Browsing by Subject "Housing"

Now showing 1 - 7 of 7
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    Cape Town residential patterns : an examination of natural processes in housing and of the distortion of these natural patterns, all with special reference to Cape Town
    (1970) Ehlers, Frederick Greeff
    The study which follows is concerned with the housing of people within cities, and special reference is made to Metropolitan Cape Town in this context.The object of the study was to isolate certain principles relating to housing, formulating these in such a way that they might , in being tested , yield results useful to City Planners. (*1) Having established such principles, a further purpose of the study was to contrast these against other factors influencing housing such as Town Planning and Legislative Controls, and the effect the latter had upon the former. The principles which were the initial concern of the study originated in the Life Sciences (*2) and the Human Sciences (*3). Although the author cannot claim authority in any of these Sciences, the principles borrowed from them are well known , and served the valuable purpose of permitting a field theory to be constructed. Hypotheses , developed from this field theory, were tested and in so doing yielded some surprising and gratifying results. These results may be found on the pages following , and it will be seen that they appear to justify the method of approach .
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    Impact of planning and building regulations on affordable housing development by the private sector in South Africa
    (2019) Ekpo, Christiana; Mooya, Manya
    This study emerged from existing literary evidence that planning and building regulations affect the supply of housing and research in this area usually takes a very descriptive route that lacks an explicit theoretical framework that can guide stakeholders for better research outcomes. The rationale is based on the context that despite the many initiatives introduced by successive post-apartheid governments to improve the housing situation in South Africa, not much has been achieved to improve the enormous housing backlogs. Affordable housing, being one of the strategic mechanisms used by the government for housing delivery is laden with problems. Many factors have been attributed to the challenges among which are land use policies and building regulations, administrative bottlenecks, budgetary constraints, and so on. To effectively manage these challenges, a more proactive private sector participation has been advocated. However, this requires that proper regulatory frameworks are put in place to ensure that developers deliver housing that meets necessary safety and quality standards and still have some return on investment. Unfortunately, legislative structures which should ideally be supportive, instead, hinder development and create barriers for private developers The study thus investigates three related questions. Firstly, what are the main planning and building regulations that impact on affordable housing by the private sector? Secondly, how do the planning and building regulations affect the total cost of affordable housing development by the private sector? Thirdly, what scope exists for the change and would, relaxing these regulations, enhance the supply of affordable housing developments by the private sector in South Africa? Corresponding to these questions is the first hypothesis which states that planning and building regulations impose a significant cost on the developers and thus deter the supply by the private sector. And secondly, relaxing some of the planning and building regulations could improve affordable housing development by the private sector. The study employed a qualitative approach to gather empirical data using household surveys and semi-structured interviews from developers and consultants on five case studies together with key informants’ interviews from government officials. With the main theoretical tools of Institution Analysis and Development, this study developed a conceptual framework that determines the main planning and building regulations that impact on affordable housing supply by the private sector. And by employing insights from New Institutional Economics tools, these regulations are treated as institutions through which development rights are obtained. The study reveals; that even though planning and building regulations are affiliated with better quality housing products, they significantly affect cost, affordability and location outcomes. That no national policy tool exists to guide affordable housing implementation processes; the current city’s policy instruments are contradictory to the propagated concepts meant to enhance housing supply. The study discovers that the government has huge land parcels for different intentions, but makes it available only to a developer whose objectives align with theirs and developers lack adequate funding and incentives to motivate them. Finally, the study reveals that even when case studies are located outside the urban core of Cape Town, dwellers are happy and satisfied with the location and careless about the system’s inefficiencies and there is no direct relation between planning and building regulations and location other than the fact that regulations contribute to the bad location of developments.
