Rethinking public space: formalisation and commoning along the Braamfontein Spruit

Abstract

This research report examines how different acts of spatial practice and place-making inform an understanding of public space within Johannesburg. The history of spatial inequality that has defined the city has meant a legacy of exclusionary practices within contested sites, presenting issues to their management and accessibility. The recent attempt to develop and maintain the trail network within the Braamfontein Spruit by the private-public partnership Jozi Trails highlights this. While the organisation brings in crucial funding to maintain the site for public use, this promotes an understanding of the site as being for predominantly middle-class users. Thus, the trails contrast with broader informal networks of ‘desire lines’ that operate within the site. The intention is to unpack how public space is conceived and to argue for the necessity of thinking of urban public space as being part of a commons that is open to all residents.