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Experiences and Challenges of Community Participation in Urban Renewal

Projects: The Case of Johannesburg, South Africa

Article in WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment · November 2009

DOI: 10.2495/SC060721 · Source: DOAJ

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 The Sustainable City IV: Urban Regeneration and Sustainability 753

Community participation in urban renewal

projects: experiences and challenges of the case
of Johannesburg, South Africa
W. Didibhuku Thwala
Department of Construction Management and Quantity Surveying,
University of Johannesburg, South Africa

Abstract
Urban renewal and inner city regeneration have become serious issues for the
South African government which has invested in several structures to stem the
tide of decline in its nine major cities. Commitment to alleviation of poverty has
become very high on the government agenda and will stay one of the focal points
of government. This is motivated by the fact that currently around 24% of the
population lives on less than $1 a day, below the poverty line defined by the
World Bank. The Central Government has made numerous public commitments
to development, a part of it concerning extensive infrastructure investment and
service delivery. Communities are supposed to participate fully in the planning
and implementation of urban renewal projects. Participation is a process through
which stakeholders influence and share control over development initiatives, and
the decisions and resources which affect them. Participation may be a means or
an end, but in reality it is usually both. Involving people in order to increase
awareness, empower, build capacity, or expand rights and duties may be an end
in itself, but it may also function as an instrumental means for accomplishing a
specific task. Similarly, working with people to accomplish a specific task may
enable them to expand their confidence and ability to address other issues in their
lives. Community participation should be aimed at empowering people by
ensuring that skills are developed and that employment opportunities are created.
The paper will firstly explore the concept of community participation. The paper
will then look at some past experiences in relation to community participation in
urban renewal projects. Furthermore the paper will outline the challenges and
problems of community participation in urban renewal projects in Johannesburg.
Finally the paper closes with some recommendations for the future.
Keywords: community participation, urban renewal, poverty, unemployment.

WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press
www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line)
doi:10.2495/SC060721
754 The Sustainable City IV: Urban Regeneration and Sustainability

1 Introduction
In South Africa, the levels of unemployment and poverty are extremely high and
two of South Africa’s most pressing problems. The levels of unemployment have
been rising steadily over the years. The level of unemployment was 7% in 1980,
18% in 1991 (McCutcheon [11,13]) and 28% in 2003 (Statistics South Africa
[17]). Commitment to alleviation of poverty has become very high on the
government agenda and will stay one of the focal points of government. This is
motivated by the fact that, currently around 24% of the population lives on less
than $1 a day, below the poverty line defined by the World Bank [19]. In
addition to high levels of unemployment, there is also a widely acknowledged
need for housing and municipal infrastructure (water supply, sewerage, streets,
stormwater drainage, electricity, refuse collection). But most importantly, it is
crucial to realise that there is a great need for physical infrastructure in both
urban and rural areas. In addition there is a lack of capacity and skills at
institutional, community and individual levels. This problem of infrastructure
backlog is aggravated by the apparent lack of capacity and skills at institutional,
community and individual levels. According to the World Bank [19]
infrastructure can deliver major benefits in economic growth, poverty alleviation,
and environmental sustainability - but only when it provides services that
respond to effective demand and does so efficiently.
According to Thwala [18] over the past 25 years several projects have been
initiated in South Africa to counter unemployment and poverty. It is envisaged
that there will be others in the future. From a theoretical perspective supported
by experience elsewhere in Africa, there are reasons for considering that properly
formulated employment creation programmes based on the use of employment-
intensive methods could be established to construct and maintain the required
physical infrastructure, thus creating employment, skills and institutional
capacities. The Urban Renewal Infrastructure Projects have the potential to
redress this problem of disportionately high unemployment levels in South
Africa and also to correct the skill deficits in disadvantaged communities.
Among other things, these may be achieved through an efficient institutional set
up, effective community participation, and construction technology that is
pragmatic and innovative in nature.
The paper will firstly explore the concept of community participation. The
paper will then look at some past experiences in relation to community
participation in urban renewal projects. Furthermore the paper will outline the
challenges and problems of community participation in urban renewal projects in
Johannesburg. Finally the paper closes with some recommendations for the
future.

