The evolution and the planetary urbanization of Johannesburg, South Africa

Umeå University, Critical Essay Lore Bergers 2021

The evolution and the planetary urbanization of Johannesburg, South Africa This essay will describe how the mining industry influenced the urbanization of the Gauteng region, South Africa, in a planetary way. The term ‘planetary urbanization’ will be explained through different levels. The case study of the city of Johannesburg and its sprawling suburb Soweto will be discussed.

In addition, my own experience of the city of Johannesburg will be featured, through photographs and through observation. In short, this essay will study the urbanization of the city of Johannesburg and how the city got directly or indirectly effected by the mining industry.

As explained in the book Implosion/Explosion, ‘‘Urbanization can be understood in a spatial and temporal way. Spatial because the process extends through space and temporal because it develops over time’’ (Brenner and Harvey 2014, 40). In the same book, ‘planetary urbanization’ is explained as the fact that ‘‘even spaces that are situated beyond the traditional city cores and suburban peripheries have become integral parts of the worldwide urban fabric’’ (Brenner and Harvey 2014, 162).

Thus, one can say that the city in general keeps evolving through time. In this way everything becomes spatially connected. Further, ‘planetary urbanization’ can be understood as the urbanization of nature (Harrison and Zack 2012). Rural hinterlands are transformed into different networks of infrastructure and human settlements, even far beyond the edges of a city. Each city knows its own process of urbanization. Furthermore, there are many causes for landscapes to get urbanized. Political, economical and social issues are often part of the process (Kneen, Ojelede and Annegarn 2015, 1).

In the case of Johannesburg, the gold mining industry was the foundation for the urban growth of the city. Johannesburg, also called ‘the city of gold’, is located in the Gauteng region. This region became known for its big amount of gold deep down below the surface. The first gold was found in 1886 along the Witwatersrand, a small mountain range thats runs through the Gauteng region (Durand 2012, 24).

Rural migrants of different races and nationalities moved towards the Witwatersrand to find a job in the mining industry (Parnell 2003). They hoped to get a better job and to be able to take care of their families. Because of this labour migration, mine-towns had to be built. These mining areas became bigger over time and as a result more infrastructure was needed. Eventually, some of the towns resulted in cities, like Johannesburg did in a very short time. The urbanization of this city took only a few years.

Today, the city of Johannesburg is the densest populated part of Southern Africa (Tang and Watkins 2011).

The mining industry had a great impact on the spatial development structure of Johannesburg. From the beginning, settlements for labour migrants were built close to the mining belts to be able to reach the mines directly from their homes. On both sides of the Witwatersrand, sprawling tonwships took over places which were once natural grasslands. The Witwatersrand itself got replaced by operational landscapes which deconstructed the surrounded environment.

The mining not only caused a rapid urbanization on the surface, one can say that it also created an underground world of infrastructure. Mining companies replaced tons of earth towards the surface to create the underground tunnel systems used for the excavation of gold (Durand 2012, 28). This world is hidden and unseen by the inhabitants of Johannesburg. However, the consequences of these excavations are real as they make the ground above unstable and risky to build on.

To find more gold, it was necessary to dig deeper. Some shafts can reach a very deep level, going even 4 kilometers below the surface (Durand 2012, 28). Infrastructures, like elevators, are constructed inside the shafts to be able to extract the gold. The underground mining industry is still active, but it is not the main industry anymore. Some mining belts are closed. However, the enormous systems of tunnels will stay part of an unseen underground world for a long time.

Umeå University, Critical Essay Lore Bergers 2021

The waste soil left behind by the process of mining results in mine dumps. These mine dumps can grow up to 30 meters high (Tang and Watkins 2011). They have become landmarks of Johannesburg.

Today, many of these mine waste areas are being used for re-mining activities (Bobbins and Trangoš 2018, 52). Small gold particles are extracted from waste soil, which makes that the landscape is changing constantly.

Mine waste has a negative impact on the surroundings. It contaminates the environment of the Witwatersrand. The waste is often found to be toxic and if it is not maintained correctly, it can pollute the environment through air and water (Bobbins and Trangoš 2018, 64). The dust created by the waste belts can lead to severe health risks for humans.

