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TABLE OF CONTENTS
GENERAL GENERAL PLANS, SECTIONS AND ELEVATIONS
page
EAT STREET: MARKET STREET
page
A social construct. By Nicolette Garrett
GENERAL MENU
page
THE STREET AND ITS INGREDIENTS
page
By Brett Herbert
FROM STREET TO MALL AND BACK
page
What malls can learn from commercial streets. By Philipp Andre Baer
MAPPING EMOTIONS
page
The emotions of migration. By Tina S Magodo
GENERAL TIME GRAPHS
page
MELVILLE MELVILLE AXONOMETRIC
page
SPACE AND PLACE
Streets and restaurants as places of
page
cultural identity and symbolism A case study of Melville 7th street. By Qefate Lerotholi
MELVILLE MENU
page
FOOD, FABRIC AND FEMININITY
page
By Napha Lopes
PLEASED TO MEET YOU
page
Vegetarianism as an urban strategy By Amy Mania
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FORDSBURG FORDSBURG AXONOMETRIC
page
MEMORY AND DUALITY
page
By Tarushin Pather
FORDSBURG MENU
page
THE SPATIAL DIMENSION OF FORDSBURG MARKET SQUARE
page
By Chayneeka Jayawardena
THE GRID
page
By Dwayne Saldanha
SPICES
page
Mint Street Fordsburg By Mitchell McCraw
JOBURG MALL JOBURG MALL AXONOMETRIC
page
PUBLIC SPACE AND THE ‘EATSCAPE’
page
By Dale Swanepoel
JOBURG MALL MENU
page
RITUAL VERSUS ADAPTATION
page
By Alexa Hayley Segal
YEOVILLE YEOVILLE AXONOMETRIC
page
DESIRE BOUNDARIES
page
Semiotics at the edge of a building. By Kate Keightley-Smith
YEOVILLE MENU
page
CYRILDENE CYRILDENE AXONOMETRIC
page
THE FOREIGN HOMETOWN
page
By Tien Wen Jack Wu
CYRILDENE MENU
page
ALTER-SPACE
page
By Caitlyn Manicom
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Yeoville
Rockey / Raleigh Street 01
04
0
07
25
30
scale in meters
50
06
02 03
15
05
09 08 10 11
13
12
01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20
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SWEET POT VEGETARIAN APPLE CRUMBLE GHANAIAN TAVERN HOUSE OF TANDOOR / JABU STONE SALON FISH AND CHIPS MC CHICKEN BUBMBLE BEE FISH AWAYS CHRISTOPHER'S BAKERY ROCKAFELLA'S SUPER CLUB UKUDLA KWASEICHAYA - SOUTH AFRICAN CUISINE MARKET KFC DEBONAIRE'S TIME'S SQUARE CAFE UNCLE BEN AFRICAN RESTAURANT BLESSING'S CATERING JOZI CHICKEN AND MOHICAN PUB EKHAYA RESTAURANT KIN MALEBO RESTAURANT
14
15
16 18 17
19 20
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injera
FOOD TRADITIONS
LITTLE ETHIOPIA
j o b u r gm a l l
flat bread
injera is unique to ethiopia, from its distinct taste and main ingredient the teff cereal. this thin crepe like flat bread that the dishes such as wots, tibs and fitfit are served on. to eat the dishes pieces of injera are torn off and used to scoop up mouthfuls
ETHIOPIAN FOOD GLOSSARY ALECHA WAT stew that does not contain berere spice blend AYEB buttermilk soft cheese. similar to cottage cheese BERBERE spice blend that contains chilli, fenugreek, paprika and ginger INJERA flat bread made of tef flour KITFKO steak tartar in which rare or raw ground beef in marinated MITMIA extreamely hot chilli blended with cardamom and black cumin NITER KIBBEH spice infused clarified butter used as the frying medium for most ethiopian dishes TEF indigenous millet form used in the production of injera bread TEJ honey wine TALLAH tef, maize flavoured with indigenous hops WAT spicy stew flavoured with berbere
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coffee ceremony
ethiopia’s coffee ceremony is an integral part of their and . an invitation to attend a coffee ceremony is considered a mark of friendship or respect and is an excellent example of ethiopian hospitality. in most parts of ethiopia, the coffee ceremony takes place three times a day - in the morning, at noon and in the evening. it is the main
social
cultural life
social event within the village and a time to discuss the community, politics and life. coffee holds a SACRED place in their country. the best ethiopian coffee may be compared with the finest coffee in the world. in a world where time has long become a commodity, the ethiopian coffee ceremony takes us back to a time when value was given to and
conversation relationships.
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EAT STREET introduction Hannah le Roux
Johannesburg has changed quite radically since enforced segregation ended in the 1990‘s. The spatial patterns of its urban change holds great lessons for designers. As the size of the city and its population grow rapidly, the city also reshapes itself around new social patterns. One clear change in the city is the growing multiplicity of immigrant groups which is reflected in the emergence of regional food shops and restaurants, which in turn impact on the form of the city as new social spaces, new visual cultures and new public places are created through the media of meeting and eating.
In the suburbs, eating out tends to happen in malls. In the city centre, in the absence of large, safe open places, restaurants open onto the street, or, where retail space crowds it out, higher up in buildings. At least five clusters of restaurants are thriving within five kilometers of the inner city: the multi-ethnic Seventh Street in Melville, Indian and Pakistani Mint Road and surroundings, Eritrean and Ethiopian Joburg Mall, Pan-African RockeyRaleigh Streets and Chinese Derrick Street. Each street offers security and easy access to a multiplicity of different types of food shops and restaurants. The presence of restaurants introduces diversity and sociability into urban space, making the broader context more social and secure. As owners need supplies for their restaurants, they also create new routes for food importation and distribution. Both of these consequences of food space benefit the city by ensuring its social and food security.
The strong emotions around food tie closely in to society’s need to regulate its spaces of preparation and consumption, to purge its dangers. At the same time food and its spaces it can be powerful social attractor, a repository of culture, and signifier of exotic otherness. In the face of the bland medium between these extremes that restaurant franchises bring about, collective eat streets run and managed by communities offer some delicious alternatives.
This book emerged both from our enthusiasm for exploring Johannesburg as well as from many questions that its eatstreets raised about the construction, life and sustainability of urban space. How do these spaces happen? Who are the actors involved in establishing new restaurants, and what are the spatial moves that they make in order to turn an activity into a place? What differentiates each of these places from each other - how does the visuality, the menu, the freshness and above all, the apparent intangibility of atmosphere - come into being? How does this express diversity and difference in the city? What threats exist to these spaces? What potential do they contain? How can we imagine the consequences of these spaces being supported through shifts in urban policy and planning?
The research began with a distant view, considering the distribution of restaurants in the city over time from above, from maps and memories. We then visited the five streets, to sketch, interview and photograph them in parallel ways. The participants produced an axonometric of each street at the same scale, a set of visual essays, an analysis of food flows and interviews.
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In addition, each participant worked alone to explore a specific theme or question that relates to the common research question, using a form of writing or annotated visual research of their own choice. The essays are arranged in six sections, the first of which draws on research into all five streets, followed by research that emphasized a specific street. The diversity of topics and perspectives shows how rich these parts of the city are in both their physical and social dimensions. The insights deal with the value and the complexity of spaces that are largely self-organised, that provide abundant sensual and emotional value to the city and that, in many cases, recycle built space in intensely productive ways. Although they are, without exception, everyday spaces, the eatstreets have proved to feed our designerly imaginations.
Acknowledgments
Suzi Hall Melinda Silverman Naomi Roux Claire Benit-Gbaffou Conway Kassa Tigris and the chefs, waiters, shopkeepers and patrons of Johannesburg who gave input to this work.
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Exterior view of Melville Cafe on 7th Street
Pappa’s Pizza on Mint Road,Fordsburg
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Interior views of Melville Cafe Eat Street Book 101103.indd 12
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EAST ELEVATION 3RD TO 6TH AVENUE 7/23/2010 10:23:41 AM
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7THSTREET
MELVILLE WEST ELEVATION 6TH TO 3RD AVENUE 7/23/2010 10:23:41 AM
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WEST ELEVATION DOLLY RATHEBE TO FOUNTAIN
FORDSBURG
MINT STREET
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WEST ELEVATION RAYMOND TO BEZUIDENHOUT
YEOVILLE
ROCKEY STREET
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WEST ELEVATION MARCIA TO LIONEL
CYRILDENE
DERRICK AVENUE
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EAT STREET : MARKET STREET a social construct Nicolette Garrett
Introduction (migrancy to johannesburg)
Johannesburg is a city that is diverse in culture, space and ethnicity. The city has become a region of hybrid traditions and social interactions. This diversity is greatly caused as a result of people from various countries migrating into Johannesburg. In many cases people of similar ethnicities appear to collect in specific areas around the city. This collection seems to allow for migrants to be surrounded by people, social interactions, customs and spaces that are comparable to those of their ‘home’. Areas around Johannesburg that are synonymous with immigrant groups are Melville, Cyrildene, Fordsburg, Yeoville and the Johannesburg CBD. The congregation of ethnic groups results in the reproduction of certain social constructs that are unique to the particular group in question.
One of the predominant constructs is that of food and eating. In the areas named above, the social construct of food has materialised in the form of ‘eat streets’ or streets in which collections of restaurants, markets and food shops have appeared. The ‘eat streets’ of Melville, Cyrildene, Fordsburg, Yeoville and the Johannesburg CBD have become places that allow for social interactions and spatial organisation of the social construct.
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DERRICK STREET
ROCKY ROAD
JEPPE STREET
MINT STREET
Figure 1. map showing the migration to the ‘eat streets’ in Johannesburg
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Migration (and the need to belong)
“Migration is a one way trip. There is no ‘home’ to go back to.” (Chambers, I. 1994:9)
As people from various countries migrate into the city of Johannesburg they often experience feelings of detachment and uncertainty. These feelings draw them to people and places that are familiar and comparable to the place of their origin. “The world was transformed utterly by the breakup of the feudal system and the massive movement of individuals... people were no longer quite sure where they belonged, what their futures held for them, or who their neighbours were... the pleasures and possibilities of social mobility coincided with feelings of alienation and meaninglessness.” (Lindholm, C. 2008:3)
It is a natural occurrence for people to try and attempt to reduce uncertainty in their world and their place within it. One of the strategies that individuals use to reduce uncertainty is to find groups of people, similar to themselves, to which they can belong. “Self categorisation provides us with an identity that regulates our interaction with others... it tells us what to expect of ourselves and others, and thus renders the social world and our place within it relatively predictable. Uncertainty is reduced.” (Brown, R and Capozza, D 2006:37). The belonging to a group allows for the individual to create and attach meaning in their new context, it enables the individual to experience the same experiences with people of similar origins. It allows for them to know that there are people, like themselve, facing the same struggles and uncertainties. Living within groups has allowed for the survival of the human species throughout time. This phenomenon has not changed, individuals are inherently inclined to live in collectives, fearing that singularity leads to exclusion and isolation.
Within collectives there is a strong need for identity, attributes and characteristics that are specific to that group and unapparent in other social and cultural groups. These qualities allow for the group to create a sense of uniqueness and permits for the features that make their culture unique to become of more importance and thus more highly valued. “Uncertainty is reduced because the group prototypes are both descriptive and prescriptive, they absorb the attributes of the group and prescribe behaviours and attitudes.” (Brown, R and Capozza, D 2006:5)
Prototypes are one of the main ways in which identity is created as they allow for the group to appear more distinctive. Hogg, M. A. defines a prototype is a set of attributes that capture resemblance amongst members of one group (Brown, R and Capozza, D 2006:36). Being part of a group means that prototypes tend to be shared. This provides support; from one’s group; for one’s identity, perceptions, feelings and behaviours, support that allows for uncertainty and foreignness to be reduce. In the areas of Melville, Cyrildene, Fordsburg, Yeoville and the Johannesburg CBD culture becomes a thing that needs to be maintained and retained. Due to the fact that; as migrants, these people have been displaced from their known context and their everyday culture is seemingly no longer evident in the world; there becomes a need for the construction of culture and the
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production of customary practices that allow for their everyday to continue. “Culture is the terrain through which the individual speaks as a member of the contemporary national collectivity, but culture is also a mediation of history, the site through which the past returns and is remembered, however, fragmented, imperfect or disavowed. Through that remembering, that decomposition, new forms of the subjectivity and community are thought and signified� (Caldwell, M.I and Watson, J. I. 2005:202) Figure 2. a maket in m ozambi que (author 2008) com para b l e t o t he mar ket in y eov ille - ri ght (Kei ghtl ey- Smi th 2010)
Figure 3. a maket in cal cut t a (garret t 2009) comparabl e to t he mar ket in for dsbu r g - ri ght (Jayaw ard ena 2010 )
Figure 4. a maket in hong kong (aut hor 2006) com parabl e t o t he mar ket in cy r ilden e - ri ght (Sw anepoel 2010)
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The expression (of culture through food)
“Food is both sustenance and symbol, providing physical nourishment and a key mode of communication that carries many kinds of meaning.” (Counihan, C. and van Esterik, P. 2008:308) Food has become a very important symbol of individual and group identity. Food allows for a direct and physical means for individuals to express their specific culture or ethnicity while at the same time allowing for that expression to be shared on a collective level. “There is an imitate relationship between gustatory(taste) and national memories and the power of nostalgic gastronomy(the art of good eating) in the semiotics(the study of sign and symbols as elements of communicative behaviour) of food for diasporic and migrant subjects” (Caldwell, M.I and Watson, J. I. 2005:203). Food is a significant symbol of identity as it allows for the reproduction of culture in its physical and most basic form.
Market place (as a social construct of culture)
“ The denseness of interactions and goods that were exchanged offered local communities the material and cultural means for their social reproduction, that is their survival as communities...” (Zukin. S. Landscapes of Power 1991, pg 9).
The interactions of culture, identity, meaning, and social structures occur on an everyday basis. These exchanges need to take place within some form of physical setting within the city, they need to be carried out in spaces that are already present within the existing fabric. In many cases these spaces take the shape of streets, squares, and markets; to name a few. The market appears to act as a central node in the synchronisation between food, culture and people and becomes a complex place of cultural constructs and social interchanges.
The areas of Cyrildene, Fordsburg, Yeoville and the Johannesburg CBD each have a predominant market place. However when looking at the case studies in their greater context it is not merely the defined market place, that acts as the market for the area, but the whole street in its totality. A market can be defined as “the gathering of people for the sale and purchase of provisions” (IOD 1998:499. Sv) all of the streets, in their entirety, embody this definition. In each case the whole street is a place where ‘provisions’ are provided and acquired and thus the entire ‘eat street’, in each of the areas, becomes a market or market street. The restaurants, food stalls, grocery shops and defined market places all contribute to the greater market street, the streets become spaces which are defined by food. The symbolic nature of food in turn defines a place in which the specific ethnicity in question can reproduce their culture and a physical and sensory form.
The ‘eat streets’ in question mark the urban landscape as places of distinct ethnicity and culture, in each of the
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case studies the construction of culture is clearly evident through cultural specific foods, signage and decoration. They enable communities to represent themselves both to themselves and to the rest of the community. The producedisplayed and sold in the market streets generate a sense of familiarity for the specific ethnic groups in question, they provide them not just with the spices, and other ingredients that are vital to cooking traditional foods, they also make available a range of objects, images, conversation tools and spaces needed to maintain their culture, the owner of the Yat Kee Supermarket stated “food is mostly imported, we call it “ancient” foods, this is because it is imported from Hong Kong and China ... We have a great supply because this is a “hot spot” for Chinese people to buy their Chinese goods.” The objects and sensory experiences that occur along the streets invoke memories and nostalgia of home and everyday traditions, Mr Shadid from Market Management in Fordsburg said “People love the experience and atmosphere of the market. It makes them feel like they are in India. It feels like ‘home’ with the smells of the Indian food and Indian music playing in the background.”The spaces become places where migrants can forge and create identity and community that is specific to their ethnicity. “At its origins, a market was both a literal place and a symbolic threshold, asocially constructed space and a culturally inscribed limit” (Low S. M. and Lawrence-Zúñiga D. 2003:308).
The material objects become a physical concretisation in which identity is created, meaning is attached and culture is maintained. Thus these market streets become important sites for the production of culture outside the place of origin. When speaking to people within the market one woman in Fordsburg stated “language and food are two ways to retain our culture”.
In areas of collective migrants, the relationship between culture and belonging, becomes something that needs to be constructed. The streets in question become the space in which the social constructs of culture can be physically reproduced. They provide spaces to gather and exchange important information such as events, schools, and employment opportunities as well as a place where new arrivals can experience a sense of belonging and community. The streets become a space where the culture of specific ethnic groups is allowed to survive and even thrive.
