“In English, the word ‘housing’ can be used as a noun or as a verb. When used as a noun, housing describes a commodity or product. The verb ‘to house’ describes the process or activity of housing...” (Turner J. F. Chapter 7 “Housing as a verb” in “Freedom to Build: Dweller Control of the Housing Process”, Turner, John F. C. and R. Fichter. 1972. New York: The Macmillan Company). Housing in the South African context has, up to now, mainly been used as a noun as a thing a product for government to deliver and give to the homeless. It has been seen as something you can touch and count.
The problem with this approach is that it does not appreciate the role that others, besides the state as the deliverer of the house can play in the process of creating that house. It also tends towards the use of top down technocratic approaches that do not take into account the varied needs of the occupiers of the house. One of the intended objectives of government’s new Breaking New Ground policy of 2004 was to shift away from this product or noun orientated approach towards a more process or verb approach.“The new human settlements plan moves away from the current commoditised focus of housing delivery towards more responsive mechanisms which addresses the multi-dimensional needs of sustainable human settlements” (BNG 2004).
The Department of Human Settlements, that was created to emphasise this shift in thinking from product to process is, however, generally perpetuating this emphasis on product as opposed to process by seeing settlements as products - as things to be built and made. A settlement is viewed as an end product - like a house or a pair of shoes. The settlement is seen as a place fixed in time with schools, factories, roads, houses, shops etc. that can be created all at once.
The minister of Human Settlements, Tokyo Sexwale, at a Development Bank of Southern Africa (DBSA) and Department of Human Settlements Knowledge Week conference in October 2010, stated that government needs to look at building new towns and cities. This analysis sees settlement as a product to be delivered (as a new city), in the same way that the previous Department of Housing saw housing as an RDP house to be delivered to passive consumers. Settlement, however, even more so then housing, needs to be viewed as process as a verb. Settlements cannot just be created and built in one go (except if you are an oil rich country like the United Arab Emirates, who are building new cities in the desert).
Settlements are created by many people over a long period of time interacting with each other and their environments in complex and dynamic processes. Settlement needs to be understood as the process of settling on the ground – creating places that grow, change and evolve over time. The Department of Human Settlements needs to draw inspiration from all of the meanings of the word ‘settlement’ if we are all going to live in truly sustainable human settlements. Settlement as a noun is the places or settlements where people live. These places need to be places we want to live in, that inspire our hearts and protect our bodies. Settlement as a verb is the process of settling on the land over time.
This process needs to allow for the ingenuity, creativity and energy of all role-players to play their role in this settlement. Settlement as a ‘feeling’ is the feeling one gets when you feel settled in a place, where people are living in harmony and peace with each other and their environment - safe from violence and disasters. Settlement as an ‘agreement’ is the agreement or settlement reached when different parties, like the state and society, agree to work together in the creation of human settlements.

Conclusion

We need to move away from seeing settlements as just places where people live, but also emphasise settlement as the act of people settling on the land. The emphasis from government should not so much be about building settlements but rather about reaching a settlement with society and supporting the process of people settling on the land, in a settled manner. The change in name from the Department of Housing to the Department of Human Settlements is not just a change in words; it needs to reflect a change in mindsets. It gives us a unique opportunity to get settlement right. We must not squander this opportunity.