2.6.1 Introduction
The concepts of edge city and town, gated communities, villages, spatial inequality and rural- urban (poor/rich) interface have been discussed in depth in the previous section. In this section two precedent case studies will be considered, one from an international context in Sao Paulo, Brazil and one from a local South African context in Johannesburg. The urban landscapes of Johannesburg and Sao Paulo have both been disfigured by their colonial legacies. Both cities are characterized by rapid infrastructural and technological growth, decentralistion and the development of edge cities on the periphery of the inner city.
Map 2.1 Sao Paulo, Brazil Map 2.2: Johannesburg, South Africa
Source:https://www.britannica.com/place (n.d.) Source: https://www.thinglink.com/scene/ (2015)
39 2.6.2 International case study - Alpha Ville (Sao Paulo, Brazil)
Sao Paulo is a sprawling metropolis with widely dispersed urban areas. The coffee boom of the late 19th century saw increased industrial growth, with Sao Paulo developing into a manufacturing centre and commercial hub with a burgeoning immigrant population (Murray, 2004). Today Sao Paulo exhibits two social and economic extremes - healthy spaces made up of middle to upper class people living in highly secure gated communities on the periphery of the city; and dysfunctional densely populated urban spaces characterized by slums (Murray, 2004).
Often the dysfunctional spaces sit side by side in stark contract with the healthy spaces as can be seen in Plate 2.5. AlphaVilles developed in Brazil, more specifically in Sao Paulo, are semi- gated self-sufficient edge cities with schools, commercial centres and residences to name some (Irazabal, 2006).
The term Alpha Ville hints at ecological beginnings. The suffix ‘ville’ means village in French and suggests social cohesion and solidarity. This is the contradiction of edge cities and gated communities - high-tech and technologically advanced structures that return you to your
‘village beginnings’. At the time of print there were seven such developments, with fifteen more in the wings in Brazil (Irazabal, 2006). Graciosa, an Alpha Ville on the periphery of Curitiba, boasts over 1000 residential lots. Alpha Ville in Sao Paulo, where economic differences are stark, boasts between 32000-34000 residents and 120000 people daily visitors who work in the commercial centre (Murray, 2004). High-rise buildings inside the gated estate boast swimming pools on most levels as can be seen in Plate 2.5. This jars with the cramped living conditions of the community in the adjacent Favela or slum on the left (Irazabal, 2006).
Plate 2.5: Alpha Ville adjacent to a Favela (settlement)in Sao Paulo (Brazi)
Source: https://morguisp.wordpress.com/category/sao-paulo (2011)
40 A large number of Brazilian urban residents have moved into the gated healthy spaces and gates communities. Neighbourhoods consist of spacious apartment blocks with high security features. Sao Paulo’s Alpha Ville is modeled on this. All enclosed estates can be seen as a city within a city, mixed used developments, leisure facilities, schools, retail areas, luxury housing schemes etc. It is a lifestyle for the middle to upper class as it is safe and secure with efficient access to all necessary amenities, social facilities and residential needs (Irazabal, 2006; Murray, 2004). In contrast to this protected lifestyle, the sprawling informal settlements of Sao Paulo spread far and wide, in stark contrast to the edge cities they sit next to. The boundaries keep the insiders safely inside while the outsiders scratch out a living.
2.6.3 National Case Study - Sandton City in Johannesburg (South Africa)
A form of postmodern urbanism is featuring in a number of South African cities, such as Johannesburg. In Johannesburg two processes have impacted on restructuring the urban landscapes – one is the spatial fragmentation of industrial activities and residential populations where the city boundaries have been pushed outwards. The second is the agglomeration of clusters relating to offices, malls and leisure activities located on the periphery of the sprawling metropolis. Peripheral urbanization has reinforced existing patterns of racial segregation – middle-class abandonment of the inner city to the attractive periphery with gated residential communities behind high walls, heightened attention to security, fortified offices and retail destinations, decentralization of the city, a densely populated urban centre, and the development of vast informal settlements (Murray, 2004).
This is very evident in the growth and development of the edge city of Sandton on the periphery of Johannesburg. In addition to push factors out of the inner city (high crime rates, inaccessibility), social and market related pull factors of safety and security, lifestyle, easy accessibility, commercial advancements, and technological innovations ensured the swift development of Sandton City (Smith, 2016). Sandton City is commonly associated with ‘white flight’ as the affluent sought a safer more attractive area to put down new roots, away from the decaying inner city of Johannesburg. This sits in stark contrast to Alexandra Township which sits less than one kilometre away in places as can be seen in Plate 2.6. It is a stark reminder of the divide between those with wealth, and those who are poverty stricken (Miller, 2016).
41 Plate 2.6: Alexandra Township / Sandton City (Joahnnesburg, South Africa)
Source: unequalscenes.com, Miller (2016)
The property-less urban poor challenge middle-upper class sensibilities, and the results are exclusionary practices such as gated communities, inaccessible office and shopping complexes in areas such as Sandton City. These unwritten codes of exclusion and expulsion, as well as indifference, resentment and fear, are the calling cards of the wealthy (Murray, 2004). The dislodged urban poor, forced unwillingly to keep moving, eke out a rootless existence along the periphery of societal space. Regarded as illegitimate city dwellers who have no right to be where they are, they are excluded from housing, employment and basic services.
Johannesburg is a ‘dual city’ and the site of multiple modernisms – cosmopolitan, opulent and technologically driven on one hand and survivalist, informal and impoverished on the other (Murray, 2004).
2.6.4 Conclusion and Lessons Learnt from the Case Studies
Although no area is exactly the same as another due to a particular brand of historical, social, cultural, religious and economic development; there are some contexts where similarities begin to emerge as is the case in Sao Paulo and Johannesburg. Tarnished by harsh colonial legacies; and characterised by rapid technological and infrastructural advancements on one hand and poverty and regression on the other, both cities show evidence of inner city decay with the escape of the resourced and the relocation of retail, commercial and industrial enterprises to the periphery. This has resulted in the development of what can be termed edge
42 cities and towns, where the wealthy withdraw into their safe gated worlds where all their needs are met, and the poor are pushed away to live out their impoverished informal and/or rural existence – often directly adjacent to and within visible sight of unattainable wealth and resources. As the literature and case studies have indicated, such sharply contrasting worlds where wealth and poverty sit juxtaposed at the rich-poor and/or urban-rural interface – continue to harshly perpetuate exclusivity, segregation and marginalization. In both case studies, and it will be contended in the case of the Upper Highway, there is evidence that divisiveness and exclusion continue to be perpetuated through the decentralisation to the periphery and the emergence of edge cities and towns.