Watson The Case For A Southern Perspective in Planning Theory

International Journal of E-Planning Research, 3(1), 23-37, January-March 2014 23
The Case for a Southern

Perspective in Planning Theory
Vanessa Watson, Faculty of Engineering and the Built Environment, School of Architecture,
Planning and Geomatics, University of Cape Town, Cape Town, South Africa
ABSTRACT
In a number of disciplines scholars are questioning the relevance of theoretical positions which claim general
and global applicability, yet are grounded in assumptions about social and material conditions which are
more specific to a global North context. This paper focuses on the recent interest in urban planning theory
to develop explanatory and normative theory that directly addresses the problems and issues of cities in the
global South. It suggests a number of starting assumptions, very different from those that inform much current
planning theory, which need to inspire the development of planning thought with a global South orientation.
These are illustrated through an example of state-society conflict in an informal settlement. While there is
certainly a case for developing a global south perspective in planning theory, it is also important to specify
the limitations on such an exercise to avoid the trap of creating new theoretical binaries.
Keywords: Conflicting Rationalities, Global South, Planning Theory, Urban Informality, Urban Planning
Theory
INTRODUCTION ning theory. For many decades the intellectuals

who led the field in planning theory have lived
Urban planning is just one discipline in which and worked in the Euro-American regions
scholars have been raising awareness of the and, consciously or not, have produced ideas
relative neglect of global South perspectives about planning (largely published in English
in theory development, as well as the tendency language journals also based in these areas)
to assume the universality of theoretical ideas shaped by the context in which they function.
even when they have been shaped by global While much good theoretical and practical work
North experiences and ideas. In urban planning has emerged from this part of the world, it is
Yiftachel (2006a), Roy (2009a; 2011a), Watson usually taken for granted that these ideas and
(2009a; 2012) and Brownill and Parker (2010) theories are also valid in the rest of the globe,
have, in various ways, pointed to the essentially and that underlying assumptions regarding the
parochial nature of much of mainstream plan- nature of cities and their societies, economies,
DOI: 10.4018/ijepr.2014010103
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24 International Journal of E-Planning Research, 3(1), 23-37, January-March 2014
culture and governance are so similar from forms of strategic planning and decision mak-
place to place that the need to geographically ing in institutional settings driven by political
specify the relevance of ideas is not necessary. cultures of patronage and paternalism, and so
While such universalizing of ideas can be on. This lack of informative ideas points to
challenged, even within the Euro-American the urgent need to “internationalize” planning
regions, the authors referred to above have theory by drawing on ideas and understanding
questioned many aspects of current planning from beyond the global North, and by emphasis-
theory in terms of relevance in cities of the global ing the context-dependency of planning along
South. Urban planning issues and problems with a necessary wariness of “best practice”
(such as effects of climate change, housing and transplants and unsubstantiated universalizing
infrastructure shortages or traffic congestion) of theoretical concepts (also see Healey, 2012).
may be important in many parts of the world, Interestingly, urban planning is not the
but in rapidly growing and poorer cities of the only discipline to question the wider validity
global South the severity and impact of these of Western scholarship in recent years. The rise
factors is usually far greater. More importantly, of Eastern economies and growing awareness
the usefulness of, and implementation of, of the demographic dominance of global South
normative planning ideas is inevitably shaped regions and cities (with 72% of the world’s urban
by context. The generalization of ideas and population living in global South cities in 2007
policy transfers across very different societies and set to rise to 83% in 2050 – UN Habitat,
has often resulted in serious planning failures 2009) has probably encouraged a wider shift
and can only be considered with great caution. to an academic interest in the global South1.
While the questionable generalization of In sociology, Connell’s (2007, p. ix) book
theory in social science disciplines is probably questions the “…belief that social science can
not uncommon and may do little more than have only one, universal body of concepts and
raise an opportunity for critique, in the applied methods, the one created in the global North…”.
discipline of urban planning, theory is intended Her more recent contribution (Connell, 2013)
to play an important role in informing practice. argues for recognition of a globally operating
Errors in planning practice can have significant “political economy of knowledge” which shapes
impacts on people’s lives and on the environ- and controls the kind of knowledge produced
ment. Cities of Africa and the global South in Southern regions and marginalizes its con-
more generally are littered with failed planning tribution to dominant theoretical production by
efforts (British Garden Cities and New Towns, labeling it as “mere” data collection2.
or rigid and mono-functional zoning schemes In anthropology, Comaroff and Comaroff
and regulations have produced landscaped (2012, p. 1) seek to counter the positioning
suburbs and orderly development mainly for of Western enlightenment thought “…as the
the wealthy) based on erroneous assumptions wellspring of universal learning…” while the
about household survival strategies, levels of car global South is seen as “…a place of parochial
ownership and movement patterns, attitudes to wisdom, of antiquarian traditions, of exotic
land, institutional capacities, or socio-cultural ways and means. Above all, of unprocessed
decision-making processes.. At the same time data.” Instead, they suggest that researching in
planners in practice in these regions have little to the global South offers privileged insights into
draw on from Northern planning theorists when the workings of the world at large, as it is in the
it comes to taking action: how, for example, to global South that the impacts of its relationship
approach participatory processes in situations of to the global North have been most starkly felt.
