VIRTUAL Manchester Livable Cities

Abstract

The discourse of urban livability often centres on large-scale planning, infrastructure, and policy, but equally critical are the designed interior spaces that shape everyday life in cities. This paper interrogates the role of interior design within the broader processes of urban regeneration in Johannesburg and Cape Town, South Africa, where the legacy of spatial injustice continues to impact access, identity, and opportunity. Drawing on case studies of adaptive reuse and informal urban development, including the Newtown Precinct and Woodstock Exchange, this research explores how interior design interventions mediate between public and private realms, between heritage and transformation, and between global design narratives and local socio-political realities. By focusing on “urban interiors” as both spatial constructs and socio-cultural interfaces, the study critiques dominant models of regeneration that privilege aesthetics and economic growth over inclusivity and spatial redress. It positions interior design as a critical, yet often overlooked, actor in the urban renaissance, one capable of contributing to more equitable, sustainable, and context-responsive urban futures. Methodologically, the paper combines site analysis, spatial observation, and interviews with practitioners and users to construct a nuanced account of how design both reflects and produces urban contradictions. In dialogue with global urban debates, the paper situates South African cities as complex and contested sites where livability cannot be disentangled from histories of segregation, informality, and resilience. The work invites a redefinition of livable cities, one that includes the politics of interior space and its capacity to shape belonging, access, and agency in rapidly transforming urban environments.