Informal settlements are housing areas that are often illegally built on municipal land. In South Africa, these settlements are found in a variety of areas and are home to a large percentage of the country’s impoverished population. Langrug is one of these informal settlements that exist in the village of Franschhoek.
What is it like to live in informal settlements in SA?
By 2014, 23% of the urban population in South Africa were living in informal housing settlements or “shacks,” which are generally built poorly out of the tin and other materials. Living in informal settlements in South Africa is dangerous and uncomfortable.
What is upgrading informal settlements in South Africa?
Upgrading Informal Settlements in South Africa is a collaborative effort of the Isandla Institute, the African Centre for Cities, and others. It shows a range of perspectives from officials, practitioners, academics and activists on the understanding and practice of informal settlement upgrading (page 12).
What is considered informal housing in South Africa?
Informal housing or informal settlement can include any form of housing, shelter, or settlement which is illegal, falls outside of government control or regulation, or is not afforded protection by the state. The Viva Foundation of South Africa UNFPA East and Southern Africa Regional Office How many informal settlements are there in South Africa?
What is an informal settlement?
Informal settlements are residential areas where (UN-Habitat, 2015b; Brown, 2015): inhabitants often have no security of tenure for the land or dwellings they inhabit ‒ for example, they may squat or rent informally; neighbourhoods usually lack basic services and city infrastructure;
What is meant by informal settlements?
Informal settlements are residential areas that do not comply with local authority requirements for conventional (formal) townships. They are, typically, unauthorised and are invariably located upon land that has not been proclaimed for residential use.
What causes informal settlements in South Africa?
A number of interrelated factors have driven the emergence of informal settlements: population growth; rural-urban migration; lack of affordable housing; weak governance (particularly in policy, planning and urban management); economic vulnerability and low-paid work; marginalisation; and displacement caused by ...
What are examples of informal settlements?
Common categories or terms associated with informal housing include: slums, shanty towns, squats, homelessness, backyard housing and pavement dwellers.
How many informal settlements are there in South Africa?
Currently, there are approximately 27oo informal settlements across South Africa, compared to just around 300 informal settlements in 1994 (Mistro and Hensher, 2009; Bennett and Fieuw, 2012).
What are the 3 biggest problems of informal settlements?
Informal settlements are characterized by a lack of basic services, pollution, overcrowding and poor waste management.
What is the main cause of informal settlements?
According to UN-Habitat (2015:2), informal settlements are caused by a range of interrelated factors, including population growth and rural-urban migration, lack of affordable housing for the urban poor, weak governance (particularly in the areas of policy, planning, land and urban management resulting in land ...
What is another word for informal settlement?
Shanty town Sometimes called a squatter, informal or spontaneous settlement, shanty towns often lack proper sanitation, safe water supply, electricity, hygienic streets, or other basic human necessities.
What is the biggest informal settlement in South Africa?
SowetoThose living in informal dwellings – defined as a wood and iron structure – have decreased slightly from 16.2% in 1996 to 13.0% in 2016....These are the 20 biggest townships in the country (Stats SA, 2011)#1TownshipSoweto2011 Population1 271 628Neighbouring townJohannesburg19 more columns•Aug 14, 2016
What are the advantages of informal settlement?
It offers choice, it gives people what they want, it enables individual creativity and it is affordable. It is also simple to build and easy to use. So, a powerful brand — the informal settlement — is in town. And it's reshaping the city.
How did informal settlements start in South Africa?
Many informal settlements in South Africa are connected to the Apartheid era, when government policies systematically segregated people based on race from housing, education and job opportunities. This in turn led many non-whitecitizens to leave the cities for informal townshipsin surrounding areas.
How can informal settlement problems be solved?
Additionally, Janice Perlman4 sets forth eight recommendations for the improvement of informal settlements: (1) provide a variety of housing options in regards to tenure and payment, such as short-term rental, long-term lease, cohousing, and financed purchase; (2) invest in education, healthcare, and social services ...
What percentage of South Africa lives in informal settlements?
Data from Statistics South Africa (StatsSA)'s General Household Survey indicate that 79.3% of households in South Africa live in formal dwellings, while 13.9% of households live in informal dwellings and 5.9% of households live in traditional dwellings.
What are the causes of squatter settlement?
Rapid urbanization, poverty and lack of access to land and ownership, in addition to limited or no social housing, have led citizens to build their homes illegally under very poor environmental and social conditions.
What causes informal settlements in Alexandra?
From an institutional aspect, they determined that the overpopulation led to the informality of the settlement, and that the lack of available funding resulted in the inability to provide appropriate drainage services. The social conditions of the local residents were also identified as major underlying causes.
What are the conditions and problems in informal settlements?
Moreover, informal settlements are space where the neighborhood effects related to poor sanitation, overcrowding, poor housing, physical hazard, pollution, and poverty exposed the dwellers to everyday health risks and keep them in a “risk trap”.