deep and irresolvable conflict; how to respond Both Connell (2007) and Comaroff and Coma-
to rampant profit-motivated land development roff (2012) are making the important point that
where regulatory frameworks and master plans there is a need to go beyond a recognition of
are outdated and unworkable; how to propose regional difference. They are arguing that this
difference cannot be understood outside of an cities had superior planning systems, decision-
acknowledgement of a global geopolitics of making processes, and built environment forms
power, often rooted in colonialism, which has which the global South would do well to adopt,
set up and perpetuates not only economic dif- underlies much planning thought. Northern
ference but also post-colonial mentalities which planning ideas were assumed to be universal to
elevate knowledge produced in the global North the extent that they could be adopted anywhere
over that produced elsewhere (McEwan, 2009). in the world, and “deep differences” (Watson,
In the urban studies field, Robinson (2006) 2006) in society and culture could be regarded
has questioned the global cities literature for its as ephemeral. To be fair, it is important to
implication that the world financial capitals were acknowledge that the imposition of Northern
in any way representative of cities everywhere planning ideas on global South cities had long
or should be used as models for other cities antecedents in colonial administration where
to aspire to. Roy (2009a, p. 820), in similar this was very much part of the colonial political
vein, is concerned about the “…limited sites project. Moreover, some of these ideas have also
at which theoretical production is currently been useful for property development compa-
theorized”, and calls for the “dislocating” of nies trying to sell visions of Western cities to
the Euro-American center of theoretical pro- Southern governments and the urban elite, and
duction. And Seekings and Keil (2009) call for for governments which find traditional Northern
an internationalization of urban theory which planning regulatory systems useful to suppress
recognizes that the experiences of Europe and ethnic minorities (Yiftachel, 2006b) and po-
America may not be universally applicable, and litical opponents (Berrisford & Kihato, 2006).
are in fact more likely to be exceptional from With this alignment of interests, it is perhaps
a global perspective. not surprising that there has been little room
This paper first explains the challenge that for questioning the assumption that planning
is underway in urban planning and the search for expertise and innovation were not to be found
new ideas to guide planning in the 21st century, in the global South. In addition, and to reinforce
where it can be anticipated that some of the the point made by post-colonial theorists above,
most intractable planning issues will arise in there is no reason why planning as an arena of
global South urban settings. It then suggests a knowledge production should be exempt from
set of starting assumptions that need to inform the perpetuation of intellectual colonization
any new ideas about planning in these difficult which has been noted in other disciplines.
contexts, and how the notion of conflicting ra- The conclusions in Stiftel and Mukhopadhyay
tionalities might be both a useful explanatory (2007), where Anglo-American hegemony in
approach as well as a source of innovation in planning scholarship was explored through an
planning. By way of example, the paper draws analysis of the journal publication field, provide
on dynamics in an informal settlement in Cape some support for this suggestion.
Town where a clash between state and citizens Along with other disciplines, it is possible
over access to land is an illustration of a conflict to detect new interest in planning issues outside
of rationalities. of Euro-America in recent years. A publication
review by Lauria and Wagner (2006) noted that
sources for empirical studies in planning theory
A PARADIGM UNDER had expanded geographically over the past
CHALLENGE: THE SWING decades, and had begun to diversify away from
TO THE SOUTH their earlier concentration in the US, the UK and
Europe. There has also been a growing literature
While many have recognized that Southern cit-
on different “planning cultures” (Friedmann,
ies are certainly very different from Northern
2005; Sanyal, 2005) and on the diffusion of
ones, nonetheless the assumption that Northern
planning ideas across the globe (Nasr & Volait, It is important to clarify the arguments
2003; Healey & Upton, 2010). A particularly about southern theory that are emerging from
important encouragement to planning scholars southern planning theorists. There is a recog-
to take the wider global view came from UN nition that the global South is very diverse (as
Habitat at the World Urban Forum in Vancouver is the global North) and one must be careful
in 2006, where its Executive Director3 accused not to generalize these regions without careful
planning of increasing social exclusion in cit- prior research. In fact the very terms global
ies through anti-poor measures. She suggested North and South can set up a dangerous binary
that urban planning should be fundamentally and certainly none of these authors (above) is
reviewed to see if it was able to play a role in suggesting that there should be planning for the
addressing issues in rapidly growing and poor North separate from planning for the South. It is
cities and called on planning practitioners to for this reason that Roy (2011b) emphasizes in
develop a different approach that is pro-poor her more recent work that urban development
and inclusive, and that places the creation of (and planning) is a global process and it should
livelihoods at the center of planning efforts be possible to source ideas from any part of the
(Watson, 2009b). globe to explain urban processes and identify
The number of planning scholars writing on innovative responses. This is an important in-
global South cities remains small, but some new sight: to date the “pot” of available conceptual
themes have begun to emerge, often drawing and practical planning ideas has been largely
on the work of other disciplines with a more filled from Euro-American sources. Roy’s
established interest in this part of the world. (2011b) argument (and she has used informality
Anthropologist James Holston’s (2008) work in as an example) is that there is no reason why
Brazil and his concept of “insurgent citizenship” we should limit ourselves in this way and the
has been a source of inspiration for planning entire global “canvas” of urban experience
theorists exploring citizen resistance to planning should be available to source ideas. It is also
and to the state. Ananya Roy (2009a) and Oren true that South-South borrowing of ideas has
Yiftachel (2006b) have taken the concept of been happening in practice (e.g. bus rapid transit
informality and used it to describe activities of systems from Bogota) and even South-North
the state and planning. Yiftachel (2009) has also borrowing as well (e.g. municipal participatory
addressed the scant attention given to ethnicity budgeting from Brazil: Sintomer et al., 2008).
