Browsing by Author "Ewing, Kathryn"

Now showing 1 - 20 of 25
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Open Access
    A city walkable: [Re]Imagining spatial justice through access and public space in North End, East London
    (2023) Hendricks, Lerys; Ewing, Kathryn; Crooijmans, Hedwig
    A city walkable is about re-imagining spatial justice through access and public space in North End, East London, South Africa. The research questioned the state of East London's public space, its inner-city decay, and its vehicular dependency. East London lacks good quality public space that is walkable and accessible. A city walkable has streets that are comfortable, safe, interesting and offer choice. The urban environment must foster walkability. Before Apartheid, North End was a mixed-race community that was spatially integrated with the city because of its proximity to the CBD and its urban fabric. North Enders never needed to own a vehicle to access amenities. People could access their everyday amenities on foot and felt safe walking day or night. North End was a walkable, mixed-use neighbourhood. However, due to the Group Areas Act of 1950, people were forcibly removed from the city and relocated to what is now known as townships. Due to this removal people are forced to rely on public transport or private vehicle for mobility. Townships are not mixed-use, and streets do not foster walkability. By removing people from the city, Apartheid removed walkability. The fundamentals of living in a city are access to the convenience of amenities and work. Denying access to the city is a spatial injustice. This denial has resulted in a lack of walkable streets, unsafe public spaces, and car dependency. Since the forced removals of 1950' North End has been rezoned as a light industrial area. The research aimed to unlock the potential for walkability in East London. North End is re-imagined not only a walkable neighbourhood, but as a neighbourhood that is integrated with both township areas and the CBD. The links used to create linkages are a series of urban mixed-use corridors. Thus, creating a city that is spatially just. This makes North End a strategic place in the city which has the potential to become East London's 'knuckle'. Through various interventions, spatial strategies, and framework a more just, walkable city is envisioned.
  • No Thumbnail Available
    Item
    Open Access
    Bridging the divide: Integrating the metro South East to the rest of the city through design
    (2019) Walker, Charne; Ewing, Kathryn
    Cape Towns current spatial construct still reflects the apartheid and modernist city planning regime. The result of this can be seen in the fragmented urban and social fabric of the city today. The apartheid planning regime had created a city of boundaries which was divisive and psychotic (Mbembe, 2008). The main objective of both apartheid and modernist spatial planning ordeals were to divide the city and restrict access and the freedom of movement based on race. It was a racial city (Mbembe, 2008). The act of place-making translated into race-making (Tayob, 2019) The marginalised population had been restricted access in all forms, physical, spatial and social. Access to economic opportunity, civic and recreational facilities, educational facilities land, and sufficient infrastructure had been restricted, and at times, dimished. Through the use of harsh infrastructure, such as railway lines and higher order roads (highways and freeways) certain portions of the population and the city were segregated and enclosed. This was a dominant determinant of of the present fragmented urban and social form. Decades after the abolishment of apartheid, very few advances have been made to systematically challenge the way the city's constructed and knit the city back together (Grutman & Patel, 2016). Cape Town still faces a huge disparity when it comes to social and economic inclusion. The marginalised urban poor still live on the periphery of the city having to travel great distances to access opportunity. Majority of economic opportunity sits within the CBD and large portion of Cape Town's population reside within the Meto South East. A large amount of movement happens towards to the CBD from the South East on a daily basis, resulting in traffic congestion and a large strain on the already limited public transport system. The formation of the current city alludes to very unequal, unjust and inaccessible city. This research project investgates the notion of 'Bridging the divide'. It explores ways in which we can spatially integrate the South East Metro to the rest of the city through spatial frameworks and design interventions at the sub-metro and precinct scale. One that allows integration across harsh infrastructural barriers in order to create a more socially and economically inclusive urban environment This allows for the creation of a spatial design model that can be implemented across the city, alluding to a polycentric model concept. This research explores theories from Susans Fainsteins 'Just City' (2011), David Harveys 'The Right to the City' (2004), David Crane's 'Capital Web' (1960) and Nabeel Hamdi's 'Small Change' (2004). Through the application of these theories, this reseach project adapts spatial Executive Summary Bridging the Divide concepts from each and applies them into its concept and design strategies. These theories promote the idea and vision of a just and equitable city which my narrative and aims alludes to. The aim of this research project is to create viable linkages across harsh infrastructural divides and connect the present urban fragmentation through a spatial design framework. In order to integrate the marginalised Metro South East, I look upon Hamdi (2004) and his theory on incrementality. Providing an interconnected framework that allows for infill from the every day life. Through these small changes and an adequate framework it can allow for access to the rest of the city through the idea of horizontality, networking and linkages. Through the creation of permeable networks and linkages, the city thus becomes inclusive and just, tapping on the theory from Fainstein (2011) and Harvey (2004) which will be further explored within this research project, and more specifically, this document. These linkages, spatial frameworks and design guidelines will connect adjacent suburbs across harsh infrastructural divides that will allow for the freedom of movement and equitable access. These principles and strategies will draw people into the MSE, towards these unique nodes. These linkages will consist of educational linkages, ecological linkages, recreational and civic linkages and movement / access linkages. The spatial model which consists of these linkages will create self sufficent nodes which work around the train stations throughout the city. These stations allow for that critical point of integration across the rail. This allows for the distribution of functions from the CBD to the rest of the city. Less of a skewed, monocentric economic hub, to a more polycentric city form. These nodes will be unique and self-functioning and will host various economic, educational, recreational, residtential and economic opportunity. To implement this spatial design strategy and model this design research works around the implementation of the Blue Downs Rail by using the new Rail and proposed train stations as a point of intergration and intervention. to “Bridge the divide” in a literal and theoretical sense. The study area is focused in Blue Downs, an area lacking integration and nodal activity. This design research devises a spatial development framework that will guide and inform the urban design rationale the precinct scale. This design research project then translates and tests the design strategies at the precinct scale further testing the notion of “Bridging the Divide” through the physical creation of social. educational, ecological and urban linkages
