The role of anthropogenic disturbance in the creation of a socio-ecological landscape
- Authors: Fox, Helen Elizabeth
- Date: 2005
- Subjects: Human ecology -- South Africa -- Kat River Valley , Land use -- Environmental aspects-- South Africa -- Kat River Valley , Landscapes -- Social aspects -- South Africa -- Kat River Valley , Landscape ecology -- South Africa -- Kat River Valley , Vegetation and climate -- South Africa -- Kat River Valley , Xhosa (African people) -- Folklore , Kat River Valley (South Africa)
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MSc
- Identifier: vital:4772 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1008061 , Human ecology -- South Africa -- Kat River Valley , Land use -- Environmental aspects-- South Africa -- Kat River Valley , Landscapes -- Social aspects -- South Africa -- Kat River Valley , Landscape ecology -- South Africa -- Kat River Valley , Vegetation and climate -- South Africa -- Kat River Valley , Xhosa (African people) -- Folklore , Kat River Valley (South Africa)
- Description: The aim of this thesis is to examine the role of anthropogenic disturbance in the creation of a socio-ecological landscape. Three key questions were answered: what impact has past anthropogenic disturbance had on present vegetative characteristics; what value did this disturbed landscape have to local people; how did the local peoples' worldviews and eco-cosmologies influence how they perceived, valued and managed their landscape? Research was based in a rural, predominantly amaXhosa village in the Kat River valley, Eastern Cape, South Africa. Four major landscape components characterised the environment, namely dense forests, former grazing lands, abandoned fields and old settlements. A combination of qualitative and quantitative methods were adopted, consisting of a vegetation and soil survey and social science methods including semistructured interviews, focus groups, transect walks and participant observation. The key finding was that anthropogenic disturbance is necessary to enhance the potential of the area to support human habitation. However, anthropogenic disturbance can have positive or negative effects for both local people and the environment. An intermediate level of disturbance is a key factor leading to a resilient socio-ecological system. Various anthropogenic disturbances have had significant affects on vegetation characteristics in terms of species richness, and a change in vegetation composition and species heights. Of the three anthropogenic landscapes examined, former grazing lands were the least intensively disturbed. They were also more species rich and structurally diverse than areas that were under agricultural production or used as a settlement. Dense forests, although the least desirable landscape to local people were, together with sacred pools, sources of ecosystem renewal and played a critical role during times of disturbance. Anthropogenic disturbance has added value to local people's livelihoods; this disturbance has resulted in a patchy landscape that supplies a wide variety of resources to local people. Local people are dependent on their environment for their basic needs; this has encouraged sustainable management practices. The local AmaXhosa still retain many elements of their traditional worldview, which has many characteristics of Animism. The environment is an integral component of their belief system and certain sites and species have significant cultural value and are protected.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2005
- Authors: Fox, Helen Elizabeth
- Date: 2005
- Subjects: Human ecology -- South Africa -- Kat River Valley , Land use -- Environmental aspects-- South Africa -- Kat River Valley , Landscapes -- Social aspects -- South Africa -- Kat River Valley , Landscape ecology -- South Africa -- Kat River Valley , Vegetation and climate -- South Africa -- Kat River Valley , Xhosa (African people) -- Folklore , Kat River Valley (South Africa)
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MSc
- Identifier: vital:4772 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1008061 , Human ecology -- South Africa -- Kat River Valley , Land use -- Environmental aspects-- South Africa -- Kat River Valley , Landscapes -- Social aspects -- South Africa -- Kat River Valley , Landscape ecology -- South Africa -- Kat River Valley , Vegetation and climate -- South Africa -- Kat River Valley , Xhosa (African people) -- Folklore , Kat River Valley (South Africa)