as an element of urban materiality. He argues Problematically, however, this often falls into
that “ethnocracy” produces “gray” spaces which the old trap of “best practice” transfer which
only partially incorporate the ethnically margin- happens in isolation from an understanding of
alized and which lie between the legal and the contextual social preconditions for success.
illegal of formal planning systems. Roy (2011b) But there is a need to go beyond the “bor-
contributes to an urban studies interest in global rowing” of ideas from different parts of the
South urbanisms, referring to the processes of world, however broad the canvas. There is a
production of the built environment as shaped pressing need to build a new and more ap-
by the state, civil society and the private sector propriate body of planning theory/ies based
in various forms of alignment and collusion. on different assumptions about societies and
Significantly, all these lines of exploration are economies to those which currently inform
aimed at a better understanding of cities of the much mainstream planning theory. This is
South, but no clear ideas have yet emerged on certainly the case if the call from UN Habitat
whether or not there is a role for planning and for planners to think of the role planning can
what the nature of intervention in such contexts play in promoting pro-poor and inclusive cit-
should be. Until that happens, the only available ies under conditions of rapid urbanization is
interventive planning ideas will be sourced from to be taken seriously. Connell (2007) calls
the global North. for the building of Southern theory from case
studies, in which in-depth and qualitative case might inform such starting points for consid-
research (Flyvbjerg, 2004) can yield theoretical ering planning, perhaps more frequently in
propositions. Connell (2007) prefers compara- cities of the global South, but certainly in the
tive case research across North-South contexts global North as well. The first list below sug-
(which keeps global relations of power and gests aspects that may be seen as difficulties
post-coloniality in focus) and Flyvbjerg (2004) or challenges to conventional planning theory
argues for “phronetic” research as appropriate and practice; the second suggests resources
for the building of grounded planning theory, or opportunities that planning can build on in
which is inevitably driven by values and judg- contexts where they exist. I do not suggest that
ment and is concerned with practice. Healey the following characteristics are to be found
(2012), in trying to find a balance between everywhere but rather that the possibility that
the universal and the contingent in planning they exist should not be excluded. Planning
theory, suggests a pragmatic learning approach needs to consider the likelihood that it might
in which intervention draws on both a body of be confronted by:
circulating ideas and the specifics of planning
issues in a particular place. 1. States which are weak, fragmented and
The question often raised is: what “con- probably corrupt, and state functionaries
ceptual lenses” can be used to develop such who will seek to use planning systems for
theory, given that available perspectives (be financial and political gain;
they Marxist, Foucauldian or Habermasian) 2. “Civil society” (in the Western sense)4
all arose in the global North. Connell’s (2007) which is not a source of democracy but
answer to this is that these meta-theories may is fractured by economic and political
still be useful starting points for theory-building, divisions, may be based on criminal orga-
particularly if no alternatives are available. nizations, and functions as an instrument
Various attempts, at least in sociology, to cre- through which claims on the state are di-
ate indigenous theory which can challenge the rected, often via patron-client relationships
conceptual system of metropolitan sociology and sometimes in violent form;
seem to have led nowhere, and certainly the 3. Social groupings which do not regard West-
ethno-philosophy movement involving African ern modernization and liberal democracy
scholars has tended to produce a culture-bound as ideals to which they should aspire, and
idea of knowledge. African philosopher Houn- may have other and different conceptions
tondji (in Epstein & Morrell, 2012) suggests of modernity;
that rather we should seek a “…critical ap- 4. Communities or organizations which may
propriation of the existing knowledge” which choose to engage with the state and assert
involves learning even from the most biased their demands through court challenges,
work from the west. Methodologically, Connell street demonstrations, and destruction of
(2007) suggests, insights from case research can property rather than through dialogue or
be used to “speak back” to current theoretical collaborative processes;
perspectives, to critique them or add to them. 5. New concepts of citizenship which are
In time this can provide the foundation for new based on a sense of entitlement and where
theoretical perspectives, and for the “decoloni- there is a consciousness of rights but not
zation of knowledge” (Connell, 2013). of responsibilities;
What, then, are alternative assumptions on 6. NGOs and social networks which function
which new Southern perspectives in planning not so much to build social capital, but
theory will have to build? New lines of inquiry rather to serve their own interests of power
will need to question many of the assumptions or profit, sometimes in collusion with state
underlying current planning theory. What fol- functionaries and property developers;
lows is some very different propositions that
7. Decision-making processes where “power” cal crises, and have developed a degree of
cannot be wished away but will be a domi- resilience to global shocks through informal
nant factor shaping all forms of engage- employment and social networks;