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Figure 5. i nf oram al f ood sta lls on str eet out si de the m arket . (Swan epoel 2 0 1 0 ) Def i ned m arket spi l lin g ou t on to street pavem ent - b elow (a u th or 2 0 1 0 )
i nfor m al m arke t s t alls on t he s t re e t s t alls
African countries.
d e f ine d marke t
f ood / g rocery st ores
rest u rant s
At almost every point along the street there is opportunity to buy food and produce that originates from various north
such as ndakala, Joga Beans, casaba, plantain and fufu. The street is scattered with informal stalls.
The street also holds a defined market place where migrants can purshase produce that is specific to their culture;
many different ethnic backgrounds, such as the DRC, Cameroon, Nigeria and Malawi; to name a few.
area incorporates many diverse ethnic restaurants. These restaurants provide cultural based foods that originate from
Rocky/Reighleigh Street has become a location where many people from north African countries migrate too. The
(yeoville)
Figure 6. food stal l s spi l l i ng out onto s t r e e t p ave m ent (aut hor 2010)
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d e f ine d marke t f ood / g rocery st ores
rest u rant s
similar to those that can be aquired in their place of origin.
the areas. the street market provides a place where people of Asian origin can aquire produce and goods that are
however the stores that border the street spill out onto the pavement can create the most obvious street market of all
The street is primarily Chinese restaurants and grocery stores. There is no defined market place along the street,
migrate to the area has become so predominant that Derrick Street has become known as China Town.
Cyrildene has become a location where many people from Asia migrate to. The tendency form people from Asia to
(cyrildene)
i nfor m al m a rke t s t alls on t he s t re e t s t alls
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Figure 7. ni ght mar ket ex ten din g outsi de the defin ed ma r kets bou n d r y (Sw anepoel 2 0 1 0 )
i nfor m al m a rke t s t alls on t he s t re e t s t alls
that it is. d e f ine d marke t
f ood / g rocery st ores
rest u rant s
Mint Street many not appear as a market street during the week but as the weekend progresses it is clearly evident
growing and the result is that the stalls spill out of the markets defined space into the street.
to aquire spices and food stuffs that are essential for the production of their cultural food. The market is constantly
location for people, all around Johannesburg, to travel to. The market allows for people of Indian and Pakistani origin
weekend there is a defined market place that is located at the top end of the street. The market place has become a
During the week the stores along the street are mostly occupied by restaurants and grocery shops. however on the
become the location where Indian resturants and food stores cluster.
Fordsburg has become a location where many people from India and Pakistan migrate to. Mint Street in turn has
(fordsburg)
Figure 8. clothing market inside Jo’burg mall informal food stall on street pavement outside mall -below (author 2010)
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d e f ine d marke t
f ood / g rocery st ores
rest u rant s
market experience.
the upper floor and the food stalls are on the ground street level, they work in conjunction with each other to create a
The case of Jo’burg Mall is unquie as the market street become a vertical experience. Though the restaurants are on
informal food stalls.
include many food stalls and is primarily clothing and object based. The street out side the mall, however, is filled with
food customs, such as the coffee ritual. The lower levels of the mall are filled with a market place. The market does not
The food level of Jo’burg Mall is perdominatly restaurants which provide traditional Ethiopian food, such as injera, and
came ethnicity.
Jo’burg Mall is a location where many Ethiopian migrants aquire theretraditional foods and interact with people of the
(jo’burg mall
i nfor m al m arke t s t alls on t he s tre e t s t alls
Conclusion
Food is an important symbol of identity that allows for the reproduction of culture. In situations where there is a predominant migrant community, the primary means of aquiring food and produce needed for this reproduction of culture is a market place. It is evident that when there is no space for the market place to exist, there is still a clear need for one to exist. The result is that the market then develops in other urban spaces, such as the street. Areas within the city that attract and house migrant communities have a strong need for spaces that allow for the construction of ethnic cultures and customs to be practiced. In many cases the space that most clearly allows for these constructs to occur is the market place and the street. The importance and strong symbolic attatchment to food has resulted in many migrant communities turning entire streets into markets. The market streets; that have been analysed; allow for the provision of many of the physical, social and psychological artefacts that are need for culture be carried out and thus allowed to survive. In an increasingly interconnected world, there is an increasing number an spaces within cities that are dedicated to the construction of foreign cultures and traditions. People all over the world; whatever their status, class, or ethnicity; have become aware of the necessity of defending, and sometimes even manufacturing, their own local culture.
“Many social scientists have pointed to the resurgence of nationalism and ethnicity in the last two decades, and some argue that strengthened local identities are the direct challenge to globalising diffusion of consumer culture.� (Counihan, C. and van Esterik, P. 2008:308)
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References
Brown, R and Capozza, D 2006. Social Identities. Motivational, Emotional and Cultural Influences. East Sussex. Psychology Press. Brown, A. 2006. Contested Space. Street Trading, Public Space and Livelihoods in Developing Cities. Wirwickshire. Intermediate Technology Publications Ltd Caldwell, M.I and Watson, J. I. 2005. The Cultural Politics of Food and Eating. A Reader. Victoria. Blackwell Publishing. Chambers, I. 1994. Migrancy, Culture, Identity. London. Routledge. Counihan, C. and van Esterik, P. 2008. Food and Culture. A Reader, Second Edition. New York. Routledge. Frank, K. A. The City as Dining Room, Market and Farm. Frank, K. A. Food for the City, Food in the City. Gombrich, E. H. 1979. The Sense of Order. Oxford. Phaidon Press Ltd. Illsutrate Oxford Dictionary. 1998. SV “market”. Oxford. Oxford University Press. Lindholm, C. 2008. Culture and Authenticity. Oxford. Blackwell Publishing. Low S. M. and Lawrence-Zúñiga D. 2003. The anthropology of space and place : locating culture. Malden. Blackwell. Urban, G. 2001. Metaculture. How Culture Moves Through the World. Minnesota. University of Minnesota Press. http://info.comegoogle.com/phone/world-map.html image 10/10/11 world map
Image list
Figure 1. Map showing the migration to the ‘eat streets’ in Johannesburg. Produced by author (2010). Diagram. Figure 2. Nicolette Garrett, A m a k e t i n Mo zambi que(2 0 0 8 ) . P h ot ogr a p h . Figure 2. K ate K e i g h t l e y-Sm i t h , t h e m a r k e t i n Yeo vi l l e(2010). P h ot ogr a p h . Figure 3. John Allen Garrett, A m a k e t i n C a l i c u t ( 2 0 0 9 ) . Ph o to graph. Figure 3. Ch ayne e k a J a ya w a r d e n a , m a r k e t in F o rdsburg(201 0 ) . P h ot og r a p h . Figure 4. Nicolette Garrett, Ho n g K o n g s t r e e t ( 20 0 6 ) . Ph o to graph. Figure 4. Dal e S w a n e p oe l , C yr i l d e n e st r e e t scape(2010). Ph ot ogr a p h . Figure 5. Dal e S wa n e p oe l i n f or a m a l f ood st a lls o n street i n Ye ov i l l e out si d e t h e m a r k e t . ( 2 0 1 0 ) . Ph o to graph. Figure 5. Nicolette Garrett, Y e o v i l l e d e f i n e d m a r k e t spi l l i n g o ut o nt ost r e e t p a v e m e n t , ( 2 0 1 0 ) . Ph o to graph. Figure 6. Nicolette Garrett, fo o d s t a l l s s p i l l i n g o u t o n t o street paveme n t i n C r yi l d e n e , ( 2 0 1 0 ) . P h o t o g r a p h . Figure 7. Dal e S w a n e p oe l . n i g h t m a r k e t e xt e n din g o utsi de the de f i n e d m a r k e t s b oun d r y ( 2 0 1 0 ) . Ph o to graph. Figure 8. Nicolette Garrett, clothing markets in and around Jo’burg mall , (2 0 1 0 ) . P h ot og r a p h .
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THE STREET AND ITS INGREDIENTS Brett Herbert
Johannesburg. A place known to many immigrants as the catalyst location for opportunity, success and wealth. It is the story of the small gold mining shanty town that simply refused to stop growing. It is the tale of the ugly duckling that may not have achieved beauty but has certainly obtained a sense of authority and power, through its sheer size and economic control. “Years after its founding in 1886, Johannesburg was already the most important town in Southern Africa. Its spectacular growth from town to modern city was much admired in other towns.” (Bulpin 1987:x)
Initially every aspect concerning Johannesburg’s emergence as a viable functioning city has been improbable. The landscape itself used to be a black patch of windswept veld, which owes its entire development to the discovery of gold, by a penniless prospector. Over the years though the city has transformed itself from its grubby infancy and ragamuffin adolescence into a more refined age of respectability and today over a hundred years after its unpromising beginnings it is the largest mining, manufacturing and engineering centre in Africa. “Johannesburg is a typical cosmopolitan city, the chief industrial centre on the African continent, and second only to Cairo and Alexandria in the extent of its built up area.”(Bulpin 1987:x)
As Johannesburg has grown in size, one cannot help feel that it is the social aspect of the city that has suffered. There is no doubt that recent inventions such as the motor car, cell phone and computer have played huge roles in reducing the physical barriers between people although at the same time, its these very interventions that have participated in the weakening of Johannesburg’s community life. “In the mining camp days the streets had a social function; now they were reduced to mere traffic channels, which cut the city and its surroundings into separate parts instead of linking them together. The buildings in the city centre also mirror the anonymity of the modern period. They contribute no cohesiveness to the street aspect – they do not belong to the street and neither does the street belong to them.” (Bulpin 1987:xi)
It is therefore extremely refreshing to come across three streets in the greater Johannesburg area which seem to burst with community life and social interaction. Namely; Derrick street in Cyrildene, Rockey street in Yeoville and finally Mint street in Fordsburg. These streets seem to serve as evidence to the fact that over the years, Johannesburg has become an attractive destination to immigrants and refugees from other developing countries. This is mainly due to higher wages and better infrastructure, which is often accompanied by the promise of a secure future. For security, social and economic reasons the residents of these streets seem to cluster together which in turn creates small villages where ones culture and identity is on full display. One only has to walk a few metres in Mint street, Fordsburg before being confronted by the aromas of various curry powders and spices, which is undoubtedly a strong characteristic of its Indian and Bangladeshi occupants. The same however can be said about the strong cultural characteristics which give Derrick street its vibrant Chinese influence and Rockey street, Yeoville its eclectic African feel.
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Unlike the majority of South Africa’s formal housing projects, where the overwhelming impression is that of sterility and bleakness, these three above mentioned areas portray a visual of social and economic connectivity. No where is this more evident than in Rockey street Yeoville where residents can eat out, buy groceries, shop for clothes and connect with family back home through one of the many internet café’s.
The “colonial buildings” which flank these streets have been transformed into transactional nodes which cater for the inhabitants every possible need. This in turn transforms the streets into social zips which tie their communities together and help portray a collective identity. “The real issue is creating total settlements which not only accommodate the complex patterns of human needs and activities that characterise urban life, but do so in such a way that those activities are enriched and that a wide range of economic and social opportunities are created.” (Dewar 1995:8)
As many of the people inhabiting the above mentioned areas have no option but to generate their own income, one can understand the high level of activity that occurs within the streets. Now undoubtedly there are many financial and social factors which contribute towards its hustle and bustle, however I am interested in exploring the streets tangible characteristics to hopefully better understand its success or failure? Much like a recipe, a street to is made up of different ingredients. These ingredients need to complement each other while being applied at the right time, within the right amount. With this in mind I aim to extract these defining elements of the street.
Scale: This term is used to refer to the streets appropriateness in size, in terms of the human body and its capabilities. In modern planning we typically find an overriding dominance given to the motor vehicle. This can be seen, in the road width of Derrik street, Cyrildene. The wide strip of tarmac along with its high curbing and sloping profile seems to have a negative impact on the streets pedestrian accessibility. This promotes a barren landscape whereby the pedestrian feels no connection across the street. Due to Cyrildene’s generosity of space, Derrik street’s wide unprotected walkways contribute nothing towards social interaction. At times however Rockey streets narrow pre-modernism colonnades can feel somewhat intense and overwhelming. “There is a relationship between lateral scale and intensity of use. Over large spaces with a deserted feel are neither pleasant nor safe. Conversely, excessively crowded spaces are stressful. Scale therefore should be informed by the structural and locational significance of the space.” (Dewar 1995:19)
Derrick street, Cyrildene.
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Rockey street, Yeoville
Connection: Connection should be viewed in terms of the movement structure of a street as it is in this description of movement space, that the public life of the community takes place. Now at a glance one would assume that all three streets resemble a rather straight forward linear pattern of movement but on a closer inspection of Rockey street, one would find a far more complex pattern of pedestrian movement. It is a pattern that zig zags across the road, dives into small courtyard spaces and ultimately intensifies around the market and other popular destinations. This appears to promote uniqueness as opposed to standardisation, while at the same time giving the inhabitant a sense of clarity while moving through the street. “Another important dimension of clarity is clarity of the definition between public and private space. The clarity of the definition determines the degree to which public activities impose on private space and it affects patterns of responsibility for the maintenance of space.” (Dewar 1995:14)
Movement through Rockey street, Yeoville
Functional Integration: All three streets seem to exhibit a high degree of integration in the sense that there is a mix and overlap of activities. It is within this overlap where, the community and social interaction is built. For example the local Shunarga restaurant in Fordsburg would battle to function were it without its weekly visit to Mosifs supermarket. While the Bismillah function hall would be left empty, if not for the streets close residential community. Sachins telephone booth would lie derelict if Mint road’s market were to cease. It is ultimately this variety of “different but complimentary activities and facilities located in close proximity to each other which not only benefits the individual but improves the local synergy of the community” (Dewar 1995:14)
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Enclosure: It must be said that all three streets are clearly defined and therefore exhibit a sense of enclosure, however the nature and feel of a space is significantly affected by the way in which these edges are made. In Yeoville we see a development from street to colonnade to shop; this in turn creates a progression from public to private and ultimately creates a comfortable and logical transition. Derrik street’s transition from public to private is far more immediate as many of the shops spill out onto the sidewalk creating a distortion between the public and private realm. “When the definition is blurred (for example, where it is not clear whether the space is public or private and therefore who has responsibility for it) problems arise: frequently, when the role is blurred the spaces are poorly maintained and used, they become dumping areas for rubbish, and so on.” (Dewar 1995:19)
Derrick street, Cyrildene
Rockey street, Yeoville
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Once these basic ingredients of the street have been extracted and analyzed, we find that we are left with three streets that are extremely multi-functional in terms of their social and economic roles within their communities. All three spaces seem to exhibit a sense of generosity and generality that allows for a variety of activity and relationships to occur. In so doing these spaces do not accommodate any one activity optimally but perform on a broader scale extremely well, as there flexibility is not compromised or directed to a singular function. “for example the more a road is seen only in terms of the movement of vehicles, the more its flexibility is reduced and its overall performance impaired.” (Dewar 1995:18)
In essence then these streets should be considered as the communal zips which tie their areas together. They all portray a space in which the immediate programmatic performance, although considered, does not necessarily determine the final outcome, as the direct needs of the community are catered for but not dictated. In this way these streets remain flexible and prepared to accommodate any unexpected demands.
References
: Awotona, A. 1997 TRADITION, LOCATION AND COMMUNITY Vermont, Ashgate publishing company. : Bulpin T.V. 1987. Illustrated guide to Southern Africa. Cape Town: Readers Digest House. : Chipkin, CM. 1993. Johannesburg Style: Architecture and Society1880’s -1990. Cape Town: David Philip. : Chipkin, CM. 2008. Johannesburg Transition Architecture & Society from 1950.Johannesburg: STE Publishers. : Dewar, D. 1995 CREATING VIBRANT URBAN PLACES TO LIVE Cape Town, Headstart developments. : Leach, N. 1997 RE-THINKING ARCHITECTURE: A READER IN CULTURAL THEORY, London. Routledge. : Mikellides, B & Porter, T 1976 COLOUR FOR ARCHITECTURE London, Cassel & Collier Macmillan Publishers. : Patel, P. 2000 INTERFACE FOR IDENTITIES. Johannesburg, University of the Witwatersrand. : Toffah, T 1998 URBAN CONTINIUM Johannesburg, University of the Witwatersrand. : Tyrwhitt, J 1952 THE HEART OF THE CITY London, Lund Humphries & co Ltd.
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FROM STREET TO MALL AND BACK What malls can learn from commercial streets Philipp Andre Baer Malls, an invention of the 1920’s caused by the mass production of cars in the industrial era and the subsequent move of people away from city centres to suburbs, have become a dominant feature in the way in which millions of people around the world and particularly in Johannesburg experience shopping today. And while some malls might be fancier than others, they are all pretty much the same. The population is rapidly growing tired of these dull, monotonous, single purpose boxes, which all look and feel the same. Large, enclosed pedestrian arcades with shops lining either side of the mall, some anchor shops, aimed at drawing people into the mall, a food court and large parking areas surrounding it. Figure 1. Street section; Derrick street, Cyrildene
So property developers are seeing themselves faced with the challenge of finding new ways of designing these commercial developments. At the present day, for many developers the trend is towards mixed use developments that emphasise the “importance of street front retailing� (Homsy: 1999), aimed at giving shoppers a more authentic and enticing experience.
