THE PRESENT HOUSING CONDITION HOUSING is the most important issue being faced by the government at the moment. It is a result of the backlog that is apartheid's legacy. What does this legacy consist of? FIRST of all, it consists of the townships where housing was regulated for those who were allowed past the barriers of the pass laws. These barriers were created to limit urbanization to workers and registered job-seekers who were allowed a 'temporary stay'. These townships are characterised by rows of virtually identical houses (with 51/6 and 51/9 as basic modules), low density neighbourhoods and scanty facilities (primary schools, shops, public spaces). URBANIZATION increased in the 1970s, resulting in the occupation of the houses and hostels by the surplus population. This led to concentration of the townships in the form of backyard shacks, known as shack farming in South Africa. The density in the townships is 5m2 per resident, as against 33m2 per resident in the villa neighbourhoods. This influx was converted into a flood after the abolition of the pass laws. Within the space of ten years the population in the cities doubled; at the same time, there was also a sharp growth in the informal economy. FINALLY, densely populated, informal settlements without facilities emerged on the margins of the cities. The plots are unusual by South African standards: 100m2, with an extra 35m2 in exceptional cases. The shacks are clustered in accordance with the relief lines, and generally speaking little attention is paid to the public domain. There are hardly any facilities or taxi ranks (where taxis leave for distant destinations). ON the other hand, in certain respects these districts also have a lot of what we would like to see - densities, rational structure, ecological qualities. What they lack, however, is an urban context.