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    Project implementation profile tool applied to upgrading informal settlements programme projects
    (2019) Shaboodien, Azher; Jay, Ian
    Purpose: This research reviews the Project Implementation Profile (PIP) and explores its relevance to Upgrading Informal Settlements Programme (UISP) type projects in Cape Town. The research aims to: • Identify the most common PIP Critical Success Factors (CSF) for UISP projects, • Compare the common PIP Critical Success Factors (CSF) for UISP projects to the Construction Sector CSF • Evaluate if the PIP tool is applicable to UISP projects. • Determine if there any other critical success factors that need to be added to the CSF list that is critical to the UISP Project success Approach: A literature review was conducted to assist in identifying the common CSF in the Constructions Sector. A survey questionnaire was sent out to relevant UISP Project Managers. The survey questionnaire was based on the PIP questionnaire with additional questions regarding to the effectiveness of the PIP tool on UISP projects. The intent of the survey questionnaire is firstly to establish the common CSF for UISP projects and then evaluate the PIP effectiveness on UISP projects. Findings: Based on the research results, it was found that the high scoring CSF for UISP projects were Project Mission, Client Consultation, Technical Tasks, Monitoring and Feedback, Personal. When the high scoring CSF was compared to the Literature Based Construction Sector CSF, the following common CSF was established: Monitoring and Feedback, Client Consultation and Technical Tasks. Practical Implications: This research will give an indication of the high and low scoring CSF relevant to UISP projects, which project managers and Managers in the Human Settlements industry can use to evaluate their UISP or Breaking New Ground (BNG) housing projects. Furthermore, the PIP tool may be utilised more frequently as a project quality success assurance tool in the organisation. The PIP tool has been tested and verified in a number of different industries in previous studies but never in its application to UISP or BNG projects.
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    Rising diabetes prevalence among urban-dwelling black South Africans
    (Public Library of Science, 2012) Peer, Nasheeta; Steyn, Krisela; Lombard, Carl; Lambert, Estelle V; Vythilingum, Bavanisha; Levitt, Naomi S
    Objective: To examine the prevalence of and the association of psychosocial risk factors with diabetes in 25-74-year-old black Africans in Cape Town in 2008/09 and to compare the prevalence with a 1990 study. Research Design and METHODS: A randomly selected cross-sectional sample had oral glucose tolerance tests. The prevalence of diabetes (1998 WHO criteria), other cardiovascular risk factors and psychosocial measures, including sense of coherence (SOC), locus of control and adverse life events, were determined. The comparison of diabetes prevalence between this and a 1990 study used the 1985 WHO diabetes criteria. RESULTS: There were 1099 participants, 392 men and 707 women (response rate 86%). The age-standardised (SEGI) prevalence of diabetes was 13.1% (95% confidence interval (CI) 11.0-15.1), impaired glucose tolerance (IGT) 11.2% (9.2-13.1) and impaired fasting glycaemia 1.2% (0.6-1.9). Diabetes prevalence peaked in 65-74-year-olds (38.6%). Among diabetic participants, 57.9% were known and 38.6% treated. Using 1985 WHO criteria, age-standardised diabetes prevalence was higher by 53% in 2008/09 (12.2% (10.2-14.2)) compared to 1990 (8.0% (5.8-10.3)) and IGT by 67% (2008/09: 11.7% (9.8-13.7); 1990: 7.0% (4.9-9.1)). In women, older age (OR: 1.05, 95%CI: 1.03-1.08, p<0.001), diabetes family history (OR: 3.13, 95%CI: 1.92-5.12, p<0.001), higher BMI (OR: 1.44, 95%CI: 1.20-1.82, p = 0.001), better quality housing (OR: 2.08, 95%CI: 1.01-3.04, p = 0.047) and a lower SOC score (≤40) was positively associated with diabetes (OR: 2.57, 95%CI: 1.37-4.80, p = 0.003). Diabetes was not associated with the other psychosocial measures in women or with any psychosocial measure in men. Only older age (OR: 1.05, 95%CI: 1.02-1.08, p = 0.002) and higher BMI (OR: 1.10, 95%CI: 1.04-1.18, p = 0.003) were significantly associated with diabetes in men. CONCLUSIONS: The current high prevalence of diabetes in urban-dwelling South Africans, and the likelihood of further rises given the high rates of IGT and obesity, is concerning. Multi-facetted diabetes prevention strategies are essential to address this burden.
