Insights on the Global Political Economy of Urban Land and Housing Operations
We welcome you to our INSIGHTS column. We hope you find our articles interesting and will return for future briefings.
Housing and Prosperity: Panel Discussion on White Paper
Preface Housing and prosperity constantly occupies the minds of the majority of South Africans. On 20 June 2024 INSITE hosted a panel discussion assessing the pros and cons of the draft Human Settlements White Paper. The National Department of Human Settlements...
Programme strengths-weaknesses 1 – CSP
Between 2012 and 2016 I (Paul Hendler) led a team of consultants for the Cities Support Programme (CSP). This is about the programme strengths-weaknesses. The CSP is a National Treasury (NT) project. CSP's purpose is to address the poverty, unemployment and...
Neo-Liberalism – Urbanisation Housing
Executive Summary A group of 14 people gathered at a home in Kalk Bay during 2017 to discuss the meaning of 'neo-liberalism'. Neo-liberalism - urbanisation housing. There is already an introductory trailer to this. We are all involved in concern for where our society...
Neo-Liberalism – Urbanisation Housing 1
Trailer - Introduction Video Here is a trailer for a longer video. This records the introduction to a discussion that I facilitated. The discussion was about Neo-liberalism. And its impact on South Africa's Urban and Housing strategies since 1994. Neo-Liberalism -...
Do the new Project Management Course!
During February I facilitated a Project Management Course. There were participants from four organisations. Habitat for Humanity South Africa. Shackdwellers International. Peoples Environmental Planning. And Making of Cities. The course venue was the Josephine Mill in...
Preposterous arrogance is what happens …..
When elites command us to "do as we say not as we do". This is preposterous arrogance..... Public discourse contaminated by preposterous arrogance Social forces interpolate their members. This happens through people learning to mouth the views representing interests...
State intervention development: colonialism unnecessary
Recently Helen Zille caused a storm. This was because she tweeted that colonialism wasn't all that bad. In doing this she implied that it brought development to the backward parts. For this the ANC attacked her. Also her party, the DA, is having a disciplinary...
South African Anger and its vicissitudes
Almost every commentator agrees that the levels of South African anger are too high. Anger exists between ethnic (black/white) groups, men and women, and men and children. South African anger is a manifestation of splits in the "rainbow nation". A critical...
Questioning Mainstream Practical solutions
To be or to question ? Should we question what we do? Or should we just get on with the job? And be grateful that we have work? I faced this question many times. Answering influenced how we branded INSITE. Our response was not either to be critical or to be practical....
Stay in control of project level of effort
You completed the Detailed Product Flow (DPF) (see immediately previous post). You are clear about the products you will deliver to the client. Now you have to plan how you are going to do this. You need to identify specific activities necessary for completing each...
Manage project scope creep and stay in control
When you decide to do a project be sure you stay in control. One of the first things you must clarify is what does the client want. In other words what products must you produce? You need to be clear about the products. The same is important when you are putting...
Really visualise how to manage a crammed, project plan
A project plan is about crammed delivered deadlines. You have a project to manage. Where do you start? How do you know what to prioritise? Should you even be doing the project in the first place? INSITE offers a Project Planning and Management Course. This is a...
Regulate Oil-Climate-Finance and Protect Life!
In 2007 I contributed to a piece for the Presidency on Oil-Climate-Finance. Simon Ratcliffe, Jeremy Wakeford and Jack Holiday made the major content inputs. We analysed the impact of Oil, Climate and Finance on SA's political economy. We projected two scenarios post...
Climate activism: absolutely catastrophic or actually a hoax?
Executive Summary Climate activism is subject to controversy. On the one side are the climate scientists and social movements. They predict dire consequences and catastropic implications.But there are the sceptics. They question the assumptions and findings of climate...
Global thought local action: understanding conflicts
There is a global context to our local developmental challenges. Therefore, we need to think about the global political economy. This will help us to craft better local strategies. Hence, global thought guides local action. As a result we inform our local practices by...
Grassroots force for sustainable, affordable housing and amenities?
Shouldn’t government be doing more to plan and implement sustainable human settlements? Which leads to the question, what is the state? Also, in whose interest does it work? Can grassroots forces achieve sustainable and affordable housing and amenities? At INSITE this...
Partisan but objective: professionals taking sides in urban conflict
Can professional analysts be partisan but objective in their study of urban conflicts? This is an important question. Should technicians of practical knowledge respond to the ethical and political issues in urban development? Are built environment professionals simply...
Our tested and revealing Business Process method can help you
Business process review can help with coherent planning. This can improve management of planning and implementing the delivery of housing and amenities. We have 10 years experience in this area. We map the AS-IS processes. We do a Gap Analysis. We plan a TO-BE...
Money, profit and public good in housing the People
Introduction The US, India, Thailand, Germany and South Africa all have country-specific housing finance systems. Each one contains a unique combination of privatised, deregulated finance and a public system of subsidies and funding. This podcast discusses each of...