Edgar Pieterse is an urban scholar, writer and creative agent whose interests include the theory and practice of imaginaries to make the Southern city more just, open and experimental. Edgar is founding director of the African Centre for Cities (ACC) and Professor in the School of Architecture and Planning, both at the University of Cape Town and holder of the DST/NRF South African Research Chair in Urban Policy. His research and teaching gravitates around urban development politics, everyday culture, publics, radical social economies, responsive design and adaptive governance systems.
Citation: Pieterse, E. (2018) “The Politics of Governing African Urban Spaces”, International Dev... more Citation: Pieterse, E. (2018) “The Politics of Governing African Urban Spaces”, International Development Policy / Revue internationale de politique de développement, No. 10.
Citation: Pieterse, E. (2017) “The City in Sub-Saharan Africa”, in: Short, J.R. (ed) A Research ... more Citation: Pieterse, E. (2017) “The City in Sub-Saharan Africa”, in: Short, J.R. (ed) A Research Agenda for Cities. London and New York: Sage.
Citation: Cartwright, A., Palmer, I., Taylor, A., Pieterse, E., Parnell, S., Colenbrander, S. (20... more Citation: Cartwright, A., Palmer, I., Taylor, A., Pieterse, E., Parnell, S., Colenbrander, S. (2018) Developing Prosperous and Inclusive Cities in Africa - National Urban Policies to the Rescue? Coalition for Urban Transitions Working Paper. London and Washington, DC.
Citation: Hyman, K. and Pieterse, E. (2017) “Infrastructure deficits and potential in African Cit... more Citation: Hyman, K. and Pieterse, E. (2017) “Infrastructure deficits and potential in African Cities”, in: Burdett, R. and Hall, S. (eds.) The SAGE Handbook of Urban Sociology: New approaches to the twenty-first century city. London: Sage Publishers
Citation: Pieterse, E. (2015) Epistemological Practices of Southern Urbanism. In: Wowo Ding, Arie... more Citation: Pieterse, E. (2015) Epistemological Practices of Southern Urbanism. In: Wowo Ding, Arie Graafland, and Andong Lu (eds) Cities in Transition II. Power, Environment, Society. Rotterdam: nai010 Publishers.
Full citation: Pieterse, E. (2018) “Reconstructing / Ricostruendo. Edgar Pieterse in conversatio... more Full citation: Pieterse, E. (2018) “Reconstructing / Ricostruendo. Edgar Pieterse in conversation with Elena Motisi”, in: Njami, S., Motisi, E. and Corraini, E. (eds.) African Metropolis. An Imaginary City. Rome: MAXXI, the National Museum of 21st Century Arts.
This paper examines African urban infrastructure and service delivery as an entry point for conne... more This paper examines African urban infrastructure and service delivery as an entry point for connecting African aspirations with the harsh developmental imperatives of urban management, creating a dialogue between scholarly knowledge and sustainable development policy aspirations. We note a shift to multinodal urban governance and highlight the significance of the synthesis of social, economic and ecological values in a normative vision of what an African metropolis might aspire to by 2030. The sustainable development vision provides a useful stimulus for Africa’s urban poly-crisis, demanding fresh interdisciplinary and normatively explicit thinking, grounded in a practical and realistic understanding of Africa’s infrastructure and governance challenges.
Edgar Pieterse offers a critique of the mainstream Brundtland inspired conception of sustainable ... more Edgar Pieterse offers a critique of the mainstream Brundtland inspired conception of sustainable cities. His alternative conceptual approach presents the critical dimensions of an alternative urban development framework. He looks at how three co-constitutive urban operating systems – infrastructural, economic and spatial – need to be transformed in order to achieve more sustainable lives and livelihoods. He argues that such
... importance of democratic governance, reduced social exclusion and investment in the urbanpoor... more ... importance of democratic governance, reduced social exclusion and investment in the urbanpoor (Scott et ... Meta-objectives, in turn, can provide useful entry-points for practicable proposals to act in favour of an alternative trajectorymore integrativeof urban development. ...
