Towards Alternative Spatial Imaginaries: The Case of ‘Reclaim the City’

Urson, Ruth; Kessi, Shose; Daya, Shari

doi:10.1007/978-3-030-75201-9_9

Cited by 6 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 32 publications

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“…Contextualizing strategy: RTC's movement for urban spatial justice Cape Town's spatial segregation-its white, wealthy inner city juxtaposed against sweeping informal settlements-physically represents the legacy of apartheid (Ngwenya and Cirolia, 2021;Urson et al, 2022). The 1950 Group Areas Act permitted Black communities to be legally removed from the city, while members of those communities were required to hold passes to move around.…”

Section: Prefigurative Politics Strategy and Forms Of People Powermentioning

confidence: 99%

PREFIGURING PRAGMATICALLY? Prefigurative Politics and the Constellation of People Power Strategies for Winning Affordable Housing in Cape Town

Tattersall,

Iveson

2024

Int J Urban Regional Res

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This article contributes to ongoing discussions about the practice of prefigurative politics by urban social movements, and the relationship between prefiguration and other political practices. We argue that urban social movements can deploy prefigurative power in combination with other political strategies with which it is often contrasted and opposed. To demonstrate, we explore Cape Town's Reclaim the City movement that occupied several inner‐city buildings to create affordable housing for low‐wage Black communities—prefiguring the kind of affordable housing that they were demanding. They developed this strategy iteratively after having tried to play by the rules through litigation and mobilize through protest. When those approaches failed to shift decision makers, they tried to prefigure their goal for housing through occupation. Prefiguration offered distinctive strategic advantages: it helped demonstrate that affordable housing was possible and provided direct relief for people facing housing stress. These advantages not only engaged new participants but contributed to new affordable housing commitments from the City of Cape Town and the courts. We show how movement participants understood their prefigurative occupation as part of a constellation of people power strategies and suggest that this points towards the potential for prefiguration to be deployed pragmatically as well as ideologically by urban social movements.

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Section: Prefigurative Politics Strategy and Forms Of People Powermentioning

confidence: 99%

PREFIGURING PRAGMATICALLY? Prefigurative Politics and the Constellation of People Power Strategies for Winning Affordable Housing in Cape Town

Tattersall,

Iveson

2024

Int J Urban Regional Res

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“…This is beginning to shift, with activist organisations such as Ndifuna Ukwazi and the Development Action Group (DAG) in Cape Town increasingly drawing attention to the urgent need for affordable housing near the city centre (see Ngwenya and Cirolia 2021; Urson et al. 2022). There remains, however, relatively little research into spatial justice that trains a critical eye onto previously white suburbs in the South African context.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Memory Justice in Ordinary Urban Spaces: The Politics of Remembering and Forgetting in aPost‐ApartheidNeighbourhood

Anderson

Daya

2022

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From 1950 onwards, under the apartheid regime’s Group Areas Act, hundreds of thousands of people were forced to leave their homes across South Africa’s cities. While the removals from some areas, notably District Six in Cape Town, are well documented and memorialised, many others have largely been erased from public memory. In a context of burgeoning research into issues of spatial justice in Southern cities, this paper puts forward the argument that the concepts and practice of memory and memorialising in urban spaces deserve more attention. Specifically, we suggest that the relationships between space and memory, shaped by collective, public acts of remembering and forgetting, can expand our understanding of what constitutes spatial justice in our cities. Reflecting on a research project conducted in Lower Claremont, a racially mixed, middle‐class suburb in Cape Town that was declared White in 1969 and subsequently dubbed Harfield Village, we explore some of the ways in which remembering and forgetting take place on the urban scale, and their implications for imagining just cities. We ask, too, what possibilities exist for active remembering in this place and in similarly ordinary city spaces. Analysing oral histories from former residents and interviews with current occupants of the neighbourhood, we open up some of the complications in surfacing forgotten stories and creating landscapes of memory. In the final section of the paper we reflect on an art installation that formed part of the research project, and suggest some possibilities for active memory work in our urban spaces.

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“…Collectively these policies are referred to by many now as "spatial apartheid" (Cogin, 2016;Urson et. al., 2022;Cloete & Yusuf, 2018;Sefala, 2020).…”

Section: Land Dispossession and Being In Placementioning

confidence: 99%

Substantive Belonging in a Post-Apartheid City: Examining the Intersection of Race, Class, Space, and Colonial Legacies in Cape Town

Boiles-Leonard

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This dissertation explores the complexities of belonging, displacement, and restitution in postapartheid Cape Town. The study focuses on the intersections of race, class, space, and the legacies of colonialism. It employs the concept of substantive belonging to analyze how affective and structural modes of belonging shape individuals' positioning within the city. Furthermore, by examining the gaps in belonging, the research illuminates the discrepancies between the idealized condition of substantive belonging and the realities experienced by residents of Cape Town. Through ethnographic exploration in various locations, including Woodstock, District Six, and Protea Village, the dissertation presents a nuanced understanding of how belonging is constructed and challenged. The research uncovers how race and class influence perceptions of inclusion and exclusion by analyzing events and narratives in public spaces. It investigates the connection between forced removals during apartheid and contemporary gentrification-led displacement, shedding light on the ongoing struggles for affordable housing and the right to belong in the city. The dissertation also examines the experiences of returning communities in Protea Village and District Six, illustrating the intricate social practices and norms that shape localized notions of belonging. An investigation of the regulations of space, the comparison between gentrification-led displacement and forced removals during apartheid, and the adequacy of post-apartheid restitution measures uncovers the challenges in creating a truly post-apartheid city. It underscores the importance of addressing historical injustices and reconciling with the colonial past to foster substantive belonging for all residents. Ultimately, the research calls attention to the intricate processes of transformation, restitution, and reconciliation in Cape Town, emphasizing the need to consider more than legal rights and economic factors when aiming for meaningful change. I would like to thank my co-supervisors, Monica Eileen Patterson and Blair Rutherford for their support and guidance throughout my doctoral program. Thank you to my committee members Danielle DiNovelli-Lang and Bernhard Leistle for their thoughtful insights and support. I would also like to thank my examiners, Andy Clarno and Pablo Mendez. I am grateful to all the members Ndifuna Ukwaze for their assistance, this project would not be the same without the work I was able to do with your organisation. In particular I would like to thank Emile, Sarita, and Ntombi. Thank you to Kurt Orderson who, in introducing me to the many social movements and people that are fighting for a better life in Cape Town, opened my mind to the power of protest and taking a stand. Thank you to the Protea Village land claim members. In particular Cedrik van Dieman and David Wilson for sharing their memories and the history of the land claim. Thank you to Aya Turchio for her help making the maps for this dissertation.Thank you to all the colleagues who have read and c...

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Towards Alternative Spatial Imaginaries: The Case of ‘Reclaim the City’

Cited by 6 publications

References 32 publications

PREFIGURING PRAGMATICALLY? Prefigurative Politics and the Constellation of People Power Strategies for Winning Affordable Housing in Cape Town

PREFIGURING PRAGMATICALLY? Prefigurative Politics and the Constellation of People Power Strategies for Winning Affordable Housing in Cape Town

Memory Justice in Ordinary Urban Spaces: The Politics of Remembering and Forgetting in aPost‐ApartheidNeighbourhood

Substantive Belonging in a Post-Apartheid City: Examining the Intersection of Race, Class, Space, and Colonial Legacies in Cape Town

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