ABSTRACT
This chapter engages with the depth and effects of spatial inequality in Cape Town. It reflects on the learning derived from a series of design studios organized by the African Centre for Cities during the past decade and focuses on addressing the racialized spatial dynamics of the city. At present there is an emergent thought experiment to figure out how to institutionalize these conversations in the form of a multidimensional innovation cluster of programs called “the Edge.” The programs include a museum, urban science hub, green economy incubator focused on black entrepreneurs, and a youth outreach component. However, for the Edge Innovation Cluster to work it has to engage the complex and multivalent spirit of the city, scarred by colonialism, dispossession, and intergenerational violence, with an eye on animating a more inclusive current of civic spirituality and social justice. Eight animating principles are explored to animate what the connective tissue of the Edge Innovation Cluster could become. The chapter concludes with a description of a process to foster a novel culture of engagement and listening around the program elements and animating principles.
