Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • Article
  • Published:

Policy visions and lived realities diverge in pursuit of urban quality of life in Africa

Nature Cities volume 2, pages 1060–1070 (2025)Cite this article

Subjects

Abstract

Conflicting interests and logic weaken policy effectiveness and induce clashes between the state and local communities. As the “protest capital of the world,” this is particularly evident in South Africa. The study uses a grounded theory approach, combining the analysis of government planning directives with qualitative data from seven South African low-income communities, to explore how quality of life is understood and prioritized. Although state and community actors broadly agree on what contributes to quality of life, the findings reveal important disconnects in how priorities are framed. These misalignments emerge across temporal, responsibility and spatial dimensions. Communities face daily employment, services and safety challenges, whereas state planning often focuses on long-term development. Improving the quality of life will require recognizing that spatial decisions are shaped by interpretation, power dynamics and the uneven use of data in decision-making.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Access options

Buy this article

  • Purchase on SpringerLink
  • Instant access to the full article PDF.

USD 39.95

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Fig. 1: Pluralism of entities within the complex urban system of the global South.
Fig. 2: Sankey diagram showing how key planning directives engage with QoL indicators in spatial decision-making.
Fig. 3: A map of case study locations, urban hierarchy and the perceived importance of QoL indicators.

Similar content being viewed by others

Data availability

The interview data we used in the study are not publicly available due to confidentiality agreements with the participants and institutional restrictions. We were granted limited access to the data and do not have permission to share or publish them.

References

  1. Campbell, S. in Readings in Planning Theory Vol. 2016 (eds Fainstein, S. S. & DeFilippis, J.) 214–240 (Wiley Blackwell, 1996).

  2. Ngwenya, N. & Cirolia, L. R. Conflicts between and within: the “conflicting rationalities” of informal occupation in South Africa. Plann. Theory Pract. 22, 691–706 (2021).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  3. Rittel, H. W. & Webber, M. M. Dilemmas in a general theory of planning. Policy Sci. 4, 155–169 (1973).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  4. Makhale, S. & Landman, K. Gating and conflicting rationalities: challenges in practice and theoretical implications. Int. Plann. Stud. 23, 130–143 (2018).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  5. Croese, S. & Wood, A. African urban studies: contributions and challenges.Urban Stud. 61, 2477–2491 (2024).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  6. Joscelyne, K. The Nature, Scope and Purpose of Spatial Planning in South Africa: Towards a More Coherent Legal Framework Under SPLUMA. Master’s thesis, Univ. of Cape Town (2015).

  7. Jasper, J. M. Review of rationality and power: democracy in practice by B. Flyvbjerg. Soc. Forces 78, 806–808 (1999).

  8. Watson, V. Conflicting rationalities: implications for planning theory and ethics. Plann. Theory Pract. 4, 395–407 (2003).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  9. Watson, V. Seeing from the South: refocusing urban planning on the globe’s central urban issues. Urban Stud. 46, 2259–2275 (2009).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  10. Culwick Fatti, C. & Patel, Z. In pursuit of just sustainability: decision-making and conflicting rationalities in government-led housing projects. Local Environ. 28, 277–303 (2023).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  11. Sen, A. K. Inequality Re-examined (Clarendon Press, 1992).

  12. Nakanishi, H. How does urban policy influence quality of life? The case of Canberra, Australia. Pol. Stud. 36, 72–91 (2015).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  13. Harrison, P. On the edge of reason: planning and urban futures in Africa. Urban Stud. 43, 319–335 (2006).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  14. Johnston, D. F. & Carley, M. J. Chapter 11: social measurement and social indicators. Ann. Am. Acad. Polit. Soc. Sci. 453, 237–253 (1981).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  15. Fahy, F. & Cinnéide, M. Ó. Community-based quality of life indicators for urban areas as derived in Galway City, Ireland. WIT Trans. Ecol. Environ. 93, 601–702 (2006).

    Google Scholar 

  16. Fahy, F. & Cinnéide, M. Ó. Developing and testing an operational framework for assessing quality of life. Environ. Impact Assess. Rev. 28, 366–379 (2008).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  17. Brambilla, M., Michelangeli, A. & Peluso, E. Equity in the city: on measuring urban (ine)quality of life. Urban Stud. 50, 3205–3224 (2013).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  18. Bekker, M. Language of the unheard: police-recorded protests in South Africa, 1997–2013. Rev. Afr. Polit. Econ. 49, 226–245 (2022).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  19. Lindblad, J. & Anand, N. Cities after planning. Environ. Plann. D Soc. Space 41, 606–614 (2023).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  20. Bertaud, A. Order without Design: How Markets Shape Cities (MIT Press, 2018).

