Planning for low income settlements in the Blaauwberg Administration Area
type: CreativeWork
description: A topic that has increasingly come to the fore in urban planning is the accommodation of those people residing in informal settlements, characteristically the lowest income earners and unemployed. Internationally, nationally and locally, there is a general surge of interest in urban planning towards accommodating low-income settlements adequately, and in formalising informal settlements, based on increasing recognition of peoples' legitimate right to land and security of tenure. Along with these trends, the challenges presented by the urbanisation of poverty that surfaces in informal settlements has become increasingly of interest to me as a researcher and student of planning, over the past few years. This mini-dissertation provides an opportunity to explore some of the social and technical issues that need to be resolved with regards to low-income settlements. Largely related to the background of the ANC government's popular promises of "Housing for All" and "Jobs for All", informal dwellers in South Africa expect to receive formal housing and tend only to accept such services as are associated with subsidised housing. However, poverty in urban environments is a deeper issue that exists when an individual's or household's access to income, infrastructure or services in inadequate to meet their basic needs. More than a lack of income, poverty exists for that section of the population who are unable to pay for basic services or access development opportunities (Van Ryneveld, Muller & Parnell, 2003). .. Increasing urbanisation of poverty presents a challenge to decentralized local government. Although informal settlements have finally become accepted as a local government responsibility, insitu upgrading is a politically driven and preferred response to informal settlements. Upgrading, wherever possible, appears to be a reactive approach by local authorities rather than a pro-active response to the reality of increasing informal settlement. There is little evidence th…
abstract: A topic that has increasingly come to the fore in urban planning is the accommodation of those people residing in informal settlements, characteristically the lowest income earners and unemployed. Internationally, nationally and locally, there is a general surge of interest in urban planning towards accommodating low-income settlements adequately, and in formalising informal settlements, based on increasing recognition of peoples' legitimate right to land and security of tenure. Along with these trends, the challenges presented by the urbanisation of poverty that surfaces in informal settlements has become increasingly of interest to me as a researcher and student of planning, over the past few years. This mini-dissertation provides an opportunity to explore some of the social and technical issues that need to be resolved with regards to low-income settlements. Largely related to the background of the ANC government's popular promises of "Housing for All" and "Jobs for All", informal dwellers in South Africa expect to receive formal housing and tend only to accept such services as are associated with subsidised housing. However, poverty in urban environments is a deeper issue that exists when an individual's or household's access to income, infrastructure or services in inadequate to meet their basic needs. More than a lack of income, poverty exists for that section of the population who are unable to pay for basic services or access development opportunities (Van Ryneveld, Muller & Parnell, 2003). .. Increasing urbanisation of poverty presents a challenge to decentralized local government. Although informal settlements have finally become accepted as a local government responsibility, insitu upgrading is a politically driven and preferred response to informal settlements. Upgrading, wherever possible, appears to be a reactive approach by local authorities rather than a pro-active response to the reality of increasing informal settlement. There is little evidence th…
author: Katz, Jessica
language: eng
date published: 2004
date modified: 2026-07-22T22:23:39Z
provider: University of Cape Town
publisher: Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations
type: WebPage
source organization: School of Architecture, Planning and Geomatics

PropertyValue
property ID: Handle
value: http://hdl.handle.net/11427/17241