Housing built by local authorities for low income housing has gone a long way towards providing a range of housing options for the varying needs of those who are forced through circumstances to rely on the public sector for their housing. Selling off the rented housing stock to sitting tenants has enabled large numbers of families to become homeowners. The sale of rental housing stock has been long viewed by theorists with much scepticism. Therefore much research has gone into, amongst other things the government policy of "load-shedding" in order to decrease the welfare burden of the state. Few studies however have been able to capture the perceptions and attitudes of the beneficiary families. A major thrust of the National Housing Policy is to increase the access of housing to previously disadvantaged individuals. One such method is that of privatisation and the sale of public rental stock to sitting tenants. The study will attempt to investigate the process of privatisation as adopted by the Metropolitan Council and resistance that it has faced. / Thesis (M.Sc.)-University of Natal, 2000.

The study was conducted in the community of Wellbedacht East in eThekwini Municipality. Welbedacht East (WE) is located north-east of Umlazi Township and west of Chatsworth and also expands into the eNgonyameni Traditional Authority. WE is about 23 kilometres from Pinetown, 43 kilometres from Durban, and 15 kilometres from Chatsworth Centre. It is one of the development projects undertaken to spearhead the very ambitious programme of slums clearance, in order to confront the challenge of informal settlements in the eThekwini Municipal area. The study area has been chosen because it is one of the largest slum clearance projects in eThekwini Municipality (Durban) and it is peripherally located. Due to its peripheral location, transport services, and facilities such as schools, a clinic, a police station, churches and shops are either scarce, or non-existent. A systematic sample of 60 households was drawn from a population of residents whose characteristics had been considered to reflect those of the larger population. The project has 5000 sites and 3000 beneficiary households were relocated to this project from the inner city areas. The study is aimed at examining the impact and effects of relocation on beneficiary households in peripherally located low-income housing projects, to determine whether or not transport costs are higher in peripherally situated settlements than in more central locations, and whether residents in peripheral settlements are less able to access the benefits of urban living, including economic opportunities and social networks necessary for survival. It argues that the relocation of informal settlements to peripheral sites promotes an urban sprawl, and thus deviates from the eThekwini Municipality's goal of promoting development as a 'compact city'. The findings in this study are that, firstly, there is clear evidence to suggest that relocations to peripheral areas can cause significant harm to relocated beneficiary households' livelihood strategies, and secondly, that the municipality's failure to coordinate its relocations plan with other spheres of government involved with social service delivery, especially the departments of health and education, resulted in medium-term deprivation of access to social services. The conclusions drawn from the findings are that a holistic and integrated approach to housing development needs to be enforced, whereby the minimum facilities, such as schools, clinics and other social amenities are prioritised if the project is poorly located. The study therefore recommends that low-income housing projects be located closer to the economic nodes, in order to eliminate transport costs and other social difficulties associated with peripheral location. The compact city settlement design epitomised by higher residential densities and the development of multifunctional habitats would, to a greater extent, reduce the need to travel, and improve quality of life and access to urban goods and services. / Thesis (M.T.R.P.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, 2006.

This research work evaluates the quality of built housing environment and the improvement of the quality of life for the beneficiary communities under the South African Housing Policy. It pays special reference to the Case Study of Waterloo and Quarry Heights within the jurisdiction of Durban Unicity. In order to assess the quality of built housing environment whether it has a potential to improve the quality of life for the client communities the researcher set indicators which are: Integrated planned housing environment, residential quality, suitable building material, secured housing environments, standard of dwelling units, housing environment with economic infrastructure, housing environment that allows fleXibility and extension, and housing environment that has got development infrastructure and social services. These indicators are used in this study as important tool in evaluating the quality of built housing environment. / Thesis (M.Arch.)-University of Natal, 2002.

