PUBLIC SPACES IN DISADVANTAGED AREAS

Contributing to community building – and development

Public spaces where people meet and children play contribute to community building, and to social and economic activities. Too often the importance of public space is disregarded in municipal planning, especially in low-income areas.
The Sida-financed physical improvement projects created attractive and useful public meeting places in townships.

During the apartheid era, townships were characterised by low levels of basic services and lacked greening, lighting, storm-water drainage, pavements and recreational and commercial facilities. They were also dusty, unattractive and unsafe, particularly at night.

Townships with rows of ‘match box’ houses on separate stands resulted in peripheral, mono-functional dormitory areas far from the city centre and white suburbs. The low density of housing both in the townships and in the white suburbs produced the typical urban sprawl that can be seen in many cities in South Africa. The remnants of physical and social apartheid and the fear of crime still promote social exclusion rather than social interaction in public spaces.

The Development Facilitation Act of 1995 and the subsequent planning framework, Integrated Development Planning, promoted more compact, integrated and mixed-use settlements. Due to the neglect of public spaces in townships, the Urban Programme assisted a number of physical improvement projects linked to Comprehensive Urban Planning (CUP) processes, to demonstrate visible improvements. More information on different planning approaches is found in booklet 1 in this series, ‘Integrated Municipal Development’.

The physical improvement projects that aimed to enhance the spatial environment and make a positive social impact in low-income areas included street lighting, paved walkways along major roads, meeting places, playground parks and tree planting near public spaces and schools.

Community Support Centres were constructed to provide municipal services and increase community participation in solving housing and environmental problems.

All physical projects involved gender sensitive community participation in planning and location of facilities.