The politics of planning and housing

This theme combines issues of politics and governance with that of low-income housing.  It connects urban politics and housing in exploring issues of power in urban development and considering the implications of this for planners. These initial texts, many from South Africa, are organized into three sections and are based on a course taught to 3^rd year planners in the School of Architecture and Planning at Wits. Amongst other things the course aims for debate on questions such as:

• Where does power lie in cities and what forms can it take?
• What types of actors can be influential in shaping urban space?
• What is the source of their power to plan or build or intervene in cities?
• How can planners especially those in public service navigate forms of politics and power in planning and housing?

Power, sites of power, limits of power in planning:

• Grange, K. and Winkler, T. (2023) Introduction to the Handbook on Planning and Power. Chapter in Gunder, M., Grange, K. and Winkler, T. (editors) Handbook on Planning and Power. Edward Elgar Publishing. pp. 1–11
• Harrison, P. and Todes, A. (2024). Introduction. Chapter 1 in Harrison, P and Todes, A.  The promise of planning: Global aspirations and South African experience since 2008. Routledge.  
• Watson, V (2024 ) Being in the South.  In Oldfield, S., Selmeczi, A., & Barnett, C.  (eds). Knowing the City. South African Scholarship from Apartheid to Democracy.  University of KwaZulu-Natal Press. pp387- 390

Politics and power in matters of housing: actors, voice and strategies:  

• Cogger, J., & Park-Ross, R. (2023) Cleaving Open the Space to Advance Spatial Justice: Promoting Inclusionary Housing in Cape Town. Chapter 2 in Rubin, M; Charlton, S. and Klug, N. (eds) Housing in African Cities: A Lens on Urban Governance. Cham: Springer International Publishing. pp27–43.

• Deuskar, C. (2019) Clientelism and planning in the informal settlements of developing democracies. Journal of Planning Literature 34(4): 395–407.

• Oliver, C. (2017) Chapter 8: Houses, Security and Comfort. In How To Steal A City: The Battle For Nelson Mandela Bay: An Inside Account. Johannesburg: Jonathan Ball. pp95-111.

• Parker, A. and Appelbaum, A. (2020). On the defensive: the residential strategies shaping densification in Johannesburg’s northern suburbs. In Rubin, M; Todes, A; Harrison, P and Appelbaum, A (eds) Densifying the City? Global cases and Johannesburg. Edward Elgar, Cheltenham. pp202-212 [Available Open Access Elgar Online]

• Rubin, M.; Charlton, S. and Klug, N. Urban Governance of ‘Messy Cities’: Housing and the African City. Chapter 1 in  Rubin, M.; Charlton, S. and Klug, N. (eds) Housing in African Cities: A Lens on Urban Governance. Cham: Springer International Publishing. pp1-26.

• Tattersall, A. and Iveson, K. (2022) People power strategies in contemporary housing movements. International Journal of Housing Policy, 22(2): 251–277.

• Todes, A., Harrison, P., Rubin, M., and Appelbaum, A. (2020). Thinking Densification from and through Johannesburg. In Rubin, M., Todes, A., Harrison, P., and Appelbaum, A. (eds) Densifying the City? Global cases and Johannesburg. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar. pp17-39. [Available Open Access Elgar Online]

Planners and power:

• Bénit-Gbaffou, C (2024) Introduction: seeing like a City. In Bénit-Gbaffou, C (ed) Local officials and the struggle to transform cities. A view from post-apartheid South Africa. UCL Press.  pp1-24. [Available Open Access]
• Deuskar, C (2023) A Politically Adaptive Approach to Urban Planning. Chapter 9 in Deuskar, C. Urban Planning in a World of Informal Politics. Pennsylvania: University of Pennsylvania Press
• Fawaz, M. (2023) Planning and Crisis, Planning in Crisis. Planning Theory, 22 (4): 448-457.
• Harrison, P (2024) ‘Welcome to Alcatraz’: a reflection on three years in a City bureaucrat. Chapter 2 in Claire Bénit-Gbaffou (ed) Local officials and the struggle to transform cities. A view from post-apartheid South Africa. UCL Press.  pp27-48. [Available Open Access]
• Taşan-Kok, T., Luca Bertolini, Sandra Oliveira e Costa, Hila Lothan, Higor Carvalho, Maarten Desmet, Seppe De Blust, Tim Devos, Deniz Kimyon, J. A. Zoete & Peter Ahmad (2016) “Float like a butterfly, sting like a bee”: giving voice to planning practitioners, Planning Theory & Practice, 17(4): 62 –651.