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"This book investigates the relationship between mining, mine closure and housing policy in post-apartheid South Africa, using concepts from new institutional economics and evolutionary governance theory. Mine closures present a major challenge to the mining industry and governments, with this being particularly noticeable in the Global South. This book argues that the dependencies created by the mining industry and mine housing policies while a mine is operational causes serious societal problems when it closes. To demonstrate this, the book applies the concepts of place attachment, asset-based development and social disruption. Conceptually, the book challenges the view that place attachment and asset-based development are the most appropriate and often the only policy responses in mining areas. In South Africa, the mining industry and the government have created comprehensive housing programmes linked to home-ownership to promote place attachment, stability and wealth among mine workers. These programmes do not consider the disruption that mine closure might bring. The book challenges the blind application, during boom periods, of policies which create long-term dependencies that are difficult to manage when a mine closes. This book will be of interest to students and scholars researching the social impacts of mining and the extractive industries, social geography and sustainable development, as well as policymakers and practitioners working with mine closure or social impact assessments"--

The article examines the emphasis on housing size in the application of housing policy in South Africa and, more specifically, in the Free State Province. This evaluation of housing size in the Free State is conducted against the background of the ideological debate on housing in South Africa. It is argued that, despite pressure on an increase in the housing size in the Free State, the approach has also had negative implications which need to be assessed in more detail. The specific impact of this emphasis on larger housing units has been the fact that the level of services has been neglected, upgrading of informal settlements did not take place, and housing-subsidy allocations followed the availability of stands. In the process, it neglected growing urban areas, increased the pressure on larger municipalities to spend resources on housing, contributed to the problem of horizontal equity, and emphasised the pre-selection of beneficiaries which excluded private-sector finance and ultimately resulted in a slowing down of delivery. The article concludes by arguing that the essential problem relates to the fact that communities cannot make decisions in respect of their housing size and the variety of settlement-related funds which exist.

It is against a post-colonial backdrop that the collection of essays assembled in this book aims to make a contribution to understanding the realities of urban centres which feature less frequently in the academic press. The research reported in this collection echoes and highlights many of the themes found in both urban theory derived from the realities of many?world cities?, and the challenges remarked upon in development theory seen in much of the work focused on South Africa?s main metropolitan regions

Border towns benefit from cross-border movement of goods, services and people. Many suffered setbacks when governments responded to the COVID-19 pandemic by closing borders. We investigated how the lockdown regulations affected the economy of Ladybrand, a small South African town near Lesotho. We found that local planning was not taking advantage of the benefits of a border town economy and was unprepared for border closure. Retail outlets were the hardest hit, followed by the transport, services and health sectors. Dilapidated infrastructure and poor service delivery made it difficult for the town to cope with the effects of the border closure.