Description: "This collection analyzes ways in which South Africa's colonial segregation and apartheid policies have molded distinctive city forms that are now experiencing great pressures as South Africa begins to dismantle apartheid. The 16 contributors -- all urban geographers -- have provided in their assessment of the experiences of 12 cities a very timely, in-depth critique of the challenges facing South Africa's urban centers, representing 57% of South Africa's population. Contributors describe both the pressures generated by the government's efforts in urban regulation and remodeling in the 1960s and '70s and the impact of these pressures in creating the major urban crises in the 1980s and '90s. Lemon (Oxford University), whose earlier works have focused on the impact of apartheid on urban and social geography, places the case studies within an especially useful introductory chapter on the role of the city in recent South African history. Emphasis throughout the volume is given to a description of the current status of the process of integration within the legacy of apartheid in the urban areas. One of the few comprehensive studies on South Africa's cities, the collection provides a highly useful and detailed basis on which to evaluate actions by the minority government to negotiate new social and political relations with South Africa's African majority in the 1990s. Well written and with an extensive bibliography and maps of the urban areas, the volume is an essential source for understanding South Africa's urban future as well as for documenting the legacy of aparthied on South African urbanization. Of major interest for scholars of South Africa in all fields." -- L. C. Duly, Bemidji State University, Choice, December 1991

Please Wait