Informal Settlement Upgrading in Cape Town’s Hangberg: Local Government, Urban Governance and the ‘Right to the City’ by Walter Vincent Patrick Fieuw Thesis presented in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Philosophy in Sustainable Development Planning and Management in the Faculty of Economics and Management Sciences at Stellenbosch University Supervisor: Dr Firoz Khan December 2011 Stellenbosch University http://scholar.sun.ac.za Declaration By submitting this thesis electronically, I declare that the entirety of the work contained therein is my own, original work, that I am the sole author thereof (save to the extent explicitly otherwise stated), that reproduction and publication thereof by Stellenbosch University will not infringe any third party rights and that I have not previously in its entirety or in part submitted it for obtaining any qualification. Signature Walter Fieuw Name in full 22/11/2011 Date Copyright © 2011 Stellenbosch University All rights reserved ii Stellenbosch University http://scholar.sun.ac.za Abstract Integrating the poor into the fibre of the city is an important theme in housing and urban policies in post‐apartheid South Africa. In other words, the need for making place for the ‘black’ majority in urban spaces previously reserved for ‘whites’ is premised on notions of equity and social change in a democratic political dispensation. However, these potentially transformative thrusts have been eclipsed by more conservative, neoliberal developmental trajectories. Failure to transform apartheid spatialities has worsened income distribution, intensified suburban sprawl, and increased the daily livelihood costs of the poor. After a decade of unintended consequences, new policy directives on informal settlements were initiated through Breaking New Ground (DoH 2004b). Local governments have nevertheless been slow to implement this new instrument despite more participatory, flexible, integrated and situational responsive policies contained therein. The City of Cape Town was one of the first applicants for Upgrading of Informal Settlements Programme (DoH 2004a, DHS 2009) funding in upgrading Hangberg’s informal settlement after effective lobbying by local civic Hout Bay Civic Association (HBCA) assisted by the Cape Town‐based NGO, Development Action Group (DAG). However, in September 2010 the upgrading project came to a standstill when Metropolitan Police clashed violently with community members who allegedly broke a key agreement when building informal structures on the Sentinel Mountain firebreak. Using the case study research methodology, the study seeks to unravel the governance complexities elicited by this potentially progressive planning intervention. Four theoretical prisms are used to probe and investigate the primary case study (Hangberg) duee to th different ways of ‘seeing and grappling’ and ‘narrating’ a complex tale. This is characterised by the dialectics of power and powerlessness; regime stabilisation and destabilisation; formalisation and informalisation; continuity and discontinuity. These prisms are: urban informality, urban governance, deepening democracy, and socio‐spatial justice. By utilising these four theoretical prisms, the study found the Hangberg case to be atypical of development trajectories, on the one hand, and conforming to the enduring neoliberal governance logics, on the other. In the concluding chapter, the study critically engages prospects of realising post‐apartheid spatialities by considering recent policy shifts and programmes with the potential of realising the poor’s ‘right to the city’. Keywords: informal settlement upgrading, UISP, development planning, sustainable human settlements, neoliberalism, urban governance, right to the city iii Stellenbosch University http://scholar.sun.ac.za Opsomming ‘n Belangrike tema in post‐apartheid behuising‐ en stedelike beleide is die integrasie van arm mense in die weefsel van die stad. Anders gestel, die nodigheid om plek te maak vir die ‘swart’ meerderheid in stedelike spasies wat voorheen vir ‘wittes’ uitgesonder is, is gebaseer op die uitgangspunt van regverdigheid en sosiale verandering in ‘n demokratiese bedeling. Hierdie potensiële hervormings‐nosies is egter verduister deur meer konserwatiewe, neo‐ liberale ontwikkelings‐trajekte. Die mislukte pogings om apartheids‐ruimtes te omvorm, beteken dat inkomsteverdeling vererger is, wydstrekkende verstedeliking in meer intensiewe vorms voorkom, en die daaglikse lewenskoste van die armes verhoog het. Na ‘n dekade van onopsetlike gevolge is nuwe beleids‐riglyne vir informele nedersettings voorgestel deur Breaking New Ground (DoH 2004a). Plaaslike owerhede was egter tot dusver traag om hierdie nuwe instrument te implementeer, ten spyte daarvan dat meer