Author(s)

G.M. STEENKAMP & J.J. STEŸN

Abstract

During 1994 and 1999, the Bloemfontein Municipality amalgamated with five other municipalities to form the Mangaung Municipality. The Mangaung Municipality now has a population of approximately 740,000 and covers an area of 6,363 km2. Some areas are totally urban; while in others, people live in informal settlements. The unemployment rate is 35%, but in some areas it has risen to as high as 48%. Poor people in the city cannot afford to buy burnt bricks from the major suppliers of bricks. Therefore, informal brickyards were established all over the areas where clay and/or water were available. These brickyards are now producing good homemade burnt bricks and are creating jobs in a sea of unemployment. However, the problem is that from a planning and sustainability viewpoint, all is not well.Although the location of the brickyards has brought about a saving in costs related to the transportation of bricks from the formal brickyards, of which the nearest is 300 km away, the coalburning activities of the informal brickyards create air pollution. Furthermore, no prior environmental impact studies were carried out before deciding on the location of the brickyards. Most of them have been established haphazardly in any available spot. This paper will explain how these problems could be handled within the context of sustainable planning. The environmental issues will need to be evaluated from a socioeconomic perspective. A proposed policy to guide future development will have to be part of the integrated development plan; and this paper will show how this could be effectuated in practice.

Keywords

poverty, brickyards, earth bricks, sustainable planning, housing, unemployment, rammed earth.