PLANTEAMIENTO DE LA HIPÓTESIS GENERAL

In order to understand better why the Harare VPUU project is considered innovative in the Cape Town post-apartheid context, it is necessary to step back and show how public facilities have been placed within Khayelitsha. In fact, to comprehend the reason of the VPUU innovations, it is useful to compare the existing public facilities before VPUU intervention and the current ones. The composition of these maps has not been easy for the author, who tried – without success – to collet these information during the sojourn in Cape Town by official sources³⁶³. Nevertheless, the maps have been composed using historic and recent satellite images³⁶⁴, current web mapping services³⁶⁵ and local researches³⁶⁶. The comparison between the two maps shows not only the creation of new public facilities³⁶⁷, but also the growth and densification of Khayelitsha itself³⁶⁸. In fact, in 1999 – when the VPUU programme was in its early stage – Khayelitsha township was not completed yet. As a consequence, same spaces planned as public facilities were not developed yet in the south-east part. Moreover, informal settlement kept growing around existing formal areas as well in small left-over spaces³⁶⁹, increasing the number of people living in the area. The development and the construction of missing portions of Khayelitsha continued as if apartheid had never existed. And the term township keeps labelling the neighbourhood.

363 The information collected in Cape Town by the author were often partial and in the first version of the thesis the maps showing public facilities of Khayelitsha have been omitted. When reviewing the thesis for the final version, the author decided to insert two maps about public facilities of Khayelitsha. The author recognize that those data may be incomplete or nor precise. In fact, smaller public buildings and spaces may have been omitted, but the scope of the map is to show big public changes/interventions in Khayelitsha. Some negligence may depend on the fact that maps have been composed in Italy, without having the possibility to be reviewed by experts of Cape Town. Notwithstanding, those maps can help the reader to understand the overall organization of the township and therefore to evaluate more deeply the case study analysed.

364 Aerial photo of Khayelitsha (1999 and 2014). Data source: National Geo-spatial Information (NGI) Department. (Retrieved by NGI office March 3, 2016). Firstly, it has been composed the current situation map (Figure 79), and secondly the one which represent the situation before VPUU interventions (Figure 78): the author has assumed that the function of the building has remained the same if its shape has not changed.

365 Google Maps (satellite images 2019) and maps (Apple).

366 Play the city initiative involves local residents in mapping their neighbourhood. A series of maps of Khayelitsha (Khayelitsha in maps) have been very useful to check the information collected by other sources even if it is not clear the date referred to the diagrams:

https://www.playthecity.nl/page/7010/khayelitsha-in-maps. (Retrieved January 24, 2019).

367 In the map, the routes of local shared taxies and of local bus are omitted, even if formal and informal public transportation is essential in the life of people living in Khayelitsha. Shared taxi (also called collective taxi or minibus) represents a huge informally organized means of transport which is difficult to trace. Local bus routes (like Golden Arrow Bus Services) are also not drawn for the same reason. The recent MyCiti bus is the only one traced.

368 The official Census state that the population of Khayelitsha was of about 249,000 people in 1996, of about 329,000 in 2001, of about 392,000 in 2011.

369 These small spaces occupied by informal dwellings or shops are not shown in the Khayelitsha map, but this phenomenon quite diffuse in the all township (as described in Figure 68 and Figure 69).

5.3 VPUU programme 155

Fig. 78: Khayelitsha public facilities distribution in 1999, by M. Bodino, 2019³⁷⁰ Figure 78 shows Khayelitsha distribution of public facilities in 1999, when the train line was not yet completed (it stopped in Khayelitsha station between Ilitha Park and Town 2), Kuyasa was under construction and Enkanini was not developed. Informal settlements were concentrated in the north part of Khayelitsha, where more of the facilities have been provided. Educational facilities were scattered in the all neighbourhoods, while libraries, taxi ranks³⁷¹ and a shopping mall³⁷² were concentrated in the consolidated districts in the northern part.

370 The base satellite images used is an aerial photo of Khayelitsha (1999: National Geo-spatial Information (NGI) Department, retrieved by NGI office March 3, 2016). The information shown have been extracted comparing Figure 80 with the satellite image of 1999.

371 Probably there was a third taxi rank around the Khayelitsha station to serve the central and southern part of the Khayelitsha population, but it is not visible through satellite images of 1999.

