Investigating the sustainability of the Housing Programme of Cornubia, with regards to Sustainable Human Settlements
Date
2016
Authors
Bodhi, Kavish
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
UNIVERSITY OF WITWATERSRAND FACULTY OF ENGINEERING & THE BUILT ENVIRONMENT
Abstract
After the 1994 elections, housing initiatives, aimed to address the inequalities created within
Apartheid, such as racial and socio-economic segregation. This resulted in the 1994 White Paper and
1997 Housing Act which encompassed some aspects of the Reconstruction and Development
Programme (RDP). However, housing policy implementation was criticised for many reasons. This
resulted in emergence of the Breaking New Ground (BNG) policy which aimed at creating sustainable
human settlement, as opposed to just housing provision. In the past few years under BNG,
government has adopted several programmes that promote the creation of sustainable
development, sustainable human settlements and sustainable housing. In order to address this
challenge and create sustainable human settlements, the eThekwini municipality envisioned the
Cornubia Integrated Human Settlement Project. This is a partnership between the eThekwini
municipality and Tongaat Hulett Development. Cornubia proposes a mixed-use development, with
retail, commercial, light industry and residential components. The project is still under development,
but phase 1a of the housing programme has been completed.
The research draws on aspects and principles of sustainable development, sustainable housing and
sustainable human settlements; and how the South African government engages with these
principles through policies and strategies. Though the state has taken the initiative to provide
housing in Durban through the Cornubia development, it is no longer sufficient to just provide
housing to people, as a housing development needs to address more issues than accessing shelter.
Therefore this research report looks at the sustainability practices and initiatives used within
Cornubia’s Housing Programme. There are many plans and strategies put in place to ensure and
promote economic, social and environmental sustainability, however, given that the housing
programme is still within its early stages of development, many of these plans have either not fully
materialised for have not been put in place due to lack of threshold. This results in the reality of
what residents experience which contrasts what is proposed for the development, with regards to
sustainability. Residents interviewed stated that they have not benefitted much (if not at all) from
any plans and strategies that have supposedly been put in place. Over and above advocating for the
full implementation of all plans and strategies put in place to create sustainability within the housing
programme, the main recommendation of this research report is to address the title deed contract
between residents and the eThekwini Municipality. Residents should be able to edit their house or
use their house as collateral in order to improve their lives through creating SMMEs or acquiring
loans.
Description
Honours Research Report 2016
Keywords
Citation
Bodhi, K. (2016) ,Investigating the sustainability of the Housing Programme of Cornubia, with regards to Sustainable Human Settlements, Faculty of Engineering and the Built Environment, University of the Witwatersrand