Voices From Sa

Edgar Pieterse is the director of the African Centre for Cities (ACC)  based at the University of Cape Town. He is an urbanist trying to make sense of the sociology, politics, geography and economics of the modern African city. We discussed the often difficult relationship between city governments and national governments,  and the ongoing struggle for policy and financial control o the trajectory of cities across sub Saharan Africa.  Edgar feels it is necessary for  the social, political and economic debate at all levels to be re-imagined if cities are to fulfill their true potential as hubs of national  economic growth and social transformation.   The bulk of our discussion focused  on the Integration Syndicate project hosted by the ACC in Cape Town. The project was an attempt to encourage a different kind of thinking about the issues of urbanisation in Cape Town  and  which "explores the obstacles and solutions to social-spatial integration in the Cape Town metropolitan region."  The five provocations