ABSTRACT The boundary identified by Robinson between ‘urbanism’ and ‘developmental-ism’ will not ... more ABSTRACT The boundary identified by Robinson between ‘urbanism’ and ‘developmental-ism’ will not be eliminated overnight. South African urban studies in all its hues are probably too set in its ways to make room for the kinds of imagining proposed in this paper. However, there are signs that scholars and artists in other fields will simply drag the ‘multiplex’ dynamics of everyday urbanism to the front door, forcing recalcitrants to take notice. For instance, the flood of fiction and cultural studies on the city by authors like Sello Duiker, Phaswane Mpe, Ashraf Jamal, Gabeba Baderoon, Dominique Malaquais, Ntone Edjabe, Sarah Nuttal, amongst many others, is rising surreptitiously behind the backs of scholars, biding time. The immediate challenge is to create spaces for cross-disciplinary dialogues and exchanges, which may eventually lead to trans-disciplinary practices to capture the elusive South African urbanism in all its starkness, impervious to desire or redemption.
... the government came to the conclusion that "many of the [spatial] challenges faced by th... more ... the government came to the conclusion that "many of the [spatial] challenges faced by the ... Thus, as part of a larger intellectual effort to deconstruct and analyse public poli-cies on ... and land-use man-agement; effective transport systems to provide increased density and linkages ...
Conclusion In spite of the dizzying speed of change and increased complexity in the wake of poli... more Conclusion In spite of the dizzying speed of change and increased complexity in the wake of political, economic and cultural shifts at a global level, it is clear that urban social movements are potentially pivotal actors in forging a progressive political agenda. In South Africa the dimensions of these new challenges are presenting themselves with increasing clarity, especially against the backdrop
... and C municipalities, applicable in urban and rural areas respec-tively, operate within a two... more ... and C municipalities, applicable in urban and rural areas respec-tively, operate within a two-tiered system requiring a sharing of authority ... The racist political and planning systems of the recent past have left deep spatial scars on the city, not unlike ... From Divided to Integrated City ...
Abstract In the wake of Mumbai terror attacks one is forced to reflect on the nature and represen... more Abstract In the wake of Mumbai terror attacks one is forced to reflect on the nature and representation of urban violence across the global South. It is clear that only certain kinds of violence and upheaval warrant attention in the public domain as reflected in the world's globalized media. This ...
It is assumed in the article that the contemporary urban condition is marked by an increased plur... more It is assumed in the article that the contemporary urban condition is marked by an increased pluralistic intensity in cities. Coupled to this shift in the nature of the urban context, one can also observe a proliferation of sites of political engagement and agency, some of which are formally tied to the various institutional forums of the state, and many that are defined by their insistence to stand apart from the state, asserting autonomy and clamouring for a self‐defined terms of recognition and agency. This article draws attention to the significance of one category of urban actors – hip‐hoppers – that can be said to occupy a ‘marginal’ location in relation to the state, but one uniquely relevant to the marginalised existence of most poor black youth in cities of the global South, particularly Rio de Janeiro and Cape Town. The article demonstrates that hip‐hop cultures offer a powerful framework of interpretation and response for poor black youth who are systemically caught at the receiving end of extremely violent and exploitative urban forces. The basis of hip‐hop's power is its complex aesthetical sensibility that fuses affective registers, such as rage, passion, lust, critique, pleasure and desire, which, in turn, translates into political identities, and sometimes agency (i.e. positionality), for its participants. In the final instance, the article tries to link conclusions about the potential of hip‐hop cultural politics to larger themes in urban studies, such as participation, public space, citizenship and security.
Citation: Pieterse, E. (2018) “The Politics of Governing African Urban Spaces”, International Dev... more Citation: Pieterse, E. (2018) “The Politics of Governing African Urban Spaces”, International Development Policy / Revue internationale de politique de développement, No. 10.
Citation: Pieterse, E. (2017) “The City in Sub-Saharan Africa”, in: Short, J.R. (ed) A Research ... more Citation: Pieterse, E. (2017) “The City in Sub-Saharan Africa”, in: Short, J.R. (ed) A Research Agenda for Cities. London and New York: Sage.
Citation: Cartwright, A., Palmer, I., Taylor, A., Pieterse, E., Parnell, S., Colenbrander, S. (20... more Citation: Cartwright, A., Palmer, I., Taylor, A., Pieterse, E., Parnell, S., Colenbrander, S. (2018) Developing Prosperous and Inclusive Cities in Africa - National Urban Policies to the Rescue? Coalition for Urban Transitions Working Paper. London and Washington, DC.