ment, and where consensus is a possible 5. Emerging new forms of state-society rela-
but unlikely outcome; tions around planning issues, such as the
8. Processes where participating parties are co-production approaches of NGOs like
driven by very different and usually con- Slum Dwellers International (see Watson,
flicting rationalities which shape expecta- 2014);
tions and outcomes; 6. State-society conflicts which can stall
9. Cities where crime and violence have be- planning and development processes but
come a pervasive part of the “everyday”; which can also give rise to innovation as
10. Cities where colonial pasts are deeply poorer communities reject “borrowed” or
inscribed in the material fabric of the city, market-driven solutions and insist on ur-
creating spatial inequalities which are dif- ban development processes and outcomes
ficult to counter and are often reinforced more closely aligned with their needs and
by profit-seeking land investors; capabilities;
11. Planning interventions where the expertise 7. Social and kinship networks spanning
of professional planners is under direct urban and rural areas, which have built
challenge, where state sources of informa- up around religion, economic exchange
tion (maps, statistics) are treated as suspect and many other factors, and noting that
and where communities (or elements of such networks can be divisive as well as
these) will want to take control of knowl- encouraging social cohesion.
edge and idea production.
While the above certainly suggests that “SEEING” FROM THE SOUTH:
planning will encounter unforeseen and un- FINDING AN ORGANIZATION
theorized difficulties, there are also unique OF PERSPECTIVES
opportunities in global South regions which
can form the building blocks of new planning The new lines of inquiry referred to above need
approaches. These could be: to find a way to theoretically frame an under-
standing of what goes on in cities (wherever
they might be located), and what might go on
1. Rapidly growing and evolving cities in tran-
given a concern for pro-poor and inclusive
sition where new forms of infrastructure
cities. From a planning perspective, a central
(particularly more sustainable community-
tension which plays itself out in most cities is
based and decentralized systems) can be
between, on the one hand, techno-managerial,
tried and tested;
modernizing and marketized systems of state
2. New urban populations, often fed by
planning, administration and service provision,
the most skilled and educated of rural-
in various forms of alliance or collusion with
urban migrants, which bring a rich diver-
profit driven land developers5, and on the other
sity of practical abilities such as informal
hand, marginalized and impoverished urban
building, urban food production and
populations surviving largely, but not only,
entrepreneurialism;
under conditions of informality or “illegality”.
3. Essentially youthful urban populations
I suggest (2009a) that this tension can be
(particularly in Africa) which bring both
viewed as a “conflict of rationalities” arising
challenges as well as the potential to in-
at the interface between the different logics (or
novate, experiment and take risks;
rationalities) of various urban actors. While
4. Urban populations which have survived the
an understanding of planning as shaped by
worst of structural adjustment and politi-
rationality of government (governmentality) is discursive rather than purely coercive; and

not new in the planning literature, the forms of constituting agents rather than being deployed
this rationality in many parts of the world are by them) could be more useful here. However,
changing rapidly. The suggestion here is that Connell (2007) suggests that Partha Chatterjee’s
this confronts a different rationality – shaped by contrast of different “modes of power” in post-
efforts of survival of the poor – which in turn colonial states (which opens up a new range of
operates with its own logics and imperatives. possibilities for ruling classes to exercise their
Following Bridge (2005) it can be argued that domination), rather than Foucault’s “capillary
rationality is not necessarily confined to “a power” (which resonates more closely with a
community” as members operate in diverse European context) may be worth exploring.
communities which overlap and collide in vari- Also more useful is Li’s (2007) notion of an
ous ways. Similarly, sharp distinctions between “interface” between those with the “will to
structure and agency dissolve through a focus improve”, or destroy, and those who resist: it is
on power working through social/technical political and shaped by power which cannot be
networks and in the constitution of the self. wished away. For Li (2007), the interface is the
Two ideas are central to the conception of point at which different rationalities come into
planning as a product of conflicting rationalities clear juxtaposition, engagement and contesta-
– power and the importance of context. Both tion with each other, where further conflict is
concepts are used here in significantly different generated, or where contentious and political
ways from current mainstream planning theory. issues are “rendered technical” by the state,
For example, certain current explanatory and or where perhaps real gains can be secured
normative formulations of planning decision- by marginalized groups. Li (2007, p. 11) uses
making processes (such as collaborative and Foucault’s term of “permanent provocation” to
communicative planning) have been strongly explain the interface, where there is “reciprocal
influenced by a Habermasian concept of society appeal”: a “perpetual linking” and a “perpetual
and power. These positions pose communica- reversal”, or as Li has it – the critical relation-
tion as the most important element of planning ship between the practice of government and
practice: interaction (with stakeholders or the practice of politics.
