Electronic Theses and Dissertations (Masters)

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An analysis of public-private partnerships in housing in the Zimbabwe National Housing Delivery Programme: a case of Masvingo City
(2014-10-27) Chikomwe, Savory
Based on evidence of the performance of a public-private partnership (PPP) housing arrangement in Masvingo City, Zimbabwe, I argue that PPPs may not thrive in youthful democracies entrenched in informal approaches to project management. The PPP strategy which was meant to deliver about 10 000 housing units in Masvingo City has dismally failed to live to its expectation, save for an ignited spirit of cooperativism. This is in spite of what was dubbed as a potentially promising partnership strategy involving indigenous private developers and contractors. Yet the compulsory acquisition of urban and peri-urban farmland country-wide presented powerful launch pad for a promisingly successful housing delivery that is widely expected to wipe out serious housing deficits. Housing problems were recently further compounded by Operation Murambatsvina in 2005 which ruthlessly demolished all informal housing and left several hundreds of thousands homeless. Following an insightful in-depth interview methodology and several ground-truthing trips to the Victoria Ranch Housing Project site, I argue that Government of Zimbabwe (GOZ) arrangements in terms of legal, administrative and financial aspects were weak to enable successful implementation of a formal PPP strategy. The arrangements advertently or inadvertently promoted privatism instead of the mutually beneficial PPP arrangement. As such, there were no clear regulatory mechanisms and modalities to enable beneficiation of the targeted low-income people and other economically weaker sections of the Masvingo City Community. There are fears that undeserving better-offs could have hijacked the scheme. However, a commendable resilience has emerged through a resurgent self-help housing delivery approach resulting in many self-built houses in what is widely viewed as a “peculiar” parallel development. While it could be too early to meaningfully comment on the long-term performance of the PPP approach, it is clear that justice has not been done to low-income people in Masvingo who remain largely homeless.
Urbanism and sustainability in Daveyton: designing for the township main street :[an exploration of spatial transformation in previously marginalised townships, with a focus on the main street]
(University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2016) Bham, Aadill; Van Der Westhuizan, Diaan
In township environments where pedestrian activity occurs out of necessity; and public transport prevails - the main street becomes a magnet for mobility, social encounters and economic exchange. It is the path that connects the settlement to the whole; it disperses and draws in; it collects and connects. It is the image of the township. Streets play an important role within townships as the primary form of public urban space. It is within these spaces that the residents make their own opportunities for a better quality of life. (Jacobs, 1993) explained that by designing the streets, one has largely designed the city.
Socio-economic Perspectives in the Redevelopment of Hostels in South Africa: A Case of Wolhuter Hostel, Jeppestown
(University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2020-11) Madonsela, Thando Kwenza; Sihlongonyane, Mfaniseni
Hostels in the South Africa context are synonymous with the migrant labour system. The dominant feature of these pre-democratic hostels is that they catered for single-sex employees as opposed to worker families. This contributed to the destruction of the social fabric in terms of culture, traditions, and the destruction of the black families at large. In post-democratic South Africa, Hostel accommodation continues to paint a grim picture within our human settlement’s spaces. Socio-economic difficulties manifest themselves in mostly inadequate living conditions or poor housing circumstances that are largely conditioned by the unequal and distorted access to opportunities. To this day, most hostels that are not yet redeveloped or refurbished continue to present images of dirty menacing buildings associated with a public stigma of notoriety. This research study explores socio-economic perspectives in the redevelopment of hostels in South Africa. The study will consist of an interface between theoretical foundations, and empirical evidence. This research, data collection was sourced both from primary and secondary sources. Qualitative investigative methods were used to get an in-depth understanding of the subject. The research follows a case-study approach, that of Wolhuter Hostel, Jeppestown in Gauteng and undertook interviews of sixteen hostel dwellers plus a fucus group discussion. The study makes recommendations on policy reforms such introducing more responsive programmes in human settlements. It is also aimed at introducing an improved approach to the planning and redevelopment of the hostels by strengthening neighbourhood and precinct planning. The study contributes to the understanding and insight on hostels and their redevelopment and considering socio-economic perspectives in human settlements planning and development.
