In South Africa city planners have created almost-uninhabitable
urban areas through the RDP (Reconstruction and Development
Programme) and segregated land-use planning principles.
Even though this programme was developed to right the
wrongs from the past, it kept on putting the economically
vulnerable on the fringes of the cities, far removed from economic
opportunity. The result is low density urban sprawl, combined
with a high unemployment rate.
All over the country there is a dire demand for well-located,
higher density, greater housing variety, compact and walkable
Missing Middle Housing
communities, and it is with this that urban design can help.
Urban design addresses the design of buildings, a group of
buildings, spaces and landscapes within villages, towns and
cities to ensure viable development, and to make it appropriate
for human living.
In this regard, Scottsdene is worth looking at. Situated in Cape
Town, Scottsdene development attempts to fill in the “gap”
between detached single-family homes (bonded) and mid-rise
housing by offering the ‘missing middle’ typologies: courtyard
apartments (three and four storey housing - gap & bonded),
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