Browsing by Author "Mthethwa, Menziwokuhle Ndumiso."
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Item The impact of perceptions on built form : a proposed transport interchange for Durban.(2014) Olla, Ahmed.; Mthethwa, Menziwokuhle Ndumiso.The evolution of public transport in South Africa has seen the rise and fall of the train and bus and the domination of the car and minibus taxis. In an urban environment which is ever increasing in population due the effects of urbanization the taxi industry has become the most serviced mode of public transport in South Africa due to its ability to move people efficiently. The effects of this are evident by the chaos on the roads and in social environments where the demand of the minibus taxis have negatively impacted the very urban environment that they service. This has in turn seen the decline of many other modes of public transport and their facilities due to the lack of use and ability to cater for the growing demand and needs of the public. These public transport facilities and systems are now perceived negatively by large populations that have the choice of other means of mobility. The need for facilities that provide cohesion of all modes of public transport is required to change the way people feel about public transport and to offer the freedom of using the various modes interchangeably. This dissertation considers an appropriate response through architectural design to positively change the perceptions of the public. Through extrapolating the impacts that perceptions have on the built form, the creation of transport facilities that can positively enhance perceptions can be established. While architectural theories on perception and phenomenology provide a method of dealing with the sensory and cognitive aspects of design, active engagement with the users of public transport provide valuable information informing the research and design outcomes. In order to successfully incorporate the interpretations of perceptions qualitative research had been conducted in cohesion with a review of literature and an analysis of case studies and precedents. Through the research it has been demonstrated that through meaningful architecture the perceptions of people can be changed to positively gain a working transport system with facilities that incorporate all types of mobility. The outcomes of this dissertation also provide a set of recommendations, principles and understanding of the criteria necessary to inform the design of a transport interchange in an urban South African context.Item Urban agriculture in Kwamsane, KwaZulu-Natal community and home gardens as an option for food security and poverty reduction.(2012) Mthethwa, Menziwokuhle Ndumiso.; May, Julian Douglas.; Imrie, John.Urban agriculture is gaining more attention because of the current global trends such as urbanization and global economic and food crisis. The numbers of people who practice urban agriculture are estimated to 800 million. Based on this scale and other claims made about urban agriculture, it is argued that urban agriculture must be integrated to urban policy and planning. The premise of this dissertation was to understand motivations and determinants of urban agriculture, and how these can inform policy. The intention of the dissertation was to understand which urban residents in KwaMsane Township of uMkhanyakude district at KwaZulu-Natal province cultivated gardens and why. This was critical considering that generally urban areas are better than rural areas in terms of employment opportunities, infrastructure, and provision of basic services. In pursuit of this objective, the dissertation assessed KwaMsane Township households cultivating gardens in terms of assets, resources, and livelihood strategies with an aim of identifying motivations and determinant factors. The central idea of the dissertation from the onset was to validate the claim that since there is diversity in terms of household composition among those cultivating gardens there are different reasons for engaging with the activity. Using qualitative with borrowed participatory action tools, and quantitative (STATA 11) methods guided by the sustainable livelihood approach, the findings showed that only 9.7% of KwaMsane Township residents cultivated gardens. Of the households 92% were cultivating gardens and consuming their produce because of food demand due to large household size and children, their awareness about nutritional content of fresh vegetables from the soil, their agricultural background of cultivating gardens for subsistence purposes, high food prices from the market, and their lack of necessary skills to create and sell in the local market. The binary logistic regression showed that the determinants for households to cultivate gardens at KwaMsane Township were the presence of children, agricultural assets, governmental grants, and pensioners in a household. The two common factors between the above mentioned determinants were income and time availability which incentivized the practice. The dissertation also showed that the majority of gardeners from KwaMsane Township were in their productive ages (in this case between 29 and 61 years of age), females were more predominant in the activity with few males, and most of the gardeners were educated, and employed. However, gender, education, and employment had little relationship with cultivation of gardens. On average gardeners were older than non-gardeners. It was also shown that gardeners consisted of different income groups but mostly middle income group. The dissertation indicated that the use of urban agriculture by KwaMsane Township gardeners was informed by their motivations which contributed to food security, food sovereignty, and poverty alleviation.