Abstract
The post-apartheid city, a corollary of centuries of spatial construction characterised by various forms of segregation, is a site of continued spatial and socio-economic inequalities, where the most marginalised communities are on the receiving end. While the democratic dispensation has brought with it significant in-roads in the de-segregation of the city, vestiges of its colonial and apartheid past remain deeply embedded in its geography. Attempts to fashion the city’s spatial transformation have been anchored on its gentrification. This has changed some aspects of the physical decay which has occurred over decades in the post-apartheid city, specifically the development of its infrastructure. Nevertheless, it has not been without great cost to the multitudes of vulnerable communities, including the working-class poor and migrants. The physical rehabilitation of the post-apartheid city has resulted in it becoming an enclave of wealthier members of the population. However, this is proving to have a directly proportional relationship to the physical, economic, social and cultural displacement of vulnerable and marginalised communities. This systematic entrenchment of segregation and marginalisation challenges the idea of gentrified space as an antidote to urban decay. This study, employing a qualitative approach, analyses gentrification in the post-apartheid city, with a specific focus on the Maboneng Precinct and Braamfontein, located in Johannesburg – the economic nervecentre of South Africa. Through interviews with twenty-five residents, former residents, businesspersons, students, organisations working with displaced communities and government officials, the study captures the experiences of gentrification and related processes by the affected. Using critical social theory, it contends that the concept of gentrification is rooted in the notion of space as a preserve of particular classes, inherently impeding on the right to the city for vulnerable communities and rendering them impuissant. The study finds that existing spatial and human settlements policies of the national government and the City of Johannesburg metropolitan municipality aim to de-segregate the city. Nevertheless, these have set parameters for the displacement of poor working-class people and the re-segregation of the city, which is evident in the defined case study locales. It concludes that redressing inequities of the past demands the development of urban redevelopment strategies anchored not only on physical transformation of geography, but on spatial justice and the inalienable right to the city. A key recommendation of the study is the reconstruction of the post-apartheid city, based on the development of integrated human settlements, an integrated transport network system and access to the city.