I combine here urban anthropology and history. Durban's seafront was completely transformed for the 2010 World Cup and it has been extended since. I aim to explore how South Africans have adjusted to sharing public spaces that were segregated under apartheid. Apart from the seafront, I have studied shopping malls, food provisioning, an apartment building and the racecourse. In Simmel's terms, 'the spirit of the metropolis' opens up new possibilities beyond the traditional enclosures of social life. These give substance initially to freedom of movement, but increasingly to expressions of self-identity.

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