Haferburg, ChristophHuchzermeyer, Marie2018-08-232018-08-232017-04-21Haferburg, 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. 60-80.978-131708953-7https://hdl.handle.net/10539/25468This is a chapter from the book: Negative neighbourhood reputation and place attachment: the production and contestation of territorial stigmaIn 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.enRoutledge/Taylor & Francis Policies for Open Access Book Chapters states that chapters from all their books are eligible for green open access. This means each individual author or contributor can also choose to upload one chapter from the ‘Accepted Manuscript’ (AM). Authors are permitted to upload the AM chapter to a personal or departmental website immediately after publication of the book - this includes posting to Facebook, Google groups, and LinkedIn, and linking from Twitter. However there is an embargo period of 18 months for HASS and 12 months for STEM book chapters if posting to an institutional or subject repository or to academic social networks like Mendeley, ResearchGate, or Academia.edu.Redlining. Banks lending ecisions.Property markets. BanksTerritory stigmatization.Negative neighborhood.SlumsInformal settlementsSpatial ideology.Redlining. South Africa, Johannesburg, Brixton.Book chapter