Project Funders

  • Funded under the 2020 South African / German Collaborative Research Programme (SAG CORE)
  • On ‘The Interface between Global Change and Social Sciences – post COVID-19’
  • Conceptualized by The South African Department of Science and Innovation (DSI) and the National Research Foundation (NRF) in partnership with the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF), represented by the DLR Project Management Agency (DLR-PT)
  • For adding to the T2S Research Programme of NORFACE and Belmont Forum
  • Focusing on ‘Well-being, quality of life, identity, and social and cultural values in relation to transformations to sustainability – post-COVID-19’ (theme c of the call).

 

Abstract

The move to South Africa’s urban areas happens faster than settlements can be planned and provided with infrastructure. Livelihood strategies in these peri-urban contexts are threatened by rapid spatial and social transformations. Additionally, climate change impacts lead to declining natural resources and challenging conditions for smallholder farming, increasing the vulnerability of these communities. The precarious nature of their livelihood strategies makes residents susceptible to unexpected changes, starkly demonstrated by the COVID-19 pandemic. There is increased awareness of the vulnerability of people dependent on land-based livelihoods, and the precariousness of vulnerable communities, especially women, trapped within these socio-ecological systems is often overlooked. To fully understand peri-urban developments, one has to also consider the mental life of inhabitants, more and women’s perceptions are the focal point of our research.

Instead of studying spatial change explained by infrastructure development and land use change (outer dimension), we put perceptions (inner dimension) into the foreground, i.e. our research is guided by women’s sense of place, how it impacts on their identity and the place values they assign. Based on knowledge coproduced with women and local stakeholders, we jointly rethink and re-imagine women’s roles in peri-urban place shaping, codesign possible futures and determine viable transformative pathways. We follow an integrated, inter- and transdisciplinary approach that combines the spatial, quantitative and qualitative data analysis with design science. Each of the four postgraduate projects focuses on a different aspect of the inner/outer dimension, however, the topics are connected to each other and strategies for integrating results and codesigning spatially-explicit future trajectories are followed.

Background / setting

SDG 11 articulates urbanization as a transformative force and suggests that cities take the lead in addressing this global challenge by contributing to higher levels of urban resilience. This approach will require a level of synergy between developments in the urban core and its peri-urban landscapes. It is particularly challenging for South Africa where people are moving into peri-urban areas at a fast pace, hoping to get access to public services. The move to peri-urban areas happens faster than settlements can be planned and provided with infrastructure. Such dramatic urbanization is also taking place in small towns of former South African homelands, such as the town of Mankweng in the Limpopo province.

Increasing population densities in environmentally marginal areas encourage people to diversify and reconfigure their livelihood strategies. As a result, people in these peri-urban areas find themselves in competitive or even conflicting situations with local communities that are constantly in flux, all of them struggling to sustain their livelihoods on limited resources. Livelihood strategies within these contexts are thus often threatened by rapid spatial and social transformations placing the future survival of residents at risk. Additionally, the impacts of climate change are leading to a decline in natural resource availability and challenging conditions for smallholder farming, increasing the vulnerability of these communities. The precarious nature of the livelihood strategies of these communities makes them highly susceptible to unexpected changes, a fact that became starkly evident during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Challenges related to hunger, poverty, unemployment and social injustice were amplified by the lockdown regulations during the pandemic, with gender-based violence, surging during these times and dubbed South Africa’s second pandemic. The result is a heightened sense of awareness about the vulnerability of people dependent on land-based livelihoods and natural resources within the socio-ecological context. The precariousness of vulnerable communities, especially women, trapped within these socio-ecological systems is often overlooked. All of this calls for research that contributes to an increased level of preparedness and adaptiveness to changes in a post-COVID-19 context.

Impacts of the pandemic to date present an opportunity to learn from the crisis. Instead of studying spatial change explained predominantly by infrastructure development and land use change (part of the outer dimension), we want to put perceptions into the foreground, i.e. let our research be guided by women’s sense of place, how it impacts on their identity and the place values they assign (the inner dimension).

