Open minds and closed systems: Comments on the functions and future of the ‘urban’ ‘English‐speaking’ university in South Africa
The paper is in two parts. The first part is a specific critique of Orkin, Nicolaysen and Price''s paper entitled ‘The Future of the Urban University in South Africa’ (Social Dyna‐mics 5(1)). In particular, the critique draws attention to Orkin et aVs failure to understand (1) the complexity of the relationship between poverty, fertility and urbanization, (2) the relationship between economic growth and developmentjunderdevelopment, and (3) the nature of the capitalist mode of production, and, more specifically, how this mode of production has developed within the S. African social formation. The first part of the paper also presents evidence to show how the overall economic condition of the Black working class in South Africa, contrary to widely held beliefs, has deteriorated during the second half of the 1970s. Part 2 of the paper questions many of the ‘liberal’ assumptions about the role and functions of the ‘urban’ ‘English‐speaking’ universities in SA. In particular, it shows that the University's co...
The state and the liberal universities in South Africa: 1948–1990
Only the liberal (or “open”) universities in South Africa publicly opposed the National Government and itsapartheid policies, but for the most part only over issues of university and, later, academic freedom. The history of the period is not simply one of conflict between state and universities, however. It is also one of co-operation in, for example, a programme of state-financed university expansion (from which all “races” benefited). This article explores the bases for both conflict and co-operation. These include a degree of government respect for higher education and, on the other hand, the availability to the universities of certain political resources. The universities came under considerable pressure from a repressive government, but the story is not a simple one of good against evil or freedom against totalitarianism. It is both more complex and (in my view) more interesting.
SUSTAINABLE URBAN DEVELOPMENT AND URBAN REGENERATION DUMITRESCU
Concerns about the conflict between economy, development on one hand and urban cultural heritage on the other hand, have made the urban development to be lately one of the most important themes at European level. Also, another issue of concern is social equity, aiming to strike a balance between economic development and equal access to culture for all generations of inhabitants of urban communities. Basically, ensuring these balances between urban cultural heritage, economy and social equity we express the essence of the concept of sustainable development from the perspective of culture. Urbanization is an ongoing process in all the cities of the world, but urban cultural heritage is a crucial element in the development of the cities and has an important impact over the quality of life of that community. Castles, churches, fortresses, squares and public buildings all contribute at the creating of the community history and of their characteristics.