‘Izenzo zabantu’

In Living Cities, Tanghe agrees with Lekule’ stance on architecture and the role it plays in defining the meaning and experience of informal settlements.

Planners and architects usually consider residents to be users in urban residential settlements, but residents are the designers, builders and users in informal settlements (Lekule,2004) .

Informal settlements are rarely studied from the residents’ point of view. Hence we review how the residents appropriation of space gives meaning to the urban places in which people live, socialise and gather.

Car park to car shows

The spinning of cars in vacant parking lots

Sidewalk to refuse site

The dumping of uses onto the sidewalk

Car parks to car shows

Residents and car enthusiests have a shared understanding that vacant parking lots are used for spinning cars

Sidewalk to refuse site

The majority of land is limted to residential use, leaving no space for residents to properly dispose of refuse hence sidewalks become the site for dumping.

‘Roads to resorts’

The majority of residents do not own a private vehicle and rely on public transport. As a result the residents appropriate the roads and sidewalks and use them for parking