Sustainable urban development? Low-cost housing challenges in South Africa

Goebel, Allison

doi:10.1016/j.habitatint.2007.03.001

Cited by 98 publications

(63 citation statements)

References 10 publications

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“…70 Therefore by providing the poor with an asset in terms of shelter; basic connector services such as water, sanitation and internal roads; as well as secure tenure, the housing programme has contributed significantly to alleviating poverty. 71 Clearly the housing spending patterns are an unequivocal government commitment to alleviate poverty through housing provision; 72 however the government has since 1994 encountered numerous challenges relating to the delivering housing to the poor.…”

Section: Housing Budget Analysismentioning

confidence: 99%

South Africa's poverty alleviation strategy through housing: chasing the 2015 millennium development goal's pragmatic?

Mmusinyane

2014

IJPL

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Section 26(1) of the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, 1996 grants everyone the right to have access to adequate housing. In terms of Section 26(2), it is the government's duty to take reasonable legislative and other measures, within its available resources, to achieve the progressive realisation of this right. This paper critically evaluates the extent to which housing to the poor, the unemployed and the homeless contributes to the government's poverty alleviation strategy and also how the provision of housing to these categories of people will help the government in meeting its MDGs targets. The paper also engages the challenges which the country is facing since 1994 in delivering housing to the poor.

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Section: Housing Budget Analysismentioning

confidence: 99%

South Africa's poverty alleviation strategy through housing: chasing the 2015 millennium development goal's pragmatic?

Mmusinyane

2014

IJPL

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“…The costs related to large scale housing development, force new low-cost projects to the urban periphery, where land is more freely available and attained at more competitive prices. Since the advent of democracy in 1994, low-cost housing delivery has mostly involved building serviced townships on urban peripheries, thus perpetuating the phenomenon of urban sprawl and the ails associated therewith [5,6]. According to Pieterse [7] (cited in Fieuw [6]) the failure of the democratic government to transform the urban structures of the past has intensified urban sprawl.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…A further problem is related to housing beneficiaries who (in some cases) capitalise on their new property assets by generating a rental income [5,11,12]. This phenomenon is known as the informal backyard rental sector.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

South Africa’s informal backyard rental sector: linkages with Smart Growth and sustainability concepts

Lategan¹,

Cilliers²

2013

WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment

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Low-cost housing development in South African's post-Apartheid era is overwhelming; dealing with a fragmented and segregated urban inheritance and a housing demand which exceeds delivery capacity. In response to insufficient delivery, the destitute have turned to informal backyard renting. Backyard dwellings can accommodate a multitude of tenants in one or two roomed wood, or corrugated iron structures, constructed by tenants in the backyards of homes provided by government housing schemes. The backyard rental sector is widely described as unsustainable; however, this paper argues that the sector may, in principle, be one of the most sustainable aspects of South Africa's housing development culture. This paper analyses the benefits and disadvantages related to the continued growth of the informal backyard sector and explores the value of the sector as a supporter of Smart Growth through infill development, increased densities and as a countermeasure to urban sprawl. In an attempt to evaluate the sustainability of backyard living, the living conditions and additional pressures placed on infrastructure and transport networks, as a result of backyard rentals, are examined. The main research question to answer is: Is Smart Growth supported by the informal backyard rental sector and what sustainability pressures are exerted as a result thereof? The research for this paper includes surveys conducted in the case study area of Oudtshoorn in South Africa's Western Cape Province, interviews with relevant stakeholders and an evaluation of existing literature. The conclusions drawn may provide evidence for the need to regulate and develop the backyard rental sector in order to improve the lives of backyarders and the efficiency of the South African city.

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“…The daunting nature of the challenge of sustainable community development in the complex socio-technical space of urban informal settlements is evident in the paradox between the South African constitution's assertion of individual rights to housing, water and sanitation, and the agonizingly slow, conflictual and often failed process of attempting to realize these rights [3,4]. In Cape Town, only 10,000 new homes are provided annually, against an estimated backlog of 400,000 eligible families [5].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Worse yet, the standard "sites and services" approach to upgrading settlements through greenfield or "rollover" development is highly disruptive and contentious, and is much more successful in serving the interests of private developers than poor people's need for healthy, sustainable communities [4]. In 2005, the national government adopted a new housing policy, Breaking New Ground [6], that opens up new opportunities for communities to shape their own development trajectory through incremental in situ settlement upgrading strategies that are more "people-centered," avoid mass relocations, and build on existing community strengths and institutions [3]. Despite these "housing" policy developments and national and local embrace of sustainability goals and policies, few examples exist in Cape Town today of compelling, sustainable approaches to successful informal settlement upgrading [though see 7 for one case study in early development].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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

Jiusto¹,

Hersh²

2009

WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment

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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.

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Sustainable urban development? Low-cost housing challenges in South Africa

Cited by 98 publications

References 10 publications

South Africa's poverty alleviation strategy through housing: chasing the 2015 millennium development goal's pragmatic?

South Africa's poverty alleviation strategy through housing: chasing the 2015 millennium development goal's pragmatic?

South Africa’s informal backyard rental sector: linkages with Smart Growth and sustainability concepts

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

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