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Open Access
    Bubbles of Exclusivity: Bursting the bubble around private development in uMhlanga, Durban
    (2023) Moodley, Vahira; Ewing, Kathryn
    All around the world, cities are making a move towards a more inclusive city, while smaller towns like uMhlanga, Durban are speeding into the world of exclusion. Durban itself continues to be developed along the lines of exclusion, with the previously racially motivated segregation being supplanted by economic division. The road infrastructure which consists of major arterial routes has alienated and separated the very development sectors that they are meant to link. Large-scale private developments are emerging at a rapid rate, further dividing the town into these bubbles which do not interact with one another. The reliance on private investment and development has resulted in developers having the power to decide who is included and who is not. Government and municipal leaders are buying into these developments as promises of pushing the economy upwards are their biggest priority. In contrast, developments of these exclusive natures should not be considered at all. The design component of this research aims firstly, to identify the effects of a specific development on a context and identify the levels of exclusion present. Secondly, to achieve a connection between the different areas within the neighbourhood that currently operate in isolation. Thirdly, to explore how the site could be used otherwise, and how taking a more inclusive approach to design can result in a more suitable and accessible space for a larger group of users. There is a dire need for collaboration between the private sector and the public sector to tackle issues facing our cities and communities. The increase in urbanisation has opened a door for the private sector to help address the challenges of rapid urbanisation through partnering with different levels of government, communities, and academia to develop and deliver sustainable urban developments in our cities.
  • No Thumbnail Available
    Item
    Open Access
    Centering the periphery: Re-framing East London central business district towards social & spatial equality
    (2024) Ntuntwana, Siyabulela Keith; Ewing, Kathryn
    This research addresses the social and spatial inequality in East London Central Business District (CBD), a challenge mirrored across South Africa. Focusing on redefining and re-framing 'Bufferzones', the study aims to integrate peripheral communities and vulnerable groups into the city center, whilst forging connections with adjacent neighborhoods. This strategy situates marginalised communities near essential resources and services while improving access to the CBD. The historical legacy of colonialism and apartheid, coupled with current spatial planning, has perpetuated racial divisions, exacerbating social and spatial inequality. By incorporating peripheral communities, the study seeks to create a more inclusive and equitable urban environment, bridging gaps caused by urban fragmentation and racial segregation. The mixed-methods approach of quantitative and qualtiive research seeks to develop a comprehensive mixed-use urban design strategy to foster a inclusive CBD. This research further aims to catalyse the rejuvenation of East London CBD from its current derelict and decaying state, encouraging social and private investment back into East London CBD.
  • No Thumbnail Available
    Item
    Open Access
    Creating water sensitive places in Hangberg
    (2021) Smith Mari; Ewing, Kathryn
    The neighbourhood of Hangberg has had a long and intimate relationship with water, the neighbourhood is located around the Hout Bay harbour where the fishing industry provides the main source of employment and residents depend on clean water for their daily needs. This relationship has however been put under strain as urban development has affected the natural and urban water cycle resulting in flooding, soil erosion, pollution and water shortages. Urban spaces and residents have become detached from water as infrastructure tends to be hidden underground and water is seen as a nuisance rather than an asset. Even though we depend on water resources, it is often not a priority in the design and development of our urban spaces. We need to relook at the relationship between water and urban space to provide a solution that integrates the urban water cycle with good qualities of urban design to create a liveable neighbourhood
  • No Thumbnail Available
    Item
    Open Access
    Daily migrations in a shifting landscape: Facilitating a circular economy on the south peninsula
    (2024) Macarthur, Emma; Ewing, Kathryn
    The Noordhoek Valley encompasses the residential areas of Noordhoek, Masipumelele, Sun Valley, Ocean View and Kommetjie. The valley is emblematic of the challenges and opportunities present at South Africa's urban fringe. The valley is dominated by natural systems, with settlement pinched between fragments of a national park, and the dramatic topography of the mountains and ocean. As a resident of the area, I have noticed this sleepy corner of the greater Cape Town Metropolitan area move through the quiet desperation of the COVID-19 pandemic and into a highly desirable semi-gration destination. This residential boom is dramatically changing the social character of the communities and is revealing the spatial pressures this new density is placing on the sensitively balanced urban and natural systems. This research project investigates these pressures in an in-depth study of the valley. The project produces an intervention to lay the foundations for an adaptable framework plan to meet the demands of the coming developments. This is achieved through reaffirming and establishing spatial character through public space interventions. The project connects across planning divides through walkable perforations of hard urban divisions. It improves resilience through a network of safe public spaces within effective lighting and activation for around the clock utility. The project also provides dignified access to sanitation, waterpoints, educational and medical centres. These strategies develop a robust urban fabric, shifting the patchwork of spatial use from divided areas to an integrated form where new land use and intensification of existing commercial activities unlock the economic potential of the valley. This strategy of perforations to develop access and shifting edge conditions to facilitate active public space can be deployed throughout the valley to nurture the community's circular spatial, commercial and ecological economies.
