Place Based Culture and Identity: The Threat of Gentrification to Bo-Kaap and Woodstock in Cape Town, South Africa

Abstract

<p>The Group Areas Act of 1950 was a tool used by the apartheid government of South Africa to separate people geographically by racial classifications. Most neighborhoods and suburbs of Cape Town were impacted by this act either through forced removals or the establishment of new townships. The two areas exempt this act were the Muslim neighborhood of Bo-Kaap and the racially mixed suburb of Woodstock. These neighborhoods are now experiencing an increase in property values, an outward migration of working-class and lower income households, and an influx in the number of wealthy young professionals. The aforementioned indicators are all signs of gentrification and changing residential composition. In the past, the culture and identity of these neighborhoods was largely influenced by their residential resilience against the apartheid regime and exemption from the displacement caused by the Group Areas Act. The gentrifying process is now threatening this identity and the place based culture of the residents who live there and the denizens who are being displaced.</p>