The right to human dignity : a study of communal water and sanitation facilities for the peri-urban settlement of Inanda.

Abstract

Sustainable urban sanitation presents one of the many challenges towards service delivery and is directly related to poverty alleviation. Without appropriate social infrastructure such as water and sanitation - communities in the developing world can easily spiral into a decline. Water and appropriate sanitation, centre on community building and support communities to achieve high standards of health, equality, and good quality housing, good schools, safe, clean and friendly neighbourhoods. Without these social support infrastructure, peri-urban settlements struggle to become cohesive, and living communities with a sense of place, belonging or identity. In the developing world, communities without access to water and sanitation facilities suffer from a wide range of social problems and a platform for social discourse. Women are closely related to sanitation and water usage due to their social responsibilities at home and within their communities. Women tend to manage households and are the primary caregivers to children and extended family, also playing a nurturing role for the vulnerable, disabled and sick in the community. In South Africa, women living in rural and peri-urban areas face significant challenges. They live within a cycle of poverty, without appropriate access to a private toilets or to clean drinking water at the home. This research paper sets out to achieve an understanding of the daily living conditions communities face both spatially and programmatically, with a focus on women living in the peri-urban settlement of Inanda Durban. The objective set out tackles how architecture can be envisioned to meet dignified possibilities for and enrich the livelihoods of communities through the provision of appropriate and sustainable and suitable water and sanitation.