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While literature extensively examines waste management issues in urban areas, limited attention has been given to rural developing waste contexts. This paper aims to understand the policy/implementation nexus between national and local government within the rural waste management context in two rural municipalities in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. The research utilizes a directed deductive content analysis applying a framework proposed by Pollans. Originally designed for urban contexts, this framework has proven valuable for comprehending solid waste management policy implementation challenges in rural settings. This paper proposes an adjustment to this framework, differentiating the disposal mode of governing into government-based and self-reliant-based approaches. The authors found a significant implementation gap in both municipalities, characterized by a predominant, incremental disposal-oriented governing mode. This contrasts with the visionary and aspirational modes of governing promoted by the national government, focusing on diversion and eco-efficient waste strategies. These divergent modes of governing influence current waste management practices, especially in rural municipalities. We recommend strategies towards narrowing the implementation gap by formulating policies tailored to local development needs. Finally, the research sheds light on the challenges and disparities in rural waste management policy implementation and provides insights into how rural areas can transition towards sustainable waste management practices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The management of greywater and sanitation in South Africa's urban informal settlements is a pressing concern. This review critically examines the legal framework that governs greywater management in South Africa's informal settlements, aiming to shed light on the existing regulations, gaps, and opportunities for sustainable greywater reuse. By scrutinizing the legal framework, the review identifies gaps and challenges in the regulatory environment, including inconsistencies, lack of clarity, and limited enforcement mechanisms. It explores the potential for international best practices to inform possible amendments to the existing legal framework. This was a quantitative research design utilizing a cross sectional survey model. Questionnaires were administered electronically to a sample of 17 municipal leaders from the City of Tshwane, City of Johannesburg and Buffalo City municipalities whose responsibilities were on water management. Descriptive statistics were employed in analysis of the data. Outcomes were reviewed against the alignment or the lack thereof with the SANS 1732:201x standards. This paper underscores the critical need for a coherent and robust legal framework to support responsible greywater management in South Africa's informal settlements. The paper's insights contribute to the ongoing discourse on water governance, shedding light on the pathways toward a more equitable water future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Existing literature on health inequalities often overlooks the nuanced dynamics, particularly among vulnerable children with chronic diseases and disabilities and fails to consider regional disparities within countries like South Africa. This paper asserts the necessity for a more granular analysis in South Africa, recognizing the varied health outcomes for children across different economic segments and geographical settings. Specifically, the health trajectories for children differ markedly between rural formal areas, regions under traditional authorities, formal urban areas, and informal urban settlements. Addressing the generalizations common in prior research, this study takes a precise, regionally focused approach to socio-economic-driven disparities in chronic illness or disability. It distinguishes between rural formal areas, traditional authority areas, formal urban areas, and informal urban areas, unveiling the intricate layers of health disparities. Using data from the National Income Dynamics Study, concentration indices, and the Oaxaca-Blinder Decomposition method, the paper analyzed health inequality trends from 2008 to 2017. The results uncover significant inequalities, with alarming trends, particularly among children with chronic illnesses and disabilities in traditional authority regions and informal urban environments. The paper's evidence shows that rural formal areas have experienced a decline in health disparities as opposed to the deepening divide in traditional authority-led regions. The urban analysis reveals a split: while formal urban settings often favour the wealthier, informal urban areas indicate a shift towards lower socioeconomic brackets. The decomposition analysis highlights the evolving socioeconomic elements influencing each region over time. These insights emphasize the urgent necessity for geographically tailored policy interventions. By understanding the distinct socioeconomic landscapes across various regions, we can formulate policies that resonate with each area's specific realities and challenges. Such targeted strategies are essential in reducing health inequalities and enhancing the life quality of children with chronic health conditions and disabilities, playing a critical role in South Africa's journey toward comprehensive health equity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The sub-Saharan cities are growing and changing due to immigration and modernization. One of the consequences of the current urbanization is that an increasing number of families residing in peri-urban areas of small rural towns lack access to basic municipal and ecosystem services. The purpose