Cape Town's informal structures climb 67% in nine years as city maps sprawl

The number of informal structures in Cape Town rose 67 percent over nine years, from 169,330 in 2016 to 283,379 in 2025, according to the city's latest Spatial Trends and Implementation Tracking Report, which covers development and land-use patterns from 2012 to 2026.

The mapped footprint of areas of informality expanded by roughly 1,900 hectares, from about 1,200 hectares to more than 3,100 hectares. “The scale of informal settlement growth has increased substantially since 2016,” the report states.

The figures exclude areas of unlawful land occupation, meaning the 283,379 count is not necessarily a complete tally of informal structures in the metro. The report identifies clusters along major transport routes including the N2, N1 and N7, generally within or close to lower-income communities.

Wallacedene, Delft, Gugulethu, Dunoon and the Khayelitsha and Mitchells Plain area are among the locations with particularly high densities of informal structures. In the Northern District, growth accelerated after 2021, with Wallacedene and Klipheuwel flagged as clear growth areas, while Macassar, Sir Lowry's Pass, Lwandle and Nomzamo recorded increases in the Helderberg District.

The city warns that areas of informality sometimes occupy land unsuitable or unsafe for residential development, including biodiversity areas, floodplains, wetlands, road and rail reserves, and land affected by airport noise contours.

The report also highlights the relationship between informal settlement upgrading and government-subsidised housing, particularly in the metro south-east, and notes that settlements can expand outwards or become more densely populated. “Growth occurs through both outward expansion and increasing AOI net density,” it states.