Urmilla Bob
Biographic Data
| ID | 1901583 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Urmilla Bob |
| GIVEN NAMES | Urmilla |
| FAMILY NAME | Bob |
| SIGNATURE | BOB U |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of KwaZulu-Natal |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-4256-2488 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 27 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 29 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 27 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2002 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2025 |
| H-INDEX | 3 |
The extent of awareness and degree of contributions of socio-community features to changing climate and its variability in Lagos Mega-city, Nigeria
The features of changing climate and its variability are becoming increasingly evident in different parts of the world. Lagos Mega-city in Nigeria is not an exception. Thereby, this study engaged both quantitative and qualitative surveys to examine the features of changing climate and its variability through the perception of the respondents in Lagos Mega-city, Nigeria. The research acquired data on the extent of the awareness and degree of contr…
An Assessment of Coastal and Marine Tourism Beach Sites in Kwazulu-Natal Province, South Africa
Coastal and Marine Tourism (CMT) is the main sub-sector of tourism and has substantial socio-economic and environmental importance. Specifically, CMT is a key economic contributor, as well as creating opportunities for social, recreational and leisure experiences and promoting conservation and environmental awareness concerning coastal and marine natural resources. However, there are increasing demands on CMT locations, including increases in vis…
Covid-19 impacts on nature-based tourism-dependent small towns
Africa’s conservation areas are world-renowned, contributing to local and regional livelihoods. The town of St Lucia is located in the isiMangaliso Wetland Park (KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa) is an example of a location that is dependent on nature-based tourism. There is limited research concerning the impacts that COVID-19 has on businesses and livelihoods in smaller towns. An examination of the literature and primary data collection (specificall…
Understanding changing patterns in travel behaviour to support domestic tourism recovery and resilience
The COVID-19 pandemic has severely impacted the tourism sector, disrupting travel and centralising a shift towards domestic tourism. This study examines the changing preferences and demands of travellers to promote the recovery and sustainability of domestic tourism. The research conducted 1 034 online surveys with the general public to analyse their travel behaviours and preferences concerning domestic tourism activities willing to participate i…
‘A creeping phenomenon’
The effects of rainfall variability and droughts on food production are well established. However, in South Africa, the association between rainfall, droughts and household food insecurity is not well known. The aim of this paper was to measure and compare household food insecurity during and after a drought, and to assess the association between rainfall and food insecurity. Using a comparative study design, two cross-sectional household surveys…
Coping through a drought
Objective: To assess and compare the association between household food insecurity and child nutritional status over two time-points taking into consideration the effects of a severe drought. Design: The study used two cross-sectional household surveys during and after a severe drought, consistent with a natural experiment design. Setting: The study took place in the district of iLembe, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. Participants: Households with c…
Socio-economic Determinants of Increasing Household Food Insecurity during and after a Drought in the District of iLembe, South Africa
In 2015 and 2016, South Africa experienced a severe drought resulting in water restrictions and food price inflation. A year later, while the proportion of food secure households remained constant, the proportion of those experiencing severe food insecurity increased. This paper investigates the socio-economic determinants of increasing food insecurity during and after the drought. Two cross-sectional household surveys were carried out in the dis…
Perceptions of the Challenges and Opportunities of Utilising Organic Waste through Urban Agriculture in the Durban South Basin
Waste management has become pertinent in urban regions, along with rapid population growth. The current ways of managing waste, such as refuse collection and recycling, are failing to minimise waste in cities. With urban populations growing worldwide, there is the challenge of increased pressure to import food from rural areas. Urban agriculture not only presents an opportunity to explore other means of sustainable food production, but for managi…
Socio-Economic Impacts of Festivals and Events
The Mzansi Golden Economy (MGE) programme in South Africa is intended to unlock the arts, culture and heritage sector to create sustainable jobs and economic development as well as address social cohesion. This research focuses on one of the main sub-categories, the Festivals and Events Grant Programme of the MGE and investigates the programme for a three year funding cycle period. The methodological approach included an examination of 30 organis…
Protected Areas, Community Costs and Benefits
