An event co-hosted by the District Six Museum and the African Centre for Cities.

Recently there has been an important shift in public policy thinking in Cape Town. The city of Cape Town has been developing a cultural renewal strategy for the metropolitan area, with a particular focus on the 'East City'. This strategy is based on the premise of design as a powerful creator of value and potential driver of growth, with far reaching regional economic benefits. These plans are presented as part of a socially inclusive agenda; but despite Cape Town's aspiration to use design as a tool for resolving structural inequality, institutionalised racism, social and economic exclusion and marginalisation remain firmly in place.

In this context, the Public Culture CityLab at the African Centre for Cities, with the District Six Museum, have convened a discussion following a series of short presentations concerning "The Fringe Innovation District" in the East City. The area designated as 'The Fringe' is intertwined with District Six and yet that history of the space, with its memory of forced removals, has not figured significantly in the 'cultural regeneration' plans for the East City. What place is there for memory and history within culture-led urban development? What risk is there that contemporary stylizations of Cape Town might serve to obliterate local histories and entrench the status quo? What of District Six, not only as symbol and museum, but as marker of the pasts that haunt the present?

Kai Berthold – Exploring gentrification in cities around the world

The ACC would be keen to host a successful applicant after first discussing the scope of the proposed research and its fit with the ACC. Please contact Gordon Pirie at the ACC in this regard. 

Further particulars and the application form are available to download at the Urban Studies Foundation website at: www.urbanstudiesfoundation.org.

The closing date is 14 June 2013.

The Social Justice Coalition (SJC) is a Khayelitsha based social movement and advocacy group campaigning for improved conditions in informal settlements and the promotion of more inclusive and equitable South African cities.   Over the past four years the organisation has moved from responding to xenophobic violence to local government delivery. Along the way, it has learnt important lessons about how best to use people's power across historic divides to promote meaningful and sustainable urban change. 

Gavin Silber, a founding member and current Deputy General-Secretary of the SJC will reflect on the SJC's trajectory of activism, highlighting the methods, modes, and roles of activism in addressing urban development challenges in Cape Town. In particular, he will focus on the lessons which can be learned from the SJC's notable campaign for improved sanitation.

Convener: Dr. M Brown-Luthango.

20 HEQF credits at level 9.

Course outline: Sustainable livelihood, participation, governance, partnerships, development action plans, survey methods.

Africa will experience a profound set of urban and resource-based transitions in the foreseeable future, and the current development path has to undergo a shift to avoid a major urban 'polycrisis'. Shifting these transitions onto a sustainable and equitable path requires that a wide variety of actors work collectively to promote a common strategic vision of urban futures on the continent. The discussions in Addis Ababa provided an important impetus to reinvigorate the African urban research agenda, and drive progress towards a sustainable urban future.

Download the workshop report below for more information…

Report On Auri Workshop Final Draft

Download:

• Battersby Marshak Growing Communities Final Draft (PDF)

The deliberations focussed on applying a systems lens to peri-urban areas, identifying the economic and livelihood activities that are practiced there, the infrastructures that exist there and the services provided there. The infrastructures include both those that are constructed (roads, drainage pipes, etc.) and those that are naturally occurring (e.g. rivers, wetlands, beaches, etc.). Similarly services include those that are provided by people (e.g. primary health care, reticulated water, electricity, waste removal, etc.) and those that are provided by ecosystems (e.g. water retention, natural green spaces, fish stocks, etc.). We then looked at how various climatic and non-climatic stressors impact on these elements, first singularly and then in combination, to understand where key climate sensitivities lie. Then came an engagement with relevant climate science information generated from numerous global circulation models (GCMs), observational data collected at local weather stations and statistically downscaled projections for these stations. This involved looking across the different sources to see where there was convergence and divergence in the results and what could thereby be concluded as a basis for developing robust, defensible and actionable policy messages. Having reflected on the steps taken by each of the 5 city groups in the workshop, a refined version of the methodology will now be further developed so that it can be applied elsewhere and with additional constituencies in the same cities. 

20 HEQF credits at level 9.

Convener: Professor E Pieterse.

Course outline: Urbanisation; spatial structuring forces. Problems and issues of developing cities; poverty, exclusion, informality, livelihoods, economic development, governance and infrastructure.

Assessment: Take home paper 50%, assignments 50%.

END5042Z SUSTAINABLE URBAN SYSTEMS  (13 – 17 May 2013)

Convener: Professor H Von Brottnitz.