The period between the nineteen fifties and the seventies in South Africa witnessed the emergence of a central state housing policy incorporating large scale mass housing for Black people in delineated Group Areas based on segregated racial zoning policies originally initiated in Durban. During this period the local state in Durban began to exercise the responsibility assigned to it since 1920 by providing the previously neglected housing for Coloureds and Indians. As a case-study detailing the origins of the Indian township of Phoenix this study explores how power is exercised at the local level. It focuses on local representation and accounts for the growth in bureaucratic power and subsequent decline of the City Council regarding matters of housing in Durban. The study argues that in order to conceptualise the 'local state' and its 'relative autonomy' from the central state it is necessary to analyse local social relations. As such the study focusses on the power relations existing between the City Council and the bureaucracy; the City Council and the Indian community; and the bureaucracy and The Natal Estates Ltd. Data have been drawn from primary sources including municipal records and oral interviews, and from secondary sources which have provided the historical context for the study. The relationship between the City Council and the bureaucracy has been found to have been dominated not only by the technical expertise and resources of the bureaucracy, but also by the intervention of powerful personalities holding senior positions within the bureaucracy. Both the City Council and the bureaucracy proved to have been instrumental in ensuring that opposing demands from the various sectors of the Indian community did not interfere with their plans for housing at Phoenix. In the same manner, the bureaucracy's determination to maintain control over housing and ensure the reproduction of urban labour power led to the cooperation of the local, regional and central state levels, which forced Natal Estates into protracted land negotiations where the Company was finally pressurised into selling under threat of central state expropriation. / Thesis (M.A.)-University of Natal, Durban, 1987.

This research project explores the relevance of the available urban political geographic literature to understanding mobilization that occurred in opposition to rent increases,and the proposed alteration of a national political boundary in the urban black township of Lamontville. A theoretical extension to the available literature was proposed. The choice of methods of investigation, was informed by the need for geography to be more relevant to the present political climate evident on the urban terrain, as well as the theoretical necessity to interact with individual intellectuals of the organization. As such direct and indirect methods of investigation and data gathering were utilized. These included Participant Observation, In-depth Focus Interviews and a Content Analysis of the media. In the course of investigation it proved enlightening to move beyond the conventional subject/object dichotomy to engage in the moment of reflexive activity (Willis, 1976). The research clarified that the theoretical and methodological innovations suggested were necessary; if the process embodied by the organization was to be understood; if geography was to be capable of contributing to such an understanding; and if this understanding was to be relevant and informative to the investigated organization. / Thesis (M.A.)-University of Natal, Durban, 1986.

When the Government of National Unity (GNU) came to power in South Africa in 1994, it inherited a housing sector with severe abnormalities as a result of the policies and political turbulence of the apartheid era (Department of Housing/DOH, 2000a). One of the main problems was and is still the enormous housing backlog facing large sections of the country's population both in rural and urban areas. The housing crisis in South Africa has received extensive attention by the South African government, non-profit organizations and international actors such as research and aid organisations since the demise of apartheid. This shows the historical and present interest on the SUbject. The most significant development in housing policy in 1990 was the creation of the Independent Development Trust (lOT). The lOT, was a parastatal, a government created institution in 1991, which was to address the housing needs of the country's poor. As one form of housing subsidisation, housing consolidation subsidies have been used in housing projects for households to build new houses or improve existing structures on the serviced sites that were previously subsidized through the Independent Development Trust (lOT) in the 1990's. The realisation that between 20%-30% of beneficiaries do not take occupancy at the end of a specific project, has brought a serious concern to the Housing Department, local community structures and Project Managers. This study, focuses on the Durban Metropolitan Area; it intend to increase one's understanding of why consolidation housing projects only reach 70%-80% of intended beneficiaries on closure of the projects. The housing consolidation projects in Luganda and Savannah Park, Southern Pinetown, Durban, which are the sUbject of the present stUdy, were initiated in 1996 and 2000 respectively with the intent to deliver over 2000 houses in both study areas. These are being investigated. The study takes a form of a wholes tick approach and tries to make a link between the absent beneficiaries and those who informally transfer their property to new owners. The reason is simply that the 20-30% originally intended beneficiaries are not benefiting from the Consolidation Housing Subsidy. The study aims to look at alternative, cheaper and affordable ways of obtaining title deeds for people who have bought sites informally from the authentic officially recognised beneficiaries. Lastly, the study will contribute by data gathering and analysis, to the understanding of the phenomenon of low-occupancy and informal or de facto transfer of property. / Thesis (M.Housing)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, 2006.

