Prospects for the asset-based community development approach in Epworth and Ruwa, Zimbabwe: A housing and environmental perspective

Abstract

This paper explores the dynamics of community building and development within the satellite towns to Harare,
namely Epworth and Ruwa, based on a comparative analysis of the role of communities in the housing and
habitat sector. That the poor are creative, co-operative and constructive in providing for themselves is
undoubted. The 2 satellite towns of Epworth and Ruwa exhibit the multi-dimensions of self-aided housing and
shelter provision. This article examines how the burgeoning populations of the 2 satellite towns can be
accommodated in an increasingly 'shrinking' urban space where institutions can be formed to collaborate with
the urban poor in the delivery of housing, environmental amenity and security within the study areas. This is to
ensure that the urban sustainability agenda is achieved. The acknowledgement of the application of the assetbased
community development (ABCD) approach shows that there is a considerable potential of self -
sustenance in the poor.