- Description: The aim of this thesis is to examine the role of anthropogenic disturbance in the creation of a socio-ecological landscape. Three key questions were answered: what impact has past anthropogenic disturbance had on present vegetative characteristics; what value did this disturbed landscape have to local people; how did the local peoples' worldviews and eco-cosmologies influence how they perceived, valued and managed their landscape? Research was based in a rural, predominantly amaXhosa village in the Kat River valley, Eastern Cape, South Africa. Four major landscape components characterised the environment, namely dense forests, former grazing lands, abandoned fields and old settlements. A combination of qualitative and quantitative methods were adopted, consisting of a vegetation and soil survey and social science methods including semistructured interviews, focus groups, transect walks and participant observation. The key finding was that anthropogenic disturbance is necessary to enhance the potential of the area to support human habitation. However, anthropogenic disturbance can have positive or negative effects for both local people and the environment. An intermediate level of disturbance is a key factor leading to a resilient socio-ecological system. Various anthropogenic disturbances have had significant affects on vegetation characteristics in terms of species richness, and a change in vegetation composition and species heights. Of the three anthropogenic landscapes examined, former grazing lands were the least intensively disturbed. They were also more species rich and structurally diverse than areas that were under agricultural production or used as a settlement. Dense forests, although the least desirable landscape to local people were, together with sacred pools, sources of ecosystem renewal and played a critical role during times of disturbance. Anthropogenic disturbance has added value to local people's livelihoods; this disturbance has resulted in a patchy landscape that supplies a wide variety of resources to local people. Local people are dependent on their environment for their basic needs; this has encouraged sustainable management practices. The local AmaXhosa still retain many elements of their traditional worldview, which has many characteristics of Animism. The environment is an integral component of their belief system and certain sites and species have significant cultural value and are protected.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2005
Images of a changing frontier worldview in Eastern Cape art from Bushman rock art to 1875
- Authors: Cosser, Marijke
- Date: 1992
- Subjects: Art, San , Rock paintings -- South Africa , Art, South African -- 19th century , Art -- South Africa -- History , Painters -- South Africa
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:2400 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1002196 , Art, San , Rock paintings -- South Africa , Art, South African -- 19th century , Art -- South Africa -- History , Painters -- South Africa
- Description: A discussion of the concept of worldview shows that how an artist conceives the world in his images is governed by his worldview - an amalgam of the worldview of the group of which he is a part modified by his own ideas, beliefs, attitudes, perceptions and upbringing. The author proposes that studying an artist's work can reveal his, and hence his group's, worldview and thus the attitudes prevalent when the work was produced. A brief historical sketch of the Eastern Cape to 1834 introduces the various settlers in the area. Though no known examples of Black, Boer or Khoi pictorial art are extant, both the Bushmen and the British left such records. A short analysis of rock art shows how the worldview of the Bushman is inherent in their images which reflect man's world as seen with the "inner" eye of the spirit. In white settler art, the author submits that spatial relationships changed in response to a growing confidence as the "savage" land was "civilised" and that the position, pose and size of figures - and the inclusion or exclusion of certain groups - reflect socio-political changes. The two foremost nineteenth-century Eastern Cape artists, Thomas Baines and Frederick I'Ons, succeeded in capturing the atmosphere of Frontier life but are shown to interpret their surroundings through the rose-tinted spectacles of British Romanticism. They also reveal individuality in approach - Baines preferring expansive views while I'Ons's landscapes tend to be "closed-in", strictly following the coulisse scheme of Picturesque painting. Perhaps, the author postulates, such differences result from the very different environments, i.e. Norfolk and London, in which the two grew up. I'Ons is shown typically to use generalised landscapes as backdrops for his foreground figures, while comparing Baines's scenes with modern photographs shows that he adjusted the spacial elements of the topography as well as the temporal sequence of events to suit aesthetic considerations. Lithographed reports of his work contain even further adjustments. The author concludes that the use of Africana art as historical records must be treated with great caution.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 1992
- Authors: Cosser, Marijke
- Date: 1992
- Subjects: Art, San , Rock paintings -- South Africa , Art, South African -- 19th century , Art -- South Africa -- History , Painters -- South Africa
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:2400 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1002196 , Art, San , Rock paintings -- South Africa , Art, South African -- 19th century , Art -- South Africa -- History , Painters -- South Africa
