The Changing Role of Traditional Urban Space in South Africa's Cities: A Case Study of Urban Space Connectors in Four South African Cities

摘要

Together, electronic communications (ICT) and access to transportation mobility provide the connecting network for communities of the relatively wealthy, who often choose to live in a dispersed urban region. In South Africa, however, where the recently urbanized only have limited access to ICT and independent transport, traditional urban space is still the networking mechanism that the poor need. In South Africa, this co-existence has led to both creative vitality as well as conflict in the use of urban space. Resolving this dichotomy has important implications for South Africa's cities. Important inner-city urban spaces were identified in Port Elizabeth. Uitenhage. Cradock and Grahamstown. Activities were monitored over a twenty-four hour cycle and analyzed by type, duration, intensity, and spatial impact. Points of conflict and coherence were identified. The main findings of the study include the vital importance of traditional urban space for the poor for whom it provides an important resource for trade, the heavy demands that their intensity of use puts on the material fabric of the space, and their need for space that unlocks opportunity. This intense vitality in the use of urban space is often perceived as hostile by the relatively wealthy. The implication of the study for South African cities is the vital importance of maintaining compact, traditional urban space as a key urban resource for the poor, and managing this resource effectively.