Namibia’s First Studio: Freedom Square Informal Settlement Residents and students from the Polytechnic of Namibia preparing for Upgrading
Students and community members share their experiences on the site analysis exercise in Freedom Square Informal Settlement in Gobabis. The planning for the Freedom Square informal settlement came about as a result of an exchange that took place in March 2012 to Cape Town and Stellenbosch with Municipal councillors and officials from three local authorities (Gobabis, Grootfontein and Keetmanshoop) to learn about how communities and local authorities use enumeration and mapping information collected by the community to upgrade and plan their settlement. Following the exchange, the municipality proposed the re-blocking of the Freedom Square informal settlement in collaboration with the Shack Dwellers Federation of Namibia (SDFN) and Namibia Housing Action Group (NHAG). The exercise was speed up by the signing of the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the municipality and the SDFN-NHAG on 15 August 2013. With the assistance of the SDI and the Association of African Planning School...