interest groups), communicating ideas, form- Equally important is an understanding of
ing arguments, and debating differences in these processes in context: as happening in a
understandings will finally produce consensus particular time and place. Mainstream planning
on a course of planning action. Many of these draws influence from Rawls and Habermas,
positions argue that the “force of the better with foundations in liberalism and its often
argument” will determine the final validity of universalizing and homogenizing assumptions
a particular position, and if planning processes about societies. Other philosophers, such as
are inclusive, empathetic, and open, and if Alasdair MacIntyre (1998), more usefully see
power differences between participants can be the world differently, and as made up of differ-
neutralized, then the outcome of such a process ent world views shaped by the time and place
can be considered valid and consensual. from which they have emerged. These different
However, the alternative assumptions listed traditions have distinctive conceptualizations
in the section above might require a different of practical rationality and justice which are
starting point: for example, one which starts not necessarily compatible with each other
with recognition of deep societal conflicts in (Watson, 2006). Recognizing the importance
which planning issues are unlikely to be resolved of context implies that the task is not to build
through consensus-seeking and participatory more general theory with universalizing preten-
processes. Foucault’s concept of power (as sions, and new theoretical perspectives need to
diffuse and pervasive rather than concentrated; specify the contextual assumptions on which
embodied and enacted rather than possessed; they are based.
Work by non-Western political theorists, an informal settlement, I am not suggesting that

such as Partha Chatterjee (2011), also helps to tensions generated by conflicting rationalities
unsettle the assumption that Western liberal de- simply replicate a divide between urban formal-
mocracy is held universally as an ideal. Planning ity and informality. There is a growing literature
thought needs to consider that many Southern which shows how these terms are contested and
societies operate within different norms and interlinked, how the concept of informality can
structures which may have different forms of apply to the activities of the state (Roy, 2009b)
democracy as a political ideal. Writing on India, as well as to types of shelter occupied by the
Chatterjee (2011) describes an emerging opposi- poor, and how formality and informality can be
tion between what he calls “civil society” and viewed as evolving “forms of practice” that cut
“political society”. Civil society refers to the across divides between legality and illegality,
narrow and relatively organized political space rich and poor, and between state and society
where “…citizens related to the state through (McFarlane, 2012). Rather the example below
the mutual recognition of legally enforceable shows how significantly different ideas of “what
rights”, and political society refers to the much needs to be done” provides one important (but
larger domain “…where governmental agencies not the only) fault-line of conflict confronting
deal not with citizens but with populations to planning efforts.
deliver specific benefits or services through a
process of political negotiation”. The fault-line
between state and political society suggested CONFLICTING RATIONALITIES
by Chatterjee, the “interface” between those IN JO SLOVO INFORMAL
with the will to improve and those who resist SETTLEMENT
it proposed by Li (2007), and the ethnographic
The informal settlement known as Jo Slovo
investigation into how the Indian poor “see the
(containing some 8 000 households in 2012)
state” by Corbridge et al (2005) and its contrast
lies on well-located land adjacent to a major
with how the state views the poor, all offer
transport route connecting the city centre and the
alternative perspectives for understanding and
Cape Town International airport, and it is close
developing thinking about urban planning that
to work opportunities. What has happened on
could be more compatible with the contextual
this particular piece of land over the last 20 years
realities listed at the end of the previous section
exemplifies disputes over well-located urban
of this paper.
land in many African and global South cities.
Power and the importance of context are
Well-located land in most cities has become
central concepts, but of particular interest is
increasingly valuable as rates of urbanization
how the dynamic interaction between con-
remain high or, as in Cape Town, urban land
flicting rationalities at work in the city (and
expansion is constrained. Rapid urban growth
particularly in relation to policy and planning
in itself fuels contestation over land with eco-
issues) both shape what happens, but also points
nomic profit increasingly playing a mediating
to the possibility of understanding what could
role in these contestations. “Slum real estate”
happen i.e. the interventive or normative aspect
(Desai & Loftus, 2012) is the term now being
of planning. The next section of the paper turns
used to describe profiteering processes in shack
to this and an illustration of the concept of con-
settlements and it leads to displacement and
flicting rationalities in the informal settlement
marginalization just as surely as state action
of Jo Slovo in Cape Town, South Africa. As the
against these areas. Such land is contested: it is
purpose here is simply to provide an illustration
valuable, for very different reasons, to a range
of a set of ideas, and not to present an in-depth
of different groupings each with their own log-
case study, the elements of this case are highly
ics or rationalities. In Jo Slovo it is possible, in
summarized. Significantly while the case of Jo
general terms, to see what has happened here
Slovo presented here is largely (but not entirely)
as a conflict between “the state” and its “will to protection from the elements. These households
order and improve” (its modernizing ambitions) may also have aimed to save enough on rent
and poor shack dwellers seeking affordable and transport from this good location to support
living space close to urban resources. family members and perhaps a rural family
The rationality of “the state” found expres- network as well (Spiegel et al., 1996). Many
sion in large billboards proclaiming “houses, were closely networked to other households in
security and comfort for all”, the name of the the immediate vicinity and this proximity was
proposed redevelopment (N2 Gateway, with essential for maintaining those networks which
the term emphasizing the view of the settle- are usually essential for survival.
