Reimagining informal settlements with green solutions

Rapid, unplanned urbanization puts public space under pressure, especially in fast-growing African cities where overpopulation and insecurity create tension. While formal cities discuss resilience, mobility, and safety, informal cities face deeper challenges, balancing hope for the future with harsh daily realities. Change can start from the ground up. Small-scale, green public space interventions offer a model for gradual transformation, serving as replicable examples to improve urban life bit by bit.

Holistic approach. Located in Khayelitsha, Cape Town, the NGO-funded Empower Shack project addresses uncontrolled urban sprawl by upgrading 72 informal homes into dignified two-storey units with access to municipal services. Led by UTTE, with OKRA’s involvement in the public realm and support from Ikhaya Lami and other local partners, the project offers a replicable housing prototype for the BT Section.

Unlike formal cities, BT-North’s public realm is approached with a community-focused toolbox aimed at improving living conditions through housing, jobs, climate resilience, and infrastructure. Resident involvement is key, especially in managing challenges like sewer overflows and flooding.

Tailoring to local demands. At the heart of this project is a participatory spatial planning process involving future residents and community leaders. For years, all residents, local chiefs and other stakeholders have been involved to empower the community to realize this neighbourhood. Local labour is involved during implementation and an education programme is set up to train people for jobs in construction. This close collaboration has been crucial to truly understanding the challenges and providing a suitable design, tailored to local needs.

Quality public space and sense of belonging. In informal townships, public space is seen differently than in planned cities. With housing scarcity, every bit of land is used, often for shacks, making space a vital communal asset. Even small corners are set aside for new arrivals. Green areas serve multiple roles: places to meet, play, trade, and help manage climate risks through permeable surfaces and alternative water sources. Improving these spaces boosts well-being and fosters a sense of belonging in vulnerable communities. Streets encourage movement, marked by planters separating public and private space. In narrow alleys, the line blurs: residents take ownership with plants, goods, and everyday items, transforming them into functional, shared spaces.

Water sensitive public realm design. Water scarcity and flooding pose major challenges for low-lying communities like Khayelitsha. To address these, our public realm project for BT-North integrates innovative water management, including low-tech, low-water urban farming through a circular aquaponic system. To avoid contamination from frequent sewage spills—due to poorly maintained municipal pipes—rainwater is collected via downpipes that bypass the street entirely. This stored water supports tree irrigation through a subterranean drip system and serves as a crucial potable reserve during droughts, a vital safeguard in Cape Town’s water-scarce climate.

The project also addresses water quality. The local unconfined aquifer is highly sensitive to contamination, so filtration and monitoring systems are in place to ensure water is safe before it infiltrates the aquifer.

A community-led innovative rooftop aquaponics and hydroponics farm. Food scarcity is a major challenge in townships. To help address this, a rooftop farm using aquaponics and hydroponics was built on the Soweto-Caracas Community Centre in Caracas, promoting food security, healthy living, and community involvement, with training planned for local management.

In Khayelitsha’s BT Section, a similar project combines urban farming with grey-water recycling. Rainwater is stored or used in planter boxes with edible, drought-resistant plants. The closed-loop system uses just 10% of the water required by traditional farming, supported by solar power and backup storage for long-term sustainability.

Scaling-up the solution for a greater impact. Embracing the incremental nature of local urban development, this model is tailored to foster community pride and resilience. The ultimate aspiration is for this project to serve as a scalable and adaptable solution to South Africa’s housing scarcity, providing active and safe public space and better living conditions. The current phase is envisioned as a pilot project that can pave the way for similar initiatives, thereby having a large-scale impact on the future of townships. Discussions are currently underway with the Western Cape Government to adopt this approach as an alternative to the government’s existing solutions to the housing crisis and create sustainable neighbourhoods.

• All architecture offices involved in the design:
UTTE (Urban-Think Tank Empower)

• Other credits you need or wish to write:
Other collaborators: Riverside consultant, Namene Solar, Redirect Energy, Aztec Agri Systems

Photographer: © Are Carlsen

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