One such development is the Lifestyle Centre. This is a sort of hybrid of a strip- and a traditional mall, with Main Street connotations. It is outdoors, with varied, yet carefully regulated, building profiles, materials, and signage that are intended to evoke a sense of organic growth over time. Parking is abundant, but usually interlaced with the stores and punctuated by landscaped walks. Such developments usually lack department-store anchor tenants. They also include a wide range of restaurants, and sometimes night-time draws such as multiplex cinemas and comedy clubs (Hine: 2006).
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Figure 2. Crocker Park Lifestyle Centre
Typically, they first appear in affluent, fast-growing suburban areas, one reason why per-square-foot sales at lifestyle centres average roughly 22 percent more than at malls, according to the International Council of Shopping Centres (Hine: 2006).
The traditional look of lifestyle centres means that they are far easier to plug into urban planning schemes than inward-facing malls. Increasingly, developers are adding mixed-use components to these projects such as offices, flats and even civic components. It is this mix of various components which make for an attractive environment for people to come together and socialize, rather than just shop and then go home.
There’s no reason, of course, why a shopping centre can’t be both a pleasant place to linger and an efficient place to shop. Lifestyle centres offer consumers more freedom and flexibility than malls. It is up to those who design these properties, along with those who design the stores and merchandise them, to make places where people will want to spend more time.
One such development within the city of Johannesburg is Melrose Arch. Here shops are located right next to restaurants, offices, flats and hotels and one really feels like being in the centre of a town. The scale of buildings seems to be appropriate for human use. Cars are allowed within most of the development but pedestrians feel safe as pavements are wide and there are actual pedestrian crossings, something that is rare to find in Johannesburg. Additionally, the speed of cars moving on the site is slow, as many speed bumps and traffic lights exist. A level of underground parking that goes across the majority of the site allows for easy access and reduces the need for extensive street parking allowing restaurants to open onto the street and piazzas, which are common throughout the Melrose Arch development.
From this example one can really see how new developments such as Melrose Arch create a shopping environment that is not so new all together. It is the sort of environment that malls were derived from initially.
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Figure 3. Melrose Arch Boulevard
The question that one has to ask oneself then is what lessons mall developers can learn from existing commercial streets in order to make mall environments more pleasant. Vice versa, there are lessons to be learnt from the mall as well, as its commercial success shows that not everything that is done is wrong.
In order to do so, five such commercial streets in Johannesburg, namely Derrick Street in Cyrildene (Chinese), Rockey Street in Yeoville (African Immigrant), Mint Street in Fordsburg (Islamic & Indian), 7th Street in Melville (Artists & Students) and the Johannesburg Mall situated on Jeppe Street in the CBD (Ethiopian) will be analysed. While the clientele may come from various cultural, religious and ethnic backgrounds, these streets all have some things in common. Firstly, the focus of all the five streets is their commercial component. Secondly, in each of the streets there is a strong sense of community, which is what property developers are aiming to recreate and which is what largely contributes to their success as central shopping street. So what is it that creates this strong sense of community? There are many aspects and some of them vary amongst the five different streets. Let us therefore look at them separately in order to find both their differences and common denominators.
7th Street is situated within the residential neighbourhood of Melville. There are a lot of guesthouses in the neighbourhood which, combined with the nearby SABC, Wits University and the University of Johannesburg, form a large part of the clientele on 7th Street. The commercial part of the street starts at the intersection with 1st Street at ends at a t-junction with 7th Street.
Figure 4. Melville Panoramic
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Next up is Mint Road in Fordsburg. The community in Fordsburg is mainly of Indian decent and the predominant religion in the area is Islam. This is probably why the restaurants and shops on Mint Road are rather inward looking. Figure 5. Fordsburg Panoramic
The third street to be looked at is Derrick Street in Cyrildene. The population of the area is mainly Chinese and Derrick Street can be seen as replacing the traditional China Town in the CBD of Johannesburg. Figure 6. Cyrildene Panoramic
Rockey Street in Yeoville, with its large African immigrant community is a vibrant part of the city of Johannesburg and serves as an arrival point for many of the immigrants when they first come to Johannesburg. Figure 7. Yeoville Street View
The last of the five analysed areas is the Johannesburg Mall off Jeppe Street in the CBD of Johannesburg. This is a slightly different as here the shops and restaurants
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are situated inside an actual mall off Jeppe Street. The Ethiopian people that occupy the building have a strong sense of community and things such as drinking coffee are a ceremony rather than just a mundane task.
Figure 8. Joburg Mall Panoramic
Having introduced and gained a general understanding of the five different streets, the next step should be to look at the various aspects within them which separate these streets from the mall in the way in which they serve as community/town centres, where leisure is given as much importance as the street’s commercial components. This mix is where the lifestyle centre gets it inspiration from in trying to make for a more pleasant shopping environment.
One such component is green space and while most of the five streets have some street planting, it is Yeoville that stands out from the rest as there is a public park situated right off Rockey Street. This actively manages to draw people from Yeoville itself and its surroundings into Rockey Street. This is especially effective as Yeoville is close to the CBD, in which tar and concrete are the dominant feature and green space is generally lacking. Figure 9. Yeoville Public Park
The next aspect which makes for a lively town centre is people and their interaction with the street. While malls are busy during the day, most of them die down at night. This can be associated to the lack of community that exist around a mall. The five streets all benefit from having a strong local community which make them vibrant, especially in the evening. Perhaps Melville is the best example for this. The large number of residents and students mingle in the street at almost any given time of the day, creating a sense of security. One feels safe when walking along 7th Street, as restaurants and bars open onto the street so that the street is constantly monitored by people.
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Figure 10. Lucky Bean (Melville) with seating opening onto the pavement
Even though parking in the five streets is generally limited and sometimes not enough, there is lesson to be learnt for Lifestyle Centres with regards to layout. While in malls there is usually large open and underground parking areas, in the five streets parking is spread out in pockets, which is more pleasing to the eye then the sea of parking at malls. Also, this spread out parking allows for people to park closely to where they are going, reducing the need to walk long distances. The best example for this is Melville. The large number of quiet side streets allow for people to park closely to 7th street, while on the street the amount of cars is limited and therefore the street is a more pleasant environment. Figure 11. Melville Side Street Parking
Another major factor in town centres is accessibility. While one is not or does not feel welcome in a mall unless willing to spend money, in a town centre people are allowed to get together, sit on a bench or in a park without having to consume anything. Although this is not directly beneficial for retail developments, these activities should be encouraged or at least permitted nonetheless in order to draw more people into the development.
But accessibility does not end there. How come that if malls are such popular places where a large amount of people go to, they usually tend to be disconnected from public transport facilities. Perhaps one of the contributing factors is that most malls are only that, malls. In a development with a lack of permanently based people, bus routes to the area are often not viable for a relatively large percentage of time. High density mixed use developments, creating a large, permanent community around the shopping centre would make public transport facilities more feasible, which would draw an even larger number of people into the development, as now it has now become more accessible. This access to public transport would further reduce the amount of parking that is needed, which then would allow to
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increase density even further. The Joburg Mall, which sits in the high density CBD proves this connection between density and public transport facilities and due to density rapidly increasing in most suburban areas, where malls are traditionally located, public transport facilities here will become more and more available. Figure 12. BRT Bus Stop on Jeppe Street near Joburg Mall
The last major factor contributing to the accessibility of the town centre is the importance that is given to various modes of transport. While in many town centres preference is given to pedestrians over cars, most malls are inaccessible to pedestrians. They are inwards looking boxes, hardly inviting to any pedestrians. Most of the five streets on the other hand, are rather accessible to pedestrians and due to their residential nature car traffic is limited, making it possible for people to walk in these streets. Shops and restaurants are outward looking, inviting passer-by’s to window shop and gaze at other pedestrians.
The last aspect that should be looked at is scale. This might be the most important factor which separates the five streets from traditional malls. Most malls are huge boring boxes, where and individual feels overpowered and dwarfed. They are highly monotonous, both inside and outside, and lack variety in scale, form, materiality, texture and use. In the five streets on the other hand, perhaps due to the organic growth over time there is richness in all these aspects without one feeling a lack of coherence in the street. Neighbouring buildings show a certain respect for one another and the in-between spaces create intricate, more private courtyard areas, like the ones found behind, in between and above many of the buildings in Yeoville. It is this aspect which stands out the most between traditional malls and the five streets.
Figure 13. Fordsburg Street View showing richness and variety in scale, form, materiality, texture and use
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As people are growing tired of malls, which look and feel the same wherever they are, developers are looking at alternative solutions.
One such solution, the lifestyle shopping centre, as part of a larger mixed use development has been identified as the trend (Greco: 2009). The five streets analysed provide many clues for such a development, as they function well commercially while also acting as community/town centres where people come together to do more than just shopping. As they have been formed over a lengthy period of time, there is a lot richness, layering and variety in these streets, which lacks in the singular development of a mall. In these streets, people are given the chance to explore new aspects over a period of time, giving them reason to come back over and over again. This is perhaps the one aspect where the five streets are most successful, in drawing peole into the street and making them want to come back and explore the street further.
References
Alexander, Kaye. “The mall comes back to town”. Architects’ journal (2008 April): pp.30-35 Barnett, Jonathan. “Great Streets.” Planning (2008 December): pp 16-19 Claus, Karen E. Claus, R. James. Visual Communication Through Signage. Cincinnati: Signs Of The Times Co, 1974. Cassim, Nadia. Exploring an inclusionary approach to regeneration in post apartheid Johannesburg : a case study of Fordsburg. Johannesburg: University of the Witwatersrand, 2007. Doubilet, Susan. “Reinventing the mall: With some shoppers tiring of the same old settings and many turning to the Internet, retail developers give people a reason to come to the mall”. Architectural record (1999 October 1): pp. 151-153 Enquist, Philip. Gallagher, Patricia. “‘That great street’ hopes for a comeback”. Planning (1997 January 1): pp.12-15 Fernadez Per, Aurora. Mozas, Javier. Arpa, Javier. D-Book: Density, Data, Diagrams, Dwellings. Alava: A+T Architecture Publishers, 2007. Greco, JoAnn. “Mall Makeovers”. Planning (2009 July): pp 10-14 Hine, Thomas. Dillon, David. ”Prêt-à-cité: Can the Main Street looks of a lifestyle center produce an instant community?”. Architectural record (2006 October): p.7880 Homsy, George. “New Lives for Old Malls: Rethinking the nation’s first generation shopping centres.” Planning (1999 May): pp. 20-22 Lennard, Suzanne H. Crowhurst. et al. Livable Cities: People And Places: Social And Design Principles For The Future Of The City. Southampton: Gondolier Press, 1987.
Marshall, Stephen. Streets & patterns. London : Spon Press, 2005. Pearson, Clifford A. “Shopping centers: cultural icons”. Architectural record (2007 February): p. 123 Robertson, Kent A. “Pedestrianization strategies for downtown planners: skywalks versus pedestrian malls”. Journal of the American Planning Association (1993 Summer): pp.361-370
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Rubenstein, Harvey M. Pedestrian malls, streetscapes, and urban spaces. Hoboken: John Wiley and Sons, 1992. Sarkar, Sheila. “Qualitative Evaluation of Comfort Needs in Urban Walkways in Major Activity Centers.” Transportation quarterly (2003 Fall): pp 39-59 Specter, David K. Urban Spaces. New York: New York Graphic Society, 1974. Webb, Michael. “Reviving dead malls: a competition seeks ways to regenerate shopping centers”. Architecture (2003 April): pp. 41-42
List of Illustrations
Figure 1: Anonymous (2010), “Crestwood Court: Anatomy of a Dead Mall or Emerging Arts Center?” http:// vanishingstl.blogspot.com/2010/01/crestwood-courtanatomy-of-dead-mall-or.html Figure 2: Anonymous (unknown date), source from http://www.cyburbia.org/gallery/data/507/crocker_ park_03.jpg Figure 3: Jacobsen, Paul (2009), “Touring the new section at Melrose Arch – 16”. http://www.flickr.com/photos/ pejrm/3409750850/ Figure 4: Baer, Philipp (2010) after Herbert, Brett. “Melville Panorama” Figure 5: Baer, Philipp (2010) after Jayawardena, Chayneeka. “Fordsburg Panoramic” Figure 6: Baer Philipp (2010) after Segal, Alexa. “Cyrildene Panoramic” Figure 7: Baer Philipp (2010). Yeoville Street View” Figure 8: Baer Philipp (2010) after Google Street View. “Joburg Mall Panoramic” Figure 9: Baer Philipp (2010). “Yeoville Public Park” Figure 10: Baer Philipp (2010). “Lucky Bean (Melville) with seating opening onto the pavement” Figure 11: Swanepoel, Dale (2010). “Melville Side Street Parking” Figure 12: Hayward, Pauline (2009). “BRT Bus Stop on Jeppe Street near Joburg Mall” Figure 13: Jayawardena, Chayneeka (2010) “Fordsburg Street View showing richness and variety in scale, form, materiality, texture and use”
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MAPPING EMOTIONS The Emotions of Migration Tina S. Magodo
The immigrant experience offers a rare glimpse to the fluidity of identity, and the cultural boundaries of resistance and change. As a transitional status, the immigrant cultural experience also offers us insights into the complexity of patterns of relationships between dominant and minority groups, change and resistance, and patterns of “ethnic” experience, racism, and identities. (Koc, Welsh, 2002)
This essay focuses on three out of the five streets visited over the course of the Eat Street research week, namely Mint Street in Fordsburg, Derrick Street, Cyrildene and the Ethiopian District in inner city Johannesburg, Joburg Mall, Kerk Street.
Is tension created in space as a direct manifestation of the emotions arising out of the conflict experienced within one’s self as an immigrant?
My aim is to try and help inform ones experience of space by overlaying the intangible dualism that exists between community and movement in migrant societies and creates the emotional geographies of individuals’ everyday experiences. The result is three maps that both simplify and highlight some of the differences in the structure of the streets emotions and their relationships.
We began our research with a rather distant view, visiting the streets with the purpose of engaging with the people, mainly immigrants, but at times locals as well who engage with these immigrant spaces regularly, by conducting interviews, sketching and photographing in order to get a feel of the individuals’ experience of the street and in some places in the actual restaurants. I aim to draw upon these conversations and images to create maps of emotions of these streets.
The process involved: conducting literature reviews on the immigrant and identity as well as the emotional geography of space; observing and engaging with individuals and in some cases groups through interviews, focusing mostly on conversations, especially those conversations in which sentiments on experiences were expressed. And then finally,Mapping the emotions of these individuals on the street and introducing their emotional geographies to the already mapped order or layout of the street.
As a culturally and spatially transitional stage, the immigration process introduces possibilities for change, as well as resistance to new habits, behaviours and cultural experiences. Especially in the case of new immigrants who deal with tensions of adaptations or resistance to changes in lifestyle, consumption patterns and forms of cultural expression may have consequences. These changes can affect physical and mental health, perceptions of self and relations with others, as well as decrease the potential for successful settlement and integration.
City dwellers who move their place of residence lose a little of their sense of belonging as their sense of place
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becomes ruptured. This can have dire consequences for the individuals concerned in that it can damage personal identity. In fact, alienation and homelessness may have partial roots in the growing fracture between people and place. (Walmsley, 1988)
We can be sure that emotions are amongst the most important ways in which we are connected with and disconnected from our world and our mortality. Emotions are a vital ingredient in the very composition of the world as something more than a concentration of causes and effects, as those places, people and incidents, that become meaningful to us, that we care about, fear, disdain, miss, hate and love. Without emotions we might indeed survive in, but hardly experience the world. What would it mean to think about emotional geographies when emotions also have a culture, history, seasonality, psychology, biology and economy? Emotions might need to be understood as events that take place in, and reverberate through the real world.
Places like people can be understood as being constituted within an emotionally charged middle ground, one neither entirely subjective nor objective. Emotions seem to be suspended in a kind of no-man’s land, they inhabit an overlooked territory in between mind and matter, subject and object, resisting attempts to entirely appropriate them by one side or the other. They are however, vital and living aspects of who we are and of our situational engagement within the world. They compose, decompose and recompose the geographies of our lives. (Bondi, Cameron, Davidson, Smith, 2009)
At first the eat street research elective seemed to just be about food, but as we went from street to street, learning about the immigrant shop owners’ and other regulars’ life stories and histories, we began to realise that it was more of a journey into a world within our world, that very few of us knew existed.
