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Saving or Seizing the City: Discursive Formations in Cape Town, South Africa

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  • Firoz Khan

    (School of Public Leadership, University of Stellenbosch, Stellenbosch 7602, South Africa)

  • Benedict Francis Higgins

    (School of Public Leadership, University of Stellenbosch, Stellenbosch 7602, South Africa)

  • Willan Adonis

    (School of Public Leadership, University of Stellenbosch, Stellenbosch 7602, South Africa)

Abstract

‘Neoliberalism’ is the dominant theme pervading numerous studies of post-apartheid urban development in Cape Town. This often renders invisible the many nuances and complexities embedded within its transitions. Via critically examining the assumption of the neoliberal usurpation of urban governance in Cape Town’s policy formation, this paper highlights critical historical contingencies from 1994; contingencies framing a discursive formation as less the choreographies of global capitalism and more the committed and sincere mobilisation of a local, grassroots movement to ‘save’ the city from urban decline. Largely unacknowledged in the literature, its exploration is crucial to transiting from a putative and omnipotent neoliberalism as a bottomless well of explanation to admitting and appreciating subjective agency in the origins, evolution and trajectory of the city’s urban development. This, in turn, furnishes insights about the metamorphosis and mutation of the original—ostensibly sincere—discursive formation into the particularly powerful and potent form of market-led urban regeneration sponsored in Cape Town today.

Suggested Citation

  • Firoz Khan & Benedict Francis Higgins & Willan Adonis, 2022. "Saving or Seizing the City: Discursive Formations in Cape Town, South Africa," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(3), pages 1-18, January.
  • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:14:y:2022:i:3:p:1376-:d:734014
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Allen J. Scott & Michael Storper, 2015. "The Nature of Cities: The Scope and Limits of Urban Theory," International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 39(1), pages 1-15, January.
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