deelnemende, buigsame, geïntegreerde en situasioneel‐aanpasbare beleide daarin vervat is. Die Stad Kaapstad wasn ee van die eerste applikante vir Upgrading of Informal Settlements Programme (DoH 2004b, DHS 2009) befondsing om Hangberg se informele nedersetting te opgradeer, nadat effektiewe druk uitgeoefen is deur die Hout Bay Civic Association (HBCA), met ondersteuning van die NRO, Development Action Group (DAG), wat in Kaapstad gebaseer is. Maar in September 2010 het die opgradering‐projek tot stilstand gekom nadat die Metropolitaanse Polisie gewelddadig met gemeenskapslede gebots het, omdat die gemeenskap na bewering ‘n belangrike ooreenkoms gebreek het deur informele strukture op die brandstrook te bou. Deur van die gevalstudie navorsing‐metodologie gebruik te maak, beoog hierdie studie om die bestuurskompleksiteite te ontrafel wat deur hierdie potensiële omvormde beplannings‐ intervensie uitgelok is. Vier teoretiese prismas word gebruik om die primêre geval (Hangberg) te ondersoek in die lig van die verskillende maniere waarop hierdie komplekse narratief gesien kan word. Dit word gekenmerk deur die dialekte van mag en magteloosheid; stabilisasie en destabilisasie van die staatsbestel; formalisering en deformalisering; samehangendheid en onsamehangendheid. Die prismas is: stedelike informaliteit, stedelike bestuur, verdieping van demokrasie en sosio‐ruimtelike regverdigheid. Deur van hierdie vier prismas gebruik te maak, wys die studie tot watter mate die Hangberg geval aan die een kant atipies tot ontwikkelings‐trajekte is, en aan die ander kant konformeer tot die voortdurende neo‐liberale bestuurslogika. In die slothoofstuk, is die studie krities bemoei met die vooruitsig om die post‐apartheid‐stad te realiseer deur huidige beleidsveranderinge en programme te ondersoek met die vergrootglas op hul potensiaal vir transformasie en om die armes se ‘reg tot die stad’ te bevorder. Sluitelwoorde: informele nedersetting opgradering, UISP, ontwikkelingsbeplanning, volhoubare menslike nedersettings, neoliberalisme, stedelike bestuur, reg tot die stad iv Stellenbosch University http://scholar.sun.ac.za Acknowledgements I would like to thank and acknowledge a number of people for their contributions, at various dimensions, towards finishing this thesis. My supervisor, Dr. Firoz Khan, for guiding me through a rich learning experience and for his support during the writing of this thesis. Various Hangberg community leaders, Helen Macgregor of DAG, Faatimah Hendricks and Dorianne Arendse of Voice of the Cape FM Radio, and City of Cape Town officials who took time out of their busy schedules to be interviewed. Lecturers of the BPhil Sustainable Development Planning stream, especially Anneke Muller, Firoz Khan, Mark Swilling, Edgar Pieterse, and Eve Annecke. I also want to thank the 2010 BPhil Class in the Sustainable Development Planning stream, especially Danie, Joel, Lourens, Alexis, Julius, Elke, Luthando, Christelle and Paul, for the invigorating engagements and exchanges. I am also grateful to Marie Huchzermeyer who generously shared drafts of her forthcoming book, Cities With ‘Slums’: From Informal Settlement Eradication to a Right to the City in Africa (UCT Press), with me and facilitated discussions on questions relating to urban informality and housing the poor in the post‐apartheid era. My mother and father, for their unflinching support and generosity; and to my friends, for teaching me the values of selflessness and devotion. My wife, Lezanne, for journeying with me and being a daily inspiration. I could not have done this without you. And lastly, my Heavenly Father; Your love for Your cosmos drives me forward. v Stellenbosch University http://scholar.sun.ac.za Table of Contents DECLARATION II ABSTRACT III OPSOMMING IV ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS V TABLE OF CONTENTS VI LIST OF FIGURES IX LIST OF ACRONYMS AND ABBREVIATIONS X 1 INTRODUCTION 1 1.1 BACKGROUND TO THE STUDY 1 1.1.1 INFORMAL SETTLEMENT UPGRADING IN HANGBERG 2 1.1.2 PROBLEM STATEMENT AND RATIONALE 5 1.2 RESEARCH QUESTIONS AND OBJECTIVES 7 1.2.1 RESEARCH QUESTIONS 7 1.2.2 RESEARCH OBJECTIVES 7 1.2.3 IMPACT OF THE STUDY 8 1.3 APPROACH, STRATEGY, AND EPISTEMOLOGY 8 1.3.1 METHODOLOGY AND UNIT OF ANALYSIS 8 1.3.2 RESEARCH STRATEGY/MODE OF OBSERVATION 9 1.3.3 EPISTEMOLOGY AND THEORY 11 1.4 STRUCTURE OF THE STUDY 12 1.4.1 OUTLINE OF CHAPTERS 12 2 URBAN INFORMALITY IN AN ERA OF RESTRUCTURING AND LIBERALISATION 15 2.1 INTRODUCTION 15 2.1.1 INFORMAL SETTLEMENTS: A NEW URBAN ORDER? 15 2.1.2 PLANNING AND INFORMALITY 17 2.1.3 LOCATING THE URBAN TRANSITION: RESTRUCTURING AND LIBERALISATION 20 2.2 POST‐APARTHEID SPATIALITY AND URBANITY: EFFORTS AT REALISING SPATIAL INTEGRATION AND TRANSFORMATION 27 2.2.1 THE GRADUAL EMBRACE OF NEOLIBERALISM IN SOUTH AFRICA 29 2.2.2