Lived experiences of a physical shift: from informal settlements into mulit-storey RDP housed.
Date
2017
Authors
Mabasa, Rhulani Charity
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
School of Architecture and Planning, University of the Witwatersrand.
Abstract
One in every eight people in the world live in informal settlements. The informal settlements sector is one of the oldest alternative providers of housing in cities for the majority that are not able to buy or rent a formal place of living. Official urban planning has shown an interest in addressing living conditions in informal settlements. In South Africa, the approach employed in addressing informal settlement conditions has mainly been through the provision of low-income housing. Scholars of urban planning and assessment reports in South Africa have illustrated how the low-income housing programme adopted in 1994 to roll-out houses to the previously disadvantaged citizens of the country has failed to deliver housing effectively and, in fact, perpetuated sprawl.
Policy makers, urban planners and other spatial practitioners sought a way to effectively respond to informal settlements, house informal dwellers and densify cities. The multi-storey RDP was adopted as a solution to addressing these problems. Against this backdrop, this research report interrogates the lived experiences of shifting from informal settlements into multi-storey RDP housing. The interrogation uses Fleurhof Ext. 9 as a case study to reveal the lived experiences of former informal dwellers.
This research reports on the ways in which the dwellers engage with the multi-storey dwelling in the common spaces of the neighborhood. The research also provides an outline of the opportunities and challenges that the dwellers of multi-storey RDP housing encounter in their daily living. This research builds an understanding of housing informal dwellers in multi-storey low-income housing. Moreover, the results of the research and recommendations offer spatial planning practitioners, designers and policy makers an insight of the performance of multi-storey housing built to upgrade and house informal dwellers, thereby informing them of possibilities of continuing in exploration of multi-storey RDP housing across the country for informal settlements.
Description
A research report submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree BSc Honours in
Urban and Regional Planning, to the Faculty of Engineering and the Built Environment, University of
the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg.
Keywords
Informal settlements, Low-income housing, Multi-storey RDP(Reconstruction and Development Program) housing, Lived experiences.
Citation
Mabasa, R. C., 2017. Lived experiences of a physical shift: from informal settlements into mulit-storey RDP housed. Johannesburg: University of the Witwatersrand