I would like to invite you to take this journey with me, a journey to discover a world of possibility. This journey begins with a group of sixteen rather presumptuous students who seek to gain insight into an ‘unknown world’ by means of food and space, in this case, the immigrant restaurant and the street within which it is located; how this in turn creates a particular type of place for the individual and builds community. Figure 1 – Photo of welcome mat outside restaurant in Cyrildene China Town.
Mary Catherine Bateson wrote, (2000) “Insight, I believe, refers to the depth of understanding that comes by setting experiences, yours and mine, familiar and exotic, new and old, side by side, learning by letting them speak to one another
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Figure 2 – Mint Street map of thoughts and Emotions
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I will try to portray the emotions felt on these streets, by the day-to-day users, the shop owners and by us as we experienced them, most of us for the first time. It is my hope that we will gain from this, and all the eat street pieces of writing, not only an aesthetic appreciation for the glories of the food traditions experienced through this research, but also an understanding and appreciation of what it means to these different groups of people, then ultimately a more profound respect for the people themselves.
As we ourselves went from street to street, restaurant to restaurant, sharing food, I believe something changed within us. While the food we ate, or more often, just attempted to eat, was sometimes challenging, and often unfamiliar, though tasty, I realised that sharing food creates bonds between people, it reinforces community and in turn provides support against any pressure there may be to conform, which is particularly important to an immigrant. In the act of sharing, people who have lived here for years and even decades can get a taste of “home” among people who maybe speak their own language and share at least a part of their history. Food then becomes a sort of ‘time machine’, creating place and in turn building community.
What is community? Well, in South Africa we speak of Ubuntu, the spirit of togetherness, of interconnectedness. And when one arrives in an unfamiliar place, having migrated from a place they called home, community is exactly what they seek, a sense of belonging.
Immigrants have individual histories and inner struggles, as they wrestle with the changes in their lives. Ones life begins in another country, where their being was first accustomed to a different culture. Even after having been in South Africa for some time, when asked to express their thoughts about the country of their birth, as we found in our interviews, it is evident that they still feel connected to their homeland.
Figure 3 – Photo of men gathered to have lunch in Ethiopian District Restaurant.
How would you feel if suddenly you did not understand the language, the culture? You had grown up in sight of mountains, and then suddenly you were deep in the hustle and bustle of the streets of Johannesburg? People around you act differently from the ones back home, you don’t understand, you feel lost, the music you used to listen to is now only a faded memory in your head. You feel frightened, but you want to make it in this new
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Figure 4 – Derrick Street map of thoughts and Emotions
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world because you chose to, you wanted to and you are determined.
While most of the theory on immigrant emotions expresses the idea of nostalgia, we also found, as we went from street to street, that there was often also a sense of moving on, where one embraced the newness, the change and the new connections made. The Figure 5 – Photo of table set up in China Town, Cyrildene with map of world in background.
stories were a mixture of humour and the challenges experienced, but there was also a lot of mention of the opportunities and accomplishments in this a foreign land, making the phenomenon of immigration rather dynamic. And this is what I have attempted to portray in the three adjacent maps.
The most dominant or common phenomenon experienced in all three of these spaces, is the sense of community. The streets are frequented by other immigrants, most of whom tended to be of the same nationality as the shop owners and/or managers. As expected, the amount of information divulged by regular street users was limited, mainly due to the language barrier in these particular streets, but also due to inadequate time spent in order to familiarize. People were at times guarded in their conversations with us and so there are aspects that were not revealed during our observations.
Most of the thoughts and emotions recorded on the maps is more a combination of conversations had between patrons and us the students, overlaid with our own take on what was said and how it made us feel. I would say that we may have also held back on how much we engaged with the immigrant street users because of our own security concerns and then of course the language barrier.
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Figure 6 – Joburg Mall map of thoughts and Emotions
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We do however, begin to appreciate the importance of the context into which an immigrant comes and the ways in which the features of that context, the social networks, the opportunity structures, the confrontations with hostile or supportive members of resident host communities, play an important role in the overall experience.
Places are not neutral backdrops for human activities, nor are they fixed in time and space; rather places are constituted in relational ways, dependent on a “throwntogetherness”, the unavoidable challenge of negotiating a here and now. (Bondi, Cameron, Davidson, Smith, 2009)
References
Bondi, L., L. Cameron, J. Davidson and M. Smith (2009). Emotion,Place and Culture. Surrey, Ashgate Publishing Ltd Deaux, K. (2006). To Be an Immigrant. New York, Russell Sage Foundation Entrepreneur, Kwik, J.(August, 2008). Traditional food knowledge: a case study of an immigrant. Canadian “foodscape”. Internet: http://www.entrepreneur. com/tradejournals/article/203421715.html [Accessed 08/08/2010] Koc, M. And J. Welsh (2002). Food, identity and the Immigrant Experience. Toronto, Ryerson University Centre for Studies in Food Security Ryerson University Walmsley, D.J. (1988). Urban Living, The individual in the city. Essex, Longman Group UK Ltd Zorn, T. Developing Research Proposals Handout Unviversity of Waikato. Internet: wms-soros.mngt.waikato. ac.nz/NR/.../Researchproposalexample.doc [Accessed 30/08/2010]
Image list
Figure 1: Photo of welcome mat outside restaurant in Cyrildene China Town. (Photographed by Caitlyn Manicom) Figure 2: Mint Street map of thoughts and Emotions. Figure 3: Photo of men gathered to have lunch in Ethiopian District Restaurant. (Photographed by Tina Magodo Figure 4: Derrick Street map of thoughts and Emotions. Figure 5: Photo of table set up in China Town, Cyrildene with map of world in background. (Photographed by Alexa Hayley Segal) Figure 6: Joburg Mall map of thoughts and Emotions
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Melville
7th Street
Melville - 7th Street: Time vs Activities Graph: During the day
Melville - 7th Street: Time vs Activities Graph: During the week
- Local residents are the main income source, tourists only come during weekends - The busiest period – Friday night to Sunday noon, lunch and dinner time.
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Fordsburg
Mint Street
Fordsburg - Mint Street: Time vs Activities Graph: During the day
Fordsburg - Mint Street: Time vs Activities Graph: During the week
- Weekend is the busiest time because Fordsburg market square opens from Friday night to Sunday. - Activity drops after the dinner time during weekdays, but during weekend, the street remains active because of the market. - Busiest time – Lunch Time
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Joburg CBD
Kerk Street
Joburg Mall - Kerk Street: Time vs Activities Graph: During the day
Joburg Mall - Kerk Street: Time vs Activities Graph: During the week
-The mall is only busy during day time, and it close after working hours, therefore the night activity is none. -Everyday has same amount of people flow, the busiest period is during lunch break. -The mall starts to pick up costumers after brunch time, because lots of traders arrive. -People would just sit in the mall and kill time.
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Yeoville
Rockey Street
Yeoville - Rockey Street: Time vs Activities Graph: During the day
Yeoville - Rockey Street: Time vs Activities Graph: During the week
-Night activity is very rich due to the huge amount of bars and clubs on the street. -Street is very busy, constant full of people, however, most are unemployed residents. -Lot of trading on the street during day time. -Restaurants and shops become very busy after working hours, people often buy foods on the way home. -The Market is busy whole day. -Saturday is the busiest day during the week.
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Cyrildene
Derrick Avenue
Cyrildene - Derrick Ave: Time vs Activities Graph: During the day
Cyrildene - Derrick Ave: Time vs Activities Graph: During the week
-very little activities happen after dinner hours. -Busiest period – lunch and dinner time. -Few restaurants tend to focus heavily on serving between breakfast and lunch period. -Weekend is busiest period, lot of people come and buy glossaries.
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SPACE AND PLACE Streets and Restaurants as places of cultural identity and symbolism - A case study of Melville 7th street Qefate Lerotholi
A creation of an environment that has some form of cultural identity and symbolism involves a modern and contemporary approach to its design. The discussion that follows emanates from an analytical research and exploration of how origin, difference and sociability manifest in the constellation of spaces that make up an environment. Cities are seemingly eclectic mixture of coffee shops, restaurants, public parks, sky scrapers, pedestrians, cyclists and various ethnic identities. As a whole, streets (in within cities) play a major role in defining cultural and symbolic environments in which social activities occur. Public spaces, as part of the eclectic mix of cities and streets, occur in two processes: an in ad hoc way without deliberate planning whether through appropriation, by repeated use in a particular way, or by the concentration of people because of an attraction. The concentration of people gives rise to defined spaces, i.e. restaurants. These are places that accommodate people for specific purposes and they become, overtime, places that people rely on to meet, relax, work or eat & dine. Restaurants seem to play an important role in social and cultural life in many places; a role that is perhaps revealing of deeper social trends. They can define urban spaces and landscapes, reflecting and shaping the character of neighbourhoods or even the reputation of whole cities and regions. Moreover, they form a bustling microcosm of social and symbolic processes focused on the formation and maintenance of identities in the context of highly sensory environment. Berris explains that, restaurants, whether local or international, have an element of identity in within them, and that is achieved in various ways attached to a specific cultural identity. Unlike most state-owned restaurants, some private restaurants use creativity to meet customers’ demands for a new kind of dining experience, whereas in other cases, restaurants provide a context in which questions about class, ethnicity, gender and sexuality all play out. Observation proved that the most interesting aspects of social and cultural life in Melville, especially 7th Street, occur in groups throughout the whole 5 blocks along the entire street. The street as a whole is defined by sets of restaurants that are symbolic to numerous cultures and activities. Activities that occur in that setting are a function of culture, primarily of a set of rules that are part of the cultures in question. These not only define the setting of the street itself, but also define both the repertoire of activities available to members of those cultures and the subset of activities appropriate to the street. A clear view and understanding of one of the characteristics of this study is the unfolding of the fundamental questions surrounding the topic/matter in hand. This relates directly to a set of questions put together that assist in collecting and summing up information used to table the essay. Amongst all; The essence of space, place & identity as experienced by a person of a foreign culture inhabiting a local space, What role is played by restaurant owners/users in localising international culture in within a defined space and place; i.e in restaurants. ?, What international characteristics of symbolic culture & identity are borrowed or rather imported and put into use in the local context in restaurants? How the ‘street’ as the main dimension responsible for creating an environment, defines the cultural identity of 7th street, Melville, How the group of restaurants contribute in creating sub-sets of parts of
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the streets, The nature of the street as an urban space created by numerous activities, And importantly, how one can enhance the existing environment using modern/contemporary urban design methods in order to achieve a defined urban fabric with a set cultural identity and symbolism. A better understanding of the direction this study is going is curbed more by the questions mentioned above. This is based in Melville; a trendy suburb, often referred to as “Johannesburg’s bohemian village is a stone’s throw away to the west of the Johannesburg CBD. It has long been the hub of artists and cultured folk and this has no doubt helped the café culture that this suburb is famous for. The analysis lies within the boundaries of the so called ‘multi-ethnic’ 7th street of Melville, mainly because of the social interactions between shop/restaurant owners and customers within them. I spent (along with a group of colleagues) a whole afternoon walking the street, observing and picking up themes of relevance and the way in which the street positioned itself globally in a local context – understanding the layers of place, time and experience that makes the street. This required an extensive understanding of the characters in the street and all this was gathered through walking the street, listening and recording interviews, capturing images and mapping down layers of the space. Understanding the range of social interactions between individuals and groups on 7th street emerged as an objective of study as well. To achieve my objectives, approaches to understanding the ways in which these people use and shape up the urban space that is 7th street were created. In addition, observing the intersections of culturally and ethnically diverse individuals and groups within a local street located west of Johannesburg CBD provoked for conceptual meaning behind diversity and difference in the study. The key questions that guided my objectives are as follows: how difference manifests in the everyday world of this multi-ethnic street?, and how people adopt and shape social and spatial activities to engage in urban change? Usually restaurants serve and help create a symbolic economy – which in turn has resulted in cities evolving into ‘centres of consumption’ with food as an increasingly important part of the urban culture. Restaurants in this case, forming part of an urban culture and defining the urban landscape which in a way defines the landscape as an icon for identity. This paper will therefore focus on the set objectives and over that, explore and represent spaces through a visual pattern and language. The structureof study comprises of layers of information that merge in topic and create a seamless understanding between the street, cross-culture, space, place and identity. Various studies and case studies on the different layers have been carried out by architects, anthropologists and sociologists in an attempt to unfold the relationship between the street, restaurants, food, space, place, culture and identity. Studies on The Anthropology of Food and Eating: A case study by students at the Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore Sidney W. Mintz^ and Christine M. Du Bois^ which studies Food and etiquette across cultures, Yi-Fu Tuan’s studies around Space, Place and Identity in Geographical approaches and Suzanne Hall’s study and analysis of space captured in her essay - Visualising Difference: Picturing a multi-ethnic street all revealed elements of understanding of the street and the multi-ethnic use. The research methodolgy followedtechniques of observation, analysis and representation of the city from the perspective of different individuals, their views and perspectives and their practices in local spaces is a basis for capturing my findings and outlining them into layers of information necessary for developing my research methodology. Compiling data collected and layering out all information into one visual illustration that defines the focus of this paper involved a use processes that
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Figure 1 - Aerial map 7th street Melville in its context
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explore 7th street as a multi ethnic street through use of pictures (sketches, photos and illustrations) and layers of information gathered from personal interviews with the inhabitants of the street. The processing technique is borrowed from Suzanne Hall’s (Visual Difference: Picturing a multi-ethnic street) approach to exploring a multi ethnic street in three sections, focusing on Juxtaposition and layering. Juxtaposition understood as the relationship between apparently unlike conditions, to understand how the 7th street ‘fits’ between the global and local, and the urban centre and margin; and Layering understood as encapsulation of how space is differentiated by patterns of use, including fluctuations across the times of day, and public and private layering of space. Figure 2. The juxtaposition of global and local: A map of 7th street aligned with a map of the world, showing the origins and journeys of the independent shop owners (Images from Google earth. Drawing by author, 2010)
The methodological importance of juxtaposition lies in exploring the relationship between unlike conditions, such as global and local, centre and margin or insider and outsider, to understand the connections between them (Hall, 2010 p3. Although 7th street has a defined landscape represented by the symbolic prominence of its restaurants, its cultural resonance remains more local. I however looked at how the local users of the space juxtapose with a variety of cultures brought from across the global world. To understand the diverse nature of the shop spaces along the street involved the juxtaposition of some of the small, local spaces with other spatial understandings that restaurant owners and customers had carried with them on their journeys between 7th street and their places of origin across the globe. I also aligned a map of the street with a map of the world, to trace the origins and journeys between the shop along the street and the proprietors’ links to other local worlds across global space (figure 2). Figures 2 and 3 emerged after personal interviews that were undertaken (July 2010). We spent one whole afternoon walking 7th street , and we recorded every restaurant along the street. Questions we asked, that helped create a clear understanding were: ‘How long has this shop been on 7th street ?’; ‘Is the restaurant owned or rented?’; and ‘What is the country that you were born in?’. And these were asked to shop owners or managers in the absence of the owners. One questioned that was addressed and mapped out was how do people manage their journeys between familiar and unfamiliar worlds, and develop their lives and aspirations across the global and local ‘scapes’. Deduced from some of the personal interviews undertaken, it was gathered that: - Most restaurant owners have been living in Melville for most of their lives - Some of the owners came to Melville to start business because of its locality in the urban scale of JHB
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Figure 4. Street section; Rockey street, Yeoville
Figure 3. A map of 7th street, showing the origins dishes offered at the shown restaurants (Images from Google earth. Drawing by author, 2010)
- Some took over from the previous generation (Family business continuity) - while other users are students (from University of Johannesburg and Wits)and tourists from around the globe. Both the restaurant owners (proprietors) and customers along 7th street represent a wide variety of cultural differences, and the ways in which these differences are managed within the shop spaces is evident in various forms of social arrangement, one which is the visual sequence of display. Along the whole perimeter of the street lies a common street interface: building façade – pavement - road. Of the three, the pavement and façade treatment & look varies according to specific treatments by a proprietor or customer using that part of the street. The personal analysis done unfolds the underlying cultural identities localised on 7th street and explores how the visual characteristics of the various restaurants defines a ‘localised’ global identity. Some of the key features recorded in our analysis on site included: spatial planning of the restaurant interiors, spatial planning of the spill-out external areas of the restaurants, street facing façade treatments and shop signage. Moreover, working from the basis of verbal and visual survey the key is the understanding to what extend social interaction happens in these restaurants beyond the surfaces of cultural mix alluded to the street signage and displays of merchandise. For this section of the analysis I use various graphic techniques were used in unfolding and layering different characters of the street in order to synchronize all with the two previous mentioned methods of analysis. While involved in a visual and verbal survey of the
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independent shops along 7th street, I explored how to picture these spaces to reveal how interactions occurred within the layers of time and space. The focus is only on the street in three layers; The gateway into 7th street, the intermediate blocks and the lower 5th street end of the street. This is done in such a way that I watch and observe how individuals and groups appropriated space through their different patterns of use across the times of day. Contrary to that, I started off by looking at the street as a whole and undertook an exploration of two scenarios that occur on a regular basis. Figure 4. A layering activity vs time usage on 7th street: (by author, 2010)
As mentioned earlier about the three ‘layers’ in within 7th street, a carefull observation of spatial use was recorded against the projections above on figure 4. As one drives or walks into 7th street from the top end of the street from first avenue to second avenue, one tends to experience an array of visual stimuli. This is because, it is along this block/layer that the part of the street varies more from shop to shop in terms of activities on space. This block tends to have more cafes, pocket shops, clothing stores and a liquor store where the ratio of these to restaurants is more. Activities that occur encourage more interaction across a wide spectrum of spatial use. This end of the street could be termed to be more eclectic than the rest of the blocks (figure 5a). During the day this block is filled mostly with people from the melville residential area adn evenings one or two restaurants are open for multi cultural dishes. This block
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could be categorised as a mid-income zone. Moving down between the boundaries of block two and four we experience a more vibrant zone of the street. Here the ratio of restaurants to ‘other’ shops is more. Throughout the day, people interact in most of the restaurants notably Wish, Six, IT corner cafe for drinks, meetings, work while they enjoy free access to wireless internet facilities and even live performances and comedy acts. This is the hub of the night life of the street and is occupied by a variety of cultures (Figure 5b). This part of the street is more open to students, residents of the melville community, tourists, working class and artists as a whole. While asked in a short interview, the owner of Lucky Bean, a luxurious restaurant at the lower end of 7th street, about how he could define the diversity of 7th street, he simply defined it as a multi-ethnic street environment with silent days and vibrant nights. The lower end, between fourth and fifth street boasts itself as a contemporary zone. It is here that one sees a more high-end and lucrative environment in within7th street. This zone is frequented by the prestigious working class, tourists and accomodates luxury apartments and contemporary art galleries (figure 5c). Figure 5a. ‘The gateway’ zone of 7th street: (by author, 2010)
Figure 5b. The ecclectic zone of 7th street: (by author, 2010)
Figure 5c. The high end of 7th street: (by author, 2010)
Conclusion The analysis and study of 7th street paved way to a seamless understanding of difference, identity and diversity . But to know how these occur, where they emerge, and how they are celebrated or suppressed, the researcher of local worlds and everyday microcosms must traverse across time and place, making links between individuals and their immediate lives, to the places and processes that constitute the urban margin, or streets. The methods applied in my study of 7th street
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included using Juxtaposition and Layering concurrently as a way of unfolding a collage of information that makes 7th street what it is; a ‘multi-ethnic’ street. The two methods call for following individual routines, rhythms and modes across the increment of tables space, to shop spaces, the street, the neighbourhood and the city. Because of the analytic techniques of alignment, mixing and overlapping, the pictures that emerge in the analysis tend to be composite – they tend towards differentiated views of life on 7th street. This paper has set about reviewing composite pictures made as one way of exploring how to find out about and communicate diversity. The pictures presented in this paper however, emerged out of different research processes – the verbal and visual survey, the semi-structured interview and regular and sustained observation. Throughout my research process I have both consciously and inadvertently combined these different ways of exploring and understanding difference, focusing on how difference manifests in its joint social and spatial dimensions.
