Mapping Cape Town's Townships

There are around 437 informal settlements, or townships, in Cape Town. Places where many Cape Town citizens are forced to live, without occupation rights or security of tenure. These informal settlements mostly have a high density of occupation and very poor sanitation.

Code for Africa has mapped out Cape Town's informal settlements and created a dashboard which allows you to explore issues such as occupation density, the age of each township and the sanitary conditions.

When the map first loads you have the option to follow the stories of two township citizens. These stories provide a personal insight into the living conditions in Cape Town's informal settlements. They also act as a tutorial guide to the map's features. As you progress through these two stories you are shown how to use the map's functions to explore the available township data.

If you select a township on the Struggle for Dignity map you can view data on the selected settlement under the map. This includes the township's name, age, number of households, household density and the number of toilets per household and the type of toilets available.

If you use the buttons at the top of the map you can browse a choropleth view of the number of households, temporary toilets and household density in each of the city's informal settlements.