The research focus of TRUST responds to Theme C2 of the national Global Change Research Plan, with a specific focus on the resilience of aspirational African cities as manifested in the Gauteng urban system with specific focus on the City of Tshwane. It is an inter- and transdisciplinary project that utilizes the combined skills of planning, evaluation, design thinking and ecological engineering in an iterative systems approach to: 1) develop an understanding of the social, technical, spatial and biophysical factors that would determine resilience within the various levels and scales of the urban social-ecological system comprising the study area; 2) to develop appropriate solutions (processes and methodologies) for the planning, design, construction and management of a resilient and regenerative built environment; and 3) to build national capacity in generating and applying knowledge on the new research area of resilience and regeneration of human settlements through increased post-graduate research outputs, and continued professional education.
Three streams form the basis for our research and inform each other while running concurrently. Stream one deals with understanding the application of resilience theory in urban social ecological systems. Stream two tackles the development of appropriate interventions, and stream three deals with ways in which we can change paradigms and mindsets in order to build capacities for cities to adapt to change.
This initiative is supported by the South African National Research Foundation through NRF Grant no 78649 awarded to the University of Pretoria, with Prof C. Cloete and Prof. C du Plessis from the Department of Construction Economics heading the research program and various projects.