Sites and Services designates a town-planning program used by local South African apartheid authorities aimed at the rapid creation of a large number of houses in the periphery of large cities, to deal with rapid urbanization. In order to deter the rise of slums in cities that developed at an uncontrolled rate, vast urban areas, endowed with basic sanitation, appeared in some developing countries. Local authorities invested in the speeded-up construction of minimal infrastructures, offering the inhabitants of each prepared zone, streets with public lighting, a small portion of land (site) for each family, as well as sanitary units and water-point (services). In most cases, each occupant should ideally build his or her own house. The land is prepared in large quantities and remains vacant for several weeks until the authorities sanction their occupation. In South Africa these schemes often facilitated planned control of the new ‘townships’ and therefore were political policies.
Sites and Services began with the documentation of one of these locations with 35 mm slides. The images portray Kayelitsha, built on the outskirts of Cape Town in 1991, before the outset of construction and occupation.