A bathhouse in Cyrildene - a phenomenological approach to the design of a bathhouse in Johannesburg
(2021) Kow, Alan
In Johannesburg, there is a lack of global bathhouse typologies. They either don’t exist or are in a form which caters to a niche subculture. Bathhouse culture has been around for hundreds of years and many people around the world take advantage of it as a form of communal bonding, relaxation and general hygiene. In addition to this, when done correctly, it has the effect of stripping away of social class and distinction as well as providing a safe and entertaining environment for those within its walls. This study aims to bring my personal experience of an East-Asian bathhouse into Cyrildene, a predominantly Chinese neighbourhood, that is slowly losing its cultural identity. Building on existing data on historic bathhouses from around the world, it asks: How can the concept of phenomenology be used to guide the design of an Asian style bathhouse in order to enhance the Asian/Chinese cultural experience and help in the revitalisation of Derrick street as a distinct cultural hub In Johannesburg? The main methodologies that will be used in this report will be from literature reviews on historical analysis of bathhouses around the world but more specifically in Eastern Asia. One on one interviews with the residents and shop owners living in Cyrildene as well as the owner/s of a spa. Observations based on mapping and photography will also be employed. The last will be the use of auto-ethnographic data from my own experiences. The main hypothesis of the report will be seeing if the bathhouse typology through the use of a variety of different programs that range from bathing to eating to sleeping in addition to the application of architectural phenomenological theories helps make it suitable for Cyrildene and thereby revitalise and strengthen the areas existing cultural identity.
The Role of Chiefs in Land Management in Peri-Urban Customary Areas Of Blantyre, Malawi: The Case of Mpemba
(University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2022-04) Magwede, Chimwemwe Edith; Williamson, Amanda
Peri-urbanisation is a new form of urbanisation and the peri-urban area is a new kind of multi-functional landscape for urban development. How peri-urban areas are managed matters because they are close to the city and due to high urbanisation rates in most developing countries, these areas will soon be part of the city. If urban peripheries are not well-managed, they will be a challenge for sustainable development. In Malawi, peri-urban areas fall under customary land and chiefs are the custodians of customary land. The study unpacks the role of chiefs in land management, how the National Land Policy and land-related legislation position customary leadership in the governance of land management and how municipal and customary land management systems interact with each other in the peri-urban areas. The study employed a qualitative approach. Semi-structured interviews were conducted and policy and legislation were reviewed. The 2002 National Land Policy of Malawi and land-related legislation were reviewed focusing on the role of chiefs in land management. Although the peri-urban areas fall under the jurisdiction of chiefs, the research reveals that this area is treated as no man's land as there exists an overlap of authorities in the peri-urban areas. The chiefs witness land transactions, advise their people on how to secure their land, and partially guide and manage land, although they are not aware of land regulations and standards. The findings also disclose that there is a lack of coordination within municipal land management systems and between municipal land management systems and customary land management systems. Although the legislation states that chiefs have to be incorporated in land management, these laws have not been fully implemented as there are still in the pilot phase.
Foraging for Earth: resurrecting the heritage of ochre through land reparation of an iron ore mine
(University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2023) O'Maker, Simone; Felix, Sandra
This thesis aims to extract concepts, ideologies and theories viable to the rights of land. To rewrite a set of spatial relations that deeply grapple with the remnants of the Ngwenya mountain, in an iron-ore mine within the Kingdom of Eswatini, as an archaeological, cultural, ecological and geographical site. Foraging for Earth aims to mend its wounds that gives back the earth its dignity. It questions what architecture arises from seeing the land as a living being and to what extent it can form a relationship with a post-mined landscape. The concept of the design is derived from the site’s scar, a palimpsest of narratives rooted to memory, decay, healing and regeneration, and thereby interprets reparative strategies into a living archive that aims to reclaim what the landscape used to be. The program includes an earth reparation facility, a knowledge-sharing centre, an ochre sanctuary, craft studio and a sculpture garden. Constant visual and physical engagement encourages one to be aware of the land’s rich narrative.