372 Probably it was a private development.

Fig. 79: Khayelitsha public facilities distribution in 2019, by M. Bodino, 2019³⁷³ Figure 79 shows the current situation, where most of the space within Khayelitsha borders have been filled. Public facilities are quite well distributed, but there is still a large number of open spaces acting as left-overs³⁷⁴. Comparing Figure 78 and Figure 79, Harare district have not undergone extraordinary changes in terms of public facilities. Therefore, it is clear that VPUU intervention in Harare is acting in a quite small scale, which can not affect by itself the urban structure³⁷⁵. At the same time, a growing number of activities and facilities has been developed around Khayelitsha strategic station³⁷⁶. In fact, this train stop is in a strategical position for the completed neighbourhood.

373 The base satellite images used is an aerial photo of Khayelitsha (2014: National Geo-spatial Information (NGI) Department, retrieved by NGI office March 3, 2016).

374 A more detail description of left-over open spaces will be done later in this chapter. In fact, they have not been identified in the map analysed here.

375 The aspect of scale reflects one of the limitations of DPP and QPS (see chapter 4.2.2.1).

376 The one between Ilitha Park and Town 2.

5.3 VPUU programme 157

Fig. 80: Examples of public space facilities layout, by M. Bodino, 2019³⁷⁷

What is relevant is that – even if apartheid period was finished – the development of the new districts continued with the same urban structure composed by single-storey houses in small plots and fenced open spaces to be assigned for public facilities. As shown in Figure 80, all public facilities (such as schools, sport fields, health facilities and police stations) were conceived as objects in the middle of their fenced plot with a single entrance. This layout provides control of access and security. At the same time, no relation with the surrounding or with public facilities or open spaces nearby was taken into account, nor the access by pedestrian. All public projects in Khayelitsha³⁷⁸ has been designed according to this layout until VPUU proposed an alternative.

377 The public space facilities used as examples are places within Site B and Khaya, an area which have not change a lot between 1999 and 2019.

378 Also in other townships and in other neighbourhood of the city the layout of public facilities (and also of housing) reflects the idea of the object in the middle of a fenced plot.

Fig. 81: Harare area of intervention, by M. Bodino, 2018³⁷⁹

The objective of this chapter is to understand which lessons can be learnt by analysing the Harare VPUU project, which are the limitations and which elements can be generalized. The novelty of Harare project is that it has created – or attempted to create – a connection of linked public spaces, not just an isolated one. It is a linear network, which provides connectivity within the neighbourhood.

In fact, the area of intervention chosen has been a linear space which bonds the Khayelitsha station³⁸⁰ with the Endlovini informal settlement, crossing the Harare neighbourhood (Figure 81).

379 Aerial photo of Khayelitsha (2014). Data source: National Geo-spatial Information (NGI) Department. (Retrieved by NGI office March 3, 2016). The arrow connects the Khayelitsha station to the north with the Endlovini informal settlement to the south (also called Monwabisi Park).

380 At the time of the baseline study, the Khayelitsha station was the last station of the train line and therefore was very busy. The new terminus, the Kuyasa station, and the last piece of train line was completed within 2008 and 2010 (according to NGI aerial photos).

5.3 VPUU programme 159 Looking at the previous maps (Figure 78 and Figure 79), seems like Harare was not lacking public facilities in 1999³⁸¹. What was lacking was the infrastructure to sustain and support them. In other words, what VPUU provided was the system of open public spaces to improve the quality of the Harare neighbourhood.

According to the analysis of data collected, the priorities of the local community were other than provision of public open space³⁸². Indeed, the main objective of the VPUU project in Harare has been to create safe pedestrian walkways³⁸³, and also to provide economic and job opportunities. Nevertheless, public space implicitly has been use as the core infrastructure for spatial, social, cultural and economic upgrading of the township. As specified in chapter 3.2.2, a well design public space undoubtedly improves the neighbourhood around it, especially if the neighbourhood – Khayelitsha in this case – has been deliberately planned without public open space. Harare VPUU project seeks to provide a socio-economic infrastructure for the surrounding area. For this reason, it can be conceived as an urban acupuncture intervention, but its impact must be evaluated to avoid disconnection between theoretical rhetoric of public space and reality. In fact, public space is inclusive by definition considering its usual objectives and ambitions³⁸⁴, but its implementation depends on the ordinary context in which is placed. The following sections aim to understand if the objective of inclusion has been achieved in a township of Cape Town – which is the emblem of separation – through the analysis of the Harare VPUU project. Some spatial principles will be extracted and they can be applicable in other fragmented contemporary cities. The belief of the author is that an inclusive approach should not be used just for upgrading projects, but it should be extended to every urban intervention. The challenge is therefore to define spatial rules that can be replicated in other cases.

