Reversing Urban Inequality in Johannesburg

Description

With the spread of capitalism - a socio-economic system that produces both wealth and poverty simultaneously - the spatial dynamics of the "global(izing)" city are creating more division between social classes, not less. This means that in the 21st-century, large cities around the world exhibit intensifying spatial inequality taking the form of a wealthy, privileged urban core ringed by a periphery of lower-income denizens far removed from the city’s resources and amenities. This trend toward swelling socio-spatial division is especially pronounced in cities purporting to be "global", or in the case of Johannesburg, South Africa’s financial capital, a "world-class African city." Ironically, Johannesburg’s historical legacy of immense spatial inequality thanks to apartheid is the direction in which most "global(izing)" cities such as New York, Cairo, London, Shanghai, New Delhi, Jakarta, Lagos, Berlin, and São Paulo are headed. The globalization of neoliberal urban policy has made the city less welcoming, liveable, accessible and friendly for lower-income city residents. This book asks if Johannesburg can unstitch its complex urban fabric to create a city with more democratic public transport, affordable housing in desirable locations and safe, socially and racially integrated public spaces. These pithy, solidly researched, accessibly written essays are instructive for all those who are interested in questions of spatial justice, urban development, history and planning and the general goal of making cities more livable and accessible for urban dwellers of all income levels. Cover Half Title Title Page Copyright Page Contents List of figures About the authors Map of the city of Johannesburg Chart of annual income levels in the city of Johannesburg Introduction: Jo’burg’s spatial dilemmas resonate globally Part I: Government programmes’ unexpected consequences: Attempts to ‘restitch’ Jo’burg’s urban fabric to make it more equal 1. The micro-politics of state-led spatial transformation: The suburban middle class in a Municipal Tribunal 2. There’s many a slip ’twixt the cup and the lip: Questioning spatial transformation through Johannesburg’s Corridors of Freedom 3. Deconstructing and decolonising spatiality: Voluntary and affordable housing for a transforming Johannesburg Part II: Effects of private capital: Ghettoization of the elite, gentrification in the inner city and evolving Chinese malls 4. Affinities of fear:Producing ‘safe’ spaces in a suburb North of Joburg 5. “The darker side of modernity” in an illuminated precinct in downtown Johannesburg 6. Red velvet cheesecake in Maboneng, Pap and Steak in Jeppestown: Displacement and global hipsterification in downtown Jozi 7. The many lives of a Chinese mall in Johannesburg Part III: Architectural and urban design attempts to reframe the past and remake heritage 8. Apartheid spatial plan:Heritagisation and museumification of the past at Vilakazi Street in Soweto 9. Spatial transformation: Re-presencing the lost narratives in Johannesburg’s heritage buildings Part IV: Apartheid’s unintended consequences and grey spatial legacy 10. Life behind the shop:A family history of work and home in Jeppestown 11. Envelopes of the un-planned in Johannesburg’s South Part V: The small big picture: Global capitalism and local government 12. Conversation with Ms. Lisa Seftel, Executive Director of Transport, City of Johannesburg Afterword: The systemic production of inequality in Johannesburg Index