Gustav Visser

Gay men, tourism and urban space: reflections on Africa's 'gay capital'.

The advent of a post-apartheid dispensation triggered the large-scale expansion of the South African tourism system and promoted greater confidence in gay leisure space development. The general popularity of Cape Town as a tourist destination has also been echoed in the gay male tourism market, this city emerging as Africas gay tourist capital. Writing from an unfamiliar setting regarding gay tourism research, the exploratory research reported in this paper provides a brief overview of the impact of overlapping tourism and leisure space development on Cape Towns emerging gay enclave - De Waterkant. The investigation suggests that the new urban space that has subsequently emerged excludes significant sectors of the Cape Town gay community.

Gay men, leisure space and South African cities: the case of Cape Town.

Abstract In response to the current paucity of geographical research into post-apartheid development of gay leisure space, the paper focuses on the nature and extent of gay leisure space development in De Waterkant, South Africa’s first “gay village”, located in the Cape Town CBD periphery. Despite a new liberal constitutional environment, the gay spaces generated in post-apartheid De Waterkant are not inclusive of most gay South Africans. On the contrary, the legacy of apartheid race, gender and class inequality persists, generating a wealthy, White, male leisure space enclave. As a consequence, De Waterkant’s potential to function as a site of identity formation, development and re-affirmation, seen in many gay villages found in other Western societies, appears unlikely.

Social Justice, Integrated Development Planning and Post-apartheid Urban Reconstruction

The paper focuses on the intersection between South African urban reconstruction and the development of social justice debates in urban geography. Drawing on a case study located in the Cape Metropolitan Region of South Africa, this investigation illustrates how decision-makers have implemented a planning strategy referred to as integrated development planning (IDP) to aid post- apartheid urban reconstruction. In so doing, the paper shows how this mechanism draws upon the spatial imagination as a method of (re)directing the development of this city. Moreover, the case study demonstrates how an imagined urban space, expressed in the planning system of the IDP, functions as a device by which shared understandings of social justice are enabled. Finally, the paper reflects on how these findings might (re)direct the theoretical development of the social justice concept in geographical and urban planning debates.

Current paths in South African tourism research

The African continent is not well represented in international tourism scholarship. Nevertheless, tourism is afforded considerable policy importance in the region, not least South Africa, Africas leading tourism destination. The number of investigatory voices interrogating the nexus of tourism and development in South Africa is small relative to other continents, but expanding. This article provides a review of the existing research paths and proposes new directions for scholarship focused on the South African tourism system.

Second homes and local development: issues arising from Cape Town's De Waterkant.

The paper aims to make a contribution towards addressing the current paucity of academic reflection on second home development in South Africa. The paper focuses on the intersection between tourism, second homes and local development, as embodied in the empirical realities of a Cape Town neighbourhood — De Waterkant. It is argued that this particular case study presents an example of the types of local development impacts that second home expansion holds for host communities. These impacts include employment generation, urban conservation, a range of forward and backward economic linkages, as well as a flexible tourist accommodation supply. Moreover, the case study elucidates an interesting example of second homes as sites of simultaneous tourism space production and consumption at work.

Rethinking South African urban tourism research

A critical overview of the state of the art of research on urban tourism in South Africa is undertaken. Conceptually, the investigation is framed by the contention that calls for growing theorization of urban tourism in the developed North are not tenable without reference to the empirical and policy realities of Southern urban tourism systems. It is demonstrated urban tourism figures strongly in the South African tourism landscape. An overview of urban tourism niches and associated research literature is presented. It is shown that while historically urban tourism was largely ignored by urban scholars, since the early 1990s a range of urban tourism products has developed, many of them parallels of urban tourism products found in advanced postindustrial economies. The conclusion suggests that urban tourism in South Africa offers fertile ground for future empirical, theoretical, and policy research.

South Africa has Second Homes Too! An Exploration of the Unexplored

The aim of this investigation is to make a contribution towards addressing the paucity of academic reflection on second home development in South Africa. More specifically, the paper aims to provide some preliminary insights into the question of what types of second homes there are in South Africa and what impacts second home development holds for different types of urban settlements. The examples drawn upon in this investigation cover diverse urban settings. These case studies include (1) a small rural town in the eastern Free State province – Clarens; (2) a small coastal village in KwaZulu-Natal – Zinkwazi; and (3) a neighbourhood in the Cape Town Metropolitan area – De Waterkant. While the case studies elucidate unique development characteristics and impacts, the investigations also highlight some commonalities. In particular, it is firstly argued that second home development in South Africa demonstrates similarities to developments found internationally; and secondly, that the near-generic impacts of second homes found elsewhere are echoed in the South African context too. Here, in particular, the generation of employment and property price appreciation stand out as key similarities.

The role of second homes in local economic development in five small South African towns

Local economic development (LED) is receiving greater policy prominence in a range of southern African settings. Strategic interventions often draw on tourism development to attain LED objectives. This investigation contends that second home development can serve as an additional focus for tourism strategies aimed at LED, and demonstrates that important LED objectives, such as developing and maintaining enterprises, generating employment and attracting capital inflows, can be achieved through second home development.

Looking beyond the urban poor in South Africa: the new terra incognita for urban geography?

The past two decades have seen the development of a rich body of scholarship focusing on South African urban settlements. An extensive narrative has emerged on the changing spatialities of the broader urban system, but the representation of South African urban areas remains surprisingly incomplete. The overwhelming majority of research deals with aspects of urban poverty and aims at informing policy and implementation responses that can provide an alternative urban future – with seemingly limited success.The contention in this paper does not challenge the notion that elevated levels of urbanising poverty represent a future development trajectory of the so-called “real African cities” to which scholars like Pieterse refer. However, such an observation requires considerable refinement in the South African urban context. The growing number of urban residents is not necessarily poor. In fact, the number of relatively wealthy, in Africa generally and South Africa in particular, is rapidly expanding. It is the contention of this paper that, while there might be a moral imperative to investigate poor urban lives, there is similarly an empirical and theoretical obligation to investigate beyond the urban poor. The paper argues that the current imbalance in urban scholarship, focusing too heavily on the urban poor, allows the relatively wealthy to reproduce urban spaces as they please, with little scrutiny from scholars and policy makers. It suggests that, as long as we do not take the realities of these “other” urban dwellers seriously, there is little hope of addressing the fragmentation of the urban form and exclusion of the poor so typical of South African cities. Although existing scholarship aims to integrate currently fragmented cities, ignoring those who are not poor could lead urban scholars to implicitly reinforce South Africas dualistic cities.

Gentrification and South African Cities: Towards a research agenda

Abstract Whereas South Africa’s cities have generally been understood as a “unique” urban form, many theoretical perspectives and urban processes – such as gentrification – which are often reserved for consideration in cities of advanced capitalist societies, are also of relevance there. In fact, important contributions to these theoretical perspectives can be made by drawing upon the South African urban experiences, while also providing a basis whereby local scholarship can be integrated into international urban debates.