Durban, an African Water City. The discontinuity over the harbour and the beach front within a creolizing urban form

Abstract

This paper presents the results of the international workshop Summer Field Studio in Durban 2014 “Reconnection and Revitalization. From Warwick to Waterfront†held in July-August 2014 by the UNESCO Chair in Sustainable Urban quality and Urban Culture, notably in Africa of Sapienza University of Rome and its academic partners including CHU. The paper intends to highlight the significant water character of the city of Durban – a cogent African harbour-city. The spatial discontinuity between the beach front and the harbor is historically an evidence. A comprehensive urban rethinking might reconnect the fragmented urban episodes trying to preserve the creolizing aspects