Reorganizations of space and culture in a car-oriented society: the case of Johannesburg

This dissertation aims to identify the multi-faceted ways in which the car enabled a deep restructuring of South Africa's cultural and spatial spheres, taking Johannesburg as a context from which to extract specific insights. The two most popular modes of transportation in South Africa-the car and the minibus taxi-run on the nation's dominant system of highways and roads that came with the mass importation of the car. Because of their high usage, these two transportation modes are compared, contrasted and analyzed throughout the research. Non-instrumental factors associated with the two transport modes (i.e. a means to express oneself, social status, lifestyle and culture) are scrutinized. These factors shape transport choice and play an integral role in the relationships mobility has with space and culture. The car not only helped enable a dramatic shift in geography, but society at-large. This shift laid the groundwork for the desired lifestyle that is embodied by much of the alluring non-instrumental factors identified by respondents and the car advertisements reviewed. Conversely, this dissertation also identifies the multi-faceted ways people without cars participate in a ...... car-oriented society. The layers of informality within the minibus taxi industry, its social networks, culture and spatial organizations are analyzed and compared with that of the car. Transportation studies, government papers, theories within the disciplines of sociology, cultural studies and social psychology were integrated to support the research. Using grounded theory, this study also includes personal insights from private car and public transport users. Car advertisements produced by four of the top-selling car manufacturers in South Africa were reviewed using semiotic analysis and compared with participant responses. Rather than offering a theoretical solution to a car-oriented society, this dissertation offers a way to rethink the geography, lifestyle, culture, institutions, spaces and people associated with the private car and public transport. Ultimately, this may contribute to how a more positive characterization of public transport can be achieved. 2

Grantor dc:publisher.institution

Department of Social Development

Year dc:date.issued

2009

Author dc:creator

• Laqui, Laura

Language dc:language.iso

eng

Handle dc:identifier.uri

http://hdl.handle.net/11427/12504

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:open.uct.ac.za:11427/12504