Charlotte Lemanski

A new apartheid? The spatial implications of fear of crime in Cape Town, South Africa

This paper examines the fear of crime in post-apartheid South Africa and its impact on urban space and form, focusing in particular on Cape Town. South African statistics point to alarming increases in serious crime over recent years and, although such statistics are considered unreliable, reflecting to some extent increases in the rate of crime reporting, the public perception is nonetheless one of decreased security. Attempts to mitigate fear have resulted increasingly in the creation of fortified enclaves and a withdrawal from public space. Although the more extreme manifestations are restricted to affluent areas, levels of residential protection have increased among all groups. As in other parts of the world, this “architecture of fear” results in growing danger within the public domain and the increasing polarization of social groups. The paper argues that this trend in South Africa perpetuates the social divisions that were inherent in the apartheid state into the post-apartheid context, with the fear of crime being used as a justification for a predominantly racist fear of difference.

Houses without community: problems of community (in)capacity in Cape Town, South Africa

Literature from the global South has highlighted the role of self-organized “grassroots” groups in championing the rights of the poor, securing specific objectives (e.g. service provision) and strengthening individual and collective capacity. Less attention has been paid to what happens when a poor community is provided with services in the context of weak collective capacity and in the absence of grassroots organization. This case study describes a former informal settlement in Cape Town, where residents were awarded formal housing by the state without a “struggle” and thus without developing the collective drive, capacity or leadership necessary to be full participants in the ensuing process. The paper assesses the communitys struggle to assert itself collectively over time, linking their pre-development community diversity to subsequent exclusion from the development process and continuing problems of post-development community consolidation. The implications of becoming beneficiaries without community agreement, involvement, organization or capacity are considered.

Hybrid gentrification in South Africa: Theorising across southern and northern cities

This paper reveals how urban theories traditionally rooted in northern cities and academies are challenged and redeveloped by southern perspectives. Critiques of urban theory as narrowly northern (or Anglo-American) have recently emerged, spawning the comparative urbanism movement that calls for urban theories to be open to the experiences of all cities. Using the example of the sale of state-subsidised houses in South Africa, this research uses two parallel concepts, gentrification and downward raiding, to challenge the northern empirical focus of urban theory. Despite describing similar processes of urban class-based change, the concepts are rarely considered analogous, entrenched in divergent empirical contexts and academic literatures. While gentrification debates largely reference the northern central city, downward raiding is reserved for the southern ‘slum’. In contrast, this research develops ‘hybrid gentrification’ as a concept and methodological approach that demonstrates how non-northern urban experiences can and should create and refine urban theory.

The Value(s) of Space: The Discourses and Strategies of Residential Exclusion in Cape Town and Long Island

This article analyzes the discourses and strategies of residential exclusion in Cape Town and New York. Although representing vastly different regions, both case studies are historically middle-class residential areas that have recently undergone significant immigrant influx. The responses of long-term residents and local governments are explored, in particular, the role of “values” (sociocultural, physical, and economic) ascribed to space by residents in shaping and legitimizing exclusive discourses and practices. The authors conclude that while long-term homeowners express some very “real” and “valid” reasons for exclusionary attitudes, the consequent exclusion of already underprivileged demographic groups is problematic.

Access and assessment? Incentives for independent study

This paper explores incentives for students to engage with continuous learning outside the classroom, i.e. independent study. Two questionnaires were completed with undergraduate students, asking them quantitative and qualitative questions regarding their engagement (or lack thereof) with weekly readings which are non‐assessed and non‐monitored. The questionnaires identified that the majority of students do not complete the readings despite a consensus that they are crucial for understanding the course material. The two primary reasons expressed for not undertaking independent study are lack of assessment or time‐bound deadlines and poor access to reading material. Students were also asked to imagine potential incentives to encourage the completion of weekly readings, and then ranked these ideas in the second questionnaire. The two proposals with a majority of student support are the introduction of assessment measures to incentivise weekly readings (albeit with some student opposition to such an interventionalist approach) and the introduction of mechanisms that provide greater access to learning materials. These findings introduce the role of ‘access’ as a key mechanism to stimulate independent study, thus challenging the literature’s emphasis on assessment as the primary means to facilitate learning.

Housing and the State in South Africa

The legacies of apartheid, with poor housing provision and homeownership prohibition for nonwhites, cast a heavy shadow over South Africa’s housing landscape. The postapartheid government has adopted a Housing Subsidy system which effectively provides ownership of a small house for low-income households. While the scale of construction is impressive, and the provision of homeownership laudable, the policy is unable to meet housing demand in terms of scale or quality. Millions of households in South Africa remain reliant on informal housing, and those in receipt of state-subsidised property reside in what have typically become new slum areas.