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The Indifference of Transport: Comparative Research of “Infrastructural Ruins” in the Gauteng City-Region and Greater Maputo

Author

Listed:
  • Margot Rubin

    (School of Geography and Planning, Cardiff University, UK / SARCHI Chair in Spatial Analysis and City Planning, University of the Witwatersrand, South Africa)

  • Lindsay Blair Howe

    (Institute of Architecture and Planning, University of Liechtenstein, Liechtenstein)

  • Sarah Charlton

    (School of Architecture and Planning, University of the Witwatersrand, South Africa)

  • Muhammed Suleman

    (School of Architecture and Planning, University of the Witwatersrand, South Africa)

  • Anselmo Cani

    (Faculty of Architecture, Eduardo Mondlane University, Mozambique)

  • Lesego Tshuwa

    (African Mayoral Leadership Initiative, University of Cape Town, South Africa)

  • Alexandra Parker

    (The Institute for Voluntary Action Research, UK)

Abstract

States in the Global South have consistently invested in large-scale, vanity infrastructure projects, which are often not used by the majority of their residents. Using a mixed-method and comparative approach with findings from Greater Maputo, Mozambique, and the Gauteng City-Region exposes how internationally-supported and expensive transport projects do not meet the needs of lower-income urban residents, and meanwhile, widespread, everyday modes of commuting such as trains, paratransit, and pathways for walking deteriorate. State-led development thus often generates an infrastructural landscape characterised by “ruin” and “indifference.” These choices are anachronistic, steeped in a desire for a modernist-inspired future and in establishing narratives of control. In the cases of Gauteng and Maputo, whether or not the infrastructure is “successfully” implemented, these choices have resulted in a distancing of the state from the majority of urban residents.

Suggested Citation

  • Margot Rubin & Lindsay Blair Howe & Sarah Charlton & Muhammed Suleman & Anselmo Cani & Lesego Tshuwa & Alexandra Parker, 2023. "The Indifference of Transport: Comparative Research of “Infrastructural Ruins” in the Gauteng City-Region and Greater Maputo," Urban Planning, Cogitatio Press, vol. 8(4), pages 351-365.
    • Handle: RePEc:cog:urbpla:v:8:y:2023:i:4:p:351-365
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Lindsay Blair Howe, 2021. "Thinking through people: The potential of volunteered geographic information for mobility and urban studies," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 58(14), pages 3009-3028, November.
    2. COLIN McFARLANE & JONATHAN RUTHERFORD, 2008. "Political Infrastructures: Governing and Experiencing the Fabric of the City," International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 32(2), pages 363-374, June.
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