Aspects of the quality of life in black townships in a South African city: Implications for human development

This article explores the use of quality of life studies for the analysis of development potential from a human development perspective. For this purpose, an empirical study was made of the assessment of quality of life in the black community in Bloemfontein, a medium-sized South African city. This was done by way of a questionnaire survey of a sample selected from poorer people living in areas formerly demarcated for black people by the apartheid policies of the previous government. The findings of the survey were analysed in such a way that conclusions could be drawn about the potential for human development in these communities. The conclusions show that quality of life studies seem to lend themselves for use as the analytic base for development policy-making from a human development perspective. It must be acknowledged, though, that this kind of application still needs much refinement, further analysis and experimentation before it can be said to finally pass the test which was attempted in this study.