Besides that, wetlands and rivers have been dramatically contaminated by waste. Water gets polluted by acid mine drainage, which effects the water supply of the city-region. Since soil is used as the substrate to grow food or to graze cattle, contaminated soil has many effects on plants, animals and people. These kinds of pollution make that cancer and lung diseases are common in the surrounding townships of the mine belts (Mwenda 2018). The industry of mining polluted and deconstructed the entire environment.

Figure 1: Toxic mountain of mine waste next to the town of Soweto. (Source: Ecologies of Gold 2011)

Furthermore, the gold mining industry played an important role in the social and economic divides.

Due to Apartheid, which involves the segregation of races, coloured people were forced to move out of the city centre (Todes 2011, 158). Because of this, two prominent urban landscapes have been formed throughout the history of Johannesburg. Suburban towns in the north of the mining belts are inhabited mostly by rich white people, while coloured people had to settled in the south. Thus, coloured townships got divided from the white suburbs. Because of this, the urbanization on the peripherical edges of the city of Johannesburg increased.

The waste belts, which were discussed earlier, were used as a spatial buffer between different races.

The southern townships are mostly located next to the mining waste on the peripheral edges of the city. These social and urban processes make that the city of Johannesburg today exists out of different landscapes, including several satellite townships. Sometimes these sprawling towns blur into each other, but sometimes they do not touch at all (Bobbins and Trangoš 2018, 34).

Figue 2: Sprawling township next to a mountain of mine waste. (Source: The Guardian 2015)

Figue 3: The mine dumps as a boundary between the north and south suburbs. (Source: NASA earth observatory 2003)

Umeå University, Critical Essay Lore Bergers 2021

"In the sprawling cities of the third world, ‘periphery’ is a highly relative, time-specific term: today’s urban edge, abutting fields, forest, or desert, may tomorrow become part of a dense metropolitan core" (Mike Davis 2006).

Rural areas on the peripheral edge of the city of Johannesburg were transformed into fast developing towns, known as boomtowns. These boomtowns often exist out of slums. Slums are areas where residents live together in a dense way in small shelters constructed out of weak quality (Hellman 1935).

Soweto, for example, is a suburban part of the city of Johannesburg and is located next to the Southern mine belt. This township exploded during Apartheid and together with the arrival of black laborers from rural areas, the township has grown into a slum yard. One can say that the suburb of Soweto has transformed in a satellite city (Mike Davis 2006, 44). Existing out of different agglomerations of towns, Soweto has become a city whitin the city of Johannesburg itself.

As Soweto is constructed out of informal settlements and is not regulated by the government, this township has no good infrastructure (Mike Davis 2006, 45). Residents are spatially disadvantaged. They do not have access to proper basic services such as sewerage systems, electricity, roads and clean water.

This effects the quality of lifes of the inhabitants. While walking around in Soweto, one can notice that the inhabitants who live in these slum yards are poor. The homes are constructed out of garbage, steel plates or anything they can find to build a shelter.

As said before, the placement of the townships next to the belts of mine waste brings a lot of consequences with it. Although the inhabitants of the slum yards often do not know the side effects of these waste belts, the pollution that the mining industry left behind has a great impact on them. The slums get polluted by the waste belts and the slums themselves also effect the environment in their own way.

Thus, the pollution of the environment is a vicious circle. As these townships keep extending, more and more rural areas will get polluted.

Figure 4 (taken on location by myself): Slums of Soweto built out of poor quality shelters.

Figure 5 (taken on location by myself): Cattle grazing in a polluted area.

Figure 6 (taken on location by myself): Polluted environment created by residents of a Soweto slum.

As noted above, the planetary urbanization of Johannesburg took place on different levels. The gold mining industry had an impact not only on the environment but also on the spatial and social development of Johannesburg. The city has grown in an organic way during the period of mining and this is well visible today.

For sure the gold mines had a positive influence in creating new opportunities but also had a detrimental effect on the environment. Before the mining industry there was no urbanization to be found in the Gautegn region.