VPUU programme timeline (Figure 82) shows that the origin of the programme refers to the 1996 national crime prevention strategy. Then, if we move the focus of the programme from crime prevention to the creation of inclusive public space, the origin of VPUU corresponds with the creation of public space policies in the late 1990s³⁸⁵.

381 This research focuses on the spatial organization of public facilities. No judgment is made about the quality of education, health and other public services in the township, even if the author has heard complains about it during the interviews on site.

382 Most of the people living in Khayelitsha don’t even have a precise idea of what a public open space is and which is its spatial configuration. They have experienced some public spaces in the city centre, but not in the township. Additionally, many people are originally from rural areas.

383 The safe route was planned especially for children and women. Despite the train is considered quite unsafe, the Khayelitsha train station is a busy place since it provides one of the cheapest means of transport and also it is used to cross the train line physical barrier. Additionally, there are two public schools in the area and students are used to walk from home to school.

384 See chapter 3.2.1 about the search of definition of public space.

385 As demonstrated in the chapter 4.2.2.

Fig. 82: VPUU timeline, by VPUU³⁸⁶

The implementation of the programme started in 2005 with a baseline survey on Harare³⁸⁷ and Kuyasa which aim was “to analyse the situation and main problems of the Safe Node Areas, the target groups, their needs, potentials and community organisations” (Giles 2006, 8). Consultation with community have been developed in the first phase while the city was establishing the institutional arrangements and releasing the land for the selected locations³⁸⁸. In fact, the programme has been possible through a public-private partnership which includes mainly two parts: City of Cape Town and the German Government³⁸⁹. Two

386 The timeline has been extracted from a VPUU pamphlet about Khayelitsha shared with the author by CoCT in 2016. It is an important document since it traces official important dates of the creation and first phases of VPUU programme (confirmed during author’s interviews).

387 A portion of Harare was the subject of a feasibility study done by Jonker + Barnes Architects in 2002. According to interviews, the approach of that study has been strongly modified afterwards.

388 Interview and email exchanges with Jackie James 2017.

389 “The Violence Prevention through Urban Upgrading (VPUU) programme is a partnership between the City of Cape Town (CoCT), the German Development Bank (KfW) and the community of Khayelitsha through a civil society partner, the Khayelitsha Development Forum (KDF). The partnership has been extended to include the Western Cape Government (WCG),

5.3 VPUU programme 161 corresponding offices have been created under the name of VPUU programme:

one within the CoCT (managed by Alastair Graham), and the other one external (led by Michael Krause). The bureaucratic system behind the VPUU programme is very complex and this aspect may have affected the results of the programme itself³⁹⁰. This mirror structure was supposed to work in parallel, experimenting the integrative approach, which includes both bottom-up and top-down strategies.

This attitude was going beyond the CoCT structure of line departments³⁹¹. In fact, the creation of successful public spaces has been the objective around which the various departments were forced to interact. VPUU offices had the task to coordinate this internal integrative process (within the CoCT departments), but also the external integrative process (community participation). Therefore, the VPUU unit has acted as intermediary in the process, as a mediator between the city and the local community in order to negotiate the modification of space. And the initial bureaucratic slowness has been used for community engagement³⁹². The integrative approach described may seem quite simple, but it has completely altered the common way of doing things. On one hand, it represents a revolution in the design methodology of Cape Town. The ability of coordinating the CoCT, VPUU offices and local community had the power to foster trust in the

National Treasury (NT), International agencies, NGOs, CBOs and other communities. The programme is co-funded by the Federal German Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), the CoCT, NT through its Neighbourhood Development Partnership Grant (NDPG), other public funding sources, as well as third party funding. The programme is implemented by AHT Group AG and its South African partner Sustainable Urban Neighbourhood (SUN) Development Pty Ltd. As of April 2013 a Not for Profit Company – VPUU NPC has been established to implement VPUU in the Western Cape” (Krause et al. 2014, 7).

