Conference Agenda

For the last thirty years and more, social and urban policy and administration has argued for the promotion of social inclusivity, diversity and connection in city and neighbourhood place-making processes. This is in order to counter growing global societal inequality, socio-spatial segregation and fracture, and to create places conducive to forming and sustaining solidarities. The so-called 15/20 minute city (15mC) idea – in which the localisation of public services such as schools, health care and leisure within neighbourhoods is argued for - is perhaps the latest version of this policy imperative. Crucially the 15mC brings the nature, quality and distribution of neighbourhood public services into sharp focus, particularly with regard to how these relate to socio-spatial inequalities. A growing literature is emerging, albeit often quite narrowly directed at issues in relation to distance and access to services such as schools, healthcare and social care. This paper takes a broader focus. It explores how and to what extent 15mCs tackle the broader issues of inequality in relation to services, and also societal challenges of social segregation and fracture. It explores these questions via an assessment of the 15mC plans of the C40 global group of cities which share a commitment to progressive social and environment policy change. Of 74 original plans and projects identified by C40, a subset of 10 were identified as being suitable for further analysis based on their specificity, accessibility, and depth. The analysis uses, and reflects on the use and interpretation of, data created via Gemini, an Artificial Intelligence (AI) tool from Google. Aided by Gemini, the paper examines these 10 plans in detail to consider how they engage with issues of spatial inequalities, uneven access to and uneven quality of neighbourhood public services. The paper also critically reflects on the (dis)benefits of using AI research assistance in social policy and administration research.

In the face of global economic uncertainty and the recent pandemic, this research is particularly relevant as governments worldwide are re-evaluating cultural and creative industry policies to better support vulnerable sectors like the performing arts. Indicative of the latter, is UNESCO report, entitled, Reshaping Policies for Creativity. For this reason, countries across the globe need to devise policies and strategies to mitigate the unpredictability and a lack of job security of vulnerable sectors like the performing arts. Globally, performing artists lost income, work opportunities, and social connections (Brooks and Patel, 2022). However, the bulk of research has focused primarily on the economic viability of performing artists, neglecting the personal and contextual factors that affect their livelihoods (Kleynhans, Nel, and Maree, 2024). Similarly, South Africa’s government cultural and creative industry master plan has been disproportionately focused on economic outcomes, rather than adopting a multifaceted, human-centred approach that integrates the intrapersonal, social, and environmental factors into policy formulation. For this reason, this study makes a novel contribution by incorporating human-centred design policy frameworks with industrial psychology to uncover the complexities of intrapersonal, social and environmental systems linkages when design human-centred policies and plans.

This paper addresses the question: How can a human-centred policy design framework, integrating intrapersonal, social, and environmental systems, provide a more sustainable and effective policy response to South Africa’s performing arts industry compared to current economic-centric policies? Using a qualitative research design, the study explores the lived experiences of performing artists in South Africa by employing an exploratory, case study methodology. A purposive sample of 19 performing artists was interviewed, with the data being thematically analysed.

The findings confirm a lack of sufficient governmental support for the performing arts. The study suggests that policymakers should initiate pilot programs for human-centred policy frameworks and engage with stakeholders at all levels to ensure a comprehensive and collaborative approach to policy development that move performing artist to the centre of policies and plans. As a result, national network platforms should be created to provide performing artists with both instrumental and emotional support, fostering greater resilience in the industry.

A paper to be presented at the 47th Annual Conference of the European Group for Public Administration (EGPA) hosted by the University of Glasgow, Glasgow, Scotland, UK, from August 26 to 29, 2025, under the central theme: “EGPA at 50: Prospects for Public Administration across Europe.”

By

Prof Mzikayise Binza

Director: Academic Enterprise and Services

Central University of Technology, Free State

Office of the Principal, Welkom Campus

Email: mbinza@cut.ac.za

Cell: +27(0)837179352

Tel: +27(0)57 910 3503

Abstract

This paper critically analyses and evaluates different paradigms of economic growth and development in the past thirty years of democracy in South Africa. The paper further examines the role of public policy on promoting economic growth and expounds that at the altar of growth lies deep the tripartite paradoxes of poverty, unemployment, and inequality at the juncture when people have high expectation of improved quality of life. Strategies on appropriate models and frameworks suitable for political economic transformation are proposed. The rest of the paper focuses on the how the well-being economy could be developed within the context of government pressurised to meet the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the National Development Plan (NDP) goals. The paper concludes that public service needs to be learn, professionalised and be manned by competent public servants led by the leadership with attributes of probity and integrity.

The burden of TB and MDR-TB burden among Indigenous people reported as a serious challenges facing in many countries and this increases the rate of mortality and morbidity as well (WHO, 2020). In most cases, the TB health care services remain underutilized as over 3million cases are still missed and treatment outcomes have not been achieved yet (WHO, 2020).

The aim will be: To develop a model to ‘improve the existing framework on the quality of TB Health Care Services for the Indigenous communities in Kunene and Otjozondjupa regions, Namibia.

Objective of the study will be: To identify factors affects the access to TB Health Care Services among the Indigenous communities in selected regions of Namibia as part of a broader intervention to improve the existing framework on the quality of TB Health Care Services. To explore how TB health care services addressed those factors using the more holistic framework developed by Levesque et al., 2013.

The study will be conducted in selected constituencies in the two regions using a mixed-methods approach. The target population for this study will be the Key informants, Health Care Workers (HCWs) and indigenous communities. The population of the San communities was chosen because of the high number of San Communities residing in Tsumkwe constituency that will represent the whole San communities in Namibia, while the Ovatue and Ovatjimba communities are only found in Kunene region. Therefore, the researcher will focus only on these two regions.

A purposive and convenience sampling method will be used to interview the HCWs and a random selection of villages for FGDs with the indigenous communities in the selected regions will be used. The data will be analyzed using Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) and Microsoft Excel. Quantitative information will be presented in figures and frequency tables while a thematic approach will be used to analyze qualitative data from open-ended questions using the NVivo version.12 software. The conceptual framework of access to health care by Levesque et al., 2013, will be used to support the research study.

The findings from this study will enable to improve the existing framework on the quality of TB health care services among the indigenous communities in Namibia.