Mwana Wevhu (Child of the soil): Enhancing subsistence cotton farming through education with production creating employment opportunities in Marondera, Zimbabwe
(University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2023) Mafemba, Simbarashe A.; Kirkman, Deborah
Cotton plant production in Zimbabwe has witnessed a concerning decline. This cash crop, crucial for the country’s economy, has unfortunately become a harbinger of poverty among diligent farmers. Nonetheless, there is a glimmer of hope on the horizon with the adoption of sustainable farming practices, including the use of organic seeds, which can reduce pesticide usage and water requirements, potentially revitalizing cotton production. Marondera, an agricultural hub, predominantly relies on subsistence farming methods to cultivate this labor and capital-intensive cash crop. Regrettably, these methods have proven inefficient for achieving profitability, ultimately pushing farmers further into poverty. The objective of my research is to delve into the realm of cotton farming, seeking avenues to enhance its viability and sustainability, thereby empowering farmers and fostering employment opportunities within associated industries. Cotton cultivation presents a multitude of job prospects, particularly during the processing phase. As part of my architectural intervention, I aspire to design a community Research Centre in Marondera. This center will serve as a knowledge hub, equipping cotton farmers with the expertise and techniques needed to cultivate the crop efficiently and sustainably. A pivotal aspect of the design will be the incorporation of vernacular architecture and locally available materials, ensuring that the architecture aligns with the practical needs of the local population it serves.
Stories of the Forgone Forlorn Forgotten Space: Interrogating Mdantsane’s Liminal Space in which Ritual Operates
(University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2023-09) Xhegwana, Buhle; Maape, Sechaba
The proposed site is located on Golden Highway in Mdantsane, Eastern Cape, and is a vacant plot of land adjacent to Mdantsane Correctional Services. The site situates itself in close proximity to multiple educational institutions and commerce, centrally within the township. The proposed research aims to analyse how Amasiko (cultural practices and their memory) within a non-transcribed culture can be translated into a built form that would be representative of its people. The built form would be envisioned as a container for memory where the ethnographic layering of information becomes a tool to access the ritual and its memory as a “Grand Mnemonic Device” to relay import ant aspects of the culture and its history (Trieb, 2013). The space envisaged must promote the acts of remembering and collecting as a tool in the process of creating a “house of memory” (Bahloul, 1992). This assembles what was not transcribed into a physical, experiential manifestation by creating a stronger link between architecture and society, looking beyond the merely functional state of architecture represented in the context. The program enacted in the space will mirror the act of the ritual by providing spaces that relate to the processes of the ritual in their various stages of the procession. The three main ritual processes focused on include Umgidi (Initiation ceremony), Umshado (wedding) and Umngcwabo (Funeral). The spaces proposed function as a tool to access the memory and ritual through its organisation while its program reaches out to the community. The program includes a community hall centred around the acts of song, dance and sermon; a kitchen to be used during gatherings and as a link to food security outreach; urban farm facilities to service the kitchen and community; discussion rooms for skill sharing, dialogue, non-transcribed learning and storytelling; video exhibition spaces to immerse oneself in the memory; a foyer with a primary focus on cleansing or washing hands before crossing the threshold into the space; storage and offices for facilitators of the space.
Inheriting Resonance: Regenerating Indigenous African Musical Pedagogy Through an Education and Culture Centre in Newtown
(University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2023-09) Bopela, Bonnie; Gwebu, Nomonde; Felix, Sandra
Indigenous African Music requires spatial interventions to counter its erasure in a South African education system that has historically prioritised Western Art Music. This research analyses the relationship between African musical pedagogy and architecture. It aims to address the erasure of musical knowledge through an architectural design that evokes regeneration in an urban setting. Using Pallasmaa’s theory of phenomenology as a guiding focus, this research contextualises African music and how it manifests architecturally. The haptic and embodied architectural experiences defined by phenomenology are inherent within African music. By focusing on the musical bow instruments at the centre of many tribes across Southern Africa, the intrinsic qualities of these instruments are translated and abstracted to form an embodied architectural design intervention embued with an African musical identity. This research argues that phenomenological architectural design methodologies can regenerate, preserve and sustain indigenous musical knowledge(s) for future generations.
Ponte; Realness. Symbiotic parasitism in drag
(University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2023-09) Georgiev, Victor Geoergiev; Bahman, Dirk
The intended investigation explores queer identity and the extent to which it can symbiotically co-inhabit an outdated structure to create social cohesion and integration resulting in a regeneration. Consisting of interventions exploring identity representation and familial programmes to create a sense of community. Research focuses on vulnerable communities present within Ponte (a structure containing aspects of familiarity to Ballroom spaces) and their synergy with the Ballroom community in Johannesburg. Through architectural processes engaging with space making and programming, aims value the creation of space. Encouraging educational models through social engagement which facilitate acceptance, sex, and gender expressions through a mutual occupation. Theories identified in queer spaces and Hertzburgers writings provide solutions through familiarity and atmospheres that allow for a symbiosis of community. Research outcomes indicate an adaptive re-use of Ponte through a reprogramming relating to investigations that highlight the buildings previous intentions as a vertical city.
