The indifference of transport: Comparative research of “infrastructural ruins” in the Gauteng City‐Region and Greater Maputo

Rubin, Margot ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9330-8308, Blair Howe, Lindsay, Charlton, Sarah, Suleman, Muhammed, Cani, Anseimo, Tshuwa, Lesego and Parker, Alexandra 2023. The indifference of transport: Comparative research of “infrastructural ruins” in the Gauteng City‐Region and Greater Maputo. Urban Planning 8 (4) , 351–365. 10.17645/up.v8i4.7264

PDF - Published Version Available under License Creative Commons Attribution. Download (2MB)

Abstract

States in the Global South have consistently invested in large-scale, vanity infrastructure projects, which are often not used by the majority of their residents. Using a mixed-method and comparative approach with findings from Greater Maputo, Mozambique, and the Gauteng City-Region exposes how internationally-supported and expensive transport projects do not meet the needs of lower-income urban residents, and meanwhile, widespread, everyday modes of commuting such as trains, paratransit, and pathways for walking deteriorate. State-led development thus often generates an infrastructural landscape characterised by “ruin” and “indifference.” These choices are anachronistic, steeped in a desire for a modernist-inspired future and in establishing narratives of control. In the cases of Gauteng and Maputo, whether or not the infrastructure is “successfully” implemented, these choices have resulted in a distancing of the state from the majority of urban residents.

Item Type:	Article
Date Type:	Publication
Status:	Published
Schools:	Geography and Planning (GEOPL)
Publisher:	Cogitatio Press
ISSN:	2183-7635
Date of First Compliant Deposit:	10 January 2024
Date of Acceptance:	17 November 2023
Last Modified:	10 Jan 2024 11:00
URI:	https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/165391

Actions (repository staff only)

Edit Item