Culture and Rural–Urban Revitalisation in South Africa

This book captures ground-breaking attempts to utilise culture in territorial development and regeneration processes in the context of South Africa and our 'new normal' brought by COVID-19, the fourth industrial revolution, and climate change the world over. The importance of culture in rural-urban revitalisation has been underestimated in South Africa and the African continent at large. Despite some cultural initiatives that are still at developmental stages in big cities, such as Johannesburg, eThekwini and Cape Town, there is concern about the absence of sustainable policies and plans to support culture, creativity, and indigenous knowledge at national and municipal levels. Showcasing alternative strategies for making culture central to development, this book discusses opportunities to shift culture and indigenous knowledge from the peripheries and place them at the epicentre of sustainable development and the mainstream of cultural planning, which can then be applied in the contexts of Africa and the Global South.Governmental institutions, research councils, civil society organisations, private sector, and higher education institutions come together in a joint effort to explain the nexus between culture, economic development, rural-urban linkages, grassroots and technological innovations. Culture and Rural-Urban Revitalization in South Africa is an ideal read for those interested in rural and urban planning, cultural policy, indigenous knowledge and smart rural village model.

"In recent years, China has moved towards a new agenda of urban sustainability focused on quality urbanisation, rural revitalization and culturally sensitive policies, and other emerging countries of the Global South are now following a similar trend. This book shows the original contribution of South Africa to this global discourse, with the potential to strengthen south-south policy learning and cooperation."Li Zhang, Associate Professor and Assistant Head of the Department of Urban Planning, Tongji University; Secretary general of the 'Small Towns Planning Academic Board' of the Chinese Urban Planning Society."This book is an acknowledgement of local cultures and indigenous knowledge as a crucial ingredient for rural-urban development. It is written by authors with a cultural conscience. They question, they answer. They question the urban embodiment of unequal cultural relations embedded in western-centric urban theory of planning and development. They contest this with a riveting critique of the current practice of culture-led urban development. With a temperament of a post-colonial perspective, the authors aim at challenging the western-centric notion of cultural planning and urban biased forms of development. They advance an appeal for experimentation with more inclusionary culture-led approaches that use innovative traditional indigenous knowledge systems in the development of both rural and urban environments."Prof Mfaniseni Fana Sihlongonyane, School of Architecture and Planning, Wits University, Johannesburg, South Africa

​Mziwoxolo Sirayi holds a PhD and is Professor of Drama, Cultural Policy and Planning at the Tshwane University of Technology. He is UNESCO Chair in Cultural Policy and Sustainable Development at the Tshwane University of Technology in South Africa and a DAAD and Fulbright scholar. Prof Sirayi is involved in a wide range of community development drives as an avid proponent of culture-led urban and rural regeneration as an inalienable pillar of sustainable development.Modimowabarwa Kanyane is Research Director at the Human Sciences Research Council in South Africa, Adjunct Professor at University of Fort Hare and Professor Extraordinaire at Tshwane University of Technology. He holds a Doctor of Administration degree from University of Pretoria. He conducted large volume social science studies and this include 4iR, smart rural village and rural development.Giulio Verdini holds a PhD in Urban and Regional Development from the University of Ferrara, is a Reader at the School of Architecture and Cities of the University and Westminster in UK. As a UNESCO expert he has explored emerging forms of rural-urban linkages and culture-led rural revitalization practices in the Global South.