Pedestrian in King: To what extent is the City of Windhoek's Vision 2032 to pedestrianise part of Independence Avenue successfully bringing value to the street?
(University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2023-11) Muzwembiri, Brain Mapato; Goncalves`, Kevin
A street, which the researcher regards as a public space, should offer the pedestrian an environment that is safe to walk, comfortable, and encourages social interaction. Global North and Global South cities have prioritised cars in the street. The conflict between cars and pedestrians has resulted in less pedestrian infrastructure, minimal pedestrian activities, and the pedestrians needing to be more prioritised. Theories and concepts such as livable streets, shared streets, or fully pedestrian-only streets have attempted to regain the street from cars and prioritize the pedestrian. In Namibia, the City of Windhoek has proposed pedestrianizing Independence Avenue in the city’s downtown area. From a scholar’s perspective, the present research investigates the potential sociocultural, transport, economic, environmental (built and climatic) successes and pitfalls of pedestrianizing Independence Avenue.
Unlocking Soweto as a True City District: The case of the Vilakazi Precinct
(University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2023-12) Qwabe, Batatu Bahle; Kotze, Paul
Soweto is a segregated township which is a product of the apartheid spatial planning legacy. It boasts a population of approximately 1.3 million people. The residents largely consist of lower economic class with indications of a rapidly growing middle class. Its emphasis over the past two decades has been to improve its connectivity, mixed use activities, social infrastructure, and consolidated public spaces. The high population densities and the low built form densities offer a latent potential for densification strategies around established nodes and the recently developed Transit Orientated Development. Focusing on the public transport routes would allow for much more accessible mixed-use nodes which majority are located near strong inter-modal facilities. The focus and strengthening of the existing economic activities would increase and diversify job opportunities for residents. This type of economic strategy would celebrate locally owned small scale and informal businesses located along streets as opposed to large businesses such as malls and other large-scale developments. The Orlando urban hub is home to two Nobel Prize winners Nelson Mandela and Desmond Tutu. Winnie Mandela’s House, Orlando stadium and the Hector Pieterson Memorial are located a stone’s throw away from the well-known tourist attraction node, Vilakazi Street. These landmarks create a compelling urban node that is accessible from the Johannesburg CBD via the recently upgraded Klipsruit Valley Road and Mooki Street and the Empire Perth corridor. In the Johannesburg Spatial Development Framework 2040 this node is recognized as a Secondary urban hub. This forms part of the basis as I choose it for my focus area. The potential of this area allows for various opportunities and issues to address, namely: the connectivity of amenities, economic potential, built form density, land productivity, development of social infrastructure and consolidated public spaces.
Architecture as mnemonic experiencing past, present, and future narratives in a Johannesburg cultural complex
(2024) Segal, Yehuda
Memory is transient, it comes and it goes. It is a passing remembrance of a past time, person or place. Memory is the experience we store in our minds to recall at a future time and date. It is the friends we make on the first day of school, our childhood holidays, or beach sand between our toes. Memory is also stored in books, visuals, art, and the internet. It is the long-gone monarch in a painting, the photographs and videos of historical events that record a past time and people. And so, memory is architecture- or, simply, space. Spatial recall- the ability to remember a space or place, directions from point A to point B, is the reason we find our way when lost. The architecture of memory is related to that of structures, buildings and spaces that serve to record or preserve a past event or person, yet also the landmark that guides us. It is a museum, memorial, triumphal arch and even a religious or cultural space. It is also the old as opposed, or in harmony with, the new. Architecture as mnemonic is relatable to other aspects and devices with mnemonic value. Memory is therefore an important aspect of archi - tecture and the built world. Not only do we remember through spatial interactions, we also experience spaces which lead to us creating new memories.