  • No Thumbnail Available
    Item
    Open Access
    Disruptive adaptations: An urban design approach to youth socio-economic resilience, a case of Havana in Katutura, Windhoek - Namibia
    (2024) Nangula, Soini En; Ewing, Kathryn
    The youth in marginalized communities, such as Havana in Katutura, grapple with substantial unemployment due to limited formal opportunities. To sustain their livelihoods, they resort to the informal economy, working as street vendors or establishing small survivalist enterprises for income. Through a qualitative research methodology, this study delves into the stories of informal youth vendors to understand the innovative strategies they employ daily as they navigate the challenges they face, how they appropriate public spaces to meet their needs, and how they create socioeconomic opportunities for themselves, even though these may not be sufficient. The analysis and exploration of the study bring to light aspects related to the negotiation of space in highly contested spaces, as well as the power dynamics inherent in urban design, planning policies, and urban developments. Havana, as an urban informal settlement, is experiencing rapid growth accompanied by the complexities that come with urban expansion, including a lack of basic services, inadequate sanitation, improper waste management methods, and insufficient infrastructure and public spaces, particularly youth centered. This study seeks to address the question of whether urban design can serve as an effective approach to creating improved socio-economic opportunities for the majority of residents in Havana Informal Settlement. The approach adopted is incremental, and through the design process of this study, an adaptive urban design framework has been developed—one that is flexible and adaptable to address the identified challenges. In conclusion, the study presents a set of spatial guidelines that can be implemented in similar contexts.
  • No Thumbnail Available
    Item
    Open Access
    Elsieskraal: River restoration as urban catalyst
    (2024) Moss, Dennis; Ewing, Kathryn
    Water is one of the main issues of the 21st century. Climate change and biodiversity loss, driven by human development, underscore the need to restore a harmonious relationship with the planet. The current global action plan to achieve this is the United Nations' 2030 Agenda, which outlines specific goals (SDGs) to promote sustainable development. Sustainable development cannot be achieved without “significantly transforming the way we build and manage our urban spaces” (United Nations, 2015). As urban practitioners, we have a large role to play in SDG 11, with its mission to “make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient, and sustainable” (United Nations, 2015). This requires a comprehensive understanding of the human- and natural capital available to us, and the ways in which these resources can be employed at different scales and varying contexts. With half of the world's population now living in cities, it is in the urban environment where intervention is most crucial. Africa, in particular, is set to undergo rapid urbanisation, with estimates that its population of 1.1 billion will double by 2050 (WWF, 2020, p. 4). This will require strategic planning. Rather than contributing to the problem, resilient cities can be “the source of solutions” (UN General Assembly, 2016, p. iv). How we manage water will be key to this success. This research project will explore the effects that river restoration can have on urban transformation. The focus will be the Elsieskraal River, which flows from the Tygerberg Hills to the Black River, through “the most diverse and densely populated range of suburbs” in Cape Town (Brown, 2009, p. 135). A series of design interventions, guided by a multi-disciplinary, systems-based approach, and informed by theory, best practice and policy, will test the potential catalytic impact of river restoration in an urban setting.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Open Access
    Everyday citizenship: people, place and politics in Philippi
    (2023) Maurtin, Leigh; Ewing, Kathryn; Croojmans, Hedwig
    In the South African context, political and universal rights of citizens have been expanded since liberation but the basic services and livelihoods have eroded (Miraftab, 2009). Marginalized citizens have created their homes through auto construction, and self-making, in the post-apartheid city (Caldeira, 2017). This is evident in spaces like Philippi, where areas of Neoliberal planning practices remain as exclusionary imaginaries of city and citizenship that promote collective amnesia (Miraftab, 2009). Insurgent planning scholarship calls for collective memory and looks to liberating planning imaginaries and histories of marginalized people as strength in knowledge (Miraftab, 2009). Through ways of being and social spatial production practices, people are infrastructure (Simone, 2004). The social practices and community agencies inform a type of infrastructure. Amin (2014) speaks of the liveliness of infrastructure. The term infrastructure is used loosely. It indicates the bigger infrastructural elements like transport infrastructure, yet to come in Philippi, as well as other more basic infrastructure like water, sanitation, and electricity, which are often void in spaces in Philippi. Amin (2014) highlights the politics of community and institution, and visible and invisible infrastructure (Amin, 2014). Networks of social gathering spaces, such as economic trade and eating areas, and physical space, like places of water collection and sanitation, give a rendering of the urban poor experience. As part of the experience of these infrastructures, the sensory landscape of urban places holds collective memory and social outlook (Amin, 2014). Acknowledging and paying homage to this helps an understanding of the noteworthy social, cultural and spatial rituals of place and self-built placemaking in Philippi. Through investigating planned and self-built places and their everyday practices, this study has attempted to collect spatial practices, to inform a framework that considers this narrative and the interventions it suggests. The collection of information has been used to guide and inform design principles for interventions at various scales. The starting point of the inquiry is the pavement. A universal everyday place that all actors engage with. In Philippi, the pavement and walkways offer many everyday practices. The pavement is the most common public space of movement, social exchange, and public and private interface, and the investigation of the street in Philippi has informed other areas of design intervention.
  • No Thumbnail Available
    Item
    Open Access
    Forgotten Places: Points of confluence in existing urban frameworks
    (2019) Lenton, Scott; Ewing, Kathryn
    The notion of Forgotten Place within the urban realm is very intriguing as a narrative from which the revitalization of dilapidated and under-utilized space can be given a new importance. This dissertation addresses the design challenge of revitalizing and reshaping spaces within an existing urban context using specific theoretical principles to help make the legibility of the proposal clear. Currently in our cities, designers face the challenge of generating outdoor environments as communal, inclusive spatial frameworks that propagate new development. Pedestrian connections between important destinations are often disjointed and disturbed, where walking can be a disorienting experience. Identifying these gaps in spatial continuity, then using a set of design principles, these Forgotten Places can be filled with a framework of buildings and interconnected open-space opportunities that will generate new interest and use. These misused spaces have underlying themes which link to the authentic identity of local communities. It is suggested that this meaning is culturally immensely significant, and that remembering these definitions allows for a more integrative and inclusive set of city-making components. Forgotten Places in the existing urban fabric of Port Elizabeth provide an exceptional opportunity to reshape a deteriorating and underused place, so that it attracts people back into powerful places of cultural significance and helps restore communities
  • No Thumbnail Available
    Item
    Open Access
    Forgotten Places: Points of confluence in existing urban frameworks
    (2019) Lenton, Scott; Ewing, Kathryn
    The notion of Forgotten Place within the urban realm is very intriguing as a narrative from which the revitalization of dilapidated and under-utilized space can be given a new importance. This dissertation addresses the design challenge of revitalizing and reshaping spaces within an existing urban context using specific theoretical principles to help make the legibility of the proposal clear. Currently in our cities, designers face the challenge of generating outdoor environments as communal, inclusive spatial frameworks that propagate new development. Pedestrian connections between important destinations are often disjointed and disturbed, where walking can be a disorienting experience. Identifying these gaps in spatial continuity, then using a set of design principles, these Forgotten Places can be filled with a framework of buildings and interconnected open-space opportunities that will generate new interest and use. These misused spaces have underlying themes which link to the authentic identity of local communities. It is suggested that this meaning is culturally immensely significant, and that remembering these definitions allows for a more integrative and inclusive set of city-making components. Forgotten Places in the existing urban fabric of Port Elizabeth provide an exceptional opportunity to reshape a deteriorating and underused place, so that it attracts people back into powerful places of cultural significance and helps restore communities
  • No Thumbnail Available
    Item
    Open Access
    INFLOW: Spatially Integrating Local Water Capture into Gugulethu and Surrounds, Cape Town
    (2018) Mclachlan, Julia; Ewing, Kathryn
    function. A severe drought in recent years has placed pressure on the water supply infrastructure, with dams at times, precariously low. To address this, stormwater harvesting is being considered as part of diversification strategies aimed at augmenting the current water resources. This local water capture strategy however, needs to be spatially integrated into settlement, as argued by Dewar (2017). Stormwater infrastructure systems have however, generally been considered as purely utilitarian public works services, designed to drain water as rapidly as possible from impermeable surfaces of built up areas. They are not spatially integrated into urban settlements and ultimately create barriers that divide space and segregate communities. Buildings have in response, turned their backs on these channels and they have become dumping grounds, unsafe and neglected. It is therefore necessary to design sustainable stormwater infrastructure systems that not only capture and store water, but also serve as multi-functional public open space systems that are integrated with the fabric of the urban settlement. The research explores the notion that lines of movement are flows of energy. A continuous uninterrupted line however, acts as a barrier as it limits crossings, interaction or access. Conventional stormwater and vehicular networks are continuous lines of flow, focussed on uninterrupted movement, whether of vehicles (in mobility routes) or surface water run-off (in canals). They act as barriers, limiting crossings and impeding spatial integration. They create along their edges, what Jane Jacobs refers to as 'border vacuums' (Mehaffy, et al, 2015:206). To remove these barriers of flow, the research design proposal applies the 'accessibility surface' (Dewar and Louw, 2016:25) to movement and surface water systems (including stormwater) as a means of removing barriers and generating access, opportunity and spatial integration. In this water sensitive urban design approach, stormwater infrastructure functions as a hybrid system, serving 'cultural, social and ecological functions' (Morrish and Brown, 2008:141) within settlements, providing varied opportunities as part of a multi-purpose public open space. The term 'Inflow', is applied to define and encapsulate the approach: the movement of both water and people into space in the pursuit of place-making opportunities. To test the hypothesis, the design research applies the 'accessibility surface' of movement and surface water systems to the Zeekoe Catchment of Cape Town. The study area is focused on the Big Lotus 'River', a canal constructed to drain water from Cape Town International Airport as well as the areas of Gugulethu, Nyanga and surrounds. It devises a spatial development framework that guides and informs the three-dimensional spatial aspects of an urban design framework. It further tests this notion of 'inflow' at a precinct scale exploring various details. The design research concludes that an 'Inflow' approach that stitches the surface water systems (including stormwater) into the settlement as part of an 'accessibility surface' provides a suitable basis for structurally and spatially integrating local water capture into settlement. Furthermore it addresses the problem of barriers of flow that spatially segregate and reduce accessibility by providing greater permeability and accessibility according to a hierarchical system. 'Inflow' therefore creates the opportunities for stopping or pause moments that allow for permeability and improved access to opportunity
  • No Thumbnail Available
    Item
    Open Access
    Interface: The search for legibility of urban form for African migrants in Cape Town, South Africa
    (2019) Mutia, Kevin Ngumbao; Ewing, Kathryn
