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- Convenors:
-
Raffael Beier
(TU Dortmund University)
Corentin Chanet (ULB (Université Libre de Bruxelles))
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- Stream:
- Sociology
- Location:
- Chrystal McMillan, Seminar Room 5
- Sessions:
- Friday 14 June, -
Time zone: Europe/London
Short Abstract:
Housing is back on the agenda of many African governments. However, most housing programmes imply displacement and tend to be limited to a notion of 'shelter'. Because of that, we seek to address these displacements through the lens of resettlement, stressing a more comprehensive notion of 'home'.
Long Abstract:
After years of rather limited direct state intervention, authors such as Buckley et al. (2016), Croese et al. (2016), and Turok (2016), have observed a return of large-scale housing programmes. Framed as social policies, urban renewal, or upgrading programmes, these housing programmes aim at addressing so-called inadequate housing, shantytowns, slums, or other informal settlements that have developed over decades in relatively central urban areas. Inhabitants of these neighbourhoods are requested - if not forced - to move to social housing estates, new towns, and sites-and-services projects that emerge at the cities' peripheries in short time and with enormous quantities.
Although serious distress for affected residents is not denied, most research looked at these programmes as housing policy interventions that aim at improving deprived housing conditions for disadvantaged population groups. In this panel, we seek to address these displacements through the lens of resettlement. Thus, we suggest moving away from the naturally positive connotation of 'housing policies' towards the notion of resettlement that implies a more comprehensive analytical perspective. Beyond the notion of shelter, resettlement may see housing more in terms of 'homes', emphasising the role of livelihoods, living practices, and people's subjective use of their dwelling environment (cf. Turner 1967, Cernea 1997, de Wet 2008).
We hope to attract many empirical papers with that look at people before, during, and after resettlement. Furthermore, for those interested in publishing on issues of displacement and resettlement, the aim of this panel is also to start the editorial process of an upcoming volume.
Accepted papers:
Session 1 Friday 14 June, 2019, -SÃlvia Jorge (Research Centre of Architecture, UTL) Vanessa Melo (School of Architecture, University of Lisbon)
Paper short abstract:
Can and how can resettlements' habitat become inhabited settlements? Following the Lefebvrian production of space theory, namely the dichotomy between habitat and inhabit, we intend to search for answers to this question, by analysing two resettlement spaces of the Mozambican capital, Maputo.
Paper long abstract:
In Mozambique, the constitution of housing policies has not been a main focus of the state since independence, although recent attempts to call attention to this theme indicate its increasing visibility, considering that around 70% of its population lives in self-produced spaces, generally designated as slums or informal. Simultaneously, resettlement interventions in its capital, Maputo, have been at place due to natural calamities and urban renewal interventions, based on the tabula rasa of pre-existing tissue, particularly expressive in the neoliberal context, as a result of the development of real estate and infrastructural megaprojects.
Lefebvre (1991 [1974]), when theorising about the production of space, establishes a difference between the notions of: habitat, associated to housing top-down supplied, as in resettlement interventions, to an imposition and reduction of space to a 'machine of inhabit'; and inhabit, which results of space appropriation through time and is based on everyday rhythms and ways of living. The understanding of these notions is one of the focus of the research project Africa Habitat: From the sustainability of habitat to the quality of inhabit in the urban margins of Luanda and Maputo, in which we are involved. Having this as a point of departure, we propose to analyse the spatial transformations and levels of appropriation in two resettlement areas of Maputo: one related to the floods of 2000 and another to the reconstruction of an important access road, in 2013.
LEFEBVRE, Henri (1991 [1974]). The Production of Space. Trans. Nicholson-Smith, Donald. Oxford UK & Cambridge USA: Blackwell.
William Freund (University of KwaZulu/Natal)
Paper short abstract:
In the light of contemporary policy, this paper aims to look at different key phases in the history of public, or state-constructed housing in South Africa. It will consider the changing ideological context of public housing and the impact of societal goals.
Paper long abstract:
Public, or state-constructed, housing, has been, and continues to be, a massively important phenomenon for a century in South Africa. In the light of contemporary policy (RDP houses, new towns, mixed economic spaces) this paper aims to look at different key phases of this process. Although obviously a reaction to private sector failure in the wake of urbanisation, in fact this paper will look at the changing ideological context of public housing and the impact of societal goals going far beyond provision of worker accommodation. This includes but goes well beyond the familiar racial separation issues. What can housing deliver? This will be considered in terms of the international literature on the history of public housing for parallels and contrasts. The paper will try to integrate findings from different periods and locational spaces, making use of research over many decades
Sogendren Moodley (Durban University of Technology) Tamlynn Fleetwood (Durban University of Technology)
Paper short abstract:
Experiences of South Africans living in informal settlements pegged for resettlement to formal housing, show that movement between formality and informality is contested and non-linear. Examining how people make meaningful homes and neighbourhoods is vital for rethinking state housing programmes.
Paper long abstract:
Since 1994, the newly democratic South African state has embarked on a large-scale social housing programme. The main approach was to provide subsidised, or 'free' low cost houses (known as RDP houses). Millions of impoverished South Africans have received units, however, many of these housing projects continue to perpetuate apartheid spatial planning, with the poor being located on the periphery of cities. The state has focused on maximising the quantity of units constructed, as well as on the formalisation of social housing provision. Beyond a critique of the model and location of RDP settlements, there is also a problematic underlying assumption that upliftment of the poor happens linearly from informal to formal (ownership) housing. This paper draws on a comparative research project in Durban titled: Narratives of Home and Neighbourhood, that explores how state housing models shape both the built environment and the social landscape; influencing residents' sense of self, neighbourhood and belonging. The paper draws on data from three sites; two informal settlements undergoing both resettlement and in-situ upgrades (Quarry Road West and Blackburn Village), and a new social housing development (Cornubia), where some families from the informal locations have been resettled. The research shows that resettlement processes are contested and non-linear, and the forced movement of people can disrupt residents' sense of place, community ties, and livelihood strategies. Examining how people make meaningful homes and neighbourhoods may be a far more productive method for rethinking the role of South African state housing programmes.