Edgar Pieterse

Citation: Hyman, K. and Pieterse, E. (2017) “Infrastructure deficits and potential in African Cities”, in: Burdett, R. and Hall, S. (eds.) The SAGE Handbook of Urban Sociology: New approaches to the twenty-first century city. London: Sage Publishers

Full citation: Pieterse, E. (2018) “Reconstructing / Ricostruendo. Edgar Pieterse  in conversation with Elena Motisi”, in:  Njami, S., Motisi, E. and Corraini, E. (eds.) African Metropolis. An Imaginary City. Rome: MAXXI, the National Museum of 21st Century Arts.

Edgar Pieterse offers a critique of the mainstream Brundtland inspired conception of sustainable cities. His alternative conceptual approach presents the critical dimensions of an alternative urban development framework. He looks at how three co-constitutive urban operating systems – infrastructural, economic and spatial – need to be transformed in order to achieve more sustainable lives and livelihoods. He argues that such

... importance of democratic governance, reduced social exclusion and investment in the urbanpoor (Scott et ... Meta-objectives, in turn, can provide useful entry-points for practicable proposals to act in favour of an alternative trajectory—more integrative—of urban development. ...

ABSTRACT The boundary identified by Robinson between ‘urbanism’ and ‘developmental-ism’ will not be eliminated overnight. South African urban studies in all its hues are probably too set in its ways to make room for the kinds of imagining proposed in this paper. However, there are signs that scholars and artists in other fields will simply drag the ‘multiplex’ dynamics of everyday urbanism to the front door, forcing recalcitrants to take notice. For instance, the flood of fiction and cultural studies on the city by authors like Sello Duiker, Phaswane Mpe, Ashraf Jamal, Gabeba Baderoon, Dominique Malaquais, Ntone Edjabe, Sarah Nuttal, amongst many others, is rising surreptitiously behind the backs of scholars, biding time. The immediate challenge is to create spaces for cross-disciplinary dialogues and exchanges, which may eventually lead to trans-disciplinary practices to capture the elusive South African urbanism in all its starkness, impervious to desire or redemption.

... the government came to the conclusion that "many of the [spatial] challenges faced by the ... Thus, as part of a larger intellectual effort to deconstruct and analyse public poli-cies on ... and land-use man-agement; effective transport systems to provide increased density and linkages ...

Conclusion  In spite of the dizzying speed of change and increased complexity in the wake of political, economic and cultural shifts at a global level, it is clear that urban social movements are potentially pivotal actors in forging a progressive political agenda. In South Africa the dimensions of these new challenges are presenting themselves with increasing clarity, especially against the backdrop

... and C municipalities, applicable in urban and rural areas respec-tively, operate within a two-tiered system requiring a sharing of authority ... The racist political and planning systems of the recent past have left deep spatial scars on the city, not unlike ... From Divided to Integrated City ...

Abstract In the wake of Mumbai terror attacks one is forced to reflect on the nature and representation of urban violence across the global South. It is clear that only certain kinds of violence and upheaval warrant attention in the public domain as reflected in the world's globalized media. This ...

It is assumed in the article that the contemporary urban condition is marked by an increased pluralistic intensity in cities. Coupled to this shift in the nature of the urban context, one can also observe a proliferation of sites of political engagement and agency, some of which are formally tied to the various institutional forums of the state, and many that are defined by their insistence to stand apart from the state, asserting autonomy and clamouring for a self‐defined terms of recognition and agency. This article draws attention to the significance of one category of urban actors – hip‐hoppers – that can be said to occupy a ‘marginal’ location in relation to the state, but one uniquely relevant to the marginalised existence of most poor black youth in cities of the global South, particularly Rio de Janeiro and Cape Town. The article demonstrates that hip‐hop cultures offer a powerful framework of interpretation and response for poor black youth who are systemically caught at the receiving end of extremely violent and exploitative urban forces. The basis of hip‐hop's power is its complex aesthetical sensibility that fuses affective registers, such as rage, passion, lust, critique, pleasure and desire, which, in turn, translates into political identities, and sometimes agency (i.e. positionality), for its participants. In the final instance, the article tries to link conclusions about the potential of hip‐hop cultural politics to larger themes in urban studies, such as participation, public space, citizenship and security.

The purpose of this essay is to make a case for why a much more differentiated and complex theoretical approach to contemporary African urbanism is required. It builds on an important body of work that has emerged over the course of the past two decades that seeks to explicate and theorise the specificity of everyday practices of ordinary Africans as

ABSTRACT The post-election period in South Africa has been marked by trials for the NGO sector, in spite of its pivotal role in the anti-apartheid struggle. The article explores certain developments within the NGO sector, and between the NGOs and the government, to present tentative interpretations of these processes. A schematic background to the NGO sector firstly contextualises the problems now confronting these organisations. The second part provides an overview of the internal difficulties which confront NGOs. A description of how relations between the NGO sector and the government are unfolding is complementedby a discussionofNGOs andthe prevailing `funding crises'. The final part is more speculative, postulating the challenges which will confront NGOs in the coming years.

This chapter attempts to map out the anchors for a cultural transition toward a more just and sustainable society, especially in the global South. My aim is to provide a larger conceptual canvas for the movements, interventions, and innovations featured in the Design with the Other 90%: CITIES exhibition. I hope these diverse, ethically connected projects will help readers appreciate their larger significance, and that the seeds of structural transformation of our cities can be gleaned from them.

