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Persistent Polarisation Post-Apartheid? Progress towards Urban Integration in Cape Town

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  • Ivan Turok

    (Department of Urban Studies, University of Glasgow, 25 Bute Gardens, Glasgow, G12 8RS, UK, I.Turok@socsci.gla.ac.uk)

Abstract

The paper examines the progress made since 1994 to reduce the deep social and spatial divisions in South African cities, focusing on the impact of current development trends in Cape Town. Basic public services are gradually being extended to the historically neglected townships. However, the character of economic and social development differs markedly across the city. Private-sector investment and jobs continue to be concentrated in the affluent north and west, while low-income subsidised housing is focused on the poorer south-east. Institutional practices and market forces are tending to reinforce spatial divisions, with costly consequences for the poor majority of the population and for the wider urban economy and society. The broad statements from policy-makers about the need for urban integration are not being translated into consistent action, apparently because of a lack of political will and institutional capacity. The new Unicity authority provides scope in principle for a more coherent approach, based in part on a strategic framework to manage land development in the interests of the whole city, and a more proactive approach towards building a stronger employment base in the south-east.

Suggested Citation

  • Ivan Turok, 2001. "Persistent Polarisation Post-Apartheid? Progress towards Urban Integration in Cape Town," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 38(13), pages 2349-2377, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:urbstu:v:38:y:2001:i:13:p:2349-2377
    DOI: 10.1080/00420980120094551
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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Laila Smith & Susan Hanson, 2003. "Access to Water for the Urban Poor in Cape Town: Where Equity Meets Cost Recovery," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 40(8), pages 1517-1548, July.
    2. Yonn Dierwechter, 2004. "Dreams, Bricks, and Bodies: Mapping ‘Neglected Spatialities’ in African Cape Town," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 36(6), pages 959-981, June.
    3. Vivian Bickford‐Smith, 2010. "The Fairest Cape of Them All? Cape Town in Cinematic Imagination," International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 34(1), pages 92-114, March.
    4. Freund, Bill, 2010. "Is There Such a Thing as a Post-Apartheid City?," WIDER Working Paper Series 048, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    5. Andrew Kerr, 2017. "Tax(i)ing the Poor? Commuting Costs in South African Cities," South African Journal of Economics, Economic Society of South Africa, vol. 85(3), pages 321-340, September.
    6. Zachary Levenson, 2018. "The road to TRAs is paved with good intentions: Dispossession through delivery in post-apartheid Cape Town," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 55(14), pages 3218-3233, November.
    7. Charlotte Lemanski, 2006. "Residential responses to fear (of crime plus) in two Cape Town suburbs: implications for the post-apartheid city," Journal of International Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 18(6), pages 787-802.
    8. A.J. Christopher, 2005. "The Slow Pace of Desegregation in South African Cities, 1996-2001," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 42(12), pages 2305-2320, November.
    9. Charlotte Lemanski & Sophie Oldfield, 2009. "The Parallel Claims of Gated Communities and Land Invasions in a Southern City: Polarised State Responses," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 41(3), pages 634-648, March.
    10. Philip Harrison, 2006. "On the Edge of Reason: Planning and Urban Futures in Africa," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 43(2), pages 319-335, February.
    11. Vivian Bickford-Smith, 2009. "Creating a City of the Tourist Imagination: The Case of Cape Town, `The Fairest Cape of Them All'," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 46(9), pages 1763-1785, August.
    12. Anthony Lemon & David Clifford, 2005. "Post-apartheid Transition in a Small South African Town: Interracial Property Transfer in Margate, KwaZulu-Natal," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 42(1), pages 7-30, January.
    13. Andrew Charman & Thiresh Govender, 2020. "The Creative Night‐Time Leisure Economy of Informal Drinking Venues," International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 44(5), pages 793-808, September.
    14. Zizzamia, Rocco, 2020. "Is employment a panacea for poverty? A mixed-methods investigation of employment decisions in South Africa," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 130(C).
    15. Gustav Visser & Nico Kotze, 2008. "The State and New-build Gentrification in Central Cape Town, South Africa," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 45(12), pages 2565-2593, November.
    16. Andrew Kerr, 2015. "Tax(i)ing the poor? Commuting costs in South Africa," SALDRU Working Papers 156, Southern Africa Labour and Development Research Unit, University of Cape Town.
    17. Brendan Murtagh, 2011. "Desegregation and Place Restructuring in the New Belfast," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 48(6), pages 1119-1135, May.
    18. Charlotte Lemanski, 2006. "Spaces of Exclusivity or Connection? Linkages between a Gated Community and its Poorer Neighbour in a Cape Town Master Plan Development," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 43(2), pages 397-420, February.
    19. Andrea Pollio, 2020. "Architectures of millennial development: Entrepreneurship and spatial justice at the bottom of the pyramid in Cape Town," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 52(3), pages 573-592, May.
    20. Alain Dubresson, 2005. "Monopolisation institutionnelle et spatialités économiques au Cap (Afrique du Sud)," Revue Tiers Monde, Programme National Persée, vol. 46(181), pages 21-44.
    21. Bradley Rink, 2023. "Public space on the move: Mediating mobility, stillness and encounter on a Cape Town bus," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 60(15), pages 3027-3044, November.
    22. Kurt Sartorius & Benn Sartorius, 2016. "Service delivery inequality in South African municipal areas: A new way to account for inter-jurisdictional differences," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 53(15), pages 3336-3355, November.
    23. Stålhammar, Sanna, 2021. "Polarised views of urban biodiversity and the role of socio-cultural valuation: Lessons from Cape Town," Ecosystem Services, Elsevier, vol. 47(C).

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