Spatial Justice is a term coined by Edward Soja, an urbanist and spatial theorist. In the most basic form, Spatial Justice centers on the spatial, or geographic aspect of justice or injustice.
In the context of informality, as the focus of this dissertation, we look deeper into the Spatial Justice as the fair and equitable distribution in space of socially valued resources and the opportunity to use them (Soja, 2008).
Until recently, the physical manifestation of democracy, or as Soja terms it „spatiality‟ was either overlooked or absorbed by related concepts of justice, but has never been the focus.
Spatial justice is important as it is a valuable indicator of the status quo and offers an opportunity for critical empirical analysis to take place.
The aim of specific focus on the spatial aspect of justice moves beyond a theoretical understanding but can be further explored and used to achieve greater spatial democracy on a practical level. Exploration of this concept is essential to evaluating the context of informal settlements, where an element of both spatial justice and injustice is evident.
The understanding of space in this context is that of „space as a container or stage for human activity‟ (Soja, 2008:2).
Here spatial justice is viewed as the physical manifestation of Lefebvre‟s Right to the City, where a prevailing connection exists to the concepts of social and spatial justice in the majority of literature on this subject. Harvey introduces the idea in Social Justice and the City (1973:86) where he poses the question:
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―Is there some spatial structure or set of structures which will maximize equity and efficiency in the urban system or, at least, maximize our ability to control the powerful hidden mechanisms which bring about redistribution? This is both a normative and a positive question for it suggests that we can explain current distributional effects by looking at existing spatial structures and also devise spatial structures to achieve a given distributional goal.‖
Harvey here presents the notion of a „solution‟ to the issue of social inequality in the city through the process of redistribution. He questions the existence and subsequent implementation of a [set of] structure(s) that may aid in equity within the city. The term
„equity‟ is specifically used here by Harvey rather than the term „equality‟. This implies that he recognises an existing incongruity between the participants of the city. Equity here intends to remedy the inequality by giving more to those that are in greater need, rather than issuing an equal subsidy to all participants of the city, which does not mediate any of the discrepancy.
Social justice is exercised in that the previously excluded urban dwellers are able to live more humanely and have the opportunity to claim their right to their city through occupation of urban space. This impacts on the very nature of the urban fabric as it is altered and obligated to acknowledge the less formal practice that Malyam (1996) romanticises about as inherent to the city narrative.
Spatial justice is exercised in allowing unusable and unclaimed land to be fully utilised. This can be observed by the steep inclines on which favelas are built in Brazil (Hernandez, 2010) and the equally steep and undesirable terrain of the Kennedy Road settlement in Durban sandwiched between the dump site and large commercial buildings of Springfield. (Pithouse, 2008)
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―Swimming pools are a relatively cheap way of making poor people feel rich…
You can‘t put a price on the impact this swimming pool has on a community‘s outlook.‖
McGuirk (2014:64)
The concept of making use of unclaimed land can be carried forward in that land that is too steep to be parcelled or other undeveloped municipal land be open to allow informal residents to build their homes. If housing supply cannot meet the demand within the narrow time frame, allowing underutilised land provides people with some of the much needed resources to fulfil their right to access adequate housing.
Further, the use of this land actively reduces urban sprawl, something that large periphery housing projects perpetuate. This concept can further be explained through the German term „instandbesetzen,‟ rooted in two parts; „instandsetzen‟ meaning „to put in order‟ and
„besetzen‟ meaning to possess or occupy. This represents the ethical codex of improving a space through use. An active user, or resident in this case, is permitted use of the space (land) provided they make a positive contribution to it.
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Gabrielsson 2005).McGuirk refers to the example of Tupac Amaru, a social movement in Northern Argentina that engages with auto-construction: building social housing around a large swimming pool.
This sentiment illustrates the sense of ownership and community spirit that is engendered in developments where residents have a say in the creation of their environments which is starkly contrasted by the austere temperament of peripheral social housing.
The approach that ordinary people take control over their city is followed by the notion that social structures are of primary importance, followed by the physical buildings themselves as secondary products of the community (McGuirk, 2014; Hatherley 2014).
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