References: Ashley B. 2004. Food and Cultural Studies.Studies in consumption & Markets. Routledge group. New York Mintz S. The Anthropology of Food & Eating. 2002. ebook. www.tucnak.fsv.cuni.cz. cited 09.08.2010 Berris D. & Sutton D. 2007. The Restaurant’s book: Ethnographies of where we eat. Berg Publishing. New York, USA Tuan YF. 1977. Space and Place: The Perspective of experience. University of Minnesota press. Minneapolis Carr, S. Public Space. 1992. Cambridge university press. USA Moudon, VA. Public Streets for public use. 1977. Columbia university press. New York Rapoport, A . Pedestrian street use: Culture and Perception. 1987 Anderson, S (ed). On the streets. 1978. MIT press. Cambridge Hopkins, J. Urban Culture of public spaces. 2010. University of western ontario. USA Pickard Q. 2002. The Architect’s Handbook. Blackwell Sciences Ltd. Oxford, UK Hall,S . 2010. Visualising Difference: Picturing a multiethnic street. London, UK. LSE
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FOOD , FABRIC AND FEMININITY Napha Lopes
Food, eating and feeding is culturally a feminine domain, so is fabric. Across history and cultures women have an intimate relationship with food in the same way as they do fabrics. While both men and women cook, in spite of differences of lifestyle and cultures it is still women that are responsible for feeding their families. My research interest is on how these two feminine realms, food and fabric manifest in architecture. How does the feminine act on space? Rem Koolhaas on commenting on the work of Petra Blaisse, a designer of carpets and curtains for some of his big projects said: “What is interesting about the show is that an entity that is always treated like an afterthought--or as a decoration, or as a form of weakness--can be almost overpowering in its effect, I can make the buildings harsher--more pure--because there is this counterpart." (Metropolis :2001) It is in this production of harsh space, pure space, and on the Eat Streets, make-shift space, that the counterpart, the delicate, the sensual, the softer is of interest to me. The focus of my research is in five streets, in and around Johannesburg. After a week of fieldwork exercise, a day on each street under study, which included interviews and photographic surveys, and a second visit to track down symbolic fabrics found my focus narrowed to 7th street in Melville, Rockey Raleigh Street in Yeoville and the Joburg mall. In these Eat Streets, in restaurants where people meet and eat, eating is a social experience, a break from the everyday, an escape to an ‘other’ place. To the exotic or the idea of a retreat as is the case in Melville, or, in Yeoville and the Joburg Mall, an escape to a familiar left behind place. Eateries provide a space or place to interact where food and fabric are very much a part of the making of place. They are references to places, are the memorymakers that bring a faraway place a little closer. Meanings, memories and associations are tied to fabrics, each one tied to a certain time and place. Fabric and textiles in many cultures are central in its ability to bind people to people, people to places, and people to experiences. Much has been written about fabric, and what I would like to focus on are these three themes: Fabric, and how it relates to the human experience, ie. fabric as narrative; fabric and how it relates to the human body, and lastly, fabric and how it relates to space. Fabric as narrative Fabrics are composed as narratives and part of a tradition of storytelling. Schmahmann (2000) in her study of appliqués observes that a great number, tell about relationships, between mother and child, between two women, between man and wife and evoke emotions of love and hate, despair and passion, power, of control and submission. Each one, a narrative about the social situation of the women making them. Fabric and the body That fabric is used to cover or dress the body is an obvious but important point to make. To cover the body has its fundamentals in gender (if we were to refer to the bible and the story of Adam and Eve). But it is also spatial as it demarcates what is inside from what is outside. In his theorization of architecture in relation to textiles Semper wrote:
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“The art of dressing the body’s nakedness… is probably a later invention than the use of coverings for encampments and spatial enclosures…….It remains certain that the beginning of building coincides with the beginning of textiles.” (Semper, 1989, p.254) In Semper's theory of dressing (Bekleidung), the German word Wand (wall) and Gewnad (dress) share a single association. Both fabric and the wall are presented as elements of covering. The fabric screen is the most earliest and basic form of a physical boundary and spatial divider,it is only when additional functional requirements are placed on the enclosure (such as structural) does the materiality of the wall change to something beyond fabric (Semper, 1989). Fabric and the Making of Space In what Klassen (2006) calls malleable space, space is made and unmade, folded and unfolded with the qualities of pliancy, elasticity, expansion, and retractability,all inherent in fabric. In the work of Petra Blaisse and Lily Reich fabric in the form of the old- fashioned curtain is an architectural element. In an article in Metropolis magazine Blaisses work is described as Power and Domesticity. Contradictory in the idea of, power as masculine, and domesticity as feminine. Known for her collaborations with Rem Koolhaas,she uses the garden and textiles - two domains that are traditionally considered women’s domains dramatically to transform interior space. Curtains are not only for keeping the sun out but is taken seriously as an architectural element, they are part of the architecture, soft walls that move and breathe. Petra Blaisse relationship with Rem Koolhaas is very similar to the relationship of Lily Reich to Mies van der Rohe. In one project in particular, the Velvet and Silk Café, a large space is broken up into a group of smaller spaces which flow into each other by the use of yellow and black silks suspended by curved metal rods. The floating fabric walls allow spatial flexibility and flow, playing on qualities of enclosure and permeability, separation and openness, opacity and movement (Klassen, 2006).They continually by being opened or closed or partially so, make and unmake the space. It is the making or containing of soft space against a hard exterior that I first noticed in Melville on documented Xai - Xai. A Portuguese, drinking lounge/ restaurant that spills out onto the pavements of infamous partying Seventh Street. The name Xai – Xai speaks (or I am later told by the manager) has `references’ to a Mozambican coastal tourist town, a name and place I can relate to. The restaurant is a modest space, separated into two by a dividing wall. The first space is a lounge, with table and chairs and a bar behind it. Noises and laughter from a group of people who’ve had already by now had a bit to drink..cloud the air, it’s only after 3pm. One step up takes you to another space with tables and chairs and the bar behind it. The set up is simple, plain half done floors, walls carelessly painted, robust wooden furniture, plastic chairs, plastic castle lager table cloths, all deliberate for the ambiance of the space. A harsh space, left almost as pure as possible, except for the decoration and memorabilia (from Xai –Xai) on the walls that add to the flavor of the space….local beer bottle tops enlargened to what could be ten times its size, mosaics of the same beers on the walls, a straw mat, a collage of paintings and old photographs of the coastal town, its people, their make shift cabs, their adapted homes … The second space, is more of a sit down for a meal space, decorations on these walls are mostly out of fabric, capulana to be more precise. A capulana is a traditional cloth of printed cotton fabric, about 2m long and 1m wide used by women throughout Africa for almost anything, tied around the waist as a skirt or over a skirt, as an apron in the kitchen, as a table cloth, laid on the ground to sit on, as a bed sheet, a light blanket, used to tie babies on their back and the list could go on, such is the versatility of the
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Capulana, or Khanga if you were in East Africa or Shuka or Kitenge. At Xai –Xai the capulana has taken yet another function, wall decoration, in diamond frames, square frames or just hung loosely .This space is softer, it could be ,the references to beer are gone, no castle lager plastic table cloths, no beer bottle caps , no bar. From a culture where beer is for men….wine is for women, my sentiment itself is based on the feminine. So is this attraction to the objects on the walls, from Freuds women’s role as mothers had differing effects on psychological development of male and female, female children connect to objects, they have a need to emphatise, relate and connect. (Prussin,1995, p.3) The fabrics on the walls are familiar; I am drawn to the red one, which is even more so. Not so new in my memory, a bit worn out from being tied around my mother’s waist many a time. The center piece of the cloth is of a mother flamingo feeding her young. Around the centre piece are flamingos migrating or drawn to the mother flamingo. The piece is powerful, as powerful as an image of a woman breastfeeding which is the first human encounter of food and femininity (Counihan and Van Esterik, 1997). It is here, lost in the image that the focus of my research came to be in fabrics. In three words closely weaved into each other, Feeding, Fabric and Femininity. How fabric in these feeding spaces are an expression of femininity, in that it can be emotive, sensual, and a softening of, of hard architectural space. Still fabrics in architecture remain largely as decorations or add ons. Apart from being highly emotive, a vehicle for expression and rich symbolically, fabrics offer a new way to think about design adaptability and flexibility. If we consider the life span of fixed spaces in everchanging cultural and urban conditions, malleable space, hence mallaeable materials are a solution. The assumption that textiles only serve as decorative to the hard or solid elements of architectural spaces, that they are ‘good to look at, adding taste and status, but devoid of significant content’ (Parker, 1989, p.6) ignore the possibilities that fabrics have to offer in transforming our perceptions of personal space and the idea of physical boundaries.
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Figure 1. Collage of fabrics found at Xai-Xai, Melville
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References Counihan, C and Van Esterik, P (ed), (1997) Food and Culture: A Reader. New York: Routledge. Klassen F. ( 2006 ), “From the Bazaar to Space Architecture :Fabrics Reshape Material and Spatial Qualities of the Built Environment” In Textile: The journal of cloth and culture,vol 4,issue 3.Oxford: Berg Publishers. Milgrom, M (2001) OMA Earth Mother, Metropolis: What if you Could see Through Walls, issue. Parker,R (1989),The Subversive Stitch: Embroidery and the Making of the Feminine. London: The Women’s Press. Prussin, L. (1995)African Nomadic Architecture: Space , Place and Gender .Washington: Smithsonian Institution. Nettleton,A (2010) . In pursuit of Virtuosity : the gendering of masterpiecesof 19th century South African indigenous arts. Public Inaugral Lecture.University of the Witwatersrand. Johannesburg. 26 Aug 2010. Semper, G.(1989), Four Elements of Architecture and Other Writings. New York :Cambridge University Press Schmahmann,B (ed),( 2000), Material Matters: Appliqués by the Weya Women of Zimbabwe and Needlework by South African Women’s Collectives. Johannesburg: Witwatersrand University Press.
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MEMORY AND DUALITY Fordsburg Square Tarushin Pather
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Introduction Political forces have inexorably shaped Fordsburg over the course of its history as communities were uprooted and relocated. Thus many different layers co-exist in the same place. The area is composed various restaurants both old and new. One such restaurant on Mint Road, Pappas Pizza, exemplifies how spaces continually adapt themselves not only to the social and political landscape of South Africa but also to increased global consumerism. The new South Africa has left several transformations in its wake, through the abolishing of the group areas act and other forces such as immigration and crime. Pappas Pizza as with many restaurants in the area has gone through a kind of spatial evolution. Slowly, Pappas Pizza has been transformed within and without. Pappas Pizza, together with Fordsburg Square serves as a kind of spatial marker in time for broader changes within the street itself. The square has various social and political underpinnings and used to be an open public square but now is covered and more strictly defined. If we conceive of the street as one large eatery then Pappas Pizza and the square are very much the main course of Mint Road and their history and image contribute a great deal to the areas flavour. The central concern of this essay is to recognise the manner in which this flavour has evolved and also to explore the current dilemma that now faces Pappas Pizza: where will the train of Pappas Pizza , iconic and dipped in history , ultimately arrive? What meal will ultimately await its future customers? The Scars of Fordsburg Square As was customary with many early South African townships, Fordsburg was laid out with an open Market Square. Initially, the daily morning market was held on the square. The square also attained a political significance. There were a number of mine workers living in Fordsburg and in 1922 the miners used the square as a stage for their public revolt. The revolt was organized by white trade unions in Johannesburg in response to intensified exploitation of the miners, and the replacement of many white workers with black workers. The Red Revolt1 as it was called was the result of a communist influence on many of the mine workers. Soon the stage became a battle ground as trenches were dug on the square and the shooting and bombing from artillery reduced the police station to a shell. During the 1960’s, despite buildings on the square being revamped for commercial use, the square itself was underutilised. In the 1990’s a prominent Fordsburg resident began to redevelop the square and it was then that the train restaurant was transplanted on the square and the open air market established. This initial development was crucial as it acted as a catalyst for the opening of other restaurants in the area. Slowly through this industrial mining heritage distinct spaces began to emerge. Due to the squares heritage, it was not permitted to dig foundations accourding to the owner of Pappas Pizza (Dino 2010). That was the principal reason for the carriages that now occupy the square, as the steel structure did not use foundations in the traditional sense. However, the historical gravity of the square was later overlooked by the city council and heavy columns were viscerally punched through the square to provide a structure to roof the square. In this way the trenches that scarred the square have been erased and only a small plaque remains to commemorate past events.
Cover image top : (Morgan 1994: 21) Cover image middle : (Jani, n.d) Cover image bottom : (Jayawardena 2010)
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Figure 4. Street section; Rockey street, Yeoville
Ariel view of Fordsburg Square with the trenches clearly visible (Toffah 2008: 23)
Recent aerial view showing the encroachment of buildings on the square. (City of Johannesburg 2010)
Survivors amidst the carnage of the miner’s revolt. (Through The Red Revolt On The Rand...1922: 10)
1
Below is an extract of a graphic account of the strike by David Ivon Jones (Alhadeff 1976): ‘The outlying mining towns of Benoni and Brakpan were already dominated by the armed strikers. In a few hours aeroplanes were hovering over the scenes where commandos were mobilizing. Boer commandos were soon on their way to fight for the government ... An aeroplane dropped a bomb on the Benoni Workers’ Hall, and blew the whole building full of executives and strikers to atoms.’
