“This place could turn into something really nice,” says the faceless interviewee, “Even if I do sell drugs for a living.”

If you’re one of the many people who’s heard about the regeneration of Ponte City Apartments – Africa’s tallest residential building and anchorpoint of the Joburg skyline – but never actually been inside, then this video is for you. It’s a great documentary by Vocativ which condenses the tower’s 40 year history into six minutes, charting its start as the pinnacle of inner city Apartheid-era chic, to a notorious drug den, and now a magnet for middle class families who want to appreciate urban regeneration first hand.

Yes, it concludes, there are still dealers around its base and the rest of Hillbrow could do with a bit of a spruce, but it’s a pretty unique achievement in its own right.

Curiously, the Vocativ vid isn’t the only Ponte documentary to have been published on YouTube lately. There’s this one too.

[Via Future Cape Town]