Land for People: Undoing Spatial Apartheid in South African Cities

Join Bevil Lucas, Wandile Mthiyane, Annie Nisenson in conversation about spatial justice and affordable housing, moderated Keller Easterling

Join us for a conversation about spatial justice, community resilience, and the future of affordable housing in South Africa. With a history of colonial and apartheid race based land dispossession, an ever increasing national housing backlog, millions of working-class families continue to be priced out of well-located urban areas or left waiting for top-down government assistance. In response, everyday citizens, working people, architects, and activists are taking matters into their own hands to secure dignity, shelter, and the right to the city.

This event brings together frontline voices actively fighting spatial apartheid and pioneering decentralised solutions. From an actvists reclaiming the city through occupations exemplified by Cissie Gool House that resist inner city gentrification, to 1,600-kilometre trek highlighting financial exclusion on tribal lands, to the documentary filmmaking that captures these grassroots struggles, we will explore how community-led solutions can create longer lasting, more just solutions to the crisis.

This conversation is particularly pertinent at a time when we in New York face similar challenges. Whether you are an urban planner, a housing activist, or a concerned citizen, this panel will offer fresh, radical perspectives on people driven solutions.