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Theoretical Notes On `Gray Cities': the Coming of Urban Apartheid?

Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Beer Sheva, Israel, yiftach{at}bgu.ac.il

The author analyzes the political geography of globally expanding urban informalities. These are conceptualized as `gray spaces', positioned between the `whiteness' of legality/approval/safety, and the `blackness' of eviction/destruction/death. The vast expansion of gray spaces in contemporary cities reflects the emergence of new types of colonial relations, which are managed by urban regimes facilitating a process of `creeping apartheid'. Planning is a lynchpin of this urban order, providing tools and technologies to classify, contain and manage deeply unequal urban societies. The author uses a `South-Eastern' perspective to suggest the concept of `planning citizenship' as a possible corrective horizon for analytical, normative and insurgent theories.

Key Words: apartheid • colonial relations • gray space • informality • urban regime

Planning Theory, Vol. 8, No. 1, 88-100 (2009)
DOI: 10.1177/1473095208099300


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