- Description: A discussion of the concept of worldview shows that how an artist conceives the world in his images is governed by his worldview - an amalgam of the worldview of the group of which he is a part modified by his own ideas, beliefs, attitudes, perceptions and upbringing. The author proposes that studying an artist's work can reveal his, and hence his group's, worldview and thus the attitudes prevalent when the work was produced. A brief historical sketch of the Eastern Cape to 1834 introduces the various settlers in the area. Though no known examples of Black, Boer or Khoi pictorial art are extant, both the Bushmen and the British left such records. A short analysis of rock art shows how the worldview of the Bushman is inherent in their images which reflect man's world as seen with the "inner" eye of the spirit. In white settler art, the author submits that spatial relationships changed in response to a growing confidence as the "savage" land was "civilised" and that the position, pose and size of figures - and the inclusion or exclusion of certain groups - reflect socio-political changes. The two foremost nineteenth-century Eastern Cape artists, Thomas Baines and Frederick I'Ons, succeeded in capturing the atmosphere of Frontier life but are shown to interpret their surroundings through the rose-tinted spectacles of British Romanticism. They also reveal individuality in approach - Baines preferring expansive views while I'Ons's landscapes tend to be "closed-in", strictly following the coulisse scheme of Picturesque painting. Perhaps, the author postulates, such differences result from the very different environments, i.e. Norfolk and London, in which the two grew up. I'Ons is shown typically to use generalised landscapes as backdrops for his foreground figures, while comparing Baines's scenes with modern photographs shows that he adjusted the spacial elements of the topography as well as the temporal sequence of events to suit aesthetic considerations. Lithographed reports of his work contain even further adjustments. The author concludes that the use of Africana art as historical records must be treated with great caution.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 1992
The design of a brick factory at Swartkops, Port Elizabeth
- Authors: Birkholtz, Matthew Carl
- Date: 2017
- Subjects: Factories -- South Africa -- Port Elizabeth -- Designs and plans , Architecture, Industrial -- South Africa -- Port Elizabeth -- Designs and plans , Architecture, Modern -- 21st century
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10948/17866 , vital:28462
- Description: This treatise is preoccupied with the nature of industrial architecture and its impact on the landscape. The study is informed by the need for an ecocentric approach to the nature of cradle-to-grave modes of production (McDonough 2002) from the 1900s that contaminate the environment with the waste produced and through the ways in which raw materials are obtained for production. The project developed out of an interest in the effects of industry on the landscape, with the researcher initially identifying a type of industry, the way its processes are managed, and its effects on the environment. Clay brick manufacturing has been a local tradition for many years. Brick is one of the oldest construction materials, but the ways in which bricks are manufactured can be improved, particularly in terms of energy efficiency and the environmental impact of mining. The selection of a suitable site involved a study of the city of Port Elizabeth to identify a site that has been contaminated through industrial processing within a threatened critical biodiversity area on the periphery of the city. The EP Brick site in the Swartkops area met all the criteria for a suitable site and programme that can be managed by a system of phased planning over a period governed by the availability of clay material for brick making. Moreover, a common problem with the nature of the industrial landscape is the mono-functionality of industrial buildings that outlive their design intention and become vacant eyesores on the landscape, inevitably decaying over time due to the undesirable and costly implementation of reuse strategies. By 2017, the EP Brick yard had entered its third generation of family ownership, according to co-owner Billy Martin (2017). In addition, because the brickyard site contained only 35 years’ worth of clay within its boundaries at this time, the limited availability of resources encourages a building that is flexible in nature to allow the transformation of its programme and function. Due to the destructive nature of clay mining and the adjacent industrial Enviroserv waste management dumpsite, the site provides the opportunity for a building that is adaptive for future reuse, specifically from an ecosystemic brick factory to a waste management facility, to extend its lifespan and begin remediation of the waste dump site. The building will be designed with a system of impermanent and