Track: Case Studies

Abstract

Land and housing ownership are a popular bone of contention in cities. It has unearthed many injustices and sparked numerous protests pertaining to rights and access to the city. As the two have embodied different meanings in different societies over the centuries. The apartheid regime and its strict control over property and ownership created severe inequalities and injustices in the post-apartheid city today. At present, cities in the Global South are challenged by the coloniality of these injustices. Where the heterogeneity of said challenges alone hinder the citizenship, socio-economic and spatial inclusion of the urban poor in the city. This study investigates the nexus between land and housing ownership and the development of land in Windhoek so as to understand the implications thereof and propose an alternative to the spatial planning and development praxis in the city. As a mixed methods approach, the study gleans insights on land and housing development processes, their delivery and the characteristics of tenure security and rights in Windhoek. Together the findings illustrate the features influencing the land and housing ownership and development nexus in Windhoek over the past 3 decades. The mixed methods approach was ideal for this study as it facilitated a detailed investigation of a complex phenomena.