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Information and communication techologies and the urban transformation of South African informal settlement communities
The paper explores the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) practices of the Social Justice Coalition (SJC), a grassroots community based organisation working with informal settlement communities in Khayelitsha, a largely informal neighbourhood on the south-eastern fringes of Cape Town, So...
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| Format: | Thesis |
| Language: | English |
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School of Architecture, Planning and Geomatics
2015
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| _version_ | 1867613332082524160 |
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| access_status_str | Open Access |
| author | Mitchell, Hylton |
| author2 | Odendaal, Nancy |
| author_browse | Mitchell, Hylton Odendaal, Nancy |
| author_facet | Odendaal, Nancy Mitchell, Hylton |
| author_sort | Mitchell, Hylton |
| collection | Thesis |
| description | The paper explores the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) practices of the Social Justice Coalition (SJC), a grassroots community based organisation working with informal settlement communities in Khayelitsha, a largely informal neighbourhood on the south-eastern fringes of Cape Town, South Africa. The study focuses on SJC’s advocacy work in the delivery of ‘decent sanitation’ to informal settlement residents. This has been an explosive political issue for a number of years now. Many communities within Khayelitsha rely on communal toilets for sanitation, and the maintenance thereof has left much to be desired. Within the larger theme of digital activism, three main research areas were identified and explored: the appropriation of ICTs by the SJC’s field staff, the use of their Web 2.0 based social networking sites (SNS) in their advocacy work and digital mapping of portable communal toilets in the RR Section of Khayelitsha. The research interrogates the use of ICT as a strategic tool for knowledge-based community empowerment, with the aim of understanding how these emerging uses of technology could assist urban transformation work within this sprawling area. The research emphasizes the roles of various actors, the roles played by different technologies and the relations between technology and people. The emphasis on agency reveals that technology is not enough to augment empowerment processes. Technology-organisational relations are enmeshed within an institutional frame, where the enrollment of technology as actor, requires a repositioning of network relations, in order for it to fulfill its potential as an empowerment tool. |
| format | Thesis |
| id | oai:open.uct.ac.za:11427/13759 |
| institution | University of Cape Town (South Africa) |
| language | eng |
| last_indexed | 2026-06-10T12:34:27.383Z |
| license_str | Not specified — see source repository |
| provenance_str_mv | Harvested via OAI-PMH from UCTD — University of Cape Town Open Access Repository |
| publishDate | 2015 |
| publishDateRange | 2015 |
| publishDateSort | 2015 |
| publisher | School of Architecture, Planning and Geomatics |
| publisherStr | School of Architecture, Planning and Geomatics |
| record_format | dspace |
| source_str | UCTD — University of Cape Town Open Access Repository |
| spelling | oai:open.uct.ac.za:11427/13759 Information and communication techologies and the urban transformation of South African informal settlement communities Mitchell, Hylton Odendaal, Nancy Urban Planning and Management The paper explores the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) practices of the Social Justice Coalition (SJC), a grassroots community based organisation working with informal settlement communities in Khayelitsha, a largely informal neighbourhood on the south-eastern fringes of Cape Town, South Africa. The study focuses on SJC’s advocacy work in the delivery of ‘decent sanitation’ to informal settlement residents. This has been an explosive political issue for a number of years now. Many communities within Khayelitsha rely on communal toilets for sanitation, and the maintenance thereof has left much to be desired. Within the larger theme of digital activism, three main research areas were identified and explored: the appropriation of ICTs by the SJC’s field staff, the use of their Web 2.0 based social networking sites (SNS) in their advocacy work and digital mapping of portable communal toilets in the RR Section of Khayelitsha. The research interrogates the use of ICT as a strategic tool for knowledge-based community empowerment, with the aim of understanding how these emerging uses of technology could assist urban transformation work within this sprawling area. The research emphasizes the roles of various actors, the roles played by different technologies and the relations between technology and people. The emphasis on agency reveals that technology is not enough to augment empowerment processes. Technology-organisational relations are enmeshed within an institutional frame, where the enrollment of technology as actor, requires a repositioning of network relations, in order for it to fulfill its potential as an empowerment tool. 2015-08-15T05:31:59Z 2015-08-15T05:31:59Z 2014 Master Thesis Masters MPhil http://hdl.handle.net/11427/13759 eng application/pdf School of Architecture, Planning and Geomatics Faculty of Engineering and the Built Environment University of Cape Town |
| spellingShingle | Urban Planning and Management Mitchell, Hylton Information and communication techologies and the urban transformation of South African informal settlement communities |
| thesis_degree_str | Master's |
| title | Information and communication techologies and the urban transformation of South African informal settlement communities |
| title_full | Information and communication techologies and the urban transformation of South African informal settlement communities |
| title_fullStr | Information and communication techologies and the urban transformation of South African informal settlement communities |
| title_full_unstemmed | Information and communication techologies and the urban transformation of South African informal settlement communities |
| title_short | Information and communication techologies and the urban transformation of South African informal settlement communities |
| title_sort | information and communication techologies and the urban transformation of south african informal settlement communities |
| topic | Urban Planning and Management |
| url | http://hdl.handle.net/11427/13759 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT mitchellhylton informationandcommunicationtechologiesandtheurbantransformationofsouthafricaninformalsettlementcommunities |