Environmental, social and economic sustainability are geared mainly towards the single building or at most a small collection of buildings in First World countries. In Third World countries, and more specifically South Africa, there is at present, and has been for the past 15-20 years, a massive and rapid urbanisation of a previously rural population. In physical terms, this influx results in large pieces of urban fabric being built in a single phase instead of incrementally, as cities have grown in the West. South African housing for the poor was neglected in the last twenty years of the apartheid era. Although the democratic government inherited a vast backlog of housing needs, it also has an unusual opportunity to look to other Third and First World countries for important lessons that can be directly applied to the national housing initiatives.