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Approaches to urban infrastructure provision: Experiences from South Africa

The period of political transition in South Africa, from 1990 to 1994, was a time of experimentation in urban upgrading. Community participation in planning and management was central to this process, and a number of different approaches to urban infrastructure provision were explored, in an attempt to maximise this participation. The paper describes some of the experiences and the lessons which were learnt. The results of the study indicate that the choice of a specific approach to infrastructure provision has a major socio-political impact, which actually shapes the role and structure of local government and defines the boundaries of local democracy.