Human Settlements Review - Parliamentary Monitoring Group

Human Settlements Review, Volume 1, Number 1, 2010
Innovation and Alternative Building Technology
within a Sustainable Development Paradigm
ABSTRACT
Tom Sanya
School of Architecture Planning and Geomatics, University of Cape Town
People are at the centre of sustainable development. Basing on this anthropocentric viewpoint
this paper posits that alternative building technologies can play an active role in solving today’s
shelter problems and indeed in creating habitats for sustainable living. The routinely assumed
powerlessness of the poor is problematised to make the case that, with alternative building
technologies, everyone can get to be part of the solution. For alternative technologies to be
effective in such a role, it is argued, innovation at all building lifecycle must be catalysed. The
goal should be creation of a self-organising framework for reconfiguration of processes and
products at different scales to develop and utilise alternative technologies in ever fresh ways
of building sustainable habitats. International and local South African statistics and examples
are used to support the arguments.
INTRODUCTION
Sustainable Development is, above all,
about fulfilling human needs for present and
future generations (World Commission on
Environment and Development, 1987). Shelter
features along with nutrition and healthcare
as an indispensable essential for fulfilling
the health, safety, welfare, socialisation and
self-actualisation needs of humans (Dunin-
Woyseth, 1993). In South Africa, it widely
acknowledged that the shelter and housing
needs for the largest sections of the population
remain unfulfilled – with the shelter deficiency
growing. Taking the case of Cape Town, 400
000 families are without adequate shelter.
With a high annual rate of increase of 20
000 households per annum, this number is
growing steadily (City of Cape Town, 2009).
This is in a context where 40 percent of the
city’s population are considered to be living
below the poverty (ibid) with the majority of
them staying in the unsanitary conditions of
informal settlements.
Generally, post-1990s government in South
Africa has taken a lenient approach to informal
settlements, demolition being the rare exception
rather the rule. Additionally, the government
has proactively been engaged in provision of
housing to the poor most significantly under the
Redistribution and Development Programme
(RDP) and subsequently the Breaking New
Ground (BNG) strategy. The main approach
by government to the housing problem is
centred on delivery of a finished building for
the formerly disadvantages to move into, and
with the beneficiaries sometimes getting a
bonus in form of a job and training during the
construction process.
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