Unexpected negative outcomes of community participation in low-cost housing projects in South Africa

It is often argued that users’ participation is crucial for the performance of low-cost housing projects. It is also believed that users make the most appropriate decisions about their own housing solutions and that they know what is ‘best’ for them. Following this belief, non-governmental organizations (NGOs) working in housing projects in Cape Town (South Africa) have based their interventions in community participation initiatives that respond to what they call ‘the decisions of the community’. However, this community-based approach has had unexpected consequences that perpetuate some of the shortcomings that profit-driven builders, planners and public projects have inflicted in South African cities: low densities, urban fragmentation, limited opportunities for economic growth, etc. The unexpected negative consequences found in three case studies show that (i) the overall performance of low-cost housing projects does not depend on community participation (as some authors and NGOs suggest); (ii) some of the mechanisms and the advantages of community participation need to be reconsidered. They also suggest that the desires of a community cannot legitimate a wrong decision, particularly if the desires of a group negatively affect the urbanities and the city at large.