Communities neighbouring protected areas globally suffer various costs while enjoying limited benefits from conservation areas. This study compared livelihood costs and benefits to selected neighbouring communities around the Somkhanda Game Reserve (SGR), which is a community-owned conserved area and the Hluhluwe-iMfolozi Park (HiP), a state-owned, provincial park in northern KwaZulu-Natal. Quantitative (questionnaire) and qualitative (focus grou…
Profile of Visitors to Coastal and Marine Tourism Locations in Cape Town, South Africa
Cape Town, one of South Africa's key coastal tourism destinations, provides a useful case study to examine visitor profiles in Coastal and Marine Tourism (CMT) sites. Nine hundred and seven visitor surveys were completed in purposively selected CMT locations in Cape Town. The main findings reveal that there is diversity among visitors frequenting CMT sites in Cape Town in terms of type of visitor, gender, population group, age, educational level …
Food Security in the District of iLembe, KwaZulu-Natal
Food insecurity varies between urban and rural populations, as do their household characteristics and practices. The aim of the study was to compare the behaviours and practices households in rural and urban areas carry out during times of limited food in the district of iLembe, South Africa. Using a cross-sectional study design, household surveys were carried out to collect information on household characteristics, food, and coping strategies. I…
Adapting the Coping Strategies Index to measure food insecurity in the rural district of iLembe, South Africa
Food insecurity is a global phenomenon that has seen an increase since 2015, thought to be a result of growing conflict- and climate-related shocks. While there are a number of different tools to measure household food security, there is no agreed global standard. This situation is reflected in South Africa where there is no nationally accepted tool to measure or evaluate food insecurity, even though quantitative food and nutrition variables are …
Enhancing Innovation and Technological Capabilities in the Management of E-Waste
e-Waste is one of the fastest growing waste streams globally. In the South African context e-Waste is receiving considerable attention from the Department of Environmental Affairs (DEA) who view it as being one of the fastest growing and most complex waste streams. There is recognition that e-Waste provides both threats and opportunities. In terms of the latter, e-Waste if well-managed can address the triple challenges of job creation, poverty an…
Leveraging mega-events beyond the host nation
This article focuses on mega-event leveraging, specifically on experiences in the developing context. While most large-scale sporting events such as the Olympic Games and the FIFA World Cups have been traditionally hosted in the more affluent, developed and industrialised nations; the hosting of the first-ever FIFA World Cup in South Africa in 2010 provided new research opportunities to examine the effects of such events when they are hosted in d…
Contextualising and conceptualising gender and climate change in Africa
This overview provides the conceptual and contextual foundation for the issue on ‘Gender and climate change’. Drawing on a literature review and appraisal of the contributions in this issue, we foreground the current key climate change debates. There is consensus that climate change is a global challenge with devastating impacts at different scales. It is also established in the literature that some communities and groups are more vulnerable than…
Perception and trends of associated health risks with seasonal climate variation in Oke-Ogun region, Nigeria
The Media Impact of South Africa's Historical Hosting of Africa's First Mega-Event
The 2010 FIFA World Cup held in South Africa was the biggest mega-event ever to be hosted on the African continent. This historical event had several social, economic and developmental imperatives, including destination profiling and changing negative perceptions of South Africa, specifically, and the African continent more generally. This research undertakes a media analysis of the 2010 FIFA World Cup in selected key markets, namely the UK, Germ…
Mega-events and Tourism Impacts
There are several impacts of hosting events that relate to economic and social development aspects. South Africa has used sport tourism to promote the country as a major sports events destination. Research on mega-events tends to focus on economic impacts, including tourism effects. Very few, however, examine visitor perceptions of the event to establish experiences and concerns. This article examines the positive and negative relationships betwe…
The 2010 Fifa World Cup and women's experiences In Fan Parks
The existing body of research on mega-events has so far focused on wider economic impacts, with little attention being given to the social impacts of large sporting events on visitors and local residents. Specifically gender issues are neglected in relation to the FIFA World Cups since it is often assumed that these events are male dominant, both in terms of participants and spectators. However, Manzenreiter and Home (2002) indicate the growing i…
Resident Perceptions of the 2010 Fifa Soccer World Cup Stadia Development in Cape Town
Women and Technology in South Africa
This research contributes to a greater understanding of the linkages among women’s roles, responsibilities, and the use of and access to technologies in marginalized rural communities in KwaZulu-Natal. How poor rural women conceptualize technologies, and the ways in which they use their knowledge and skills to develop, modify and adapt the techniques and technical processes are examined. Numerous studies have focused on rural women and their live…