ment from the airport road, and its potential However, what was at work in Jo Slovo
“gateway” as a locus of investment) and press is more than a “simple” conflict between state
releases of architectural models showing land- and community, a binary which disguises a host
scaped middle income housing. This is James of more complex and deeper conflicts which
Scott’s (1998) modernizing imperative laced shaped outcomes on the site. A more detailed
with a political promise of rights realized, but analysis of dynamics on the site indicated, first
the details of the vision – as consistently taught of all, that one cannot refer to “the state” as a
to architectural and planning students – may be homogenous entity with a single will, and in
sourced to the Northern regions of the globe. fact a history of multiple and shifting state in-
The assumptions which travel with the physical tentions has shaped Jo Slovo. As Tania Murray
vision are: occupants will be nuclear families Li (2007, p. 6) observes:
with regular middle-level incomes, willing to
invest time and money in an urban (rather than To improve populations requires the identifica-
a rural) home base, content to be selected from tion of what Foucault identified as a distinct
an orderly housing waiting list; and families government rationality – a way of thinking about
able to commit to long term payments and government as the “right manner of disposing
responsibilities which would be expressed in of things” in pursuit not of one dogmatic goal
legally binding lease or freehold agreements. but “a whole series of specific finalities” to be
The numerous shack dwellers displaced by achieved through multiform tactics.
the new development (some 1000 households
were relocated to a “transit camp” over 20km In the case of the Jo Slovo site these multiple
away) would, it is assumed, politely pack up and shifting tactics and intentions have involved
their belongings and move. Under a democratic a range of state departments and actors: the
system, it was probably anticipated that any Constitutional Court (which set conditions on
disagreement about these arrangements would eviction from the site in 2009), the state Auditor
be channeled through elected local political General (which intervened to ensure financial
representatives for the area. compliance of the new project) the National
The rationality of the Jo Slovo shack- Department of Housing which decided to use
dwellers was of course very different. Made up Jo Slovo to pilot its new housing vision (as
of a mixture of recent migrants from distant rural one of “integrated human settlements”), the
areas as well as weaker individuals and families Provincial government which finally took over
displaced by pressures on space in surrounding responsibility for the project when the local
areas, their collective aim was to secure shelter, municipality backed out, and various Special
however small and fragile, at minimum cost and Purpose Vehicles set up to manage the process.
maximum flexibility in terms of commitment. Even within these arenas of government there
Their rationality (to use Li’s (2007) term) was to was a range of professionals and politicians
“survive and thrive”. Their presence on the site with their own often conflicting views of what
was not a casual preference, it was about having should happen on the site, and inspired by a range
enough money to affording a meal and some
of other logics which had to do with political in Langa and neighbouring localities including
point scoring, the management of unwanted backyard dwellers, hostel dwellers and bonded
populations and cost cutting. home owners bordering the settlement. Some
The “policy voice” concerned with “forging of these interests were united in wanting to stay
alignments, rendering technical and authorizing on the site, or gain access to it, but whether in
knowledge” (Li, 2007) shifts at the local level shacks or formal houses was a further debate.
to one of pragmatic action shaped by day-to- Neighbouring middle-income communities
day encounters and problems. Those aspects were prepared to tolerate development of the
of the state which were most “visible” (see site but only as long as it did not threaten their
Corbridge et al., 2005) to Jo Slovo residents property prices.
were the local Disaster Management services A further important influence was fed in
(which responded after fires to attempt to control through the NGO and its networks, and affili-
a repeat of densification and to clear pathways ated CBOs, which were involved in the process.
between shacks) and the City’s Anti-Land Inva- Li (2007) generally locates NGOs “will to
sion Unit, which saw their task as demolishing improve” alongside that of the state, but it is
new shacks set up in Jo Slovo so as to protect evident from the Jo Slovo case that NGOs can
land for new formal housing for those still on take an oppositional role in relation to the state
the housing waiting list6. Jo Slovo occupants’ and their “will to improve” may be driven by
view of the state was therefore very different rather different rationalities. In Jo Slovo the
from the discourse in policy documents and on NGO had been involved in community savings
bill-boards, and was far more physical, violent promotion, fire risk reduction, self-enumeration,
and repressive. informal settlement upgrading and community
Similarly a closer view of the responses based spatial redesign and realignment of shack
of those occupying Jo Slovo site show how settlements. In this case the NGO is affiliated
the rationality of “survive and thrive” can be to Slum Dwellers International which brings
expressed in different ways and take a range its own set of “rituals” to an upgrade process
of different forms. Local political representa- as well as spatial ideas, some of which may be
tives, or municipal councilors, representing Jo imported from elsewhere (e.g., the Indian idea
Slovo residents provided one voice (with some of communal toilet blocks).
