Walter Musakwa

Monitoring sustainable urban development using built-up area indicators: a case study of Stellenbosch, South Africa

AbstractRapid urbanisation in many developing countries causes land transformation from agricultural, rural, and natural landscapes into urban areas. Data to monitor this transformation are often out of date, unreliable, not in standard format, cumbersome and expensive to collect or simply unavailable. This inhibits local authorities and other stakeholders’ capacity to monitor and leverage resources towards sustainable urban development. This paper investigates the use of earth observation (EO) data for supporting sustainable urban development planning. The study demonstrates that EO adds value to sustainable urban development by providing area-wide and up-to-date thematic and geometric characterisation of the urban built-up area, which would be difficult to obtain from other data sources. This helps local planning authorities to monitor urban growth and sustainability, and facilitate evidence-based decision-making and an array of other practical uses.

Earth Observation for Sustainable Urban Planning in Developing Countries Needs, Trends, and Future Directions

Cities are constantly changing and authorities face immense challenges in obtaining accurate and timely data to effectively manage urban areas. This is particularly problematic in the developing world where municipal records are often unavailable or not updated. Spaceborne earth observation (EO) has great potential for providing up-to-date spatial information about urban areas. This article reviews the application of EO for supporting urban planning. In particular, the article overviews case studies where EO was used to derive products and indicators required by urban planners. The review concludes that EO has sufficiently matured in recent years but that a shift from the current focus on purely science-driven EO applications to the provision of useful information for day-to-day decision-making and urban sustainability monitoring is clearly needed.

Mapping cycling patterns and trends using Strava Metro data in the city of Johannesburg, South Africa

Plans for smart mobility through cycling are often hampered by lack of information on cycling patterns and trends, particularly in cities of the developing world such as Johannesburg. Similarly, traditional methods of data collection such as bicycle counts are often expensive, cover a limited spatial extent and not up-to-date. Consequently, the dataset presented in this paper illustrates the spatial and temporal coverage of cycling patterns and trends in Johannesburg for the year 2014 derived from the geolocation based mobile application Strava. To the best knowledge of the authors, there is little or no comprehensive dataset that describes cycling patterns in Johannesburg. Perhaps this dataset is a tool that will support evidence based transportation planning and smart mobility.

Perspectives on geospatial information science education: an example of urban planners in Southern Africa

Abstract Since the introduction of geographic information systems (GIS) in the 1960s, it has evolved tremendously to an extent that it permeates our daily lives. Initially, GIS usage started in the developed countries and now increasingly filtered to developing countries. The town planning profession was one of the early adopters of GIS. Geospatial information is a useful source of data that is needed in urban planning. In these days of the New Urban Agenda 2030, smart cities are even more required from planners in using geospatial information to face urban challenges such as sustainable urban development and climate change. Although GIS has promised a lot for urban planning, it has not reached its full potential. Moreover, many studies have focused on developed countries with limited studies on geospatial information application in municipalities and GIS education from a perspective of developing countries. In this study, a survey on the usage of geospatial information science (GSIS) in two cities, namely Bulawayo in Zimbabwe and Ekurhuleni in South Africa, was conducted, and an overview of the state of GIS curricula in planning schools is discussed. The results indicate that considerable progress has been made in the application of geospatial information in municipal planning; however, there are impediments limiting the full utilization of geospatial information in local municipalities. These impediments include: inadequate GIS curricula in planning schools, lack of resources, and lack of political will. These challenges manifest differently in well-resourced municipalities and those with limited resources. The study proposes planning-relevant GIS curricula to improve the level of GIS use in planning practice.

Applicability of R statistics in analyzing landslides spatial patterns in Northern Turkey

Statistical analysis of rainfall-triggered landslides inventory patterns is a key for landslide hazard and risk prediction analysis of susceptible areas. The main objective of the study is to test if the landslides locations are spatially auto correlated, that could either be clustered (spatial attraction), dispersed or randomly distributed (spatially independent). Two categories of spatial distance functions were applied, first using, first-order distance analysis using Quadrat Counts function and kernel density analysis. The second category used second order distance analysis includes Diggles empty space F-function and nearest neighbor distance G-function, and also, more sophisticated Ripleys K-function, which evaluates the distribution of all neighbor distances within the space taking into consideration the edge correction effect. Based on the generated curves by the G, F and K functions, we observed that landslides locations clearly tend to be clustered in certain areas rather than randomly distributed. Eventually, Morans I autocorrelation function used to find where the highest amount of landslides are clustered using four conditioning factors (Elevation, Slope, Land-cover, and Geology). This study tests the landslides distribution pattern in landslide prone area of Trabzon city, northern turkey. The current study aims to facilitate the integration of spatial data and the coding in R environment through using the R extensive research tools and libraries.