of the paper is to demonstrate the impacts of peri-urban expansion on municipal services provided by the governments and on ecosystems services through a case study of a small rural town called Makhado Biaba in Limpopo Province of South Africa. Makhado Biaba has been experiencing incessant rapid physical expansion over the years. Such spatial expansion into the peri-urban zone impacts the provision of municipal services such as water, electricity, sewerage, and refuse collection. In 2020, an exploratory mixed-methods study of some anthropocentric and ecosystem changes in Makhado Biaba Local Municipality in northeast South Africa was executed. Land use was mapped for the time period of 1990–2020, data were gathered through a household questionnaire in six villages, and interviews were held with municipal officials. Among others, the study showed that several municipal services are available in the peri-urban villages of Makhado Biaba Town despite the distant locations outside the urban core. However, services are not uniformly distributed due to that new peri-urban developments that are leapfrogging into vacant land without supporting infrastructure. The pace of the municipality in providing the necessary municipal services such as water and energy supply, as well as sanitation and refuse removal, is lagging behind the development of new and unplanned housing areas. The findings bring about information about the suburban livelihoods and how the administration of the peri-urban areas can respond to the needs of the inhabitants as well as to future challenges. For instance, to facilitate local development, recurrent and well-structured citizen dialogs with local groups to identify delivery failures are strongly recommended. In addition, the impact on ecosystem services by the city development and land use change stresses the need for guided urban development and expansion and also settlement upgrading programs in peri-urban zones to limit the bad effect on ecosystem services. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The delivery of adequate services to citizens has been a major problem that has ignited social protests in South Africa’s local municipalities. The paper found that a lack of accountability, transparency, and public participation has impacted service delivery. It was found that services delivered to the citizens have failed to meet their expectations. This is because in situations where there is no accountability, transparency, or public participation, there is a lack of inclusivity, which in turn raises violent feelings that ignite social protests. The paper found that the use of Artificial Intelligence would promote transparency, accountability, and inclusivity which are needed for delivering adequate services that meet people’s expectations. To achieve those assertions, the paper used secondary datacollected through a qualitative research methodology and analysed via document and content analysis. There is a need for South Africa’s local municipalities to adopt Artificial Intelligence technology in the service delivery process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Transdisciplinary research has gained traction globally for mapping pathways for sustainable urbanisation. The involvement of local communities is believed to central to knowledge co-production needed to address sustainability challenges. But working with local communities can be challenging. This paper is structured around the authors' personal reflections on undertaking transdisciplinary household energy conservation projects in Ghana and South Africa. The paper reflects on the assumptions and challenges of doing transdisciplinary research in urban Africa and suggests some guidelines for consideration when doing transdisciplinary projects. An inductive analysis of our reflections showed five key challenges: lack of integration, divergent problem identification, tensions in knowledge co-production, asymmetrical power relations, and distrust and managing expectations. We draw on our collective experiences to develop guidelines for conducting transdisciplinary research in urban Africa. These guidelines are not prescriptive but can be useful for a growing and broader audience interested in undertaking transdisciplinary research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Faced with extraordinarily high unemployment, the long-term unemployed in South Africa increasingly have been securing livelihoods outside of standard waged work. Many are establishing unregistered, micro-enterprises that provide low-cost goods and services to low-income households. This paper presents the results of an exploratory study of unregistered (informal) second-hand tyre dealers in three South African cities to better assess their role in urban economies. Interviews with informal tyre dealers were conducted to understand how their businesses are positioned along the waste tyre value chain, their prospects for generating employment, and their potential to contribute to product reuse and repurposing. By extending the useful lives of tyres, informal dealerships can be analysed through a circular economy framework that acknowledges their varied environmental, economic, and social benefits. Concerns, however, are raised about the unregulated sale of second-hand tyres, some of which are unsafe and pose risks for road users. This in turn gives rise to difficult trade-offs between on the one hand the economic and environmental benefits of informal tyre sales and road safety on the other. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: This paper aims to present relevant literature review to build up the case pertaining to the impact of traditional leadership in the demarcation of municipal boundaries in South Africa. Municipal boundary demarcation remains a major contentious issue during the process of establishing municipalities. Little or no attention has been paid to the significance of traditional leadership in resolving issues around boundary demarcation between municipalities, hence this paper. Design/methodology/approach: This paper adopted case study design. Data were collected from secondary sources and the contents were analyzed for this research purpose. Findings: This paper put boundary in municipal context as a result of spatial reconfiguration process. It also discussed the impactful roles of traditional leadership as an institution involved in municipal (re)demarcation processes. Research limitations/implications: This paper focusses on the contemporary roles that traditional leadership is at vantage position to play in the process of municipal boundary demarcation. Therefore, the paper concludes that traditional leadership could resolve issue of ethnicity as a causal factor mitigating the redemarcation of municipal boundaries. Originality/value: It contributes to existing knowledge by providing information on the roles of traditional leadership that could complement the resolution of the ethnic complexities arising from municipal (re)demarcation processes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Extant literature has emphasised the significance of economic development at provincial and national levels in South Africa. However, there is less emphasis placed on economic development at the local level. Hence, this paper aims to fill the gap by discussing the Local Economic Development (LED) as a concept vis-à-vis its prospects and challenges. It relies heavily on secondary sources of data. This paper explicates the knowledge and understanding of integrated as well as coherent purpose of LED in the South African municipalities. On the one hand, it analyses the institutional need and relevance of LED with a view to understanding how LED has promoted and stimulated economic growth and development at the local level in South Africa. On the other hand, it identifies the contribution of LED to municipal system, and reflects on the challenges facing LED in SA. This paper concludes by providing consistent recommendations on measures addressing LED challenges. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While the existence and significance of transnational municipal networks (TMNs) in the realm of environmental governance have been well documented, the implementation and impacts of their local programmes, especially in sub-Saharan Africa, remain underexplored. This paper contributes to addressing this gap of knowledge by examining what obstructs or facilitates TMNs' local actions and the extent to which they can catalyse wider transformative impacts on local environmental governance. We focus on an urban wetlands programme implemented by ICLEI Africa from 2015 to 2018 in 9 district and 2 metropolitan municipalities in South Africa – the Local Action for Biodiversity: Wetlands SA (LAB Wetlands SA) Programme. From an insider perspective, this paper reviews the implementation of the LAB Wetlands SA Programme in three locations, namely the Overberg, iLembe, and Frances Baard District Municipalities of South Africa. Based on comparative analysis, the paper identifies three key influential factors – political buy-in, policy champions and institutional capacity – that interact in combination to affect the practices of the LAB Wetlands SA Programme. These three factors are closely interlinked and strongly depend on the social, economic, political and cultural aspects of local context. In advancing local environmental actions and promoting transformative environmental governance, the design and practices of TMNs' local programmes and projects must be informed by, tailored to, and able to adapt to the local context. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the 'spirit of the gift' as a framework for the analysis of the moral and political economy of public housing delivery in South Africa since democracy. The paper compares the gifts of Reconstruction and Development Programme (RDP) houses delivered by the state to 'beneficiaries', selected from long waiting lists in cities, towns and some rural places, with the homes built by families as gifts for their ancestors in their former homelands and rural areas. One of the central features of gifts, according to anthropologists, is that they are meant to be inalienable possessions, things that should not be sold or commodified. They are also assumed to carry a spirit, an aura or identity that binds them to the givers and communicates a relationship with those who receive the gifts. In post-colonial societies scholars tend to discuss the delivery of public goods and infrastructures within a framework of rights and entitlements. What they overlook is the extent to which public goods are also sometimes conceptualised and received as gifts that carry a sense of expectation, obligation, and the spirit of social exchange. The paper focuses on what happens when the 'spirit of the gift' of public housing is not honoured or reciprocated by beneficiaries as the gifts develop new social lives outside the parameters of those intended in the original policy. The ethnographic and historical evidence presented in the paper is drawn from numerous research projects undertaken by the author in Cape Town and the Eastern Cape. