Urban Life

Online portrayal of Durban:

Durban’s appeal as a beachy holiday destination for national and international tourists alike is unsurprisingly emphasized by many South African websites that seek to promote the country’s tourism industry.  “South Africa Online” situated the city in contrast to the country’s other biggest urban centres by explaining that “If Johannesburg has a business culture and Cape Town has a culture culture, Durban has a beach culture!”  The article on Durban goes on to describe warm, beautiful weather maintained by Indian Ocean currents and the multitude of fun attractions to enjoy, only briefly touching upon the seaport-centered industry before returning to content aimed at the average tourist who is looking to “sip a cocktail on one of the sun drenched wooden decks.” “Encounter South Africa” also emphasizes Durban’s beach and surfing opportunities (calling the city, “South Africa’s playground”) but does additionally inform tourists about historic and cultural attractions such as museums and musical performances.  The city is described as both “cosmopolitan,” combining cultural flavours of India, England, and continental Europe, and “sport crazy,” so this article pays a little bit more attention to the popular life of the actual residents of the city rather than focusing solely on tourists as did South Africa Online.  That said, the four images on the city’s page depict the beach or pools.

http://thetouristattractions.blogspot.com/2012/02/10-fascinating-tourist-attractions-in.html

In contrast, a short, fun youtube video titled “A Stop Motion Interpretation of Durban Culture” aims to highlight the importance of buskers and crafters to the daily street life of Durban and to capture the colour and vibrancy that craftsmen and their wares bring to the city.  While the video might appeal to tourists, tourism itself is not the focus of the Durban that the clip portrays.  The website for the United Nations Climate Change Conference 2011 offers another perspective of Durban as a city with an important role to play in global discussions.  Here, Durban is “the most culturally diverse [city] in Southern Africa” and claims to be the friendliest city in South Africa because of the “great warmth and openness of its people and the laid-back lifestyle that everyone here enjoys.” Other websites highlight the cultural diversity, and particularly the large presence of Indians, in Durban.  There are more Indians in Durban than in any other city outside of India, and the impact of the Indian population is seen in all aspects of culture, from the presence of Hindu temples and parades today to the significance of Gandhi’s historic South African struggles.

http://www.v-brazil.com/world-cup/2010/durban-travel-guide/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/booksa/3353426598/

Learn about Durban’s popular life online!

·      http://www.southafrica.co.za/about-south-africa/cities-of-south-africa/durban-city-information-tourism-weather-and-more/

·      http://www.encounter.co.za/article/208.html

·      http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6zZAg7CbnWk

·      http://www.cop17-cmp7durban.com/en/durban/about-durban.html

·      http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2011-07-23/mumbai/29807173_1_durban-south-africa-uk

Moses Mabhida Stadium:

http://www.civildesigner.com/news/MosesMabhidaStadium.jpg

Since its completion 2009, the Moses Mabhida Stadium often features on informational webpages on Durban.  The stadium was built for the 2010 FIFA World Cup, so has a great deal of meaning to the Durban residents who saw their city take part in hosting the momentous international event.  It was built on the grounds of an earlier stadium that was demolished to make room for the new one, and is adjacent to another stadium such that the two structures create a sports area that is distinct from the surrounding residential neighbourhoods.  The stadium is located to the north of the harbour and city centre, right next to the beach. 

Looking back...

Durban may have been overtaken by Johannesburg in terms of population, but South Africa’s second largest city can take consolation in having a longer history than Joburg, even though over three hundred years past between when Vasco da Gama arrived 1497 and when a formal British settlement was established in 1824.  Despite naming the bay, “Terra do Natal” (meaning Christmas Country, because it was around Christmastime when da Gama landed), the Portuguese did not feel compelled to establish a port in the bay as they already had great Indian Ocean access from Maputo.  The British Cape Colony finally founded “Port Natal,” arranging a shaky deal with the Zulus who tolerated the port for its trade benefits.  The Voortrekkers, who arrived in Natal in 1837, did not continue the same good relations with the Zulus and battle ensued before the victorious Voortrekkers founded the republic of Natalia.  Soon after the Zulus were defeated, however, battle over the region continued, this time against the British.  British victory in 1844 brought Natal into the British Cape Colony while the Voortrekkers continued north to other regions.  Throughout the power struggle, the settlement remained small.  Once officially incorporated into the formal British colony, however, it became one of the most important ports of the empire.

In the early 20^th c. the city authorities used revenue from the municipal beer monopoly to invest in city infrastructure while they consolidated control through strict policing and the requirement of permits to limit immigration.  They built townships – like Lamontville, Durban’s oldest – specifically for Africans so as to restrict their living quarters to one area.  These township communities then became centers of protest in response to the government’s failure to provide adequate services and their inhabitants played a large role in the struggle against the injustice of the apartheid system at large.  In the late 20^th c. and into the current century, Durban developed a great reputation for tourism, thanks to a warm climate, a beautiful beach along the Golden Mile, and a dynamic multicultural environment.

While the first known written documentation of Durban did not precede da Gama’s visit, archaeological evidence suggests that hunter-gatherers inhabited the area since 100,000 BC, followed by Bantu farmers and pastoralists.  This part of the history is greatly overshadowed by the European and apartheid histories of the city.  This dominance is also reflected in the prominence of the name, Durban, given to the city in 1835 in honour of the Cape Governor Sir Benjamin D’Urban.  The Zulu name for the city, “Thekwini,” meaning “the place where the earth and the ocean meet,” is rarely used in maps or international conversation but in South Africa one will often see or hear references to the eThekwini Municipality.