Today, the region is occupied by human settlements and various infrastructures. Indirectly the mining industry was responsible for creating a boundary between races. From the beginning there has been ghetto formation and the way the city has grown has amplified this process. This segregation made the city explode towards its peripheral edges.

Umeå University, Critical Essay Lore Bergers 2021

To conclude: Due to a lack of structure by the government, Johannesburg has grown organically.

Townships like Soweto have been left to develop on their own. No one took care of the urbanization of these slum yards. Surviving was and still is the priority of the inhabitants. These people have other things on their mind besides organizing and looking after the environment.

Nowadays the rural and urban landscapes of Johannesburg have become fluid as sprawling tonwships take over the natural landscape. This is an almost irreversible process. Urbanization requires constant attention and needs pro-active planning.

Johannesburg has clearly missed the opportunity to become an inclusive city but is not on its own.

Many fast developping cities with large social inequality struggle with this topic. It is important for the future to avoid the fragmentation of society this provokes.

Umeå University, Critical Essay Lore Bergers 2021

Reference list Bobbins, Kerry and Trangoš Guy. 2018. Mining landscapes of the gauteng city-region. The Gauteng City-Region Observatory (GCRO). http://www.urbantheorylab.net/site/assets/files/1225/mining_landscapes_of_the_gcr_web.pdf (Accessed on 2021-12-10) Brenner, Harvey; Neil, David. 2014. Implosion/Explosion: Towards a study of planetary urbanization.

Berlin: Jovis Verslag GmbH. Davis, Mike. 2006. Planet of slums. London: Verso.

Durand, J.F. 2012. The impact of gold mining on the Witwatersrand on the rivers and karst system of Gauteng and North West Province, South Africa. Journal of African Earth Sciences 68: 24-43. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1464343X12000593 (Accessed 2021-10-22) Harrison, Zack; Philip, Tanya. 2012. The power of mining: the fall of gold and rise of Johannesburg.

Journal of Contemporary African Studies 30 (4): 551-570. DOI: 10.1080/02589001.2012.724869 Hellmann, Ellen. 1935. Native Life in a Johannesburg Slum Yard. Africa: Journal of the International African Institute 8 (1): 34-62 https://www-jstor-org.proxy.ub.umu.se/stable/3180398?sid=primo&seq=1#metadata_info_tab_contents (Accessed 2021-10-25) Kneen Melanie A., Ojelede Matthew E. and Annegarn Harold J. 2015. Housing and population sprawl near tailings storage facilities in the Witwatersrand: 1952 to current. South African journal of science 111 (11): 142-150 https://journals.co.za/doi/abs/10.17159/sajs.2015/20140186 (Accessed 2021-11-20) Mwenda, Mike. 2018. South Africa, gold mines continue poisoning communities. Lifegate. https://www.lifegate.com/gold-mines-poison-south-africa (Accessed 2021-11-14) Nasa Earth Observatory. 2003. Available at: https://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/images/3850/johannesburg-south-africa (Accessed 2021-23-11) Parnell, Susan. 2003. Race, Power and Urban Control: Johannesburg's Inner City Slum-yards, 1910-1923.

Journal of Southern African Studies 29 (3): 615-637. https://www-jstor-org.proxy.ub.umu.se/stable/pdf/3557434.pdf?refreqid=excelsior%3Ad369b1790093811f3ee085e397b28c63 (Accessed 2021-10-18) Tang, Watkins and Dorothy, Andrew. 2011. Ecologies of Gold: The Past and Future Mining Landscapes of Johannesburg. https://placesjournal.org/article/ecologies-of-gold-mining-landscapes-of-johannesburg/ (Accessed 202111-7) The Guardian. 2015. Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/cities/2015/jul/06/radioactive-city-howjohannesburgs-townships-are-paying-for-its-mining-past (Accessed 2021-11-26) Todes, Alison. 2011. Urban growth and strategic spatial planning in Johannesburg, South Africa. Elsevier 29 (3): 158-165. https://www-sciencedirect-com.proxy.ub.umu.se/science/article/pii/S026427511100103X?via%3Dihub (Accessed 2021-11-7)