Redlining or renewal? the space-based construction of decay and its contestation through local agency in Brixton, Johannesburg
Date
2017-04-21
Authors
Haferburg, Christoph
Huchzermeyer, Marie
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Taylor and Francis
Abstract
In South Africa, space-based exclusion remains prevalent in many forms. In this paper, we focus on the "redlining" of selected neighbourhoods, a technique applied by banks to structure lending decisions in the property market. As a consequence of redlining, prospective home-owners may find it impossible to secure a bond in such an area. This rationale and its results have been described extensively in urban studies literature: zoning areas as "not credit-worthy" prevents investment and creates a self-fulfilling trajectory towards crime and grime. Residents in these neighbourhoods are subject to a practice of territorial stigmatization. This results in economic insecurity with various negative neighbourhood effects, e.g. individual disinvestment or slumlording.
Redlining is currently not in the spotlight of media or research in South Africa. The structural effects of this practice, however, are significant. The translation of socio-spatial perceptions into financially excluding techniques is not prevented in South African legislation. The relevance of dissecting this conundrum is demonstrated in our case study of Brixton, one of Johannesburg’s socio-economically most diverse neighbourhoods. It is precisely in mixed areas such as Brixton on Johannesburg’s east-west axis where redlining is applied, effectively devaluing a process of unplanned socio-economic integration of over two decades. In our case study, however, we observe how some residents respond to this and successfully counter redlining by banks with a combination of individual and collective strategies. However, our case of local agency also demonstrates the huge effort that is needed to challenge the financial institutions’ spatial ideology.
Description
This is a chapter from the book: Negative neighbourhood reputation and place attachment: the production and contestation of territorial stigma
Keywords
Redlining. Banks lending ecisions., Property markets. Banks, Territory stigmatization., Negative neighborhood., Slums, Informal settlements, Spatial ideology., Redlining. South Africa, Johannesburg, Brixton.
Citation
Haferburg, C. and Huchzermeyer, M., 2017, Redlining or renewal? the space-based construction of decay and its contestation through local agency in Brixton, Johannesburg. In Kirkness, P. and Tijé-Dra, A. (eds), Negative neighbourhood reputation and place attachment: the production and contestation of territorial stigma. Routledge, London: Routledge, pp. 60-80.