The phenomenon of informal occupation in former business buildings: A case study of inner-city Johannesburg

Abstract

The rise of bad buildings within Johannesburg inner-city and in particular the fires that rage through them are presenting as an urgent challenge for the City of Johannesburg Metropolitan municipality. This challenge can be considered as the phenomenon of informal occupation of former formal buildings. This may be a unique challenge when taking a look on a national scale; however, informality within buildings is mushrooming in different forms across the globe. In that same breath, the line which divides formality and informality does not seem to be as distinctive and concrete as it once was. In this paper, the possibility of classifying the hijacked and abandoned buildings of inner-city Johannesburg, which will be referred to as ‘bad buildings’ moving forward, as informal settlements and treating them as such with in situ upgrading will be investigated. Examples of informal settlements developing in buildings internationally will be explored and cross examined with the Johannesburg case study, in which it will be determined if integration of these policies and the existing South African policies could be a viable option or if new policies and frameworks need to be developed for Johannesburg. The overall purpose of this paper would be to find possible solutions which could assist the municipality to provide adequate housing and rid the deadly challenges which are associated with bad buildings.