Confounded but Complacent: Accounting for How the State Sees Responses to Its Housing Intervention in Johannesburg

Charlton, Sarah

doi:10.1080/00220388.2018.1460465

Cited by 21 publications

(15 citation statements)

References 27 publications

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“…The informal practices were responses to discrete state–society conflicts about different issues in different spatial contexts, and led to pivotal shifts in city governance even if not readily apparent at the time of their occurrence. This article echoes research by others on the contribution of informal or discretionary street-level actions by state actors (popularised by Lipsky, 1980) to the construction of the state and urban change (Bénit-Gbaffou, 2018a, 2018b; Charlton, 2018; Rubin, 2018). The state itself identified the need to understand informal practices more deeply in a diagnostic of South African governance (RSA, 2011).…”

Section: Assessing Effects Of Informal Practices On Organisational Casupporting

confidence: 65%

“…Indeed, the City demonstrated awareness of its responsibility to provide alternative temporary housing for those rendered homeless by area and building regeneration projects by providing some ad hoc facilities (anonymous, personal communication, 2012). Moving beyond these informal responses seemed impossible, not helped by the fragmented responsibility for this function, contested between national, provincial and local government levels (Charlton, 2018). Further, no national housing framework was in place to cater for renovating ‘bad buildings’ for occupancy by the poor.…”

Section: Case 3: Providing Ad Hoc Temporary Housing and Bypassing Opementioning

confidence: 99%

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Effects of the state’s informal practices on organisational capability and social inclusion: Three cases of city governance in Johannesburg

Pernegger

2020

Urban Studies

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Despite state actors’ uses of informal practices in urban governance, their prominence in changing policy is little acknowledged by scholars. Their effects are even less examined. Such informal practices inextricably link with and impact on formal ones, and have consequences for the state and citizens, especially at the local level. This article presents three cases of contested urban governance from Johannesburg’s post-apartheid city administration. The cases reveal pivotal informal practices in response to challenges encountered in local urban governance, informed by multiple complex and (sometimes absent) formal practices, contexts, timings and players. Responding to different pressures, local-level state actors deliberately applied different sorts of informal practices. These pressures included the need to cope with immediate problems, conflictual relationships, political agendas, lobbying groups, competing priorities and resource limitations. The effects of informal practices on the local government’s organisational capability and citizens’ social inclusion are evident and varied. Findings imply that the state’s informal practices and their effects shape governance in ways that undermine or uphold democratic ideals, thus warranting more mindful scrutiny than given so far.

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Section: Assessing Effects Of Informal Practices On Organisational Casupporting

confidence: 65%

Section: Case 3: Providing Ad Hoc Temporary Housing and Bypassing Opementioning

confidence: 99%

Effects of the state’s informal practices on organisational capability and social inclusion: Three cases of city governance in Johannesburg

Pernegger

2020

Urban Studies

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“…While a huge number of new, subsidised homes have been built, many cannot afford to live in them, let alone keep them in good repair. The stench of broken sewer lines, damp and decay have become all too common, while poorer communities reproduce the extensions and shacks of abject informal settlements in an attempt to keep their heads above water (Charlton, 2018). Turok (2014) even argues that much of the new housing being built has been located in such a way as to actually reinforce spatial segregation, trapping the poorest on the urban fringes.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Planning out abjection? The role of the planning profession in post-apartheid South Africa

Jones

Andres²,

Denoon-Stevens

et al. 2021

Planning Theory

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For Kristeva (1982) the abject not only caused visceral disgust but posed a threat to the established order of society. The abject is a product of particular times and places but limited attention has been given to understanding the process of transitioning away from abject status. We address this gap here through an examination of the planning profession in post-apartheid South Africa. The paper examines how the abject is fluid and resilient, evolving to fit a changing planning system and broader political economy where a discourse of abjection by race has been replaced by a focus on poverty.

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“…This planning as best practice approach focuses on creating developedmarket style cities and is underpinned by governments rejecting any "improper" solutions, defined according to Northern standards. Often the outcome is the criminalisation of the livelihoods and shelter strategies of the poor (Charlton 2018). This represents an irresponsible and too often placeless approach to urban planning.…”

Section: Visible Challenges For Post-pandemic Plannersmentioning

confidence: 99%

Redefining city governance: towards rapid-response open planning

Granger

Charlton

2021

Town Planning Review

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Confounded but Complacent: Accounting for How the State Sees Responses to Its Housing Intervention in Johannesburg

Cited by 21 publications

References 27 publications

Effects of the state’s informal practices on organisational capability and social inclusion: Three cases of city governance in Johannesburg

Effects of the state’s informal practices on organisational capability and social inclusion: Three cases of city governance in Johannesburg

Planning out abjection? The role of the planning profession in post-apartheid South Africa

Redefining city governance: towards rapid-response open planning

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