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mass urbanisation in cities of the global South, is causing cities to evolve, with informal settlements being central to this evolution. While local government is the official point of interaction for urban informal settlement dwellers, those interactions are often characterised by a lack of meaningful participation. Engaging with the co-production literature and two case studies of informal settlements in Cape Town, South Africa, this paper examines how they shed light on the shifting and constantly evolving roles and practices of local government and community actors within a co-production engagement. Based on the findings from these cases, the paper argues that co-production as a practice of collaboration between the local state and citizens can allow for the forging of new relationships, built on trust, sharing of resources and a more equal distribution of power where communities can shape the outcomes of service delivery projects to respond to their needs and demands. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Informal waste reclaimers are a key part of South Africa's recycling economy, being responsible for around 51% of all paper and packaging waste collected in South Africa in 2017. Active in the waste and recycling landscape for more than three decades, their activity predates the earliest voluntary paper and packaging Extended Producer Responsibility schemes. However, these voluntary schemes have been instrumental in scaling South Africa's recycling economy. Investment by brand owners, retailers, converters and recyclers has helped develop local end-use markets, creating a demand for paper and packaging recyclables and a resultant increase in their collection. An analysis of tonnage and price data shows that the mean estimate of money paid by the private sector to the informal waste sector through the purchase of recyclables at intermediaries such as buy-back centres, was ZAR625 million in 2012, increasing to ZAR872 million in 2017. This private sector 'investment' in the local recycling economy has led to direct and indirect job creation and improved livelihoods, particularly for a large, well-established and effective informal waste sector, and has indirectly funded municipal waste diversion strategies, saving municipalities in both the collection and disposal of waste. Significance: * Informal waste reclaimers make a significant contribution to the diversion of paper and packaging recyclables from landfill to recycling in South Africa. * Limited information exists on the earnings of informal reclaimers. * This paper provides new insights on the annual financial payments made by the private sector to informal reclaimers tor the collection of recyclables. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The unprecedented rate of urbanisation has changed the South African urban landscape. The densification of the population in cities has resulted in high consumption of electricity, waste production, a reduction of greenery, and traffic congestion, all of which contribute to climate change. South Africa promulgated legislations and acts such as the Spatial Planning and Land-Use Management Act (SPLUMA), the National Urban Development Framework (NUDF), and the Integrated Development Plan (IDP) to guide climate change adaptation and mitigation aspirations. These frameworks and plans are important for the management of urbanisation, which potentially contributes to climate change. Complexity theory is a lens for reviewing complex systems like urbanisation and cities. Complexity theory gives a thorough account of cities, urbanisation, and urban planning. The method that was adopted for the paper is a mixed-method approach. The data were collected by interviewing and administering questionnaires to municipal officials and residents of four urban areas (Legae la Batho, Emdo Park, Serala View, and Flora Park). Results show that the local municipality continues to be plagued with a lack of qualified personnel to implement policies that affect programme implementation, such as energy mix. Additionally, the City of Polokwane has been experiencing a reduction of green spaces, which has a negative impact on the climate change aspiration. The paper concludes that there are still challenges to a fully capacitated workforce within the Polokwane Local Municipality. The inability to implement policies has deleterious effects on climate change mitigation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Persistent poverty is a major developmental challenge for South Africa and has multifaceted dimensions. This paper profiled and investigated poverty transitions among rural households in 22 district municipalities in South Africa. Foster-Greer-Thorbecke indices were applied to panel data from the National Income Dynamics Study from 2008 to 2017. Findings indicate that poverty levels varied across districts and poverty was most prevalent in Zululand, OR Tambo and Sisonke districts. Furthermore, districts with high poverty rates also had high poverty gap ratios. Poverty transition analyses revealed that in 82% of the districts, poverty declined between 2008 and 2017, while it increased in 13% of the districts. This transition was not mirrored between waves, with the majority of households remaining in the same poverty status between waves. The study recommends that these traditional rural districts be a major focus of poverty alleviation efforts. The role of the state in providing stability to combat poverty is encouraged through promotion of higher education. Additionally, support for agriculture as a business is also recommended. Collaborations between district municipalities and provincial departments of agriculture could facilitate this. The study adds to existing literature by providing insights from disaggregated profile and analysis of rural poverty in district municipalities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In South Africa, local government is responsible for administering various activities in municipalities, towns and cities. The effectiveness of governance at a local level is based on the delivery of essential services and the management of public