authority) in municipal government: obtaining Inevitably, the conflict between state and
formal housing for these shack dwellers would community which played itself out on the site
gain these councilors important political capital took varied forms. It is best described as occur-
and improve their chances of re-election. But ring at an “interface” which is a zone of active
there were divisions in the community between contestation between state and community.
those supporting the Jo Slovo councilor and a In the Jo Slovo case this has had institutional
Task Team set up by an involved NGO which expression in court cases, civic expression in
had accused the councilor of not representing street demonstrations, material expression in
shack dweller interests. Within Jo Slovo there built form (corrugated iron, brick and tar) and
were further local leaders and committees with a range of what might be called guerilla tactics
varying spatial and political allegiances all on both sides – fires, covert attacks on shacks,
seeking to represent different interests amongst informers and collaborators, the disguising of
the shack dwellers. Thus there were community new shacks, and the hijacking and take-over of
leaders claiming to represent former residents completed housing units. Some of the conflicts
on the site, but later displaced, after a large fire, are played out on the site, but others happen in
to temporary relocation areas: some in Langa other venues and fora – court cases, newspapers,
and some on the distant edge of the City. Other government offices etc. Some are violent and
community leaders represented various interests dependent on brute force, others involve the ma-
nipulation of discourse. All involve the exercise In the first place, this kind of conceptual-
of power in its various forms, and very different izing of urban processes is useful in order to
“rationalities” in terms of desired outcomes. understand (even if only imperfectly) the com-
The Jo Slovo case also illustrates some of plexity and fluidity of urban land occupation
the contextual realities listed above which so and development in poor and rapidly growing
frequently emerge in planning and development cities. In this sense, the idea of conflicting ra-
projects, particularly (but not only) in the global tionalities joins a wider literature on concepts
South. It is hard to imagine how these conflicts of Southern “urbanisms” (Benjamin, 2008;
would have been amenable to resolution by con- Roy, 2011b; Shatkin, 2011). What it adds is the
ventional, collaborative planning processes in importance of fine-grained and ethnographic
which it is assumed that sufficient “talk” would work on both sides of the interface (state and
produce consensus outcomes. Violence was civil or political society) and on the zone of
more commonly seen as a way to solve prob- contestation itself, placing power and context
lems (by both state and community), the divide as central informants. Using Foucault’s concept
between state and civil society was blurred and of power, as never totalizing, is critical: this
shaped by corruption and sectional interests, and recognizes that there is always the possibility of
the ideal of a modern, well-planned housing resistance and struggle, and hence the opening
project was rejected by occupants of the site if of space for other outcomes. Hence strategies
they could not all be beneficiaries of these units. of governing are inherently ambiguous, as
On the other hand there was great (unrealized) what they demand of citizens may be “refused,
potential in the co-production arrangements or reversed or redirected”, and may “connect
proposed by the NGO, in the ingenuity of the up” and “destabilise larger circuits of power”
residents as they tried to outmaneuver the state, (Watson, 2009a).
and in their ability to produce shelter from their But the question of intervention remains,
own resources. The adoption of a very different and this is the unanswered issue in current
starting point by government, a different and Southern urban literature. Assuming, first, a set
more appropriate vision of the end result and of values which sees planning as seeking social
a greater willingness to understand, and build and spatial justice, fostering inclusive cities,
on, the lived realities of the very poor, might and promoting environmental sustainability,
have led to a very different result. the question is: to what extent is it possible to
learn (about new approaches) from context as
opposed to simply importing “best practice”
REFRAMING PLANNING from elsewhere in the world. If strategies of
THOUGHT governing can be refused, reversed or redirected,
if people make use of them, reject them or
What is planning (and planners) to do with
hybridize them to fit daily needs, then perhaps
such complex and fluid environments? Which
it is here that innovation occurs and new plan-
interests do planners represent and do they
ning ideas can emerge. Arce and Long (2000,
insert their own rationalities (and values) into
p. 1) explain how:
the messy reality of Southern cities? Do plan-
ners choose to work as state functionaries, and
almost inevitably become part of its moderniz- …ideas and practices of modernity are them-
ing ambitions, can they act as “guerrillas in the selves appropriated and re-embedded in lo-
system” and subvert state rationalities? Or do cally situated practices, thus accelerating the
they swop sides and choose to act with NGOs fragmentation and dispersal of modernity into
or communities, and the rationalities which constantly proliferating modernities.
shape what they do?
This suggests the tracking of how com- urban development is never a finished process,
munities warp and refit new urban modernities: it is an ongoing series of actions and reactions
the urban technologies, and spatial and built and it is important that planning interventions
environment ideas and processes which may take this into account.
emerge via the State or NGOs, and which can
be changed on site, as it were, so that they (more
or less) “work” for those driven to survive and CONCLUSION
thrive in the harsh conditions of Southern cities.
