Human settlement stakeholders in South Africa have long grappled with addressing entrenched poverty and socio-spatial exclusion. This is evident in policy, programmes, levels of investment (although arguably not enough), community development initiatives, research and activism directed towards informal settlements, affordable housing (both rental and ownership), informal backyard housing and homelessness. These efforts are driven by a determination to bring about a more just and equitable society, where poverty in all its manifestations is eradicated and where residents have reliable access to quality public services and economic opportunities, regardless of where they may live in the city. Clearly, we are a far way off realising this ambition.

Although by no means a recent phenomenon, there is a growing realisation in the human settlements sector that it needs to come to terms with the impacts of climate change. The devastating impacts of changing weather patterns resulting in droughts, flooding, destruction and loss of life have brought to the fore the need for climate adaptation, particularly in areas that are prone to climate change impacts. Effective climate adaptation requires an understanding of, and appropriate responses to, risks and hazards, such as proximity to floodplains or how (weak) structural integrity of people’s shelter can aggravate heat exposure or result in devastation caused by strong winds and storms. It also means grappling with issues related to sustainable use of natural resources, such as water, to avoid overconsumption that can result in, or aggravate, drought, for example. Not only do climate adaptation responses require an in-depth (and contextual) understanding of risks, hazards, vulnerabilities and (unequal) consumption patterns; they also need to embrace a forward planning component to ensure that current choices do not adversely impact future generations or restrict future possibilities. Building resilience (the capacity to anticipate and cope with shocks and to recover from their impacts) at institutional and community levels needs to go hand in hand with climate adaptation.

Despite being least responsible for greenhouse gas emissions, backyard and informal settlement residents are disproportionately affected by extreme weather and natural disasters. Risks and hazards are particularly concentrated in informal settlements, with many settlements situated on floodplains, near rivers or on steep slopes in areas where the state has not extended risk-reducing infrastructure to enhance resilience. The environmental risks faced by informal settlement residents intersect with socio-economic drivers of vulnerability, stemming from structural inequalities, such as gender, socioeconomic status and housing poverty, amongst others. Therefore, climate adaptation and resilience efforts need to also focus on vulnerability and exclusion, which in turn can contribute positively to poverty reduction and socio-spatial justice.

As if responding to, and proactively planning for, climate risks is not challenging enough, the human settlements sector also needs to consider its role in reducing carbon emissions and decarbonising development. This means reducing the carbon footprint or the total amount of greenhouse gases (including carbon dioxide and methane) that development adds to the atmosphere. As one of the largest carbon emitters globally, South Africa faces the dual challenge of both needing to profoundly decarbonise (a risk-filled process) and lift a significant portion of its population out of poverty.

Globally, and in South Africa, the construction sector is one of the largest emitters of greenhouse gases, with the production and use of materials such as cement, steel and aluminium having a large carbon footprint. A significant proportion of the material delivered to a construction site ends up as waste; in South Africa between 5 million and 8 million tonnes of construction waste are generated annually, with only a small fraction reused or recycled. This points to the urgent need to reconsider housing and infrastructure development using more sustainable – and affordable – building materials and technologies.

As government and other stakeholders focus on high-level strategies for decarbonisation and climate resilience in the human settlements sector, there is a risk that the urban poor, and in particular informal settlement residents, who often face systemic exclusion from urban development and decision-making, may continue to be marginalised. It is therefore critical that attention is given to distributive justice in how this decarbonisation transition happens, i.e. that benefits and burdens (adverse impacts, such as potential job losses) are shared equitably between the haves and the have-nots – which implies considering the unequal starting points of different socio-economic groups to ensure fair outcomes. This in turn requires that informal settlement communities ‘have a seat at the table’, to articulate their experiences, aspirations and preferred solutions.

Socio-spatial justice, climate adaptation and decarbonising development are complex imperatives facing the human settlements sector. While each imperative adds complexity to the other two, there is also great opportunity in their intersection or nexus. The urgency of climate change can be used to tackle the crisis of poverty and socio-spatial exclusion as well as decarbonise development, for example, by using alternative systems and technologies that address both environmental and socio-economic vulnerability and that result in improved living conditions, livelihoods and socio-spatial inclusion. Ultimately, as per the Presidential Climate Commission’s Pathways for a Just Urban Transition in South Africa, a just urban transition needs to be at the heart of addressing socio-economic, climate and development challenges in South Africa.