1.

Record Nr.

UNINA9910807935003321

Autore

Murray Martin J.

Titolo

Taming the Disorderly City : The Spatial Landscape of Johannesburg after Apartheid / / Martin J. Murray

Pubbl/distr/stampa

Ithaca, NY : , : Cornell University Press, , [2008]

©2008

ISBN

1-5017-1699-9

1-5017-1700-6

Descrizione fisica

1 online resource (xvi, 261 p. :) : ill. ;

Disciplina

307.3/4160968221

Soggetti

City planning - South Africa - Johannesburg

Urban renewal - South Africa - Johannesburg

Sociology, Urban - South Africa - Johannesburg

Johannesburg (South Africa) Politics and government

Johannesburg (South Africa) Geography

Johannesburg (South Africa) Social conditions

Lingua di pubblicazione

Inglese

Formato

Materiale a stampa

Livello bibliografico

Monografia

Nota di bibliografia

Includes bibliographical references (p. [237]-256) and index.

Nota di contenuto

Front matter -- Contents -- Preface -- Acknowledgments -- Abbreviations And Nicknames -- Introduction: The Untamed City Of Fragments -- 1. Social Justice And The Rights To The City -- 2. Ruin And Regeneration Intertwined -- 3. The Fixed And Flexible City -- 4. Disposable People At The Peri-Urban Fringe -- 5. The Spatial Dynamics Of Real Estate Capitalism -- 6. The Struggle For Survival In The Inner City -- 7. Revitalization And Displacement In The Inner City -- 8. The Banality Of Indifferent Urbanism -- References -- Index

Sommario/riassunto

In post-apartheid Johannesburg, tensions of race and class manifest themselves starkly in struggles over "rights to the city." Real-estate developers and the very poor fight for control of space as the municipal administration steps aside, almost powerless to shape the direction of change. Having ceded control of development to the private sector, the Johannesburg city government has all but abandoned residential planning to the unpredictability of market forces. This failure to plan for the civic good-and the resulting confusion-is a perfect example of



the entrepreneurial approaches to urban governance that are sweeping much of the Global South as well as the cities of the North. Martin J. Murray brings together a wide range of urban theory and local knowledge to draw a nuanced portrait of contemporary Johannesburg. In Taming the Disorderly City, he provides a focused intellectual and political critique of the often-ambivalent urban dynamics that have emerged after the end of apartheid. Exploring the behaviors of the rich and poor, each empowered in their own way, as they rebuild a new Johannesburg, we see the entrepreneurial city: high-rises, shopping districts, and gated communities surrounded by and intermingled with poverty. In graceful prose, Murray offers a compelling portrait of the everyday lives of the urban poor as seen through the lens of real-estate capitalism and revitalization efforts.