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• Viable alternatives to paratransit corporatization and contracting exist. • Alternatives appear much more affordable to the City, but offer less service quality control. • Small-scale interventions could provide quick QoS wins and build trust between government and industry. Cities across the Global South are seeking to improve public transport services, but the presence of large numbers of independent paratransit operators complicate reforms. City officials often seek to eliminate paratransit services in favor of scheduled services; but such reforms have proven impossible to achieve. Cape Town is one such city, whose planning officials are now reconsidering the approach to 'industry transition'. Realizing that the transition and operating costs of new scheduled services are unsustainable, the City has acknowledged a continued role for paratransit services. The question this raises is how paratransit should be integrated and, more specifically, how paratransit should complement scheduled services at transfer points. This paper reports on findings from a stated choice survey administered to paratransit drivers to understand opinions on potential reforms that the City might use to address issues of mismatched service span and long off-peak headways in service provided by paratransit operators. The research seeks to assist operators in sharing their perspectives outside of a City-structured engagement process and to assist City officials in understanding what reform paths will be most feasible based on driver acceptability and cost to the City. Results show that alternatives to the corporatization of paratransit services are viable and appear to be more affordable. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• A sociocultural approach to the analysis of migrant identity and multilingualism. • A qualitative study of Congolese youth in Cape Town. • Young multilingual migrants, their peer and sociocultural networks and practices. • Analysis demonstrate how language, identity, and vulnerability are stylized. • Illustrates sociocultural stylization of language and identity interactions. This paper takes a sociocultural approach to the analysis of migrant identity and multilingual negotiations among young Congolese migrants in Cape Town. The data for this study draws on a qualitative interactional study of Congolese youth in Cape Town, South Africa. These youth form part of a migration class that have shaped immigration sociolinguistic practices in the Global South. They arrived in South Africa at a young age with their parents and have to date been significantly exposed to the local sociocultural dynamics of language and identity practices and negotiations. In this paper we demonstrate that the task faced by these young migrants is to immerse in education, peer and cultural networks and practices that help shape their new identities in the host country, and sustain links to their country of origins (Congo). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Increasing global urbanisation is leading to a rise in the number of people living in informal settlements, challenging our ability to achieve sustainable development goals. As a consequence of high building density, inadequate building methods and flammable building materials, informal settlements are highly vulnerable to the devastating impacts of fire. Databases on historic fire occurrence, location and extent are scarce, especially in the Global South. This paper explores the potential for remote sensing technologies to fill this gap. Two case studies in Cape Town representing fire of different extent and build back characteristics, are used to demonstrate that Sentinel-1 and Sentinel-2 data can be used to detect known historic informal settlement fire. A pixel based approach applied to Sentinel-2 band 2 reflectance and Sentinel 1 backscatter and interferometry are highlighted. The concept of spatial autocorrelation is explored with both Sentinel-2 and 1 data showing that a 3 x 3 pixel standard deviation kernel and hotspot analysis can complement the pixel approach. Further research is required to test these methods within a time series change detection algorithm to identify unknown historic informal settlement fires.. • Informal settlement fires are characterised and the case for remote sensing to detect historic fires is proposed. • A case study of two fires in Cape Town demonstrates the potential of Sentinel-2 and Sentinel-1. • Spatial autocorrelation methods can assist through disruption of Tobler's Law and hotspot analysis. • Settlement, fire and rebuild characteristics vary regionally and thus methods should be adapted to suit local conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]