Alan Mabin

Reconstructing South Africa’s cities? The making of urban planning 1900–2000

During each period of extreme stress and turmoil in South Africa’s past century the idea of reconstruction has loomed large. A primary tool for reconstructing society has been presumed equally, by many parties, to lie in urban planning. As less turbulent times return, governments have attempted to reshape the society and, more particularly, the cities by developing new institutions, laws, visions, systems, personnel and plans. In each major case until the present, however, the programmes of progenitors of such ideas have been overtaken by the accession to power of new regimes, at government or merely planning system level, which have co-opted the new institutions, etc., to their own programmes; or such programmes have, less spectacularly, faded away as the complexities of government overwhelm initially exciting but idealistic visions. The paper describes aspects of the emergence and reformulation of planning at several of these stages: after the South African War, beginning in 1901; after the First World ...

Rethinking urban South Africa

Our reflection on past treatment of urban segregation begins with the assertion that the implicit acceptance of ‘race’ as a legitimate and primary category of inquiry has impoverished the understanding of residential segregation in the South African city. The first section of the paper illustrates the prevalence of racially defined empirical urban studies and tries to explain why this categorisation remains unchallenged. In the second section of the paper we demonstrate that where efforts are made to explain the emergence of a racialised urban structure, inappropriate or inadequate points of reference are involved. Particular attention is given to the use of the race/class debate, feminist perspectives on urban policy, the literature on white supremacy and the city, and in the work on ‘race’. The final section of the paper suggests an alternative approach to exploring urban segregation. Specifically, we pose the questions: what were urban administrators in the early part of the twentieth century to do and...

Low-income rental housing: are South African cities different?:

A significant proportion of the black urban population in South Africa rent accommodation. Surveys conducted in two low-income settlements in Cape Town and Johannesburg show that the rental housing scene is in many ways similar to that found in other Third World cities. Landlords are older than their tenants, many are female, their families are larger, their homes have more space and better services. Few landlords make any money and landlord-tenant relationships are not generally conflictive. At the same time, rental conditions in the survey settlements appear to be very different from those found in most other poor cities. Most significant is that few South African landlords build accommodation; the majority merely offer space to tenants who build their own shacks. The poor quality of accommodation helps keep rents low which in turn accentuates the feeling that is it not worth investing in rental accommodation. Few landlords actively seek out tenants, most grant space in the backyard only out of compassion. Further research is investigating whether more typical forms of rental housing exist in Cape Town and Johannesburg. The project also seeks to persuade the South African government that it should develop some kind of rental housing policy.

Peripheries, suburbanisms and change in sub-Saharan African cities

The paper reports on developments in the peripheries and suburbs of African cities south of the Sahara. Many African economies are expanding at unprecedented scale and with profound urban results. The paper is based on an extensive review of secondary sources and a modicum of fieldwork. Following Ekers, Hamers, and Keil (2012), the point of departure is suburbanism as “the combination of non-central population and economic growth with urban spatial expansion.” In the immense variety of African urbanisms, the purpose of the review is to explore what forms “suburbs” and peripheries take in various African contexts, including spaces which concentrate new economic activities, zones of middle- and upper-income residence, the meaning of informality of building, land markets and social activity, and the various elements of what is often termed “urban sprawl.” The paper seeks to identify trends in suburban growth, what the drivers of growth are, and how it is shaped by policy and institutional mechanisms that try to direct urban growth (and the reality of what happens in practice). We identify some key actors involved in African suburban growth (property developers, landowners, traditional authorities, administrators, households, associations, politicians). The analytical account of the paper concludes with a modest research agenda.

Struggle for the city: Urbanisation and political strategies of the South African state

The paper comprises a literature review and an interpretation of substantive research findings on the urbanisation process in contemporary South Africa. It is argued that the process is more complex than previous analysts have allowed, and that material rather than political factors are the primary constraint upon black urban settlement. The paper identifies the complex range of new urban settlements developing in South Africa, and the struggles of those who have made them, and are making them. In addition, it argues for analyzing state strategy in relation to the overall material position affecting urbanization

Labour, capital, class struggle and the origins of residential segregation in Kimberley, 1880–1920

Models of apartheid city structure generally ignore the existence of one classically South African residential institution—the compound. The origins of these features of the built environment are traced to the particular economic and social circumstances of rapid industrialization, recession and class struggle in Kimberley in the 1880s. Those conditions are analysed and the introduction of strict separation in the hierarchy of work and in residence between black and white workers is shown to be an outcome of the struggle between labour and capital in the period. The relation between compounding and the history of segregated “locations” and “townships” is then addressed. It is suggested that the segregated residential patterns of South African cities can best be understood as being closely related to the outcomes of specific struggles between dominated and dominant groups within South African society.

Recommodification and Working-Class Home Ownership

Abstract The paper examines recent shifts towards recommodifying state housing in South Africa. The reasons for these changes are discussed. The consequences for those who are presently state housing tenants are explored, and various approaches to the political significance of home ownership re-examined. The paper concludes by sketching the new terrain of struggle over the housing question in South African cities.

Engagement and reconstruction in critical research: negotiating urban practice, policy and theory in South Africa

In this paper we examine critical engagement in research in order to rethink and reconfigure binaries such as theorizer and practitioner and theory and practice across South and North. We argue that while we welcome the ‘moral geographies’ literature (and its ideas about ‘caring at a distance’) as a catalyst for forging more beneficial connections between South and North, we suggest this is not enough. Drawing on South African experiences of critical academic engagement in issues of urban geography, we examine moments for innovative knowledge construction that bridge theory and practice. These experiences are used to substantiate a normative argument for ‘inclusive geographies’ through critical engagement in order to break down boundaries between, for instance, theorizers and practitioners, intellectuals and activists, and South and North.

Security and Space: Managing the Contradictions of Access Restriction in Johannesburg:

Local officials attempt to resolve deep contradictions in most urban settings. The gating of sections of cities provides a notable example, setting fear of crime against rights of movement and access. Johannesburg, South Africa, reveals just such challenges. In this paper the authors review the recent history of policy formulation by city officials on ‘security access restriction’ in Johannesburg. They note the diverse and shifting views and behaviour of various actors and the difficulties faced by policymakers. They highlight how policy has emerged in a profoundly controversial and contested terrain, showing how Johannesburg, at least, has attempted to manage the conflicts. However, the policy environment remains unstable, and existing policy may be only a partial and temporary resolution to a deep contradiction.

Concentration and Dispersion in the Banking System of the Cape Colony, 1837-1900

Abstract The resurgence of South African historical geography has, thus far, produced few studies of the major economic factors and their influence on the geography of the country. Large enterprises have long dominated the South African economy, among them the major banks. The paper examines the history of concentration of ownership in the hands of the imperial banks operating in the Cape Colony through a process involving the growth of a dispersed system of branches and the elimination of almost all local banks between 1837 and 1900.