Developing in dialogue : expanding the Johannesburg City edge through urban villages and densification models.
Date
2018
Authors
Van Onselen, Arjen
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Abstract
There is a quint area at the Greater Eastern Johannesburg city edge (GEJCE), which has a certain character with unique historical significance. Along the Albertina Sisulu and Jules Streets there remains a place which was once considered to be one of the wealthier suburbs of the city. Although poorly maintained with subsequent deterioration of the areas, there remains a historical value and a certain beauty (albeit odd) in the surrounding architecture. These areas include Jeppestown, the main focus of this study, with its’ surrounding suburbs of Bertrams, Lorentzville, Bezuidenhout Valley and Judith’s Paarl.(1) The neglect and deterioration of neighborhoods designed and built in the 1900s, led to these incongruous picturesque suburbs but with definite heritage design obstacles.
The residential area is comprised mostly of single story housing and is characteristically identified by its classic veranda design, close proximity to the street and brick construction. The abundance of trees contributes to the aesthetic quality of the neighborhood making it visible along the large vistas and thus adding to the feeling of a promenade.
Brodie, N attributed the threat of the cities’ peripheral urban fine-grained communities being demolished or alternated without proper supervision, to the proximity of the inner-city slums. This has followed in utter deterioration of picturesque residential heritage. This research report counters the threat by using an all-inclusive regeneration approach to create a neighborhood that is attractive, safe, accessible and well connected to the surrounding residential city.
The purpose of the intervention will be to create different developmental models that maintain and enhance the current urban character through creating design guidelines, as well as to reintroduce a sustainable neighborhood feeding back into the Greater Johannesburg City.
To drive this type of intervention, six elements will be explored and implemented. These elements were extracted from the 1992 Urban Village Forum.(2)
Element 1: Neighborhood size: small and compact in form. Element 2: Promotion of mixed use: Residential spaces, work, retail and leisure. Element 3: Promotion of self-sufficiency. Element 4: Provision for the different social and economic groups. Element 5: A well-integrated public transport system and pedestrian friendly environment. Element 6: An effective urban management system
Combining these elements with adaptive reuse is the solution for sustainable development in this area.
Objectives ◉ Analyze and criticize the existing urban fabric in the GEJCE. ◉ Create and propose an Integrated Trans-Orientated Development Framework (ITDF) to connect a series of urban villages within the GEJCE context, as per the city's vision of a polycentric city.(3) ◉ Cultivate a range of development models that can be implemented within the district either through individual owners or larger development companies.
“The concept of urban villages is important to consider within the South African context, as it deals with two relevant post-apartheid issues, integration and sustainable development of fragmented communities” (4)
By creating these urban villages, we can start to bind these fragmented communities together.
Description
A research report submitted in fulfilment to the Degree of Master of Urban Design to the Faculty of Engineering and the Built Environment, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2018
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Citation
Van Onselen, Bart Arjen Leonardus (2018) Developing in dialogue : expanding the Johannesburg City edge through urban villages and densification models, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, https://hdl.handle.net/10539/26370