Housing the Urban Poor in South Africa: Towards a New Typology

Abstract

South Africa urgently needs new strategies to alleviate poverty and an associated reassessment of its problematic housing policy. Its poorer citizens live in either state-sponsored houses or in shacks, both types being seriously deficient, but in different ways. It is claimed that only China and India have built more low-cost houses than South Africa has since 1994 – an astonishing 2.8 million, identical, small, freestanding, box-like houses rolled-out as vast dormitory townships on the fringes of cities – cruel parodies of Western suburbia. They are given away for free, fostering a culture of entitlement, while their remoteness and lack of employment opportunities perpetuate social and economic marginalisation. Because of this factor, as well as boredom and low self-esteem, many young men turn to crime, obviously an untenable situation. Most of their occupants previously lived in shantytowns, which government promised to eradicate, equating shack-living with homelessness. These, however, continue to mushroom, some of which are particularly vibrant, socially cohesive and an inspiring testimony to resilience and innovativeness in spite of tenuous conditions, limited resources and health hazards. A new typology needs new concepts. Conventional Western urban and housing models have proved to be awkward settings for the urban poor of SA, and it will be argued that local and African vernacular patterns should be considered. A typology is proposed that relies on four interdependent, constituent elements: (1) urban integration and access to engineering infrastructure; (2) strategically located market streets; (3) reinforced concrete frames defining attached shop-front buildings; and (4) assisted self-help, drawing on the proven ability of deprived households to help themselves. The focus falls on conceptualising pertinent design criteria by re-interpreting the way shantytowns and villages in East Africa respond to socio-economic and technological realities, as well as to appropriate methods and materials of construction, while perhaps crucially, the emphasis is placed on the importance of community and locality in improving quality of life and economic self-reliance. 1 Introduction – Background

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