Paper short abstract:

Based on empirical research in suburban Johannesburg, the paper explores how, within contexts of urban transformation, the existence of variegated alienation affects ways of living together, produces particular social forms, and reveals intricate layers of human interaction, belonging and identity.

Paper long abstract:

If, in policy terms, urban diversity is mainly approached as one of the gateways towards a more inclusive and integrated urbanity, in practice living with difference often unearths a range of challenges. From a scholarly perspective, realities of increasingly diverse cohabitation within densified urban environments have primarily been studied through the lens of ‘super-diversity’ or via renewed discussions about community and conviviality. However, within such contexts of urban transformation, whether self-initiated or government-led, less is known about forms of alienation and how this affects ways of living together in situations where people cannot not live together. This is of particular interest considering a growing push towards densified living. In suburban Johannesburg, this phenomenon unfolds within a specific contextual reality, combining sizeable demographic shifts since the 1990s with a persistent spatial legacy of apartheid planning at the level of the city. Given the changes in the built and social fabric, there is a need and urgency to understand the underlying rationale and norms which characterise such ‘pragmatic’ (and reluctant) forms of cohabitation. Focused on empirical research in Cyrildene and Orange Grove, two older and former ‘white’ middle-class neighbourhoods, this paper explores how mistrust, rumours, control and indifference all inform the nature of social cohesion between locals, established migrants and new arrivals. Despite being generally perceived as sundering relationships, these core concepts do also produce particular social (and spatial) forms, contribute to a more holistic understanding of urban and societal change while revealing intricate layers of human interactions, belonging and identity.