Utopia and dystopia in the post-apartheid city: the praxis of the future in Cape Town

This essay is concerned with the shaping, the framing and the fashion- ing of the discourse on urban futures in Cape Town, South Africa. I outline the multiple sources and diverse elements that feed into this discourse: specifically, metropolitan theory and local experience. Focusing on the praxis of the African Centre for Cities at the University of Cape Town, I argue that there is a convergence between the language of crisis and the vision that comes across in policy and futurist scenariobuilding. I point at apartheid modernities and their recapitulation in utopian dreams for the post-apartheid city.