Since 2010 we have walked every street in ten townships in South Africa and Namibia, locating and interviewing the people who run shops, salons, shebeens and street stalls. This is where we publish what we find.
Papers, working papers and short briefs from the Sustainable Livelihoods Foundation and our collaborators. Journal articles link to the publisher; our own papers can be downloaded as PDFs.
HSRC Press, 2020. Second edition now available.
Andrew Charman, Leif Petersen and Thireshen Govender
The book draws on fieldwork from 2010 to 2018 with over 15,000 businesses in ten township sites. It looks at who runs township businesses, where and how they trade, and why so few of them can operate legally. Maps, photographs, architectural drawings and case studies show the economy at the scale of the street, the plot and the individual stall.
It ends with three kinds of response: protecting survivalist businesses from corporate power and inappropriate regulation, constraining harmful forms of informality, and disrupting the systems that hold the township economy back.
Excerpts from published reviews.
“An exemplar of what research on marginalized populations should look like.”
“Features excellent documentary photographs, drawings, maps, charts and numerical surveys.”
Andrew and Leif co-founded the Sustainable Livelihoods Foundation in 2010. Thireshen is an architect and urban designer whose studio worked with SLF on the book’s spatial analysis.
Co-founder, Sustainable Livelihoods Foundation
A sociologist and development specialist with a PhD from Cambridge. Andrew leads SLF’s work on the policy and regulatory barriers facing township micro-enterprises, and on turning research into practical support, infrastructure and policy reform.
Email AndrewCo-founding director, Sustainable Livelihoods Foundation
Leif has spent over fifteen years researching township markets, including grocery and liquor retail, traditional medicine, food and informal manufacturing. He is a Research Fellow at the Africa Open Institute, Stellenbosch University, and an Adjunct Fellow at the University of the Sunshine Coast.
Email LeifFounder, UrbanWorks Architecture & Urbanism
An architect practising and teaching in Johannesburg. Thireshen leads a design-research unit at the University of Johannesburg’s Graduate School of Architecture that documents the spatial consequences of post-apartheid economic life.
Email Thireshen