Just City by studying critical cases in the City of Cape Town.

The proposed research project intends to extend the existing understanding of the Just City by studying critical cases in the City of Cape Town.

While urban concepts of justice are to serve a normative function, urban injustices are growing and have been reinforced by urban policies. South African apartheid created unjust geographies whose spatial features of injustices remain visible, especially in the City of Cape Town. By formulating a set of principles to realise urban just policies, Susan Fainstein placed social justice central to urban planning: Her Just City was developed based on cases in cities of the north, yet new population growth will be in cities of the south. This implies a gap of case study research and theory formulations on the Just City in the south.

The research question that arises is: What are the criteria that constitute the concept of a Just City in the City of Cape Town and how can such a Just City be realised in development projects in the City of Cape Town? This research will employ a mixed-method approach to study critical cases in the City of Cape Town to identify common barriers of realising the set of principles of a Just City in planning projects in a city of the south. The proposed research intends to translate spatial theory and findings into strategic practical actions to address the socially created unjust geographies in the City of Cape Town and to contextualise the concept of a Just City in a city of the south.