Spatial Justice and the Western Areas of Johannesburg

Abstract

In Johannesburg, areas like Sophiatown and Westbury, part of the Western Areas, continue to fulfil apartheid intentions 20 years after South Africa's first democratic elections. I begin this article by describing the layout of Johannesburg. I then go on to frame the more than 100-year history of the Western Areas into five key states of growth and change. Changes to the landscape are presented as urban design ‘actions’ and are analysed in terms of spatial justice theory, both regarding guiding policies and resultant urban forms (such as dividing buffer strips). The stages of growth include the 1904 to 1919 period characterised by the creation of a transport grid for the town; the era 1918 to 1948, as Sophiatown and Western Native Township took shape; the period of high apartheid from 1948 to 1985; and the dismantling of apartheid spatial policies in the post-1985 period. This final section of this article will also include an account of the most recent spatial policy developments in the Western Areas, branded in 2012 as the ‘Corridors of Freedom’.