The Evolving South African Neighbourhood: The Case of Westdene, Bloemfontein

Abstract

Neighbourhoods have not received much research interest until comparatively recently. Internationally, the paucity of research has now been addressed through a steady flow of new contributions. In South Africa, however, neighbourhoods remain largely ignored in the academic press. The aim of this paper is to make a contribution towards gaining greater insight into the development of South African neighbourhoods. Drawing on a detailed analysis of the Bloemfontein neighbourhood of Westdene, the authors show that post-apartheid neighbourhoods are diverse and fragmented urban spaces that fulfil very many different functions. In the process, our conceptual understanding of neighbourhood has to be adjusted from one representing a relatively homogenous residential urban space to one that incorporates a diverse range of urban functions.

A spatial analysis of gating in Bloemfontein, South Africa

“…Living in these gated developments is not as expensive as the northern ones and gives their residents close proximity to the CBD. A gradual shift is also marked from the old CBD toward suburbs situated westward such as Westdene (Hoogendoorn, Visser, 2007). New developments are steadily growing in this cluster of 156 gated developments.…”

“…This neighbourhood cluster is growing and currently stands at 141 gated developments. Cluster B, the older, more established gated developments, and initially focus on Westdene, exhibits the highest density, with 207 gated developments (see also Hoogendoorn, Visser, 2007 for expansion on neighbourhood change in this area). Owing to the lack of available spaces for new developments, further gated developments in this area are far less likely.…”

The State and New-build Gentrification in Central Cape Town, South Africa

“…3 Yet, as we will show, the Anglo-American gentrification debates, whether seen through the lens of 'classic' Ruth Glass interpretations thereof, or its now more expanded meaning, all hold relevance to the South African urban context and, we suspect, many other cities in the global South. Even the most cursory glance at the changing geographies of South African urban settlements would quickly suggest the relevance of 'rural', 'suburban', 'new-build' and 'super' forms of gentrifi cation (Hoogendoorn and Visser, 2007;Donaldson, 2007). However, different urban processes such as gated communities, second-home development and tourism-induced urban change are the conceptual lens through which these changes are mostly interpreted.…”

Spatialities of Urban Change: Selected Themes from Bloemfontein at the Beginning of the 21st Century

“…In addition, the services economy, similarly, is physically accommodated in different building units. As the growing service and technology base sought different types of office accommodation, many of the entertainment amenities of the old Bloemfonteinsuch as the Hotel Grand and movie theatres such as the Plaza, Ritz, Monte Carlo and Capital -disappeared (Coetzee, 2006), with their functions being relocated in shopping malls and neighbourhoods such as Westdene (see Hoogendoorn and Visser, 2007).…”