Counter-currents
Subtitle: experiments in sustainability in the Cape Town region
By: [edited by Edgar Pieterse]
Contributors: University of Cape Town. African Centre for Cities
Publisher: Jacana Media
Published: 2010
Place of publication: Auckland Park
Language: eng
Number of pages: 273
ISBN-13: 9781770097957
Subjects: City planning; Government policy; Sustainable urban development
Description: "The City of Cape Town is heading for disaster and is already in deep crisis if one cares to look close enough. The recent proliferation of public construction, public squares and public housing along the N2 towards the airport is little more than a mirage compared with the direction of more underlying trends. Cape Town's grim future is born out of the confluence of the globalised economic and ecological collapse that is fast becoming the defining feature of the twenty-first century. It is manifested most starkly in the dire situation that faces the majority of the city's residents, who are excluded from the formal economy and must rely on substandard public services and their own makeshift shelters. The scenario is serious enough to draw everyone's attention but should be set against the broader issues of long-term economic resilience and environmental sustainability to achieve a low-carbon society - so we have our work cut out for us. The purpose of this volume is to demystify these challenges and present readers with a creative portfolio of thinking, practice and strong vision to show that we can find alternatives - and, moreover, that these alternatives are already emerging in (marginal) sections of the state, civil society and the business sectors."--Introd.
Notes: Published in association with the African Centre for Cities, University of Cape Town.

Includes bibliographical references.
Table of contents: title: Introduction / Edgar Pieterse; title: The dynamic of leadership in Cape Town / David Schmidt; title: Jane Alexander: hunger artist / Ashraf Jamal; title: The right to the city / Abdoumaliq Simone; title: Karen Press; title: The Cape Town 2030 Initiative: a contested vision of the future / Stephen Boshoff; title: Towards urban infrastructure sustainability in Cape Town / Wendy Crane ... [et al.]; title: Public transport: tackling Cape Town's Achilles heel / Herrie Schalekamp; title: Making public space in 21st century Cape Town: an idealistic planning construct or a catalytic city building project? / Barbara Southworth; title: Cape Town central city development strategy / Andrew Borraine; title: District Six development framework: prospects for urban and social sustainability / Lucien le Grange & Nisa Mammon; title: Oude Moulen: imagining sustainable human settlements / Mokena Makeka; title: Kosovo informal settlement upgrade: sustainability towards dignified communities / Gita Goven; title: An experiment in innovative public housing / Luyanda Mpahlwa; title: Photo essay: Cape integrated / curated by Tau Tavengwa; title: Nurturing creativity: the Spier experiment / Tanner Methvin; title: A development plan for Paardvlei, Somerset West / Dave Dewar & Piet Louw; title: Space and transformation: reflections on the Cape schools programme / Iain Louw; title: Regional development: a new pathway to a more equitable and resilient Cape Town? / Sue Parnell & Greg Clarke; title: Dealing with sustainability / Mark Swilling; title: Why is transformative change so elusive?: roundtable; title: Conclusion: Re-imagining Cape Town through the rebus of identity, economy and ecology / Edgar Pieterse.