  21. Van Noorloos, F. & Kloosterboer, M. Africa’s new cities: the contested future of urbanisation. Urban Stud. 55, 1223–1241 (2018).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  22. Charmaz, K. Constructing Grounded Theory 2nd edn (SAGE, 2014).

  23. OECD. How’s Life? 2020: Measuring Well-Being (OECD Publishing, 2020).

  24. Cheung, C.-K & Leung, K.-K Retrospective and prospective evaluations of environmental quality under urban renewal as determinants of residents’ subjective quality of life. Soc. Indic. Res. 85, 223–241 (2008).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  25. Wong, C. The relationship between quality of life and local economic development: an empirical study of local authority areas in England. Cities 18, 25–32 (2001).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  26. Nussbaum, M. C. & Sen, A. in The Quality of Life (eds Nussbaum, M. C. & Sen, A.) (Clarendon Press, 1993).

  27. Shekhar, H., Schmidt, A. J. & Wehling, H.-W. Exploring wellbeing in human settlements—a spatial planning perspective. Habitat Int. 87, 66–74 (2019).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  28. IPCC. Summary for policymakers. In Climate Change 2021: The Physical Science Basis. Contribution of Working Group I to the Sixth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (eds Masson-Delmotte, V. et al.) 3–32 (Cambridge Univ. Press, 2021).

  29. Clark, D., Kahn, J. R. & Ofek, H. City size, quality of life, and the urbanization deflator of the GNP: 1910-1984. South. Econ. J. 54, 701–714 (1988).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  30. Rizzini Ansari, M. Cartographies of poverty: rethinking statistics, aesthetics and the law. Environ. Plann. D Soc. Space 40, 567–585 (2022).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  31. Štreimikienė, D. & Barakauskaitė-Jakubauskienė, N. Sustainable development and quality of life in Lithuania compared to other countries. Technol. Econ. Dev. Econ. 18, 588–607 (2012).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  32. Venter, Z. S., Shackleton, C. M., Van Staden, F., Selomane, O. & Masterson, V. A. Green apartheid: urban green infrastructure remains unequally distributed across income and race geographies in South Africa. Landsc. Urban Plan. 203, 103889 (2020).

  33. Centre for Environmental Rights. Major court victory for communities fighting air pollution in Mpumalanga Highveld. Centre for Environmental Rights https://cer.org.za/news/major-court-victory-for-communities-fighting-air-pollution-in-mpumalanga-highveld (2022).

  34. Charman, A., Petersen, L. & Govender, T. Township Economy: People, Spaces and Practices (HSRC Press, 2020).

  35. Kleinschroth, F. et al. Global disparities in urban green space use during the COVID-19 pandemic from a systematic review. Nat. Cities 1, 136–149 (2024).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  36. Walls, R., Olivier, G. & Eksteen, R. Informal settlement fires in South Africa: fire engineering overview and full-scale tests on “shacks”. Fire Saf. J. 91, 997–1006 (2017).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  37. Charmaz, K., Thornberg, R. & Keane, E. in The SAGE Handbook of Qualitative Research (eds Denzin, N. K. & Lincoln, Y. S.) 411–443 (SAGE, 2018).

  38. Zamani, B. & Babaei, E. A critical review of grounded theory research in urban planning and design. Plann. Pract. Res. 36, 77–90 (2021).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  39. Black, P. A., Calitz, E. & Steenekamp, T. J. Public Economics 6th edn (Oxford Univ. Press, 2015).

  40. Schoeman, C. The alignment between spatial planning, transportation planning and environmental management within the new spatial systems in South Africa. Stads-en Streeksbeplanning = Town Reg. Plan. 67, 42–57 (2015).

    Google Scholar 

  41. The Republic of South Africa. Spatial Planning and Land Use Management Act (Act 16 of 2013) (2013).

  42. SACPLAN. Draft Planning Profession Act, 2002: rules. SACPLAN https://sacplan.org.za/wp-content/uploads/Draft-PPA-Rules-2020-Work-Identification-Consultation-document2021-02-1.pdf (2021).

  43. The Republic of South Africa. Local Government: Municipal Systems Act (Act 32 of 2000) (2000).

  44. MacCallum, D., Babb, C. & Curtis, C. Doing Research in Urban and Regional Planning: Lessons in Practical Methods (Routledge, 2019).