Research questions

The overarching research question can be unpacked by six more specific research questions:

How can women’s perceptions of place dynamics help in fostering women’s agency towards an active place-shaping of peri-urban settlements to accelerate transitioning to more sustainable livelihoods in a post-COVID-19 society?

1. What constitutes peri-urban placemaking in the study area and how does it provide for sustainable livelihoods (focusing on small-hold subsistence)?

2. What are the drivers of place dynamics in the study area with special consideration for women’s land use, access and control (as the ‘outer dimensions’)?

3. How influential are the ‘inner dimensions’ of women’s perceptions on decisions in their daily lives about sustaining livelihoods in the study area?

4. Have the perceptions of the various actors in the study area changed due to the disruptive impacts of COVID-19?

5. Based on a spatially explicit livelihood typology and a model of place relations for the study area (both derived from the coproduced interdisciplinary information), which of the codesigned simulations of possible futures are sustainable?

6. Guided by the coproduced knowledge and codesigned possible futures, which transformation pathways are considered viable to foster women’s agency towards an active place shaping for post-COVID-19 society in the study area?

Research focus

A unique characteristic of the proposed study lies in linking women and place (geography) in several aspects of the research, namely: researcher, research object and research impact. In this way the project strives to build and create actionable knowledge to contribute to a more comprehensive strategy for empowering women and girls (SDG 5) by engaging them with the following research priorities and related needs in South Africa:

  • Sustainable livelihoods in peri-urban areas by studying a) the dynamics of place, land use, accessibility and addressing with b) a focus on women’s perceptions of place, place values and their role in place shaping
  • The impact of COVID-19 on vulnerable groups of society, namely, women in communities in transition, by documenting their perceptions about the changes.
  • Developing pathways for a sustainable societal transformation post COVID-19 through spatially-explicit scenario simulations based on the variety of information gathered in the field and codesign during stakeholder workshops.

Study area    

In the former apartheid-era homelands of South Africa, the quest for services and infrastructure provision has caused dramatic urbanization in places such as Mankweng in the Limpopo province. Focusing on such a small and medium-sized town presents the opportunity for early intervention. We plan to build on the already existing change narrative for Mankweng and its surroundings,

which reveals South Africa’s continuing challenge to recover from apartheid. Post-apartheid, the rapid growth of residential sites around Mankweng can be attributed, in part, to the contest between local chiefs and the local council for authority over land immediately surrounding the town. Post-apartheid land-based activities in deep rural areas were and still are being abandoned for access to services in peri-urban areas, thus leading to increased vulnerability due to decreased livelihood diversity and the strong need for a participatory imagining of alternatives to sustain livelihoods. Research on community-based organizations aimed at social and economic empowerment through communal projects revealed no significant material benefit to women participating in Communal Property Associations (CPAs) and Community Producer Groups (CPGs). Mankweng and its surroundings therefore provide an interesting setting for studying how women’s perceptions, i.e. sense of place and place values, drive local place dynamics.

It is here that we will establish a ‘living lab’. A single case study will allow us to achieve first-level transformation through extended embeddedness in the study area, increasing the potential for more concrete and place relevant outcomes. The ‘living lab’ approach will enable us to facilitate change through an enduring experimental space for the co-production of knowledge and solutions. ‘Living lab’ encounters will provide opportunities to reflect and share experiences about pressures of sustaining livelihoods in increasingly challenging situations due to climate change and unexpected shocks, such as COVID-19 in 2020.


