AFRICAN DIVERSITY

Under this theme, Yeoville Studio wished to better understand the dynamics of mobility and migration, interaction and coexistence of various social groups in the neighborhood, in a time of rising xenophobia after the 2008 national xenophobic riots. Yeoville has indeed a long history of migration, and remains a port of entry into the city, for South Africa as a whole and from the African continent. At the time of the Studio, Yeoville was one of the few places in Johannesburg where cultural diversity was able to coexist and sometimes thrive - not without tensions, but in a relative harmony, possibly due to its dense associational life and its humane urban structure: pedestrianised and busy streets, small formal and informal public spaces and key public facilities.

Based on this long-standing function of the neighborhood in the city of Johannesburg, and also its more recent history where Yeoville was a place of relative racial mix and freedom under late apartheid, several local organisations, including Yeoville Studio partner YBCDT, were interested in celebrating the African cultural diversity of the neighborhood, and have it recognised as part of its specific identity.  Recognising and celebrating African diversity in Yeoville was both a way to embrace its history and accept its present, to make a political statement in a time of rising intolerance, to turn this cultural diversity into a possible local economic asset (especially in the wake of the 2010 Soccer World Cup), and to remind local public authorities about the value but also the vulnerability of local public space - maintaining high quality public infrastructure and services is key to nurture such complex processes of community building.