Mark Swilling
Biographic Data
| ID | 1249862 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Mark Swilling |
| GIVEN NAMES | Mark |
| FAMILY NAME | Swilling |
| SIGNATURE | SWILLING M |
| AFFILIATIONS | Stellenbosch University |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-1059-6202 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 43 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 364 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 40 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 3 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 1985 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2025 |
| H-INDEX | 7 |
Sustainability and the science–policy–practice interface
Addressing societal challenges such as climate change requires researchers to produce policy-relevant knowledge and the government actors to shift policies towards sustainable practices. This paper aims to contribute to a better understanding of the role and methodological stances of embedded researchers. Drawing from the broader literature on participant-observer and embedded research, this study examines the contribution of a completely embedde…
State, Resistance and Change in South Africa
Politiques de la trahison
Linking the energy transition and economic development
Anatomy of State Capture
Following the release of the Public Protector’s State of Capture Report in November 2016, South Africans have been witness to an explosion of almost daily revelations of corruption, mismanagement and abuses by those entrusted to lead the nation. The extent of this betrayal is overwhelming and it is often difficult to distil what actually happened during the Zuma administration. This book draws on the insights and expertise of 19 contributors from…
Taking energy democracy to the streets
Working to align energy transitions and social equity
Recent academic evidence suggests that, in contrast to what is often thought, the introduction of renewable energy infrastructures often leads to negative, not positive, social equity outcomes. Against this background, this paper aims to develop and empirically illustrate an integrative framework for analysing the work – or ‘agency’ – exercised by actors operating within and across different global contexts to align renewable energy and social eq…
Understanding Living Conditions and Deprivation in Informal Settlements of Kisumu, Kenya
Informal settlements are a common occurrence in developing countries. Each settlement, however, has unique living conditions which require improvement efforts that are specifically tailored to the settlement. This study, carried out in Kisumu’s informal settlements, had two aims: to describe living conditions and to propose areas of improvement within the settlements. The study adopted two approaches: the living conditions framework and the multi…
The Age of Sustainability
The Age of Sustainability is an outstanding book. Intellectually rich but above all courageous, tapping into the author's own years of personal experience, combining scholarship and hands-on practical involvement. Swilling argues deliberative democracy won't do. We will need to tap into 'thymotic rage' aligning the feminine principle of care with energy to really change our deeply unsustainable practices
Exploring hybrid models for universal access to basic solar energy services in informal settlements
The guiding logics and principles for designing emergent transdisciplinary research processes
Governance of urban transitions
The transition to sustainable resource efficient cities calls for new governance arrangements. The awareness that the doubling of the global urban population will result in unsustainable levels of demand for natural resources requires changes in the existing socio-technical systems. Domestic material consumption could go up from 40 billion tons in 2010, to 89 billion tons by 2050. While there are a number of socio-technical alternatives that coul…
Estimating the Cost and Payment for Sanitation in the Informal Settlements of Kisumu, Kenya
Lack of sanitation facilities is a common occurrence in informal settlements that are common in most developing countries. One challenge with sanitation provision in these settlements is the cost and financing of sanitation. This study aimed at estimating the cost of sanitation, and investigating the social and economic dynamics within Kisumu's informal settlements that hinder provision and uptake of sanitation facilities. Primary data was collec…
Determinants of quality of shared sanitation facilities in informal settlements
Apart from hardware factors, quality of shared sanitation is largely due to group behaviour of users. The CPR principles form a crucial lens through which the dynamics of shared sanitation facilities in informal settlements can be understood. Development and policy efforts should incorporate group behaviour as they determine the quality of shared sanitation facilities
Towards new configurations of urban energy governance in South Africa’s Renewable Energy Procurement Programme
Sustainability science for meeting Africa’s challenges
Reflections on the New Urban Agenda
Developmental States and Sustainability Transitions
Since the onset of the global economic crisis in 2007/2008 two key trends have made it necessary to reconceptualize the relationship between development and sustainability: the rapid rise of the so-called ‘BRICS’ and the emergence of the green economy discourse and now since 2015 the adoption of the Sustainable Development Goals. To address this challenge with respect to developing economies in the global South, this paper endeavours to fuse the …
Sustainability science for meeting Africa’s challenges
Africa's game changers and the catalysts of social and system innovation
It is widely recognized that many African economies are being transformed by rapid economic growth driven largely by rising demand for the abundant natural resources scattered across the African continent. I critically review the mainstream gamechanging dynamics driving this process, with special reference to a set of influential policy-oriented documents. This is followed by an analysis of less-recognized game-changing dynamics that have, in tur…
Peak Oil as a stimulus for a green economy transition in South Africa
