Mark Napier | Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) (original) (raw)

Papers by Mark Napier

This article analyses the provision of core housing in Khayelitsha, specifically taking into acco... more This article analyses the provision of core housing in Khayelitsha, specifically taking into account the residents’ response to the state’s delivery of core housing. It aims to explore to what extent the South African government’s approach to providing large-scale housing addresses the relevant demands in the context of rapid urbanisation. The core housing concept originated in the 1950s, and has once again become part of the housing debate. Typically, core houses are built with the intention that residents will subsequently extend and improve their homes. However, not much is known about how people responded to this type of housing delivery over the long term, and how it impacts on their lives, particularly on the future of ‘adult descendants’. The article covers the perspectives of families who have inhabited core housing plots for over two decades. The focal point is therefore on the main households living on these plots, with careful attention to household composition and both c...

Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews

Journal of Housing and the Built Environment

Important note To cite this publication, please use the final published version (if applicable). ... more Important note To cite this publication, please use the final published version (if applicable). Please check the document version above.

This paper forms one part of the CIB funded research on "Understanding the interface between... more This paper forms one part of the CIB funded research on "Understanding the interface between the environment and sustainable livelihoods in the integration of informal settlements in Asia, Latin America and Africa: a review of current thinking and practice". The African continent is rich in its diversity of forms of informal settlement. This paper covers the sub-Saharan region. It is

Third World Planning Review, 1998

... Because the grant was small, it was called a subsidy in acknowledgement of the fact that othe... more ... Because the grant was small, it was called a subsidy in acknowledgement of the fact that other resources would be needed to supplement it if adequate houses were to be built. ... 2 room core house Area: 46.7 m2 4-room shell house Area: 67.6m2 6 room shell Area: 46.7 m' ...

As the nature and growth of home-based enterprises impact on the lives and health of the househol... more As the nature and growth of home-based enterprises impact on the lives and health of the households directly involved, so also do the service, production and retail activities of the households affect the biophysical environment. This paper examines how home-based enterprise processes could potentially impact on the health of poor urban dwellers and on the biophysical environment. The question is whether these activities have a significant cumulative impact on the settlement and the city, or whether this impact is negligible when compared to activities in other parts of the city and region. The observations are based on the qualitative data from the South African part of the DFID-funded international project on the environmental impact of home-based enterprises. The observations are set within the context of the South African literature on the subject. The argument is based on analysis of the responses of 147 households with home-based enterprises, 115 from the formal sites and serv...

Beginning with reference to bodies of evidence that suggest the existence of a serious housing pr... more Beginning with reference to bodies of evidence that suggest the existence of a serious housing problem in South Africa, this paper goes on to examine some salient features of that problem. The paper is mainly concerned with comparing three ideological positions that view the historical causes and present day reasons for the perpetuation of the problem from different angles.

More than 60% of Africa’s urban population lives in slums and most African countries' populat... more More than 60% of Africa’s urban population lives in slums and most African countries' population subsist on under US$2.0 per day, and the average probability at birth of not surviving to age 40 is about 38%. 25 to 30% of housing in SA cities is informal; the majority of land and housing transactions are unrecorded. A worldwide Millennium development goal is to significantly improve the lives of 100 million slum dwellers by 2020. It is estimated that approximately 85% of urban land parcels in developing countries and between 40% and 53% of their rural land parcels are held in such a way that they cannot be used to create capital. Suggested solutions to these problems is to extend secure tenure; formalize land markets; extend bank and formal micro-finance (indebtedness of the poor); privatization; complex, strategic decision making tools and have research based on formal information.

The main objective of this paper is to investigate and discuss ways in which the state should int... more The main objective of this paper is to investigate and discuss ways in which the state should intervene around urban land issues, within the context of its relationship to the private sector, in order to improve the access of poorer and excluded sectors of South African urban society to land, housing, and services. South African government infrastructure delivery during the last decade has been dominated by direct service delivery and the subsidization of poor households. However, significant urban restructuring has not taken place partly as a result of entrenched land interests in urban areas, major challenges faced by the state in altering the regulatory environment, and the affordability of better located urban land for housing. New policy statements emanating from government indicate a key shift in emphasis towards broader interventions in markets aimed at shifting patterns of property ownership (thus also changing the spatial patterns and density matrices of residential develop...

