THE EMERGENCE OF THE APARTHEID CITY AND THE DEVELOPMENT OF TOWNSHIPS IN itself, apartheid and its reflection in terms of space are not a uniquely South African phenomenon. The history of the city reveals an intimately linked cohabitation of two cultures beside the most acute forms of total apartheid. Furthermore, we can detect changes over time which can be situated between the two poles. A good example is provided by the Spanish cities in South America, where already in the eighteenth century the large mixed population of mestizos, mulattos and others had cancelled out the mono-racial urban policy that had been implemented up to that date. South Africa, on the other hand, is the example of a society that has developed from assimilation to segregation. THE cities of the Dutch and the English were at first inhabited by the non-European populations of slaves, servants and labourers alongside their masters. It was not until the second half of the nineteenth century that the alleged menace that this constituted to the prosperity and well-being of the whites served as the pretext for a growth of pro-segregation feelings. All the same, a strict segregation of districts was considered impractical and unfeasible until the end of the nineteenth century. Cape Town was the first city to allocate a compulsory 'location' for the Africans, followed by Durban, Port Elizabeth and Johannesburg in the first decennium of the twentieth century. Soweto dates from 1904. THE new native townships were initially regarded and justified as transitional stations where Africans could learn a Western life-style before being incorporated into the more urban residential neighbourhoods. It was not until the Draconian prescriptions of the Group Areas Act (1950) that Africans, Indians and coloureds were separated from one another and from the white minority in a systematic way. These racial barriers were made more or less permanent by buffer strips and walls; they were reinforced by the extremely detailed elaboration of the apartheid laws. Apartheid was implemented on the basis of these laws. It thus boils down to a policy of separate development, a form of internal decolonisation. In order to implement this racial policy, not only were townships created, but a massive destruction of the former mixed areas was carried out as well. The result was that around 750,000 people throughout South Africa were forced to move. Those African areas which the whites felt to be 'too close' to the centre and that the whites considered should be reserved for their own exclusive use were evacuated and cleared. The most notorious case of this policy was the evacuation of the 'western areas' of Johannesburg - Sophiatown, Martindale and Newclare. SOWETO (South Western Township) is the largest and best known township in South Africa. It is larger than the mother city Johannesburg. It consists of thirty-three townships, covers an area of fifty square miles, and has more than one million residents. Situated to the south-west of Johannesburg, Soweto is surrounded by industrial areas where many of the people who live in Soweto work. They are separated from the white residential neighbourhoods by open country that is easy to control. Soweto was deliberately situated a long way away from the city centre of Johannesburg. For a long time Soweto was not linked to the city's road network. CRIME and violence play a large part in Soweto life. The city is deserted after 20:00 hours. No one goes out of doors, not even to go to the toilet - they use a pot instead. All the same, every trip to work - by train or by some other means of transport - is a risky business because of the many assaults that take place in public areas. But there is no alternative if you work a long way away from home. For destinations that are closer to home the blacks regularly use taxis - actually overcrowded minibuses. The same rule applies here: make sure you are out of the city and back home before sunset. Shopping has to be done in the daytime too; the shops are closed in the evening for security reasons.