Cato Manor: A legacy of South Africa’s past or a model for reconstruction?

Abstract

Cato Manor is an area of some 2000 hectares located at the confluence of major transport routes in metropolitan Durban, only 7km from the city centre. By 1990 most of Cato Manor was undeveloped - a legacy of South Africa’s apartheid era. During the 1950s Cato Manor, which was then just beyond the city boundaries, had a population of 100 000 people of all races. Removals in early 1960s left a wasteland and bitter memories for the thousands of people forced to resettle in more remote parts of Durban. The current redevelopment of Cato Manor is far larger than any previous integrated urban development project undertaken in South Africa. It effectively involves the development of a new city with a population of perhaps a quarter of a million people at the heart of principal metropole in the province of KwaZulu-Natal.