  45. Saldaña, J. The Coding Manual for Qualitative Researchers (SAGE, 2013).

  46. Allen, N. & Davey, M. The value of constructivist grounded theory for built environment researchers. J. Plann. Educ. Res. 38, 222–232 (2018).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  47. Yin, R. K. Case Study Research and Applications: Design and Methods 6th edn (SAGE, 2018).

  48. Van Huyssteen, E., Green, C., Sogoni, Z., Maritz, J. & McKelly, D. South African Functional Town Typology (CSIR 2018 v2). CSIR http://stepsa.org /pdf/2018_CSIR_Town_Typology.pdf (2018).

Download references

Acknowledgements

We acknowledge financial support from the National Research Foundation (NRF) of South Africa number 129996 (N.S.W.).

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Unit for Environmental Sciences and Management, North-West University, Potchefstroom, South Africa

    Niké Susan Wesch, Sonja De Beer, Roelof Petrus Burger, Selna Cornelius, Elizelle Juaneé Cilliers & Stuart John Piketh

  2. School of Economic Sciences, Faculty of Economic & Management Sciences, North-West University, Potchefstroom, South Africa

    Carike Claassen

  3. School of Built Environment, University of Technology Sydney, Ultimo, New South Wales, Australia

    Elizelle Juaneé Cilliers

Authors
  1. Niké Susan Wesch
    View author publications

    Search author on:PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Sonja De Beer
    View author publications

    Search author on:PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Carike Claassen
    View author publications

    Search author on:PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Roelof Petrus Burger
    View author publications

    Search author on:PubMed Google Scholar

  5. Selna Cornelius
    View author publications

    Search author on:PubMed Google Scholar

  6. Elizelle Juaneé Cilliers
    View author publications

    Search author on:PubMed Google Scholar

  7. Stuart John Piketh
    View author publications

    Search author on:PubMed Google Scholar

Contributions

N.S.W. led the study and was responsible for the conceptualization, methodology, data collection, analysis, visualization and writing of the original draft. E.J.C., C.C., S.C. and R.P.B. contributed with critical input across the research process, including guidance on study design, interpretation of findings and refinement of the manuscript. S.d.B. contributed to the data curation, figure development and writing. S.J.P. supported with the broader project design and data collection and provided valuable input on the manuscript. All authors reviewed and approved the final version of the manuscript.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Niké Susan Wesch.

Ethics declarations

Competing interests

The authors declare no competing interests.

Peer review

Peer review information

Nature Cities thanks Nobukhosi Ngwenya and the other, anonymous, reviewer(s) for their contribution to the peer review of this work.

Additional information

Publisher’s note Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Extended data

Extended Data Fig. 1 Research design and analysis pathway informing the emergent QoL framework.

This figure illustrates the research design and analytical process followed in the development of an emergent QoL framework22,45,47, grounded in a constructivist potion and applying grounded theory methodology. The process began with a multiperspective data collection strategy, incorporating three key sources: (1) global index reports meeting the inclusion criteria that referenced the spatial dimensions of QoL, (2) the state perspective, represented through South African spatial planning directives, and (3) the community perspective drawn from two qualitative datasets of baseline QoL interviews conducted in both planned and unplanned low-income settlements. From these data sources, an initial identification of QoL indicators was undertaken. This informed the next state, a multilayered data analysis process, combining three qualitative strategies: content analysis to categorize social indicators related to QoL, storyline analysis to trace the underlying rationalities and implicit argument guiding planning directives, and case study analysis to situate the emerging themes in lived, empirical realities. Inductive coding was applied in content analysis to allow themes to emerge from the data and elaborative coding was used to refine and extend these codes in the context of directives and interview data. Literature was revisited throughout the process to support theoretical elaboration without imposing pre-existing categories. The figure visualizes this iterative and layered approach, showing how various data sources and analytical techniques were combined to produce a grounded, contextually responsive QoL framework.

Supplementary information

Rights and permissions

Springer Nature or its licensor (e.g. a society or other partner) holds exclusive rights to this article under a publishing agreement with the author(s) or other rightsholder(s); author self-archiving of the accepted manuscript version of this article is solely governed by the terms of such publishing agreement and applicable law.

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Wesch, N.S., De Beer, S., Claassen, C. et al. Policy visions and lived realities diverge in pursuit of urban quality of life in Africa. Nat Cities 2, 1060–1070 (2025). https://doi.org/10.1038/s44284-025-00323-w

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Version of record:

  • Issue date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s44284-025-00323-w

This article is cited by

Search

Advanced search

Quick links

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing