Acknowledging Urban Overlookedness: ‘Being Looked at’ and Discerning New Agendas as Counter-praxis

Acknowledging ‘urban overlookedness’ is an attempt to create awareness for that which might be overlooked—certain cities; places and populations in cities; sectors, stories or solutions; and forms of urban resources or leadership—whilst at the same time acknowledging that we are being looked at. This dual acknowledgement is an invitation into a scholarship of care that embraces possible new agendas, whilst discerning possible new solidarities. Considering whether urban overlookedness is ignorance, accidental or deliberate, this article offers reflections on a praxis that can counter overlookedness, grounded in a love that is watchful—refusing to look away, to forget or to succumb to numbness. Validating the disenfranchised and continuous remembering are two of the critical political actions such a praxis insists on. The article departs from a commitment to issues of housing and homelessness in urban South Africa and fuses perspectives from practical theology, community development and urban planning.