Trynos Gumbo

This systematic review examines community-led water governance in Cape Town, South Africa, following the 2015-2018 "Day Zero" drought crisis. The analysis is grounded in political ecology, water justice theory, and collaborative governance theory, which together provide the conceptual framework for understanding how structural inequalities and power asymmetries shaped community-agency dynamics during the crisis. Despite constitutional mandates for public participation, the study finds that community engagement during the crisis was largely reactive and antagonistic, characterized by "invented" participation through protests and litigation, rather than the "invited" collaboration envisioned by law. Key community groups, such as the Western Cape Water Caucus and the Water Crisis Coalition, emerged to challenge inequitable water tariffs and failures in service delivery. The analysis identifies significant barriers to effective community-agency collaboration, including inequitable implementation of water restrictions, institutional disregard for community input, and the enduring legacy of apartheid-era spatial and social inequalities. The paper concludes that moving beyond a top-down, technocratic governance model is essential. It recommends formalizing community roles in water bylaws, reforming tariff structures for equity, and building community capacity to foster a sustainable, collaborative, and equitable water governance framework for Cape Town and other water-scarce regions.

Sustainable public transport in South Africa has become a policy priority over the past few decades. Safety is recognised as a fundamental component of this agenda. In many cities, public transport systems are often characterised by poor safety standards, which undermine ridership and public confidence. In the City of Polokwane, despite the successful recent completion of the first phase of Leeto La Polokwane bus system, an Intelligent Transportation System designed for sustainable transport management, the safety performance of the system and its subsequent influence on travel behaviour remain underexplored. This study addresses this gap by investigating the safety performance of the Leeto La Polokwane Phase 1A and its relationship with commuters’ sustainable travel mode choice. Commuter surveys (n = 344), field observations, and actual ridership data were used to collect data. Principal component analysis extracted two key factors (commuter safety and crime prevention), which together explained 63.14% of the total variance in commuters’ perceptions of safety. Commuters reported a neutral perception of commuter safety (mean = 4.03) and a negative perception of crime prevention (mean = 3.90). Multinomial logistic regression revealed that commuters’ perceptions of safety, particularly concerns related to crime prevention, were statistically significant predictors of sustainable travel mode choice. Multiple linear regression further showed that operational continuity and system maturation were positively associated with ridership growth, with operating days (β = 0.307, p = 0.044) and time in operation (β = 0.670, p < 0.001) emerging as significant predictors. Although taxi protests (β = −0.036, p = 0.804) and school holidays (β = −0.199, p = 0.181) were negatively correlated with ridership. The study concludes that safety is a critical determinant of sustainable public transport use that extends beyond the onboard environment to include the entire commuter journey. To improve public transport safety requires a holistic strategy that integrates safe pedestrian infrastructure, effective crime prevention, operational reliability, and strengthened institutional collaboration.

Urban parks are essential public spaces that promote social interaction, cultural expression, recreation, and ecological sustainability. However, many parks continue to face challenges such as inadequate infrastructure, homelessness, and safety concerns, limiting their ability to serve diverse urban communities effectively. This study examines Albert Park in Durban as a case study to explore its role as a multi-use public space. A qualitative case-study design was adopted, employing geo-spatial mapping, in-depth interviews, and structured observation schedules to examine patterns of park use, user experiences, and the spatial distribution of activities. The findings demonstrate Albert Park's dynamic multi-use character, accommodating a wide range of activities, including soccer matches, weddings, political campaigns, traditional ceremonies, and everyday recreation. The park supports diverse social and cultural practices, particularly on Sundays, when religious and recreational activities coexist. Despite infrastructural limitations, including inadequate restroom facilities, limited access to water, and insufficient shelter, the park continues to function as an inclusive public space serving multiple user groups. These findings highlight Albert Park's contribution to multicultural urban life and demonstrate the value of adopting a multi-use approach to public park planning and management. The study concludes that improving infrastructure, safety measures, and basic amenities, while recognising the multifunctional nature of urban parks, is essential for enhancing the inclusivity, accessibility, and long-term sustainability of urban parks.

