BETWEEN THE DEVIL AND THE DEEP BLUE SEA - FUNCTIONAL CONFLICTS IN CAPE-TOWN VICTORIA AND ALFRED WATERFRONT

The global phenomenon of waterfront revitalization is a planning strat egy commonly employed by city and port authorities eager to overcome t he redundancy and associated urban decay of their docklands. The spati al transformation that generally accompanies such initiatives often re sults in functional conflict. Focusing on the redevelopment of the tra ditional dockland precinct of the South African portcity of Cape Town, this paper shows how attempts to rationalize pre-existing harbour act ivities resulted in conflict between the developer, the Victoria and A lfred Waterfront Company, and its largest industrial tenant, the fishi ng industry. The utilization of existing harbour space and, more speci fically, questions of tenure and affordable rentals are identified as the principal elements of the contentious negotiations between these p arties. Copyright (C) 1996 Elsevier Science Ltd