The Advent of Upgrading Schemes in Urbanizing Traditional Settlements of Botswana: Case of Kanye Village (original) (raw)
Related papers
Managing Development of a Rapidly Growing African City: a Case of Gaborone, Botswana
Geoadria, 2006
Urbani razvoj tijekom posljednja četiri desetljeća u potpunosti je promijenio urbani izgled Gaboronea. Njegov izvorni savanski krajobraz i zeleni karakter okolice promijenili su se zbog kumulativnog utjecaja brojnih činitelja uključenih u stvaranje sadašnjega modernog naselja, od malog sela do glavnoga grada Bocvane. Koncept "Vrtnoga grada" počeo se provoditi neposredno nakon što je zemlja stekla neovisnost od Britanaca 1966. godine. Izgrađivano na ostavštini "Vrtnoga grada", pretpostavljalo se da će se "novo naselje" nastaviti oblikovati i postati prepoznatljiva urbana oaza. Međutim, to nije bio slučaj te je Gaborone postao jedan od najbrže rastući urbanih laboratorija u supsaharskoj Africi, prikazujući intenzivnu difuziju i usvajanje uvezenih urbanih modela (WARD, 1999). Izniman rast stanovništva, od svega 7000 stanovnika 1966., do gotovo 200 000 godine 2001. te nekontrolirano urbano širenje bili su neizbježni. To povećanje rezultat je ruralno-urbane migracije, novog upravnog sustava i ekonomskog položaja glavnog grada Bocvane, kao i intenzivne urbanizacije, industrijalizacije i prometnog razvoja temeljenog na uporabi osobnih automobila. Čak je i u posljednjem generalnom urbanističkom planu (GOB, 2001) manje pozornosti posvećeno ulozi zelenih sustava i površina te njihovu utjecaju na brojne ekološke i društvene vrijednosti. Danas se Gaborone suočava s izazovima i problemima tipičnim za megagradove, poput degradacije okoliša i nekontroliranog urbanog širenja. Predmet ovog članka je znanstveni projekt DIMSUD čiji je cilj prepoznati načine postizanja održivog urbanog razvoja. Projekt je započeo analizom izazova i nastavio sa zadatcima koji stoje pred urbanim planiranjem kao i mogućnostima postizanja održivog urbanog razvoja. Ključne riječi: održivi razvoj, nekontrolirano urbano širenje, megagradovi, Vrtni grad, kotla, urbano planiranje, urbani razvoj, uporaba prostora Urban development in the last four decades has brought a complete change to the urban image of Gaborone. Its original savannah landscape and surrounding green complexion has changed by cumulative impacts of numerous factors involved in creation of a contemporary settlement, from a small village to the capital city of Botswana. The concept of a "garden city" was introduced immediately after the country gained its independence from the British in 1966. Building on the legacy of "garden city", it was assumed that the "new town" will continue to shape and gain recognition as an urban oasis. However, this was not the case and Gaborone became the fastest growing urban laboratory in Sub-Saharan Africa, portraying intensive diffusion and adoption of imported urban models (WARD, 1999). The spectacular population increase from only 7,000 people in 1966 to almost 200,000 in 2001, and urban sprawling were inevitable. This enlargement was fuelled by ruralurban migration owing to the administrative and economic status of Botswana's new capital, as well as, due to intensive urbanization, industrialization and transportation based on individual car use. Even in the latest city development plan (GoB, 2001) less attention has been paid to the role of green networks and areas, and their contribution to many ecological and societal values. Today, Gaborone is facing the challenge of the typical problems of mega-cities, such as environmental degradation, urban sprawl. The research project DIMSUD is dedicated to identify ways toward sustainable urban development, starting with an analysis of challenges, and continuing with the tasks for urban planning and opportunities for sustainable urban development.
