Governing the Just Urban Transition
The Governing the Just Urban Transition project has been awarded an NRF grant under the Global Change Social Sciences Research Programme (2024-2026). The project is being led by the Politics and Urban Governance Research Group at the University of the Western Cape. The GCRO is a key partner on this project, along with academics from the University of Cambridge, Cardiff University, and the University of Sheffield.
The project is focused on the context where working towards a just transition in South Africa is complicated by the fact that many South Africans are already living in crisis. Those who live on the economic margins are vulnerable to “everyday crises” as they struggle to make ends meet. In order to find an effective and inclusive path forward, we must gain a nuanced understanding of people’s existing coping strategies and the political landscape on which they are built. Small business enterprises in low-income areas have the potential to create economic opportunities within areas with critical needs but are especially vulnerable to infrastructure and service interruptions and resource limits. There is currently a very limited understanding of how small businesses contribute to and are affected by the just transition within cities.
This interdisciplinary project focuses on the coping strategies that three types of businesses in low-income areas of Johannesburg and Cape Town use to secure water and energy, given increasing resource limits and sustainability transitions. Through qualitative and quantitative methods, we trace the resources and relationships in which they are embedded across the city and beyond. In doing so, we explore the mix of off-grid and on-grid technologies that entrepreneurs utilise to survive, as well as the broader networks and infrastructures in which these technologies are enmeshed. People’s inability to access water or electricity in a safe, reliable, and affordable manner is both a symptom and a trigger of the everyday crises mentioned above. In recent years, these struggles have been compounded by a national electricity crisis and regional water crises. By studying negotiated access to water and energy, we can better understand the opportunities for co-produced paths out of crisis towards an equitable, sustainable urban future. In doing so, we can help to understand how to facilitate a just urban transition in South African cities.
Outputs
Presentations
Samkelisiwe Khanyile (November 2024) ‘Quality of Life Insights on Water, Energy and Food in Gauteng’, Co-creation Workshop: Transforming the Water-Energy-Food Nexus in the Gauteng Province, Rosebank, 7 November 2024.
Media
Dr Samkelisiwe khanyile and Dr Mamokete Modiba were interviewed in Quote the Woman. Interviews accessible here.
Events
In October 2025, the project team held a Photovoice Exhibition in Sjwetla. The exhibition was in collaboration with the Wits CUBES.
In September, some project team members attended photogrammetry training hosted by the Wits Centre for Urbanism and Built Environment Studies (CUBES
Dr Samkelisiwe Khanyile attended the 7th Gauteng Environmental Research Symposium from 16 to 17 September 2025. She facilitated the Sustainability Energy Transitions theme panel discussion and workshop using the theory of change.
In July 2022, the project team held a photovoice workshop in Stjwetla, with the Khayelitsha photovoice workshop only taking place later in the year.
In April 2025, the project team had a fieldwork planning workshop at the University of the Western Cape.
The project co-hosted an online Knowledge Exchange Event on Off-Grid Cities and the Governance of the Just Urban Transition on Monday, 22 July 2024. The webinar was convened by the South African Cities Network (SACN), in collaboration with the University of the Western Cape (UWC) and the Gauteng City-Region Observatory (GCRO).
The webinar included presentations by Christina Culwick Fatti (UWC, and GCRO Research Associate) on the Off-grid Cities project and Fiona Anciano (UWC) on the SACN report, 'Governance of the Just Urban Transition'. This was followed by a panel discussion with Dhesigen Naidoo (Presidential Climate Commission), Tracy Ledger (Public Affairs Research Institute) and Anthea Stephens (City Support Programme, National Treasury), as well as City responses from Cape Town, Ekurhuleni and Johannesburg. The GCRO's Samkelisiwe Khanyile moderated the session, and SACN's Danga Mughogho gave opening and closing remarks.
Last updated: 22 May 2026