skyscraper tend to become lightning rods for the neighborhood they ’re in — and nowhere is that more true than in Johannesburg ’s Ponte City , a hulking 54 - story tower has gone from Apartheid enclave to drug dealer haven to symbol of urban reclamation .
AsVocativ describes in a young mini - physician , Ponte in the midst of upheaval . When the tower was built in 1975 , it was a symbol of luxury and contemporaneousness , a concrete high - rise with a hollow core that let light in at both side of every flat . Johannesburg ( and the rest of South Africa ) was still segregate , and only whites were allowed to live in the affluent lavishness residence . Over the eld , crime in the neck of the woods around it — Hillbrow — overtook Ponte too , and the building descended into chaos , with some even calling it “ the murder working capital of the metropolis . ”
effigy : AP Photo / Themba Hadebe
Today Ponte , like so many other intimate - metropolis apartment blocks , represents a lucrative opportunity for developers . More affluent tenants are moving in , and things are commute yet again . Even if you ’ve never been to Johannesburg , this little vid will resonate for nearly every city dweller — there are plentitude of parallels here in the US , for appetizer . [ Vocativ ]
ArchitectureCitiessouth africa
Daily Newsletter
Get the best tech , science , and culture news in your inbox daily .
News from the future , delivered to your present tense .
You May Also Like
