Proper homes, toilets, water and jobs: a new approach to meeting the modest hopes of shackdwellers in Cape Town, South Africa

Abstract

With the global need for new approaches to sustainable development in periurban "slums" as a backdrop, this paper reports on an innovative approach to community-based, in situ informal settlement upgrading in the Monwabisi Park community of Cape Town, South Africa. The program is an experimental effort to combine the creative resources of parties that often have difficulty working together to nurture local self-help efforts that, with judicious and limited outside resources, can lead to sustained provision of improved community services and infrastructure. Starting with a local street committee's creation of a children's crèche in 2005 and partnering with a small local NGO, the Indlovu Project has established a set of public amenities and a vision for the future that combines western sustainable development concepts such as permaculture with Xhosa cultural sensibilities regarding equity, ubuntu, collective decision-making and the nature of private and public spaces. The Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI), a US university, has through an experiential science-technology-society educational program begun engaging students and faculty members with community members and city agencies to develop an integrated plan for transforming the eleven year old Monwabisi Park squatter camp into an "ecovillage" based on these local community perspectives and desires. This paper discusses the principles and strategies underlying the redevelopment effort; explores how students can be uniquely positioned as agents of redevelopment; and presents some of the unique strategies and services that are emerging through this collective effort.

Economic vulnerability and poor service delivery made it more difficult for shack-dwellers to comply with COVID-19 restrictions

“…When overlooked or dismissed in this way it is not surprising that policymakers fail to acknowledge or accommodate the very particular needs of these communities, and resort to imposing policies with which they are ill-equipped or simply unable to comply. 38 In the process, it is commonplace for policymakers (and commentators) to mistake shack-dwellers' inability to comply as an unwillingness to conform -whether that be to land ownership statutes, building regulations, health and safety guidance, or the emergency lockdown restrictions imposed following the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. 23 For this reason, the aim of the present study was to examine the determinants, correlates and consequences of residence in a temporary structure/shack 12 months into the COVID-19 pandemic, to better understand the role that disadvantage, poverty and inadequate service delivery might play in the ability of residents to comply with COVID-19 lockdown restrictions.…”

Economic vulnerability and poor service delivery made it more difficult for shack-dwellers to comply with COVID-19 restrictions: The impracticability and inequitable burden of universal/unstratified public health policies

“…10,12,20,27,37 When overlooked or dismissed in this way it is not surprising that policy makers fail to acknowledge or accommodate the very particular needs of these communities, and resort to imposing policies with which they are ill-equipped or simply unable to comply. 38 In the process, it is commonplace for policy makers (and commentators) to mistake the inability of shack-dwellers to comply as an unwillingness to conform -whether that be to land ownership statutes, building regulations, health and safety guidance, or the emergency lockdown restrictions imposed following the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. 23 For this reason, the aim of the present study was to examine the determinants, correlates and consequences of residence in a temporary structure/shack twelve months into the COVID-19 pandemic, to better understand the role that disadvantage, poverty and inadequate service delivery might play in the ability of residents to comply with COVID-19 lockdown restrictions.…”