Report by Karen Eicker

The XXXIII IAHS World Congress on Housing 2005 was held at the University of Pretoria from 27 - 30 September. The theme was "Transforming Housing Environments through Design" and delegates from thirty countries met to share expertise and ponder solutions on almost every subject connected to housing design. Projects and papers from around the globe were presented, and underlined the fact that housing considerations, in response to human needs, are fundamentally the same in every country, even though their interpretation and manifestation may differ.

While the theme of the congress was broad enough to incorporate viewpoints ranging from the strictly scientific to the purely philanthropic and everything in between, two particularly relevant and closely-connected subjects constantly resurfaced: namely, that housing is about people; and the need for fundamental change to public and political mindset.

In South Africa, a country that faces unprecedented urbanisation, the issue of mindset is critical to developing socially, economically and environmentally sustainable housing solutions. In the Opening Address of the Congress, read on behalf of the Minister of Housing, Thozamile Botha, Special Advisor, said, "The theme (of the Congress) fits well with the intention of the Minister to transform not only design, but the landscape of town planning in South Africa." Botha then went on to explain Government's decision to partner with forty-six national organisations and institutions (including banks) to "eradicate informal settlements by 2014… and to fast track housing delivery."

By contrast, in his keynote address 'Constraints of Mindset', Nabeel Hamdi  noted that it is far more beneficial to enable communities, than to attempt to provide for them. He said, "In the old days, standardisation and mass production were key. Design was about rationalising and solving problems - it was about control. Today… we have learnt that standardised solutions developed out of context are difficult to adapt and have failed notoriously." 

In a later interview, he pointed out that the involvement of governments and large organisations as public housing providers is seldom successful, either financially or socially, and that it is far more desirable to involve communities in the process of designing their own homes, and to use smaller (even informal) organisations in the building process. A government's best role is therefore as enabler and facilitator. However, he observed ironically that there is no money for governments and the private sector in facilitating, only in providing.

The necessity for community participation was reinforced in many of the talks, Q&A sessions and projects presented. Two South African examples put forward examined, respectively, the possibilities for market space and infill housing in Khayelitsha, and a design approach to low-income housing in Joe Slovo Park (both in urban Cape Town). Both projects involved intensive fieldwork and on-site research; attempted to attend to basic community needs; and used existing informal patterns as clues for new frameworks. The talks emphasised the strong need to recognise and promote housing developments as integrated and sustainable human settlements. 

Unfortunately, neither of these sensitive and realistic projects will see the light of day. The Khayelitsha project was sidelined due to lack of budget, and developers have been brought into Joe Slovo Park without any obligation to use the proposed frameworks. They are in the process of implementing high 'numbers' of standardised 'housing units', which are little different from those implemented under apartheid.

The Congress provided an encouraging platform for communication and co-operation between housing experts, architects, academics and decision-makers from around the world. It can only be hoped that the principles and viable options put forward will be realised as workable, humane housing solutions.

Copyright(c)2005, Karen Eicker. All Rights Reserved

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Nabeel Hamdi qualified at the Architectural Association in London in 1970. After working for the Greater London Council for several years, he spent time in the USA, mostly as a professor of housing in the Department of Architecture at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). In 1990 he was appointed as the Director for the Centre for Development and Emergency Planning (CENDEP) at Oxford Brookes University. He is currently Professor of the Housing and Urban Development Programme at Oxford Brookes.

In 1997, Hamdi won the UN-Habitat Scroll of Honour for his work on Community Action Planning, and in 2001, the Masters course in Development Practice that he founded at Oxford Brookes in 1992 was awarded the Queen's Anniversary Prize for Higher and Further Education. He consults on participatory action planning and the upgrading of slums in cities to all the major international development agencies, and to charities and NGOs worldwide.