Citation: Hyman, K. and Pieterse, E. (2017) “Infrastructure deficits and potential in African Cit... more Citation: Hyman, K. and Pieterse, E. (2017) “Infrastructure deficits and potential in African Cities”, in: Burdett, R. and Hall, S. (eds.) The SAGE Handbook of Urban Sociology: New approaches to the twenty-first century city. London: Sage Publishers
Citation: Pieterse, E. (2015) Epistemological Practices of Southern Urbanism. In: Wowo Ding, Arie... more Citation: Pieterse, E. (2015) Epistemological Practices of Southern Urbanism. In: Wowo Ding, Arie Graafland, and Andong Lu (eds) Cities in Transition II. Power, Environment, Society. Rotterdam: nai010 Publishers.
Full citation: Pieterse, E. (2018) “Reconstructing / Ricostruendo. Edgar Pieterse in conversatio... more Full citation: Pieterse, E. (2018) “Reconstructing / Ricostruendo. Edgar Pieterse in conversation with Elena Motisi”, in: Njami, S., Motisi, E. and Corraini, E. (eds.) African Metropolis. An Imaginary City. Rome: MAXXI, the National Museum of 21st Century Arts.
This paper examines African urban infrastructure and service delivery as an entry point for conne... more This paper examines African urban infrastructure and service delivery as an entry point for connecting African aspirations with the harsh developmental imperatives of urban management, creating a dialogue between scholarly knowledge and sustainable development policy aspirations. We note a shift to multinodal urban governance and highlight the significance of the synthesis of social, economic and ecological values in a normative vision of what an African metropolis might aspire to by 2030. The sustainable development vision provides a useful stimulus for Africa’s urban poly-crisis, demanding fresh interdisciplinary and normatively explicit thinking, grounded in a practical and realistic understanding of Africa’s infrastructure and governance challenges.
Edgar Pieterse offers a critique of the mainstream Brundtland inspired conception of sustainable ... more Edgar Pieterse offers a critique of the mainstream Brundtland inspired conception of sustainable cities. His alternative conceptual approach presents the critical dimensions of an alternative urban development framework. He looks at how three co-constitutive urban operating systems – infrastructural, economic and spatial – need to be transformed in order to achieve more sustainable lives and livelihoods. He argues that such
... importance of democratic governance, reduced social exclusion and investment in the urbanpoor... more ... importance of democratic governance, reduced social exclusion and investment in the urbanpoor (Scott et ... Meta-objectives, in turn, can provide useful entry-points for practicable proposals to act in favour of an alternative trajectorymore integrativeof urban development. ...
ABSTRACT The boundary identified by Robinson between ‘urbanism’ and ‘developmental-ism’ will not ... more ABSTRACT The boundary identified by Robinson between ‘urbanism’ and ‘developmental-ism’ will not be eliminated overnight. South African urban studies in all its hues are probably too set in its ways to make room for the kinds of imagining proposed in this paper. However, there are signs that scholars and artists in other fields will simply drag the ‘multiplex’ dynamics of everyday urbanism to the front door, forcing recalcitrants to take notice. For instance, the flood of fiction and cultural studies on the city by authors like Sello Duiker, Phaswane Mpe, Ashraf Jamal, Gabeba Baderoon, Dominique Malaquais, Ntone Edjabe, Sarah Nuttal, amongst many others, is rising surreptitiously behind the backs of scholars, biding time. The immediate challenge is to create spaces for cross-disciplinary dialogues and exchanges, which may eventually lead to trans-disciplinary practices to capture the elusive South African urbanism in all its starkness, impervious to desire or redemption.
... the government came to the conclusion that "many of the [spatial] challenges faced by th... more ... the government came to the conclusion that "many of the [spatial] challenges faced by the ... Thus, as part of a larger intellectual effort to deconstruct and analyse public poli-cies on ... and land-use man-agement; effective transport systems to provide increased density and linkages ...
Conclusion In spite of the dizzying speed of change and increased complexity in the wake of poli... more Conclusion In spite of the dizzying speed of change and increased complexity in the wake of political, economic and cultural shifts at a global level, it is clear that urban social movements are potentially pivotal actors in forging a progressive political agenda. In South Africa the dimensions of these new challenges are presenting themselves with increasing clarity, especially against the backdrop
... and C municipalities, applicable in urban and rural areas respec-tively, operate within a two... more ... and C municipalities, applicable in urban and rural areas respec-tively, operate within a two-tiered system requiring a sharing of authority ... The racist political and planning systems of the recent past have left deep spatial scars on the city, not unlike ... From Divided to Integrated City ...