To burn or not to burn: an approach to control waste in our society highlighting the Relationship between energy, recycling and communities
(2024) Kabongo, Benedictte
The capacity of South Africa and other developing countries is as minimal. On the other hand, the growing trends - population growth, industrialization, and economic growth- in modern-day society have improved human wellness. As a result, when resource consumption rises, so as solid waste. However, in developing countries, the generation of waste per capita is the lover compared to developed countries; the main challenge is the capacity to handle it effectively. Moreover, efficiently landfill, recycle and reuse. The resource consumption model in developing countries is linear, meaning that processing, producing, using, and discarding products to nature harms the environment through the emission of greenhouse gas, the pollution of land and water resource, and boost climate effect. In the last decade, solid waste management has improved technologically and operationally and responds to environmental concerns; its focus is on the end-stage solutions, focusing on the reduction of waste rather than sustainability, whose core focus is the prevention of waste. South Africa’s approach regarding solid waste is to push waste up towards minimal production, reuse, and recycling through comprehensive producer responsibility and economic instruments This research focuses on the factors impacting solid waste management in South Africa and will put forward realistic avenues for using solid waste as a resource. In addition, it will help find successful initiatives highlighting inclusive planning and management of those facilities. Finally, this finds approaches for the private sector, the government, and the community to link service and value chains in sustainable solid waste management. For example, it adopts practices that divert waste from landfills, formalizes reclaimers or waste pickers, initiates waste-to-energy technologies, and encourages recycling at all waste cycle stages.
Urban scripting audio-visual forms of storytelling in urban design and planning: the case of two activity streets in Johannesburg
(2024) Mkhabela, Solam
South African cities reflect spaces based on Euro-American theories and norms, mapping methods, and design imperatives. At a local level, this imposition’s tool of static diagrams, plans, sections, elevation, and aerials; broader spatial plans with localized frameworks; regulatory plans controlling land use results in spaces hindering socio-economic development, especially for the marginalized, which comprises a predominantly black African and poor cohort. Consequently, current practice must significantly improve a city’s engagement with everyday users. Based on the indicated need, this thesis argues that the first step to effective urban design is accurately ascertaining spatial needs. In responding to current city-making practices that create ineffective spatial outputs, the study introduces Urban Scripting as a novel transdisciplinary and practice-based approach for assessing inhabitable urban locations. Its methodology in city-making processes strategically inserts social narrative to enhance understanding of daily user experiences. In creating accessible ways of exposing urban layer details, the procedures combine Nguni oral tradition (local expertise) with audio-visual (disciplinary knowledge) as a hybrid narrative technique that simultaneously analyzes and produces. Here narrative suggests using story to amplify an evolving discourse unit that writes and communicates spatial imagination. More so, storytelling, framed in and through interaction, finds people and information often missed by conventional mapping and assessment tools, specifically the voices in the ‘twilight zone,’ the space between legal and illegal on-the-ground operations. Transdisciplinary methods structure more critical and empirically on-ground evidence that inductively leads to new ways of thinking and analyzing. Practice-based casework turns space into place, builds an anthology of empirical knowledge to inform city-making methodologies, and shapes appropriate policies supporting subaltern communities. Programmatically and polemically, it explores how a cinematic frame is an inclusive tool within a specific set of urban processes. Ultimately, its enframing application calibrates an empathetic narrative, potentially transforming lives better for an African city in motion. This approach is valuable for practitioners as a firm departure from convention and thrusts Black African knowledge to the forefront, thus acting as a decolonization tool. Tested at two different sites in Johannesburg, Alexandra (formerly a Black dormitory ‘township’) and Orange Grove (once a whites-only area), the approach effectively engaged with spatial users, specifically, the microentrepreneurs whose urban insurgency practiced on the side of the street serves the broader public yet remains unnoticed by spatial practice. Urban Scripting’s methodology better understood the urban spatial challenges and needs at the Johannesburg study sites. For spatial practice site assessment, theory building, and iv practical application, it is an approach that is likely to prove equally effective in communicating bottom-up needs to help imagine and design a fair and democratic city in hundreds of other similar environments in South Africa and indeed, across Africa, where parallel realities exist.
Cross-border pollination: incubation hub for urban farming in Yeoville
(2024) Kubanza, Nzoli Gloria
Yeoville holds the reputation as an Afro-migrantcentric suburb in Johannesburg (ABED, 2019), with each dispossessed body desiring to keep their cultures alive. This has created social boundaries between South Africans and other African nationalities in the urban landscape. The burning of Yeoville Market is the physical manifestation of growing tension in the community. Gambela (BÉNIT-GBAFFOU, 2019) (known by the neighbourhood) provides migrant women from the diaspora the opportunity to respond to the economic crisis they face in their home country. The enclosed market sphere encourages cultural exchange and interaction by eating, processing, and selling food from home. For migrants living in Yeoville, food is not only a source of nutrients but a tool to transmit culture. Thus, the burning of the market signifies the resistance of the community to integrate. The thesis will follow the Congolese women in the Yeoville market who frequently encounter borders, traveling with various products including cassava. The traders use cassava to transgress the misconceptions of a patriarchal stereotype of an African housewife, simultaneously ensuring household survival. Cassava holds a cultural significance to the West African women as the method of processing cassava requires the knowledge of the native women that have passed down from one generation to another, perfected through time and across borders (Christina Emery, 2021). The importance of the plant not only lies in its mobility but its functional characteristics of promoting harmony, encouraging collaboration, and a medium in which information is transferred (Christina Emery, 2021). In asking the question “how can cassava be used to mend the fragmented community of Yeoville” this thesis will be using cassava as a framework to explore themes of, mobility, boundary, and identity. Re-introducing the market to the community as an agricultural hub. The architectural intervention will re-interpret the market as a space that transmits and preserves culture. The project aims to mediate the fragmented communities of Yeoville using food to educate, generate social spaces, and food works to encourage community involvement.
Manufacturing imaginaries: a catalyst for reimagining Marshalltown
(2024) O’Donovan, Gabriel Storm
The inner city of Johannesburg oscillates between images of a vibrant city full of possibilities, and a dystopian city that has fallen into disrepair - illustrating the profound complexities of the city and its resilience, where spaces of dystopian desolation lie adjacent to dynamic spaces of ambition and hope. Since Johannesburg’s establishment various regimes of representation have sought to create a city in their image (Matsipa, 2014) – from visions of Johannesburg as a temporary mining camp with the sole purpose of extracting wealth, to the modernist images of a “New York in Africa” (Chipkin, 2008). This project explores how visions from a past epoch can be re-imagined and questions the role of the architect in facilitating new urban transformations. This research report investigates the accumulated archive of abandoned buildings in the inner city and presents an architectural intervention that acts as a piece of urban infrastructure – facilitating the reinterpretation of these neglected structures. It draws inspiration from current examples of ad hoc spatial interventions that challenge the notions of permanent and purpose-made architecture. The site forms part of an abandoned city block in Marshalltown, Johannesburg. This city block serves as symbol of urban decay and neglect, portraying feelings of desolation and abandonment (Bruwer, 2002) – making it the ideal site for the proposed architectural intervention as well as a source of inspiration.
Unravelling nature: integrating architecture and nature
(2024) Katete, Lungo
The ability to bring to life what is created in one’s mind, is perhaps the most remarkable feat of human kind. Without the ability to imagine, innovation ceases to exist, resulting in the overall demise of evolution itself. We exist in a time during which the destruction of nature and its essential continues to expand as quickly as nature diminishes right before our eyes. Our environment is populated with built structures and design artefacts, but very few of these rattle the domain of intellect in a way that provokes cultural reorientation. Persuaded by nature’s grand design, this research document proposes a new approach to architecture, through model development and alternative/natural material exploration. It aims to scrutinise the potential of a new way to create architecture through nature’s lens, encompassing formation that consolidates maximal performance and minimal resources through local material variations. In this approach, architecture will be viewed through the lens that is nature, promoting the consolidation of form, materiality and structure. This will be done by exploring aspects such as form development, material analysis and fabrication, allowing for the utilisation of materials found naturally occurring in nature. Materiality precedes form making, allowing for an approach that is structured based on the material properties as a function of structural and environmental performance. This approach shall integrate material properties as a prospective driver of the form generating process, it shall establish how such processes contribute to a novel way of generating, dispensing and depositing material form. In an environment populated primarily by built structures, it is essential that we take into consideration how we can integrate nature’s grand design in the evolution of the design fabric and the built environment process, for without the ability to imagine, innovation ceases to exist.
