The DOI matches its Crossref record; 1 of the 1 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.
Informal rental housing in the South: dynamic but neglected
Open accessAbstract
Informal rental housing is growing rapidly in cities of the global South. Changing needs and circumstances of diverse urban populations produce new forms of rental accommodation and landlord–tenant relations. Focusing on the case of backyard renting in South Africa, this paper illustrates how informal rental is undergoing a dynamic process of expansion and upgrading that both reflects and contributes to improved socioeconomic conditions. Commercialization is transforming the material quality and social dynamics of informal rental housing. While there are signs of formalization and professionalization, the government’s neglect of this sector has contributed to the strong persistence of informality, with its associated risks. This paper argues that the informal rental sector deserves more government attention to augment the public benefits and mitigate the costs. The paper ends with suggestions of how a developmental approach by the government could help to convert the negative externalities into a positive dynamic with more equitable and sustainable outcomes.
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Citations
Cites
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Cited by
Flood vulnerability in township informal settlements
Gcabashe, S. W., & Pillay, S. (2026) · Jàmbá Journal of Disaster Risk Studies · doi:10.4102/jamba.v18i1.1833 · Cited by 3
“Arguably, the most poignant factor is the cheap cost of living in townships and how this attracts migrants and immigrants (Malgas & Zondi 2020; Scheba & Turok 2020).”
Metadata
- Authors
- Scheba, A., & Turok, I.
- Affiliations
- Human Sciences Research Council (ZA)
- Venue
- Environment and Urbanization
- Publisher
- SAGE Publications
- Published
- 2020-01-31
- Volume
- 32
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 109-132
- ISSN
- 0956-2478 (ISSN-L)
- 1746-0301
- OpenAlex
- W3004284055
- Cited by
- 69
- References
- 1
- Citations by year
- 2026: 13 · 2025: 15 · 2024: 9 · 2023: 9 · 2022: 9 · 2021: 8 · 2020: 6
- FWCI
- 17.40
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- hybrid
- doi.org
- Locations
- Environment and Urbanization (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- Funders
- Department of Human Settlements, Western Cape Government, South Africa
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Urban Studies › Urban and Rural Development Challenges
- Social Sciences › Urban Studies › Latin American Urban Studies
- Social Sciences › Urban Studies › Urban Planning and Governance
- Keywords
- landlord-tenant relations, housing commercialization, housing upgrading, informal housing, urban poverty, South Africa
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- The paper
- Scheba, A., & Turok, I. (2020). Informal rental housing in the South: dynamic but neglected. Environment and Urbanization. https://doi.org/10.1177/0956247819895958
Data sources
Bibliographic data: Semantic Scholar, OpenAlex, Crossref.
Contains information from the Semantic Scholar Academic Graph Datasets, made available under the ODC Attribution License (ODC-BY 1.0).
Semantic Scholar’s data is described in: Kinney, R., et al. (2023). The Semantic Scholar Open Data Platform. arXiv:2301.10140.
