Browsing by Author "Bickford-Smith, John"

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    Cape Town at war: the city, lived experiences and loyalties, 1914-1919
    (2020) Walton, Sarah-Jane; Bickford-Smith, John
    This thesis explores ways in which the First World War affected Cape Town. It addresses the absence of research on urban histories in South Africa and non-European urban histories of the war. It tells of the history in Cape Town and the history of Cape Town during the war. By drawing on a variety of primary sources – government and city records, organisational archives, print media - it demonstrates some of the infrastructural, economic and social consequences of the war on the city. The thesis is structured in three main parts. The first considers the city on the advent of the war and Capetonians' responses to its declaration. This related to the Anglo-Boer War and the 1910 formation of Union, and Cape Town's particular history of Anglicisation. It also explores how war changed the experience of daily life, imbuing the city with war-related sights, sounds and symbols. The second part of the thesis emphasises that the war was a period of considerable infrastructural and demographic change. The city's work-force, too was affected by the war, whilst a rise in living-expenses, and a wartime spread of socialist ideas, led to intensified strike action. This was notable for increased cross-racial co-operation, as well as the marked presence of semi- and unskilled workers organising en-mass for the first time. The third part of the thesis speaks to subjective depictions of Cape Town. It considers three main discourses about the city – ‘slum city,' ‘sin city' and ‘destination city' - indicating the co-existence of multiple and sometimes contrasting representations of wartime Cape Town. Lastly, the war was a period of heightened identifications with Britain, which cut across race, gender and class lines. Nevertheless wartime patriotism was inconsistently sustained, with certain events fuelling feelings of loyalty towards Empire and animosity towards those deemed as ‘disloyal.' Overall it is concluded that although the war has faded in Cape Town's popular memory, it was important to how many Capetonians identified themselves. Moreover it was a significant catalyst for change, informing debates and subsequent policies about health, segregation and the future of South African cities.
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    Transnational planning systems, local practices and spatial inequalities: housing the working classes in Cape Town 1900-970
    (2023) Attwell, Melanie Jane; Bickford-Smith, John
    This thesis examines residential planning in Cape Town in the first 70 years of the 20th century, a pivotal period in the creation of residential space for the working classes. It is a contribution to the under-researched history of urban planning in South Africa. This approach means writing history ‘from above' of the spatial and material development of the city rather than a social history ‘from below' of the urban experience in the city, although the two will be intimately connected. Hence, in Henri Lefebvre's conception of the social construction of space, there is a focus on what he referred to as its ‘generative process'. The focus of this thesis is therefore on the ‘generative processes of knowledge, the results of a complex matrix of international influences and local modifications within an ideological context. Little by way of South African urban historiography has explored this unfolding process. It is one that, by using the case study of Cape Town, has attempted to explain both transnational and local influences in a detailed analysis of its material development over more than two-thirds of the 20th century. To this end, I have drawn on a wide range of original sources, including many that have been little drawn on until now, including photographic collections, aerial photographs, historical maps and town plans. I also consulted professional journals and the relevant laws and ordinances. The thesis sheds light on a ‘generative process' in three key areas. The first is to demonstrate the role played by a corps of professional experts in Cape Town in applying international ‘solutions' to the problems confronting the old city. Their working ideas were based on the intellectual public health and planning frameworks in general currency in Britain, Europe and the United States. The ideas had a profound impact on the character, society and form of Cape Town. The second is to show the genealogy of a progression of housing types and residential forms. Their production (with some exceptions) arose from housing forms influenced by transnational and local planning influences and housing models. The third is to highlight the ways in which the planning of working-class housing, even before the apartheid era, contributed towards the growth of residential racial segregation. The trend towards residential segregation was enforced through policy, practice and law and differed from one South African city to another. The growth of residential segregation was accompanied by the centralisation of administrative control, to the extent that racial criteria eventually played the central role in all aspects of residential development and town planning, resulting in the unequal development of physical space along racial lines. The legacy of this ‘generative process' is still clearly apparent in contemporary Cape Town more than three decades after the repeal of apartheid legislation.