2 Community participation in urban renewal projects

The World Bank [19] defines “participation is a process through which
stakeholders’ influence and share control over development initiatives, and the
decisions and resources which affect them”. The concept of community

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www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line)
 The Sustainable City IV: Urban Regeneration and Sustainability 755

participation originated about 40 years ago from the community development

movement of the late colonial era in parts of Africa and Asia. To colonial
administrators, community development was a means of improving local
welfare, training people in local administration and extending government
control through local self-help activities (McCommon et al. [10]). However,
during this era, the policy failed to achieve many of its aims primarily due to the
bureaucratic top-down approach adopted by the colonial administrations
(McCommon et al. [10]). Out of these experiences various approaches were
developed that have been more successful and have gained broad support from
all the major players in the development field (Abbott [1]).
Community participation generally is more successful when the community
takes over much of the responsibility than when higher level public agencies
attempt to assess consumer preferences through surveys or meetings. In order for
community participation to work, projects must include special components
addressing it. Villagers can be recruited to help in all phases of designing,
implementing, maintaining, supervising, and evaluating new water supply and
sanitation systems, but only if the time, effort and money is spent to do it right.
Special attention must be paid to the development of local committees and
governance structures that can adequately oversee local participation.
The direction and execution of development projects rather than merely
receive a share of project benefits. The objectives of Community Participation
as an active process are:
• empowerment;
• building beneficiary capacity;
• increasing project effectiveness;
• improving project efficiency; and
• project cost sharing.

The framework identifies four levels of intensity of participation, namely:

• information sharing;
• consultation;
• decision making; and
• initiating action.

This framework has been largely accepted by development agencies

worldwide. However, a criticism of the model is that it is “project based” and
does not include the full spectrum of Community Participation approaches. As
such, the framework can be defined in planning terms as “means” orientated
(Abbott [1]). The “means” approach views community participation as a form of
mobilisation to achieve a specific, generally project related goal (Moser [14,15]).
The alternative paradigm is the “ends” approach. This approach views
community participation as a process whereby control over resources and
regulative institutions by groups previously excluded from such control is
increased, namely:
• the legitimacy of the authorities;
• the nature of development.

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In other words, situations in which the legitimacy of the authorities is in

question will result in projects where participation is identified as an “end”.
Situations in which the development of services and housing is the main
objective and require meaningful participation at a grassroots level are more
likely to adopt the “means” approach. It is also possible that a situation will
require a combination of the two approaches; such as in South Africa prior to the
democratic elections in 1994. The government was not seen as legitimate by the
majority of the population, however the provision of services and housing were
key issues to be addressed; (since South Africa now has a legitimate national
government it is now moving towards a means approach, but this is still complex
at community level).

3 Urban renewal infrastructure programmes in

Johannesburg, South Africa: experiences, problems and
prospects
Urban renewal and inner city regeneration have become serious for the South
African government which has invested in several structures to stem the tide of
decline in its nine major cities. One of the projects is the Alexandra Urban
Renewal project. The Alexandra Township was established in 1912 and is close
to the centre of Johannesburg. It covers an area of over 800 hectares and its
infrastructure was designed for a population of about 70,000. Current population
estimates vary widely and have been put at figures ranging from 180,000 to
750,000. There are estimated 34,000 shacks of which approximately 7,000 are
located in “backyards” (Gauteng Provincial Government [7]). The significant,
unplanned population has overloaded the infrastructure such that water pressures
are low and sewers frequently block and overflow. Maintenance of such systems
is very difficult because the high densities and congested nature of the backyard
shack development makes access for maintenance very difficult or impossible in
places.
At the official opening of Parliament in February 2001, the State President
announced a seven-year plan to redevelop Greater Alexandra in Johannesburg.
The estimated budget for the Alexandra Renewal Project is R1, 3 billion over 7
years (Gauteng Provincial Government [7]). The Project is one of the eight
original nodes forming part of the Government Integrated Sustainable Rural
Development and Urban Renewal Programmes. These programmes are one of
the main vehicles through which the Government is implementing its objectives
of sustainable development and poverty alleviation. The projects are suppose to
be labour-intensive in their nature so that more people can be employed and at
the same time building new infrastructure for the community.
The Johannesburg Alexandra Renewal Project seeks to fundamentally
upgrade living conditions and human development potential within Alexandra
by:
• Substantially improving livelihoods within Alexandra and wider
regional economy
• Creating a healthy and clean living environment

