The African city should be seen as a stimulating and exciting maelstrom of cultural conflict and transformation. We need to celebrate and dissect the fragments of urban life and empathise with the multiplicity and contradictions experienced in our cities, whilst at the same time understand the daily service needs of the urban inhabitants. Under current conditions of extreme and rapid growth experienced in the majority of South African cities, change manifests itself most evidently through space. The urban poor and the ‘space’ in which they occupy, define and conduct their activities and their relationships form fundamental, dynamic elements of the building of a city in the context of contemporary urban Africa. Public space (the street and the node) forms one of the most important venues for such transformation. Efforts by the urban poor to appropriate community space (although much contested) are an integral part to a process of self-empowerment and socio-economic networking. In the formation of contemporary urban developments in South Africa (particularly in low-income areas and informal settlements), it seems that less attention is given to the space in-between buildings and how these can function as ‘service venues’; the very glue that unites the elements of the positive spatial structure; the shared space. One may question why this is so? Read more.
La ciudad africana debe ser vista como una vorágine estimulante y fascinante de conflicto cultural y transformación. Tenemos que celebrar la vida urbana y diseccionarla mientras somos empáticos con la multitud y las contradicciones que experimentamos en nuestras ciudades y al mismo tiempo entender las necesidades diarias que tienen sus habitantes. Bajo las condiciones actuales en las que vivimos de crecimiento rápido y extremo en la mayoría de las ciudades de Sudáfrica, el cambio se manifiesta con más evidencia a través del espacio. La pobreza urbana y el “espacio” que esta ocupa, define y donde lleva a cabo sus actividades y sus relaciones constituyen elementos dinámicos y fundamentales en la construcción de una ciudad enmarcada en el contexto del África urbana contemporánea. El espacio público (la calle y el nodo) forma uno de los lugares más importantes para dicha transformación. Los esfuerzos que está realizando la pobreza urbana de apropiarse del espacio comunitario (aunque esté mucho más disputado) son una parte integral de un proceso de autodeterminación y de creación de redes socioeconómicas. En la formación de urbes contemporáneas que se desarrolla en Sudáfrica (especialmente en las zonas de bajos ingresos y asentamientos informales), parece que se presta menos atención al espacio comprendido entre edificios y cómo estos pueden tener la función de “centros de servicios”; el pegamento que une los elementos de una estructura espacial positiva, es decir, el espacio compartido. Entonces uno puede preguntarse: ¿por qué esto es así? Leer más.
Submitted by Editor — Tue, 03/25/2014 – 00:00
After the transition to democracy from the apartheid era in 1994, an ambitious post-apartheid housing initiative was implemented in South Africa to provide formal housing for those denied it under apartheid. However, the simplest and cheapest policy has been to locate this housing on the urban peripheries (typically over 20km away in the case of Johannesburg’s or Pretoria’s economic centres) — thus creating an alarming parody of apartheid-spatial planning in locating former black townships in marginal locations far from economic opportunities, amenities, and public transport. This has not only compelled people residing in these areas to use much of their income on transportation but, moreover, the dispersion perpetuates a marginal urban form which increases the burden placed on the city’s financial models and its already depleted and over-extended infrastructure networks. Read more.
Una iniciativa ambiciosa de viviendas post-apartheid se implementó después de la transición a la democracia de la era del apartheid en 1994 en Sudáfrica, para proporcionar viviendas formales, para aquellos que fueron negados viviendas bajo el apartheid. No obstante, la política más simple y económica ha sido localizar estas viviendas en las periferias urbanas (generalmente a más de 20 kilómetros de distancia, que es el caso de los centros económicos de Johannesburgo o Pretoria), y de esta manera se ha creado un parodia alarmante de planificación espacial-apartheid al localizar los viejos municipios negros en zonas marginales lejos de oportunidades económicas, servicios, y transporte público. Esto no sólo ha obligado que las personas viviendo en estas zonas usen una gran parte de su ingreso en transporte; por otra parte, la dispersión perpetúa una forma urbana marginal que aumenta la carga en los modelos financieros de la ciudad y de sus infraestructuras agobiadas y agotadas. Leer más.