Clear the Mind of Pre-conceived Ideas and Get Your Hands Dirty! An Approach to Field-based Courses
This paper explores an approach to problem-oriented, interdisciplinary field-based courses devised by university consortia in southern Africa and Denmark. The SLUSE (Sustainable Land Use and Natural Resource Management) model has been applied on six three-week field courses within southern Africa and trained over 200 students. Student groups composed of individuals from different academic disciplines that investigated problems specifically devise…
The Eluding Link
This article provides an overview of sport tourism generally and investigates the sport tourism policy in the South African context. The discussion draws upon South Africa's unique context and international experiences to provide guidelines for the development of a national sport tourism strategy. In particular, the opportunities presented by the hosting of the 2010 FIFA World Cup are underscored. The need to consider the full extent of sport tou…
Rural women and technology in South Africa
The seductive discourse of development
Research on how the decision to bid for the Olympics is made, the resources and processes involved in the bidding process and how a country responds to a failed bid is important. These aspects are embedded in a range of political and economic processes from the local to the global level. The Olympic Games is the ultimate mega-event. This article uses the case study of the Cape Town 2004 Olympic Bid (CTOB) to examine the above aspects, highlightin…
Rural African women, food (in) security and agricultural production in the Ekuthuleni land redistribution project, KwaZulu-Natal
Using a case study in KwaZulu-Natal, URMILLA BOB argues that the land reform programme in South Africa has failed to integrate food security concerns and the needs of rural women
Contextualising and conceptualising gender and climate change in Africa
This overview provides the conceptual and contextual foundation for the issue on ‘Gender and climate change’. Drawing on a literature review and appraisal of the contributions in this issue, we foreground the current key climate change debates. There is consensus that climate change is a global challenge with devastating impacts at different scales. It is also established in the literature that some communities and groups are more vulnerable than…
The Eluding Link
This article provides an overview of sport tourism generally and investigates the sport tourism policy in the South African context. The discussion draws upon South Africa's unique context and international experiences to provide guidelines for the development of a national sport tourism strategy. In particular, the opportunities presented by the hosting of the 2010 FIFA World Cup are underscored. The need to consider the full extent of sport tou…
The Media Impact of South Africa's Historical Hosting of Africa's First Mega-Event
The 2010 FIFA World Cup held in South Africa was the biggest mega-event ever to be hosted on the African continent. This historical event had several social, economic and developmental imperatives, including destination profiling and changing negative perceptions of South Africa, specifically, and the African continent more generally. This research undertakes a media analysis of the 2010 FIFA World Cup in selected key markets, namely the UK, Germ…
Leveraging mega-events beyond the host nation
This article focuses on mega-event leveraging, specifically on experiences in the developing context. While most large-scale sporting events such as the Olympic Games and the FIFA World Cups have been traditionally hosted in the more affluent, developed and industrialised nations; the hosting of the first-ever FIFA World Cup in South Africa in 2010 provided new research opportunities to examine the effects of such events when they are hosted in d…
Perception and trends of associated health risks with seasonal climate variation in Oke-Ogun region, Nigeria
Women and Technology in South Africa
This research contributes to a greater understanding of the linkages among women’s roles, responsibilities, and the use of and access to technologies in marginalized rural communities in KwaZulu-Natal. How poor rural women conceptualize technologies, and the ways in which they use their knowledge and skills to develop, modify and adapt the techniques and technical processes are examined. Numerous studies have focused on rural women and their live…
Clear the Mind of Pre-conceived Ideas and Get Your Hands Dirty! An Approach to Field-based Courses
This paper explores an approach to problem-oriented, interdisciplinary field-based courses devised by university consortia in southern Africa and Denmark. The SLUSE (Sustainable Land Use and Natural Resource Management) model has been applied on six three-week field courses within southern Africa and trained over 200 students. Student groups composed of individuals from different academic disciplines that investigated problems specifically devise…
Rural African women, food (in) security and agricultural production in the Ekuthuleni land redistribution project, KwaZulu-Natal
Using a case study in KwaZulu-Natal, URMILLA BOB argues that the land reform programme in South Africa has failed to integrate food security concerns and the needs of rural women
Rural women and technology in South Africa
The seductive discourse of development
