Introduction: elements of living politics
Fire / Umlilo. "Where there is fire, there is politics": the material life of governance
Water / Amanzi. Debts of liberal state transition: liquid belonging and consumer citizenship
Air / Umoya. Coughing out the city: everyday healing in the toxic borderlands
Land / Umhlaba. Ashes to ashes, dust to dust: how territorial informality builds future cities
Modular elements. "The anger of the poor can go in many directions": rematerializing identity and difference
Conclusion: liberal governance and the urban poor revisited.