20 HEQF credits at level 9; 1-week block-release contact.

Course outline: The quest for sustainable development is a major contemporary challenge. A fundamental condition for achieving this is restructuring the processes of production-consumption-waste generation within urban/industrial complexes. This transdisciplinary course explores the need for, and ways of, undertaking 'restructuring', including the following: the imperative of Sustainable Development; physical constraints based on energy and mass balances and thermodynamics; General Systems Theory with respect to the interactions between industrial/Urban systems and ecological systems; Environmental/Ecological Economics; the concept of Industrial/Urban metabolism; case studies of Industrial and Urban Ecology in practice; institutional constraints and Decision Making Tools for Industrial/Urban sustainability.

Assessment: Essay 35%, project 65%.

END5043Z COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT  (12 – 16 August 2013)

Convener: Dr. M Brown-Luthango.

20 HEQF credits at level 9.

Course outline: Sustainable livelihood, participation, governance, partnerships, development action plans, survey methods.

Assessment: Take home paper 50%, assignments 50%.

CIV5065Z URBAN RENEWAL (7-11 October 2013)

20 HEQF credits at level 9.

Convener: Professor E Pieterse.

Course outline: Urban renewal context and policy; informal settlement upgrading; 'township' revitalisation; city centre regeneration; municipal engineering services; community services; housing.

Assessment: Take home paper 50%, assignments 50%.

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ELECTIVE MODULES

Integrated Land-Use and Transport Planning (END5038Z) (28 January – 1 February 2013) (20 credits)

Theoretical perspectives on the relationship between transport systems and urban activity systems. Co-evolution of transport systems and urban form. Sustainable transport and the problem of 'automobile dependent' cities. Planning paradigms and rationales for public intervention into land use and transport systems. Legislative, institutional and financial frameworks for land use and transport planning in South Africa. Conceptual framing and practical application of approaches to integrated land use-transport planning in the South African context. Local and international case studies and experiences. (Rowen.Geswindt@uct.ac.za)

Advanced Infrastructure Management (CIV5067Z) (15-19 April 2013) 20 credits

This module considers topics such as context and need for MIM; institutional requirements; the MIM process; preparing an MIM plan; data requirements for MIM. (isabel.ncube@uct.ac.za)

Project Implementation and Management (CON5016Z) (TBC 2009) (20 credits)

The need for planning which include the rules for planning and control; scope management, project strategy, project methodology; project scheduling techniques; project budgeting; change management and project integration. (Mareldia.Fagodien@uct.ac.za)

Integrated Urban Water Management (CIV5107Z) (28 October -1 November 2009) (20 credits)

This module looks at the management of the urban water cycle as a single system. Focusing mainly on the management of water supply, sanitation and urban drainage, it considers the social imperatives, the technical options, the environmental considerations and the economic challenges with a view to promoting increased sustainability.(isabel.ncube@uct.ac.za)

Local Area Transport Planning, Management and Design (END5036Z) (18 November - 22 Novmber 2013) (20 credits)

The planning and implementation of transport improvements at a local area (as opposed to citywide) scale. Urban design, landscaping and geometric design of streets. The design and management of local area movement networks. Accommodating pedestrians, bicycles and persons with movement disabilities in local area movement networks. (Rowen.Geswindt@uct.ac.za)

Political ecologists have considered the sociomateriality of diverse hybrids and the metabolism and circulation of urban flows such as water, food and waste. Adding alcohol to this list enhances our understanding of the geography of alcohol as well as the theory of sociomateriality. Viewing alcohol as a sociomaterial hybrid draws attention to the power-laden, dynamic processes which shape its flow, rather than considering it as already in place. Additionally, my examination of alcohol calls attention to aspects of sociomateriality which are widely relevant but underexplored in the literature: the role of friction in shaping flows; the need to examine microscale impacts of sociomateriality on the body and community; and the conditional impacts of complex, unpredictable sociomaterial hybrids. I use a case study of alcohol in Cape Town to examine how alcohol flows, encounters friction, flows over boundaries and shapes sociability and harm in complex, indeterminate ways.

Ralph will be undertaking research on super-diversity, space and design in Cape Town. He will continue the work of his PhD thesis which analyses the application of design to basic needs and for 'social impact'. This involves examining objects which, designed primarily for poor users, also function as story-telling objects to privileged audiences.

Ralph has played a key role in the 5^th Irene Grootboom Memorial Dialogues. He is part of the ACC team curating a major public exhibition on 'The Liveable City' at the end of 2013.

