The neighborhood of Kensington, Johannesburg has a unique history. The San hunter-gatherers are the earliest known residents of the soil. (The region is also home to UNESCO World Heritage Site, the Cradle of Humankind, with roughly 40% of all known human ancestor fossils and some of the earliest signs of human-controlled use of fire.) In the late 19th century, a massive gold rush saw a swarm into the area. Many trees were planted to assist human settlement, and soon Johannesburg would be referred to as the world’s largest artificial forest, in addition to eventually becoming the world’s biggest city not situated on a river, lake, or coastline. (Most of its water supply is delivered across 500 miles from the highlands of Lesotho.) 

Kensington was one of the neighborhoods that colonial extractivists set up to avoid the rough air quality from the many nearby mines — hence the jacaranda trees and other foliage brimming above the streets to guard the respite of their human residents. It was a whites-only suburb (although its founder himself was part of the resistance against the Boer government), a stone’s throw from Ghandi’s family home and law offices in Troyeville. Following the dissolution of the apartheid state in 1994, Kensington quickly became a mixed-demographic neighborhood. For some generations now, it has become home to many activists, writers, artists, and others of diverse races, religions, social classes, and backgrounds. The Kensington Palestine Solidarity Group is among the most active syndicates in the neighborhood and in the city broadly. Nearly every block has an active residents group to jointly govern neighborhood issues. It is common to pool money to pay for services that the community collectively deems helpful. Kensington is also well-known commercially for its antique stores, often sought by film set designers, and its diverse cuisine — Ethiopian, South Asian, and Portuguese among others.