TRIBUTE

 

In memoriam: Tribute to Professor Vanessa Watson 1950-2021

 

 

 

Professor Vanessa Watson lost a bravely fought battle with cancer on 15 September 2021. Widely recognised forher contributions to scholarship, planning education, and community commitment, she is deeply mourned. Up until some months priorto her death, despite serious illness and often debilitating treatment,she remained in a full-time position as professor at the University ot Cape Town (UCT).

Vanessa grew up in Durban and studied at the Universityof Natal as it then was. A consciousness of the oppresoons of colonialism and segregation were built into the approaches of some colleagues. In this milieu, Vaness° developed her interest in cities, theirsocieties, and theirplanning. In the mid 1970s, Vanessa enrolled in the Masters programme in City Planning at UCT, where she studied with influential planners and architects, inciuding Dave Dewar and Roelof Uytenbogaardt - an experience that shaped her views on cities and planning.

From there, she went to Londo n and to ok the planning diploma at trie Architectural Association in London,a programme that hadits origins in post-war reconstruction. She then returned to South Africa and settled in Cape Town, where she took a position at the Urban Problems Research Unit (U^pRU). Together with Dave Dewar,she began to write extensively on cities and planning, including an eariy bookin fhe field of informal sector' studies as well as on other subjects such as regional planning.

Vanessa joined with colleagues and community-based individuals in the mid 1980s to set up the Development Action Group in Cape Town, an NGO that, like Planact and some others, continued to pursue the ideal of 'cities and towns for people'. After several years of work at UPRU, Vanessa secured a position as lecturer in the postgraduate city planning programme at UCT. For the remainder of her life, she played a pivotal role in the programme, providingleadership and guidance to colleagues and building professional networks with global reach. Vanessa produced significant texts,too many to listin thisinstance. Her doctorate awarded by the University of the Wtwatersrand generated the book Change and oontinutty in spatial planning in Cape Town and earned her the 'Women in Science of the Year' award from the Minister of Science and Technology. She became a member of what became SAPI, of SACPLAN, and of the RTPI.

One of Vanessa's dreams was realiced in the form ot an active community of urban planning schools across Africa, namely the Association of African Planning Schools (AAPS). It took many years of perseverance to accomplish that goal. In parallel, she formed the notion of a significant urban research centre at UCT. Together with others,in particular colleagues Sue Parnell and Edgar Pieterse, that idea crystalised as the African Contre for Cities.

Along the way, Vanessa became well known andinfluential in almost every centre of planning education in Africa. Her representation of our continent globally through AAPS led to her acquiring a significant rep utation acrossthe world. In recent years, she wrote very widely cited articles often bas_nd on experience in Cape Town, but also in other African cities. She became increasingly concerned with questions of southern urbanism and planning, collaborating with, for example, Indian colleagues in producing texts such as the Routledge companion to planning in the global South.

Written by Alan Mabin, Emeritus Professor, School of Architecture and Planning, University ofthe Witwatersrand, Johannesburg,South Africa.

Vigorous intellectual engagement about planning continued to be part of her life up to her last weeks. Vanessa helped stimulate a passion for planning for better cities among students and colleagues. Messages of condolence on Vanessa's passing express gratitude for her teaching that helped many 'to see the world of cities in completely different ways.'

Vanessa was singularly generous and selfless. She was known by her friends and colleagues for her unfailing warmth, sincerity, tasteful elegance, and quiet, wry sense of humour. She was a sharing and kind person of sharp mind, with an ability to focus on projects way beyond the usual. The loss of Vanessa Watson is a very deep wound for many people on every continent, and for planning in South Africa. Her life will continue to be remembered and celebrated by those privileged and thrilled to have spent time with her over the years.