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Critical Mass
Pappas Pizza, like many old restaurants in the area, has transformed itself to suit the changing business landscape. According to restaurant owners within Fordsburg it is clear that within a ten year period the number of Indian restaurants has almost doubled. Most restaurants have, slowly refined their flavours, reducing or expanding the number of dishes to adapt to the growing number of Indian restaurants. High rent, lack of parking and the saturation of restaurants in the area are all factors that have negatively affected business in the area. It seems a kind of critical mass has been reached in terms of the areas saturation of Indian restaurants. This factor coupled with the inadequacies of Fordsburg has meant that the area is no longer as busy as it used to be on weekends. Within the Apartheid environment, only Solly’s Corner in Fordsburg provided a non-white person with the opportunity to eat out on Saturday night and not be out of place in a “white” establishment. With the abolishment of Apartheid people are now allowed to live and eat were they like. Since 2000, a number of large franchises such as Steers have taken up roots in the area and restaurants such as Bismillah and Shunarga have become more franchised. This has meant that people are able to get very similar eating experiences elsewhere and the area does not have the same unique cohesive effect that it used to. Furthermore, the multitudes of other Indian restaurants that have opened up in Johannesburg since the abolishment of Apartheid have created their own pull force and have further diluted Fordsburg’s once unique flavour. Before 2000, Fordsburg was able to attract the Indian community in Lenasia and Pretoria. In the last few years Lenasia has built its own mall offering a variety of Indian shopping and eating experiences.
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12
No of restaurants
10
8
6 No of Franchises No of single restaurants
4
2
0 1890 1895 1980 1985 1990 1995 2000 2005 2010 Year
Franchises versus single restaurants from Gillies Street up to Main Street.
12
No of restaurants
10
8
6 Indian Foods Other Foods
4
2
0 1890
1895
1980
1985
1990
1995
2000
2005
2010
Year
Indian foods versus other foods from Gillies Street up to Main Street.
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Franchises vs single restaurants Country wide franchises 19%
Single restaurants 56%
Family owned franchises 25%
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Rebranding
Restaurants such as Pappa’s Pizza have been forced to change their menu in order to stay in business as a result of this growing number of restaurants in the area. Currently Pappa’s Pizza is undergoing a facelift and a rebranding. Initially when the restaurant opened as the Oriental Express its unique image and the lack of other Indian restaurants meant it was very successful. In 2000 the number of Indian restaurants increased and in 2004, to stay in business, it changed to Mike’s Kitchen under the same ownership. It was then very successful as there were very few Halaal steakhouses in the area. However, the franchise itself wanted the restaurant to move elsewhere which did not suit the owner and the restaurant changed yet again to Pappas Pizza. It will soon become Pappa’s Kitchen and is undergoing renovations to fuse the almost colonial image of the train carriages themselves with a more modern interior. This new flavour of Pappas will ensure that it provides a unique eating experience. Like the architecture, the food has become a fusion. The menu offers both steak and pizza and a variety of other dishes. In this way Pappas rebranding and re-invention is a microcosm for the area as it alludes to the duality of the street, modern yet full of heritage, Indian yet western. There is a loss of intimacy that occurs as the fast food places such as Steers and Debonaire’s as there is no plate and cutlery set out, waiting welcomingly on the table, instead a bare surface presents a platform for unwrapping the foods cardboard packaging. This lack of intimacy extends itself onto the fabric of the street as the big franchises, in their modernist food production, make every shop front look like every other shop front. In contrast restaurants such as Curry Den are small and one feels like you are eating in someone’s kitchen. There are few divisions within the space and one is welcomed to sit down and eat. Pappas Pizza creates an intimacy that allows a certain kind of escapism from the noise and crime of the street. The spaces within the train carriage act as separate entities from that of the train platform and booths further divide the space into smaller defined spaces. This makes the space unique as it is in sharp contrast to the open plan of other restaurants in the area. Again there is a tension within the fusion as there is this intimacy and yet the menu often includes the very generic elements of the fast food establishments.
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c.1986
Timeline
Early Fordsburg, on the left is the Scottish Wine and Spirit shop adjacent Rose Bros (Norwich 1986: 105)
1922
The double storey Market building on the square with shops on the ground floor and offices or apartments above (Norwich 1986: 105)
1994
Damage caused by the bombing and shooting during the 1922 strike (Norwich 1986: 107)
c.2007
The bare underutilised Square (Morgan 1994: 21)
2010
Fordsburg Square still uncovered and functioning as a market (Toffah 2008: 04)
Fordsburg Square hidden by the carriages of Pappas Pizza and apartments in the background where the old Market Building on the square used to sit. (Jayawardena 2010)
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Interior Curry Den. (McCraw 2010)
Interior of Pappas Pizza under renovation. (Jayawardena 2010)
Pappas Pizza menu. (Jayawardena 2010)
Fusion food and Fusion architecture
Within Fordsburg there exists distinct public zones created by the various eateries that make up the street. One such zone consists of Shunarga, Bismillah, Al Noor and The Curry Den and spans across Bree Street. Although the restaurants themselves have changed this zone has remained much the same over the last 10 years. The public realm created by the Indian eateries creates its own unique image. Previously this image was largely the result of the Orient Express. However, this image changed as the Orient Express later became Pappas Pizza. Bismillah now fulfils the role of a highly visible Indian restaurant on the street.
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Indian foods Other foods Public zones of restaurants 2010
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Indian foods Other foods Public zones of restaurants 2000
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Indian foods Other foods Public zones of restaurants pre 2000
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The second major zone that seems to oppose the Indian eateries is located towards the South. It consists of large franchises such as Steers and Nandos. The more franchised restaurants, in their modernist food production, make every shop front look like every other shop front. However, the newer franchised restaurants tend to open themselves up to the street and often have large glass fronts with clear views into the eating spaces within. There is an ownership of the street that is beginning to emerge. New thresholds and comfortable niches are emerging in the streetscape that challenges the wide uncovered pavement of the street. Slowly the street is becoming more dominant. There is great value in creating a very attractive interior presented to the street to attract the younger more fashionable customers as this breathes life into the area. Pappas Pizza is currently upgrading the interior of its carriages. Pappas Pizza, with its unique appearance, has thus become a part of this kind of renewal in the area. Pappas Pizza has come to occupy a pivotal position in the area as it occupies the central node of restaurants that serve “foreign” foods. This zone of “foreign” restaurants has expanded rapidly within the last 5 years and has consumed retail and manufacturing spaces. This has changed the public nature of the street as buildings have shed their industrial skin so to speak and have dressed themselves in signage. At the same time, Pappas occupies the heart of the square and the structure of the train carriages acts as its own signage advertising the square to the street.
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Outdoor seating of Wimpy deeply recessed from the street. (Baer 2010)
Outdoor seating onto open onto the street at Spill the Beans Cafe. (Baer 2010)
Covered seating at Shunarga on Mint Street. (Swanapoel 2010)
Public realm between Bismillah and Shunarga showing the emergence of street covering. (Garret 2010)
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The Future of Pappas Pizza Within the rapidly changing area, there does exist one positive anchoring element that Pappas Pizza can draw on and that is the market. The market tends to feed off the restaurants; people will peruse the market at leisure after a meal. However, its greatest contribution is its atmosphere and the life that it breathes into the area. It has become a place for Indian immigrants to legitimately interact with Fordsburg. Pappas Pizza exists on the border between the public realm of the street and the sqaure. Even though it occupies the sqaure , Pappa’s neither rejects nor fully embraces the sqaure. The carriages themselves have an almost transient nature as they float above the sqaure. Since the legibility of the square has been lost Pappa’s is faced with a choice. It could turn itself to become a part of the public area of the street or it could ground itself firmly in the new square. It could become more a part of the “foreign” food zone of the street or more a part of the Indian flavour of the square. Certainly the owner of Pappas faces an internal conflict, whether to express his own Indian heritage or to favour the survival of his business. Like Spill the beans and Shunagra, Pappas Pizza could also take ownership of the street in order to move forward. It could put aside its transient floating nature and root itself in the square. The nature of the train as an enclosed element does not lend itself to a spilling out of seating to the outdoors. Perhaps the train platform itself could be extended to have seating spill out onto the market area and create a threshold with the street. This could add the final impetus to the rising dominance of pedestrain movement and space in the area. One might ask , why should Pappas embrace the new sqaure when the very nature of the sqaure is a rejection of the sqaure and Pappas? Instead of clinging to a heritage that has been partly erased , Pappas could could see the new community as being more important. Instead of seeing itself as this iconic element in the area it could become more a part of the image of the market. Conclusion Pappas Pizza has floated above the scars of Fordsburg square unsure of its place in the area. Now that other restaurants have taken to the area its place in the area is still in question as the explosion of restaurants has threatened its business. Indian restaurants like the Orient Express have been forced to expand, change or diversify their menu. Fordsburg has been forced to embrace its duality with both modern and very Indian spaces. Perhaps restaurants such as Pappas should express this diversity within themselves not only in their menu but in their architecture as fusions of old and new, foreign and local. Indeed, the memories of the old Fordsburg have faded and perhaps the only way forward for restaurants in the area is to embrace the new emerging sense of community that the market has created. After all this new meaning within these public realms of the city is in fact the gift of the struggles of our heritage. In this way our past revolts and struggles against injustices might be given new meaning and a more active memory within our spaces. As the fate of Fordsburg remains uncertain and restaurant owners are unsure as to which direction redevelopment will take, the one unifying element amidst the varying dishes of the street remains the street itself. In this way even though the street may offer flavours found elsewhere it may retain some uniqueness in the face of the larger franchises.
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FORDSBURG SQUARE
PAPPAS PIZZA
Axonometric view of the current site of Pappas Pizza.
Current positioning of Pappas Pizza.
Possible new placement of Pappas Pizza allowing the square to open up.
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References
Books Alhadeff, V. (1976).A Newspaper History Of South Africa. [s.l.]: Nelson Brand, S. (1997). How buildings learn: what happens after they’re built. London : Phoenix Illustrated. Dlamini,N; Kgasi,K; Khumalo,N; Mphafudi,S; Nkosi,L; Seturumane,T; Sott,I; Zimu,N. (2010) Eating experience in Yeoville. Upublished student research report , University of the Witwatersrand ,Johannesburg. Chipkin, C. M. (1993). Johannesburg style: architecture & society 1880s-1960s. Cape Town : David Philip Leyds, G.A. (1964). A history of Johannesburg: the early years. Cape Town: Nasionale Boekhandel Morgan, N. ( 1994).Cultural Continuum. Dissertation submitted for the partial fulfilment of the degree: Bachelor of Architecture ,Faculty of Engineering and the Built Environment , University of the Witwatersrand ,Johannesburg. Norwich, I. ( 1986). A Johannesburg album : historical postcards. Johannesburg : AD. Donker Toffah, T.(2008).Urban continuum : a third typology in Fordsburg. Unpublished Thesis submitted for the partial fulfilment of the degree: Bachelor of Architecture ,Faculty of Engineering and the Built Environment , University of the Witwatersrand ,Johannesburg. Through The Red Revolt On The Rand: A Pictorial Review Of Events: January, February, March, 1922. (1922). Johannesburg: Argus
Interviews Dino. Restaurant owner.2010. Personal Interview.31 August, Fordsburg.
Electronic City of Johannesburg. Retrieved September 6, 2010, from http://eservices.joburg.org.za Fietas, Pageview. (n.d). Retrieved September 6, 2010, from http://www.sahistory.org.za/pages/places/villages/ gauteng/fietas/fietas-page.htm Jani,F. (n.d). Fordsburg Square. Retrieved September 6, 2010, from www.fordsburg.com Khota, A. (n.d). ‘I left the shop knowing I had touched my past’. Retrieved September 6, 2010, from www.fordsburg.com Rand Rebellion: 20th century South Africa. (n.d). Retrieved September 6, 2010, from http://www.sahistory.org.za/pages/governenceprojects/randrevolt/rand-revolt.htm The Rand Revolt strikers’ stronghold at Fordsburg Square falls to the government. (n.d). Retrieved September 6, 2010, from http://www.sahistory.org.za/pages/chronology/ thisday/1922-03-15.htm
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FORDSBURG Spatial Dimension of the Fordsburg Market Square Chayneeka Jayawardena
Introduction The Johannesburg inner city can be described as a combination of informality within a formal framework. The informality of the city is what gives Johannesburg its vibrant city life. The formal grid layout and constant transformation of the built fabric has left the city with intriguing voids and solid spaces in the current urban fabric. These open voids tend to be found and occupied by traders that come from neighbouring African countries or Asia. The open pockets of spaces are then transformed to small public urban spaces ,which allow for informal activities to occur impulsively along the street edge. These specific trading spaces become a major collector and integrator of spontaneous activities, which aids the city to become a more vibrant and habitable place for city dwellers (Borden 2000,p.120).This increase in trading then starts to create an incredibly interesting spatial pattern within the city. Hence trading as an activity in an urban public space in the city context plays an important role in the way that spaces are defined and how people experience these spaces.
FIG 1. Fordsburg Market, trading on Mint Road Pavement (author)
As described by Celik, streets are a primary ingredient of urban existence. They provide the structure on which to weave the complex interactions of the architectural fabric with the human organisation(Celik,1994, p.1).The urban layout and environment plays an important role in how the quality of life is designed in commercial districts. Good design will facilitate movement and access along multiple nodes such as parks, shops and squares. These nodes create a dynamic social spaces that contribute towards a sense of place in the city (Crankshaw, 2009,p.1). The essay intends to explore and analyse the Fordsburg Market Square as an immigrant regenerated public space in the urban fabric. And understand its relationship to the street edge and the significance of a market space that is located between existing buildings. The purpose and intention of this research on Fordsburg Market is to understand the influence and relationship the market has on the street, surrounding context and people of Fordsburg. Through a series of spatial analysis, mapping and documenting of the site, the research will also aim to analyse the existing layout of the market and debate whether it is a successful design intervention that adds
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value and good spatial qualities to the urban framework of Fordsburg. The essay will also aim to establish the importance of the street and question the interplay between society and space, and how a specific social groups and trading practices in the market square influence the street edge (Fyfe,1998,p.1). In order to fully understand the transformation of this market space, one needs to briefly identify the history of the market square and how it came to be. In addition to the spatial aspect of the market, one will need to consider the cultural aspect of the people that trade in the market. Along with how their ideas of ‘Indian culture’, and how it is transformed to create spatial qualities and an atmosphere of an Indian Bazaar in India.
FIG 2.Fordsburg Market Square on the weekend (author)
Fordsburg Market Square Transformation Fordsburg was named after Lewis Peter and Ford of the Jeppe and Ford Estate Company (Jani,2007).The town was designed around an open Market square, where daily morning markets were held (Toffah,2008,p.22).This suburb is located on the Western side of Johannesburg. This ‘village’ was created for the sole purpose of housing the white gold miners and artisans who inhabited the area .After a few years, the Groups Areas Act of 1950, caused many Indians that were living in Pageview to be forcibly removed to areas such as Fordsburg and Lenasia (Jani,2007). In order to understand the importance of the Fordsburg Square, one will need to look at its origin, downfall and revival. Prior to 1922,the square was used as a market space during the segregation era. In 1922 the ‘Red Revolt’ took place when white miners went on a strike and opened a revolt against the government, because it was decided that they would employ black miners for a lower wage, thus causing the white miners to lose their jobs. The striking miners laid siege on Fordsburg ,and the government responded with an attack on the miners that were positioned at the square. Many men were killed that day. Today it is marked and remembered by a plaque that is positioned on the pavement in the square(Jani,2007).
After the bombing of the square, the square fell in into decay for a long period, and become the home for many homeless people, that was then referred to as ‘Hobo Park’. The first buildings that appeared on the square were market buildings that were revamped for commercial use in the 1960s.The Market Square at that time was still an open public square, but not maintained or used by the public to its full potential (Toffah,2008,p.22).
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The square was later transformed by local businessman Salawudeen Badrudeen(Dino) who attempted to revive the square in 1990,who attempted to get local people in the area interested in the flea market concept, but was not very successful. A few years down the line, the country had an influx of foreigners that came into South Africa after the 1994 elections. It was at this time that many of these foreigners from Asian countries such as Malaysia ,India and Bangladesh became part of the flea market concept. Soon after that, the market flourished and many restaurants began to open around it(Jani,2007). What drew me to this specific example, is that firstly the market has an interesting symbolic history .It is interesting to note, how a historical place that carries old memories is spatially redefined and creates a new space for new memories in the city.
FIG 3.Red Revolt on the Rand, Market Square after occupation in 1922 ( The Star)
FIG 4.Diagram of the Market Square showing transformation from the 19002008 (After Toffah,2008,p.22)
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The forms of the street Mint Street as it exists today architecturally has gone through many transformations, however the grid and street design has remained intact over the years, with slight changes being made to roads becoming one ways. The Fordsburg Market is located on the upper end of Mint road. The market forms boundaries with three street edges being Mint, Central and Main Road. Each street edge of the market square has a different relationship and impact to the market.