No abstract available. / Thesis (M.T.R.P.)-University of Natal, 2002.

Governance is defined here as the process of decision-making and implementation. Public participation which leads on from good governance is a process leading to a joint effort by stakeholders, technical specialists, the authorities and the developing agent who work together to produce better decisions than if they had acted independently. Environmental decision-making and environmental partnerships go hand in hand in the sense that good environmental decision-making can only take place if sustainable environmental partnerships are formed. This thesis focuses on the case study of the Warwick Junction Urban Renewal Programme as an example of an area based management development project in the eThekwini Municipality. Warwick Junction is a vibrant trading and transport node in the heart of the city. The area is complex in terms of its biophysical, societal, economic and political structures. The purpose of the implementation of an Urban Renewal Program in July 1996 in Warwick Junction was to uplift and upgrade this inner city area so as to provide an improved trading and residential environment. A large number of projects that fall under this renewal programme have been completed. Community involvement in these projects has been implemented via community representation on a steering committee. It is proposed that a process of good governance is necessary to integrate sustainability into all spheres of development. The aim of this research therefore is to assess the decision-making processes for a number of environmental projects in Warwick Junction. The following projects that have already been completed will be the focus of this study: The Warwick Triangle Playground, Herb Traders Market, Bovine Head Cookers facility, Mealie Cookers Facility and the Badsha Peer Project. Theories of urban governance, public participation, environmental decision-making and environmental partnerships under the broader framework of sustainability, form the conceptual framework for this study. A qualitative approach has been employed in this research. Primary data has been derived from focus groups and open-ended interviews. A set of social sustainability indicators that was derived from the theoretical framework was used to determine the most successful project. Results show that the Mealie Cookers Project displayed all the characteristics of good urban governance. It is also considered to be a sustainable project because as part of its commitment to the urban renewal programme it has balanced the social, economic and environmental needs of present and future generations in Warwick Junction. This was the most successful project out of the five projects as it ranked very high on the social sustainability indicator table followed by the Muthi Traders market, the Badsha Peer Shelter, the Playground Facility and lastly the Bovine Head Cookers facility. The Muthi Market ranked as high as the Mealie Cookers Project on the social sustainability indicator table. This is due to adequate participation with affected communities which allowed them to contribute towards the decision-making process. The strength of the Badsha Peer Shelter Project lies in the good governance and good environmental decisions being taken, win-win partnerships and overall empowerment of stakeholders. The Playground Facility brought with it many political tensions as there were two civic associations that were at loggerheads with each other surrounding the whole project. The strength of this project lies in its transformative participation as the affected communities ideas were used to decide on the location of the park. There were also many political tensions among the Bovine Head Cookers. As a result of the cookers belonging to different political parties, an issue of territory was brought to the surface. Due to serious conflict between cookers and the renewal team, this project has taken three years to implement. It is thus considered to be the most unsuccessful project out of the five projects researched. It is therefore evident that three out of the five projects have been successful, displaying appropriate environmental governance. The results indicate that the environmental decision-making mechanisms that have been employed by the urban renewal team have been transformative in the sense that they not only give a voice to the communities, but also have empowered them in the process. Adequate public participation has also contributed to the success of the programme along with win-win types of partnerships that have formed. It is therefore concluded that the urban renewal decision-making mechanisms implemented in the Warwick Junction have contributed to the sustainability of the development programme. / Thesis (M.Sc.)-University of Natal, Durban, 2004.