ABSTRACT

South Africa has been the scene of a number of momentous social engineering projects from colonialism and segregationism to apartheid and, currently, the democratic transformation. All of these had profound spatial implications and left significant legacies in the geography of the country. Indeed, successive governments have been deeply implicated in the ordering of society within legally defined spaces for the attainment of political objectives. Apartheid, as implemented by the National Party between 1948 and 1994, was especially concerned with the control of space, notably its occupation and use on a racial basis. Since 1994 the African National Congress-led government has directed substantial resources towards the elimination of the inequalities inherited from its predecessor. It is still too early to talk about the ‘post-apartheid’ era in other than political terms as the spatial systems and physical structures inherited from the past were solidly constructed and are proving to be remarkably resilient. Thus the Atlas is organized around the dominant concept of apartheid, before, during and after its active implementation.