The eThekwini Municipality is committed to improving peoples quality of life and has been undertaking research since 1998 in order to understand what a good quality life means to the residents of the Durban Metropolitan Area. In this time 14000 households in traditional dwellings, townships, informal settlements and in suburbs have been visited. During these visits we have been able to learn a lot about the demographics of households, their standard of living and how they make a living; about their dwellings and the basic household services that they receive, about how satisfied they are with the areas that they live in and with the community facilities there; about how they travel around the city; about their personal well-being; and about how they perceive the municipality and the city.

This book is organized to reflect what the residents of eThekwini consider to be the most important factors that contribute to a good quality of life. The book is written in an attractive plain language style so that the findings can reach as wide a readership as possible. We have also been able to combine the talents of artists and social scientists so that the book will be visually appealing and easy to read. Clay panel sculptures and line illustrations are used to compliment the findings. Each chapter has its own specific page outline that represents different styles of doorframes found in Durban.

This easy reader is not only intended to popularise the results of the research but also to enable decision makers to respond to the voices of the people.