Utopia and dystopia in the post-apartheid city: the praxis of the future in Cape Town

Abstract

This essay is concerned with the shaping, the framing and the fashioning of the discourse on urban futures in Cape Town, South Africa. I outline the multiple sources and diverse elements that feed into this discourse: specifically, metropolitan theory and local experience. Focusing on the praxis of the African Centre for Cities at the University of Cape Town, I argue that there is a convergence between the language of crisis and the vision that comes across in policy and futurist scenariobuilding. I point at apartheid modernities and their recapitulation in utopian dreams for the post-apartheid city.