Pieter Roos Park and public dwelling: displacement in an inner-city Johannesburg public space network

Abstract

Abstract:Broad structural problems including poverty, spatial and economic inequality, and unemployment, manifest in public space through informality, homelessness, residential settlement in open space, as well as criminal activity. Often, interventions focus on these symptoms of structural problems without enough attention to the influence of broader factors on public space nor to the impacts and implications of these interventions. My research demonstrates a series of public sector interventions that entailed evictions from public spaces in inner-city Johannesburg. These incrementally increased the residential population of Pieter Roos Park until public authorities again evicted residents in early 2019, many of whom have since returned. Evicting people from public open spaces does not end their homelessness, rather displaces them to different localities, often nearby. Sometimes, the same people return to the same space soon after displacement. Moreover, evictions exacerbate the vulnerability of rough sleepers and perpetuate their state of poverty (often linked to destruction or confiscation of materials for shelter or other belongings). These ‘hard’ interventions are rooted in uncollaborative and fragmented local governance, based on a narrow understanding of public space that lacks consideration of how public space refracts broader socio-spatial dynamics and the complex drivers of homelessness. As such, ‘hard’ approaches to public space management continue to undermine emerging social networks of public dwellers. Therefore, this research argues for a more holistic understanding of and approach to public space as a nexus of urban processes, with an accordingly more integrated approach by related city departments to the issue of public dwelling based on an inclusive, non-punitive policy.