Movement Johannesburg is an urban anthology book on Johannesburg launched at the end of 2015 in Johannesburg and Cape Town. It employs movement as a conceptual device through which to read urban process in the city. I edited the book with Zahira Asmal, and together we coordinated the contributions of over thirty architects, academics, photographers, urban thinkers, and artists. This work is collated into an edited series of diverse reflections on the city including historical imagery, commissioned photographic work, graphic design work, articles, opinion pieces, interviews and academic research.

“The book critically assesses the city’s history, delving into its colonial and apartheid pasts. It explores the lasting aftershocks of these processes on the city through key pieces by Alex Parker, Magas Pather, Julie-Ann Tyler, and Melinda Silverman. I explore the geological, landscape, historical and contemporary movements that together create the ‘Crash City’ we experience today.

Sally Peberdy takes this further by outlining the processes that led to migration in the city, and the forms of cross-border trade that now connect Johannesburg to other southern African places. Old processes are contrasted by newer conditions, such as the movement of informal recyclers documented by Michael Flanagan, and urban taxi experiences are expressed graphically by Rendani Nemakhavani. Laurice Taitz, Thomas Coggin and Karin Botta explore the quirks, complexities and culture of the changing modern city, while Adam Habib and Thandi Matthews examine the underlying social and political currents that are behind many of the city’s movements.

Movement Johannesburg also contains compelling interviews with Constitutional Court Justice Edwin Cameron, Pregs Govender, and Jay Naidoo on the democratic movement, while Molemo Moiloa interviews artists on the public art movement in the city. Johannesburg Mayor Parks Tau and Sithole Mbanga reflect on new visions for the city.”