affairs. Many municipalities in the country face several challenges, such as lack of administrative capacity, shortage of skills and lack of essential service delivery. These challenges have presented an opportunity to improve governance and delivery of services. In order to mitigate these challenges and maximise these opportunities, capacity building is a tool that can be used to develop the ability of local government to effectively deliver essential services by enhancing human capital. In this paper, the concept of local government is introduced in section 2; a background follows this on the state of local governments in South Africa and a summary of the challenges faced and opportunities available for local governments. In section 3, capacity building is introduced, and theoretical frameworks and models for capacity building are discussed. Section 4 of the essay consists of the discussion, which links section 3 and section 2. The identified theories are linked to background on local governance in South Africa, and the section demonstrates how capacity building can be used as an effective tool for local governance. Recommendations and conclusions are documented in section 5 of the essay. This section includes closing remarks on the discussions made and a summary of suggested critical points for consideration by local governments on how to proceed further by using capacity building to strengthen governance at the local level. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The role of public space governance in delivering and managing qualitative public space in South African cities is inadequately documented from a municipal governance perspective. The article focuses on the governance of public space delivery and management in the Buffalo City Metropolitan Municipality to unlock the best urban design practices concerning creating and sustaining high-quality public space as an essential element of urban infrastructure. The paper argues that the delivery and management of high-quality public spaces in South African cities are underpinned by several essential governance prerequisites that influence the significance, nature and role of public space within these cities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

South Africa's major cities are periodically wracked by large-scale xenophobic violence directed at migrants and refugees from other countries. Informal sector businesses and their migrant owners and employees are particularly vulnerable targets during these attacks. Migrant-owned businesses are also targeted on a regular basis in smaller-scale looting and destruction of property. There is now a large literature on the characteristics and causes of xenophobic violence and attitudes in South Africa, most of it based on quantitative and qualitative research in the country's major metropolitan areas. One of the consequences of big-city xenophobia has been a search for alternative markets and safer spaces by migrants, including relocating to the country's many smaller urban centres. The question addressed in this paper is whether they are welcomed in these cities and towns or subject to the same kinds of victimization as in large cities. This paper is the first to systematically examine this question by focusing on a group of towns in Limpopo Province and the experiences of migrants in the informal sector there. Through survey evidence and in-depth interviews and focus groups with migrant and South African vendors, the paper demonstrates that xenophobia is also pervasive in these smaller centres, in ways that both echo and differ from that in the large cities. The findings in this paper have broader significance for other countries attempting to deal with the rise of xenophobia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the implications of municipal re-demarcations on service delivery through a case study of the Collins Chabane and JB Marks local municipalities in South Africa. The former is the result of a merger of two rural areas that were carved out of adjoining municipalities. The latter was established following the amalgamation of the erstwhile municipalities of Tlokwe and Ventersdorp, including the major centre of Potchefstroom. Thus, the two case studies are quite distinct in terms of racial demographics and history. Between 1995 and 2016, South Africa witnessed a significant reduction in the number of its municipalities, from over 800 racially based local authorities to 257 democratically elected municipalities. This trend reflects a belief that smaller municipalities are inefficient and not financially viable. However this study's empirical findings, which were mainly obtained through a survey, suggest that mergers do not necessarily lead to improved local government capacity or efficient service delivery. The paper recommends further consideration of alternative models that can improve service delivery efficiency through voluntary cooperation or other collaborative arrangements. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Local Action Groups (LAGs) are a promising development approach that has gained prominence across the world. They are underpinned by participation of all local actors (community-led rural development) as the main precondition for generating and sustaining economic development in rural regions. Despite this potential, there has been a dearth of scientific studies that have investigated the potential role of LAGs as a rural transformation approach in the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa. Therefore, the current paper sought to identify existing local action groups and explore their role and potential to promote rural development. A concurrent mixed-methods approach was adopted to attain the study objective. Four hundred households were purposively drawn from two rural local municipalities, Amahlathi and Nyandeni, in the Eastern Cape Province. Survey questionnaires and semi-structured interview guides were used to collect data. Results showed that existing LAGs were mainly burial societies, cooperatives, farmers associations, women's organisations, and financial saving schemes. The main roles of these LAGs were to enhance food security, boost income generation, and foster social cohesion. However, despite their contribution, LAGs have not reached their full potential as a conduit for rural development owing to the limited involvement of relevant rural development stakeholders. Therefore, adequate targeted support is required from both the public and private sectors to unlock the potential of LAGs as a catalyst for rural development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Urban agriculture offers numerous environmental, economic, and social benefits. However, it is often hampered by limited engagement in cities of the global South. This article offers bottom-up perspectives on how to increase the uptake of urban agriculture activities. It draws on urban gardeners' perspectives in the low-income neighbourhood of Mitchells Plain, Cape Town. The mixed-methods approach combined a questionnaire survey, semi-structured interviews with urban gardeners, and interviews with civil society actors and a state official. The results indicate that climate and soil conditions are major deterrents to urban agriculture. However, community dialogues about urban agriculture's social and environmental benefits could play a crucial role in increasing uptake and in facilitating conversations about urban agriculture and food more generally. The paper offers recommendations for future interventions seeking to promote urban agriculture and support actors in low-income neighbourhoods in Cape Town and other African cities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The devastating civil unrest experienced in July 2021 in especially KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa, not only affected more than 40,000 businesses, but also had a direct impact on the collection and administration of the recurrent property tax (called “property rates”). This paper considers policy recommendations for supplementary valuations and rates relief for affected property owners and debates the implementation options available to municipalities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A child's independent mobility is essential to their social, emotional physical, and cognitive development and provides children the opportunity to explore and experience their environment. The freedom of free movement and security from all forms of harm is necessary for achieving the capability of bodily integrity which is one of the essential capabilities necessary for well-being. Despite this, research on child independent mobility in Africa remains limited. Hence, this paper focuses on parents' perspectives on children's independent mobility in rural towns in South Africa to understand the factors that enhance or impede children's independent mobility. This is essential in suggesting guidelines and recommendations to promote the independent mobility of children in South Africa. A qualitative methodology was used as the research approach to guide the collection and analysis of the data. Data were collected from a sample of parents in the community and thematically analysed in ATLAS.ti. From this study, it can be noted that parents were not comfortable with the independent movement of their children due to the issues of safety around the community. This led to the restricted movement of children, supervised movements, accompaniment of children to school, and organising transport to ferry children to and from school. This study, therefore, calls for the involvement of stakeholders from various levels to develop and implement strategies to promote safe and child-friendly environments in the community. This is essential in enhancing and restoring a child's independent mobility. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

South African municipalities increasingly celebrate prepaid water and electricity meters for enabling them to build more resilient cities. This framing has been critiqued for its neoliberal underpinnings, where the discourse of resilience masks the reality that people are being coerced into surviving with consistently diminishing resources. While these infrastructures undeniably materialise neoliberal logics, this paper considers the labour compounds of nineteenth-century Kimberley to suggest such infrastructures also have a racialising function with a much older lineage. The Kimberley compounds were designed and managed by various technical experts tasked with maximising productivity and balancing economic constraints with mortality rates. In so doing, they relied upon and produced racialised theories of the body. Where the experts framed their work as turning on the observation of "the native races," in fact those experts were producing the very racial truths they claimed only to uncover. The compound, most often studied as an infrastructure of racial domination, has rarely been recognised as productive of emergent notions of "race." Read through this lineage, continued infrastructural coercion in contemporary South Africa, which relies on the techno-racial expertise developed in earlier eras, reveals itself as critical to race's continual reproduction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Multi-date Landsat images were used to ascertain the nature, causes and extent of degradation in the savannahs of Raymond Mhlaba Local Municipality in the Eastern Cape province of South Africa by comparing changes in land-use and land-cover in one commercial farm and two communal