An evaluation of the Integrated Residential Development Programme (IRDP) as a strategy of spatial integration of low-income housing project: a study of Cornubia, Durban, South Africa.
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Date
2019
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Abstract
This dissertation evaluates the Integrated Residential Development Programme (IRDP) as a
strategy to address spatial integration of low-income housing in South Africa. The colonial,
segregation and apartheid city resulted in the production of distorted settlement patterns that were
deeply rooted in social segregation and physical fragmentation in the sense that the majority of
poor, mainly black households were confined to areas on the outskirts of city centers. Theoretical
underpinnings such as neoliberalism and locational theories also had a major influence on the
urban spatial planning approach of South Africa. The adverse effects of neoliberalism such as
principles of the ‘rolling back’ of the state and free markets result in the poor continuing to be
segregated and spatially disintegrated. The poor are unable to afford to purchase land or housing
in well-located areas and are subsequently deprived of its accompanying opportunities, services
and amenities.
Since the turn of democracy, both South African planners and legislation have made ‘restructuring’
their top priority. The true challenge faced by them was the redevelopment of the South African
city to one that was viable and enabled all citizens to engage with the qualities of a well-integrated
city. As a means to achieve a well-integrated city the South African post-apartheid government
introduced the IRDP. The aim of this study was to obtain detailed findings on whether or not lowincome
housing development has improved in terms of spatial integration since the introduction
of the IRDP. The IRDP was introduced to facilitate the development of all-inclusive human
settlements in well-located areas. One of the spatial integration initiatives undertaken by the IRDP
was the Cornubia phase 1A housing project in Durban, South Africa.
Hence the Cornubia phase 1A housing project was used as a case study to analyse whether the
IRDP can be used as an effective strategy to address the lack of spatial integration in low-income
households. In order to achieve the abovementioned objective of the study, both primary and
secondary data was used by the researcher, and the research was case study-based. The findings
of this dissertation have shown that the IRDP is a strategy that has the potential to address the lack
of spatial integration in low-income housing development in South Africa. However the results of
the research have also identified gaps and room for improvement in the IRDP which is used as a
basis for recommendations.
Description
Masters Degree. University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban.