Chapter 5 Human Settlements - Department Of Environmental Affairs

Table 5. 2: Distribution of population, economic activity for urban and rural settlementsPer cent of nationalpopulationPer cent of nationaleconomic activityPer cent of national landareaUrban settlements68.1085.806.80Rural 00.00SA Settlement typesFarms/rest of South AfricaTOTALSource: NPC (2011a)region usually consists of a conurbation of settlements withmultiple administrative districts, but sharing resources suchas a central business district, labour market or transportnetwork.Nine city-regions and cities have been identified: the cityregions are Gauteng, the City of Cape Town, eThekwiniand Nelson Mandela Bay, and the cities are Mbombela(Nelspruit), Buffalo City (East London), Polokwane, Mangaung(Bloemfontein) and Msunduzi (Pietermaritzburg). Theyaccommodate the bulk of the national economy (62 per cent)on a minimal portion of land.Map 5. 2: Population density in South AfricaSource: Nation Master (2013)5.3.3.1 Urban settlementsA typology of settlements particular to the unique SouthAfrican circumstances has been developed and forms thebasis for the interventions of the NDP. The typology includes arange of settlements from urban to rural.Urban settlements are divided into ‘city-regions and cities’ and‘towns’. Towns are further differentiated as regional servicecentres, service towns or local niche towns (CSIR 2011) (Table5.3).Table 5. 3: Distribution of population, economic activity andarea for urban settlementsPer cent of totalPopulationEconomyAreaCity-regions and cities40.0%62.0%2.0%Regional service centres14.8%13.9%1.7%Source: NPC (2011a)5.3.3.2 City-regions and citiesA city is defined as being home to more than 400,000 people,comprising significant and multi-nodal economies, and alsosignificant economic and public service functions. A city-The populations and size of cities and city-regions have beengrowing rapidly due to natural growth and in-migration andurbanization. Migrants move to these settlements mostlyin search of jobs but also in search of housing and socialfacilities. The growth and in-migration of mostly poor andyoung people have created a contradiction where cities havehigh employment rates and household income but also largenumbers of people living in poverty, the so-called urbanizationof poverty. This contradiction can also be observed for serviceprovision where a large per centage of the population hasaccess to services but large backlogs exist, especially inabsolute numbers (CSIR 2008).5.3.3.3 Regional service centresRegional service centres are medium and higher-ordersettlements that are prominent service centres withinparticular hinterlands (CSIR 2008).Regional service centres include: Large (in terms of population) towns in former ‘homelands’with a large number of dispersed rural settlementssurrounding them (e.g. Mthatha in the Eastern Cape andThohoyandou in Limpopo). Their economies are mostlybased on government and community services and theyresultantly have high dependency ratios and levels ofpoverty; Towns in resource rich areas (e.g. Rustenburg in theNorth-West Province, Middelburg and Secunda inMpumalanga); and, Towns playing key service roles within more isolatedareas (such as Upington and Springbok in the NorthernCape) (CSIR 2008).Human settlements 67

The most rapid growth has taken place in South Africa’s smallercities, mostly due to small initial populations and increasingeconomic activity. Polokwane (Pietersburg), Rustenburg,Vanderbijlpark, and Mbombela (Nelspruit) are some of thefastest-growing urban areas, with average annual populationgrowth rates of between 1.6 per cent and 2.9 per cent overthe last decade, compared to Cape Town with a rate of 1.4per cent.Large towns (the first-category towns) continue to growmostly due to natural population growth but also from inflowof population from their rural hinterlands. Resources alsoplay a role in growth: where resources are depleting, thetowns are rapidly depopulating, whereas in areas of growingresource exploitation populations are growing exponentially.Furthermore, settlements regional service centres located onkey regional access routes and corridors are typically markedby higher rates of growth, both in terms of population andeconomic opportunities (CSIR 2008).5.3.3.4 Service towns and local niche townsService towns and local niche towns are smaller towns thatare mostly fulfilling the role of service centres within a localarea or region. They fulfil a function or service: Within their direct vicinity (e.g. Giyani in Limpopo); For a broader community on particular corridor/accessroutes (e.g. Estcourt in KwaZulu-Natal or Malmesbury inthe Western Cape); or, Of a particular niche role such as tourism (i.e. Clarens inthe Free State).The fortunes of these settlements vary from high economicgrowth rates (typically tourist niche towns such as PrinceAlbert in the Western Cape), or high population growth(typically places on access routes such as Alice in the EasternCape) to decline mostly associated with economic stagnation/population decline in the surrounding area, such as Koppies inthe Free State province (CSIR 2011).5.3.4 Rural settlementsClustered and dispersed settlements include rural nodes andclusters, which are typically clusters of settlements with verylimited service roles and densely settled rural areas/dispersedrural settlements which characterize the former ‘homeland’areas and are often under traditional land ownership (CSIR2008). The economy of many of these settlements is based onremittances, grants and subsidies.5.3.5 Settlement distribution as a driver ofenvironmental changeThe South African population is growing and urbanising. Theyare concentrating in large cities and towns looking for work,housing and basic services and access to health and educationfacilities. A large portion of the population growth is focused intowns experiencing economic growth (often through resourceexploitation) and those located on main access roads. Manyof the migrants are poor and unemployed, creating markedinequalities and presenting service delivery challenges.Although urbanization is generally seen as a positive processas it is associated with economies of scale, economic growth,higher incomes and higher educational levels, large growingsettlements can also negatively impact on the environment(Box 5.2). For example: Large cities and towns use extensive land areas, whichalter the natural state of land, degrade environmentalintegrity, fragment ecosystems and threaten biodiversity.Outward sprawl also destroys valuable agricultural land; They place high demands on non-renewable resourcesand have high water and energy needs. As a case inpoint, the Gauteng State of the Environment Reportstates that many of the water resources within Gautengare under stress from an increased demand for humanand commercial water consumption, coupled with poormanagement of water quality and degradation of riverand wetland ecosystems; They produce large amounts of solid waste, air pollutionand water pollution and contribute to greenhouse gasses;and, They alter natural water cycles due to high per centagesof impenetrable surfaces. This also increases stormwaterrun-off and downstream flooding.Human settlements 68