Research on how the decision to bid for the Olympics is made, the resources and processes involved in the bidding process and how a country responds to a failed bid is important. These aspects are embedded in a range of political and economic processes from the local to the global level. The Olympic Games is the ultimate mega-event. This article uses the case study of the Cape Town 2004 Olympic Bid (CTOB) to examine the above aspects, highlightin…
The Eluding Link
This article provides an overview of sport tourism generally and investigates the sport tourism policy in the South African context. The discussion draws upon South Africa's unique context and international experiences to provide guidelines for the development of a national sport tourism strategy. In particular, the opportunities presented by the hosting of the 2010 FIFA World Cup are underscored. The need to consider the full extent of sport tou…
Clear the Mind of Pre-conceived Ideas and Get Your Hands Dirty! An Approach to Field-based Courses
This paper explores an approach to problem-oriented, interdisciplinary field-based courses devised by university consortia in southern Africa and Denmark. The SLUSE (Sustainable Land Use and Natural Resource Management) model has been applied on six three-week field courses within southern Africa and trained over 200 students. Student groups composed of individuals from different academic disciplines that investigated problems specifically devise…
Resident Perceptions of the 2010 Fifa Soccer World Cup Stadia Development in Cape Town
Women and Technology in South Africa
This research contributes to a greater understanding of the linkages among women’s roles, responsibilities, and the use of and access to technologies in marginalized rural communities in KwaZulu-Natal. How poor rural women conceptualize technologies, and the ways in which they use their knowledge and skills to develop, modify and adapt the techniques and technical processes are examined. Numerous studies have focused on rural women and their live…
The 2010 Fifa World Cup and women's experiences In Fan Parks
The existing body of research on mega-events has so far focused on wider economic impacts, with little attention being given to the social impacts of large sporting events on visitors and local residents. Specifically gender issues are neglected in relation to the FIFA World Cups since it is often assumed that these events are male dominant, both in terms of participants and spectators. However, Manzenreiter and Home (2002) indicate the growing i…
Perception and trends of associated health risks with seasonal climate variation in Oke-Ogun region, Nigeria
The Media Impact of South Africa's Historical Hosting of Africa's First Mega-Event
The 2010 FIFA World Cup held in South Africa was the biggest mega-event ever to be hosted on the African continent. This historical event had several social, economic and developmental imperatives, including destination profiling and changing negative perceptions of South Africa, specifically, and the African continent more generally. This research undertakes a media analysis of the 2010 FIFA World Cup in selected key markets, namely the UK, Germ…
Mega-events and Tourism Impacts
There are several impacts of hosting events that relate to economic and social development aspects. South Africa has used sport tourism to promote the country as a major sports events destination. Research on mega-events tends to focus on economic impacts, including tourism effects. Very few, however, examine visitor perceptions of the event to establish experiences and concerns. This article examines the positive and negative relationships betwe…
Contextualising and conceptualising gender and climate change in Africa
This overview provides the conceptual and contextual foundation for the issue on ‘Gender and climate change’. Drawing on a literature review and appraisal of the contributions in this issue, we foreground the current key climate change debates. There is consensus that climate change is a global challenge with devastating impacts at different scales. It is also established in the literature that some communities and groups are more vulnerable than…
Leveraging mega-events beyond the host nation
This article focuses on mega-event leveraging, specifically on experiences in the developing context. While most large-scale sporting events such as the Olympic Games and the FIFA World Cups have been traditionally hosted in the more affluent, developed and industrialised nations; the hosting of the first-ever FIFA World Cup in South Africa in 2010 provided new research opportunities to examine the effects of such events when they are hosted in d…
Enhancing Innovation and Technological Capabilities in the Management of E-Waste
e-Waste is one of the fastest growing waste streams globally. In the South African context e-Waste is receiving considerable attention from the Department of Environmental Affairs (DEA) who view it as being one of the fastest growing and most complex waste streams. There is recognition that e-Waste provides both threats and opportunities. In terms of the latter, e-Waste if well-managed can address the triple challenges of job creation, poverty an…
Adapting the Coping Strategies Index to measure food insecurity in the rural district of iLembe, South Africa
Food insecurity is a global phenomenon that has seen an increase since 2015, thought to be a result of growing conflict- and climate-related shocks. While there are a number of different tools to measure household food security, there is no agreed global standard. This situation is reflected in South Africa where there is no nationally accepted tool to measure or evaluate food insecurity, even though quantitative food and nutrition variables are …
