3rd UROLab Joburg

3^rd UROLab Joburg | 2 – 4 November 2016

Governance, Urban Youth + Transformation

White Wits Protest 2016 ©Solam Mkhabela

Key focus:

This URO Lab will work with one overarching research question and through that come to examine the empirical dynamics of a particular neighborhood of Joburg – Braamfontein:

How does an urban area become contested? And, following from that: What are the qualities and properties that an area may have in order for it to become particularly prone for public contestation and discontent?

In this relation, the #FeesMustFall movement is a particularly apt example by which to engage with this question. We may ask, for instance, how the particular sites of contestation were selected. So, the overall focus is on the dynamics of a particular contested area (Braamfontein) while the fees must fall movement is one of our ways into exploring this. So, while taking seriously the importance of the fees must fall movement, here we focus on what it may articulate about the contestedness of a particular area.

Crucially, a contested area does not simply emerge out of nowhere and therefore we need to carefully examine the historical, social, cultural, economic and political aspects. At the workshop we want to unpack these aspects of the Braamfontein area, with an emphasis on Jorissen Street.

By so doing, we also want to examine what contestation might mean in particular instances such as Braamfontein. Is ’contestation’ always to be considered as a critical stance in opposition to an already defined ’other’ or opponent? Might ’celebration actually be considered as the other or ’flipside’ of contestation?

Finally and most importantly, in focusing on the contestation of space, we will come to examine in detail what urban orders may be said to make up this particular urban space? How does this urban space orders itself, we might say, through particular forms of contestation? And, following from that, what are the productive dynamics at play that essentially make for better and more vibrant cities?

Key questions to consider

·       Is the ’content’ of the contestation/celebration always tied to the history of the space?

·       What is the role of experimentation?

·       How do certain spaces open themselves up to popular contestation?

In order to operationalize this overall research question, this 3rd URO Lab will focus on three separate sub-question which in their totality will hopefully allow us to respond productively on our main research question.  The three sub-questions are essentially a way of fleshing out key issues that we need to deal with in order to respond to the overall question.

Wednesday:

How does the space frame the contestation?

Urban spaces seem to have always been at the center for popular contestation – it is and has always been a key site for the negotiation of citizenship, access to resources and basic urban civic rights. Wednesday we will examine the historical and contemporary layers of the Braamfontein area to begin to think about how a particular space shapes popular contestations.

Thursday

How does a form of contestation frame, condition, affect the space?

Contestation goes on at multiple overlapping domains and scales. Thurday we will therefore try to flesh out the different modalities of contestation – and also the multiple and often seemingly incompatible voice - and how they come to make a space.

Friday

How is a contested area enacted, lived and transformed?

The form of contestation and the spatial properties of a given urban neighbourhood are enacted and practiced through multiple and often inconsistent everyday practices. Friday, we will explore the particular vibrancy and dynamics of Braamfontein and consider: Where and how does the vibrancy occur? What is required in order for a contested space to be enacted and lived?