Current Research Interests

My current research interests relate to various aspects of city planning.

1. Healthy cities: The relationship between the urban environment and health in Cape Town and other cities of the global South, and how to plan for healthy urban environments. I am co-ordinating the Healthy Cities CityLab, for which it is planned to undertake a series of research projects on urban health in Cape Town, and I am a member of the Global Research Network on Urban Health Equity.
2. Urban flooding: The risks associated with flooding in Cape Town, and how these risks can be managed and reduced, for example, through collaborative governance and land use planning. I am co-ordinating the Urban Flooding CityLab, and I am also participating in a broader research project on governance and urban flooding risk in Cape Town.
3. The formulation and implementation of city strategies: The ways in which city strategies are formulated and operationalized. I am particularly interested in how particular ways of representing and shaping cities become dominant at certain times. I am currently undertaking a case study of the City of Cape Town's integrated development planning (IDP) processes.

Selected Publications

Smit, W. (2001) "The changing role of community based organizations in South Africa in the 1990s, with emphasis on their role in development projects" in Tostensen, A., I. Tvedten and M. Vaa (eds) Associational Life in African Cities: Popular Responses to the Urban Crisis. Uppsala, Sweden: Nordiska Afrikainstitutet. pp 234-249.

Smit, W. (2003) "Housing finance policy in South Africa" in Khan, F. and P. Thring (eds) Housing Policy and Practice in Post-Apartheid South Africa. Johannesburg: Heinemann. pp 166-191.

Smit, W. (2004) "The urban development imagination and realpolitik", Development Update 5(1), pp 53-80.

Kingwill, R., B. Cousins, T. Cousins, D. Hornby, L. Royston and W. Smit (2006) Mysteries and Myths: De Soto, Property and Poverty in South Africa. Gatekeeper Series 124. London: International Institute for Environment and Development.

Smit, W. (2006) "Understanding the complexities of informal settlements: Insights from Cape Town" in Huchzermeyer, M. and A. Karam (eds) Informal Settlements: A Perpetual Challenge? Cape Town: Juta. pp 103-125.

Smit, W (2007) Voices of the Poor: Synthesis and Recommendations. Pretoria: Urban LandMark.

Smit, W. (2009) Analysis of Qualitative Survey on Accessing, Holding and Trading Land: Synthesis Report. Pretoria: Urban LandMark. 

Smit, W. (2008) "Le grand project N2 Gateway" in Dubresson, A. and S. Jaglin (eds) Le Cap Après L'Apartheid. Paris: Karthala. pp 23-44.

Smit, W. (2009) "Isidima: Creating dignified communities", in Rosa, S., A. Groenewald and S. Khoza (eds) State of the Province Western Cape 2008: An Integrated Approach for Service Delivery. Cape Town: Provincial Government of the Western Cape. pp 73-85.