Search

Business parks have increasingly become part of Cape Town's industrial built environment over the last 25 years. It signifies a shift from large industrial premises to smaller units in communal industrial settings. This paper investigates the types of business activities found in the business parks using the conceptual underpinnings of location theory and industrial cluster theory. Online and fieldwork surveys of the businesses found in 49 business parks in Cape Town, South Africa, were conducted to compile a database of businesses and their activities. Each business was classified using the South African Standard Industrial Classification (SIC) codes to establish which economic sectors are represented in the business parks. It was found that the predominant economic sectors in business parks were the wholesale and retail trade, which included the repair of motor vehicles, motorcycles and personal and household goods and catering and accommodation, as well as the financial sector consisting of banking, insurance, real estate and business services. Manufacturing activities and commercial, social and personal services were also well represented. The findings indicate that business parks are the popular location for retail-orientated businesses and small manufacturing concerns and affirm the growing importance of the professional and business service sectors. The paper lays the groundwork for further investigation into the multi-scalar economic linkages of firms in business parks in Cape Town. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Quarried stone has a multitude of uses in the built environment. Often old, abandoned quarries near cities have become enveloped by urban expansion. This paper investigates what becomes of disused quarries, specifically in Cape Town, South Africa. The study is scaffolded by the theoretical underpinnings of urban materiality which, in turn, draws from assemblage theory. It is posited that the urban materialities of quarries, as one-time sites of material extraction, do not cease with closure. The infill, rehabilitation and repurposing of quarries for other uses result in continued contributions of quarries to the urbanscape, in addition to being historical sites of meaning and memory. The location of 77 quarries in Cape Town were mapped using data from various sources. Seventy-one quarries are in a post-extractive state. Thirty-five per cent of disused quarries have not been rehabilitated or altered by human activity after closure. However, they are sites of non-human use. Sixty-five per cent of the post-extractive quarries are sites for housing, commercial and educational activities; for recreational activities; have been infilled; or they store water for agricultural purposes. The reuse of quarries speaks to the creation of new urban materialities and assemblages by humans and non-humans which are worthy of further investigation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Contemporary literature on urban agriculture often analyses urban community gardens as 'existing' commons with the capacity to counter neoliberal urban development and resource management practices. However, the existing literature on 'political gardening' generally focuses on cities in North America and Europe, despite the prevalence of urban community gardens and neoliberal planning across other regions, including Southern cities. This paper examines urban community gardens in Cape Town, South Africa to assess their capacity to function as urban commons in six areas: infrastructure, inputs, land, produce, labour and immaterial components. This mixed‐methods study employed questionnaires, semi‐structured interviews and observations across 34 urban community gardens in the city. The findings and analysis demonstrate how the urban community gardens counter neoliberal privatisation and individualisation processes. However, their capacity to function as urban commons is significantly curtailed by an entrenchment within the neoliberal context. Thus, the urban community gardens are framed as 'experimental' commons, a valuable re‐conceptualisation of alternative resource utilisation in neoliberal Southern cities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In post-conflict and divided cities where urban spatial injustice is reinforced by enduring divisions, the frameworks of spatial intersectionality and transformative justice hold significant potential to address inequity through urban planning. All cities can be considered divided in some way and these divisions often represent spatial injustice or inequitable access to resources and space. However, in post-conflict and divided cities these divisions may be entrenched and may transgenerationally maintain conditions of inequity and violence. This paper presents spatial intersectionality and transformative justice as frameworks for urban planning that have the potential to address inequity and divisions in all cities, but particularly in cities catergorised as divided due to violence or conflict. I propose a set of guiding questions for transformative justice informed urban planning. • Spatial intersectionality can help identify how structures of inequality restrict movement and use of cities. • Applying transformative justice to urban planning can address the roots of social and structural inequity. • The two frameworks are complementary and can broaden the scope of urban planning to address inequity, violence, and division. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]