That’s a wrap on discovering the ins and outs of Cape Town’s Urban Political Ecologies! I hope you’ve enjoyed exploring and learning about Cape Town through the rather intangible lens of Urban Political Ecology, where we’ve learnt how Cape Town exists in a fragile system of political and socio-ecological flows, evident in water security, access to sanitation, air…
Category: Cape Town
Cape Town’s battle with COVID-19
The Covid-19 virus emerged in Wuhan, China late into 2019, and having since been declared a global pandemic by the World Health Organisation, there has been over 60 million confirmed cases and 1.8 million deaths. Models of transmission for infectious diseases has historically argued that it is a combination of social mixing and poor sanitation…
An addictive relationship with intoxication?
The metabolisms of alcohol in Cape Town isn’t necessarily a common area of interest for Urban Political Ecology, but the prevalence of alcohol in Cape Town’s political and cultural scene is potentially key areas of interest for UPE with regards to alcohol flows throughout the city (Lawhon, 2012). The flow and relationship of alcohol in…
Air Pollution: A desperate plea for change
City expansion goes hand in hand with increasing rates of air pollution, and as cities grow in influence and size, so does the need for increasing transportation (Dentlinger, 2016). And with that in mind, overpopulation and air pollution have one key thing in common: their impact on human health (Graham, 2015). Air pollution is a…
Sanitation in the City
Despite being less appealing than Carrie Bradshaw’s mussing on the social life of a city’s elite, sanitation in the city of Cape Town has cause for concern, especially with regards to the city’s water crisis (Swanson, 1977). Cape Town’s history of colonisation and urban segregation has significantly influenced how public health has been manipulated to…
Water Crisis II: A tepid recovery?
As we discussed previously, Cape Town’s water crisis has affected the vast majority of the city, with socialised water restrictions put in place in an attempt to tackle the ongoing crisis. So, today let’s ask ourselves how successful these measures have been. The world watched in trepidation as Cape Town struggled to manage the worst…
Water Crisis I: Not a drop to drink
Day Zero. It’s strange how much these two words incite apocalyptic-esque fear in the citizens of Cape Town. Unfortunately, they’ve joined an ever-growing group of major cities and regions facing water crises, ranging from Mexico City, Los Angeles and expansive areas of the Middle East. Cape Town’s deteriorating relationship with water, as we discussed earlier, is…
Welcome Cape Town!
“Visit Cape Town and history is never far from your grasp. It lingers in the air, a scent on the breezy, an explanation of circumstance that shaped the Rainbow People” political journalist, Tahir Shah, contemplates in his collection of explorative essays in Travels with Myself. Cape Town: a city with ancient and rich cultural heritage that…
The Urban Digest 