What decisions are residents in the poorer parts of South African cities forced to make on a day to day basis? How does a city like Ekhuruleni try to address this and what do the citizens think about these efforts? This short film juxtaposes these two voices. It was part of a series we developed to explore the disjuncture between city officials and citizens in an average metropolitan area
The seventh and latest edition of Cityscapes is framed around the rubric of “futurity”. What will tomorrow be like? It will be more urbanised. It will also, agree various contributors, bear the imprimatur of China. “Whatever the case, China has, for now, become a far more prominent actor than others in the future-making of Africa,” asserts philosopher Achille Mbembe in an anchoring essay
A video abstract of Situated Urban Political Ecology, a project looking at how African urbanism can inform Urban Political Ecology and the associated research methods, theory and practice to create a more situated.
We will be implementing some changes and major upgrades to the site from 1-21 June. This might result in a few areas not working as they should for the period. We apologise for any inconveniences.
An invitation is extended to this symposium organised by the African Centre for Cities on harnessing land values to finance urban infrastructure in Sub-Saharan Africa.
The SA Cities Conference brings together scholars who wish to expose their work to critical discussion and engage with ideas of those working in disciplines other than their own. This call for contributions seeks participation from scholars in all disciplines based or working in Southern Africa.
Climate change is reshaping our understanding of development pathways, bringing into stark relief how development choices impact us unequally and often in unintended or unforeseen ways as mediated through the environment or earth system. Writes Anna Taylor in this article for UrbanAfrica.net
Mina Plaatjies is a domestic worker and trade unionist. She is also a mother of two adolescent children. It is a delicate balancing act fulfilling her duties as domestic labourer, union organiser and weekend mom. Her story, one of the 12 that form part of the City Desired exhibition, is featured in the new issue of Cityscapes Magazine.
Xiangming Chen speaks to UrbanAfrica.net’s Brendon Bosworth about urbanisation in China & South Africa at the recent Starting from the South: perspectives on urbanisation in China and South Africa” workshop
From 25-27 March 2015, the ACC will co-host a meeting to debate efforts to re-locate the center of urban theory-making southward through a comparative analysis of urbanization policies and patterns in South Africa and eastern China.
One city, eleven people, ten ideas. This, in a nutshell, is what this issue is about. In a departure from past issues of this magazine, we pause to look at one city in detail. The city: Cape Town, home to nearly 4 million inhabitants
Where past issues of Cityscapes have looked east, particularly to the Indian subcontinent, issue five shifts the focus decisively west. Inaugurating our collaboration with USP Cidades, a research centre at the University of São Paulo, architectural critic Fernando Serapião recapitulates the history of social housing design in Brazil. “Heirs of an architectural school with deep roots, Brazilian designers still believe in the ideals of linear blocks and it is difficult for them to dialogue with the precariousness,” writes Serapião.
1 of 10 short films made by Simon Taylor as part of the City Desired exhibition project, this short films provides a glimpse into the life of Christina Mtandana, a resident of Cape Town’s Sweet Home informal settlement. See more about City Desired here