AbstractUnder conditions of globalization large cities present unique challenges for poverty reduction and the realization of rights. The urbanization of poverty also underscores the imperative of downscaling the emerging debate about the developmental state to the city scale. The arguments in this article start from the proposition that a universal rights agenda can and should be fulfilled as an alternative to neoliberal aspirations, and that to achieve this development action will be needed on a series of different scales. The article is structured in three main parts. The first section explores the implications for the state of adopting a rights-based agenda in the urban context, giving particular emphasis to defining those rights whose meaning arises from settlement planning or management-based policies and interventions on the individual, household, neighbourhood and more macro-environmental scale (what we call 2nd, 3rd and 4th generation rights or the ‘right to the city’). The second part of the article is dedicated to illustrating the particular nature of how rights to the city are blocked or achieved, using the experiences of the Greater Cape Town area. The final section of the article makes a more general case for a more radical rights-based agenda for cities.Under conditions of globalization large cities present unique challenges for poverty reduction and the realization of rights. The urbanization of poverty also underscores the imperative of downscaling the emerging debate about the developmental state to the city scale. The arguments in this article start from the proposition that a universal rights agenda can and should be fulfilled as an alternative to neoliberal aspirations, and that to achieve this development action will be needed on a series of different scales. The article is structured in three main parts. The first section explores the implications for the state of adopting a rights-based agenda in the urban context, giving particular emphasis to defining those rights whose meaning arises from settlement planning or management-based policies and interventions on the individual, household, neighbourhood and more macro-environmental scale (what we call 2nd, 3rd and 4th generation rights or the ‘right to the city’). The second part of the article is dedicated to illustrating the particular nature of how rights to the city are blocked or achieved, using the experiences of the Greater Cape Town area. The final section of the article makes a more general case for a more radical rights-based agenda for cities.RésuméDans un environnement mondialisé, les grandes villes présentent des problèmes particuliers de réduction de la pauvreté et de concrétisation des droits. De plus, l’urbanisation de la pauvreté met en avant la nécessité impérative de ramener au niveau de la ville l’échelle du débat naissant sur ‘l’État en développement’. Les arguments partent ici de la proposition selon laquelle un programme de droits universels peut et devrait être réalisé en tant qu’alternative aux aspirations néolibérales et que, pour ce faire, il faudra des actions de développement sur une série d’échelles différentes. La première partie de l’article explore les implications, pour l’État, d’adopter un projet basé sur des droits dans le contexte urbain; ce faisant, elle souligne l’importance de définir ces droits dont la signification naît de politiques ou d’interventions sur l’aménagement de l’habitat ou basées sur la gestion, à la fois à l’échelon de l’individu, du foyer, du quartier et d’un environnement plus vaste (ce que nous appelons respectivement les droits de 2ème, 3ème et 4ème génération ou ‘droit à la ville’). La deuxième partie illustre la manière particulière dont les droits à la ville sont soit bloqués soit atteints, à partir des expériences de Greater Cape Town. La dernière partie défend plus généralement un programme pour les villes qui soit basé sur des droits et plus radical.Dans un environnement mondialisé, les grandes villes présentent des problèmes particuliers de réduction de la pauvreté et de concrétisation des droits. De plus, l’urbanisation de la pauvreté met en avant la nécessité impérative de ramener au niveau de la ville l’échelle du débat naissant sur ‘l’État en développement’. Les arguments partent ici de la proposition selon laquelle un programme de droits universels peut et devrait être réalisé en tant qu’alternative aux aspirations néolibérales et que, pour ce faire, il faudra des actions de développement sur une série d’échelles différentes. La première partie de l’article explore les implications, pour l’État, d’adopter un projet basé sur des droits dans le contexte urbain; ce faisant, elle souligne l’importance de définir ces droits dont la signification naît de politiques ou d’interventions sur l’aménagement de l’habitat ou basées sur la gestion, à la fois à l’échelon de l’individu, du foyer, du quartier et d’un environnement plus vaste (ce que nous appelons respectivement les droits de 2ème, 3ème et 4ème génération ou ‘droit à la ville’). La deuxième partie illustre la manière particulière dont les droits à la ville sont soit bloqués soit atteints, à partir des expériences de Greater Cape Town. La dernière partie défend plus généralement un programme pour les villes qui soit basé sur des droits et plus radical.

Cities are the future. In the past two decades, a global urban revolution has taken place, mainly in the South. The 'mega-cities' of the developing world are home to over 10 million people each and even smaller cities are experiencing unprecedented population surges. The problems surrounding this influx of people - slums, poverty, unemployment and lack of governance - have been well-documented.

This book is a powerful indictment of the current consensus on how to deal with these challenges. Pieterse argues that the current 'shelter for all' and 'urban good governance' policies treat only the symptoms, not the causes of the problem. Instead, he claims, there is an urgent need to reinvigorate civil society in these cities, to encourage radical democracy, economic resilience, social resistance and environmental sustainability folded into the everyday concerns of marginalised people. Providing a dynamic picture of a cosmopolitan urban citizenship, this book is an essential guide to one of the new century's greatest challenges.