Third World Planning Review, 2001

Urban Forum, 2013

ABSTRACT This is the second paper in a two-part series on value capture South Africa. Value captu... more ABSTRACT This is the second paper in a two-part series on value capture South Africa. Value capture is a broad term used to describe the process of extracting the additional value that accrues to a property following specific public investment. As the increased value results from public action, the value capture is usually undertaken by a public agency to bring about or pay for a public purpose. The value capture process comprises four key elements, namely, the creation of the value, the calculation of the additional value created, the capturing of this value and finally the use of the funds resulting from the captured value. While the previous paper addressed the first two components, this paper focuses on the last two, namely the capture and use of value in the current legal context. The paper concludes that legally, value capture is possible in South Africa, but that the legislation is vague and inconsistent at times. Furthermore, the paper finds that value capture is most successful when the policy objectives are clear, the mechanisms are correctly defined, favourable market conditions prevail and solid administrative systems are in place.

Urban Land Markets, 2009

Summary: Contemporary and historical state interventions in South African cities and towns have d... more Summary: Contemporary and historical state interventions in South African cities and towns have distorted urban land markets affecting especially the poor. This has resulted in market failure for less wealthy individuals and households in their attempts to find places to live, trade and manufacture in order to earn a decent living. This paper discusses the balance between state allocation of

International Planning Studies, 2003

As formal sector employment becomes an increasingly remote prospect for many Africans, the import... more As formal sector employment becomes an increasingly remote prospect for many Africans, the importance of informal income-generating activities which operate from the home are being recognized. This paper compares and contrasts home-based enterprises (HBEs) in low-income settlements in Accra and Pretoria. It analyses which types of enterprises operate, their contribution to household livelihoods, and the limits to growth that they face. It is shown how in both cities HBEs are widespread, provide an important place of work especially for women, and contribute significantly to household income. Despite these similarities, the HBEs are operating in differing circumstances with the fear of violence and property crime being a prominent aspect of South African HBEs whilst being negligible in Ghana.

Tijdschrift voor economische en sociale geografie

In line with international trends, South Africa's post-apartheid government has embarked on a hou... more In line with international trends, South Africa's post-apartheid government has embarked on a housing policy that emphasises asset building. Homeownership has become a dominant policy for assisting the historically disadvantaged Black population. This paper looks at two property markets in Mangaung, a metropolitan municipality that includes Bloemfontein. We analysed property activity on 2,545 residential stands in former Black and former White areas in Mangaung since 1990. Our findings show two distinct markets. The formal property market in former Black areas shows a low number of transactions, low value and slow turnover. In the former White areas, a housing investment made between 1990 and 2016 would have yielded an annual return of 14 per cent, but in the former Black areas only 7 per cent. This poor return makes it difficult for homeowners in former Black areas to use housing for asset building.

Habitat International, 2010

The interpretation of home-based enterprises by South African researchers has tended to be that t... more The interpretation of home-based enterprises by South African researchers has tended to be that they are invariable initiated when people loose formal employment and are ‘pushed’ into the informal sector involuntarily. In their ongoing functioning, home-based enterprises are also portrayed as marginal and vulnerable. Because of this interpretation, there has been a limited understanding of the role played by home-based enterprises in informal settlements, and in the national economy.

The findings from a Pretoria case study suggest that around 80% of the people interviewed started businesses because they wanted to, and not because they had no other option. Many of these businesses were started because an opportunity was identified in the settlement. In other words, many people have been ‘pulled’ into such activity as a strategy both to improve earnings and to provide a service that is needed in the settlement.

This chapter is based on work undertaken for an international comparative study on ‘enabled envi... more This chapter is based on work undertaken for an international comparative study on ‘enabled environments’ which included case studies in Pretoria (South Africa) and New Delhi, (India), with the focus being the four case study settlements in the South African case study.

The research set out to understand the processes by which people with disabilities living in urban settlements are prevented from fully participating in the socio-economic development of their community and the wider society, and to suggest ways in which greater inclusion can be achieved in the future.

Working paper for the Urban Land Markets Programme Southern Africa, Jun 2013

The article covers the perspectives of families who have inhabited core housing plots for over two decades. The focal point is therefore on the main households living on these plots, with careful attention to household composition and both constraints and opportunities in the use of the plot from the point of view of the people themselves. Since the initial super-structure provided is so small, it almost certainly implies housing stress. Therefore extension of the core house is inherent to this concept. Several strategies of how people have been able to realise the consolidation of their homes are discussed, including ingenuity in response to internal densification on the site.

As interest in the concept of core housing intensifies, it is crucial to integrate the lessons learnt in the past and engage in a quest for more effective implementation. The findings in this article are discussed to determine their implications for core housing programmes at scale. Highlighting several challenges, it is argued that the core housing concept has the potential to be further shaped into an effective tool with which governments can guide urbanisation.