Research Overview
Layering the legacy of apartheid-planning with climate hazards and health disparities, Cape Town tells a grave tale of the spatialised and unequal impacts of climate change. Our team based at the African Centre for Cities is exploring these intersections in the oldest historic “township” in the city (Langa) and an informal settlement, located on the periphery of the city (Taiwan). We are working to understand how people experience climate change, both through their health and through the built environment.
Cape Town’s oldest township, characterised by inadequate housing in various forms from apartheid style labour hostels to informal settlements.
Langa is Cape Town’s oldest township, a 20 minute taxi ride from the CBD. Decaying infrastructure, pervasive chronic health conditions and unemployment shape residents’ everyday life. Langa represents a broad range of housing types such as hostels designed for temporary migrant labour, new social housing projects, backyard shacks and informal settlements. In addition to compounded vulnerabilities linked to age, gender and livelihood, households’ vulnerability to climate hazards such as extreme rainfall and wind depends heavily on where people live within Langa and in what kind of home.
Photo Documentation
Research Documents
Maps
A community of 5000+ shack households, where the community faces high levels of crime, fire outbreaks and flooding
Taiwan is an informal settlement of 5000+ households that has been situated in Site C, Khayelitsha, Cape Town since the late 1980s. While Taiwan only has shack housing types, the community has access to formal water and formal and informal electricity, and also to portable, chemical and flushable toilets. Some of the most pressing issues that the community faces include high levels of crime, destructive fire outbreaks (particularly during the summer season) and flooding (3 of the 9 sections in Taiwan are built on wetlands prone to flooding during heavy rains). The community does receive basic services such as waste collection and management; however, these are sometimes inadequate, resulting in waste not being collected for long periods – a possible contributorto the high levels of TB among community members.
Photo Documentation
Research Documents
Maps