FIG 5.Ariel view of Fordsburg Market Square block. Fordsburg (Google earth)
A street has a three dimensional physical form which determines how people inhabit it and make certain activities possible in the street. The street also provides a link between buildings, both within the street and the city at large (Moughton,1992,p.3). The market, being the central space, is surrounded by these three streets, which allow the streets to facilitate the movement of people. It expresses the site as a place for social interaction and gathering which mainly occurs during the weekend when pedestrians pass through the space. The street in this case has two characteristics that are related to form. It functions as both a path and place. (Moughton,1992,p.133). Over the weekend the street pavement on Mint Road is transformed into a extended part of the market that allows the street pavement to become a place and not a path. The street layout has become the framework for urban space to form in this context, which has allowed for the Fordsburg Market to become more expressive and use the street edges as a trading space. However, as mentioned earlier, all the three streets hold different characteristics, which have been influenced by the layout of the market and type of street.
FIG 6.Fordsburg Market edge on Mint Road (author)
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FIG 7.Plan of Fordsburg Market Square
Mint Road is the most vibrant edge of the market, where trading spills out onto the pavement edge. The reason for this edge being vibrant is that Mint Road is a main road, carrying a large number of Fordsburg traffic. However Mint road also has many restaurants situated on the street, which then draws people to the market after a Sunday lunch at Bismillah or many other North Indian restaurants located on the street. What also facilitates this street edge to become more vibrant is the generous pavement width of 5 meters, that allow traders and hawkers to set up their tables along the pavement, and still leave enough space for pedestrians to move through.
FIG 8.Mint Road pavement during the week (author)
FIG 9.Vibrancy of Mint Road pavement during the weekend (author)
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I believe that the architecture and spatial layout of the market in addition plays a role in how the market functions. The Mint Road ‘facade’ of the Market is open and free of any formal structures .It has no boundaries, therefore allowing people to spill onto the edge of the pavement. The openness of this side of the market also makes it more visible to people from a distance on Mint Road. The Market space is also defined by a covered portal frame structure in elevation. Though in plan, it has the flexibility and freedom to express the space and trade informally along the street edge and pavement .
FIG 10.Section a-a accross Fordsburg Market Square FIG 11. Section c-c through Mint Road and Central Road
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Central road which runs parallel to Mint road, is a complete contrast to Mint Road. It has a more calm and isolated character to the market edge. From my analysis, it seems that Central Road was intended to be the main entrance or face of the market, having its main signage at that entrance, and also building formal stall structures on that edge. Central road is a smaller street with narrower pavements compared to that of Mint Road. The layout of the market on this edge has had a major impact in the way that the market functions on the opposite side.
FIG 12.Section b-b through Market Square and Food Court
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Two rows of stalls are built on that lower end with an inner alley leading one to the central market space. I believe that this minimised its visual connection to the central market space by not being able to see all the market activity straight through Mint road. The formal structure and layout of the stalls on that edge, has reduced the potential for informal trading on the street edge. Even though the stalls do exist, the owners of these specific stalls still set up tables outside their shop, that add to the true ‘informal’ character of this market.
FIG 13.Main entrance of Fordsburg Market on Central Road (author)
Main Road also holds a very different characteristic to Mint and Central road. Main road is also a main street that runs in the east west direction of Fordsburg. The market is not dominant on this edge, since it does not have a large opening on this street elevation and sits in-between the train restaurant which is now Pappas’s Pizza and a four storey mix use building. This edge of the market almost disappears into the pocket of left over space. This section of the market contains the food court that sits comfortably in this gap. Only a small portion of the informal trading occurs on this edge. And interestingly enough, the goods that are sold on this edge are vegetables and small packed sweets and chips.
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FIG 15.Spatial Diagram of Fordsburg Market Square. Eat Street Book 101103.indd 124
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FIG 16.Movement Diagram of Fordsburg Market Square
Through the analysis of these specific streets, one can say that the layouts of the street have a influential role in how the market functions on all three edges. Though it’s important to also mention that the market layout also has an impact spatially on how the market edge reacted to the street. The streets and buildings shape and form the market space in the urban fabric (Crankshaw, 2009,p.1).And allow for public spaces to become a positive element in the city. Such as the case of Fordsburg Square where the streets allow the market to become an ‘enclosed’ or defined space in the surrounding context. The Square The market square is well located, however it does not represent the architectural language of an open square in the city. The market square lacks the sense of openness to the sky. And with its covered portal frame structure, one could almost mistake the market for a warehouse. The covered structure has enclosed the space which becomes dark and hidden in the Mint street elevation as a building rather than an open
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Through the analysis of these specific streets, one can say that the layouts of the street have a influential role in how the market functions on all three edges. Though it’s important to also mention that the market layout also has an impact spatially on how the market edge reacted to the street. The streets and buildings shape and form the market space in the urban fabric (Crankshaw, 2009,p.1).And allow for public spaces to become a positive element in the city. Such as the case of Fordsburg Square where the streets allow the market to become an ‘enclosed’ or defined space in the surrounding context. The Square The market square is well located, however it does not represent the architectural language of an open square in the city. The market square lacks the sense of openness to the sky. And with its covered portal frame structure, one could almost mistake the market for a warehouse. The covered structure has enclosed the space which becomes dark and hidden in the Mint street elevation as a building rather than an open market square. What is interesting to note is that the proportion and size of the market square in relation to the existing context does fit perfectly, and the reason for that is the original grid layout. The market space was retro fitted into the existing grid, which allowed it to become more integrated in the existing context. Vitruvius, when writing about the design of the forum, said that squares ‘should be proportionate to the number of inhabitants, so that it may not be too small a space to be useful, nor look like a desert waste for lack of population’ (Moughtin,1992,p.87). The square has existing shops and restaurants that surround the market square, but do not utilise the square to its full potential as an extension of their shop during the week. Its only over the weekend that this space is transformed into a vibrant ‘place’ filled with people and traders from all ends of Johannesburg. In the book Urban Design street and Squares, Moughtin describes different types of squares, such as the portal, enclosed and linked square. And according to his various descriptions, I would classify the Fordsburg Market square as being a linked square, even though it had been designed as an enclosed space which is on a smaller scale, compared to larger square examples such as Main Square in Salamanca(Moughtin 1992 ,p.112). Linked squares are formed more informally through numerous methods. A public square that has overlapping spaces, that are quite clearly defined spaces but may open onto each other, such as the food court section and main market space in The Fordsburg Market. The market square is connected by streets and surrounding buildings for definition which they relate to. Unlike other squares that are designed with axis and towers (Moughtin 1992 ,p.112). Therefore The Fordsburg Market Square can be defined as a linked typology in urban squares. It’s a space that holds the street together and gives it a sense of dynamic space, where the space becomes a place through the activities of a Market Square.
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Cultural Dimension As stated in the book The Anthropology of Space and Place, Locating culture by Setha Low. Low states for one to fully understand the concepts of Public Street and spaces, One must also understand the role that public spaces play in shaping culture. Low argues(Low,2003) that cultural behaviour is located in and constructed of space. Increasingly, anthropologists have begun to shift their perspective to foregrounding the spatial dimension of culture rather than treating it as background. Space is therefore an essential component of socio culture theory (Low,2003,p.1). Low also speaks about Inscribed spaces, which is defined as the relationship between humans and the environment they occupy, and how people form meaningful relationships with the space they occupy and how they attach meaning to space and transform ‘space’ into ‘place’(Low,2003,p.1). In the case of Fordsburg Market in comparison to a traditional Bazaar in Lahore, the space and market has been adapted to fit into the South African context. What is interesting to keep in mind is that most of the traders trading in the Market are from other countries such as Morocco, India, Pakistan and Bangladesh. And in some way, traces of their trading styles and haphazard layout is visible in the market. I believe that the architecture and layout of the Market has encouraged people to trade in a specific way that suites the South African context. Though the haphazard set up of tables and crowdedness, combined with the authentic smell of food and spices,it does give one that feeling of being in an Indian Bazaar. And one forgets that you are in Fordsburg. Therefore I do think that a cultural dimension has been added to the spatial quality of the market. Where the traders create a sense of place within the structured stalls and portal frame ‘warehouse’. And through these small changes, the traders have made the space their own unique version of an Indian Market.
Conclusion From the above analysis of Fordsburg Market, one is aware that the layout of the urban fabric has generated interesting open pockets in the city. These voids, once occupied begin to transform the public spaces around them, allowing the pockets to become the integrator and linkage space in the street. One can observe how streets and buildings in the urban fabric form voids and solids. This allow for the spaces to be reinterpreted to form complex informal patterns in the more formal urban fabric. These collective public open spaces occur at the junction of streets, forming a break in the route, which allows communities to interact and celebrate urban life (Borden ,2000,p.123). Public spaces have the ability to draw energy from the street flowing into or radiating out onto the street such as Fordsburg Market’s reaction to the street edge. One needs to understand the importance of these open public spaces, which become occupied between buildings and streets. And that the open voids then become a ‘place’ in the city, that allow people to gather and interact. These voids should not be seen as negative spaces or left over area, but rather as an opportunity for city dwellers or traders to inhabit them and transform space into a functional place. The voids that are inhabited and transformed add to the dynamism of the city. They become the spaces of interest along the street edge. It breaks down the visual boundary between street edge, pavement and market square. People that pass through this market space are continually exposed to the vibrancy and diversity of street life and market trading, which adds value to the city and the way
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people experience the Market space in Fordsburg (Borden, 2000,p.135). Fordsburg Market has a positive impact on the built environment and community of Fordsburg. Apart from the space being regenerated and transformed into an Indian Market, the space also provides a place in which the Indian community have the opportunity to embrace and share their culture, food and atmosphere of an Indian Market with the rest of Johannesburg. Spaces such as the Fordsburg market are necessary in the city to help integrate the diverse community of South Africa.
FIG 17.Diverse mix of people and traders at the Market(author)
References Bhana,S.(unknown).SA History.[online] Available at: http:// www.sahistory.org.za/pages/library-resources/online%20 books/bhana/part02-B-71.htm [accessed 25th October 2010]. Borden,I and Ruedi,K. (2000).The Dissertation-An Architecture Students Handbook. Oxford: Architectural Press Celik,Z.(1994).Street: Critical perspective on public spaces. Califonia Press Fyfe,N,R.(1998).Images of the Street: Planning, identity and control in public space.[online]Google Books.Available at:http://books.google.co.za/books.[Accessed 1st September 2010] Jani,F.(2007).Fordsburg History.[Online] Available at: http:www.fordsburg.com/historyjani.htm [Accessed on 29th August 2010]. Low,S,M.(2003).The Anthropology of Space and PlaceLocating Culture.[online] Google Books.Available at :http:// books.google.co.za/books[Accessed 1st September 2010]. Moudon,A.V(1987).Public streets for Public use. Van Nostrand Reinhold Moughtin,C.(1992).Urban Design: Street and Square. Architectural Press. Narayan,U.(1997).Dislocating Cultures: Identities, traditions and Third-world feminism. Routledge Scapp,R. (1998).Eating Culture. State University of New York Press, Albany The Star.(1922).Through The Red Revolt On The Rand: A pictorial of Events:January,February,March,1922.Argus Printing and Publishing Toffah,T.(2008) The Urban Continuum. Thesis(MArch Prof),University of the Witwatersrand.
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SPICES Mint Street Fordsburg Mitchell McCraw
Abstract Located in the CBD of Johannesburg, we studied five different eat streets namely: Fordsburg, Yoeville, Joburg Mall, Cyrildene and Melville. These streets are located within a ten kilometre radius of each other, yet are so diverse in culture and the array of foods produced and sold. When visiting the eats streets, it became apparent that communities band together to such an extent through the foods that they enjoy or the foods that remind them of their home country. 7th street in Melville is a modern street with an arty ambiance where food and alcohol is served by the restaurants. The main target market for the street is aimed at the students from the University of Johannesburg and the University of Witwatersrand. Alcohol would be considered the main attraction to the street which draws people from mixed backgrounds and mixed races to the area, creating a vibrant nightlife. Joburg mall has a large Ethiopian community were Ethiopian food is prepared and eaten with your hands in a circle of friends. Ethiopian coffee is served in the mall and can’t be found at any supermarket in Johannesburg. The coffee is prepared and served traditionally by the woman. Authentic cultural Ethiopian ways of preparing food and eating is apparent in the mall. All the streets have a culture and some sort of an attraction to the surrounding communities. What keeps bringing people back to the street? Could it be the foreign foods, the coffee or the alcohol or it’s something more than what meets the eye? Spices play an important role in the preparation of foreign foods in Mint Street, Fordsburg. I would like to base this essay predominantly on the spice shops in Fordsburg. Through this study I want to look at how Mint Street is arranged and how the spice shops relate to the restaurants. Furthermore looking at where the spice shops and restaurants get their products and the networking within the streets between the restaurants, spice shops and local community. Lastly understanding what attracts certain communities to the street and what keeps them coming back.
Figure 001 Fordsburg, Mint Street. Tosif Supermarket located next to the Bismillah
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Context & Street Mint Street, Fordsburg has a large Indian community, selling a variety of authentic Indian and Pakistani foods. Mint Road is a good place to go if you looking for spice chicken breyani, samoosas and halaal meat. Mayfair is situated right next to Fordsburg and is predominately an Indian community becoming one of the feeder areas, as well as the Oriental Plaza attracting people from all over the CBD.
Figure 002 Daily Specials at the Curry Den
Mint Street is comprised of Spice Shops, Indian Restaurants and a few franchise stores. The Bismillah, an Indian Restaurant is located next to the Tosif Super market which sells spices (Figure001). Futher up the road, Al Tayif is based next to the Asian spice shop. Clustering in the street becomes apparent, where the spice shops and Indian Restaurants position themselves within a close radius of each other. This phenomenon can be viewed through the mapping of Mint Street (Figure 006). The street between Sixth and Main Street, franchise restaurants such as Steers, Fish away and Debonairs pizza control the street, no spice shops are present. Why do the spice shops cluster with the Indian restaurants and what are the reasons for the absence of spice shops next to Franchise stores? Listed below are some of the Spice Shops found in Fordsburg. •
Shama spice world (Corner Mint and Main)
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Tosif Super Market (Corner Mint & Gillies)
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Asian spice supermarket (Mint Road, Between 6th Avenue and Commercial Road)
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Jupiter Fresh Produce (Corner Bree and mint) (small amount of spices)
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Mohammed’s fruit and veg (Corner Mint and Bree ) (small amount of spices)
Figure 003 Asian Spice Supermarket
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Figure 004 Mohammed’s Fruit & Veg
Figure 005 Tosif Supermarket
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Figure 006 Map of Mint Street. Circles showing the clustering of Spice shops and Indian restaurants. The spice Shops marked in red. Akhalwaya being the main supplier of spice to the street.
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Spices Spices are vegetative substances such as seeds, fruits and roots. Spices are used in small quantities in order to create specific flavours which are often used in foods like curries. Spices can also be used as a preservative in food to prevent the growth of bacteria. Spices are not only used in food but can be used for medicines, perfumes and even religious rituals.
Figure 007 Spice Shop, Yoeville
Two categories of spices are found in the spice shops on Mint Street, raw spices and premixed spices. The most common raw spices found are namely cinnamon sticks, star aniseed, bay leaves and jeero. All these spices are mixed together to create a mixture called a breyani mix. This mixture of spices complements each other and is used in curries and rice dishes. The spices are raw so need to be prepared and cooked. This spice mix is very common with the local costumers, mainly being Indian woman.
Figure 008 Star Aniseed
Shan is a premix curry where the spices have been grinned and mixed together into a powder form. The powder is mixed with water and added to the dish. Shan is imported from Pakistan. This premixed curry spices are common in all the spice shops in Fordsburg. Costumers use the premixes because the preparation time is less and easy to prepare for someone who is not accustomed to making curries. Shan has a large selection of curry mixtures to choose from. Gits Aloomatar & Suhana are similar to Shan but are imported from India.
Figure 009 Shan Chicken Biryani
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Importing Spices Formal and Informal methods of importing spices are apparent in Yoeville, Joburg Mall, Cyrildene and Fordsburg. In rocky street, Yeoville, the owner of a spice shop flies over once a month to buy the Cameroonian spices to bring back to South Africa. Other spice shops get the products sent over by their relatives that live in the country, where the spices are regularly available. Mint Street more formal methods of importing are evident. Pre-packed Pakistani already made meals called “Mommy’s Readymeals” are found in the butcher shop on the corner of Bree Street and Mint Street. These meals are microwavable and take minutes to prepare. The meals are imported straight from Pakistan by the owner’s son that specializes in imports (figure 010).
Figure 010 Realmeals imported from Pakistan
Akhalwaya (Central & Pioneer Road) is the main distributer of spices in the area, importing directly from India, China, Thailand, the United States, Singapore, Australia and Canada. Mahmood Akhalwaya is the third generation in his family to be involved in the spice trade. Along with his father Ebrahim and his brother Farhaad, he runs E Akhalwaya & Sons. The family business is one of the best known spice importers in South Africa. Akhalwaya sells spices to the smaller spice shops and the restaurants.