The WoPedyP Research Team

The team consists mainly of female scientists from Germany and South Africa. The interdisciplinary focus is on geo(infor)matics and human geography / social sciences. Project coordination is shared by one principal investigator from South Africa and one from Germany:

Gertrud Schaab (gertrud.schaab@h-ka.de)
Karlsruhe University of Applied Sciences – HKA, Germany
Faculty of Information Management and Media
Geoinformation scientist – cartography and remote sensing
Expertise: remote sensing-based land use change/cover analysis, upscaling of field findings & scenario simulation; communication of research results
Serena Coetzee (serena.coetzee@up.ac.za)
University of Pretoria – UP, South Africa
Department of Geography, Geoinformatics and Meteorology
Geoinformation and computer scientist
Expertise: geoinformatics, addressing, spatial data infrastructures, open principles

The team and expertise are further complemented by a geographer from UP to be introduced to international project management, scientists from the historically disadvantaged university located in the study area, and a local NPO representative with experience in engaging women:

Nerhene C. Davis (nerhene.davis@up.ac.za)
University of Pretoria – UP, South Africa
Department of Geography, Geoinformatics and Meteorology
Human geographer / social scientist
Expertise: sustainable livelihoods with a focus on gender questions
Marubini Ramudzuli (marubini.ramudzuli@ul.ac.za)
University of Limpopo – UL, South Africa
Department of Geography and Environmental Studies
Geographer
Expertise: sustainable livelihoods, resource perception and management, Mankweng study area
Izelque Botha (izelque.botha@ul.ac.za)
University of Limpopo – UL, South Africa
Department of Geography and Environmental Studies
Social scientist
Expertise: environmental / climate change and perception
Esther Mmasetepa Masekoameng (wecanwomen2018@gmail.com)
We Can Women Development Centre
Ramogale Village – Ga-Mothapo, Polokwane, South Africa
Founder and director of “We Can Women”
Expertise: working with and involving women in Mankweng

The team is rounded off by four female postgraduate students. They are jointly supervised to benefit from the available interdisciplinary expertise on the project.


Postgraduate Training and Capacity Building

Our integrated, inter-and transdisciplinary project builds specifically on combining the spatial, quantitative and qualitative data analysis approach with design science. In order to be successful, multiple methods are applied:

participatory mapping, mobile map apps, household surveys, focus group discussions, expert interviews, multivariate statistics, narrative analysis, conceptual modelling, remote sensing (object- and pixel-based), geospatial multi-criteria analysis, Web GIS (for data integration and communication), web mapping and VR/AR (for visualization). We consider the participatory use of tools for mapping, accessing and communicating results as a means of contributing to innovation in the area.

Training postgraduate students (3 PhD, 1 Master’s) in applying scientific methods and a mix of technologies is a major capacity-building aspect of the project.
While each work focuses on a different aspect of the inner/outer dimension, the topics are connected and strategies are adopted for integrating results and codesigning spatially-explicit future trajectories.

Azile Mdleleni (azile.mdleleni@tuks.co.za)
University of Pretoria – UP, South Africa
Department of Geography, Geoinformatics and Meteorology
Research focus: Accessibility and addressing (outer dimension)
Yajna Sewmohan (ysewmohan@gmail.com)
University of Pretoria – UP, South Africa
Centre for Envrionmental Studies (CFES)
Research focus: Women’s place perceptions, i.e. sense of place and place values (inner dimension)
Deepthi Patric (deepthi_jeslet.patric@h-ka.de)
Karlsruhe University of Applied Sciences – HKA, Germany
Faculty of Information Management and Media
Research focus: Land use/cover (LUC) and livelihood typology/scenarios (outer dimension)
Melon Selly Matcheke (ubilatem6@gmail.com)
University of Limpopo – UL, South Africa
Department of Geography and Environmental Studies
Research focus: Understanding livelihood dynamics (inner dimension)

The postgraduate candidates get the opportunity of 3- to 6-month research stays at the respective partner universities, HKA and UP.

The mentoring of Nerhene Davis regarding international project management also includes a stay at the German partner institution. It coincides with a scientific workshop at HKA to which the project partners will invite German researchers and implementers for an exchange on approaches and experiences of transformation research, as well as a discussion and comparison of post-COVID-19 perceptions in South Africa and Germany.

Local stakeholder involvement

A range of stakeholder activities and workshops are planned in the ‘living lab’ of Mankweng. With the help of the NPO project partner, We Can Women, we involve locally based women in our data collection activities. For that the local (Black) women are trained and are thus part of the coproduction of knowledge. The women in the local community, together with other local stakeholders and decision makers, will also participate in stakeholder workshops on codesigning possible futures.

