On alcohol, transport and poverty in Cape Town

Abstract

Fear and fortification frame most discourse and policy on alcohol in circulatory spaces. In-vehicle spaces and boarding points command most attention in regulatory practice and in surveys. Observational fieldwork in Cape Town, and its subsequent review, suggests alternative sites and scales of interest and concern relating to mobility and alcohol (ab)use. Platform, barrier and vehicle are not the only affected spaces: neighbourhoods of embarkation and disembarkation can also be contested and conflictual. These additional sites are material as well as imaginary, symbolic and internalised. ‘Liquid spaces’ are also a dimension of lived and felt mobility disadvantage and stress among the urban poor.

Keywords::

• alcohol
• mobility
• poverty
• public transport
• regulation
• walking

Acknowledgements

Funding from the ESRC and DfID in the UK supported acquisition of information and stimulating exchange of ideas among researchers from King's College (University of London) and the University of Cape Town, conference delegates, seminar participants, several field workers and a transcriber. Two referees offered perceptive comments.