390 The bureaucratic system behind the VPUU programme is very complex. Moreover, it seemed to the author that the control structure was almost pyramidal, with Krause and partially Graham monitoring – if not controlling – the shared information of the programme. In fact, many emails sent to people working at VPUU NPC and SUN Development (the South African implementing offices) and many documents requests left unanswered. Seems like policies and practice clash again. At the time of the sojourn, another local researcher was writing about the VPUU project, criticizing some aspects of the programme. VPUU questioned the integrity of that work while the researcher reported the limited access to primary sources. This issue has been a challenge for this research in terms of getting internal primary sources, but it also reveals a paradox. In fact, the all point of being an organization working for the benefit of the community is to share information, especially if the methodology approach can be replicated since it is very strict and well defined. Therefore, the failure to share documents of the VPUU programme can be considered questionable. Researching in depth about the programme, it was then clear the complexity of people, associations and financers involved. Therefore, it can be deduced that the difficulty of sharing materials could also depend on the structure of the VPUU programme itself.

Despite the objectives of the program are clearly and explicitly addressed to support an integrative system and non-profit objectives; the system that supports it also includes for-profit programs, whose interests are therefore protected.

391 As described in chapter 4.2.2, the first attempt to have all departments working together was within Dignifies Places Programme.

392 During this process, the Safe Node Area Committee – SNAC – with key stakeholders has been set up in order to understand community needs. “Politics is everything in this communities, nothing is out of politics. Therefore, community has been part of the decision-making process”

(Interview with Jackie James 2017).

institutions, the same trust that is normally lost due to corruption, absence and inadequacy of planning (De Leo 2016³⁹³). On the other hand, the public-private partnership has not been easy to manage. The standard bureaucratic process was forged in order to achieve the project goals and that was possible because VPUU was inside the city. Furthermore, the external implementing companies³⁹⁴ had the ability to move even quicker since the project was outsourced and has not been subject to internal rules. When this mechanism became clear³⁹⁵, the joint venture resulted slightly unbalanced. At that time, this have helped CoCT to evaluate its work, and to be aware that its system need to be upgraded. In fact, the city has understood that “cross-sectoral planning is a challenge for local authorities. […]

As there is no single asset owner or line department for the public structure in its entirety, the creation of a more integrated institutional structure is required”

(Daniels et al. 2016, 139). In other words, a change of attitude has been promoted by VPUU through its programme and the implementation of its projects.

Simultaneously, the CoCT started its innovative integrative process³⁹⁶.

The spatial intervention by VPUU has translated the need to provide a socio-economic infrastructure with the creation of a system, a linear public space defined by public buildings, community facilities and private/public buildings.

The great novelty compared to the usual design of public facilities was that buildings (public facilities as well as private ones) and related public open spaces have been designed within the same project. In fact, VPUU planned the elements of this public system as an infrastructure. The urban design approach (Figure 83) consists of five precincts to be developed in order to create what VPUU calls the Harare Safe Node areas (see Appendix 4 for more details and plans of the project).

The five precincts consist of:

1. the station precinct 2. the bridge and link

393 The loss of trust in institutions is described by De Leo as: “Nei territori contesti vi è spesso una significativa assenza e inadeguatezza della pianificazione. Questa determina una condizione di mancanza (assoluta o di efficacia) della progettazione di spazi e servizi pubblici a fronte di una forte imposizione di controllo strategico di città e territori ridotti alla dipendenza e, possibilmente, sempre più impoveriti” (2016, 76).

394 The German AHT Group AG and its South African partner Sustainable Urban Neighbourhood (SUN) Development Pty Ltd.

395 Timing of implementation were indeed very different between the two mirror structures:

the city one was much slower than the external one.

396 That is why the CoCT has been recently restructured proposing an area-based approach which comprise interdepartmental teams to overcome the silo-based planning. Four area-based service delivery areas have been identified in January 2017. Khayelitsha is included in the area 2.

In the next years, it will be very challenging for the CoCT to control these spaces. Indeed, the four

In the next years, it will be very challenging for the CoCT to control these spaces. Indeed, the four