A home close to opportunities in South Africa: Top down vision or bottom up demand?

South African cities have changed tremendously over the past 50 years. Alongside growing urbanisation, people have moved further apart or closer to each other, influenced by the reigning ideologies and policies of the past and present. Cities were and are shaped by the leading corporations, institutions and to some extent by the planners who aim to implement their visions. Many of the contemporary international planning and urban design movements promote closer proximity of new housing developments to a larger variety of socio-economic opportunities. In response, international planning and development policies from many countries advocate the development of medium-density mixed housing developments to achieve increased densification and socio-economic integration and ultimately more sustainable cities. The new housing plan, Breaking New Ground (2004), also promotes this. Yet, how many people pause to consider the opinions of those for whom these developments are planned and designed? This discussion reconsiders the issue of housing location and, in particular, the importance of greater proximity of housing projects to a range of socio-economic opportunities from a resident’s point of view.