Cape Town has recently been crowned the world’s number one city for its picturesque views, functional infrastructure and vibrant tourism industry. The South African top spot was previously held by Durban, the KwaZulu-Natal city known for its natural beauty and nightlife.
A stone’s throw away from number one cities, you’ll find areas that aren’t getting the same attention. Near Cape Town, areas like Khayelitsha and Gugulethu exist slightly out of the spotlight. For Durban, particular areas like Inanda don’t see the same attention the country’s poster child gets. Influencers and content creators are flocking to areas like the Cape Flats and Khayelitsha. Headlines grab for clicks, like No-go zones: Alone in South Africa’s Cape Flats and Inside South Africa’s Khayelitsha township.
How large is the divide between cities? What all is being swept under the carpet while famous world cities are grabbing most of the attention? Here’s a look at number one cities and what happens there, compared with everywhere else.
Influencers, tourism and ads
Neighbourhoods surrounding city centres have become a regular setting for influencers and content creators. Video descriptions are usually something along the lines of “Going inside Cape Town’s most dangerous neighbourhood”. Videos like these show areas that are friendly, but usually closed off to visitors without a guide from the inside. With some, you will sometimes see influencers asking questions like “How often do tourists have a drink here?” and being met with a definite no.
Are influencers layering their paint too thick – actually pushing visitors to number one cities where these issues don’t appear to exist on the polished surface? Tourism advertising is usually focused on the cities, the hubs and the rated number one areas. Radio ads encourage visits to Cape Town, but don’t say much about surrounding towns like Khayelitsha or Gugulethu. Smaller areas often have intimate, local tours or very little tourism at all.
Particular towns – including ones I’ve lived in myself – meet tourists with at least some suspicion. You’re local or know someone, or people will assume that you’re either lost or up to trouble. The same happens in number one cities, but for different reasons. People expect a certain style and dress code in number one cities. You can feel pretty uncomfortable if you don’t fit the dress code. Areas with higher crime rates have cultivated a sense of community where everyone knows the people frequenting their area.
Living away from number one
I’ve spent the past six months living in a small, one-room apartment that’s about a 30-minute minibus taxi trip away from the Durban in KwaZulu-Natal. Informal traders sell basics, but anything more than a bar of soap and daily weed necessitates a trip further afield.
The aesthetic “zef” has taken a whole new meaning. Eventually, you’ll paint some fancy stuff on the walls just to hide the odd paint, or hang a mobile made from animal bones by the door. Once you’ve noticed it, you will realise that “zef” aesthetic is often accidental.
“Poor but fancy” is a concept that’s welcomed in smaller towns and townships. It’s necessary, because you’d like to see some art and pretty up the place. However, whether you’re doing it deliberately or accidentally, anything that feels remotely “zef” or out of place makes middle-class suburbia and number one cities uncomfortable. People look at you, probably thinking, “What the hell are you doing here?” For a moment, you might even look at yourself and think: “What the hell am I doing here?”
Going from a quieter town to a busier city always makes you notice the difference. People are determined to be somewhere, dressed up to the nines – tourists and locals in a number one city always have to dress the part. Nobody ever goes to the mall or pharmacy looking the way they might feel that day – number one cities are always in the spotlight, which means that you are, too.
Number one cities have fancy cars and serene restaurants, parking spots and private venues. Number two (or three) cities have plumbing issues and dirt roads, pit toilets and infrastructure problems.
Beggars are seldom noticed in number one cities. Usually, they’re moved to the outskirts, and spikes are put up to deter anyone looking to sleep on a bench for a night. Number one cities have a feeling of perfectly polished suburbia. Drugs and crime still exist in crowned number one cities, but they seem like part of the proverbial dust swept under the carpet.
Perception is important. Number one cities want to stay at the top. Cities want to be known as the tourism hub, and not as the top spot for shootings. Like atoms that know when they’re being observed and subsequently change their behaviour, number one cities know they’ve gone up the list – and top tourist cities always seem polished, as though they’re being cleaned up to be the country’s poster child.
Number one cities get the best of the budget, and they’re always places where you can find fancy, unpronounceable cheese and wine at weird hours. What about everywhere else?
Being judged
Famous cities like Cape Town and Durban set a high standard for living, which comes with increased living costs and the feeling that people are showing off – shopping malls seem like they have a particular dress code. I’ve gone on shopping trips wearing the worst thing I could imagine. A shirt that’s appropriately faded and a hoodie that looks like it was found at a bus stop can make middle-class city people very uncomfortable, apparently. What will happen, I wondered? Most people dress up, and for at least a handful of trips, I chose to do the opposite and dress all the way down.
Outside the parking lot next to the mall, three random people attempted to give me their change, while two local beggars told me of a safe place to sleep. Once inside the store, I was told – by store security – that I was “bothering the customers” and should leave. I spent five minutes at the manager’s desk with the question: “Do you treat other customers this way, too?” Apparently, after a Google search of “international journalist”, I would be happily welcomed back into the store, but I have much less of an inclination to shop there after this event.
Number one cities and middle-class suburbia can feel their position above everyone else. Suburbia has toilets and fancy fixtures, though you’d be lucky to find functional plumbing just two towns away from it. While not everyone in the city is judgemental, you’ll notice how quickly you can access vegan sushi or gourmet noodles in a number one city – and how hard people will laugh at the question if you ask them anywhere else.