Abstract In the wake of Mumbai terror attacks one is forced to reflect on the nature and represen... more Abstract In the wake of Mumbai terror attacks one is forced to reflect on the nature and representation of urban violence across the global South. It is clear that only certain kinds of violence and upheaval warrant attention in the public domain as reflected in the world's globalized media. This ...
It is assumed in the article that the contemporary urban condition is marked by an increased plur... more It is assumed in the article that the contemporary urban condition is marked by an increased pluralistic intensity in cities. Coupled to this shift in the nature of the urban context, one can also observe a proliferation of sites of political engagement and agency, some of which are formally tied to the various institutional forums of the state, and many that are defined by their insistence to stand apart from the state, asserting autonomy and clamouring for a self‐defined terms of recognition and agency. This article draws attention to the significance of one category of urban actors – hip‐hoppers – that can be said to occupy a ‘marginal’ location in relation to the state, but one uniquely relevant to the marginalised existence of most poor black youth in cities of the global South, particularly Rio de Janeiro and Cape Town. The article demonstrates that hip‐hop cultures offer a powerful framework of interpretation and response for poor black youth who are systemically caught at the receiving end of extremely violent and exploitative urban forces. The basis of hip‐hop's power is its complex aesthetical sensibility that fuses affective registers, such as rage, passion, lust, critique, pleasure and desire, which, in turn, translates into political identities, and sometimes agency (i.e. positionality), for its participants. In the final instance, the article tries to link conclusions about the potential of hip‐hop cultural politics to larger themes in urban studies, such as participation, public space, citizenship and security.
It is well known that the world is transitioning to an irrevocable urban future whose epicentre h... more It is well known that the world is transitioning to an irrevocable urban future whose epicentre has moved into the cities of Asia and Africa. What is less clear is how this will be managed and deployed as a multi-polar world system is being born. The full implications of this challenge cry out to be understood because city building (and retrofitting) cannot but be an undertaking entangled in profound societal and cultural shifts.
In this highly original account, renowned urban sociologists AbdouMaliq Simone and Edgar Pieterse offer a call for action based fundamentally on the detail of people's lives. Urban regions are replete with residents who are compelled to come up with innovative ways to maintain or extend livelihoods, whose makeshift character is rarely institutionalized into a fixed set of practices, locales or organizational forms. This novel analytical approach reveals a more complex relationship between people, the state and other agents than has previously been understood. As the authors argue, we need adequate concepts and practices to grasp the composition and intricacy of these shifting efforts to make visible new political possibilities for action and social justice in cities across Asia and Africa.
Cities are the future. In the past two decades, a global urban revolution has taken place, mainly... more Cities are the future. In the past two decades, a global urban revolution has taken place, mainly in the South. The 'mega-cities' of the developing world are home to over 10 million people each and even smaller cities are experiencing unprecedented population surges. The problems surrounding this influx of people - slums, poverty, unemployment and lack of governance - have been well-documented.
This book is a powerful indictment of the current consensus on how to deal with these challenges. Pieterse argues that the current 'shelter for all' and 'urban good governance' policies treat only the symptoms, not the causes of the problem. Instead, he claims, there is an urgent need to reinvigorate civil society in these cities, to encourage radical democracy, economic resilience, social resistance and environmental sustainability folded into the everyday concerns of marginalised people. Providing a dynamic picture of a cosmopolitan urban citizenship, this book is an essential guide to one of the new century's greatest challenges.
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In this highly original account, renowned urban sociologists AbdouMaliq Simone and Edgar Pieterse offer a call for action based fundamentally on the detail of people's lives. Urban regions are replete with residents who are compelled to come up with innovative ways to maintain or extend livelihoods, whose makeshift character is rarely institutionalized into a fixed set of practices, locales or organizational forms. This novel analytical approach reveals a more complex relationship between people, the state and other agents than has previously been understood. As the authors argue, we need adequate concepts and practices to grasp the composition and intricacy of these shifting efforts to make visible new political possibilities for action and social justice in cities across Asia and Africa.
This book is a powerful indictment of the current consensus on how to deal with these challenges. Pieterse argues that the current 'shelter for all' and 'urban good governance' policies treat only the symptoms, not the causes of the problem. Instead, he claims, there is an urgent need to reinvigorate civil society in these cities, to encourage radical democracy, economic resilience, social resistance and environmental sustainability folded into the everyday concerns of marginalised people. Providing a dynamic picture of a cosmopolitan urban citizenship, this book is an essential guide to one of the new century's greatest challenges.