Housing
Western Cape has tried a new approach to housing — and it’s bearing fruit
Western Cape has tried a new approach to housing. It’s bearing fruit The programme accepts that informal settlements are a major part of our cities By Noah Schermbrucker 13 January 2023 Over the past five years the Western Cape Department of Human Settlements has scaled up its support of ...
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We won’t fix development until we fix our municipalities
Citizens have been reduced to passive beneficiaries of state assistance which often never arrives By Noah Schermbrucker 30 July 2020 The state “must deliver” and the poor “must wait”. Poor citizens are no longer active participants in their own development, and until this changes we will not be able ...
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Small towns are missing the chance to change apartheid’s geography
With political will, it can be done By Noah Schermbrucker and Olwethu Jack 8 November 2019 Along the tarmac arteries that connect South Africa’s major cities are the small towns. The tin roofs of informal settlements blend into layers of government housing: standard houses that are “copied and pasted” ...
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PEP COLLABORATION WITH AFRICAN CENTRE FOR CITIES
Over the last two years PEP has worked with African Centre for Cities to produce two high quality booklets which illustrate the lived experiences and histories of residents in the Ruo Emoh and Hazeldean housing projects. The research (and subsequent booklet) is based on a carefully designed, community responsible ...
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The Wicked Housing Conundrum
By Astrid Wicht Over the last 35 years I have worked as a social architect, housing and women’s activist, and community development facilitator with communities in urban, small rural town and rural contexts, engaging communities in the participatory design and planning of people’s settlements, housing and community facilities programs ...
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PEP Submission for Affordable Housing Exhibition
By Claire du Trevou: In August 2017, THE ARCHITECT pop up gallery at Cape Institute for Architecture planned an exhibition about affordable mixed-income housing. The intention of the exhibition was to showcase both built and imagined affordable housing developments in Cape Town. People’s Environmental Planning decided to create and submit a small case study which ...
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Photo Essay: Upgrading Child Headed Households
By Dustin James Mason October 20th 2017 ——— Baphumelele Children’s Home (BCH), Habitat for Humanity South Africa (HFHSA), & People’s Environmental Planning (PEP) have partnered to provide emergency upgrading solutions to the homes of orphans & vulnerable young adults throughout Khayelitsha. The Project was initiated by Baphumelele, who offer ...
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Water Saving Through Subsidy Housing Construction
Opinion piece by Christine Botha on behalf of People’s Environmental Planning Days of water left:100 Last month of water supply: June Current useable water in our dams in the Western Cape: 17,3% In the light of the current drought The City of Cape Town has urged residents to reduce ...
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Building rules and regulations work against Cape Town’s poor
We must challenge planning and land use management if we want a more equal city By Noah Schermbrucker 1 February 2017 In the last few years a number of flash points have highlighted the unequal ways in which Cape Town continues to develop. Recent examples include the attempted evictions ...
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