areas over a period of 30 years between 1984 and 2014. Results revealed a persistent increase in bush encroachment, persistent decrease in grassland in all areas, and abandonment of arable farming in communal areas. The paper concludes by providing strategies to change the adverse effects of these changes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Travelling long distances to access public service facilities is costly and time consuming, especially to those who suffer the burden of poverty and deprivation. Assessing accessibility based on route-based distances does not work well in rural areas of Africa where people often travel along footpaths and dirt roads (in and out of vehicles) that are not mapped, not necessarily well-defined, could vary based on the season or change over short periods of time. The South African government therefore recommended that geographic accessibility be assessed based on a road network that is augmented by connecting communities to the main road network via a triangulated irregular network (TIN). While this method is recommended, a study about its suitability has not been published. We do this by describing an implementation, analysing the results and comparing these to other techniques. In this paper we present and compare the recommended method to geographic accessibility results of two other frequently used distance measuring techniques: 1) straight-line distances; 2) route-based distances in the road network. We applied the techniques to South African Police Service stations in the O.R. Tambo District Municipality, Eastern Cape, South Africa, which is characterized by rural villages scattered across the landscape, not connected to the road network and where data for footpaths and dirt roads does not exist. The results confirm that in the absence of a completely mapped travel network, the recommended method is a suitable alternative for measuring geographic accessibility in rural areas of Africa without having to spend time and money on mapping footpaths and dirt roads that keep on changing anyhow. However, the results reveal sensitivity to the threshold distance and significant local variation depending on distance from urban areas and proximity to natural barriers such as rivers. The latter must be considered when deciding whether to apply the recommended distance measurement technique in rural accessibility studies. Further research could compare the techniques for other study areas and also refine the method, e.g., by experimenting with different algorithms for centroids of populated areas and finding ways to estimate travel speeds on TIN arcs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Logistics sprawl has been observed in many urban areas around the world, but the assumed link between increased logistics sprawl and increased freight transport activity has little empirical evidence. Because this link could influence policy-making to either fight or facilitate logistics sprawl, this paper investigates the implications of using different methodologies to quantify the relationship. Three different methodologies are compared. The first two methodologies are from well-respected sources in literature and the third is proposed in this paper. The methodologies measure transport activity related to logistics sprawl in three urban areas in South Africa between 2010 and 2014. The results from the methodologies are contradicting with the methodology proposed in this paper questioning the link between logistics sprawl and freight transport activity altogether. The comparison of the methodologies also shows that it is essential to include empirical data of actual vehicle movement when investigating logistics sprawl's impact on transport activity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this paper is to select appropriate waste-to-energy (WtE) technology considering both subjective perspective of decision-maker and objective evaluation of the actual performance metrics of each alternative. Based on this premise, a novel hybrid multi-criteria decision making method based on Fuzzy-analytic hierarchy process (Fuzzy-AHP), Fuzzy-Entropy and Fuzzy-Multi-Objective Optimization on the basis of Ratio Analysis plus full multiplicative form (Fuzzy-MULTIMOORA) is applied as a decision tool. In this study, four (4) alternative WtE technologies (i.e., anaerobic digestion, incineration, pyrolysis and gasification) with fourteen (14) sub-factors that cut across four sustainability aspects (i.e., technical, economic, environmental and social factors) are considered. The applicability of the model is tested for a WtE technology selection in the City of Cape Town, South Africa. The result obtained reveals that for all the alternatives considered, the most sustainable WtE technology for investment in the City of Cape Town follows the order: anaerobic digestion > gasification > pyrolysis > incineration. Sensitivity analysis shows a high degree of consistency, robustness, and stability in the obtained results. The current work recommends that the integration of anaerobic digestion and gasification should be promoted as it has the potential to offer a well-balanced WtE technology compared to the stand-alone systems. Although, the case study is a city in South Africa, the methodology could be applied for selecting WtE technology in any developing countries' city with similar waste characteristic and economic nature like that of South Africa. • An objective-subjective hybrid MCDM model is put forward. • The criteria weights are determined using Fuzzy-AHP and Fuzzy-Entropy methods. • The waste-to-energy technologies are ranked using Fuzzy-MULTIMOORA approach. • Managerial implications of the most sustainable waste-to-energy technology is presented. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]