130
3 eThekwini’s Green and Ecological Infrastructure Policy Landscape
bottom-up role. Stated differently, the municipality governed, while the community
benefited (Hobson and Seabrooke 2007, 2009).
According to Respondent 16, the municipality has had a difficult relationship
with the Quarry Road informal settlement residents, and after the previous Head
of Water and Sanitation Department retired, the Durban Municipality involved Dr.
Sutherland from UKZN to rethink the project. In other words, a member of the
epistemic community suggested that the municipality should change its vision for
the project and involve the informal settlement community. This means that the
municipality did not contract with the community at first, but that the epistemic
community informed it of how its practices around the uMngeni River affected the
Quarry Road settlement. Therefore, the first transition was not only characterised
by a hydrosocial contract between the local government and the engineer, but other
members of the epistemic community became involved in the changes within an
engineer-influenced project.
That said, the Hobbesian form of the hydrosocial contract informed the top-down
political structure, which only later involved the community. We also see this influence in other ecological infrastructure projects, such as the River Horse project, where
the municipality plans a corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiative with the business associations (p. 130) (Fig. 3.18), and where the Small, Medium and Micro Enterprises (SMMEs) contracted to clear alien invasives from rivers and streams (p. 128),
the water fund (p. 133) and the Amanzimtoti Citizen Science project (p. 111). The
municipality bases these projects on the premise that if you look after the environment, the environment will look after you (Respondent 16). To a certain extent, this
entails the personification of nature, which translates into the moral responsibility
that people should have towards the environment (Koch 2020).
The PRW’s criticism of the concept ‘green infrastructure’ and the municipality’s
role in the continued degradation of the river (Respondent 11) are typical characteristics of the second transition. In this regard, the PWR has a clear consciousness
about the environmental degradation and protection issues (Schnaiberg 1994). The
interests of the different actors, for example, those who seek to utilise the environment for economic purposes and those having an interest in preserving it, have been
central in the fostering of environmental consciousness (Rannikko 1996). Environmental consciousness always has an intellectual and agential, or affective, element.
This means that a knowledge of the environmental problems, awakens a knowledge
of the environment (Rannikko 1996).
Environmental consciousness also has an action component, which determines
how individuals operate and function in ‘real’ situations. That said, environmental
consciousness has a role to play in the establishment of environmental movements
and interest groups and in the orientation of their activities. Consciousness always
relates to a subject that is either human or inanimate (Rannikko 1996), and in this
case, it relates to the green infrastructure policies and the poor state of the Palmiet
River. The concrete situation surrounding the Palmiet River could have fostered a
spatial consciousness (Brand 1999) in the PWR, as an interest group.
From the interview transcript of Respondent 11, we not only see a spatial
consciousness in action, but also an epistemological awareness. This type of
3 eThekwini’s Green and Ecological Infrastructure Policy Landscape
bottom-up role. Stated differently, the municipality governed, while the community
benefited (Hobson and Seabrooke 2007, 2009).
According to Respondent 16, the municipality has had a difficult relationship
with the Quarry Road informal settlement residents, and after the previous Head
of Water and Sanitation Department retired, the Durban Municipality involved Dr.
Sutherland from UKZN to rethink the project. In other words, a member of the
epistemic community suggested that the municipality should change its vision for
the project and involve the informal settlement community. This means that the
municipality did not contract with the community at first, but that the epistemic
community informed it of how its practices around the uMngeni River affected the
Quarry Road settlement. Therefore, the first transition was not only characterised
by a hydrosocial contract between the local government and the engineer, but other
members of the epistemic community became involved in the changes within an
engineer-influenced project.
That said, the Hobbesian form of the hydrosocial contract informed the top-down
political structure, which only later involved the community. We also see this influence in other ecological infrastructure projects, such as the River Horse project, where
the municipality plans a corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiative with the business associations (p. 130) (Fig. 3.18), and where the Small, Medium and Micro Enterprises (SMMEs) contracted to clear alien invasives from rivers and streams (p. 128),
the water fund (p. 133) and the Amanzimtoti Citizen Science project (p. 111). The
municipality bases these projects on the premise that if you look after the environment, the environment will look after you (Respondent 16). To a certain extent, this
entails the personification of nature, which translates into the moral responsibility
that people should have towards the environment (Koch 2020).
The PRW’s criticism of the concept ‘green infrastructure’ and the municipality’s
role in the continued degradation of the river (Respondent 11) are typical characteristics of the second transition. In this regard, the PWR has a clear consciousness
about the environmental degradation and protection issues (Schnaiberg 1994). The
interests of the different actors, for example, those who seek to utilise the environment for economic purposes and those having an interest in preserving it, have been
central in the fostering of environmental consciousness (Rannikko 1996). Environmental consciousness always has an intellectual and agential, or affective, element.
This means that a knowledge of the environmental problems, awakens a knowledge
of the environment (Rannikko 1996).
Environmental consciousness also has an action component, which determines
how individuals operate and function in ‘real’ situations. That said, environmental
consciousness has a role to play in the establishment of environmental movements
and interest groups and in the orientation of their activities. Consciousness always
relates to a subject that is either human or inanimate (Rannikko 1996), and in this
case, it relates to the green infrastructure policies and the poor state of the Palmiet
River. The concrete situation surrounding the Palmiet River could have fostered a
spatial consciousness (Brand 1999) in the PWR, as an interest group.
From the interview transcript of Respondent 11, we not only see a spatial
consciousness in action, but also an epistemological awareness. This type of