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This book investigates the relationship between mining, mine closure and housing policy in post-apartheid South Africa, using concepts from new institutional economics and evolutionary governance theory.
Mine closures present a major challenge to the mining industry and governments, with this being particularly noticeable in the Global South. This book argues that the dependencies created by the mining industry and mine housing policies while a mine is operational cause serious societal problems when it closes. To demonstrate this, the book applies the concepts of place attachment, asset-based development and social disruption. Conceptually, the book challenges the view that place attachment and asset-based development are the most appropriate and often the only policy responses in mining areas. In South Africa, the mining industry and the government have created comprehensive housing programmes linked to homeownership to promote place attachment, stability and wealth among mine workers. These programmes do not consider the disruption that mine closure might bring. The book challenges the blind application, during boom periods, of policies which create long-term dependencies that are difficult to manage when a mine closes.
This book will be of interest to students and scholars researching the social impacts of mining and the extractive industries, social geography and sustainable development, as well as policymakers and practitioners working with mine closure or social impact assessments.
List of contents
1. Setting the scene, 2. Place attachment, asset-based development and social disruption, 3. Mine closure and planning for decline, 4. Post-apartheid housing policy and mining towns, 5. Post-apartheid migrant labour patterns, 6. Mining, housing and wealth creation, 7. Mining and informal housing, 8. Findings, contributions and policy recommendations
About the author
Lochner Marais is Professor of Development Studies at the Centre for Development Support and Associate to the Chair on City-Region Economics at the University of the Free State, South Africa. He is also Adjunct Honorary Professor at the Minerals Institute at the University of Queensland in Brisbane, Australia. He is the co-editor of Coal and Energy in South Africa (2022), Mining and Community in the South African Platinum Belt (2021) and Community and Mining in South Africa (Routledge, 2018).
Summary
This book investigates the relationship between mining, mine closure and housing policy in post-apartheid South Africa, using concepts from new institutional economics and evolutionary governance theory.
