Michael Gove claimed the “virus does not discriminate”. This may be true for the disease itself, but not only is the risk of contracting it disproportionate, the ability to recover from coronavirus is uneven. At the time of writing this blog, Cape Town had 256 cases of COVID 19, with figures likely to accelerate despite…

Through writing these blogs, and you reading them, we’ve most likely come to the same conclusion. The fundamental crux of Cape Town’s uneven, urban metabolism is its systemic racism and the physical legacy of Apartheid. Once an ideology that sought to control one race by another; racial segregation was not only institutionalised by the state…

In a previous blog post, the origins and legacy of Cape Town’s uneven access to sanitation was explored. The conditions amongst the city’s Townships were shown to convey nothing less than a sanitary crisis. Unfortunately, like much of the municipality’s response to urban inequality, existing attempts at resolving this dilemma constitute a ‘business as usual’…

In a previous blog post, I explored the relationship between nonwhite communities and access to nature in Cape Town. I also touched on the prevalent issue of a nature/human dichotomy culturally acquired by wider mainstream society; a particularly problematic notion for Cape’s black demographic who continue to endure a legacy of segregation.  However, ‘Bottom Road…

In the Western contemporary, sanitation is a given. For the entirety of my life, access to fresh drinking water and clean loos, supported by a well organised sewage system has seemed like a basic function of modern existence. But for the non-white communities in Cape Town’s informal settlements, my everyday reality would be their ‘dream…

For an urban landscape, Cape Town plays host to a phenomenal abundance in both flora and fauna. Its diverse range of species predominantly populate the Cape Floristic Region: a biodiversity hotspot that includes the world renowned Table Mountain National Park. Robben Island and Kirstenbosch National Botanical Gardens also feature as UNESCO World Heritage Sites, rewarded…

Growing concerns over an intense period of drought crystallised when Cape Town announced plans for ‘Day Zero’. The 12th April 2018 would mark the projected date when the capacity of local dams would fall to just 13.5%, preventing households and businesses from direct access to freshwater supplies. This doomsday rhetoric was successful, with radical reductions…