Own your city: On creative economies in South Africa’s cities

Abstract

This paper considers how the Cultural and Creative Industries (CCIs) have a hand in dismantling Apartheid’s spatial violences and the potential to foster a renewed sense of belonging and good citizenship in public spaces. Three South African case studies are presented: the Maboneng Township Arts Experience (Johannesburg and Cape Town), the Infecting the City public arts festival (Cape Town) and the Open Streets initiative (Cape Town). The three initiatives are attempting to change how people interface with their cities and exemplify the potential role the CCIs play in mediating feelings of belonging, promoting access and supporting socio-economic development. The case studies can be categorised in different ways, but they are driven by common interests in
how they view cities, spatialities, public attitudes, and the ‘real’ and symbolic economy. They all have to negotiate challenging bureaucratic boundaries that regulate public space. These are the policies generated and managed by city governments that have become critical mechanisms for negotiating how public life is enriched with and by art and culture. They also have to negotiate these bureaucratic boundaries alongside commercial interests. Accordingly the paper will examine how these three public development and support initiatives are yielding positive socio-economic and symbolic results in the South African CCI landscape.