The City's Relentless Hostility: Unravelling its Impact on Occupier Well-being in the Cissie Gool House Case Study_City Occupied Dialogue, June 2023

1. The City's Relentless Hostility: Unravelling its Impact on
Occupier Well-being in the Cissie Gool House Case Study
CGH Co-design Exhibition
By Naeemah Sadien
15 June 2023

2. Context of the research
• In 2017, RTC occupied the Woodstock hospital, which incited a hostile response from the City of Cape Town that continues to
date.
• A network of professionals, including leaders providing support to occupiers over the years, observed that these moments of
hostility affected occupiers in a very real way but didn't understand how.
Theoretical Framework:
• The study was prompted by this observation and drew its theoretical underpinnings from the interdisciplinary field of
environmental psychology, also known as space psychology, which looks at how our natural and built environment shape us
as individuals.
• It is concerned with how humans influence the environment as well as how the environment influence human experiences
and behaviour. The study was situated in the latter part.
Study Commencement:
• To initiate the study, we worked with a group of occupiers to investigate how moments of engagement and disengagement
with the state impacted their well-being.
Objectives and Approach:
• To achieve this, we needed to:
• Develop well-being measures for occupier’s.
• Capture pressure points that described their overall experience of life in the occupation.
• Differentiate between general pressure points and pressure points specific to state engagement.
• By delving deeper into pressure points, understand how state engagement impacted their well-being.
Key Findings:
• The presentation contains key findings of the research, including how moments of engagement with the state resulted in
psychosocial outcomes and changed the way occupiers thought, felt, and behaved.
• It also highlights how these moments of engagement served as "tipping points" in an already stressed environment.

3. “Life is hard in the occupation, but the City makes it even
harder”: Nine well-being measures of ‘happiness’ & ‘life
satisfaction’ among CGH occupiers.
“What is well-being?
Well-being is not about
being happy, wealthy or
beautiful. Well-being is
not about just one piece
of who we are. Well-being
is a combination of our
physical self, our financial
security, loving what we
do each day, the quality of
our relationships and
contributing to our
communities. Well-being
is about a mindful,
purposeful life. And it
looks different for every
person” (Baker, 2020).
Key measures specific to occupiers’ well-being
• Developmental stage
• Attitude
• Housing history and status
• Housing aspirations
• Livelihood
• Relationships
• Life in the occupation
• Life in the city
• Life in Woodstock
Well-being measures linked to state engagement

4. “The City’s hostile way of engaging us changes our relationship
with our home, with our space”: Occupiers are fearful, anxious,
irritable, & angered by this.
“How does our space
affect us?
The effect our physical
environment has on us
often goes unnoticed
and occurs on a
unconscious level.
However, almost every
aspect of our
psychology, whether
we’re happy or
depressed, productive
or lazy, creative or
dull… What we do is
massively impacted by
the design around us”
(Speck, 2021).
State
engagement/
Governance
influence
space
• Life in the Occupation
• Life in the city
• Life in Woodstock
Well-being measures linked to governance:
What do they have in common?
S
P
A
C
E
Through rules & ways of
engaging, etc.
Resulting in psychosocial
outcomes which affects
occupier thoughts,
feelings, & behaviour.

5. Before feeling fearful, anxious, irritable, & angered by the City’s approach, occupiers
spoke about how City’s engagement disrupted their self-esteem, and their
relationship with others.
Examples of City’s engagement that hindered occupiers’ well-
being:
• The court order, threat of eviction looming and always there.
• Occupier’s encounters with security entering and existing the
building, their space of residence.
• Law enforcement constant surveillance of the site.
• The violent, abusive, and degrading experiences of the raids.
• Ostracized and stigmatized by the community which is linked
to the City’s criminality narrative about occupiers.
It affected their well-being by disrupting their self-esteem:
• Directly disrupted their self-esteem, or
• Indirectly disrupted their self-esteem through disrupting NB
relationships
Relationships that mattered included:
• Family
• Friends
• Neighbours
• Other

6. Poor health &
behavioral outcomes
Governance-related pressure
points
Directly or indirectly disrupts the
occupier’s sense-of-self (psychological
well-being)
Psychosocial outcomes
i. Court orders: eviction looming Directly, disrupts occupier’s sense of safety
& security.
Stress & anxiety leads to poor health
outcomes due to lack of sleep,
reduced leisure time, etc.
ii. Law enforcement: constant
surveillance of the site
Directly, disrupts occupier’s sense of
autonomy, and competence.
Agitated and irritable behaviour
which leads to socializing issues.
iii. Encounters with MA security:
entering & existing place of residence
Directly, disrupts occupier’s sense of
autonomy.
Anger and frustration which leads to
socializing issues.
iv. Raids: violent, abusive, degrading Directly & indirectly, disrupts occupier’s
sense of competence, environmental
mastery, autonomy, & more.
Fear, stress, & anxiety which leads to
irritable behaviour, depression, and
socializing issues.
v. Stigmatized and ostracized by
community - linked to City’s
criminalizing narrative about
occupier’s
Directly & indirectly, disrupts occupier’s
sense of competence, autonomy, and
positive relationship with others.
Isolated from family and friends
which leads to depression and
socializing issues.
What does a lowered self-esteem & disrupted relationships mean for occupier well-
being? Poor health outcomes, depression, & socializing issues.

7. Recommendations &
conclusion:
Call-to-action, inviting
the City to adopt key
elements from the co-
design process, that
demonstrates what
‘caring’ truly mean,
considerate, co-
creating, collaboration,
that supports occupier
well-being.
How can we demonstrate a different way of engaging
occupations that support occupier well-being? Through a
process of co-design