VIRTUAL ISTANBUL HERITAGE(S)
Abstract
District Six was/is a neighbourhood in the centre of Cape Town. When it was declared as an area for whites only under the apartheid era Forced Removals Act in 1966, more than 60 000 people were forcibly removed from their homes. Once all inhabitants had been removed, almost all the buildings (most of which dated to the late 1800s) were demolished. An historic and preciously treasured piece of the city had been destroyed and erased, and its inhabitants removed. The area has remained largely undeveloped to this day, remaining as a scar on the urban landscape. Finally in the late 1990s, the first democratically elected government of South Africa handed the land of District Six was back to those who had been forcibly removed. As restitution and redevelopment plans began, Lucien le Grange Architects & Urban Planners produced the Heritage Impact Assessment (HIA) for the redevelopment of District Six. This HIA had to consider physical and material conditions that no longer existed. The impact of this redevelopment needed to consider intangible heritage in this empty space in the city. This paper reflects on the process of constructing the Heritage Impact Assessment, which was done by Lucien le Grange and Simone le Grange. Twenty years on it evaluates the importance of this document in respect of future restitution and development projects. How has this study of the physical and cultural past of Cape Town contributed to an informed and sensitive impact on development in the city over the last 3 decades?
Simone le Grange is an architect and urban designer, who holds a permanent position on the faculty of the School of Architecture, Planning and Geomatics at the University of Cape Town. Her work in practice and research work has been primarily concerned with the reparative work required in post-apartheid South African cities.