Cape Town Case Study

785 Words2 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Racism in south Africa ( how it manifested itself

1.1 ABSTRACT
South Africa is a country that has experienced many challenges and changes over several years. Cape Town’s CBD has emerged as a lively, flourishing urban space that embraces all its citizens, yet it once was a place where people of colour were just visitors. Even though the city has developed this distinct, vibrant fabric, most people disperse into different suburbs that they call home. Some people travel just over or around the mountain, whilst others go even further to urban peripheries. This is one of the key architectural issues that designers face today in Cape Town – a confusing and fragmented landscape due to urban sprawl. The apartheid government’s practices drove to divide humans and their settlements based on race and …show more content…

The discourse provides questions around what is existing, how it came to be and how do we move forward from this. However, some argue that this urban sprawl we see today is due to rapid influx of people moving toward the city for work opportunities, also commonly known as, urbanisation. Other people argue that the “poor” make a decision and choice to live in informality but it is usually not a choice, it is usually a sacrifice people make in order to live and acquire work in the city. On the other hand, developments such as Wescape, 40kms from Cape Town for 800,000 people with 25 % of housing being subsidized cements the idea that the city is reserved for the higher income group. Excluding the poorer communities to peripheral communes only isolates them further from economic, social and sustainable networks that will not help increasing the density of the city of Cape Town, but only spread it further and wider.
The challenges faced in many communities include substandard infrastructures, acute shortage and deterioration of housing, insufficient public facilities, unemployment as well as poor sanitation. Even though many responses such as housing schemes, construction of some public facilities and road expansions have been undertaken, many still live in extreme conditions and reside far away from work

Show More
Related

  • Analysis Of Evicted By Matthew Desmond

    997 Words  | 2 Pages

    The connection between poor living conditions, low income families, and inequality of varying groups go hand in hand when dealing with poverty as discussed in Evicted by Matthew Desmond. These issues are often swept under the rug for those not immersed in the situation and can even be unknown. There is gender inequality which can affect every aspect of life, including dwelling. There is also racial inequality which also renders the quality of life. Both themes have a deeper meaning and are connected at the source of poor education and job discrimination.

    Read More

  • Analysis Of Gentrification: A Positive Good For Communities

    1003 Words  | 3 Pages

    “gentrification as an ugly product of greed”. Yet these perspectives miss the point. Gentrification is a byproduct of mankind's continuing interest in advancing the notion that one group is more superior to another and worthy of capitalistic consumption with little regard to social consciousness. It is elitism with the utmost and exclusionary politics to the core. This has been a constant theme of mankind taking or depleting space for personal gain.

    Read More

  • Gage Park Case Study

    1590 Words  | 4 Pages

    Being susceptible to health issues, can result from an interaction between the resources available to individuals and the built environment. Also, these negative health issues can be due to disadvantaged social status, leading to a plethora of ill effects, such as degraded neighborhoods, food deserts, and lack of community mobilization. The complex interactions of these factors over the course of time can create vulnerabilities in the

    Read More

  • Planet Of Slums Summary

    1181 Words  | 3 Pages

    In the second chapter of the book "Planet of Slums," Mike Davis seeks to answer what characteristics and types of slums are prevalent in different parts of the world. Davis continues his startled, alarmed, disgruntled and depressing tone from the previous chapter. Overall, the chapter is divided into two parts. The first part attempts to explore and examine the global slum census, and the other part describes the various slum typologies

    Read More

  • Effects Of Urbanization In Planet Of Slums

    1196 Words  | 3 Pages

    Mike Davis, in his book Planet of Slums, discusses the Third World and the impact globalization and industrialization has on both urban and poverty-stricken cities. The growth of urbanization has not only grown the middle class wealth, but has also created an urban poor who live side by side in the city of the wealthy. Planet of Slums reveals astonishing facts about the lives of people who live in poverty, and how globalization and the increase of wealth for the urban class only hurts those people, and that the increase of slums every year may eventually lead to the downfall of the earth. “Since 1970 the larger share of world urban population growth has been absorbed by slum communities on the periphery of Third World cities” (Davis 37). Specifically, this “Planet of Slums” Davis discusses both affects and is affected by informal labor and migration, ecological and industrial consequences, and global inequalities, and it seems this trend of urbanization no longer coincides with economic growth, thus reinforcing the notion that the wealth gap only widens, as the rich gain money and the poor lose money.

    Read More

  • Urban Consolidation

    2691 Words  | 6 Pages

    * Urban Professional^s recognition of the increased variability, robustness, and interest in both the urban area and their work. * Conservation Activist^s commendation of the lower consumption of resources, and reduced pressure on sensitive environment areas, suggestive of a reduction in urban sprawl. * The Development Industry^s equations of profit established through better and higher levels of land use. Essentially urban consolidation proposes an increase of either population or dwellings in an existing defined urban area (Roseth,1991). Furthermore, the suburban village seeks to establish this intensification within a more specific agenda, in which community is to be centred by public transport nodes, and housing choice is to be widened with increased diversity of housing type (Jackson,1998).

    Read More

  • Essay On Gentrification

    1267 Words  | 3 Pages

    Of the many problems affecting urban communities, both locally and abroad, there is one issue in particular, that has been victimizing the impoverished within urban communities for nearly a century; that would be the problem of gentrification. Gentrification is a word used to describe the process by which urban communities are coerced into adopting improvements respective to housing, businesses, and general presentation. Usually hidden behind less abrasive, or less stigmatized terms such as; “urban renewal” or “community revitalization” what the process of gentrification attempts to do, is remove all undesirable elements from a particular community or neighborhood, in favor of commercial and residential enhancements designed to improve both the function and aesthetic appeal of that particular community. The purpose of this paper is to make the reader aware about the significance of process of gentrification and its underlying impact over the community and the community participation.

