Of Assemblage + Traces Of Elsewhere: Imagining adaptive formations of place on an informal automotive enterprise hub in Johannesburg

Abstract

In a rapidly evolving South African economy, where cities are shaped by constant movement rather than static forms, how do informal automotive hubs contribute to everyday urban life? This thesis explores the dynamics of an informal automotive sector in Johannesburg, revealing it as more than just a collection of makeshift garages and vendors. It is a vibrant, adaptive space that challenges traditional architectural concepts and offers new ways to think about the urban. The concept of "assemblage"—the coming together of various elements to form a whole—is used to frame these urban spaces as places of fluidity and transformation, rather than rigid, static entities. Through mapping the interactions of people, cars, and businesses within these spaces, this dissertation tells a story of relationships that span economic, social, and spatial divides. All these are predicated on the fact of movement, not fixity, of objects, units, institutions, etc. The investigation begins by tracing the objects and subjects with the informal automotive sector across sites and scales in order to map the relationship between different actors, practices, and layers. Informal urbanism, from informal settlements to economies and street markets, is integral to cities — economically, socially, environmentally, and aesthetically. Rather than viewing these informal areas as gaps in urban planning, we see them as active sites of creativity and resilience. Here, cars, people, and ideas continuously adapt and transform, creating an ever-changing landscape. The offering of this thesis is a proposed complex adaptive assemblage of spatiality and representation. An architecture that frames spatial practices, objects, bodies, and sites through its spatial programs. The driving principle for the design will be twofold; inline with the concept of being/becoming and difference/identity. These concepts come in pairs, while they co-exist in a mixture rather than opposite relation. They morph and fold into each other rather that respond to each other. Fertile ground for this project is identified at an intersection in Westdene, Johannesburg which currently lies suspended along a highly trafficked movement route on Perth Road between the inner city and south/west of Johannesburg.