Densification by commodification: Comparing the production of housing in the Gauteng City-Region and Alpine Rhine Valley

Comparing the politics and governance of densification in South Africa and Austria provides new insight into capitalist housing production. In this paper, we present the results of extensive empirical research into housing densification as an urban development strategy in Gauteng, the region surrounding Johannesburg in South Africa, and in the Austrian part of Alpine Rhine Valley, which is the economic center of the province of Vorarlberg. Though these case study areas may initially seem disparate, interrogating the intertwined processes of densification and commodification allows us to identify shared challenges, contrast responses, and develop broader implications for urban theory. In the Gauteng City-Region, the territorial legacy of apartheid persists through housing development on the urban peripheries. Despite concerted policy efforts encouraging spatial change, the “business” of densification largely continues along the same lines, perpetuating urban sprawl at low densities. In the Alpine Rhine Valley, densification is embedded into territorially fragmented public–private governance arrangements. The ideal of the single-family home persists, even as “sustainable” private-sector projects extract value through denser housing production. While these cases are different, we found that housing densification is a key strategy of urban development and governance in both urban regions, reinforcing existing power hierarchies, maintaining socio-spatial stratification, and preserving existing forms of social reproduction. Comparing these two cases reveals how densification is deeply intertwined with commodification in the production of contemporary urban landscapes. We conclude that, embedded in economic growth models, the production of dense housing is essentially part of an overall process of the ever-increasing commodification of urban space.