Continued population growth is putting pressure on thenatural environment not only in the largest cities and townsbut also in the densely populated rural areas, a remnant ofthe homeland policy. According to the Council for Scientificand Industrial (CSIR) (2008), sprawling rural settlements havea serious impact on water dependency, biodiversity, carbonemissions, waste and energy. Land degradation is caused bya combination of unemployment, poverty, and an absence orfailure of land use regulation. The resultant land degradation threatens the local resourcebase upon which rural communal livelihoods depend.A transition to higher levels of residential density withincities is viewed as a means of achieving a number of keyenvironmental objectives and greater functional efficiencies.According to Newton (2006), higher densities of urbandevelopment are associated with: Reductions in per capita demand for land; Reductions in the rate of loss of biodiversity as a resultof lower rates of conversion of green space to residentialuse; Fifty per cent reductions in levels of operating energy inhousing; also significant reductions in lifecycle energy useand greenhouse gas emissions; Reductions in water consumption due to less outdoorwater use (such as for gardens and swimming pools); Reductions in the volume of building materials consumed(medium-density housing has two-thirds the materialintensity of detached single family housing); Reductions in solid and municipal waste generation; Improved human health as a result of decreased car useand greater pedestrian activity; and, Reduction in the amounts of energy consumed andgreenhouse gases emitted through travel.These large sprawling settlements do not only impact on theenvironment but as their size increases they also become morevulnerable due to their dependency on natural resources andrisk for disaster.The negative impact of settlements on the environment ishowever not a foregone conclusion and can be mitigated bytimeous planning, on-going management and a move towardsalternative, more sustainable solutions to basic services.Several pieces of legislation and strategies have been put inplace to address these issues as is discussed in Section 7 ofthis chapter.5.4 SETTLEMENT STRUCTURESettlement structure refers to the physical size of settlements,their density profile, the intensity and mix of activities andtransport patterns.According to the Financial and Fiscal Commission (FFC2011), “by international standards South African cities areinefficient due to low-density development, high travel costs,long distances to and from places of work and high carbonfootprints.” They recommended that “the government pursuedevelopment of a spatially compact urban form.”Are also perceived as contributing to high fiscal costs forthe provision of infrastructure and services.In contrast, compact cities that have high population densitiesand a mix of land uses, and where land use and publictransportation are integrated, are seen as sustainable as theyare more resource efficient, offer opportunities for developingeconomies of scale to reduce resource consumption andconsume less land.The move from low-density, fragmented, mono-functionalhuman settlements to more compact and sustainablesettlements that are integrated on all levels is proposed in allplanning legislation. An example of how this is being done ispresented in Box 5.3.This inefficient settlement form can be ascribed to: Apartheid planning that aimed to separate different racegroups spatially thus creating large buffer areas withinsettlements; and, Modernist planning approaches that favour introvertedsuburban type development with single houses on singlestands planned around private transport.5.4.1 Sustainable settlement structureSettlement structure is a driver of environmental change as itinfluences the amount of natural land that is converted intohuman habitation, the demand for non-renewable naturalresources and the production of pollution and waste.Low-density, mono-functional and sprawling settlements areseen as unsustainable from an environmental perspective asthey: Consume large amounts of land, often land that isecologically important or high-potential agricultural land; Generate multiple and long travelling distances, often byprivate car, which increases pollution, specifically carbondioxide emissions; Make travelling by public transport or non-motorizedtransport difficult or impossible; and,Human settlements 69

Box 5. 3: Protection and sustainable management ofDurban’s natural resource baseDurban is located in an area of significant biodiversity onthe east coast of the African continent and the eThekwiniMunicipal Area contains examples of four of the country’snine terrestrial biomes, namely Savannah, Forest andGrassland and Indian Ocean Coastal Belt. While the aquaticenvironment includes both freshwater and marine habitats(18 river catchments and 97 km of coastline), Durban is alsothe largest port and urban area on the east coast of Africa,and has a population of just over 3 million.Durban recognized the contribution that open spaces canmake to sustainable urban development, and that Durban’svaried ecosystems provide important life-sustainingenvironmental services. The city authorities identified andconducted an economic valuation of those environmentalservices which helped inform the appropriate managementand resourcing of Durban’s urban open space system.From the research undertaken by the EnvironmentalManagement Department, it is clear that naturalecosystems provide a broad range of environmentalgoods and services to the city of Durban, including climateregulation, water regulation, gas regulation, water supply,erosion control, soil formation, nutrient cycling, wastetreatment, biological control, food production, naturalproducts and genetic resources. Durban’s ecosystems arealso of social, recreational, aesthetic and economic value,and contribute towards human well-being.space system is conservatively estimated at R3.1 billionper annum (or approximately 440 million US dollars). Thiscase highlights the significance of environmental goods andservices in ensuring the city‘s financial and environmentalsustainability.The municipality is also pioneering the use of a broad rangeof tools in implementing the EESMP, including a dedicatedland acquisition budget, the use of environmentalservitudes to regulate development, the use of green bylaws which are currently being drafted, and a green SpecialRating Area is being worked on to protect and sustainablymanage what will be Durban’s largest protected naturalarea.Source: UNEP (2007)In the following section, low-density sprawl and transportationpatterns as elements of South African settlement structureare discussed.5.4.2 Low-density sprawlSouth African settlements are characterized by extreme lowdensities and sprawl. The densest settlement in South Africa isJohannesburg, which has a population density of 20.9 peopleper hectare (ha), followed by eThekwini, with 14 people perhectare (FFC 2011). Examples of international settlementdensities are London at 62 people per hectare, Rio de Janeiroat 101 people per hectare and Moscow at 182 people perhectare.Challenges to the conservation of ecosystems andbiodiversity in Durban include land transformation (around60% of the city’s 2,291 km2 has been transformed by urbanand rural development), invasive alien plants, pollution andunlicensed and uncontrolled mining, especially in rivers andsurrounds for sand for building, and the over-harvesting offauna and flora.eThekwini Municipality has reacted with creative andinnovative strategies to address these environmentalchallenges, and in so doing has enhanced social andeconomic benefits. Resource economics used to ensurelong-term ecological viability in the city and eThekwinimunicipality has pioneered the use of resource economicsin designing its open space system. The natural resourcebase is regarded as ‘platform infrastructure’ i.e. providinga range of environmental goods and services critical inmeeting the basic needs and quality of life aspirationsof the city’s residents. The design of the eThekwiniEnvironmental Services Management Plan (EESMP) wastherefore influenced by the need to secure a sustainedsupply of these environmental goods and services.Resource economics was used as a tool to value Durban’sopen spaces and this information was then used todetermine which portions of the city’s natural-resourcebase should be incorporated into the EESMP to ensurelong-term ecological viability and the sustained deliveryof environmental goods and services. Dr Roberts reportedthat the replacement value (as calculated in 2003) of theenvironmental services delivered by the resulting openMap 5. 3: Distribution of densities in the City of JohannesburgSource: GCRO (2011)Human settlements 70

