Johannesburg | July 2006

Post-apartheid Johannesburg contends with glaring disparities in close physical proximity – gated and electrified suburban residential affluence stands within a ten minute driving distance of dense inner-city neighbourhoods rich with street life, informal commerce, and movement but still largely regarded as no-go zones by suburban residents. Its push to acquire ‘world-class’ status is mired with controversy while the city and pockets of visionary private developers aggressively pursue inner-city re-development. Particular in its historic and current development, in 2006 the Urban Age turned to Johannesburg to explore the city of extremes, at once a continental hub of financial transaction and cultural innovation and a hollowed out space of extreme disparity.