Laurence Piper

Laurence Piper is Professor in Political Studies at the University of the Western Cape with research interests in new forms of democratic politics and institutions. As part of the New Forms of Citizenship Programme run through ACCEDE, he is investigating the model and practices of democratic authorisation, accountability and participation evident in the urban planning methodology of the Violence Prevention Through Urban Upgrading (VPUU) development project in Khayelitsha, Cape Town. Not only does this methodology seem to deliver tangible material outcomes, but claims to offer a new democratic approach to urban development largely consistent with the participatory methodologies developed in Brazil. By way of contrast, the VPUU approach also offers insight into current party-based representational practices in urban politics in South Africa.