Abstract
In the evolution of the study of Urban Planning, the emergence of the notion of Publics and Counterpublics presents to us a cross-cutting framework that could aid us in the study of the complex transitions that are underway with every shifting paradigm. This is crucial at the rise of a crisis like Covid-19 and gives a set of tools with which to interpret the evolution of the Public Sphere as a key element of safeguarding urban resilience. From the Enlightenment, the rise of governmentality, the emergence of modernity and towards the post-oil and Post-Covid city, the nature of the public sphere – and the various publics and counterpublics within it have undergone socio-economical and spatial changes that are important to understand in order for us to make sense of the transition that is upon us. What is unprecedented is that this moment is charged with managing a confluence of not less than three transitions, one to the Post-Oil City and its Green New Deals, the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR) with its 5G and other digital infrastructures and finally the Post-Covid City with its quest for health and wellbeing through its shifting regulatory framework whose uncertainty and evolutionary potential has direct and indirect as well as short term and permanent implications for shifts in the Public Sphere. To the study of Publics and Counterpublics, the Post-Covid moment also contributes an interesting dynamic which has resulted in the Disappearance of Publics, the moments of isolation and loneliness while limiting moments of solitude, productivity and thought. For the (4IR), the Post-Covid Lockdown and Social Distancing provide a lived experience that simulates possibilities of life in the 4IR. It has also enabled us to pause and reset institutions for the possibility of making them more responsive to our various Publics, their continuities and discontinuities. I examine the particular ways this has played out in my home country of South Africa and how a set of key questions could help us anticipate Governmentality and the Public Sphere in a Post-Oil City especially for Africa and the urban condition of cities in the Global South. Keywords: Publics, Counterpublics, Post-oil, Fourth Industrial Revolution, Governmentality, Africa