While the arguments in favour of a green economy often rest on the need to reduce environmental damage, mitigate climate change and create environmentally friendly jobs, this article argues that the inevitable and possibly imminent peak and decline in world oil production provides another strong rationale for green economy policies and investments in South Africa. The South African economy has a high degree of reliance on imported petroleum fuels…
Contesting inclusive urbanism in a divided city
The struggles to define and implement an inclusive non-racial urbanism in South Africa after democratisation in 1994 occurred during the heyday of world-wide diffusion of unevenly developed neoliberalisation processes. This case study of the complexities of transforming Cape Town’s energy sector analyses the consequences of these contradictory trajectories by tracking the dynamics of four urbanism typologies: inclusive, splintered, green and slum…
Valuing green infrastructure in an urban environment under pressure — The Johannesburg case
Economic crisis, long waves and the sustainability transition
Sustainable Stellenbosch
Transdisciplinary research in sustainability science
Economic crisis, long waves and the sustainability transition
The guiding logics and principles for designing emergent transdisciplinary research processes
Working to align energy transitions and social equity
Recent academic evidence suggests that, in contrast to what is often thought, the introduction of renewable energy infrastructures often leads to negative, not positive, social equity outcomes. Against this background, this paper aims to develop and empirically illustrate an integrative framework for analysing the work – or ‘agency’ – exercised by actors operating within and across different global contexts to align renewable energy and social eq…
Sustainability, poverty and municipal services
Although many global policies refer to the need to reconcile growth, equity and sustainability, there is little that demonstrates what this entails, especially in fast growing developing countries. The sustainable cities literature focuses on environmental constraints, and the institutional economics literature on governance. The aim of this paper is to provide a conceptual synthesis that makes it possible to understand the complex dynamics of te…
Sustainability and infrastructure planning in South Africa
This paper highlights the importance of considering ecological sustainability issues in any city's infrastructure plans and investments. It reviews the South African government's current and planned investment in urban infrastructure, both to enhance economic growth and to contribute to poverty reduction, and what this implies for Cape Town. It highlights the lack of attention given to ecological issues and the dangers of assuming that the resour…
Exploring hybrid models for universal access to basic solar energy services in informal settlements
Reconceptualising urbanism, ecology and networked infrastructures
There is increasing consensus that the existing system of production and consumption is ecologically unsustainable and inequitable. The global economy depends on the use of 60 billion tons of material resources and 500 exajoules of energy annually. It is these flows that are responsible for resource depletion, negative environmental impacts and social injustice in many developing countries where these resources are extracted. However, the bulk of…
The Apartheid City and the Politics of Bus Transportation
J. J. McCarthy & M. Swilling - L'apartheid urbain et la politique des transports en commun. Cet article examine l'histoire des systèmes de transport semi-publics sud-africains et le réseau de contradictions qui sont à l'origine de la Commission d'enquête Welgemoed sur les services d'autobus réservés aux Noirs. Les mesures prises par l'Etat à la suite de cette commission sont analysées dans le contexte de la politisation croissante du problème des…
Linking the energy transition and economic development
Building sustainable neighbourhoods in South Africa
Urban development strategies that aim to eradicate poverty will only be successful if these strategies include ecological sustainability criteria relating to sanitation, solid waste removal, energy, building materials and food security. (1) This paper uses the Lynedoch EcoVillage development in Stellenbosch (near Cape Town) to demonstrate that this can result in a balance between growth, equity and sustainability without any one of these criteria…
Towards new configurations of urban energy governance in South Africa’s Renewable Energy Procurement Programme
Contesting inclusive urbanism in a divided city
The struggles to define and implement an inclusive non-racial urbanism in South Africa after democratisation in 1994 occurred during the heyday of world-wide diffusion of unevenly developed neoliberalisation processes. This case study of the complexities of transforming Cape Town’s energy sector analyses the consequences of these contradictory trajectories by tracking the dynamics of four urbanism typologies: inclusive, splintered, green and slum…
Taking energy democracy to the streets
Urban Social Movements under Apartheid
M. Swilling - Les mouvements sociaux urbains et l'apartheid. Analyse de la relation entre les contradictions inhérentes au système d'apartheid urbain et les mouvements sociaux urbains apparus pour contester ce système. Il s'agit de montrer que, même s'il existe des conditions structurelles, d'importantes déterminations idéologiques et organisationnelles ont, au niveau régional, des conséquences différentes sur la contestation. La démonstration se…
Sustainability science for meeting Africa’s challenges
Reflections on the New Urban Agenda
Sustainability science for meeting Africa’s challenges
Urban Social Movements under Apartheid
M. Swilling - Les mouvements sociaux urbains et l'apartheid. Analyse de la relation entre les contradictions inhérentes au système d'apartheid urbain et les mouvements sociaux urbains apparus pour contester ce système. Il s'agit de montrer que, même s'il existe des conditions structurelles, d'importantes déterminations idéologiques et organisationnelles ont, au niveau régional, des conséquences différentes sur la contestation. La démonstration se…
