Urban walking as a practice of care: sensorial activism in Durban, South Africa

Abstract

In this article, I explore how the sensory perception of urban environments translates into an activist practice of care. Based on a case study from my digital ethnography, I argue that activist artist and architect Doung Anwar Jahangeer’s performative “City Walks” are aimed at experimenting with, questioning and reframing perceptions of marginalised places in Durban. Re-interpreting and re-experiencing public attributions of meaning to locations through walking allows for a sensory re-appropriation of places labelled as poor and dangerous. Conceiving of sensing as an active process, I argue that sensorial ways of caring transcend boundaries of normativity, space and time in the city. I show how urban walking practices of care have the potential to partially realise future visions of spatial and social justice through sensory engagement with the city.