    In moving, fleeing or travelling to a different country for a myriad of reasons, migrants find themselves in new contexts, new worlds sometimes completely different from the places they come from. This makes them a vulnerable proportion of society in the urban spaces they find themselves in. Further this added complexity in understanding a new context comes as a concern in terms of navigating new urban spaces, seeking shelter, and creating livelihoods in these 'new worlds'. A plethora of borders and barriers to integration and adaptation exist in the host urban setting. From language barriers, to financial and cultural exclusion, host community xenophobic attitudes, further to being a foreigner in a foreign land with different urban structures and ways of life. In the quest to seek shelter and find settlement and creating livelihoods, migrants find themselves navigating new urban structures and forms which are unlike where they come from. From creating Lynch's mind maps to assist in mental mapping of one's physical spaces, migrants identify paths, nodes, edges, districts and landmarks from their own perspectives that create a layer of urban space that in most cases lacks to be incorporated in urban planning and design consideration for our cities that are 'worlding' (Ong, 2011; 10) by becoming more diverse by the day. The two outermost tips on the continent of Africa present two different cites with similar themes of exclusion of migrants in accessing the proverbial 'better life'. From Mellila's exclusionary borders, high-fence, razed wire barriers to Cape Town's exclusionary urban structure, migrant narratives from the north to the south of Africa are riddled with stories of exclusion, fear and being 'othered'. In seeking to address notions of acceptance, integration and adaptation. The project aims to provide a leeway in addressing the plights of the African migrant in urban space in cities on the continent by focusing on a case example in Cape Town to assess how strategic interface locations in the city can allow for 'worlding' by celebrating diversity and enabling rights to the city for all including the 'other'. Hence this research project seeks to gain an understanding into the lived experience of African migrants in the production of urban space through everyday migrant urbanism in Cape Town.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Open Access
    Manenberg Negotiated: answering questions communities are not asking
    (2019) Hedley, Phillipa A; Ewing, Kathryn
    Within the global South, the public realm is often characterised as a territory of intense accessibility and spatial claims, equally enabling and constricting citizens to shape and reshape an inclusive place within the informal city. The contemporary African city has been central to the discourse around the rapidity of urban development and influx, producing a global narrative of the inability of a frail postcolonial metropolis to support this growth. What is emerging, however, is the resulting improvisation of the city’s inhabitants to reimagine their contrasting, everyday environments for the city’s negotiation and daily navigation. Often, the global discourse omits the finer, more nuanced informality of life that the African city’s marginalised users employ in the everyday to innovatively sustain their livelihood. Central to this imagination, is the Designer’s role to spatially represent all citizens within the urban arena; achieving this through the People’s City design approach. This participatory, incremental approach produces innovation outside the preconceived idea of a design product; rather, pursuing the process over the product. If more than half the city is marginal, the role facing practice should be framing solutions from the perspective and design of citizen/community majority. As Hamdi observes, the integrity of developing an inclusive approach in design, is through the collective voice and experience from within the community context itself; “practice, then, is about making the ordinary special and the special more widely accessible - expanding the boundaries of understanding and possibility with vision and common sense... It is about getting it right for now and at the same time being tactical and strategic about later” (Hamdi, 2004). Manenberg, Cape Town, provides insight into the negotiation of community spaces; where form-making operates outside of the regular and explores how previous areas of exclusion contribute to an emergence of a more flexible and adaptable city. Rather than the static public realm, Manenberg demonstrates “a temporal articulation and occupation of space which not only creates a richer sensibility of spatial occupation, but also suggests how spatial limits are expanded to include formally unimagined uses in dense urban conditions” (Mehrotra, 2010). These unimagined, informal spatial nuances become the co-construction of choice and improvisation that composes daily life. This collaboration and co-constructing of place formed the catalyst from which the research project pursues the process over the product, and was the key in developing an action research methodology to partnering and co-design with community members. The overarching thread that this research project attempts to explore in its approach, is: how can designers intervene in a manner which creatively alters the persistent dominance of exclusion in the public realm? And, in doing so, can the community be invited into the process? Throughout this iterative design, three principles emerged: People, power and place; through these the design process could be interrogated across multiple scales, with participants establishing outcomes, diagnosing spatial negotiations and dreaming proposed interventions. The co-design process in the research project required active engagement, where the participants explored values, issues, threats and opportunities relating to the principles through a series of three process stages: Diagnosis, Dreaming and Designing. The intention was to allow the question of what the community wanted to emerge from within the groups. This process framework provides an opportunity for the group members to revisit their visioning iteratively during each process stage, testing and negotiating decisions of how interventions can be achieved. It allows the participants a space to comprehend urban solutions and explore alternatives, responding to on-the-ground issues from local and nuanced experience. Answering questions communities are not asking: this subtitle becomes a commentary, or perhaps a statement, on how previous areas of exclusion, the marginalised and the informal city, often do not have a voice in the conversation of how their spaces are conceived and designed for them, without them. The research project concludes with strategies of intervention, with outcomes and solutions generated from the process of co-design. These strategies were then transposed into incremental interventions, testing the greatest impact to alter the accessibility of the public realm. The greatest tool to emerge from the community-led approach was the identification of potential partnerships which strengthened the dynamics in negotiating the public realm; illustrating that if communities are offered a seat at the table, the designs become all the richer, participating in the emergence of a more flexible, incremental and adaptable city.