Reusing the urban fabric: adaptive re-use of an abandoned heritage building to explore community empowerment within the Johannesburg CBD's textile industry
(2024) Soobramoney, Kyle
The city of Johannesburg has undergone massive transformations since its conception and the discovery of gold that set the city on an exponentially rising trajectory. In the aftermaths of apartheid, many post-industrial buildings are scattered through the city landscape, forgotten, and decaying with accompanying detrimental effects to their surrounding context. This investigation aims to reuse a delipidated heritage building to grow economy through local industry. In the case of this investigation, the relevant industry is the ever-growing textile and secondhand clothing market. This industry is contextually relevant, and the basic design principles of Architectural theory demand a building be responsive to the context to be successful. The hypothesis is that if an industrial function can be retrofitted to dilapidated buildings, then these buildings can be saved and enhance the environment in which it dwells. The textile industry in this case offers a multitude of job opportunities as well as applications in architecture and construction. Traits that could possibly help working class, and female entrepreneurs have a stronger foothold in the city, as industrial labor, and basic job access can become more available to women that may be unemployed and unskilled. Design methodologies such as adaptive re-use and symbiotic architecture are aimed to be implemented to endorse an architecture that is feasible for abandoned heritage buildings, concurrently these methodologies are intended to be explored through the textile industry. Architecture that is intended to be easy and cheap to assemble; architecture that can move, grow and change based on the needs of the user while preserving the identity of the building and at the same time creating a new one for a new generation. The end goal is to create a mixed use closed loop self-sustaining building that programmatically focuses on the education and economic components of the context as well as enhances community development in the city. The investigation aims to understand (through experimentation) if an architecture can be applied to the delipidating heritage typology as an effort to reuse space and the preserve character, memory, and diversity in a way that the generation of today will be excited to be in an old building. The city has become a hub for informal traders and entrepreneurs, a social and economic melting pot. There is an opportunity for existing industries to revitalize fragmented infrastructure to add to the mixture.
Why do people walk on this street?: comparing quantitative and qualitative measures of imageability and their association with pedestrian patterns
(2024) Msingaphantsi, Mawabo
Imageability, the quality of a place that makes it distinct, recognisable, and memorable, is traditionally considered to make places pleasant and attractive to pedestrians. The use of primarily qualitative (rather than quantitative) descriptions to discuss the concept of imageability poses a challenge for the application of this concept in physical designs in practice, where designers work with environmental features that have specific dimensions and where they must decide how much of each feature (building height, number of courtyards, number of trees etc.) is necessary to make the environment imageable. There is also wide disagreement in urban design theory and practice about what factors contribute to imageability. Quantitative models attempt to address these challenges by producing operational definitions of imageability with strictly defined variables (factors) that are based on the mathematical relationships between physical environmental features (such as building shape or street length) and the occurrence of imageability. The chief benefit of these models for urban design is their potential use as a means to measure and describe the presence of imageability in a given place. However, the drawback of models is the limited number of verification studies to test their applicability in different contexts. The Ewing model is a street-based statistical model that uses a street audit to describe how imageable a place is from the point of view of a pedestrian on a street. The model identifies eight variables that have a statistically significant correlation (R>0.6) with imageability (Ewing, Clemente, Handy, Brownson, & Winston, 2005). In this study I apply the Ewing model to a low-density environment to measure the imageability of part of Diepkloof (Zone 5), a former black township in Johannesburg, South Africa. I use sketches and qualitative descriptions to validate measurements taken on 30 streets. The purpose of the study is to determine the extent to which environmental features such as imageability can explain pedestrian patterns in a neighbourhood. I tested for correlation between pedestrian activity and imageability and then created a linear regression model to predict pedestrian volume on a given street based on the level of imageability on that street. My conceptual framework, however, demonstrated that imageability has three key aspects (structure, identity and meaning) and that different quantitative models have in-built assumptions that privilege one or more of these aspects and may affect how the resultant measurements should be interpreted. I use mapping to illustrate other potential factors of imageability (as described in the literature and in other models) and argue that these represent conceptual gaps in the Ewing model that should be considered when interpreting the model’s outputs and their correlation to pedestrian patterns. The results of applying the Ewing model in Diepkloof Zone 5 show low levels of imageability, which is consistent with my qualitative assessment of the site, as lower densities reduce the potential for composition because the environment has fewer elements. Bivariate linear regression was found to be an inadequate measure of the correlation between imageability and pedestrian activity. These simple linear regression models had R2 values of less than 0.65 and had many outliers, which suggested that there were factors outside of the model that had a significant effect on pedestrian activity. When multiple regression is used to account for other neighbourhood conditions, correlation increased and the R2 value (which describes the models’ predictive capacity). There are three statistically significant variables (with p-values less than 0.05): street length, street integration and imageability

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