Ralph's research draws on his background in fine art, design and science and technology studies in order to 'read' objects. With an undergraduate degree in Fine Art from the University of Cape Town, and a Masters in 
Interactive Telecommunications from New York University, he completed his PhD in the School of Engineering at Trinity College, Dublin. His protest-performance suit, Suited for Subversion (2002) is in the collection of the New York Museum of Modern Art.

Click here to read more about Ralph's work.

In confronting the problems that poor women and men face in accessing land and habitable shelter in the context of competition for urban land, the presentation will discuss how tenure options, the role of the state and property markets can be kept in dynamic tension if economic growth and real rights to the city are to be practically achieved. It will explore whether a rights-based framework can be reconciled with a functional markets agenda by drawing on the practical experiences of addressing urban land issues in southern Africa since 2006 as part of the UKaid-funded programme, 'Urban LandMark'.

CBO – Action and Policy provides the summary of a global assessment of the links between urbanization, biodi- versity, and ecosystem services. Drawing on contributions from more than 120 scientists and policy-makers from around the world, it summarizes how urbanization affects biodiversity and ecosystem services and pres- ents 10 key messages for strengthening conservation and sustainable use of natural resources in an urban context. It also showcases best practices and lessons learned, and provides information on how to incorpo- rate the topics of biodiversity and ecosystem services into urban agendas and policies. CBO – Action and Policy emphasize challenges and opportunities in rapidly urbanizing developing countries. A workshop in Cape Town in February 2012 was specifically organized to bring together urban planners, policymakers and scientists from many different African countries to inform about current and future urban developments in Africa.The Aichi Biodiversity Targets (see Appendix 1) highlighted throughout the key messages reinforce the mission of the CBD's Strategic Plan to "take effective and urgent action to halt the loss of biodiversity."
This volume was developed in parallel with and builds upon the more detailed scientific analysis and assessment titled Global Urbanization, Biodiversity, and Ecosystems – Challenges and Opportunities, scheduled to be published in 2013. Both publications are a collaborative effort of the CBD and the Stockholm Resilience Centre of Stockholm University, with significant input from ICLEI – Local Governments for Sustainability.
The material reviewed here is evidence-based, tested, and in the public domain. For ease of readability, refer- ences are limited. A more complete list of references along with a glossary will be found in the scientific analysis and assessment (core chapters available at www.cbd.int/en/subnational/partners-and-initiatives/cbo).
Modeled upon the CBD's flagship publication, Global Biodiversity Outlook, the production of CBO – Action and Policy has been highly inclusive. Two separate drafts were widely circulated for review before publication. An Inter-Agency Task-Force and an Advisory Group (see p. 62), as well as the Global Partnership on Local and Sub-National Action for Biodiversity, provided valuable oversight of the entire process.

Download:

• Cbdcbo1book-fweb (PDF)

Download:

• Sinclair Smith And Turok 2012 Spatial Economy (PDF)

During her tenure of the Fellowship at the ACC, Jenny will be reworking her PhD thesis for publication as a research monograph. A graduate of the London School of Economics, Jenny's research is concerned with cultural entrepreneurship and social change in urban West Africa. Her work focuses specifically on the hip-hop music economy of Dakar (Senegal) and Ouagadougou (Burkina Faso). She argues that recognition of this specific urban economy is a valuable way of understanding and managing African cities and the dynamics of their creativity.

Jenny's Fellowship proposal noted that "the entrepreneurial dimensions of a specific urban culture in Francophone West Africa, has opened up a new field of study between cultural policy, urban politics and the study of cultural industries (particularly music)". She envisages her book enriching knowledge about cultural entrepreneurship generally by attending to the phenomenon in the urban global South, and by researching in new registers. Dr Mbaye's expectation is that the rewrite will be the better for drawing on the ACC's experience and perspectives on critical urban research and policy discourses for the production of vibrant, democratic and sustainable urban development in the Global South, and from an African vantage point.

The third AAPS all-schools conference was held from 16 to 18 October 2012 in Nairobi, Kenya. This event was funded by Cities Alliance. Keynote speakers included Sheela Patel (SDI), Winnie Mittulah (WIEGO) and Bernhard Barth (UN-Habitat). A total of 58 people attended the conference, representing 43 planning schools, alongside 2 representatives of SDI, 1 of the Ugandan Slum Dwellers Federation and 3 of Mungaano Support Trust (Kenyan SDI affiliate). The conference programme included: discussions on the concluded AAPS-SDI studios (Day 1); field trips and discussions around possible collaborative research interests (Day 2), and discussion of AAPS curricular projects and future organizational planning (Day 3).

