Community participation in the upgrading of informal settlements: theoretical and practical guidelines

[摘要] English: The emergence of participation as an alternative paradigm of development has been phenomenal.All over the world, and in South Africa in particular, enthusiasm for community participationin development exists. Moreover, many development initiatives in South Africa aspire tobe participatory and people-driven processes. However, the difficulties of achieving participationat grassroots level is not always fully recognised or analysed. Therefore, participatory development,specifically in urban upgrading in South Africa, was the focus of this research. This studyattempted to move beyond both the development rhetoric and the lofty sentiments associatedwith participatory development, and to search for a deeper understanding of community participationin development.In this search for a more in-depth understanding of the dynamics of participatory development,the study firstly traced the roots of community participation back to some of the social anddevelopment theories and paradigms from which community participation originated. The acceptanceof participatory approaches to development reflects an awareness of the inadequacy ofprevious development efforts that failed to communicate effectively with local persons and considerstheir felt needs and potential contributions. Participatory development was developed primarilyin a Third World context, albeit with Western influences, and it grew out of a wide rangeof alternative and divergent ideas, theories and paradigms, from all over, and from a multitudeand rich legacy of development forces and approaches that influenced and co-shaped it.Secondly, this thesis attempted to achieve conceptual clarity on community participation inrelation to development projects. Community participation is for the purposes of this study,defined as a collective process that has its focus on the active collaborative involvement of keystakeholdersin joint decision-making that will influence the outcome of development decisionsand of actions impacting on the broader development context of an end-beneficiary community.Thirdly, this research paid some attention to community participation in low-income urbanhousing projects. Important impediments or obstacles to community participation were exposed,with some reference to their application in urban upqradinq contexts. This study highlighted theemergence and evolution of participatory housing processes in urban low-income communities,both internationally and in South Africa. The global nature of shelter poverty, specifically in urbanenvironments, was explored and the extent of shelter poverty in South Africa's urban areas andrelated low-income housing initiatives was discussed. r,e emergence of participatory urbandevelopment in South Africa was also analysed.Fourthly, the research described and analysed the community participation dynamics of aselected case study of informal settlement upgrading. For this purpose Freedom Square (aninformal settlement on the outskirts of Bloemfontein, the capital of the Free State Province inSouth Africa) was selected as a case study. The findings demonstrated that informal settlers dohave the inherent ability to participate meaningfully in their own development, albeit not withoutconflict among the different stakeholders involved.Lastly, the study proposed some emergent guidelines for promoting or facilitating communityparticipation in urban upgrading projects. These guidelines could serve as a developmental strategyof conduct for the practice of participatory development and also as a development ethicalcode. Participatory development, and for that matter human development, is about processeswhereby people empower themselves to participate continuously in improving their own destiny.A constant reorientation of the thinking of development professionals is therefore necessary, duringwhich process they should rather adopt the motto of planning with and not for the people. Inthis reorientation they should change from being implementers to being facilitators and enablerswho foster the principle of minimum intervention and who respect the indigenous knowledge ofordinary community members.The participatory development paradigm is here to stay, but the challenge remains to makecommunity participation more than an empty catchword. Although there are major issues andproblems associated with community participation in development, the benefits of participationby far outweigh these problems. Despite its ambiguities and limitations, the participatoryapproach enables ordinary people to assume responsibility for policies and decisions, and also for actions which concern them.

[发布机构] University of the Free State