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Conceptualizing ‘the Urban’ Through the Lens of Durban, South Africa

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Abstract

Contemporary urban theory raises many questions about how ‘the urban’ is being conceptualized in a fast changing world that is approaching an urban epoch. Evolving debates about what it means to be urban, including the similarities and differences between so-called northern and southern cities, the future of cities, the way to manage and sustain cities, and cities’ relationships to the new Urban Agenda and the Sustainable Development Goals, reveal the need for urban theory that can explain and provide insights into contemporary urban governance, processes, and outcomes. This special issue uses Durban as a lens to provide insight into the changing nature of cities in the Global South and Africa in particular, which encapsulate and reflect both formality and informality; tradition and modernity; uneven and unequal growth and social transformation; environmental crises and ‘resilience and sustainability’. This paper reflects on the dominant processes shaping the development of the city, revealing the challenges, tensions, and opportunities that emerge as the city assembles new ways of being urban, through the rationalities, knowledge, experiences, practices and actions of the state, citizens, and the private sector.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Built Environment and Development Studies, University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, South Africa

    Catherine Sutherland

  2. Environmental and Geographical Science, University of Cape Town, Cape Town, South Africa

    Dianne Scott

  3. Department of Geography, University of Otago, Dunedin, Otago, New Zealand

    Etienne Nel

  4. Department of Geography, University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, South Africa

    Adrian Nel

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  1. Catherine Sutherland
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  2. Dianne Scott
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  3. Etienne Nel
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  4. Adrian Nel
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Correspondence to Catherine Sutherland.

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Sutherland, C., Scott, D., Nel, E. et al. Conceptualizing ‘the Urban’ Through the Lens of Durban, South Africa. Urban Forum 29, 333–350 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12132-018-9353-4

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