Student Number : 9907324E - MSc research report - School of Architecture - Faculty of Engineering and the Built Environment / This dissertation explores poverty in the inner city of Johannesburg. The World Bank perspectives on describing poverty have been adopted as a theoretical framework for understanding poverty in the inner city. The report looks at the local government’s planning framework for the inner city, and through Flyvberg’s theory of power and rationality, critically assess the potential of the RSDF to alleviate poverty in the inner city. Through Healey’s collaborative planning theory, the dissertation looks at possibility of improving poverty alleviation in the inner City of Johannesburg. Views were obtained from planning officials and community based organisations engaged in development of the poor. Additionally, statistical information from census 1996 and 2001 provide the reader with concrete figures on poverty in the inner city of Johannesburg.