Towards the Creation of Healthier City Neighbourhoods for Marginalised Communities in South Africa: a Case Study of the South Durban Industrial Basin in the City of Durban

Ambrose A Adebayo,Godfrey G Musvoto,P Adebayo

doi:10.1007/s12132-012-9172-y

Abstract

This paper critically evaluates efforts to mitigate the adverse effects of pollution on residential communities that are located next to polluting chemical industries in the South Durban Basin area, in the city of Durban, South Africa. The economic agenda ignored socio-environmental imperatives as poor residential communities and polluting chemical industries were juxtaposed, which made the area prone to environmental and health hazards. Empirical research is conducted focusing on the relations among industry, the people, housing, health and the neighbourhood built environment. The paper notes that efforts to create healthier livable city neighbourhoods in Africa, and South Africa in particular, are hampered by the superimposition of industrial capitalism over social and environmental aspects of sustainable development. In this context, the paper argues marginalised neighbourhoods need to proactively articulate their environmental concerns in ways that foster the cooperation and remedial action of other stakeholders of urban governance especially the state and private sector.

Highlights

The South Durban Basin, in the city of Durban, South Africa, was created in the 1970s by the pre-democratic apartheid government, with the main aim of employment creationA
As such, using the empirical case study of the South Durban Basin (SDB), this paper aims to ascertain progress to date in the efforts to create healthier, livable and sustainable South Durban Industrial Basin and to assess relations among stakeholders of urban governance in the creation of healthier neighbourhoods
All the stakeholders in the SDB highlighted that to a large extent the creation of healthier and more livable neighbourhoods has been hampered by the superimposition of economic goals of industrial production at the expense of community environmental rights

Summary

Introduction

This goal of promoting economic growth and the creation of jobs in the 1970s led to the location of industry to the South of the Durban Bay, the integration of railways, shipping and industry in this location; the creation of African and Indian Housing schemes in the south in Lamontville and Merebank as sources of labour for industry and the necessity of undertaking reclamation, dredging and canalization to provide usable industrial land (Scott 2003) This spatial order meant that residential areas located next to polluting petrochemical industries face problems of environmental pollution. This paper maps the progress to date in the quest for a healthier and livable SDB, focusing on the relations and interactions among the main stakeholders in the quest of the marginalised community for a more livable and healthier environment

Objectives

Methods

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Discussion

Conclusion