A Knowledge Management Comparison of Nine House Typologies for Varying Climatic Regions in South Africa

Abstract

Housing was identified as one of the greatest challenges faced by the Nelson Mandela 1994 South African government. The government has provided low-cost housing since then and has been efficient in numbers but has proven ineffective in addressing housing provision as a housing and social problem. This paper will present data on how knowledge management can address the housing problem. This paper critically compares the information included in contract documentation and outline specifications of nine hypothetical low-cost housing typologies. The typologies were developed for the varying climatic regions in South Africa. Housing information is often inaccessible to those affected by the housing problem. This paper’s premise is that knowledge management will contribute to addressing the housing problem. The research findings indicate that there is a noteworthy overlap in the information of the nine typologies. This paper argues that knowledge management of this overlapping information would impact the social problem by providing knowledge power to those affected by the housing problem. The findings are new and significant as such research has not previously been published.