A significant proportion of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions comes from transportation, particularly the burning of gasoline, diesel, and other petroleum-derived fuels. This chapter explores the climate change mitigation strategies that can be adopted to achieve a zero-net carbon environment. It was discovered that local initiatives that focus on improving transit service, providing affordable housing near employment areas and developing vacant urban land, can reduce GHG emissions by reducing the need for car use. In addition to this, urbanized areas also contribute to climate change through energy production. For instance, consumption accounts for about 87% of US GHG emissions, with the majority arising from electricity generation, industrial production, transportation, and waste in urban areas. This chapter proposes that one of the largest opportunities to reduce GHG emissions lies in urban sectors such as transportation, construction, and industry, which are major consumers of energy and emitters of GHGs. Hence, addressing industrial and transportation emissions can lead to co-benefits, including reductions in the urban heat island effect and improvements in air quality.

Amid increasing pressure on high-carbon industries and the growing commitment of stakeholders in the built environment to decarbonization and the reduction of climate-related externalities, adopting a credible and actionable net-zero strategy presents an effective risk management approach—particularly in the transport sector, one of the leading contributors to climate change. This chapter examines the various risks the transportation sector faces as a result of climate change and explores strategies for mitigating them. The findings identify two main categories of risk: Transition risks and physical risks. It further reveals that both adaptation and mitigation measures—such as resilience planning, urban environment redesign, development of climate-resilient infrastructure, and the implementation of restrictive public policies—are key strategies for managing transportation-related risks. Consequently, this chapter proposes that effective collaboration between government authorities and citizens is essential for achieving a sustainable, net-zero environment.

Citizen involvement, whether of a political or non-political nature, plays an important role in the concept of combating climate change. This chapter of the book underscores the substantial influence of public and community participation in ensuring that collective citizens’ and stakeholders’ decisions in climate change mitigation are very pivotal and cannot be overemphasized. It was discovered from this chapter that the impacts of climate change are experienced differently by various groups, depending on intersecting social factors such as gender, race, ethnicity, class, and disability. Hence, it is critical to ensure meaningful citizen engagement in climate policy processes, such that it reflects the needs and priorities of all groups in both policymaking and implementation. It was further noted that public engagement is crucial for driving progress in adaptation and mitigation strategies; thus, policies that address citizen involvement in the planning process of combating climate change externalities should be adopted by government at all levels.

The first chapter of this book tends to bring an understanding of the various definitions, concepts, evolution, characteristics, and various other aspects of construction management; transportation planning; and carbon emissions. These concepts are further explained in a more detailed context in other chapters of the book as they relate to construction, sustainable transportation planning, and carbonization. The chapter briefly explains sustainable construction and sustainable construction techniques. Furthermore, some terms are defined, and the relationship between sustainable construction and carbon emission is highlighted. Sustainable infrastructure management and some digital technologies in sustainable construction such as drones and robotics, digital twin, building information modelling (BIM), artificial intelligence, and machine learning are also discussed. Transportation planning and the relationship between transportation and carbon emissions are also highlighted in the book. The objective of the book is to explain why decarbonizing the environment is essential in sustainable construction. The chapter concludes with a summary of what has been discussed within the chapter. References are also listed for further reading.

The chapter examines the prospects and challenges of decarbonizing the built environment. It introduces decarbonization in the built environment and examines the four areas where decarbonization efforts should be focused. It further describes decarbonizing the construction process using the Avoid–Shift–Improve approach. Global climate policies and regulations, finance, technological innovations, public awareness, and market pressure are described as the drivers of decarbonization. Policies that aid decarbonization are also examined and discussed extensively to include economic policies, regulatory policies, technology-specific policy, information and education policies, and international cooperation and climate governance. The chapter concludes that decarbonization is an essential pathway to mitigate climate change and decarbonizing the built environment calls for continued strategic alliances between policy leaders, industry leaders, and technology developers.

The smart and sustainable city concept is being viewed as part of the urban future, integrating technological advances, multi-sectorial collaboration, and innovative open markets with strategic goals and ambitions to achieve sustainable urban development. Hence, there is a need for efficient transportation planning to ensure the achievement of a sustainable city with zero-net carbon emissions. This chapter explores the role transportation planning plays in achieving a zero-net carbon environment, and it was discovered that there is a nexus between the effects of the growth of the transportation sector on climate change. To achieve sustainable transportation development, there is a need to increase the safety of the transportation system for motorized and non-motorized users, to redesign streets and improve the management of public spaces, and to encourage the integration of all modes of transport/multimodal transport development, among other factors, to mitigate the negative externalities associated with climate change.

Sustainable Construction Management and Transportation Planning offers a comprehensive analysis of the prospects and challenges of decarbonizing the