environment is simply not good enough. We need a radical change in the way we design and construct our cities to change the current trajectory of the urban environment. We need a new spatial model, a model that is built on regenerative principles to counteract the historical linear model of consumption and waste.
This dissertation investigates circular economics as a possible answer to the linear model of resource consumption. With the elimination of waste and the closing of resource loops at the core of circular thinking, circularity within design manifests as a “whole-system-thinking” response, a response that has been compared to that of a human metabolism. In the spatial design discourse, Urban Metabolism has been very helpful to understand and unpack the interplay between various resource flows and systems within the urban environment. Using circularity and urban metabolic thinking, we can identify systems and resource flows that can be closed through a design response. Closed-looped resources systems aid in the regeneration of our natural environment and lead to resilience with the urban community.
Mamelodi, a community plagued with vulnerability due to past injustices and current spatial isolation from economic opportunity, requires intervention to break the cycle of poverty and aid in developing cultural economic resilience. This dissertation, through the lens of circularity and urban metabolic thinking, identifies untapped resources within the community of Mamelodi that can lead to cultural-economic resilience. The programme, a closed-loop resource production facility, along with complimentary programmes of education and skills development facility, facilitates upward mobility within the community to aid in breaking the cycle of poverty. To counteract the linear model of consumption within South African construction practices, this dissertation adopts a prefabricated mass timber construction methodology. In combination with the carbon sequestering properties of mass timber, this dissertation utilizes low embodied carbon construction methods, such as locally manufactured adobe brick, to develop a regenerative spatial model.ArchitectureMArch (Prof)Unrestricte
Productive urban landscapes: the relationship between urban agriculture and property values in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
Get PDFDoctor of PhilosophyEnvironmental Design and PlanningHuston GibsonLee R. SkabelundUrban agriculture and urban food-systems are locally productive landscapes and their supporting programs and networks. Urban agriculture is now valued and actively promoted by many urban communities. Having numerous community benefits, UA is often considered to have desirable neighborhood amenities and is assumed to have effects on nearby property prices. However, very little is known about the primary or secondary economic contribution of these productive landscapes to urban environments, particularly in regards to how urban agriculture relates to property values in a neighborhood. Because urban agriculture sites are often overpowered by increasing exchange-values of surrounding properties, the original values (economic and non-economic) to the neighborhood or community may be lost as urban agricultural sites are transformed by “higher return” development schemes. Since urban agriculture can disappear or fail without effective financing and adequate policy and planning support, it is imperative to the longevity of such programs to understand how important land-use and economic variables interrelate. This study examines the spatial-temporal magnitude and economic relationship between urban agriculture parcels and property values. The study uses the hedonic method employing the Spatial-Durbin modeling approach. Findings expand the theoretical and policy discourse on how investment of public resources aids neighborhood development through low exchange-value programs such as urban agriculture. In understanding the advantages of local food systems to urban form, context-specific neighborhood strategies developed in tandem with targeted community development and comprehensive plans can improve urban revitalization and (re)development within a larger resilient city planning framework. The key findings from the study illustrate that there is great value in understanding the most appropriate design approach and features of urban agriculture for different neighborhoods and market groups. Important design considerations include scale, design aesthetic, abundance and quality of urban agriculture sites within different market groups and neighborhoods
Urban transportation modes : measuring self-reliance in Hatfield
Get PDFMini Dissertation (MArch (Prof))--University of Pretoria, 2023.This research paper delves into the pressing issue of transportation in Hatfield, with a primary focus on assessing the degree of self-reliance across different transportation modes. With Pretoria's population projected to grow by 45% (CSIR, 2023), it is imperative to optimize and diversify the existing transportation system to accommodate the increasing demand for mobility driven by population growth.
The study concentrates on the Hatfield precinct, where three primary transport modes exist: private, public, and active transportation. The research methodology consists of two key steps: an extensive literature review and meticulous mapping techniques using Geographic Information System (GIS) to visualize and analyse the collected data and metrics. The principal objective of the study is to develop a comprehensive metrics table to gauge the level of self-reliance among commuters in Hatfield.