Electronic waste (e-waste) has become a point of interest for social and technical scientists, activists, and policy-makers. In South Africa, researchers, consultants and industry have worked together to develop plans for modernizing the e-waste industry while, at the same time, a group of activists connected to the global environmental justice movement is concerned with the illegal import of e-waste into South Africa. In this paper, I show how the discourses of ecological modernisation and environmental justice have been mobilized by these two different groups. The discourses have contrasting evaluations of the role of technology, relationship with the state, and the role of political economy which shape interactions between the discourses and discourse coalitions. Despite these differences, productive engagements exist. I suggest that understanding these differences can improve this engagement and contribute to more successful e-waste policy and management in the South African context and more widely.

Keywords: e-waste, South Africa, discourse, environmental justice, ecological modernisation

The City of Cape Town faces a unique challenge, one not faced by any other city or urban management area in South Africa. The challenge is one of seeking ways to manage and administer a large portion of land, land carrying rural status, located within the immediate urban environment, and within an area of significant poverty and need, namely the Cape Flats.

This pressure is further compounded by a lack of current and accessible information about the viability, sustainability or potential of the area. Due to the nature of production and complex links between the Philippi Horticultural Area (PHA) and the food system of the City of Cape Town, the challenge of the Philippi Horticultural Area is of importance to more than the specific Philippi stakeholders. Decisions about the area have far broader implications, implications that could undermine livelihood strategies and resilience of a far wider set of stakeholders. This challenge is made all the more urgent by an increase in requests for zoning changes and land use departures within the PHA.

The dynamic mix between what is argued to be a viable food production area, perceptions of an opportunity for potential housing developments for those living in informality and need, an opportunity for developers to capitalise on strategically located land, and conflicting perspectives of what is urban or non urban and what is part of the city landscape and what is not, adds to the tensions and ongoing debates about the PHA, its value, viability and status in the longer term.

This research sought to assess the importance of the Philippi Horticultural Area in terms of its overall value to the entire Cape Town food system. Previous assessments of the PHA have not taken an explicit food lens. It is argued that a number of the previous reports have implicitly argued, or, due to the focus of the reports, created (although not necessarily intentionally) a view that the food value of this area is negligible and that the broader globalised South African food system would cover any slack created by the loss of this area.  This report sought to understand the current PHA/Cape Town food system relationship, the opportunities and challenges that this offered, the beneficiaries of this system and other potential but previously ignored values and challenges presented by the PHA.

The report has been drafted as a result of work carried out by a number of researchers, including Dr Jane Battersby Lennard, Gareth Haysom, Jess Rattle and Frances Davies.  The research report was drafted by Dr Jane Battersby Lennard and Gareth Haysom (corresponding author). 

Download:

• Philippi Horticultural Area Summary Report May 31 2012 (PDF)
• Pha Report Final Version 31 May 2012 (PDF)

Download:

• Ricky Burdette On Living In The Endless City (MP3)

Go here to get more info about CityScapes

Download:

• Cityscapes Panel Obf 2011 (MP3)

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• Raewyn Connell Talk (MP3)
• Raewyn Connell Qa (MP3)
• Raewyn-connell2 (JPG)

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• Amanda Burden (MP3)

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• New York Sustainable Streets - Jsadik-khan (MP3)

Cities have long been connected with processes of bureaucratisation and state-building, as indeed they have long been linked to conflict and war. In bringing these two associations together we engaged with the historical sociology of Charles Tilly and research in the CAFS programme confirmed that the intersection of cities, states and violent conflict remains significant, although it is far more complex in today's world. Cities have changed, states have changed, and armed conflict itself has changed. In this respect, cities are increasingly critical locations of conflict, both directly and indirectly. In the video below, Professor Jo Beall discusses some of the finding from the "Conflict and State Fragility" project that she has directed over the last 10 years.

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• Jo Beall-crisis States (MP3)

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• Vpuu (MP3)

Making the most of Cape Town's limited urban space is the goal of densification.  With increased density will come opportunities and challenges to create distinctive urban spaces that provide the locus for the symbolic framing of Cape Town's many cultures.  This presentation by Bradley Rink looks at Cape Town's De Waterkant neighbourhood to discuss the challenges and opportunities in creating a densified, unique and inclusive Central City.

Download:

• Bradley Rink (MP3)

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• Episode20-season 1 (MOV)