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    State, law and community in the politics of housing in South Africa: 1990-2000
    (2025) Van Huyssteen, Elsa; Sen, Anandaroop
    The housing crisis in South Africa has over time resulted in the experience of waiting for housing on the part of marginalised communities. Housing policy and politics have accordingly historically constituted a site where state power is both imposed and contested. These processes had their roots in apartheid-era urbanisation policy, but took on a different character during the late-apartheid and early post-apartheid period. This dissertation describes and analyses the experience of waiting, first for democracy and then for housing, both as a passive experience of the power of the state, and as a terrain where state power is resisted, contested and negotiated. The focus is mainly on the period 1990-2000 in the Cape Town metropolitan area, but the research relies on reported judgments of South African courts across the country from 1949 to 2000 in order to trace the changing ways in which different aspects of housing policy and its implementation were challenged over time, in court, by marginalised individuals and communities, sometimes assisted by civil society organisations, legal aid organisations and progressive lawyers in private practice. This is supplemented by the use of other legal documents and case studies recorded by civil society organisations and oral histories that describe the experiences of communities and their lawyers. The aim is to understand the interaction between the state, courts, and community and civil society activism and mobilisation in the shaping of housing policy and its implementation, particularly the impact of the political transition and the resultant constitutional right to housing, which allowed the use of various rights-based strategies, on those processes. The analysis shows that waiting communities are able to engage in a number of quiet encroachments as well as the mobilisation of strategic community agency, and while state power remains ever-present, and courts have an uneven record of challenging that power, in this way communities have the capacity to contest the condition of waiting and improve their access to housing.
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    The protection of purchasers of immovable property in South Africa, with special reference to section 29a of the alienation of land act 68 of 1981 and the housing consumers protection measures act 95 of 1998
    (1999) Marais, Michele; Pope, Anne
    Ownership of land has occupied a special position in our legal history. lt has been said that "[t]the desire of individuals and social and political groups for the ownership of land is probably one of the greatest drives in human history. In non-industrial forms of society, the main source of a community's wealth is land. He who holds land [...] holds economic power, and ownership of-land becomes the basis of political power. The immovable and indestructible nature of land has led to the view that it constitutes the best form of security. These qualities set larid apart from other commodities and make its ownership more complicated than the ownership of movables."¹
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    The role of women in the formalisation of housing and placemaking: the case of the Victoria Mxenge housing project
    (2023) Howard, Ashley Jean; Winkler, Tanja
    The formal housing system in Cape Town presents a daunting challenge, with a significant backlog and a growing demand for housing opportunities. Policy challenges persist, including the perception that informal settlements are temporary. Thus, there is a need for a more nuanced approach to housing provision. Furthermore, gender disparities in urban spaces compound issues of well-being, safety, and community-building. Women face obstacles in accessing employment, education, and basic services, limiting their economic independence and social agency. A gendered lens reveals intricate layers of complexity, where disparities in resource access perpetuate the marginalisation of women. Despite constitutional and legislative provisions, women still face obstacles in land ownership and housing access. Thus, there is a need to explore women's inclusion in the formalisation of housing and placemaking to redress the historical and systemic failings of the state. This dissertation examines the multifaceted challenges within informal settlements in Cape Town, South Africa. It delves into three key issues: gender inequalities, the formalisation process of housing, and the need for community-focused placemaking principles. The aim of this study is to investigate the impact of a women-led organisation on the formalisation of housing in informal settlements and how this organisation enables a sense of community through placemaking principles. To these ends, a black feminist lens, radical planning theories and placemaking principles are employed as theoretical frameworks for this study, while the case under study is the Victoria Mxenge Housing Project in Philippi. Methodologically, qualitative research methods (case study method and discourse analysis) are utilised to answer the main and subsidiary research questions. The tools that are used for data collection are interviews and mapping. The results of this study show that women-led organisations have a positive impact on the formalisation of housing and the community in informal settlements. Going forward, knowledge from this research recommends planning interventions and policy changes that emphasise the importance of empowering women through the adoption of gender-sensitive approaches in community initiatives for meaningful, inclusive place-making.