IS liberative spatio-mobility conceivable in a spatio-temporal fossil : a contemplative polemic

Abstract

The paper argues that the now is fossilized in the old. Namely the apartheid space economy. The new drivers of agglomerations however may well reinforce features of apartheid and grant it lease of life in new forms of what Legassick referred to as dissolution-conservation dichotomy of the deformed capitalism of South Africa. The question therefore becomes one of whether or not a liberative spatio-mobility is conceivable in a spatio-temporal fossil. Hence the idea of a contemplative polemic. This reflective critique examines whether liberative mobility in space can exist within the rigid frameworks of spatial and transport planning, which are often comparable to a spatio-temporal fossil. The paper questions whether current transport and spatial planning truly reflect changing population patterns and the increasingly fluid, temporary ways people interact with space today. It challenges the inertia of outdated systems and approaches, urging a rethinking of mobility that is more adaptive, inclusive, and responsive to the shifting dynamics of modern urban life. Can transport and spatial planning, typically rooted in static, long-term strategies, effectively respond to the increasingly dynamic, temporary, and fluid ways people live and move today?