Socio-Economic Impacts of Festivals and Events
The Mzansi Golden Economy (MGE) programme in South Africa is intended to unlock the arts, culture and heritage sector to create sustainable jobs and economic development as well as address social cohesion. This research focuses on one of the main sub-categories, the Festivals and Events Grant Programme of the MGE and investigates the programme for a three year funding cycle period. The methodological approach included an examination of 30 organis…
Protected Areas, Community Costs and Benefits
Communities neighbouring protected areas globally suffer various costs while enjoying limited benefits from conservation areas. This study compared livelihood costs and benefits to selected neighbouring communities around the Somkhanda Game Reserve (SGR), which is a community-owned conserved area and the Hluhluwe-iMfolozi Park (HiP), a state-owned, provincial park in northern KwaZulu-Natal. Quantitative (questionnaire) and qualitative (focus grou…
Profile of Visitors to Coastal and Marine Tourism Locations in Cape Town, South Africa
Cape Town, one of South Africa's key coastal tourism destinations, provides a useful case study to examine visitor profiles in Coastal and Marine Tourism (CMT) sites. Nine hundred and seven visitor surveys were completed in purposively selected CMT locations in Cape Town. The main findings reveal that there is diversity among visitors frequenting CMT sites in Cape Town in terms of type of visitor, gender, population group, age, educational level …
Food Security in the District of iLembe, KwaZulu-Natal
Food insecurity varies between urban and rural populations, as do their household characteristics and practices. The aim of the study was to compare the behaviours and practices households in rural and urban areas carry out during times of limited food in the district of iLembe, South Africa. Using a cross-sectional study design, household surveys were carried out to collect information on household characteristics, food, and coping strategies. I…
Perceptions of the Challenges and Opportunities of Utilising Organic Waste through Urban Agriculture in the Durban South Basin
Waste management has become pertinent in urban regions, along with rapid population growth. The current ways of managing waste, such as refuse collection and recycling, are failing to minimise waste in cities. With urban populations growing worldwide, there is the challenge of increased pressure to import food from rural areas. Urban agriculture not only presents an opportunity to explore other means of sustainable food production, but for managi…
‘A creeping phenomenon’
The effects of rainfall variability and droughts on food production are well established. However, in South Africa, the association between rainfall, droughts and household food insecurity is not well known. The aim of this paper was to measure and compare household food insecurity during and after a drought, and to assess the association between rainfall and food insecurity. Using a comparative study design, two cross-sectional household surveys…
Coping through a drought
Objective: To assess and compare the association between household food insecurity and child nutritional status over two time-points taking into consideration the effects of a severe drought. Design: The study used two cross-sectional household surveys during and after a severe drought, consistent with a natural experiment design. Setting: The study took place in the district of iLembe, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. Participants: Households with c…
Socio-economic Determinants of Increasing Household Food Insecurity during and after a Drought in the District of iLembe, South Africa
In 2015 and 2016, South Africa experienced a severe drought resulting in water restrictions and food price inflation. A year later, while the proportion of food secure households remained constant, the proportion of those experiencing severe food insecurity increased. This paper investigates the socio-economic determinants of increasing food insecurity during and after the drought. Two cross-sectional household surveys were carried out in the dis…
Covid-19 impacts on nature-based tourism-dependent small towns
Africa’s conservation areas are world-renowned, contributing to local and regional livelihoods. The town of St Lucia is located in the isiMangaliso Wetland Park (KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa) is an example of a location that is dependent on nature-based tourism. There is limited research concerning the impacts that COVID-19 has on businesses and livelihoods in smaller towns. An examination of the literature and primary data collection (specificall…
Understanding changing patterns in travel behaviour to support domestic tourism recovery and resilience
The COVID-19 pandemic has severely impacted the tourism sector, disrupting travel and centralising a shift towards domestic tourism. This study examines the changing preferences and demands of travellers to promote the recovery and sustainability of domestic tourism. The research conducted 1 034 online surveys with the general public to analyse their travel behaviours and preferences concerning domestic tourism activities willing to participate i…
Geography (25 works) · Economics (18 works) · Economic growth (14 works) · Socioeconomics (14 works) · Political science (12 works) · Agriculture (11 works) · Business (11 works) · Tourism (10 works) · Sociology (9 works) · Sport and Mega-Event Impacts (8 works)