eThekwini residents demand urgent measures to combat the growth of informal settlements

Contemporary residential architecture faces pressing issues of global housing shortages and growing urban populations. In practice, architects constantly experiment with new forms of collective housing, striving to create spaces for personal, family, and community development. The six unfinished projects presented here demonstrate various aspects of solving the problem of building density: relationships with existing and planned nature, availability of urban or suburban plots, creation of additional intermediate spaces that support collective life and mitigate the feeling of high density, as well as the possibility of reproducing densification models and connection to the host area.

In this selection, ArchDaily readers are presented with housing concepts from Costa Rica, the USA, Ukraine, Iran, Uzbekistan, and a modular prototype without a fixed location. Analyzing the six unfinished projects, one can find common difficulties in creating a vibrant atmosphere and neighborhood environment, as well as unique responses to climatic conditions, interaction with nature, and the distribution of private and common areas. Three projects were designed for urban densification to maximize the use of available land to integrate more people into the existing urban network. Given the lack of land, one of the proposed ideas expands possibilities through a floating residential complex project, while two other options opt for suburban collective housing, emphasizing a direct connection with surrounding vegetation.

Below are idealized housing solutions developed by six ArchDaily readers, which were submitted as images and brief descriptions.

Nuevo Cuscatlan, Costa Rica

The architectural firm Carazo Arquitectura presented the LTR1 project—a multifunctional residential complex spanning 60,265 m² in Nuevo Cuscatlan, in the San Salvador metropolitan area, El Salvador. The complex integrates over 400 residential units, a commercial zone, and a protected forest within a single hybrid building. The project implements the firm's research line known as Tropical Vertical Urbanism, which studies how dense vertical construction in tropical cities can integrate housing, commerce, ecology, and social life into a single interconnected system.

Kayan Float: Compact Floating Microhome for Urban Rivers / Khaled M. Abu Tam - KMA Atelier

In the rapidly growing city of Austin, rising property prices and constant urban expansion have exacerbated the housing crisis. Many people are forced to move to remote suburbs with limited public transport. The city faces a deficit of over 211,000 social housing units, and regulatory restrictions and high land costs hinder traditional expansion. This situation demands compact and highly efficient housing models that maximize spatial efficiency while minimizing carbon footprint and construction impact. In this context, communities of floating microhomes are proposed as a response to Austin's housing problems, as well as as a compact and reproducible urban prototype for coastal cities worldwide. By transforming underutilized waterways into habitable urban infrastructure, the project introduces a model of efficient microhousing that is affordable and adaptable. Factory planning minimizes material use and costs, while layouts optimize every square meter for integrating living, working, and leisure functions.

Onsen / AVR Development

The concept was built around preserving the pine forest and natural thermal waters, where the idea of daily rejuvenation is integrated into the lifestyle itself. The project is conceived for people who value the balance between activity and tranquility, working in a dynamic environment but needing regular physical and mental restoration without having to leave the city. The central element is the fusion of an urban quarter type (kvartal), suburban life, and a resort: placement within a closed quarter forms a protected inner forest core, while the architecture develops under the tree canopy, not competing with nature. This idea is supported by the Japanese philosophy of onsen—understood as a ritual of silence, water, and balance—expressed in the spa and thermal bath infrastructure and the integration of water into daily life.

Sabat House / Hamed Hosseini Studio

Among the architectural features of arid and hot regions of Iran, such as Kashan, are Sabats—arched covered walkways built along long paths to protect pedestrians from direct solar radiation. Beyond their ecological function, Sabats fostered social cohesion by providing comfortable places for gatherings and neighborly interaction. The Sabat project is located in one of Kashan's most historic urban networks. The plot was formed by combining several small parcels, allowing for more floors than neighboring lots. This vertical imbalance became the main design challenge, leading to the development of two different volumetric strategies to harmonize the building with the surrounding urban context.

SYS Modular Building / Office AT

The SYS modular building is a prototype ordered by Siam Yamato Steel co.,ltd. and designed by the Office AT studio. The project is based on a modular construction system where building components are prefabricated in a factory and quickly assembled on site, ensuring efficiency in both schedule and construction quality. The concept maximizes the potential of modular construction. Each module is designed with independent walls (no shared walls), which enhances natural ventilation and improves internal comfort. The system also offers great flexibility, allowing the building configuration to be easily adapted to plots of different sizes and conditions. The project intentionally remains simple, consisting of only two unit types: Type 1 (ground floor) and Type 2 (duplex). These modules are organized in an alternating and articulated pattern, creating gaps between them that simultaneously serve as terraces and ensure natural light and ventilation enter the building. Furthermore, this arrangement increases the privacy of each unit.

