Public participation in hostel redevelopment programs in Nyanga and Langa

[摘要] ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Literature on public participation generally assumes the existence of a causal relationshipbetween community participation in urban development programs and the satisfaction ofbeneficiaries of such programs with the outcomes of these development programs. In thisstudy, the role played by public participation in fashioning perceptions of satisfaction ordissatisfaction of beneficiaries is investigated in the cases of two hostel redevelopmentprograms.The role of public participation is investigated by means of the Spectrum of Participationmodel of the International Association of Public Participation, a model which propagates aset of principles to be fulfilled before it may be said that beneficiaries have thoroughlyparticipated in a program. Satisfaction or dissatisfaction of the beneficiaries is tested bymeans of the Hirschmann model of Voice, Exit and Loyalty, a model which hypothesizes thatpotential beneficiaries in a program - in order to express satisfaction or dissatisfaction withthe process - may remain loyal to the program, may voice their dissatisfaction, or (as a lastresort) may exit the program.After an analysis of the concept of public participation, this concept is applied-via interviewswith samples of stakeholders and potential beneficiaries-to two different communities ofinterest: members of the Welcome Zenzile Housing Cooperative in Langa and the IlingeLabaHlali Housing Cooperative in Nyanga, townships situated not very far from the CapeTown CBD, and occupied mostly by African communities. These two housing cooperativesparticipated in the national Hostel Redevelopment Program, an initiative propagated by thenational Department of Human Settlements. Since these cooperatives participated indifferent ways during identifiable phases of the program, public participation by potentialbeneficiaries was researched within each phase.A comparison of research findings in the two programs points to a positive relationshipbetween public participation and beneficiary satisfaction. Though other factors also play arole, such satisfaction could be observed in the Nyanga community where levels ofparticipation by beneficiaries were extremely high. With the Welcome Zenzile beneficiaries,the same could not be said, inter alia, since most of the decisions associated with beneficiaryinterests were made by the City of Cape Town. In essence this second program wasimplemented by the City of Cape Town for and on behalf of the beneficiaries.

[发布机构] Stellenbosch University