Temporary Relocation Areas in South Africa as Displacement Urbanism: Practices in Vezinyawo Transit Camp, Johannesburg

Abstract

Displacement has increasingly become an urban phenomenon. In South Africa, this urbanism takes the form of Temporary Relocation Areas (TRAs) as sites of displacement and urban transformation. Various emergencies and housing situations cause the eviction or relocation of marginalized communities into TRAs. Temporary Relocation Areas are temporary responses that become de facto permanent settlements. The paper conceptually situates TRAs as displacement urbanism, drawing on a larger study of the TRAs in and around Stjwetla in Johannesburg. It explores the dynamics of TRAs, their multifaceted nature, how they intersect with displacement and how their subsequent trajectories lead to adaptation and transformation that foreground their inhabitants as city-makers. Qualitative interviews with Vezinyawo Transit Camp residents in Alexandra, Johannesburg, are used to understand practices in the camp. The paper finds out that the de facto permanent usage of Vezinyawo led to the development of various practices that resulted in the camp’s adaptation and transformation. Vezinyawo residents consolidated their structures in brick and other materials to suit the growing needs of their families. Inconsistent modes of state management around TRAs in South Africa result in these unregulated practices. In Vezinyawo, the practices signify the informalisation of camp, blurring what is formal or informal and temporary or permanent. Like refugee camps, TRAs share the same socio-spatial conditions, and their trajectories and residents’ practices allow for cross-analysis in a different context. By centring on the experiences in TRAs, this research contributes new insights into understanding displacement urbanism amidst ongoing displacement and urban transformation processes.