    Read More

  • The Relationship Between Poor People and Poor Places

    1055 Words  | 3 Pages

    The Relationship Between Poor People and Poor Places Poverty is seen as a group of different kinds of deprivation. These forms of deprivation are patterned by a series of urban processes, which lead to greater concentration of problems in particular places. The area affects poor people, because the experience of living in a poor area can make people more vulnerable to poverty. People living in poor areas are disadvantaged in their experiences and command over resources. The concept of poverty is a contested one, and many different constructions have been placed on it (Spicker, 1999).

    Read More

  • Health And Mental Health: The Social Determinants Of Health

    1999 Words  | 4 Pages

    Low income can lead to high levels of stress and pressure, which can lead to mental health issues such as anxiety and depression. Overcrowding can be negative for a person because it causes frustration and family breakups, and means that their personal space is invaded, and their right to privacy is ignored – this can lead to tension in the family, and issues such as domestic abuse. Inadequate housing can affect an individual’s health, as it can cause respiratory problems due to poor living conditions such as damp or mold. The lack of green spaces can mean that health and sociability are not encouraged, and mental and physical health

    Read More

  • Habitat For Humanity

    723 Words  | 2 Pages

    The unfathomably high number of people cannot dwindle if nobody is to contribute towards this cause. Over 826 million people in the world do not live in proper areas because no one has offered any aid fo...

    Read More

  • The Three Causes Of Homelessness

    902 Words  | 2 Pages

    For families, the three most common causes are lack of affordable housing, unemployment and poverty. For single individuals, the three common causes are substance abuse, lack of affordable housing and mental illness (“facts”). “Thirty eight percent report alcohol use problems. Twenty six percent report other drug use problems. Thirty nine percent report some form of mental health problems. Sixty six percent report either substance use and/or mental health problems. Three percent report having HIV/AIDS. Twenty six percent report acute health problems other than HIV/AIDS such as tuberculosis, pneumonia, or sexual transmitted disease. Forty six percent report chronic health conditions such as high blood pressure, diabetes or cancer” (“Facts”). About one billion and one hundred million people in developing countries have insignificant access to water. Two billion and six hundred million lack fundamental sanitation. About two in three people lacking access to clean water have to survive on less than two dollars a day. One in three live on less than a dollar a day (Snah). This shows there are different causes and people experience problems in their lives. Any one of us can become homeless in a matter of seconds because “one bad circumstance or series of unlucky or unfortunate events can lead to homelessness” (Bolster). Four to five times as many people experience homelessness in one year than in one day. Eight hundred thousand is a lot of

    Read More

  • Urban Community Vs Rural Community

    1617 Words  | 4 Pages

    Because rural environments are not as densely populated as urban ones, public services are not as readily available. This requires people to find other means of getting where they need to go and also effects the way they take care of themselves in regards to health. When asked about how she was effected by the lack of healthcare and transportation, my first interviewee stated that it is a constant struggle for her. She said that because she does not work she cannot afford a car to get around with. She said it makes things especially hard when trying to get groceries. She tries to ride to town with some of her friends whenever possible, but if she cannot find a ride she has to walk where she needs to go. She said the lack of healthcare and transportation was a big problem when her husband had a heart attack. She said they had to bring in the helicopter to get him to the hospital in time and it came with a large bill that she doesn’t know how they are going to be able to pay. The second person I interviewed said that the lack of transportation required him to buy a vehicle. He said it was expensive; however, due to where he lives he has to have a four wheel drive to get down his road. He said that he has to drive over an hour to get him and his family to regular doctor and dentist appointments. Because of the lack of access to

    Read More

  • Inner City Initiatives and Re-Development Schemes

    785 Words  | 2 Pages

    Housing in inner city areas was poor quality and in a 1991 census it was found that over 1 million homes in the inner cities still lacked the basic amenities of bathrooms, WC’s and hot water. The occupants have low incomes and are often elderly, young

    Read More

  • The Natural History Of Urbanization By Lewis Mumford Summary

    1007 Words  | 3 Pages

    Sociologist … explained that open pattern of suburb is because of seeking environment free noise, dirt and overcrowding that are in the centre of cities. He gave examples of these cities as St. John’s wood, Richmond, Hampstead in London. Chestnut Hill and Germantown in Philadelphia. He added that suburban are only for the rich and high class. This plays into the hands of the critical perspectives that, “Cities are not so much the product of a quasi-natural “ecological” unfolding of social differentiation and succession, but of a dynamic of capital investment and disinvestment. City space is acted on primarily as a commodity that is bought and sold for profit, “(Little & McGivern, 2013, p.616).

    Read More

  • Urbanization in Africa

    1087 Words  | 3 Pages

    In Africa, one important feature of the urbanization process is that a lot of the growth is taking place in the industrial increase. Urbanization also finds expression in external expansion of the built-up area and the changing of prime agricultural lands into residential and industrial uses (Saundry, 2008). An alternate to the present expansion of the urban population across a wide area of the country in order to save crucial land for agriculture is to construct high-rise buildings and support commercial development in specific zones, which would depend on efficiency, and the right technology and resources (Hanson, 2011). In Africa, the urbanization processes are largely driven by market forces and government policies. This will lead to methods at the same time of change in incomes, land use, health and natural resources management including water, soil and forests and often reactive changes in local governments (The Economist, 2010). So this is saying that government development policies and budget divisions, in which urban residents are often favorites over rural areas and will tend to pull more people into the urban areas. I...

    Read More

More about Cape Town Case Study

Open Document