Informal Settlements

 APARTHEID    &  INFORMAL  HOUSING    

In  1929,  with  the  pressures  of  influx  of  African  people  to  Johannesburg,  the  removal  of  African  people  from  the  whites-­‐only  designated  residential  areas  became  a  priority  for  the  council  

 Diepsloot      

• 75%  residents  live  in  Diepsloot’s  slums  

• densely  populated  settlement  made  up  of  

formal  and  informal  settlements  

• transit  camp  for  people  who  had  been  

removed  from  Zevenfontein  in  1995  

• 4,000  families  living  in  backyard  shacks  &  

6,035  families  in  the  reception  area    

Reception  Area  

Resourceful  Living  

Landmark  for  ppl  to  locate  themselselves    

Dense  informal  settlement  

“we  don’t  want  to  do  a  politically  expedient  project  that’s  not  going  to  

last.”      

   Informal  Housing  

 • 13.5%  of  all  households  +-­‐(1,06  million)  live  in  squatter  housing  nationwide,  mostly  in  free-­‐standing  squatter  settlements  on  the  periphery  of  cities  and  towns  and  in  the  back  yards  of  formal  houses.  

• Lack  of  regular  refuse  removal  • No  electricity  • No  ownership  rights  • Suspended  residents  in  limbo  under  promise  of  new  housing  • Occupancy  patterns  seen  in  high  density,  low  income  areas  • Sub-­‐letting  and  small  scale  enterprise  • Low  rise  &  high-­‐density  

distinct  hierarchy  of  spaces    and  thresholds  mitigate  the  high  densities  

   Informal  Housing    •no  electricity  •no  ownership  rights  •suspended  residents  in  limbo  under  promise  of  new  housing  •occupancy  patterns  seen  in  high  density,  low  income  areas  •sub-­‐letting  and  small  scale  enterprise  •low  rise  &  high-­‐density        

Simmi’s  Sweet  Shop              

       Smallboy’s  Hair  Products                        

Sydney’s  House                    

 Eunice’s  Snack  Stall  

             Interventions                  …infrastructure  that  is       more  than  just  infrastructure                          

“In  the  South  African  case,  we  have  some  real  new  hybrid  post-­apartheid  identities  to  be  formed.  But  new  culture  is  created  in  the  very  in-­

between  spaces,  the  most  unlikely  spaces.  And  it’s  created  by  people,  not  by  buildings.”