SUPERMAHALLA / LEVEL80 Architects

In a historic Uzbek city on the Silk Road, we reinterpreted high-rise buildings into the form of SUPERMAHALLA—a low-rise complex inspired by traditional mahallas. Four blocks define private courtyards for gatherings, mimicking a patchwork quilt. Seismic joints guide pedestrian routes, and mountain contours are used to maximize apartment placement. White facades contrast with terracotta 'windows', paying homage to the tradition of handmade ceramics, blending historical heritage with modern European style. Underground parking ensures the safety of terraces and children's areas. Comfort amidst urbanization: rooted in place, designed for people.

The eThekwini Municipality has appealed to housing departments at both the national and provincial levels for assistance in upgrading informal settlements within urban areas.

Committee Requirements and Challenges

A report prepared by the Committee on Housing, Engineering and Transport and presented to the eThekwini Executive Committee (Exco) called on the specified departments to develop short-term, medium-term, and long-term intervention plans to address the identified issues. The Municipality intends to discuss proposals with these departments regarding the improvement of the implementation process for the eThekwini housing provision program. Previously, the municipality's reports cited over 600 informal settlements.

The report highlighted that the municipality faces several difficulties stemming from its specific urban context, which negatively affects the successful completion of informal settlement upgrading projects. These complexities have led to delays, increased project costs, and limitations in achieving planned housing delivery targets.

List of Identified Difficulties

The Municipality listed problems such as rapid urbanization and settlement growth; shortage of suitable land; regulatory and legislative hurdles, rising costs, and project delays; relocation issues between areas, re-application for projects, community resistance, and social instability; difficulties with beneficiary registration and censuses; as well as infrastructure constraints and environmental risks.

It was noted that many informal settlements are located on private land, in ecologically sensitive zones, and on steep slopes unsuitable for formal construction. The Municipality stated that maintaining transit camps over time becomes a burden on the municipality because grant allocations do not provide funds for this, and also due to illegal connections creating obstacles.

Consequences and Expectations from Cooperation

The municipal report also indicated that these problems contributed to negative audit outcomes across several projects, including slowed implementation, failure to meet planned indicators, reduced scope of work, increased costs, prolonged stay in transit camps, and low quality of life in temporary resettlement sites. The Municipality hopes that engagement with the departments will help develop a phased approach to implementing large and overburdened projects, identify and implement alternative housing provision models, and conduct policy reviews.

Furthermore, the Municipality requires assistance in securing suitable and well-located land for human settlement development, close to all amenities or interests of the people, as well as in developing innovative financing mechanisms to support housing construction. The Municipality noted that without interventions, achieving the goal of timely and sustainable provision of adequate housing and basic services will remain a difficult task. It was reported that the department is reviewing its implementation strategies and, where necessary, adopting high-density housing typologies, while consultations with provincial and national departments continue to develop sustainable implementation models.

Public Representatives' Stance

Rose Cortes, Deputy Chairperson of the eThekwini Taxpayers Protest Movement (ERPM), stated that settlements have become the norm in urban areas. She noted that when the municipality's own committee describes this as structural problems year after year, it signals that upgrading is stuck in perpetual waiting rather than being a transition phase toward formal housing. Cortes expressed taxpayers' concern that 'informal' has become a euphemism for indefinitely postponed.

Cortes added that taxpayers bear the burden in several aspects, including the strain on services, as these settlements are often outside official accounting and infrastructure planning but still use the same water, electricity, and road networks for which taxpayers pay without cost recovery. She emphasized that taxpayers are effectively funding recurring project failures without the ability to monitor where the funds are going at the local level.

Cortes also pointed out that the residents of informal settlements are overwhelmingly working residents and taxpayers themselves. She stressed that the issues of beneficiary registration and inter-area relocation mentioned in the report carry real human costs, including family separation during relocations. She called for any intergovernmental proposals to include independent oversight of already allocated funds before requesting additional ones.