An assessment of the quality of shared outdoor spaces in three South African social housing complexes

Abstract

This article presents a study that assessed the extent to which the quality of shared outdoor spaces in social housing complexes in the City of Tshwane conformed to specifications of the Social Housing Policy. To conduct this assessment, criteria and indicators were identified from a literature review. Specifications for guiding this assessment were also identified from the Policy. These criteria, indicators and specifications were used to develop an assessment framework. The study found that the quality of the shared outdoor spaces in three case studies only conformed to some extent to the specifications in the Policy. The study concludes that, despite good intentions, the Policy does not contain sufficient detail to guide this assessment and is too ambiguous to have a noteworthy impact on the development of good quality shared outdoor spaces in future and existing social housing complexes. Recommendations are made related to further research that could possibly address this shortcoming.