ABSTRACT
Apartheid’s legacy left sprawling townships—shantytowns—of black shack dwellers in South Africa’s urban peripheries. Joel Bolnick learned that his professional expertise as architect and urban planner would not solve the housing problem. The role of outside professionals in community development is accompanying residents to make change: bottom-up self help affordable housing through community solidarity. His NGO (non-governmental organization) People’s Dialogue on Land and Shelter fostered participatory community development through community-driven networking among informal settlements. Working with the grassroots organization, South African Homeless People’s Federation, the NGO provided skill-building in urban planning, neighborhood development, site planning, and alternative home construction methods. Joel helped women’s savings circles strengthen their federation and connect with slum dweller organizations across South Africa and India. Using creative financial mechanisms for low-income housing and urban infrastructure, he envisioned urban policy that would include—not displace—the urban poor. Joel became a vehicle of change and let go of outcome.