  • No Thumbnail Available
    Item
    Open Access
    Manenberg negotiated: answering questions communities are not asking
    (2019) Hedley, Phillippa A; Ewing, Kathryn
    Within the global South, the public realm is often characterised as a territory of intense accessibility and spatial claims, equally enabling and constricting citizens to shape and reshape an inclusive place within the informal city. The contemporary African city has been central to the discourse around the rapidity of urban development and influx, producing a global narrative of the inability of a frail postcolonial metropolis to support this growth. What is emerging, however, is the resulting improvisation of the city's inhabitants to reimagine their contrasting, everyday environments for the city's negotiation and daily navigation. Often, the global discourse omits the finer, more nuanced informality of life that the African city's marginalised users employ in the everyday to innovatively sustain their livelihood. Central to this imagination, is the Designer's role to spatially represent all citizens within the urban arena; achieving this through the People's City design approach. This participatory, incremental approach produces innovation outside the preconceived idea of a design product; rather, pursuing the process over the product. If more than half the city is marginal, the role facing practice should be framing solutions from the perspective and design of citizen/community majority. As Hamdi observes, the integrity of developing an inclusive approach in design, is through the collective voice and experience from within the community context itself; “practice, then, is about making the ordinary special and the special more widely accessible - expanding the boundaries of understanding and possibility with vision and common sense... It is about getting it right for now and at the same time being tactical and strategic about later” (Hamdi, 2004). Manenberg, Cape Town, provides insight into the negotiation of community spaces; where form-making operates outside of the regular and explores how previous areas of exclusion contribute to an emergence of a more flexible and adaptable city. Rather than the static public realm, Manenberg demonstrates “a temporal articulation and occupation of space which not only creates a richer sensibility of spatial occupation, but also suggests how spatial limits are expanded to include formally unimagined uses in dense urban conditions” (Mehrotra, 2010). These unimagined, informal spatial nuances become the co-construction of choice and improvisation that composes daily life. This collaboration and co-constructing of place formed the catalyst from which the research project pursues the process over the product, and was the key in developing an action research methodology to partnering and co-design with community members. The overarching thread that this research project attempts to explore in its approach, is: how can designers intervene in a manner which creatively alters the persistent dominance of exclusion in the public realm? And, in doing so, can the community be invited into the process? Throughout this iterative design, three principles emerged: People, power and place; through these the design process could be interrogated across multiple scales, with participants establishing outcomes, diagnosing spatial negotiations and dreaming proposed interventions. The co-design process in the research project required active engagement, where the participants explored values, issues, threats and opportunities relating to the principles through a series of three process stages: Diagnosis, Dreaming and Designing. The intention was to allow the question of what the community wanted to emerge from within the groups. This process framework provides an opportunity for the group members to revisit their visioning iteratively during each process stage, testing and negotiating decisions of how interventions can be achieved. It allows the participants a space to comprehend urban solutions and explore alternatives, responding to on-the-ground issues from local and nuanced experience. Answering questions communities are not asking: this subtitle becomes a commentary, or perhaps a statement, on how previous areas of exclusion, the marginalised and the informal city, often do not have a voice in the conversation of how their spaces are conceived and designed for them, without them. The research project concludes with strategies of intervention, with outcomes and solutions generated from the process of co-design. These strategies were then transposed into incremental interventions, testing the greatest impact to alter the accessibility of the public realm. The greatest tool to emerge from the community-led approach was the identification of potential partnerships which strengthened the dynamics in negotiating the public realm; illustrating that if communities are offered a seat at the table, the designs become all the richer, participating in the emergence of a more flexible, incremental and adaptable city.