What are the effects of informal settlements?
Informal settlements are characterized by a lack of basic services, pollution, overcrowding and poor waste management. These characteristics impact negatively on the environment posing risk and susceptibility to health problems associated with informal settlements.
What are informal settlements in South Africa?
Informal Settlements in South Africa: Langrug Community. Many informal settlements in South Africa are connected to the Apartheid era, when government policies systematically segregated people based on race from housing, education and job opportunities. This in turn led many non-whitecitizens to leave the cities for informal townshipsin surrounding ...
When did apartheid end in South Africa?
In 1994 , the Apartheid system was dismantled and a reformed democratic system was adopted. Despite the fact that Apartheid is no longer in existence, extreme barriers still exist in South Africa. Many cities such as Cape Town, exhibit a clear line between wealth and extreme poverty.
Do informal settlements have resources?
In general, informal settlements do not have the resources to support facilities such as the one in Langrug, where maintenance requires a great deal of time and money. While the municipality does support maintenance of other facilities in the community, their services are not performed well.
What is the Department of Human Settlements?
Human settlements. The Department of Human Settlements (DHS) derives its core mandate and responsibilities from Section 26 of the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa of 1996 and Section 3 of the Housing Act of 1997, read in conjunction with approved policies and chapter 8 of the National Development Plan (NDP).
What are the four priority areas of the DHS?
To give effect to these guiding policies, the DHS will focus on four priority areas over the medium term: facilitating the development of integrated human settlements, upgrading informal settlements, providing affordable rental housing, and providing affordable housing finance.
Where are the highest percentage of households that lived in dwellings that were paid off or being occupied rent-free?
By comparison, the largest percentage of households that lived in dwellings that were either paid off or being occupied rent-free were found in Limpopo (85,9%) and Eastern Cape (84,7%) while the smallest percentages were observed in Gauteng (52,4%) and Western Cape (58,7%).
Abstract
The dire need for housing and security of tenure are the biggest challenges that South Africa is facing at this moment. spatial governance has become an important part of the spatial governance system under the unified management of urban and rural spaces.
References (19)
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What is informal settlement?
Informal settlements are residential areas where ( UN-Habitat, 2015b; Brown, 2015 ): inhabitants often have no security of tenure for the land or dwellings they inhabit ‒ for example, they may squat or rent informally; neighbourhoods usually lack basic services and city infrastructure; housing may not comply with planning and building regulations, ...
What are the factors that contribute to the emergence of informal settlements?
A number of interrelated factors have driven the emergence of informal settlements: population growth; rural-urban migration; lack of affordable housing; weak governance (particularly in policy, planning and urban management); economic vulnerability and low-paid work; marginalisation; and displacement caused by conflict, natural disasters and climate change ( UN-Habitat, 2015b ).
How does informal settlement affect women?
For women, for example, this can heighten barriers they face in accessing livelihood opportunities. Home-based workers also face challenges to entrepreneurial activity ( Chant, 2014 ). Women in informal settlements spend more time and energy accessing basic services than other urban counterparts, limiting their ability and time to earn through paid employment ( UNFPA, 2007 ). In addition, the prevalence of male-biased land tenure policies and restrictions on women’s rights to own property decreases the likelihood of alternative housing options. Poor quality housing, or eviction and homelessness, can also increase the risk of insecurity and sexual violence ( Chant, 2013; McIlwaine, 2013 ).
What are neighbourhoods lacking?
neighbourhoods usually lack basic services and city infrastructure; housing may not comply with planning and building regulations, and is often situated in geographically and environmentally sensitive areas (see Topic Guide on Provision and Improvement of Housing for the Poor, Patel, 2013). A number of interrelated factors have driven ...
The Reconstruction and Development Programme
Reasons Behind The Housing Crisis
- The Borgen Project interviewedImraan Buccus, a senior research associate at the Auwal Socio-Economic Research Institute in South Africa and political analyst for various Durban news stations and papers. He identifies urbanization and unemployment as key drivers of poor access to housing in the country. From 2007 to 2017, the percentage of South African residents living i…
Alternative Plans For Slums
- Once hostile towards the informal settlements, the Durban city government is beginning to consider more progressive solutions. Buccus mentioned “integrated housing” plans that would incorporate state-sponsored, lower-income housing in wealthier, better-resourced areas of the city, like Umhlanga. The provincial government may also be warming towards the idea of “cities …
Urban-Think Tank
- Urban-Think Tank (U-TT) is a Swiss nonprofit organization working to upgrade informal settlements near Cape Town in order to accommodate expansion and encourage upward mobility among slum residents. The organization believes that the rapidly growing informal settlement population requires a denser planning scheme.U-TT’s “Empower Shacks”are built of cheap but d…