Urban Governance in Post-apartheid Cities (PDF)

Urban governance as a term captures the complex interaction between stakeholders or groupings which influence urban development. In South Africa, this complexity emerged with the transition from apartheid more than two decades ago. Today, governance influences priorities in a wide range of urban domains, from public transport to policing; from engagements at the neighbourhood level to city-wide strategies. In different configurations, urban governance shapes inner city districts and gated estates on the urban periphery. The contributors to this volume cover urban governance in contemporary South Africa across three spheres, the state, the community and the private sector, through a variety of lenses. Spatial concerns are central to many of the analyses and case studies, in which the authors highlight different modes that influence the steering of South Africa's largest cities. The range of insights provided by the authors illuminates post-apartheid tensions and urban dynamics in a way that will be of value to scholars, practitioners, decision-makers, politicians and activists alike. This is the most important work yet on cities in post-apartheid South Africa. It does not reduce them to technical problems and their residents to recipients of 'service delivery'. Rather, it sees cities as what they are - political spaces in which some fight for inclusion while others work to exclude them. Its chapters produce detailed accounts of the alliances and conflicts which are generated daily in our cities - they are essential reading for an understanding of urban South Africa today.