Debating the Informal Sector and Urban Planning in Botswana
Advances in Electronic Government, Digital Divide, and Regional Development, 2019
This chapter reflects on the relationship existing between the state and the informal sector in Botswana. Despite embracing global calls for inclusive human settlements, the relationship between the state and the informal sector in Botswana equivocates between hostility and tacit recognition. This ambiguity is explained in terms of two overlapping stances, namely, the elitist and exclusionist natures of the country's settlement planning legislation. Botswana's settlement planning legislation plays a significant role in the creation of the informal sector, yet the existence of this same sector would not be openly embraced. Relying on the concept of human rights and justice implied in calls such as “just cities,” “right to the city,” and “sustainable livelihoods,” this chapter makes a case for coproduction of interventions with a view to establishing inclusive and sustainable human settlements that recognize the unavoidable nature of the informal sector.
Rapid urbanisation and housing transformations in Tlokweng , Botswana Speakers
2014
This paper seeks to explore resilience among communities threatened by rapid urbanisation. While previous studies have identified housing transformation through construction of outbuildings and house extensions as a popular survival strategy among the urban poor, this paper focuses on the commoditisation and transformation of traditional homesteads into rental accommodation in the peri-urban village of Tlokweng. It is based on qualitative data collected largely through in-depth interviews with landlords and tenants residing in traditional compounds within the settlement. Interviewees’ responses indicate that housing transformations in Tlokweng have primarily been driven by the village’s proximity to the city of Gaborone, land and housing shortages in the city and diminishing opportunities for subsistence livelihoods within the village. It concludes by noting the role played by the transformation in alleviating shortages for rental housing, providing alternative sources of income and...
International Journal of Sustainable Built Environment, 2013
Q5 Africa has experienced unprecedented rates of urban growth, at above 3% annually. This growth was accompanied not only by agglomeration economies and spread effects but negative externalities that impinge on the inhabitants and the natural resource base in the rural-urban transition zone. Already, cities occupy large geographical areas that are continually expanding. Botswana's population is small with a recent urbanization history. However, it has recorded one of the highest urbanization levels (61%) and annual urban growth rates (2.5%). Unlike in most developed countries, the dynamics of peri-urbanization in Gaborone reflect a strong interplay of market and institutional factors. Actual population growth and demand for space has always defied projected forecasts. The country presents unique prospects for investigating patterns and processes that characterize urban growth and their intersecting environmental and policy implications for sustainable urbanization. The study utilizes a developmental approach based on spatial data to describe, interpret and analyse patterns and processes that determined the growth of Gaborone. It is evident that certain developments within the urban shadow of the city have been unregulated. In spite of the apparent ecological footprints resultant from the geographical manifestation of urban growth, legislative mitigation measures have rarely been implemented to promote sustainable urbanization.
Our research focuses on how cities balance both macro/micro-economic factors and their spatial structure according to cultural factors: the underlying form of residential/public areas and landscapes. It discusses the relation between new settlement, activity and space and it takes into account the way different cultures are and how their activities require diverse demands on movement, new settlement of formality, gradients and co-presence. Finally we have to determine both the way how patterns of infrastructure/space integration influence the location of different settlements, classes and social groups in the city and how is possible to solve the pathology of housing and public realm estates. The spatial form needs to be understood as a contributing factor in forming the patterns of sustainable urban metabolism, integration or segregation in the city. The starting point of this work comes out from the necessity of defining the contemporary city within its territory, through a clarification of a new scale of intervention. The framework of our research coincides with the formal and structural dimensioning of the city territory. The need for a cultural "jump" is necessary in order to identify a range of elements and relations in the urban context, rather then simply upgrade the instruments of intervention and investigation. This means a better definition of the structural pattern and spine of this reality, so as to show the discontinuity occurring in the urban development and in the cultural awareness of such phenomena.
Metropolitan management methodologies confronting new challenges: shaping rapid growth in a context of informality, scarcity and misgovernment. Metropolitan architecture methodologies facing the new urban paradigm of the non optimal city. The term post-optimal city is used to recall a post-functionalist dimension of the unfolding (new) size, scale and technology in the city. Theme: the research involves the transformation of the settlements, which are at the fringed edge of the metropolis (Dar es Salaam in this case), constantly changing, due to the fact that a huge number of migrants come there from the countryside, and characterized by a variable degree of informality. The area project falls within a new typology of formal-informal interface that we want develop as a gradient of formality. We present a study of a way to regulate the growth: an evolution in scale. We applied the Reticular Matrix Model System that is a development model rather than a formal model. It’s a study of a design method that allows us to describe and design urban phenomena related to the change of scale, which determines the mutation of types of morphologies of urban spaces and landscapes.
