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Palaces of desire: Century City, Cape Town and the ambiguities of development

Palaces of desire: Century City, Cape Town and the ambiguities of development PALACES OF DESIRE: CENTURY CITY, CAPE TOWN AND THE AMBIGUITIES OF DEVELOPMENT RAFAEL MARKS AND MARCO BEZZOLI Following in the wake of international urban trends, South African cities are rapidly transforming into archetypal postmodern cities. Just as the 'Apartheid city' developed through a combination of racist ideologies and Modernist functionalism, so our new urban spaces are shaped through the articulation of local conditions with global economic and cultural forces. Released from the grip of state control, our cities are now at the mercy of that most nebulous of conceits--the free market. Not so much freedom of the city, as freedom to profit. Through its sheer scale and bravado, the newly emerging Century City, in Cape Town, symbolises this new South African urban condition. A postmodern phoenix rising from a vast tract of alien vegetation over the past three years this is not just another development in the city, it is a city in itself. Combining retail, leisure, offices, residential and ecological com- ponents under one proverbial roof, Century City represents the uttimate commodification of urban space and services. There are no low cost hous- ing projects here, nor public schools or libraries, only those aspects of ur- ban life http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png Urban Forum Springer Journals

Palaces of desire: Century City, Cape Town and the ambiguities of development

Marks, Rafael; Bezzoli, Marco
Urban Forum , Volume 12 (1) – Jul 21, 2001
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References (11)

Publisher
Springer Journals
Copyright
Copyright © 2001 by Transaction Publishers
Subject
Geography; Landscape/Regional and Urban Planning; Human Geography; Sociology; Political Science; Population Economics
ISSN
1015-3802
eISSN
1874-6330
DOI
10.1007/s12132-001-0002-x
Publisher site
See Article on Publisher Site

Abstract

PALACES OF DESIRE: CENTURY CITY, CAPE TOWN AND THE AMBIGUITIES OF DEVELOPMENT RAFAEL MARKS AND MARCO BEZZOLI Following in the wake of international urban trends, South African cities are rapidly transforming into archetypal postmodern cities. Just as the 'Apartheid city' developed through a combination of racist ideologies and Modernist functionalism, so our new urban spaces are shaped through the articulation of local conditions with global economic and cultural forces. Released from the grip of state control, our cities are now at the mercy of that most nebulous of conceits--the free market. Not so much freedom of the city, as freedom to profit. Through its sheer scale and bravado, the newly emerging Century City, in Cape Town, symbolises this new South African urban condition. A postmodern phoenix rising from a vast tract of alien vegetation over the past three years this is not just another development in the city, it is a city in itself. Combining retail, leisure, offices, residential and ecological com- ponents under one proverbial roof, Century City represents the uttimate commodification of urban space and services. There are no low cost hous- ing projects here, nor public schools or libraries, only those aspects of ur- ban life

Journal

Urban Forum – Springer Journals

Published: Jul 21, 2001

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