Forging a Postmodern Waterfront: Urban Form and Spectacle at the Victoria and Alfred Docklands

This, the second in a two paper series, assesses the evolving character and form of Cape Town's Victoria and Alfred (V&A) Dockland redevelopment from its beginnings in 1990. Economic and technological changes have turned waterfront places in countries around the world into sites for renewed capital accumulation. A model developed by Pinder, Hoyle and Husain (1988) assists in explaining the structural forces which underlie dockland retreat, redundancy and eventual revitalisation, while analysis of the regime of flexible accumulation provides a basis for further understanding of the processes shaping the (post)modern waterfront. Using these theoretical constructs to examine the planning, design and operation of the Victoria and Alfred Waterfront Company, it is shown how the processes of commodification and ‘spectacle-isation’ have been used to forge (and consolidate) a postmodern harbourscape.