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Moving on to Greener Pastures? A Review of South Africa’s Housing Megaproject Literature

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  • Louis Lategan

    (Department of Urban and Regional Planning, Faculty of Informatics and Design, Cape Peninsula University of Technology, Cape Town 7925, South Africa
    Unit for Environmental Sciences and Management, North-West University, Potchefstroom 2531, South Africa)

  • Brian Fisher-Holloway

    (Department of Urban and Regional Planning, Faculty of Informatics and Design, Cape Peninsula University of Technology, Cape Town 7925, South Africa)

  • Juanee Cilliers

    (Unit for Environmental Sciences and Management, North-West University, Potchefstroom 2531, South Africa
    Faculty of Design, Architecture and Building, University of Technology Sydney, Ultimo, NSW 2007, Australia)

  • Sarel Cilliers

    (Unit for Environmental Sciences and Management, North-West University, Potchefstroom 2531, South Africa)

Abstract

South Africa is a leader in the scholarship on green urbanism in the Global South, but academic progress has not translated to broad implementation. Notably, government-subsidized housing projects have produced peripheral developments featuring low build quality, conventional gray infrastructure, and deficient socio-economic and environmental amenities. Declining delivery and increasing informal settlement spawned a 2014 shift to housing megaprojects to increase output and improve living conditions, socio-economic integration, and sustainability. The shift offered opportunities for a normative focus on greener development mirrored in the discourse surrounding project descriptions. Yet, the level of enactment has remained unclear. In reflecting on these points, this paper employs environmental justice as a theoretical framework and completes a comprehensive review of the academic literature on housing megaprojects and the depth of their greener development commitments. A three-phase, seven-stage review protocol retrieves the relevant literature, and bibliometric and qualitative content analyses identify publication trends and themes. Results indicate limited scholarship on new megaprojects with sporadic and superficial references to greener development, mostly reserved for higher-income segments and private developments. In response, this paper calls for more determined action to launch context-aware and just greener megaprojects and offers corresponding guidance for research and practice of value to South Africa and beyond.

Suggested Citation

  • Louis Lategan & Brian Fisher-Holloway & Juanee Cilliers & Sarel Cilliers, 2025. "Moving on to Greener Pastures? A Review of South Africa’s Housing Megaproject Literature," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 17(4), pages 1-26, February.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:17:y:2025:i:4:p:1677-:d:1593521
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    References listed on IDEAS

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