permanent structures to allow it to be demountable. The permanent structure will be left on the landscape to be reused once the building transforms. The transformed building on the remediated site will be presented to the public to be used for recreation and for the purchasing of biogas and recycled products from waste. Furthermore, the new energy-efficient brick factory strives to create a harmonious working environment for its staff, making use of natural light and air to invite nature indoors. It uses renewable energy sources to minimize its impact by excluding fossil fuels and national power, which supports its function as part of the ecosystem to provide remediation of the fractured landscape damaged by mining and waste disposal on the adjacent site. Creating a new model for the industrial typology within the precinct will establish ecocentric regulations that redefine industrial production and waste management techniques to alleviate the pressure on threatened critical biodiversity areas. This will encourage the implementation of similar regulations in surrounding factories.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2017
- Authors: Birkholtz, Matthew Carl
- Date: 2017
- Subjects: Factories -- South Africa -- Port Elizabeth -- Designs and plans , Architecture, Industrial -- South Africa -- Port Elizabeth -- Designs and plans , Architecture, Modern -- 21st century
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10948/17866 , vital:28462
- Description: This treatise is preoccupied with the nature of industrial architecture and its impact on the landscape. The study is informed by the need for an ecocentric approach to the nature of cradle-to-grave modes of production (McDonough 2002) from the 1900s that contaminate the environment with the waste produced and through the ways in which raw materials are obtained for production. The project developed out of an interest in the effects of industry on the landscape, with the researcher initially identifying a type of industry, the way its processes are managed, and its effects on the environment. Clay brick manufacturing has been a local tradition for many years. Brick is one of the oldest construction materials, but the ways in which bricks are manufactured can be improved, particularly in terms of energy efficiency and the environmental impact of mining. The selection of a suitable site involved a study of the city of Port Elizabeth to identify a site that has been contaminated through industrial processing within a threatened critical biodiversity area on the periphery of the city. The EP Brick site in the Swartkops area met all the criteria for a suitable site and programme that can be managed by a system of phased planning over a period governed by the availability of clay material for brick making. Moreover, a common problem with the nature of the industrial landscape is the mono-functionality of industrial buildings that outlive their design intention and become vacant eyesores on the landscape, inevitably decaying over time due to the undesirable and costly implementation of reuse strategies. By 2017, the EP Brick yard had entered its third generation of family ownership, according to co-owner Billy Martin (2017). In addition, because the brickyard site contained only 35 years’ worth of clay within its boundaries at this time, the limited availability of resources encourages a building that is flexible in nature to allow the transformation of its programme and function. Due to the destructive nature of clay mining and the adjacent industrial Enviroserv waste management dumpsite, the site provides the opportunity for a building that is adaptive for future reuse, specifically from an ecosystemic brick factory to a waste management facility, to extend its lifespan and begin remediation of the waste dump site. The building will be designed with a system of impermanent and permanent structures to allow it to be demountable. The permanent structure will be left on the landscape to be reused once the building transforms. The transformed building on the remediated site will be presented to the public to be used for recreation and for the purchasing of biogas and recycled products from waste. Furthermore, the new energy-efficient brick factory strives to create a harmonious working environment for its staff, making use of natural light and air to invite nature indoors. It uses renewable energy sources to minimize its impact by excluding fossil fuels and national power, which supports its function as part of the ecosystem to provide remediation of the fractured landscape damaged by mining and waste disposal on the adjacent site. Creating a new model for the industrial typology within the precinct will establish ecocentric regulations that redefine industrial production and waste management techniques to alleviate the pressure on threatened critical biodiversity areas. This will encourage the implementation of similar regulations in surrounding factories.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2017
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