A Legal Framework for Enabling Low-income Housing: a Study of Women's Access to Home Based Enterprises in Botswana

This book assesses how the new Development Control Code 1995 is applied and followed with particular regard to its “relaxed capacity” in low-income residential areas in Gaborone and Francistown, Botswana. It explores the legal and spatial opportunities for female-headed households to gain access to an adequate shelter and to engage in income-generating activities. Based upon a qualitative case study and grounded research, the thesis elicits arguments in support of the UN–Habitat’s enabling human settlement strategy. It also contributes to a deeper knowledge of the enabling approach to low-income housing and to the problems of implementing planning and building regulations in a situation of rapid urbanization.

Following an introduction, there are six chapters divided into two parts: Part I (Chapters 1 and 2) looks at urbanization and enabling regulatory frameworks, and Part II (Chapters 3 to 6) presents the methods, findings and discussions of the research. To provide a context, Chapter 1 gives a general overview of urbanization trends, research projects on planning and building regulations, and on the situation of female-headed households in low-income countries. The impacts of various trends, regulations and strategies on the urban poor and how these affect their access to shelter and ability to engage in income-generating activities are also discussed. In Chapter 2, planning and housing policies in Botswana are elaborated upon. It describes urbanization trends and shelter provision in Gaborone and Francistown and analyzes housing policy, including self-help housing, and planning policy, including the Town and Country Planning Act (TCPA) and the Development Control Code.

The research strategy and empirical findings are presented in Chapter 3. The chapter is divided into two sections. The first discusses the choice of research strategy and the second discusses the reasons for selecting female-headed households, and the data sources and data collection and analysis. Chapter 4 provides the conceptual and theoretical framework. Through the theoretical framework, a conceptual apparatus for the evaluation of Botswana’s Development Control Code in relation to concepts of enabling strategy, self-help housing, adequate shelter, income-generating activities, use of space and spatial qualities, decentralization and the role of professionals is developed. Chapter 5 profiles the results of an analysis of the study’s empirical findings. The first part introduces the fieldwork study areas in Gaborone and Francistown. The second part analyzes the implementation of the Code in low-income areas, and the final part examines the female heads of households’ knowledge of the Code. Chapter 6 gathers reflections based on an interpretation and discussion of the findings. It also discusses issues highlighted in the research, such as self-help housing, outdated legislation and rigid administrative procedures, and the influence of colonial planning. Finally, it evaluates how the research questions have been fulfilled and suggests recommendations for further research.