The Rhythms of the Yards: Urbanism, Backyards and Housing Policy in South Africa

Bank, Andrew

doi:10.1080/02589000701396298

Cited by 33 publications

(31 citation statements)

References 3 publications

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“…In contrast, from the late-1990s onwards, backyard dwellings became a more attractive form of housing, representing the most common form of accommodation for new arrivals to the city (Gilbert et al, 1997). Backyard overcrowding was no worse than in formal township structures and offered extremely low rents alongside good access to water and toilets (and limited access to electricity), with relatively conflict-free and non-exploitative tenant-landlord relationships characterised by a common struggle between equally poor township residents (Bank, 2007;Beall et al, 2000aBeall et al, , 2002Beall, Crankshaw, & Parnell, 2000b;Crankshaw et al, 2000;Gilbert et al, 1997;Morange, 2002). The reason for this change is not clear, although the growing number of cash-poor township homeowners (e.g.…”

Section: Backyard Dwellings In South Africa: Existing Researchmentioning

confidence: 88%

“…Cape Argus, 2008) there are no reports of entrepreneurs (in Westlake or elsewhere) similarly exploiting backyard dwellers by charging outrageously high rents and/or enforcing strict rules. 44 This figure includes backyard dwellers in both formal and informal units and is significantly higher than incomes identified in other research (e.g Bank, 2007;Crankshaw et al, 2000;Morange, 2002)…”

mentioning

confidence: 82%

“…With the exception of a handful of indepth studies (Bank, 2007;Crankshaw et al, 2000;Morange, 2002), reference to backyard dwellings tends to be a subsidiary element of studies focusing on other aspects of housing. In reviewing previous findings on backyard housing, a line can be drawn between research undertaken before and after the late-1990s.…”

Section: Backyard Dwellings In South Africa: Existing Researchmentioning

confidence: 97%

“…27 This suggests both change and continuity from previous research. For example, Crankshaw et al (2000) identified Soweto's backyard dwellers as youthful, relatively new city arrivals who paid a tiny rent to unrelated landlords, while Gilbert and Crankshaw (1999) found a high proportion of rural migrants and Mozambiquean immigrants in Johannesburg's backyards, and Bank (2007) found backyard dwellers in East London to be only slightly younger than landlords, predominantly female and relatively poor (half were unemployed). The increased age, employment-levels and rent found in Westlake village indicate backyard living in RDP settlements as less a transition phase for the young and newly-arrived, and more a permanent market-linked form of housing.…”

Section: Case Study: Westlake Villagementioning

confidence: 97%

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Augmented informality: South Africa's backyard dwellings as a by-product of formal housing policies

Lemanski

2009

Habitat International

107

123

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Section: Backyard Dwellings In South Africa: Existing Researchmentioning

confidence: 88%

mentioning

confidence: 82%

Section: Backyard Dwellings In South Africa: Existing Researchmentioning

confidence: 97%

Section: Case Study: Westlake Villagementioning

confidence: 97%

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Augmented informality: South Africa's backyard dwellings as a by-product of formal housing policies

Lemanski

2009

Habitat International

107

123

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“…Depending on their own financial standing, mastandas also often took the worst room/space in order to gain more rental income -because of the 'perfectly competitive' nature of the market it would not be possible to overcharge in relation to other rooms. This was different to the practices identified in the literature, for example studies done on backyard shacks (Lemanski, 2009;Bank, 2007), where the owner/mastanda occupied the main house, or best rooms.…”

Section: ! 67!mentioning

confidence: 99%

Accommodation and Tenuous Livelihoods in Johannesburg’s Inner City: the ‘Rooms’ and ‘Spaces’ Typologies

Mayson

Charlton

2015

Urban Forum

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! 'Rooms' and 'spaces' are two closely linked forms of accommodation where the unit of occupation and exchange is a portion of a larger building or property, within which services and facilities are shared. 'Rooms' and 'spaces' in the inner city represented two of very few typologies research participants were aware of that allowed them access to the livelihood opportunities Johannesburg had to offer. Through participant observation and qualitative interviews this study explores two buildings featuring informal rooms and spaces and one building featuring formal rooms and spaces in Johannesburg's inner city. While formal rooms represented the most stable support to those specific occupants, there were several 'barriers to entry' including the prerequisite of a stable income. There was much to be learnt from the flexibility and diversity of rooms and spaces on the informal market, which enabled occupants to cope with insecure livelihood opportunities. The research demonstrated the incredible resilience of occupants in the face of an extreme shortage of affordable accommodation in Johannesburg's inner city (Tissington, 2013). However, the findings suggested an adverse relationship between accommodation and livelihoods demonstrated by the three 'forms' of rooms and spaces, where the only form available to people with the least secure livelihoods is that which, in turn, subjects them to the greatest insecurity.

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Living alone in the age of freedom: The paradox of solo households in postapartheid South Africa

Posel

Hunter

2022

Population Space and Place

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This paper considers an apparent paradox in South Africa: the share of single‐person households increased after the end of apartheid despite the ending of apartheid's racial laws that restricted ‘African’ families from living together, the postapartheid state's building of around four‐million low‐cost houses for families, the economies of scale offered by multiple‐person households in a country where poverty remains prevalent and the reduced significance of some of the longstanding sites of single‐person households—including mining compounds and hostels for men. Bringing together quantitative and qualitative data, we argue that solo dwelling remains associated with persistent rural–urban spatial divisions, increased migration and urbanization, continued declining marriage rates and the nature of employment. These arguments are supported by quantitative data that show an increase in solo dwelling, its greater occurrence among men and working‐age African men, in particular, its concentration in certain urban spaces and the way it fluctuated in the 2000s according to changing labour market conditions. We also draw on a township survey and interviews that show how, as apartheid restrictions collapsed, new areas of land suitable for solo living became available in the 1990s and provide examples of unmarried and married adults living alone, including to access work opportunities.

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The Rhythms of the Yards: Urbanism, Backyards and Housing Policy in South Africa

Cited by 33 publications

References 3 publications

Augmented informality: South Africa's backyard dwellings as a by-product of formal housing policies

Augmented informality: South Africa's backyard dwellings as a by-product of formal housing policies

Accommodation and Tenuous Livelihoods in Johannesburg’s Inner City: the ‘Rooms’ and ‘Spaces’ Typologies

Living alone in the age of freedom: The paradox of solo households in postapartheid South Africa

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