The evolving spatial form of cities in a globalising world economy

Johannesburg and Sao Paulo

Plot

The aspiring cities of Johannesburg and Sao Paulo are compared in terms of their global marginalization, as well as the parallel ways their urban architecture has developed in this study. Common threads of heritage--a colonial past that acquired wealth through the exploitation of natural resources--help illustrate that the design of urban space is not simply a matter of aesthetics, but a complex sociospatial process that encodes power relations within itself.