If you're interested in learning more about Durban, I recommend the following sources:

For general historic information:

1) "Durban - History of the City" 

       http://www.southafrica-travel.net/kwazulu/edurban1.htm   

2) "Explore the Durban Local History Museums"

       http://www.durban-history.co.za/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=69&Itemid=85

3) "South African History Online - Durban"

       http://www.sahistory.org.za/places/durban

On health issues...:

4) Pranitha Maharaj and John Cleland - "Condoms become the norm in the sexual culture of college students in Durban, South Africa"

       http://www.jstor.org/stable/25475258

5) Marge Berer - "HIV/AIDS, Sexual and Reproductive Health at AIDS 2000, Durban

       http://www.jstor.org/stable/3775284

On urban planning...:

6) Dianne Scott - "'Creative Destruction': Early Modernist Planning in the South Durban Industrial Zone, South Africa"

       http://www.jstor.org/stable/3557418

On apartheid history and other issues of justice...:

7) T. G. Ramamurthi - "Lessons of Durban Riots"

       http://www.jstor.org/stable/4400894

8) Brij Maharaj - "The Integrated Community Apartheid Could Not Destroy: The Warwick Avenue Triangle in Durban

       http://www.jstor.org/stable/2637602

9) Dianne Scott et al - "Double Trouble: Environmental Injustice in South Durban

       http://www.jstor.org/stable/4066473

On ethnic and cultural identity:

10) Catherine Campbell et al - "Evidence for an Ethnic Identity in the Life Histories of Zulu-Speaking Durban Township Residents"

       http://www.jstor.org/stable/2637026

11) Thomas Blom Hansen - "Plays, Politics, and Cultural Identity Among Indians in Durban"

       http://www.jstor.org/stable/2637493

Also, check out the google hybrid map of Durban and its surroundings on AfricaMap!: http://worldmap.harvard.edu/maps/1290

Getting to know the environment

Durban lies on South Africa's eastern coast on the Indian Ocean at 29 degrees south and 31 degrees east.  The city, and its beautiful, sandy beaches, stretch about fourteen miles along the coast but the city centre sits compactly around a deep-set harbour, the nation's busiest port, which is accessible from the ocean through a narrow canal between two pointy capes.  The main circuit of urban streets appear to extend inland no further than four miles at any given point, after which the suburbs become increasingly less populated and more remote as one continues west.  Including the smaller towns further along the coast and further inland, Durban's municipality is the biggest on Africa's east coast.

While the satellite view of Durban (above) is useful for distinguishing more densely built-up areas from more spacious tree-lined suburbs, open spaces, or parks, we glean different pieces of information from the other views available on AfricaMap.  The roadmap view does not directly distinguish areas by concentration but one would guess that areas with more and shorter roads are more urban.  The hybrid map, overlapping satellite and roads, confirms that hypothesis.  The open street map details even the minor roads and reveals a pattern in which streets in town centres tend to follow a rough grid, while roads are more random and infrequent in the suburbs.  Finally, the terrain map reveals that while Durban does not feature any extreme changes in elevation, it is quite hilly throughout, particularly as one moves further inland.

A look from lower altitude satellite begins to distinguish different neighbourhoods from each other.  The neighbourhood of Central Durban (map below), north of the harbour, is packed with roads following a fairly rigid grid pattern as well as businesses ranging from restaurants to sports centres, and from spas to hotels.  It opens out onto the Golden Mile, a particularly popular stretch of the beach that attracts South African and international tourists.  In contrast, the neighbourhood of Bluff (second map below), south of the harbour, appears largely residential with narrower roads and organized lines of similarly-sized red-roofed houses.  It barely has any Google Earth "gallery" markers and, while some areas may have received more labeling attention from Google Earth just by chance, it seems likely that the absence of notable markers confirms that this neighbourhood is less about tourists, more about everyday residential life.  Both Central Durban and Bluff feature parks and, in general, green spaces seem to be common throughout the city.

An additional distinguishing feature of Central Durban, the city centre marked with a yellow pin, is the way in which major roads in the area converge towards it.  As seen on the Google Earth map below, the M4 from the southwest and the N3 from the northwest are only the two most prominent of many roads into that area.   What look like three major east-west avenues also run past the city centre.

The Dewit Totius Africae Accuratis map from 1675 portrays what is now South Africa's east coast without any labeled cities.  Proportions and coastal edges are distorted so it's challenging to tell where Durban should be on the map, but a region on the coast labeled "Natalis Stat" is a definite possibility.  Similarly on the Desnos l'Afrique 1770 map, one might guess that Durban's location is in the region, "Terre Natal," south of the river, "St. Lucie," and north of "Riviere Large."

Based on the malaria distribution AfricaMap, Durban appears to have a high prevalence of malaria, like much of the coastal region around it.  The distribution of malaria decreases as one moves further inland into KwaZulu-Natal. 

Finally, to study Durban through different AfricaMap layers, I chose to use smaller-scale maps of Durban and surrounding South Africa in order to get some context.  

First, the map below layers language families and locations of armed conflict.  It reveals that the large area surrounding Durban speaks predominantly Bantu languages, but Durban itself has remained unclassified, presumably due to the linguistic diversitiy to be found in cities.  (The area marked in red adjacent to Durban is specifically associated with the Khumalo family, reflected on the ethnicity map further below!)  The locations of armed conflicts are particularly interesting because, in addition to the expected accumulation of markers around Durban because it is a city, the rural areas around Durban and Johannesburg have notably more markers than do rural areas in south-central or western South Africa.  

Zooming in a bit on the next map, one can further explore the predominance of different ethnic families across regions (2001).  Again, we see that the Khumalo family represents the prime ethnicity in the region around Durban, but the smaller area including Durban is not identified with a dominant ethnicity.    

On the last map, zooming in even further, we can get a sense of the travel and power facilities available in Durban and the vicinity.  Durban is serviced by two airports at either end of the city, and another much further away in the northwest corner of this map, but it does not have any power plants.