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• Providing services at an affordable and sustainable level

• Reducing levels of crime and violence
• Upgrading existing housing environments and creating additional
affordable housing opportunities and
• Dedensification to appropriate land.
The following are the problems that hinder community participation in the
Johannesburg Urban Renewal Projects which must be avoided in order for future
projects to be successful in South Africa:
• There has been a lack of clear objectives linking the short and long-term
visions of the programme.
• There were no pilot projects with extensive training programmes or
lead-in time to allow for proper planning at a national scale. This should
have allowed sufficient time to develop the necessary technology,
establish training programmes and develop both the institutional and the
individual capacities.
• The project has seldom been scaled to the magnitude of national
manpower needs. Very often they have been introduced in an
unsystematic and fragmentary style. This often led to technical
hastiness, which was compounded by incompetence and inappropriate
technology selection.
• There have been organisational infirmities and inappropriate
administrative arrangements.
• There has been an imbalance between centralisation for higher level co-
ordination and decentralisation for local decision-making and execution
of works.
• Inadequate post-project maintenance arrangements often undermined
the efficacy of the projects. This is largely attributed to the failure to
ensure there would be an authority with a sufficient stake in the projects
and in their continuing effectiveness (that is lack of community
participation and ineffective local government).
• The projects have been over ambitious. This was a result of the lack of
appreciation of the time it takes to build the necessary individual and
institutional capacities at various levels.
• There has been a lack of clearly defined and executed training
programmes that link medium to a long-term development plan.
• Individual skills were not improved. Training, where present, was not
particularly appropriate or focussed and has not shown it to be carried
through into post- project employment.

4 Lessons and recommendations from the Johannesburg

urban renewal projects
One of the most important contributions of the Johannesburg Urban Renewal
Project is that it resulted in an improved awareness of community participation

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758 The Sustainable City IV: Urban Regeneration and Sustainability

issues and a better understanding of the mechanisms for achieving successful and
sustainable projects. A number of key components had been identified in the
research as important for the successful implementation of Urban Renewal
programmes. There is a need for:
• Targeting the poor;
• Targeting women;
• Institutional training;
• Appropriate technology;
• Community participation;
• Community management; and
• Cost recovery.

Much of the success in the Urban Renewal Projects was achieved by using
appropriate technologies and community-based approaches to projects. The
conventional approach to infrastructural development adopted from urbanised,
western, developed countries was found to be unsuitable because it was overly
centralised and did not reflect local traditions and the needs for community
participation.
The Johannesburg Urban Renewal experience found that one of the main
issues relating to project sustainability is the management of the projects after
completion, and not just involvement (or participation) in construction. As an
attempt to articulate the responsibilities and management requirements necessary
to promote local management of projects, the community management approach
was developed. In practice, and for a variety of reasons, planning cannot be left
totally to officials, specialists, administrators or experts. Some form of
participation in planning is essential (Atkinson [2]). Development is not about
the delivery of goods to a passive community, it is about active involvement and
growing empowerment. Development is satisfying basic needs such as housing,
water, health care, jobs and recreation in a way that changes economic, social
and power relations (SANCO). Community participation has proved to be a
success in a number of countries such as in Kenya, Botswana and Ghana where
community participation was promoted in roads constructing, stormwater
drainage, etc (McCutcheon [11,13]). In Tegucigalpa (the capital of Honduras)
the community is involved in planning to meet their own needs and then take on
management function which, ensures that the neighbourhood has safe water at a
price they can afford (Choguill [3]). Therefore community participation in South
Africa would also play a major role in alleviating the enormous lack of services
such as sustainable clean water to rural communities.
It is argued that conventional services have not been or cannot be extended to
the poor, as quickly as required. Therefore communities will have to organize to
meet their own needs (Crook [5]). If participation is pursued there will be greater
possibilities for self-reliance, which will lead to self-perpetuation of initiating
projects. In addition, participation means services can be provided at a lower cost
(Crook [5]). Therefore community participation should be promoted, especially
for poor communities who have nothing to offer but their labour. According to
Citicon [?] experience has taught us that decisions arrived at in boardrooms and

WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 93, © 2006 WIT Press
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 The Sustainable City IV: Urban Regeneration and Sustainability 759

applied at grassroots level are not usually received positively by target

communities.
Some of these problems in Urban Renewal Projects in South Africa might be
avoided by a careful approach to community participation. The validity of claims
to be representative must be tested as early as possible. All interest groups in the
community should be identified and consulted. Holding public meetings or
advertising in newspapers may do this. Publicity material about a proposed
programme can be distributed at public meetings. It should not be assumed that
spokespeople at public meetings represent the majority or all of the community.
Spokespeople may also say what they think outsiders want to hear in order to
further their own positions or to be polite.
What must be realised is that in practice, planners may find that they play
both roles interchangeably, depending on where they are in the planning process.
Linking learning situations to the planning processes is one way in which one
can ensure that what people learn is relevant to their situation and to ensure that
what is learnt is applied and reflected upon as something that can be adapted or
re-applied. Friedmann [6] believes that social learning approaches are
appropriate to community self-empowerment since they require substantial
departure from traditional planning practice which is typically imposed from
above rather than generated within the community of the disempowered
themselves. This has been evident in the kind of planning practiced during
apartheid.

5 Conclusion
Phillips et al. [16] assert that community participation is required for work to be
done which is required by the community. Although a technology may be
appropriate to the available funds and the social conditions and operating and
maintenance capacity in the community, the community may reject it as inferior
because it differs from that used in wealthier areas. The community should
participate in assessment of its resources and subsequently in the choice of
technology.
Communities are highly complex and not single cohesive units. In the
absence of legitimate and effective local government, other representatives of the
community have to be identified. It may be difficult to determine whether an
individual or organisation is representative of the community. A community
organisation which is unrepresentative can cause resentment and conflict which
may curtail a programme. Alternatively a development committee may be
formed. Problems may also arise if the leadership of organisations representing
the community changes or if other organisations become more powerful during a
programme.

References
[1] Abbott, J. 1991. “Community Participation in Development”. University
of the Witwatersrand Course Notes, Environmental Health Engineering.
Department of Civil Engineering. Johannesburg.

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760 The Sustainable City IV: Urban Regeneration and Sustainability

[2] Atkinson, D. 1992. Let the People Decide: Public Participation in Urban
Planning. Centre for Development Studies, University of the Western
Cape.
[3] Choguill, C.L. 1994. Crisis, Chaos, Crunch? Planning for Urban Growth
in Developing World, Urban Studies. Vol. 31, No.6.
[4] Coukis, B. et al. (1983) Labour-Based Construction Programmes – A
Practical Guide for Planning and Management. Oxford: Oxford
University Press for the World Bank.
[5] Crook, C. 1991. Government and Participation: Institutional development,
decentralisation and democracy in the Third world, Chr. Michelsen
Institute, Department of Social Science and Development.
[6] Friedmann, J. 1993. Towards a NonEuclidian Mode of Planning.
American Planning Association Journal. Autumn. Vol. 54. No.4. pp. 482
– 485.
[7] Gauteng Provincial Government (2004) Alexandra Project: Review
Summit 2004. Johannesburg: Gauteng Provincial Government.
[8] Jara, R.A. (1971) Labour Mobilisation and Economic Development: The
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[9] Kalbermatten, J.M. and Middleton, R. N. 1992. Future Directions in
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[10] McCommon, C. et al. 1993. Community Management of Rural Water
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[16] Phillips, S.D. et al. 1992. Employment Creation, Poverty Alleviation and
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[17] Statistics South Africa (2003) Labour Force Survey for March 2003.
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Washington.

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www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line)

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