ToPoTown: Tourism Potential of Townships - example of Katatura, Windhoek, Namibia

ToPoTown analyzes the feasibility of using precarious housing conditions for sustainable tourism in the “Katatura” township in Windhoek, Namibia. The focus is on economic feasibility, environmental relevance and acceptability among the population. Tourism should lead to an improvement in living conditions, which in turn has a positive impact on environmental conditions. With GIS-supported inventories, surveys of new data and their spatial analyses, the feasibility and environmental situation is being researched and at the same time a database is being created that can be used as a starting point for a web-based portal solution for structured resource management.

With just under 500,000 inhabitants, Windhoek is home to almost 20% of Namibia's total population. The city is experiencing rapid growth due to people whose hopes for work and a better life are based on its proximity to the capital. As a result, the urban area continues to expand. Overall, the living conditions of around 60% of Windhoek's inhabitants can be described as extremely precarious. Katatura is Windhoek's best-known and oldest suburb. It was created in the 1950s during apartheid in order to forced relocate the colored population from the city center according to ethnic groups. The City of Windhoek's pilot program to encourage the owners of historic houses in Katutura, which were built between 1959 and 1960, to exchange them for new, modern houses represents a unique opportunity to preserve Windhoek's cultural heritage and at the same time boost the local economy through tourism. Based on these buildings - which are very important for the people's consciousness - tourism could develop, which would help to improve the precarious situation of the inhabitants. This would also have very strong environmental aspects, as the disastrous pollution and land degradation resulting from this living situation could be significantly mitigated.

The aim of ToPoTown is to assess the feasibility of sustainable tourism, research the environmental conditions and thus create a database on the country's socio-cultural and natural resources. The content focus relates to the following points:

• Inventory (socio-cultural and natural parameters)
• Perspective of the residents
• Environmental aspects (e.g. land use, pollution, degradation)
• Designation of potential tourist centres

In terms of methodology, the focus is on analyzing remote sensing data in order to obtain information about relevant natural (e.g. climate, soils, terrain morphology, water) and technical parameters (e.g. water supply, health, infrastructure, electricity). On the other hand, socio-cultural parameters are collected through extensive qualitative and quantitative surveys. The results lead to the realization of a GIS with emotional aspects (“emotional GIS”). Finally, based on these principles, a site location analysis is developed as a generic model for a multi-criteria analysis to identify potential tourist centers.

ToPoTown provides an excellent starting point for conducting similar studies in other regions of Namibia and southern Africa, focusing on the following specific aspects of the regions:

• Cultural-historical parameters,
• Natural resources and environmental conditions,
• Colonial historical parameters.