The urban thread
Date
2010-06-08T11:40:44Z
Authors
Bolon, Mila Alessandra
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Abstract
Johannesburg is changing. The council and other managing bodies are taking positive
steps for the inclusion of a functioning public transport system. It is a system that is
long overdue and one that which will have resonating effects for the city. This thesis
will explore the changes that the new transport initiative may encourage. Focusing
on the portion of road between the nodes of Rosebank and Illovo in Johannesburg’s
northern suburbs, the study will analyse Oxford Road as an essential thread in the
transportation system. Without the relevant design intervention the road runs the risk
of becoming a pedestrian-unfriendly mobility route, akin to that of a highway, hostile
and volatile in setting. The study aims to resist this by exploiting the effects of the
public transport system, using them as a means of providing physical and visual form
to the public realm and placing an emphasis on a comfortable and usable pedestrian
environment