Map 5. 4: Distribution of densities in GautengSource: GCRO (2013)Low-density sprawl is not limited to urban settlements but alsoprevalent in rural settlements. For example, in uMkhanyakudeDistrict in KwaZulu-Natal the population density is less thanone person per hectare despite hardly any of the populationbeing involved in agriculture (uMkhanyakude DistrictMunicipality 2011).It is, however, not only the low densities per se that areproblematic, but also the distribution of densities. SouthAfrican settlements are characterized by higher densitieslocated on the outskirts of the settlement (due to factorsdiscussed in the following section). In the Johannesburg cityregion for example, the highest densities are located some 30km outside of the city centre (Bertaud 2004). This increasesthe inefficiency of settlements as distances from dormitorysuburbs to places of employment increase, as well as thenumber of people that have to commute over long distances(Map 5.3 and 5.4).Figure 5. 2: Housing typeSource: StatsSA (2012b)Human settlements 71

5.4.3 Housing as a driver of urban sprawlHousing is one of the key drivers of sprawl and low densitiesas it is the predominant land use in human settlements.Housing demand is driven by population growth, migration,household formation and income. The average householdsize in South Africa decreased from 4.5 in 1996 to 3.6 in 2011.A decrease in household size coupled with an increase inpopulation size indicates a growth in household formation andthus an increase in the demand for housing (StatsSA 2012a).The situation with regards to housing has improved steadilyover the past few decades. There has been a steady increasein the per centage of households living in formal dwellingsover time from 65.1 per cent to 77.6 per cent; the per centageof households living in traditional dwellings halved, while theper centage of households living in informal dwellings hasdecreased from 16.2 per cent in 1996 to 13.6 per cent in 2011(Figure 5.2).Also problematic is the trend towards lifestyle estates. These areoften located in pristine natural contexts due to the aestheticappeal of the natural environment on the periphery of thecity, contributing to sprawl. Despite relatively low populationdensities, ecological damage occurs especially where essentialor scarce environmental resources, such as prime agriculturalland or water, are in short sup

Box 5. 1: Settlements and the water cycle. An example of the impact of human settlements on the environment can be found in the water cycle. Human . settlements reduce evaporation from 40% to 30%, reduce infiltration of water to underground aquifers from 50% to 15%, and increase run-off from 10% to 55%. The implications