reports & publications
reports
Narratives of Home: Quarry Road West
Using a participatory action research approach, with photovoice as a key method, residents explore their own narratives and feelings with regards to living in Quarry Road West informal settlement in Clare Estate (Palmiet), and what this means for the construction of place, identity and community.
Narratives of Home: Thokoza Women’s Hostel
Using qualitative methods, including photography, this research report explores the social consequences of living in Thokoza hostel, one of the few remaining single sex hostels in the eThekwini Municipality. The research examines the tensions, and changes over time, between the hostel as a temporary place to stay, and as a permanent ‘home’ for some residents.
Narratives of Home: Blackburn Village
Using a theoretical lens of the “arrival city” and the concept of place identity, this research explores the lived experiences of residents in Blackburn Village, an informal settlement in the north of Durban. The report examines the meanings of relocation to more formal housing for some households, as well as the in-situ upgrades that have started in the settlement.
Narratives of Home: SOHCO Port View and Valley View
This report explores the experiences of people living in two social housing complexes in Durban (Port View and Valley View), run by a social housing institution (Sohco Property Investments). The findings reflect on the role of complex design, and of location, in shaping identities and experiences of home and belonging in these social housing units.
Narratives of Home: Flamingo Court
This report uses interview, photographic and documentary data to explore the narratives of home and neighbourhood in Flamingo Court in Umbilo. Flamingo Court’s transition from municipal rental stock to private property shows how commonly held assumptions that home ownership provides stability, wealth and security should be revisited.
Narratives of Home: Langeler Towers (TAFTA)
This study explores questions of home, neighbourhood and belonging through participatory, qualitative research conducted with elderly residents of Langeler Towers (central Durban), a state-subsidised aged housing building owned by The Association for the Aged (TAFTA).
videos
Performances of Home: xhuma connect
Flamingo in the Sky
other
Narratives of Home: Cornubia
This practice-based project explored the concepts of house/home/human (un)settlement in Cornubia, a large housing development in north Durban. The project culminated in an on-site participative performance by local dance group Masters of Bang (MOB), which aimed to stimulate debate about living in this housing development.