Through science engagement, the reach of our research impact is extended by sharing reflections, experiences and geoinformation-driven future scenario development to a wider non-academic audience. We also plan to visit local schools and inform them about our project and related study opportunities and careers.

We plan to engage the local stakeholders to participate in the project, such as the Polokwane Municipality, Limpopo Provincial Government departments, Tribal authorities in Mankweng and surroundings, and other non-government and/or non-profit organizations working in the area.

Through science engagement, the reach of our research impact is extended by sharing reflections, experiences and geoinformation-driven future scenario development to a wider non-academic audience. We also plan to visit local schools and inform them about our project and related study opportunities and careers.

Here, bottom-up stakeholder involvement helps political and societal implementation, while the women are enabled and empowered to engage in similar activities for solution finding in future.


Work Plan

The first 2 months of the project are used to organize stakeholder support and participation in the Mankweng study area. The last 10 months of the project are dedicated to showcasing project results and sustaining the continuation of the ‘living lab’ efforts. The four postgraduate students will commence with their research after the initial project preparations and run over three years, which includes research stays at the partner universities. The research work is structured into six work packages (WP):

WP 1 Coproduction of knowledge by involving female community members in data collection at study sites: collecting data to enable an understanding of women’s sense of place and place values, and how these are formed by the characteristics of the place.

WP 2 Revealing patterns in place characteristics and in women’s sense of place and place values: building on the data gathered in the field (WP 1); determining place characteristics and understanding place values; to infer on placemaking/transition.

WP 3 Connecting women’s sense of place and place values to the physical place: building on the analysed remote-sensing and field data of WP 2; connecting what the women think/perceive (inner dimension) and real-life/the place (outer dimension) to understand what influences place-shaping.

WP 4 Codesigning possible futures of place-focused peri-urban livelihoods: informed by under­standing, i.e. WP 3 livelihood typology, conceptual model on place relationships, addressing and accessibility options; working with the local stakeholders – bottom-up.

WP 5 Scenario simulation based on place values and sustainability assessment: translating the codesign results of WP4 into spatial datasets.

WP 6 Developing transformation pathways for sustainable peri-urban livelihoods: further empowering women and influencing decision making; sharing the knowledge required (WP 5) to support sustainability transformation in a post-COVID-19 society; facilitating the transformative impact of research results.


Outcomes and Impact

A consequence of following an approach of coproduction of knowledge embodies the building of bridges between various stakeholders, such as NPOs and the municipality, resulting in increased societal impact of the research results and will facilitate political and societal implementation. Through establishing a ‘living lab’ as a social learning system we will be able to showcase the value of geoinformation in integrated, inter- and transdisciplinary research on peri-urban land use dynamics and for later implementation of the jointly developed transformation pathways based on spatial scenario simulations.

Using state of the art geoinformation science and technologies provides more and more opportunities for empowering non-specialists and also the less-educated. Demonstrating participative use and application of such tools will lead to buy-in of the transformation pathways and indirectly, to more sustainable livelihoods in peri-urban areas. The latter will largely benefit from understanding women’s changing gender roles and their perception of COVID-19 impacts, thus making it possible to simulate possible futures. By making our approaches visible and by communicating our results, other peri-urban areas in former homelands of Limpopo and the rest of South Africa, which are similarly challenged by the need for sustainable transformation, can learn from successes and pitfalls and therefore adopt or adapt our tested strategies.

Outlook

The close cooperation and experiences with the ‘living lab’ in Mankweng offer the potential not only for a long-term cooperation of the project partners and on site, but also with regard to an expansion of the activities into other areas of Africa.

A transect of ‘living labs’ is anticipated from Southern to Eastern Africa. Common to all study sites is the pressure on sustaining livelihoods due to urbanization, population growth and climate change impacts. They also form a gradient through which commonalities and differences can be investigated across agroclimatic zones (semi-arid – sub-humid) and different land residence practices (patrilocal – matrilocal), and through which learning from one another can take place.