Instant mutuality: the development of Maboneng in inner-city Johannesburg

Abstract

In the context of strategies of urban renewal and gentrification in Johannesburg in a time of rapid urbanisation, the question of how urban renewal and gentrification affect people and their everyday lives must be considered. At present there are numerous locations in Johannesburg where spatial change is taking place, mainly in the inner city. This paper examines the urban renewal taking place in an area in the eastern part of the Johannesburg CBD, the newly named and “rejuvenated” Maboneng Precinct as my field site. The paper discusses the limits of gentrification by considering the work of the “island” in thinking about the Maboneng Precinct as a place where stark differences and contrasts are created, even as the space is more shared, more “mutual.” The discussion illuminates the contemporary state of mutuality, of living together in the urban, in an African city.