Room for the poor in inner city Johannesburg?
Presenter: Lauren Royston (SERI)
Discussants: Alex Patrick (News24)
Thursday 29 May 2025, 1-3pm, Humanities Graduate Centre Seminar Room (Wits University) or online
RSVP to attend in-person here and online here
Abstract
The housing crisis in inner city Johannesburg was magnified for the public when 76 people died in a fire in the Usindiso building on 31 August 2023. A commission of inquiry into the tragedy is drawing to a close. SERI pulled together the evidence it has collected since establishment, and undertook new research, in order to prepare its submission. Lauren Royston will share aspects of that work and the argument she developed in response to the terms of reference, including the approach SERI proposes to address the conditions under
which occupiers live.
Lauren Royston is the Director of Research and Advocacy at SERI and holds a Master of Science in Development Planning and a Master of Art in Creative Writing. She has been associated with SERI in different capacities since its inception 15 years ago.
Alex Patrick is a journalist at News24. She has reported extensively on the inner city fires in Johannesburg and the City’s mismanagement of its ‘red fleet’ procurement.
About the series
The Public Affairs Research Institute (PARI), Society, Work and Politics Institute (SWOP), Gauteng City-Region Observatory (GCRO) and the Johannesburg Crisis: Concerned Academics, continue this seminar series to offer scholars, researchers, and postgraduate students an opportunity to share their ongoing work, either by discussing work in progress or presenting upcoming and new publications on the City of Johannesburg.
In 2025, the series provides a collaborative space and dialogue to scholars, researchers, activists and policy makers, to share their ongoing work on the City of Johannesburg.
This is an itinerant series and the details of each seminar will be published one week prior.
