Duncan Powell

This research explores an optimized, sustainable housing model for Boksburg’s CBD in response to South Africa’s housing shortage and net-zero/climate goals. It employs quantitative desktop analysis, precedent studies, and low-risk interviews with industry professionals to assess strategies balancing affordability, environmental responsibility, and social wellbeing – framing a rationale for decision making that is cognitive, cumulative, regenerative, post-anthropocentric, and equitable. The work shifts emphasis from data intensive energy modelling toward place-based design logics in dialogue with a rigorous performance-based sustainability framework. Key focus areas include urban density, mixed-use development, and Transit-Oriented Development. Using bio-climactic principles and systems theory, the study evaluates design strategies to propose a replicable, low-cost housing framework for South Africa’s urban centres. Findings indicate that walk-up variants with shared / rentable space, active ground floors, and integrated blue-green infrastructure can deliver adaptable, high-dignity, low-cost housing that can contribute to social equity, ecological resilience, and inner-city repair.