Thesis (MPhil)--Stellenbosch University, 2011. / One of the serious problems facing South Africa is that of the provision of adequate low-cost
housing for its people. According to Statistics South Africa (2009), 56% of South Africans lived in
fully-owned formal dwellings in 2009. Not only does it seem impossible to work away the backlogs,
but problems with the standard of construction, location and continuing urbanisation adds to the
challenge. International commitments such as the UN’s Millennium Goals put further pressure on
government to permanently resolve the issue. Adequate housing is recognised globally as a basic
human right. This includes access to running water and sanitation and a safe environment.
This study does not aim to investigate, in any way, construction techniques, specific choices of
location or other planning-related issues. However, it does try to find a more successful approach
to the challenge of the provision of housing given the already stated challenges, combined with,
amongst others, the provision of the necessary financing and relevant political processes.
The provision of low-cost housing is a wicked problem. This means that it has certain
characteristics, including being unique in character and can never be fully resolved. However,
within futures studies, systems theory is recognised as one of the more successful ways to
address wicked problems.
By investigating low-cost housing programmes in Brazil, Argentina and Peru and identifying the
elements of systems theory used, it was possible to find pointers to help formulate a set of steps
(or actions) to use to address South Africa’s low-cost housing challenge. This research report
proposes that, while the challenge of housing provision in a country like South Africa will most
probably always be present, it can be alleviated by applying systems thinking to the problem.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:netd.ac.za/oai:union.ndltd.org:sun/oai:scholar.sun.ac.za:10019.1/17474 |
| Date | 03 1900 |
| Creators | Le Roux, Frieda Elizabeth |
| Contributors | Roux, Andre, Stellenbosch University. Faculty of Economic and Management Sciences. Graduate School of Business. |
| Publisher | Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University |
| Source Sets | South African National ETD Portal |
| Language | en_ZA |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
| Rights | Stellenbosch University |
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