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dc.contributor.advisorDu Pisani, J.A.
dc.contributor.authorBatchelor, Anna Catharina
dc.date.accessioned2018-07-31T06:36:29Z
dc.date.available2018-07-31T06:36:29Z
dc.date.issued2018
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/10394/30614
dc.descriptionMaster of Environmental Management, North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2018en_US
dc.description.abstractThis is a pilot study based on qualitative case research that was undertaken to identify methods and procedures that could lead to a greater understanding of the role played by sense of place in sustaining livability in urban contexts. The study uses a socio-spatial approach which focuses on social, rather than economic and environmental concerns. The study proposes that sense of place is a prerequisite for livability and sustainability. It also proposes that livability and sense of place can be sustained, enhanced and secured through protection and maintenance of identity as well as through stakeholder engagement, management procedures and design intervention. To debate this premise, Arcadia Precinct area was selected as a case study. It is situated in the prestigious suburb of Arcadia, one of the most historical residential areas in Pretoria (City of Tshwane), South Africa. The area lies close to the University of Pretoria, the Union Buildings that is the seat of Government, the Hatfield business-and-accommodation growth point, and lies within walking distance from the Gautrain rapid rail terminal in nearby Hatfield.The majority of houses in Arcadia Street, in the selected Arcadia Precinct case study area, are more than sixty, and some more than a hundred years old. Arcadia Precinct constitutes an appropriate case study, since sense of place is under threat here due to rapid development in the area. The focussed study objective was to determine how sense of place can be secured, enhanced and sustained in this area amid rapid and drastic urban transformation. Locally applicable sustainability principles and management procedures, that could contribute towards maintaining sense of place within Arcadia Precinct needed to be identified. The study endeavours to establish what the essential elements of sense of place are as perceived by members of the local community and what management plan and strategy should be followed to enhance livability and sustainability. The research problem was centred on the need to manage development in a way that would ensure that the case study area remains sufficiently stable to sustain local sense of place. The study therefore aimed to provide a framework for future implementation that could sustain the livability and sense of place in the Arcadia Precinct in Pretoria, Tshwane. The framework that is put forward in the study consists of theoretical aspects to develop a way of thinking about sustaining sense of place as well as practical aspects to devise methods and procedures to maintain it. The procedure that is recommended stresses the need for consultation with members of the local community as well as professionals from diverse fields that include among others, environmental, social and heritage impact assessment specialists as well as spatial planners and architects. This framework also recommends that the Circles of Sustainability - Urban Profile Process‘ and Soft-Systems Procedure‘ (as discussed in this study) should be introduced to transform the study area to the envisioned and aspired future state. The study also concludes that an effective, enforceable, development-management-plan, that is generated according to an ―open accountable process during which people can influence decision-making about how and what their physical spaces should become‖ (Strydom and Puren 2014) should constitute the core tool of its management. This strategy should respond to local needs, while development should be guided by planning professionals and environmental, social and heritage specialists. It should be guided by assessment procedures and monitored according to review cycles and feedback programmes. For the Arcadia Precinct study area to move towards the aspired state depends to a large extent on the implementation of a management plan and effective social and spatial planning strategies. Once this is implemented and a new spatial development framework for the Precinct becomes operational, the situation will be much improved. Planning impediments need to be removed and the actions stipulated in the framework proposed in this study need to be implemented. What is needed most of all is commitment by the local community and the local authority, to effectively apply the appropriate tools. Above all, individual people have to take the initiative and responsibility to achieve the desired stateen_US
dc.language.isoenen_US
dc.publisherNorth-West University (South Africa), Potchefstroom Campusen_US
dc.subjectSouth African urban case studyen_US
dc.subjectLivabilityen_US
dc.subjectSense of placeen_US
dc.subjectSustainabilityen_US
dc.subjectEnvironmental and social managementen_US
dc.subjectHeritage managementen_US
dc.subjectTshwaneen_US
dc.subjectPretoriaen_US
dc.subjectArcadiaen_US
dc.titleSustaining livability and a sense of place in a changing South African urban context : an environmental management pilot case studyen_US
dc.typeThesisen_US
dc.description.thesistypeMastersen_US


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