Johannesburg’s urban space economy

Götz, Graeme; Todes, Alison

doi:10.18772/22014107656.10

Cited by 17 publications

(12 citation statements)

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“…Whereas the GCR has significantly densified in recent years and while the racial exclusivity of many middle-and upper-class neighbourhoods has significantly dissipated (Mabin, 2014;Venter and Badenhorst, 2014), there remains a definite racial element to South African urban poverty, which remains reflected spatially. The magnitude of sprawl and the relocation and dispersion of job opportunities have combined with the legacy of peripheralised black poverty and historically poor public transport networks, with the effect that many poor and black urban dwellers remain situated far from realistic livelihood opportunities and must travel long distances to reach these (Czegledy, 2004;Gotz and Todes, 2014;Peberdy, 2017;SERI, 2016;Venter and Badenhorst, 2014).…”

Section: Boundaries Edges and Margins In The Gcrmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The GCR's multi-nodal-ness further means that its big cities have several distinct and dispersed 'cores', so that poorer areas far from the 'traditional' CBDs may nevertheless be closely located to significant 'satellite' nodes of economic activity. Diepsloot in Johannesburg's far north-west, for instance, is within easy reach of satellite nodes such as Randburg and Fourways, whereas Ivory Park in the north-east is close to the 'new' light-industrial, corporate and commercial hub of Midrand (on these and other examples, see Biermann, 2005;Charlton, 2014;Gotz and Todes, 2014;Landman, 2010;Mabin et al, 2013;Venter et al, 2004). Moreover, areas far from economic nodes in the city or municipality of which they form part are sometimes located close to such nodes in neighbouring cities.…”

Section: Boundaries Edges and Margins In The Gcrmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Where is the periphery even? Capturing urban marginality in South African human rights law

Pieterse

2018

Urban Studies

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This article questions the usefulness of the notion of an ‘urban periphery’ for efforts to capture and ameliorate urban marginalisation and exclusion through human rights-based litigation. Focusing on South Africa’s Gauteng City Region, the article argues that the notion of an urban periphery fails to capture the nuances of marginal urban life and the interests of poor, marginalised urban residents in accessing the city. In the specific context of the right of access to housing, the article then grapples with South African judicial engagements with the spatial dimensions of urban marginalisation. It finds that, despite the fixation of human rights litigators, activists and commentators on housing location and the ‘urban periphery’, courts are adopting a more nuanced and balanced approach to urban marginality. It accordingly identifies interests that should be accommodated by such an approach and points to legal concepts which may more constructively respond to these.

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Section: Boundaries Edges and Margins In The Gcrmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Boundaries Edges and Margins In The Gcrmentioning

confidence: 99%

Where is the periphery even? Capturing urban marginality in South African human rights law

Pieterse

2018

Urban Studies

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“…Key features of the regeneration process are commitments to seeing the development of social and affordable housing and increased densification of the city. These goals are vital given the severe levels of spatial fragmentation and segregation which define Johannesburg (Gotz and Todes, 2014;SERI, 2016), the critical shortages of affordable, welllocated housing (Ballard et al, 2017), as well as the inner-city's symbolic stature as an emerging centre of black urban life. The inner-city is one of the few places where apartheid planning has been reversed (although white flight has meant that a different form of segregation has become embedded) and lower-income households are drawn to the area as it is close to employment opportunities, transport links and social amenities.…”

Section: Urban Regeneration In Inner-city Johannesburgmentioning

confidence: 99%

Habitus, spatial capital and making place: Housing developers and the spatial praxis of Johannesburg’s inner-city regeneration

Mosselson

2019

Environ Plan A

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This paper presents a sociology of housing developers, stressing the contingent, socially and spatially embedded nature of their practices. It complicates prevailing views of developers and demonstrates how urban development is, in fact, a spatial praxis requiring adaptability and capacities to adjust dispositions and practices to suit the particular environments in which it takes place. A growing body of work tries to understand the motivations and practices of property developers. While this has contributed to understandings of developers’ networks, the ways they understand their roles and the ways different national or regional contexts shape approaches, it largely lacks a spatial perspective, and does not account for the contingency, fluidity and adaptability of developers’ actions. Most importantly, it does not theorize how experiences in space shape practices. Developers are still largely presented as powerful actors who are able to exercise domination over space in relatively straight-forward, linear ways. In contrast, in this paper I demonstrate that developers are influenced by competing dynamics and agendas, and actively adapt their strategies and activities in accordance with the demands and realities of particular places. Building on the work of Centner (2008) and Marom (2014), the paper further develops the concepts ‘spatial capital’ and ‘spatial habitus’ and attempts to use them to make sense of the practices of property developers and affordable housing providers working in inner-city Johannesburg

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“…At first sight, the chances that they will achieve this seem slim. There are powerful forces promoting the concentration of businesses in central Gauteng, including risk aversion and inertia (Gotz and Todes, 2014). The experience of existing townships and new settlements is that it is very difficult to shift the pattern of private investment in industry and tradeable services (Haferburg, 2013;Mahajan, 2014).…”

Section: Question-marks Surrounding the Mega-projectsmentioning

confidence: 99%

South Africa's new urban agenda: Transformation or compensation?

Turok

2015

Local Economy

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One of the dilemmas at the heart of the new urban agenda globally is whether population growth should be accommodated by extensive or intensive urban development. Both approaches have gained support in South Africa in recent years, albeit in different parts of government. The paper provides a critical and constructive assessment of what lies behind these contrasting agendas. It considers the positive and negative features of mega-projects and urban consolidation, with an emphasis on their implications for urban efficiency and social justice. It concludes by stressing the need to reconcile these policies in order to avoid wasteful duplication and damage.Keywords mega-projects and sprawl, urban consolidation and integration, urban efficiency and inclusion, urban policy and planning One of the dilemmas at the heart of the new global interest in urban policy concerns the extent to which population growth should be accommodated by enlarging urban areas or by using existing areas more intensively, i.e. by growing outwards or upwards (Buckley et al., 2015;UN-Habitat, 2013Woetzel et al., 2014). Outward or extensive growth can be achieved through planned urban extensions or new satellite cities and towns. More intensive growth can be achieved through infill projects on vacant land or higher density redevelopment of existing buildings. This dilemma is related to another difficult trade-off between preparing for new urban growth on greenfield sites, and revitalising older urban areas, including upgrading informal settlements.The arguments for supporting extensive urban growth are that physical projects are more straightforward to execute on undeveloped land, innovation in urban design is easier because there are no vested interests to resist change, and a well-structured urban form can be created (Angel,

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Johannesburg’s urban space economy

Cited by 17 publications

References 0 publications

Where is the periphery even? Capturing urban marginality in South African human rights law

Where is the periphery even? Capturing urban marginality in South African human rights law

Habitus, spatial capital and making place: Housing developers and the spatial praxis of Johannesburg’s inner-city regeneration

South Africa's new urban agenda: Transformation or compensation?

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