Through an in-depth literature review, it has been established that Hatfield is categorized as a low-walkable neighbourhood, indicating limited street connectivity and insufficient pedestrian and bike facilities, such as sidewalks, bike lanes, and intersection signage (Habitat Landscape Architects, 2020). Findings from the study reveal motor vehicles in accessing most locations within Hatfield, underscoring the dominance of private transportation even in the central core. However, certain areas, particularly around the University of Pretoria, prioritize active transportation, fostering a culture of self-reliant commuting. Notably, public transport emerges as the most self-reliant mode, with an average of 16/24 (66.7%), followed by active transportation at 15.7/24 (65.4%), and private transportation at the lowest self-reliance with an average of 11.5/24 (47.9%).
In conclusion, this study emphasizes the significance of critical factors such as infrastructure availability, safety, attractiveness, and sustainability. By acknowledging these insights, stakeholders can explore alternative transportation solutions, enhance public transportation systems, invest in pedestrian and cycling infrastructure, and promote sustainable modes of transportation. By addressing these aspects, a more self-reliant transportation culture can be nurtured, resulting in positive impacts on the environment, health, and safety of commuters in Hatfield. The findings of this research offer valuable guidance for future urban planning and policy-making aimed at fostering a well-integrated, efficient, and sustainable transportation network in the Hatfield area.ArchitectureMArch (Prof)UnrestrictedFaculty of Engineering, Built Environment and Information TechnologySDG-03:Good heatlh and well-beingSDG-10:Reduces inequalitiesSDG-11:Sustainable cities and communitie
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
Get PDFThe present study examines one of the fundamental aspects of author co-citation analysis (ACA) - the way co-citation
counts are defined. Co-citation counting provides the data on which all subsequent statistical analyses and mappings
are based, and we compare ACA results based on two different types of co-citation counting - the traditional type that
only counts the first one among a cited work's authors on the one hand and a non-traditional type that takes into
account the first 5 authors of a cited work on the other hand. Results indicate that the picture produced through this non-traditional author co-citation counting contains more coherent author groups and is therefore considerably clearer. However, this picture represents fewer specialties in the research field being studied than that produced through the traditional first-author co-citation counting when the same number of top-ranked authors is selected and analyzed. Reasons for these effects are discussed
How does the mapping of socio-economic security support digital twin readiness?
Get PDFMini Dissertation (MArch (Prof))--University of Pretoria, 2023.Smart city development and data-driven urban management consider urban technologies to revolutionise how cities are managed, constructed and developed. This research study considers one such urban technology, namely utilising digital twins in cities. Digital twin city (DTC) technology is investigated to identify the gap in soft infrastructure data inclusion in DTC development. Soft infrastructure data considers the social and economic systems of a city, which leads to the identification of socio-economic security (SES) as the metric of investigation. The research study investigates how GIS mapping of the SES system in the specific context of Hatfield informs a soft infrastructure understanding that contributes to DTC readiness. This research study collected desk-researched secondary data and field-researched primary data in GIS using ArcGIS PRO and the Esri Online Platform using ArcGIS software. To form conclusions, grounded theory qualitative analysis and descriptive statistics analysis of the spatial GIS data schema data sets were performed. Understanding Hatfield’s soft infrastructure found that citizen-centric social engagement with the SES systems of Hatfield and the integration of these systems in a cohesive manner create a thriving SES system. This contributed to the identification of the integration requirement of DTC development processes in its data acquisition and application processes. The integration of processes and systems is necessary to incorporate the soft infrastructure of Hatfield into relevant DTC readiness. Understanding the interrelationship between the citizen and its environment is where the success of a DTC lies and should form the focus of further research.ArchitectureMArch (Prof)UnrestrictedFaculty of Engineering, Built Environment and Information TechnologySDG-11:Sustainable cities and communitie
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