  • No Thumbnail Available
    Item
    Open Access
    Manenberg negotiated: answering questions communities are not asking
    (2019) Hedley, Phillippa; Ewing, Kathryn
    Within the global South, the public realm is often characterised as a territory of intense accessibility and spatial claims, equally enabling and constricting citizens to shape and reshape an inclusive place within the informal city. The contemporary African city has been central to the discourse around the rapidity of urban development and influx, producing a global narrative of the inability of a frail postcolonial metropolis to support this growth. What is emerging, however, is the resulting improvisation of the city's inhabitants to reimagine their contrasting, everyday environments for the city's negotiation and daily navigation. Often, the global discourse omits the finer, more nuanced informality of life that the African city's marginalised users employ in the everyday to innovatively sustain their livelihood. Central to this imagination, is the Designer's role to spatially represent all citizens within the urban arena; achieving this through the People's City design approach. This participatory, incremental approach produces innovation outside the preconceived idea of a design product; rather, pursuing the process over the product. If more than half the city is marginal, the role facing practice should be framing solutions from the perspective and design of citizen/community majority. As Hamdi observes, the integrity of developing an inclusive approach in design, is through the collective voice and experience from within the community context itself; “practice, then, is about making the ordinary special and the special more widely accessible - expanding the boundaries of understanding and possibility with vision and common sense... It is about getting it right for now and at the same time being tactical and strategic about later” (Hamdi, 2004). Manenberg, Cape Town, provides insight into the negotiation of community spaces; where form-making operates outside of the regular and explores how previous areas of exclusion contribute to an emergence of a more flexible and adaptable city. Rather than the static public realm, Manenberg demonstrates “a temporal articulation and occupation of space which not only creates a richer sensibility of spatial occupation, but also suggests how spatial limits are expanded to include formally unimagined uses in dense urban conditions” (Mehrotra, 2010). These unimagined, informal spatial nuances become the co-construction of choice and improvisation that composes daily life. This collaboration and co-constructing of place formed the catalyst from which the research project pursues the process over the product, and was the key in developing an action research methodology to partnering and co-design with community members. The overarching thread that this research project attempts to explore in its approach, is: how can designers intervene in a manner which creatively alters the persistent dominance of exclusion in the public realm? And, in doing so, can the community be invited into the process? Throughout this iterative design, three principles emerged: People, power and place; through these the design process could be interrogated across multiple scales, with participants establishing outcomes, diagnosing spatial negotiations and dreaming proposed interventions. The co-design process in the research project required active engagement, where the participants explored values, issues, threats and opportunities relating to the principles through a series of three process stages: Diagnosis, Dreaming and Designing. The intention was to allow the question of what the community wanted to emerge from within the groups. This process framework provides an opportunity for the group members to revisit their visioning iteratively during each process stage, testing and negotiating decisions of how interventions can be achieved. It allows the participants a space to comprehend urban solutions and explore alternatives, responding to on-the-ground issues from local and nuanced experience. Answering questions communities are not asking: this subtitle becomes a commentary, or perhaps a statement, on how previous areas of exclusion, the marginalised and the informal city, often do not have a voice in the conversation of how their spaces are conceived and designed for them, without them. The research project concludes with strategies of intervention, with outcomes and solutions generated from the process of co-design. These strategies were then transposed into incremental interventions, testing the greatest impact to alter the accessibility of the public realm. The greatest tool to emerge from the community-led approach was the identification of potential partnerships which strengthened the dynamics in negotiating the public realm; illustrating that if communities are offered a seat at the table, the designs become all the richer, participating in the emergence of a more flexible, incremental and adaptable city.
  • No Thumbnail Available
    Item
    Open Access
    Manenberg negotiated: answering questions communities are not asking
    (2019) Hedley, Phillippa; Ewing, Kathryn
    Within the global South, the public realm is often characterised as a territory of intense accessibility and spatial claims, equally enabling and constricting citizens to shape and reshape an inclusive place within the informal city. The contemporary African city has been central to the discourse around the rapidity of urban development and influx, producing a global narrative of the inability of a frail postcolonial metropolis to support this growth. What is emerging, however, is the resulting improvisation of the city's inhabitants to reimagine their contrasting, everyday environments for the city's negotiation and daily navigation. Often, the global discourse omits the finer, more nuanced informality of life that the African city's marginalised users employ in the everyday to innovatively sustain their livelihood. Central to this imagination, is the Designer's role to spatially represent all citizens within the urban arena; achieving this through the People's City design approach. This participatory, incremental approach produces innovation outside the preconceived idea of a design product; rather, pursuing the process over the product. If more than half the city is marginal, the role facing practice should be framing solutions from the perspective and design of citizen/community majority. As Hamdi observes, the integrity of developing an inclusive approach in design, is through the collective voice and experience from within the community context itself; “practice, then, is about making the ordinary special and the special more widely accessible - expanding the boundaries of understanding and possibility with vision and common sense... It is about getting it right for now and at the same time being tactical and strategic about later” (Hamdi, 2004). Manenberg, Cape Town, provides insight into the negotiation of community spaces; where form-making operates outside of the regular and explores how previous areas of exclusion contribute to an emergence of a more flexible and adaptable city. Rather than the static public realm, Manenberg demonstrates “a temporal articulation and occupation of space which not only creates a richer sensibility of spatial occupation, but also suggests how spatial limits are expanded to include formally unimagined uses in dense urban conditions” (Mehrotra, 2010). These unimagined, informal spatial nuances become the co-construction of choice and improvisation that composes daily life. This collaboration and co-constructing of place formed the catalyst from which the research project pursues the process over the product, and was the key in developing an action research methodology to partnering and co-design with community members. The overarching