Historically divided cities – urban heritage of the apartheid era

Abstract

The urban apartheid system in South Africa reached its peak in the 1960s. However, since the 1980s, weakened by its own contradictions, but also strikes and uprisings of black workers, it has shown signs of breaking down. Its legal foundations were repealed in 1991, however officially instituted programmes of land restitution and social and economic uplifting did not change or demise the patterns introduced during the last 40 years. After 1991 the residential integration was mostly left to market forces, accompanied by occasional land invasions. Choice of residential options is still constrained by the general level of poverty especially among Africans, which prevents them from purchasing property in the formerly White areas. The Black majority keeps living in townships, which are characterized by very poor conditions of living, lack of sanitation, social facilities and services. In many cities, outside the townships, beyond the urban fringe informal shack settlements exist, deprived of any township services, and are often erected in areas of geotechnical or political susceptibility. On the other hand white population remains both more segregated and less open to change then the other groups. Urban segregation levels in South Africa still remains remarkably high by international standards, therefore the heritage of the apartheid planning is still apparent in the urban form.