Abstract
The legacy of the poor apartheid planning system still prevails in South African cities, with people of colour mostly being placed on the outskirts of the cities in townships where there is a lack of economic opportunities. Despite the policies that have been implemented in post-Apartheid South Africa to address inequalities and social, environmental, political, and economic challenges, there is still so much that needs to be done to achieve a South Africa that is inclusive. Currently, citizens can reside wherever they want, but the ability to afford always determines where one will reside. The mixed-income residential development approach has been applied both locally and internationally to promote inclusivity and ensure that access to resources and services is shared equally among people who come from different economic classes.
The aim of this study is to examine the impact of urbanisation on mixed-income residential development in South African townships, focusing on the township of Olievenhoutbosch. It also investigated how urbanisation has impacted access to and availability of mixed housing. The mixed-income housing projects that have been implemented were reviewed, as was their contribution to access to housing opportunities. It further analysed both the urbanisation and housing policies and their effectiveness, as well as delineated policy recommendations to improve access to housing in the township.
This paper incorporated both primary and secondary data to ensure the success of the study. For data collection, the researcher conducted field observation and semi-structured interviews among the permanent residents of Olievenhoutbosch and City of Tshwane officials. Two (2) participants were selected from the City of Tshwane, and from the twelve (12) extensions of the township, two (2) participants who are permanent residents of Olievenhoutbosch were selected from each extension. This has allowed the researcher to obtain information that is not biased and limited since it allowed different views from the participants even though they resided in the same income residential group. The findings from the data collection correlate with the literature review. The township is experiencing a housing backlog, leading to the development of backyard rooms, slums, and the illegal invasion of private land and newly developed government-assisted houses. There are no active programmes for social mixing that have been put in place.
The study also discussed existing mixed-income projects that have been implemented both locally and internationally, such as the Quartier Vauban in Germany and the Cosmo City mixed-
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income project in South Africa. Even though Olievenhoutbosch was not initially planned to be a mixed-income community, the practices and principles that were used in building Quartier and Cosmo City can also be applied in Olievenhoutbosch to achieve a sustainable and inclusive community.
All the research objectives were achieved through the findings from the conducted field observation and the interviews with the permanent residents of Olievenhoutbosch and the officials from the city of Tshwane. The majority of the residents that participated in this study, accounting to 58.3% resided in the low-income households, only 33.3% resides in middle-income households and 8.3% resides in the high-income households. To address the housing backlog in the area due to the residents not being aware of other programmes for access to housing and the waiting period for government-assisted housing, the study has suggested the provision of serviced stands instead of building houses and the promotion of housing programmes such as Finance Linked Individual Subsidy Programme (FLISP) and the Gauteng Partnership Fund (GPN) to increase access and availability of housing.