thread that this research project attempts to explore in its approach, is: how can designers intervene in a manner which creatively alters the persistent dominance of exclusion in the public realm? And, in doing so, can the community be invited into the process? Throughout this iterative design, three principles emerged: People, power and place; through these the design process could be interrogated across multiple scales, with participants establishing outcomes, diagnosing spatial negotiations and dreaming proposed interventions. The co-design process in the research project required active engagement, where the participants explored values, issues, threats and opportunities relating to the principles through a series of three process stages: Diagnosis, Dreaming and Designing. The intention was to allow the question of what the community wanted to emerge from within the groups. This process framework provides an opportunity for the group members to revisit their visioning iteratively during each process stage, testing and negotiating decisions of how interventions can be achieved. It allows the participants a space to comprehend urban solutions and explore alternatives, responding to on-the-ground issues from local and nuanced experience. Answering questions communities are not asking: this subtitle becomes a commentary, or perhaps a statement, on how previous areas of exclusion, the marginalised and the informal city, often do not have a voice in the conversation of how their spaces are conceived and designed for them, without them. The research project concludes with strategies of intervention, with outcomes and solutions generated from the process of co-design. These strategies were then transposed into incremental interventions, testing the greatest impact to alter the accessibility of the public realm. The greatest tool to emerge from the community-led approach was the identification of potential partnerships which strengthened the dynamics in negotiating the public realm; illustrating that if communities are offered a seat at the table, the designs become all the richer, participating in the emergence of a more flexible, incremental and adaptable city.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Open Access
    Navigating the Go-Down Zone in Namuwongo: reimagining spaces for informal traders in Kampala
    (2023) Masuba, Daniel; Ewing, Kathryn
    Kampala, like many cities in the global south, is experiencing urbanisation at an unprecedented rate. Eight out of ten people are taking up informal employment, many of whom set up and occupy sites within highly contested spaces in the urban realm. Modernist planning and developments across the city are unable to sustain the growing number of traders in the city. The Godown Zone in Namuwongo provides an entry point for a self-organised community of informal traders who have taken upon themselves to create spaces for trade and occupation in a restricted space a few kilometres away from the local market. The Godown Zone offers a range of opportunities for inclusive and sustainable development however it also highlights the urban disconnect between planners need to control functions of spaces and the actual functioning of such spaces. Research has shown a bottom-up design approach through engaging with traders allows for effective and multifunctional development of spaces. This project has therefore development an urban design framework to amplify voices of the trading community of Namuwongo while factoring in long term development plans through interviews, observations, research studies, and site data analysis. By incorporating the experiences of the users, this urban design framework hopes to contribute to the development of an inclusive and vibrant city
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Open Access
    Reclaiming the voices and spaces for the youth of Vilakazi Street: Exploring spatial reform in Orlando West
    (2023) Dakile, Sinqobile; Ewing, Kathryn
    The legacy of apartheid spatial planning is still evident under South Africa's democratic government. Townships are segregated dormitories with residents who still face many inequities in their daily lives. Soweto is a township which a deep history of struggle for liberation. Vilakazi street is especially symbolic due to all the activists who used their voices as a tool to fight against a system of inequality. Today Soweto is in a transitional phase. It has developed from what was once a dormitory township to a diverse, resilient community of people who have reclaimed the spaces as their own. This research serves to gain a deeper understanding of Vilakazi Street (as a catalyst to transformation) - an emerging high street in a culturally rich neighbourhood of Orlando West. Furthermore to understand the missing links and gaps which can better improve the quality of life for the community. It is also important to gain a deeper understanding of the legislation and contributing factors that enable the development of the existing vibrant township culture. Furthermore to learn what role the youth of today contribute to. Orlando West The research is guided and grounded in a theoretical framework which highlights the importance of democratic planning processes and enabling resident's voices in the design processes. The methodology and methods speak on the approach to gain research on the ground and the interactions with the local residents and their everyday spaces. A contextual analysis is done on the metro scale to better understand the role of Orlando West in relation to the city and a neighbourhood scale analysis is done to better understand the role Vilakazi Street plays in it's neighbourhood. This is followed by a case study which is used as a precedent to address and create inclusive design for the youth of Soweto. The proposal aims to improve and amplifying the vulnerable voices of the youth.
  • No Thumbnail Available
    Item
    Open Access
    Rethinking rubbish
    (2018) McCormack, Jessica; Ewing, Kathryn
    Industrial processes forms have dominated the landscape with their linear and degenerative processes. The imposition of these forms in the landscape is exemplified by the industrial area adjacent to the harbour in Cape Town, which was located on the coastline prior to the reclamation of the coastline between 1941 and 1962. These linear and degenerative industrial processes disregard the Second Law of Thermodynamics, which states that entropy of a system increases. This has resulted in unnecessary resource consumption, as well as a permeation of pollutants into the environment. Regenerative design seeks to re-mediate this and reconnect us to nature. Recycling is an example of an attempt at regenerative design. The Woodstock Drop off Facility is a recycling drop off point where domestic and waste from small retailers and builders is brought before it is sorted and dispersed to various recycling plants and the Vissershoek landfill. It is located in the industrial area and offers oppourtunity to connect users to material flows and processes, which are otherwise forgotten. Stremke et al (2011) conclude that dispersal and mixing are two causes of increases in entropy. In order to gain an understanding of the potential role of the Woodstock Drop off Facility in more regenerative material flows, The Woodstock Drop off Facility is assessed with regards to dispersal and mixing. The aim of this study is to assess the site's potentials in terms of reconnecting the user to material flows and natural systems, as well as an assessment pf how regenerative recycling processes actually are. Sorting and Dispersal are the major functions of the Woodstock Drop off Facility. Stremke et al (2011) argue that as materials become more mixed and dispersed, they become more entropic. This study aims to evaluate this landscape of mixing and dispersal in terms of entropy and therefore assess the regenerative potentials of the site