The Apartheid City and the Politics of Bus Transportation
J. J. McCarthy & M. Swilling - L'apartheid urbain et la politique des transports en commun. Cet article examine l'histoire des systèmes de transport semi-publics sud-africains et le réseau de contradictions qui sont à l'origine de la Commission d'enquête Welgemoed sur les services d'autobus réservés aux Noirs. Les mesures prises par l'Etat à la suite de cette commission sont analysées dans le contexte de la politisation croissante du problème des…
Living in the interregnum
(1987). Living in the interregnum: Crisis, reform and the socialist alternative in South Africa. Third World Quarterly: Vol. 9, No. 2, pp. 408-436
La réforme régionale comme stratégie économique et politique
South Africa's regional political economy : a critical analysis of reform strategy in the 1980's. The authors develop a critical analysis of the emerging reformist regional strategy of the South African government. New controls on labour movement and settlements (termed «orderly urbanization»), regional development policies, through die creation of déconcentration points and industrial development points, and local and second tier of government r…
Deracialised urbanisation
Enabling institutions for development during the transition in South Africa
World Bank financing for urban development
Civic associations in South Africa
Peace, reconstruction and the project cycle in urban development projects
Oilspots, oases, voices and scorpions whither development struggles
Response to government's draft urban development strategy document
Sustainability and infrastructure planning in South Africa
This paper highlights the importance of considering ecological sustainability issues in any city's infrastructure plans and investments. It reviews the South African government's current and planned investment in urban infrastructure, both to enhance economic growth and to contribute to poverty reduction, and what this implies for Cape Town. It highlights the lack of attention given to ecological issues and the dangers of assuming that the resour…
Building sustainable neighbourhoods in South Africa
Urban development strategies that aim to eradicate poverty will only be successful if these strategies include ecological sustainability criteria relating to sanitation, solid waste removal, energy, building materials and food security. (1) This paper uses the Lynedoch EcoVillage development in Stellenbosch (near Cape Town) to demonstrate that this can result in a balance between growth, equity and sustainability without any one of these criteria…
Environment, Sustainable Resource Use and the Cape Town Functional Region – An Overview
Sustainability, poverty and municipal services
Although many global policies refer to the need to reconcile growth, equity and sustainability, there is little that demonstrates what this entails, especially in fast growing developing countries. The sustainable cities literature focuses on environmental constraints, and the institutional economics literature on governance. The aim of this paper is to provide a conceptual synthesis that makes it possible to understand the complex dynamics of te…
Reconceptualising urbanism, ecology and networked infrastructures
There is increasing consensus that the existing system of production and consumption is ecologically unsustainable and inequitable. The global economy depends on the use of 60 billion tons of material resources and 500 exajoules of energy annually. It is these flows that are responsible for resource depletion, negative environmental impacts and social injustice in many developing countries where these resources are extracted. However, the bulk of…
Sustainable Stellenbosch
Reshaping Urban Infrastructure
Urban policy makers and researchers consistently recognize the challenge of more effectively reshaping the linkages between cities, urban infrastructure, ecosystem services, and natural resources. The aim of this article is to consider the potential value of developing connections between two currently disconnected approaches to resource use and cities—material flow analysis (MFA) and transitions analysis (TA). This article attempts to address th…
Transdisciplinary research in sustainability science
Valuing green infrastructure in an urban environment under pressure — The Johannesburg case
Economic crisis, long waves and the sustainability transition
Peak Oil as a stimulus for a green economy transition in South Africa
While the arguments in favour of a green economy often rest on the need to reduce environmental damage, mitigate climate change and create environmentally friendly jobs, this article argues that the inevitable and possibly imminent peak and decline in world oil production provides another strong rationale for green economy policies and investments in South Africa. The South African economy has a high degree of reliance on imported petroleum fuels…
Contesting inclusive urbanism in a divided city
The struggles to define and implement an inclusive non-racial urbanism in South Africa after democratisation in 1994 occurred during the heyday of world-wide diffusion of unevenly developed neoliberalisation processes. This case study of the complexities of transforming Cape Town’s energy sector analyses the consequences of these contradictory trajectories by tracking the dynamics of four urbanism typologies: inclusive, splintered, green and slum…
Developmental States and Sustainability Transitions
Since the onset of the global economic crisis in 2007/2008 two key trends have made it necessary to reconceptualize the relationship between development and sustainability: the rapid rise of the so-called ‘BRICS’ and the emergence of the green economy discourse and now since 2015 the adoption of the Sustainable Development Goals. To address this challenge with respect to developing economies in the global South, this paper endeavours to fuse the …
Sustainability science for meeting Africa’s challenges
Political science (30 works) · Economics (28 works) · Geography (26 works) · Economic growth (19 works) · Engineering (16 works) · Business (15 works) · Sustainability (15 works) · Environmental planning (14 works) · Sociology (14 works) · Urban and Rural Development Challenges (14 works)