The Quandary of Post-Public Space: New Urbanism, Melrose Arch and the Rebuilding of Johannesburg after Apartheid

Abstract

As city builders in post-apartheid Johannesburg have struggled to attach themselves to a new identity as an African ‘world-class’ city, they point with pride to what leading local architects and design specialists have glowingly hailed as a novel experiment with New Urbanism called Melrose Arch. With its stress on mixed-use facilities, its pedestrian-friendly streetscapes and its ‘small town’ atmosphere, Melrose Arch represents a real-life variant of a ‘utopia in miniature’, a signature place offering the type of authentic community lacking in the sprawling residential suburbs. Yet despite its outward appearance as an exemplar of New Urbanist principles, Melrose Arch actually falls far short of the philosophical ideals embodied in the Charter for New Urbanism. As a self-contained urban enclave disconnected from the surrounding cityscape and accessible only by automobile, this affluent, mixed-used precinct has reinforced the trend toward up-market, stand-alone commercial retail environments for all those who can afford it, regardless of race, ethnicity or national origin. Seen through the wide-angle lens of spatial restructuring of the greater Johannesburg metropolitan region after the end of apartheid, upscale themed entertainment sites such as Melrose Arch have contributed to the increased fragmentation of the urban landscape.

Notes

1. The author's thoughts about New Urbanism benefited from conversations with Doug Kelbaugh and Robert Fishman (both at Taubman College of Architecture and Urban Planning, University of Michigan). The ideas and argument expressed here are those of the author alone.

2. The ideas for this paper are grounded in numerous on-site visits to Melrose Arch, starting in May 2006 and ending in July 2011.

3. Often referred to as ‘the richest square mile in Africa’, Sandton is primus inter pares in a galaxy of edge cities, commercial nodal points and business ‘growth points’ that have blossomed, starting in the 1970s, in the vast suburban belt to the north of the historic downtown core of Johannesburg (Bremner 2005).