Submitted by Tariq Toffa — Thu, 03/13/2014 – 11:16
South Africa has entered into its 20th year of democracy and as the world looks on at a society that has been free of the shackles of Apartheid for two decades, the form of its urban fabric is changing as its cities try to shake off their segregated pasts. Over the last two decades, cities in South Africa have seen the tremendous influx of people in search of economic opportunities and better access to services. This in-migration to urban areas has seen the proliferation of informal settlements from nearly non-existent in the late ’80s to over 2000 (and counting) in present day South Africa. Local municipalities and city planning departments have not planned for these settlements. If anything, the only strategy being applied today is a reactionary one, further handicapped by the very formal and rigid development methods imposed by city officials trained primarily in planning for and implementing very traditional city planning processes. Where does that leave the informal settlement dweller? Read more.
Sudáfrica ha entrado en su vigésimo año de democracia y mientras el mundo mira a una sociedad que ha estado libre de las cadenas del apartheid durante dos décadas, la forma de su tejido urbano está cambiando a medida que las ciudades tratan de deshacerse de su pasado de segregación. Durante las últimas dos décadas, las ciudades de Sudáfrica han visto una enorme afluencia de personas en busca de oportunidades económicas y de un mejor acceso a los servicios. Esta migración a las zonas urbanas ha visto la proliferación de asentamientos informales casi inexistentes en los últimos años de los 80s, a más de 2.000 habitantes (y va aumentando) hoy en día en Sudáfrica. Los municipios locales y los departamentos de planificación de la ciudad no tienen planes para estos asentamientos. En todo caso, la única estrategia aplicada hoy en día es reaccionaria, con límites por los métodos de desarrollo muy formales y rígidos impuestos por los funcionarios municipales capacitados principalmente en la planificación e implementación de procesos muy tradicionales de planificación para la ciudad. ¿Dónde deja esto al habitante del asentamiento informal? Leer más.
Submitted by Editor — Thu, 03/13/2014 – 11:03
My introduction contains a statement and a question. First, for city governments to truly embrace and innovate around the informal city concept they require a defined measure of discretion to design, plan and regulate. However, they often find themselves “at the bottom of the food chain” when it comes to regulatory authority. For example, South African cities (who work in what is perhaps the most “city friendly” constitutional framework on the continent) are still severely constrained by national and provincial laws and policies. What complicates this is the fact that the African city is often a hot bed of opposition, a place where urban-based opposition movements begin to chip away at the hegemony of the national ruling party/coalition with its rural constituency. Kampala, Addis Ababa, Nairobi, Cape Town and Harare are but a few examples of cities where this scenario plays or played itself out. Partly as a result of this phenomenon, there is then the central governments’ anxiety with these “oversized” local authorities exercising unfettered planning authority and they are prompted to insist on tight “one size fits all” planning frameworks that stifle city innovation. Read more.
Mi introducción contiene una declaración y una pregunta. En primer lugar, los gobiernos requieren una medida definida de discreción para diseñar, planificar y regular, para que de esta manera realmente acepten e innoven en el concepto informal de la ciudad. Sin embargo, se encuentran “al fondo de la cadena alimentaria” cuando se trata de la autoridad regulatoria. Por ejemplo, las ciudades Sudafricanas (que trabajan, en lo que tal vez sería el marco constitucional más “amigable para las ciudades” en el continente) aún están severamente limitadas por leyes y políticas nacionales y provinciales. Lo que complica esto, es el hecho de que la ciudad africana es comúnmente un objetivo de la oposición, un lugar donde los movimientos de oposición de base urbana comienzan a desconchar la hegemonía del partido gobernante/coalición nacional con su circunscripción rural. Kampala, Addis Abeba, Nairobi, la Ciudad del Cabo y Harare son sólo algunos ejemplos de ciudades en donde esta situación hipotética toma o ha tomado lugar. Parte del resultado de este fenómeno, es la ansiedad de los gobiernos centrales con autoridades locales de “gran tamaño” ejerciendo una autoridad de planificación sin restricciones y a ellos se les pide que insistan en un marco de planificación de “talla única” que reprima la innovación de la ciudad. Leer más.
