Enabling a wellbeing economy in the eastern neighbourhoods of inner city Johannesburg

Abstract

There is growing concern over the increasing inequalities and environmental destruction at a global level. With South Africa possessing the highest income inequality and youth unemployment, this thesis explores the potential of changemakers in its largest city, Johannesburg, to collaborate toward a more just future. The action research PhD was located in a diverse but stigmatised set of neighbourhoods to the east of Johannesburg’s central business district, facing competing forces of regeneration and deterioration. The purpose of the action research was to support transformative social innovation towards a wellbeing economy, in which social and environmental goals are prioritised over profit, enhancing collective wellbeing. A pragmatic, flexible partnership approach underpinned the action research initiatives. Various ‘hybrid infrastructures’ were set up, including a sustainable intermediary organisation focusing on building a new identity for the area, informally named ‘Makers Valley’. New co-­‐living and co-­‐working spaces supporting a changemaker culture were initiated. Some characteristics of wellbeing economies were achieved in the area through the enablement of changemakers and thus transformative social innovation. Changemakers were motivated by a sense of agency and life purpose, affirmation from kin and public reputation, rather than the acquisition of positional goods. The research found that enablement of changemakers occurred through building communities around physical spaces and enhancing social capital, sharing, and intermediaries. Further enablement was found to occur from a learning by doing approach involving flexibility with accountability, and responsiveness to changing needs of changemakers and broader systems. Nevertheless, tangible action relied on a ‘politics of hybridity’ involving challenging compromises that had the potential to reinforce existing systems. Critical reflexivity assisted in reducing these dangers. Recommendations from this study include maximising the changemaker potential of action research in universities and supporting critical alliances within hybrid infrastructures through a ‘living lab’ approach. Lastly, a ‘beyond GDP’ social economy policy for South Africa could challenge current macroeconomic policy