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Housing, Heritage, Displacement.

In Cape Town, progress comes at a price.

This senior research project traces the people and places caught between redevelopment and belonging. The film is only the beginning.

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About the Project

Uncovering the Realities of Gentrification in Cape Town


This Senior Research Project (SRP) explores the complex dynamics of gentrification and displacement in Cape Town. Through an interdisciplinary approach that combines documentary film, investigative articles, and data visualization, the project aims to provide a comprehensive understanding of how urban redevelopment is reshaping the city’s landscape and the lives of its residents. Our research focuses on neighborhoods like Fish Hoek, Woodstock, Salt River, and Bo-Kaap, where gentrification has caused significant social, cultural, and economic shifts.


The documentary filmed Home Beneath Our Feet serves as the heart of the project, offering a cinematic exploration of the human impact of these changes. This website is designed as a platform to showcase the full range of work produced, including interviews, written stories, multimedia content, and data-driven insights into Cape Town’s housing crisis. Our goal is to spark conversation, highlight personal stories, and engage with both local and global audiences in finding solutions to these ongoing challenges.

Stories

Kids Playing in Cisse Gool House

“We Occupy to Show the Failure of the State”

by Amogelang Zungu

In the heart of the city, residents of Cissie Gool House reclaim empty buildings as homes and symbols of resistance. Their movement, Reclaim the City, demands that Cape Town address its housing crisis rather than displace its working-class citizens.

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Kids playing on the beach

Still Fighting For a Home

by Amogelang Zungu

From Bromwell Street to Tafelberg, court cases test the City’s duty to provide inner-city housing. These legal battles expose how apartheid’s spatial divides linger in modern urban planning.

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Land Rover in front of Bo Kaap Mini Store

This Is Not Development. This Is Displacement (Opinion)

by Zusiphe Nontsele

An opinion piece confronting the language of “progress.” What the city calls urban renewal, residents experience as erasure and exclusion.

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UCT student outside of his accommodation that was just sold

Are Students Being Priced Out of Cape Town?

by Lethukukhanya Zulu

A UCT student’s search for housing mirrors a wider crisis: rising rents, shrinking options, and a city becoming too expensive for its own youth.

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The Impact of Gentrification on Cape Town's Communities

by Tehillah Brandon

From Bo-Kaap to Woodstock, this feature maps nine ways gentrification is transforming heritage neighbourhoods through rent spikes, new developments, and disappearing landmarks.

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Image of Book called Before We Forget

This City Is Not For Us

by Iviwe Pakade

For some, Cape Town is postcard-perfect; for others, it’s a city of exclusion. This reflective piece contrasts luxury living with the realities of inequality and unemployment.

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5 Signs Your Neighbourhood Is Being Gentrified in Cape Town

by Anelisa Mzimela

A practical guide that breaks down the subtle (and not-so-subtle) signals of gentrification, from boutique cafés to disappearing rental boards.

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Four Ways Cape Town Has Been Sold

by Anelisa Mzimela

A synthesis of the SRP’s findings: how policy, profit, and global tourism have turned homes into investments and neighbourhoods into commodities.

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Multimedia

Home Beneath Our Feet (Documentary)

A short film on redevelopment, belonging, and the right to the city.

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Scrollytelling preview: Who gets to stay?

ScrollyTelling: Who Gets to Stay?

Property prices, income gaps, and eviction risks at a glance.

Photo: Mads Norgaard

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Woman sitting at the beach

Photo Essay: Heart of the Local Table

Everyday connection and heritage in coastal Cape Town.

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Auwal Masjid, Bo Kaap, Cape Town

Photo Essay: Mother Got Sold

Through the lens of Bo-Kaap, this photo essay explores how gentrification reshapes heritage and belonging, revealing what’s lost when culture is priced out of its own home.

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Selling Your City Podcast

Instagram carousel cover: Selling Your City

Social Media Carousel

Shareable insights from the SRP, designed for quick reads.

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Team

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Anelisa Mzimela

Website Designer

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Tehillah Brandon

Director

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Iviwe Pakade

Graphic Designer

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Oratile Zungu

Producer

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Lethukukhanya Zulu

Photographer

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Zusiphe Nontsele

Copy-Editor

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