The Right to Remain
Housing Affordability Crisis and Displacement in Durban’s Point Precinct
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 7309920 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Zwelakhe Thulasizwe Mascot Maseko (0000-0003-1594-3178, University of Zululand) |
| Year | 2025 |
| Publication date | 2025-11-24 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Journal of Asian and African Studies (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0021-9096 • E-ISSN: 1745-2538 |
| Publisher | SAGE Publishing (PUBLISHER • US) |
| DOI | 10.1177/00219096251393433 |
| OpenAlex | W7106492574 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 20 |
This paper examines the housing affordability crisis and displacement dynamics in Durban’s Point Precinct, a contested waterfront development site in post-apartheid South Africa. Drawing on ethnographic research conducted between May and August 2024, including interviews with 50 residents and 4 municipal officials, the study reveals how state-led gentrification creates both direct and indirect displacement pressures on middle and low-income residents. Applying the Right to the City theoretical framework, the research demonstrates how economic displacement operates alongside social and cultural marginalization, creating compound displacement effects that undermine residents’ ability to remain in their communities. The findings reveal that despite high institutional awareness of gentrification processes, implementation gaps in housing policy have resulted in severe affordability challenges, with 92% of participants reporting housing as increasingly unaffordable. The study contextualizes these findings within Durban’s unique post-apartheid urban transformation, including ongoing struggles over urban land through regular land occupations and violent municipal evictions. While gentrification remains a localized phenomenon in Durban compared to broader patterns of middle-class flight, the Point Precinct represents a critical site where contested visions of urban development play out through everyday struggles over housing rights and urban citizenship
Displacement (psychology · Ethnography · Gentrification · Government (linguistics · Politics · Precinct · Public housing · Vision
Rule By Aesthetics
What is housing affordability? The case for the residual income approach
Taming the Disorderly City
Unequal citizenship in unequal cities
Missing Marcuse
Moving beyond Marcuse
Gentrification and the suburbanization of poverty
The State and New-build Gentrification in Central Cape Town, South Africa
Measuring Gentrification and Displacement in Greater London
Hybrid gentrification in South Africa
The global urban housing affordability crisis
Spoiled Mixture
Measuring and mapping displacement
The Chicago Guide to Collaborative Ethnography
Insurgent Planning
The 'Right to the City
The right to the city
Contextual Diversity in Gentrification Research
A Politics of the Poor
| Citation velocity | historical |
|---|---|
| Highly cited | No |