South Africa’s urban spaces have undergone radical changes over the last decade. While it may be that cities have been transformed by new forms of social and economic interaction they still bear the mark of racial and structural segregation. We can see these boundaries all around us. From the highways that intersect, to the fences and security cameras that mediate and the derelict in-between spaces that separate. There exist both visible and invisible boundaries within our urban communities. Interestingly the structural and physical reality of these seperations are often challenged by the informal and everyday use of public space by those who actively engage with their environment. One of the most striking examples of this can be seen in the organic formation of pathways and shortcuts created by commuters between home to work/city and back. In Durban we encountered numerous examples of such active urban life.

Cascoland participant/architect and Durbanite Doung Jahangeer started walking these 'informal routes' and discovered new forms of interaction and ways of experiencing the multiple realities of the city. His encounters enforced the realisation of new ways of engagement between spaces and the people that inhabit them giving rise to new notions of citizenship and civic engagement made possible by the intersections in these routes. These experiences contest the paranoia regarding safety and the ‘politics of fear’ that shape our interactions within the city.

Imaginary axis of ‘informal routes’ from the peripheric townships, via suburbia, along the N3 highway into the heart of the city.

Cascoland 2008 proposes to connect the 'informal settlements' outside of the city center with the inner city context through engaging these 'informal routes'. We will stimulate this connection through various interventions that run along the 'axis' between urban and suburban and aim to mobilise audiences into engaging with these routes.

Our base camp, The BAT Center, is firmly rooted in the heart of the Durban waterfront and is perfectly positioned to enable this connection with the communities along the central axis. across suburbia starting in the peripheric Umkhumbane township.