Under surveillance: the gated urban experience

My visit to Wits on Tuesday was preceded by the usual laptop lurking in coffee shops justified by the need to buy Fair Trade coffee beans from Bean There at 44 Stanley and meet a friend at Melrose Arch for lunch.

44 Stanley is located on 'Braamfontein Werf', a redevelopment that is small enough in scale to feel intimate, close enough to the city to feel urban. It works, despite the chaotic parking arrangements (or lack thereof), the seemingly neverending construction work and the messiness of its edges.

In order to reach the 'new urbanist' Melrose Arch I found myself on that notorious M1 again. Access is controlled and job creation is to a large extent enabled through security employment. My friend Jane's mosaics look beautiful in the 'square', whilst the 'High Street' bears little resemblance to the active corridors it seeks to emanate. Despite the conscious attempts to protect and enclose I find myself on edge (more than I would in a township for example). The CCTV cameras on the empty squares seem to follow my movements and as I take photos I find that I am watched by at least 2 casually clad security personnel. The shops are empty and the public spaces feel sad and lonely. I can't help but think that in order to experience the urban one is required to experience the less predictable and more volatile aspects of city life...

Skylines and views from beyond

My visit to University of Johannesburg yesterday began with two traffic jams on the M1. How very Jozi I thought as I looked east towards the skyline that I absolutely love. I come to Joburg often, in many ways this is my second home and without fail, I get a thrill every time I approach the city on the M2 coming from the airport. There is something about this city that excites me. Despite its reputation as an unsafe, noisy, aggresive and congested metropolis I often find myself defending it. Its energy, its very urban history and its diversity appeal to many of my sensibilities.

UJ's Town and Regional Planning Department is situated on its Doornfontein campus. The John Orr building is an imposing edifice that could easily feel oppresive and depressing. Yet, standing in its rooms, I have a moment... there it is again; that skyline. The meeting was informative and productive. UJ trains a large number of students with a small staff complement. I wonder how these students translate what they learn as they negotiate traffic, minibus taxis and street vendors in the shadow of the imposing Ponte, that round highrise that has become a landmark in many films that portray life in Egoli. I think that training planners in the midst of the inner city has its advantages. The laboratory surrounds the classroom.

As I drive back to Melville in my insulated, rented, air-conditioned vehicle past the messy edges of Yeoville I wonder if these urban experiences should not extend to academics....I inadvertendly find myself back on the M1, heading north this time...

From the outside in; from the inside out....

It is 9pm in Johannesburg as I reflect on two weeks of travel, discussions, interrogations and intellectual rigour. (Soundtrack: Schumann) The latter is not necessarily of my own making; allow me to explain...

My job is to coordinate a project on educating urban planners in Africa with the Association of African Planning Schools. (Soundtrack now: could be Keita, Toure or Kidjo or but my urban sensibilities lead me to the South African duo Goldfish) The 3-year project, funded by the Rockefeller Foundation, aims to revisit and interrogate planning education given the urban challenges facing the continent. Ambitious, yes; bold, yes; invigorating, most definitely; I would venture that this is the best job in the world since I'll be traveling across this vast and diverse continent talking about 2 of my passions: planning and cities.

Strange then that my travels should start in Bellagio, Italy.

I was invited by the DPU at University College London to attend a meeting on the Indian Institute for Human Settlements (IIHS) ... an institution that does not yet exist... MIT and DPU have been invited to hammer out curricula guidelines at the Rockefeller Centre in Bellagio last week. I was asked to participate and share the AAPS experience. A number of issues struck me as common to both the IIHS and AAPS objectives: the need to train planners in a context of multiple modernities, changing sensibilities and the need for reflexive practitioners. From the outside in....clearly a new agenda for planning resonates across many quarters of the Global South.

So I started my African visits in my comfort zone with South African planning schools. I taught at the University of KwaZulu-Natal in Durban for 8 years, these are my colleagues and peers. Thus far I have visited the University of the Free State in Bloemfontein, the University of the North-West in Potchefstroom and the University of Pretoria. Colleagues and students are excited, curious to see where this will lead us, and in the case of the latter, concerned about sustainability, inclusivity, transparency and all the other qualities so often spelt with a 'y' at the end. 'Why?' was a question often asked as I outlined ways in which we can prepare for a conference in 201o intended to assist us in addressing curricula issues. Some interesting questions have been: why the urban bias? why only urban planners? why Africa? The many 'why's' are indicative of a need to engage, to question and to revitalise. The overarching sense is that rising to the challenge of uneven urbanisation in the South, and in this case Africa, needs to emerge in the South...in Africa.

From the inside out...