Mobile GIS occupancy audit of Ulana informal settlement in Ekurhuleni municipality, South Africa

ABSTRACT Relocating people in informal settlements and upgrading the lives of those people require consistent commitment, good strategies, and supporting systems. In South Africa, in order to allocate subsidized housing to beneficiaries of an informal settlement, beneficiary administration needs to determine the number of people who qualify for subsidized houses. Without geo-spatial data-based technical verification, conventional methods of occupancy audits are often cumbersome, are unreliable, and do not promote smart and evidence-based decision making. Accordingly, the aim of this study is to propose and develop an Oracle-based mobile GIS tool to conduct an occupancy audit for Ulana, an informal settlement in Ekurhuleni Municipality in South Africa. Android-based tablets were used to collect the geographic and socio-economic attributes of the informal dwelling units (DU). Spatial analysis (in ArcGIS software and geo-spatial modeling environment) and statistical analysis were conducted to produce the occupancy audit. The results indicated that the use of mobile GIS provides up-to-date, accurate, comprehensive, and real-time data so as to facilitate the development of smart and integrated human settlements. The results of this audit also indicated that only 57% of the households residing in Ulana could potentially benefit from receiving a subsidized house. Accordingly, the occupancy audit enables planners to plan appropriate upgrading and housing development strategies for informal settlement. This study demonstrates that successful planning of housing delivery for post independent integrated neighborhoods is not a mere political rhetoric but is viable when it is based on reasonable geo-spatial techniques and information. The use of mobile GIS therefore needs to be extended to other informal settlement upgrading projects in South Africa as well as other cities in the global south. However, proper professional training is required to ensure the successful usage of smart mobile GIS tools.

Developing the Well-Located Land Index to Establish Smart Human Settlements for the Ekurhuleni Municipality, South Africa

Since the dawn of democracy in 1994, the spatial form of South African cities has shown minimal change. Spatial segregation and fragmentation in cities still persist, particularly in Ekurhuleni, despite numerous and well-formulated policy documents such as the National Development Plan (NDP) and ‘Breaking New Ground’ that call for spatial transformation and integration. This is mainly because there are inadequate tools to assist planners in identifying strategically located land and weak implementation mechanisms. Consequently this study outlines a Planning Support System (PSS) called the Well-Located Index (WLLI) which uses a Geographic Information System (GIS) and the Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) to assist planners in identifying, quantifying and visualising well-located land in Ekurhuleni. The study also demonstrates that the WLLI PSS is an invaluable tool in advancing evidence-based decision making that will nurture sustainable and smart cities in South Africa. The WLLI will facilitate targeting smart and well-located land as well as provide the Ekurhuleni Metropolitan Municipality with clear guidelines on where to place future development if the legacy of spatial segregation is to be reversed.

Impact of Urban Policy on Public Transportation in Gauteng, South Africa: Smart or Dumb City Systems Is the Question

Policy on public transport often directs where infrastructure and investment is directed. Currently, the discourse is towards transport infrastructure investments that facilitate the attainment of the so-called smart city and smart mobility status. This status is often seen as the panacea towards all the public transport problems that among others include traffic congestion and unreliability. This chapter grapples with the question; to what extent have the urban planning policies in South Africa and Gauteng province been instrumental in the pursuit of efficient, effective and responsive public transport systems? Have the transport systems led to either smart or dumb city systems. The Gauteng province has put in place policies such as the Gauteng 25 year integrated master plan (ITMP 25) that has a vision to better the lives of Gauteng residents through the establishment of a smart and efficient public transport system. The ITMP 25 also seeks to attract foreign investments and boost tourism through land use densification that supports the use and efficiency of public transport systems. The policy also aims to reinforce the passenger rail-network as the backbone of the public transport system in Gauteng, and to extend the integrated rapid and road-based public transport networks that assist to strengthen freight hubs; thus ensuring effective travel demand management and mainstreaming non-motorized transport. As a result, Gauteng has invested in bus rapid infrastructure (Reya-Vaya within the City of Johannesburg, the Gautrain which is a high-speed rail network that caters for all three metro municipalities) and investments in non-motorized transport lanes in Johannesburg. The study applies smart city and smart mobility indicators to determine the level of smartness of the Reya Vaya, Gautarin and cycling infrastructure. The results indicate a steady uptake in public transport and use of cycling as a means of transport as well as a paradigm shift towards smart mobility by Johannesburg and Gauteng residents. Nevertheless, this has yielded unintended consequences such as the reinforcement of spatial segregation and inadequate use of new transport infrastructure. Parts of the challenges are a direct result of weak policy formulation and implementation strategies at both national and provincial levels as well as a deep culture that prefers private automobiles to public transport. There is therefore need to improve transportation policy and promote evidence based transportation policy.

Data on strategically located land and spatially integrated urban human settlements in South Africa

In developing countries like South Africa processed geographic information systems (GIS) data on land suitability, is often not available for land use management. Data in this article is based on a published article “The strategically located land index support system for humans settlements land reform in South Africa” (Musakwa et al., 2017) [1]. This article utilities data from Musakwa et al. (2017) [1] and it goes on a step further by presenting the top 25th percentile of areas in the country that are strategically located and suited to develop spatially integrated human settlements. Furthermore the least 25th percentile of the country that are not strategically located and spatially integrated to establish human settlements are also presented. The article also presents the processed spatial datasets that where used to develop the strategically located land index as supplementary material. The data presented is meant to stir debate on spatially integrated human settlements in South Africa.