GeoJournal, 2017
This case study investigates peri-urban land-use conflicts and changes, in a typical African setting, for a village located on the outskirts of the capital city of Gaborone-Botswana, in order to explore policy implications for sustainable coreregion development. The year 1982 provided the baseline situation that was compared with other dates, namely: 1996; 2006 and 2012 in order to analyze land-use conflicts, competition, and succession. The study tracked the landuse changes using: Geographic Information System (GIS), with 1:50 000 air photos taken in 1982; Landsat images from 1996 and 2006 as well as 2012 Google images of medium resolution. The investigation also relied on a social survey, historical landscape reconstruction approaches, field interviews and direct observations. An analysis of 1982 aerial photographs revealed that Gabane Village had experienced little urban influence from the city of Gaborone at that time. Subsequently, stakeholders with different socioeconomic demand emerged. This caused extensive landuse changes over the study period. The residents of Gabane nonetheless employed diverse adaptive strategies to sustain their livelihoods. An analysis of the proposed 2001-2025 Development Plan for Gabane Village, identifies possible future land-use changes and conflicts and proposes tentative policy solutions for the emerging sustainable development challenges.
Letlhakane, Botswana: Informality in Transition
2014
Rapid urban growth in sub-Saharan Africa is generally caused by poverty and disaster. The resulting shantytowns, overcrowding, and lack of infrastructure have been widely recorded. But what happens if a remote rural village – largely untouched by colonialism – is abruptly subjected to the pressures of globalisation and prosperity? Letlhakane is the fastest growing town in Botswana, due to diamond mining. This paper focuses on Letlhakane, and aims to determine how rapid growth, material prosperity and the influx of strangers has been influencing the relationship between 1) settlement form, 2) culture and 3) the customary spatial patterns. The Tswana (the dominant indigenous population) have an uninterrupted history of settlement building in southern Africa, stretching back nearly 600 years, which produced agro-towns (reportedly as big as contemporaneous Cape Town) by the early 19th century. Letlhakane offers a rare opportunity to track the unfolding of an indigenous settlement model,...
African studies, 2021
Scholars have tended to overemphasise the influence of the colonisers. This precludes an analysis of the ability of indigenous populations to resist, reimagine and remake colonial visions of urban life. However, Tom Goodfellow and Stefan Lindemann (2013) have observed a widespread 'resurgence' of traditional authorities in Africa since the 1990smeaning indigenous political structures have recently experienced a revival (Englebert 2002; Foucher & Smith 2011; Ubink 2008a). Chimhowu (2019, 898) writes, 'Typical reform countries like Ghana,
Developing an informal settlement upgrading protocol in Zimbabwe–the Epworth story
Environment and …, 2012
This paper describes how a settlement profile, mapping and enumeration of Magada, an informal settlement in the town of Epworth just outside Harare, provided the basis for an upgrading programme. This was both in terms of the needed information and in terms of agreement between the residents and their community organizations and local and national government. The local government's agreement to support in situ upgrading was the first of its kind in Zimbabwe and it is the first settlement plan to include meaningful participation by residents in articulating their own development priorities and in influencing the design. The work to map and number each plot was undertaken by teams that included residents, supported by members of the Zimbabwe Homeless People's Federation and its support NGO Dialogue on Shelter Trust, along with planning students. This was supported by high resolution satellite images and a GIS process was developed drawing in data from enumerations covering each household. A concept plan was developed and presented to residents and the local government to allow feedback. A survey of buildings showed where there were clusters of commercial activities and allowed mixed land uses to be accommodated in the upgrading plan. Guidelines were developed to show where the proposals contravened existing official standards and to justify what was proposed. The paper ends with a consideration of what still needs to be accomplished -including agreement on the re-alignment of plots, the means for transferring tenure and how to finance proposals. It is hoped that this initiative will lead to a protocol for in situ upgrading that can be used to inform the upgrading process in other cities in Zimbabwe.