Submitted by Editor — Sun, 03/02/2014 – 08:44
Despite advances made in natural resource management science, the degradation and the destructive competition for natural resources in most areas of the world has continued more or less unabated. South African fish and seafood stocks, too, generally show no exception. Moreover, there are increasing numbers of applicants, corporations, and communities competing for fishing rights to this shrinking resource. Read more or join the discussion.
Submitted by Tariq Toffa — Thu, 02/13/2014 – 10:21
Data has emerged showcasing the latest trends of our demographic shift – the global population now articulates a ‘youth bulge’. The UN-Population Demographic Profile (2010) show children, and ‘youths’, comprise 1.6bn, and 1.0bn, of the population in less-developed regions. The population is younger; and Sub-Saharan Africa is no exception. Attention is now turning to youths: what young people do, what opportunities they initiate for their families and nations, and what it means to be ‘young’ in the developing world. However, an important caveat requires recognition: the focus has been particularly male-focused. Our understanding of girls, within both public and private spaces, remains limited. Such is the debate in this blog post – if we are now looking at ‘kids’ in the city and development, what are the experiences of girls? What can we learn about the city through an engendered perspective? Fundamentally, who is responsible to grant equal rights? Two models of intervention are discussed be, each using alternative methods to provide rights for girls. However, each acts to reinforce the need to improve our understandings on ‘being’ a girl. Read more.
Submitted by Gemma Todd — Mon, 01/20/2014 – 10:08
Many of us think of urban graffiti as a nuisance, as an illegality, as a challenge to authority. Exactly, especially the last one. And it is also a form a communication, sometimes the only form available to people who aren’t so well represented in the media. Alex Alonso wrote an interesting piece on urban graffiti and its typologies, and discussed how graffiti can provide insight into societal attitudes and perceptions. Graffiti includes political commentary, personal or ‘existential’ messages, gang-related territorial demarcation, simple ‘tags’, elegant ‘piecing’ where tags or names are elaborate, and larger works that, more obviously like art, that combine comment with an clear aesthetic. Read more.
Submitted by David Maddox — Mon, 12/16/2013 – 15:25
With the holiday season upon us, here are some book suggestions that will be particularly relevant for those involved in the city as urban scholars, professionals, or activists, or interested in issues of urbanism and sustainability in cities. The following books from the African Centre for Cities (ACC) are significant contributions to the study of urbanism in African cities. Read more or join the discussion.
Submitted by Tariq Toffa — Mon, 12/16/2013 – 00:00
Upon exploring how just and inclusive cities can emerge a key component of analysis is social life — how people act in cities, the complex character of sociability, and the factors designing urban life. Multiple concepts have been raised to define what a city is — and has become, and further, what kind of life materialises within urban spaces. Over time cities have been conceptualised as ‘misanthropic’, expressing disorganisation, violence, and a dense concentration of people whom adopt different mentalities and motives. Such urban personas are expressed through space. Read more.
Submitted by Editor — Mon, 12/02/2013 – 14:18
Africa’s cities are growing — and changing — rapidly. Without appropriate planning, they will become increasingly chaotic, inefficient and unsustainable. In many countries, planning legislation dates back to the colonial era. It is ill-equipped to deal with contemporary urban problems. A shortage of urban planning and management professionals trained to respond to urban complexity with progressive pro-poor approaches exacerbates urban dysfunction. Read more.
Submitted by Editor — Tue, 10/15/2013 – 15:55 