Architect and Builder August/September 2018 | Page 14

THE ARCHITECTURE
OF COMMUNITY
South Africa’s Humanitarian
Land Crisis Unfolding
By Bouwer Serfontein
NEWURBAN Architects and Urban Designers
www.newurban.co.za
A
n urban and rural land debate is unfolding in South
Africa. Apartheid planning left the majority of South
African citizens at a grave disadvantage, being
forced to live on the outskirts of cities, making
commuting to and from work an arduous journey.
For people to feel autonomous in a city, they need opportunities
and choices in their day-to-day lives. With the current land reform
debate, there lies an opportunity in re-defining the way we live
in the metropole.
This urgent matter leads us towards the discussion on how
people want to live in cities. What should the architecture of
communities look like in South African cities? The answer is
yet to be defined. Modernist ideology resulted in cities that are
not user-friendly. All aspects of daily life were separated, which
today means that commuting by car - and far distances - is the
only option.
There are a few theories available to remedy the outcome of
these disastrous planning methods. One thereof is New Urbanist
planning where a city’s urban core is regarded as equally important
as the natural environment surrounding the city. The aim thereof
is to integrate all levels of urbanity and provide citizens with
walkable neighbourhoods that include a wide range of housing
and job types.
The perpetual drought in large parts of South Africa paints a
bleak future for its citizens with food security threatened. The
UN’s WHO states that a substantial proportion of South African
households remain at risk of hunger or is experiencing hunger.
Although the South African government’s food programmes
appear to be beneficial, they need to be run more effectively to
alleviate further food security.
The lack of access to land for the South African majority
must be addressed through sustainable, non-income dependent
measures, such as the promotion of subsistence farming.
To avoid prejudice over land reform, there needs to be a
coherent programme that guides the discussion that enables
decision-making. South Africa is facing an imminent crisis that will
require an international humanitarian response if not addressed in
the short-medium term. The stagnant economic situation precipi-
tated, according to economists, by potential disastrous land reform
policies (nationalisation) that will scare foreign investment, high
personal and public debt and a fluctuation of commodity prices,
combined with an even higher unemployment rate.
The Freedom Charter on land calls for the Agrarian Revolution.
This is a potential solution to the anticipated problems as
it promotes what unites us and not divides us. Indeed, it is
necessary to embark on a land reform revolution, as long as it is
urban in nature. Land reform should benefit all – especially the
city itself.
Land Revolution Today: How did we get here?
Cyril Ramaphosa is the fifth head of the post-Apartheid govern-
ment since their first ruling in 1994. Addressing a key 2019
Southern Farms Progress Diagram
Identify land available for urban agriculture
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First structures built in core
Housing and space-making around core
New Urbanisim development
Architecture of Community