In this week’s Next City Forefront investigation, “Cape Town’s Anti-Apartheid Urban Plan,” Rashiq Fataar and Brett Petzer examine how Capetonian planners are attempting to reclaim the city from its history of hate. But, from Berlin to Cairo, cities have used urban planning to divide and oppress their citizens for centuries, and the effects — as this graphic illustrates — have lingered long past the fall of their regimes.
Snapshot: 5 Stark Examples of Architecture Built to Oppress
From Berlin to Cairo, cities have used urban planning to divide and oppress their citizens for centuries. Here’s how.

North Korean commuters pass under a large mosaic monument of the late leader Kim Jong Il in Pyongyang, North Korea. (AP Photo/David Guttenfelder)
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