This paper has argued that new conceptual
Such appropriated or hybridized approaches
frames are needed to inform thinking about
may include new ways of implementing settle-
urban planning in rapidly growing and poorer
ment upgrading; new processes for collecting
cities. These are frames which may prove rel-
household savings and channeling these into
evant to planning in global North regions as
construction; new affordable sanitation or
well, as certain parts of these regions confront
power generating technologies; new forms of
levels of inequality and unemployment on a
tenure that avoid the pitfalls of both freehold
par with global South regions. Certainly, the
and customary land ownership, and so on. What
historically Southern concern with informal-
is suggested here is a “learning from practice”
ity may increasingly become important in
approach, which already has some traction in
Northern countries as urban residents struggle
the field of planning theory (Watson, 2002).
to find jobs and make ends meet. However, the
The question then is: how do local inno-
demographic dominance of Southern urban
vations (local practice successes), which are
populations makes it almost unthinkable that
usually highly context determined, become
planning theorists and practitioners would not
available to assist communities and interven-
turn their minds to the issue of the role of plan-
tions elsewhere, and is it possible to extract
ning in contexts such as these.
more generalizable lessons from them, without
The paper has proposed the conceptual
falling into the “best practice” trap, and without
frame or perspective of “conflicting rationali-
inappropriately generalizing to locations and
ties” as a way of understanding both current
situations which are very different socially,
processes which shape material realities of
economically and culturally?
urban conditions, and ways in which such pro-
One method is the idea of community “hori-
cesses might give rise to innovation and hence
zontal exchanges”, used by NGOs such as Slum
more appropriate planning ideas. This involves
Dwellers International, which involve groups
drawing on a Foucauldian (rather than Haber-
of poor moving (sometimes globally) between
masian) concept of power, and a fine-grained
sites to share knowledge and gains in savings,
understanding of context, as central concepts
construction and engagement with authorities.
which shape conflicting rationalities and their
These processes have the potential to upscale
innovative potential.
such innovations beyond the local, and to feed
The example of Jo Slovo settlement, dis-
them into wider and sometimes global debates.
cussed here, provides a vehicle for showing how
Circulating ideas are tested in new sites, where
conflicting rationalities operate in context, and
they can again be refused, reversed, redirected
also indicates the kind of research questions
and hybridized. McFarlane (2011, p. 69) re-
which are needed to understand what happens
fers to these exchanges as “translocal urban
in contested urban spaces such as Jo Slovo. If
learning assemblages” of materials, practices,
planners are to retain a claim to relevance in
designs, knowledge, personal stories and local
the 21st century, then there is no doubt that the
histories, with the notion of assemblage placing
issue of what to do in Southern cities needs
an emphasis on urban learning and alignment
urgent attention.
between the social and material at different
sites. These approaches reinforce the view that
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ENDNOTES of new forms of neoliberalized governance

in Bangalore resonates widely across global
1
See Seekings and Keil (2009) on how this has South cities.
influenced an urban studies journal.
6
Less evident as a player in relation to this
2
Connell (2013) acknowledges Hountondji piece of land has been the private sector in the
(1997 [1994]) for this insight). form of property developers, which makes the
3
Dr A Tibaijuka (2006) Jo Slovo site somewhat different from other
4
Chatterjee (2011: 13) offers a different defini- parcels of well-located land in Cape Town.
tion of civil society as “…a narrow domain The private property sector was responsible
…where citizens related to the state through for housing construction and its attempts to
the mutual recognition of legally enforceable maximize profit within a set state capital
rights…”. subsidy scheme adds a further logic to the
5
See Goldman (2011) for a good case study of outcome.
these kinds of processes: his documentation
Vanessa Watson, PhD, is professor of city planning in the School of Architecture, Planning and
Geomatics at the University of Cape Town, South Africa, and Deputy Dean of the Faculty of
Engineering and the Built Environment. She holds degrees from the Universities of Natal, Cape
Town and the Architectural Association of London, and a PhD from the University of Witwa-
tersrand, and is a Fellow of the University of Cape Town. She is the author/co-author of seven
books, some fifty journal articles and numerous chapters, conference papers and keynotes in the
field of planning. Her book Change and Continuity in Spatial Planning: Metropolitan Planning
in Cape Town under Political Transition (Routledge) won national and university book prizes.
She is an editor of the journal Planning Theory, and on the editorial boards of Planning Practice
and Research, the Journal of Planning Education and Research and Progress in Planning.

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International Journal of E-Planning Research, 3(1), 23-37, January-March 2014 23

The Case for a Southern

INTRODUCTION ning theory. For many decades the intellectuals

rationality of government (governmentality) is discursive rather than purely coercive; and

Work by non-Western political theorists, an informal settlement, I am not suggesting that

REFERENCES De Satge, R. (2011). Through the eyes of the state:

ENDNOTES of new forms of neoliberalized governance

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