Figure 011 Akhalwaya logo
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Eighty-six percent of the world’s spices are imported from India with four percent china and two percent Pakistan (Food & Agriculture organisation of the united nation statistics 2004). Formal and informal ways of importing spices seem to revolve around the demand on the spices. Fordsburg’s Indian community is much bigger than the Cameroonian community in Yoeville. Akhalwaya is able to make profit importing spices from India because there is a large market. The smaller spice shops in Yoeville use informal methods of importing due to the fact that they can’t afford the importing duties. Without the spices the Cameroonian restaurants will suffer unless the restaurants are able to alter the ingredients with locally sourced products.
Figure 012, Cyrildene, spices
Figure 013 Tosif Supermarket
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Networking & Clustering within Fordsburg In Yeoville, Cameroonian spices are found in the foods cooked by the restaurants. Restaurant owners buy the spices from the smaller spice shops. This networking between the restaurants and the smaller shops allow for the preparation of foreign foods. The networking of raw food sold to the restaurants could also be viewed in the Ethiopian mall but on Mint Street the spice shops don’t sell to the restaurants, so why are there so many spice shops on Mint Street and why do the spice shops and Indian Restaurants cluster together? Clustering seems to be a form of marketing, by clustering together the restaurants and spice shops are able to attract a targeted community, in this case the Indian community from Mayfair and the Oriental Plaza. This clustering within the street helps both businesses to make money and gain a larger customer base. Families go out for lunch and after their meal, women go into the spice shops collecting supplies for the dinner which they will prepare at home. Indian women seem to be the largest cliental for the spice shops. Clustering together also helps to create a stronger community within the street. Spice Shops are a crucial element to keeping the street alive and attracting everyday people. Without the restaurant’s the spice shops will suffer. They both work together to create a stronger successful active street. Clustering is broken down by the franchise stores which cater for any community at any place. Copy, paste, fast food. Franchise stores have a modern approach to selling food, brought about by globalisation. Franchise stores could pose as a problem in Fordsburg by breaking down the Authenticity within the street but this could possibly attract people that are not familiar with Indian food into the area and maybe provoke them to try food they never tried before. The restaurants are very happy to share their food and experiences with people outside the community.
People “As Turkish guest workers in Germany watch Turkish films in their German flats, as Koreans in Philadelphia watch the 1988 Olympics in Seoul through satellite feeds from Korea, and as Pakistani Cabdrivers in Chicago listen to cassettes of sermons recorded in mosques in Pakistan or Iran” (1996, pg4). What are the reasons for people living in this country trying to hold onto ties of their home country? Could this be a resistance to modernism where communities are becoming mixed, which can be viewed in Melville where the younger generation gathers. Alcohol, spices, coffee and foreign foods attract people to the eat streets and allow people to meet other people with common interests. People tend to come back due to the relationships that they make in the street. Food is a way of drawing people together and allowing people to keep their identities of their home country. This creates a truly diverse street, where people are allowed to come and experience a culture without having to fly to another country. South Africa is a rainbow nation with many communities and cultures. Five eat streets all diverse and different in their own way, positioned within a ten kilometre radius, bringing people together by something as simple as spice, alcohol or coffee.
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Figure 014
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References
Books Appadurai, AA. 1996. Modernity at large: Cultural Dimensions of Globalization. Minneapolis, Published by the University of Minnesota press
Electronic sources JOCELYN NEWMARCH,JN, 2007, Mail & Guardian online, Available at: http://www.mg.co.za/article/2007-12-21there-is-no-business-like-family-business Anom,2010 Tradeholding ltd, Available at: http:// gulfbusiness.Tradeholding.com/default.cgi/action/ viewcompanies/companyid/212230 Anom,2010, Wikimedia Foundation. Inc. , Available at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/spice-trade Anom, 2010, eat-in, Available at: www.eat-in.co.za/ static/directory/search.php?term=spice Anom,2010, Indian exporters, Available at: http://www. exporterindia.com/trade
Images Figure 001: Dale Swanepoel., 2010. [Photograph] edited by author, photo Collaboration Figure 002: By Author., 2010. Self Captured [Photograph] Food Signage Figure 003, 004,005: Dale Swanepoel., 2010. [Photograph] Mint Street Figure 006: By Author., 2010. Mapping of spice shops Figure 007: By Author., 2010. Self Captured [Photograph] Rocky street spice shop Figure 008: Anom, 2010 [ONLINE] (Citied: 2010.09.06) Available at: www.asimporters.co.za Figure 009: Anom, 2010 [ONLINE] (Citied: 2010.10.29) Available at http://www.shanfoods.com/DynamicPage. aspx?id=95 Figure 010: By Author., 2010. Self Captured [Photograph] edited by author, Readymeals Figure 011: Anom, 2010 [ONLINE] (Citied: 2010.09.06) Available at: www.asimporters.co.za Figure 012, 005,006: Dale Swanepoel., 2010. [Photograph] Cyrildene, spices Figure 013: Dale Swanepoel., 2010. [Photograph] edited by author, Tosif Spice shop Figure 014: by author., 2010. [Photograph] edited by author, photo Collaboration
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PUBLIC SPACE and the ‘EATSCAPE’ Dale Swanepoel
“Public space is essential to urban public life. It is where political identities can be formed and expressed, and where different urban identities can regard and potentially interact with one another. Public spaces of the city are social spaces, where social encounters can and do take place.” (Dirsuweit; 2009; 51)
Public space is not always accessible to all, as is the instance in Johannesburg which is fractured by many different ethnic and racial territorial lines and neighbourhoods. People of similar ethnicities appear to collect in specific areas around the city such as those of Fordsburg, Joburg Mall on Jeppe Street and Yeoville. Within these neighbourhoods systems of differentiation are formed which establish spatial differences along cultural, ethical and economical lines. This provides a means for identities to be preserved and protected from the ever changing and evolving urban fabric of the city. (2003; 238)
“The street is the quintessential public space” (Taipale; 2008; 147) and is the site of interaction between different urban identities, but also where individual group identities can be secured and reinforced. As Dirsuweit says “Public spaces are important to a sense of urban solidarity, a certain type of sociality which comes from particular forms of gathering in public spaces.” (Dirsuweit; 2009; 52).
The social construct of prepared food and the gathering in public spaces offering these conveniences has given rise to the emergence of ‘eat streets’ within Fordsburg, Joburg Mall, Yeoville and many others in Jo’burg. These ‘eat streets’ will be used as case studies to examine the notions of public spaces within the mentioned study areas by investigating various social patterns in public spaces and how restaurants and eat spots manage these spaces.
“Public space can be understood as the co-presence of humans and the impacts they have on each other, whether through interpersonal relations or the interaction of an individual with society in general.” (2003; 238) Public space and its potential for social interaction within the urban fabric is essential in maintaining an individual’s sense of connection to their community and provides a base for forming and expressing an individual’s or group’s social identity. Restaurants, smaller and more informal eat spots as well as markets create a network of movement and spaces which have the potential for interaction between the people using them.
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A walk down Yeoville’s high street, Rockey-Raleigh Street, presents one with numerous encounters with a variety of different people, which include beggers, vendors, shop and restaurant owners and many others. The most evident social network that exists within the various case study areas though must be in Joburg Mall. Seating areas of the various eat spots spill out into the pedestrian walkway of the mall where a strong connection amongst the local Ethiopian inhabitants can be experienced. These interactions are very much a part of many people’s lives and daily routines in both Yeoville and Joburg Mall. The organising of this internal ‘eat street’ by restaurants plays an important role in defining the space as well as maintaining it where it would otherwise be a hollow shell.
The post-apartheid urban Johannesburg has seen a lot of investment in urban rejuvenation. The city has been trying to move away from the broken window theory which states that
“the slightest type of urban decay or maintenance neglect in the public space is an enhancement for crime, reflecting the abandonment of collective control on the neighbourhood.” (Benit-Gbaffou; 2009; 62)
In the case of Fordsburg, Joburg Mall and Yeoville the control of the neighbourhood has resulted in defining insiders and outsiders and a sense of place and ownership of their neighbourhood. In all three of the case study areas this has resulted in the emergence of strong racially divided communities.
The Human Development Strategy (found on the Johannesburg Development Agency’s website), emphasises and promotes urban cohesion and inclusion, where public space is essential to the poor who have limited access to urban leisure spaces and frequently their residential spaces are inadequate. Public space is where the economically marginalised can ensure some type of livelihood. (Dirsuweit; 2009; 52) The mentioned “eat streets” and their restaurants, eat spots and markets play an essential role in organising and managing the public spaces that surround them. Often a sense of ownership is developed in these spaces where store owners take responsibility of theirsustainability and appearance. The organising of these zones into legible and clean spaces can be said to appropriate the behaviour of the people who use them as well. This is evident in Yeoville where it is uncommon to find vendors and beggars loitering in the vicinity of restaurants. Rather the restaurants and the immediate public spaces that surrounds them act as strong networking nodes, having high visibility and access, for the community.
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Top: Hawkers, pedestrians and loiters give life to a street sidewalk in Yeoville. It can be noted how the provision of public seating creates a social band of activity in the middle of the walkway with two streams of pedestrian traffic on either side of it. Also important is that the seating is flexible in its design, able to accommodate various seating positions, giving the user choice. Middle: A group of men gather around a bench on a Yeoville street corner outside a take-away store. The corner is an important node for the interaction of pedestrians and in this image it is enhanced by the shaded threshold provided by the roof canopy. Bottom: A vendor selling food snacks takes advantage of the pedestrian active park on Yeoville’s Rocky Street.
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“The preparation and consumption of food are spatially defined and defining activities in day to day life.” (Yan; 1997; 524).
The existence of public space relies on there being private space, although parts of private life are played out in the public sphere,
“the boundaries that separate the two realms are the most visible spatial manifestations of the division of social life.” (2003; 41)
Many semi-public or semi-private spaces can be identified as the two spheres meet through shades of privacy and publicity rather than an obvious clear cut divide between the two. (2003; 239) The boundary between public and private are the spaces where the two meet and are kept apart, shaping the boundary and the two spheres at the same time. The threshold of the restaurant is a dynamic space in that it acts as a stage for many different social activities of varying degrees of privacy. Eating and drinking is a part of every person’s daily routine in one way or another and in most cases for most people dining occurs in the security of one’s home. The security and belonging to a place experienced at home is often reproduced in the spaces of restaurants where a sense of belonging is forged through familiar practices. This results in the overlapping of the public and private realms where a space, such as a restaurant, offers the security for more personal affairs to take place.
Within public spaces it is common for people to occupy spaces along the fringes that are recessed and protected, which is something the ‘eatscape’ of a restaurant can provide. It is also where an individual’s personal space of the body can be expressed while not having to cross physical boundaries that separate what is public and private. Seating space has a strong effect on the success of public spaces and often defines a space as ‘stop and go’ or a place to meet and interact. Seating can be seen as most important in spatially defining a space and the extent of social activity within it. In the case of Joburg Mall where the public walkways outside restaurants and coffee shops are filled with seating space, the public stream of movement is brought into direct contact with people occupying the seating space. Restaurants are all inherent of a specific planned representation of space that speaks to the type of customer it is trying to attract. Perhaps the representation of a space to the public and the extent to which the users of the space can and are allowed to define them, determines to what extent it is a boundary between public and private space. Joburg Mall’s internal eat street excludes itself from the public thoroughfare of the street representing the space as semi-private or semi-public and as a clear boundary protecting the cultural activities and identities of those using the space.
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Top: The collection of various restaurants and particularly eat spots around the public square in Yeoville’s Times Square organises the space into different threshold zones. The core of the square and its sparsely positioned steel tables and chairs provide open and more informal meeting points, while eat spots on the periphery provide shaded seating with an advantageous view over the square. Further internal seating which is more private in some of the restaurants also further adds to the various layers of the public ‘eatscape’ in Times Square. Middle: The threshhold of the restaurant overlooking the sidewalk in Yeoville provides a certain level of privacy while still maintaining a strong connection to the street. Bottom: Seating Areas in Times Square’s public square collected around the more protected periphery.
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“The good city is one in which there is engagement and connection with urban others.” (Dirsuweit; 2009; 53)
The study areas and their ‘eat streets’ play a vital role in this ideology by providing identifiable spaces for the interaction of the people using them. A sense of belonging and pertaining to a particular urban identity can be expressed in the social space of the ‘eatscape’. Wading through these spaces often results in encounters with other people. In the case of the ethnically specific groups of Fordsburg, Joburg Mall and Yeoville these encounters are often within a person’s own particular ethnic group and coincide with familiar practices, forming a sense of belonging. Public spaces are where a range of political identities can be expressed as
“...the myriad bolt holes that are to be found in cities provide some possibility to the millions of dispossessed, dislocated and illegal people stripped of citizenship to acquire some political capital...” (Dirsuweit; 2009; 52)
Small eat spots are everyday spaces for the majority of urbanites, particularly in the mentioned communities, where as larger establishments cater for the occasion. (Yasmeen; 1997; 530) Various ‘eatscapes’ differ not only in physical location but also in the form of control. The urban shopping mall is a perfect example of a highly controlled public environment which maintains a specific spatial representation to the public. The eat spots common to the various ‘eat streets’ discussed are defined by the individuals using the space by manipulating a place into specific nodes of social activity and spontaneity. (Yasmeen; 1997; 530) As it is the individuals that define the ‘eatscape’ in many parts of the study areas, behaviour associated with the home is often relocated and evident in these eat spots. Even though some eat spots merely provide a service they are still as important as the larger establishments which define a greater public space around them in making up the fabric which binds different spaces and reinforces a network of social spaces ultimately resulting in the collective ‘eat street’. The ‘good city’is visible in Joburg Mall where a strong sense of community is forged around the constant interactions by locals.
CONCLUSION Eat streets have a particular role in reinforcing the ideology of the ‘good city’ in that they create a familiar network of usable public space. The restaurants and eat spots that are the spine of these ‘eat streets’ play an important role in the post-apartheid city by managing public spaces, giving them an identity, security and place within the urban fabric. They are identifiable and are inherent of a strong sense of ownership by their respective communities. Through the rejuvenation of many nodes within the Johannesburg CBD this sense of ownership is being enhanced and will potentially instil a caring culture within its users.
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Top: The entrance to Jozi Fried Chicken in Yeoville’s Times Square like many other eat spots provides an interactive edge between the street and internal waiting area. Middle: The various seating provided for by restaurants in The Joburg Mall layer the public walkway, creating a web of social connections. The sense of identity and belonging within this space is made very tangible by the restaurants organizing this space in a way that maximizes the interaction of the people moving through the space. Bottom: A pavement in Fordsburg, near to the night market, is an example of how the public edge of the street has become an extension of the home as a family gather to dine together.
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REFERENCES Books: Benit-Gbaffou, C, 2009. African Cities: Competing Claims on Urban Spaces; Who Control the Streets? Crime, ‘communities’ and the State in Post-Apartheid Johannesburg. The Netherlands. Martinus Nijhoff Publishers and VSP Brown, A. 2006. Contested Space. Street Trading, Public Space and Livelihoods in Developing Cities. Wirwickshire Intermediate Technology Publications Ltd Brown, R and Capozza, D 2006. Social Identities. Motivational, Emotional and Cultural Influences. East Sussex. Psychology Press. Counihan, C. and van Esterik, P. 2008. Food and Culture. A Reader, Second Edition. New York. Routledge. Dirsuweit, T.C, 2009. Representation and Spatial Practices in Urban South Africa; Public Space and the Politics of Propinquity in Johannesburg. University of Johannesburg. Madanipour, A, 2003. Public and Private Spaces of the City. London. Routledege Taipale, K, 2008. Urban Transformation; Between Public and Private; Introduction: Citizen or Shareholder? Berlin. Ruby Press Yan, Y, 1997. Food and Culture: A Reader; Of Hamburger and Social Space: Consuming McDonalds in Beijing. New York. Routledege. Yasmeen, G, 1997. Food and Culture: A Reader; “Plastic Bag Housewives” and Post Modern Restaurants: Public and Private in Bangkok’s Foodscape. New York. Routledege.
Internet: www.jda.org.za Video Recordings: Whyte, W.H, 1979. The Social Life of Small Urban Spaces. Direct Cinema Ltd. Los Angeles, CA.
Images: All images by author, Dale Swanepoel.
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RITUAL VERSUS ADAPTATION Alexa Hayley Segal
A journey through the realm of an immigrant community embedded within South African culture will bring about two wonders. The first relates to how they got here and why they came at all. The second is how different their foreign spaces look within our familiar spaces. With globalization comes the freedom of movement and what this provides is a canvas for the mergence, dilution, or intensification of the colours of different foreign communities with the rainbow of South African culture. If you peel back a layer or two you will find that, in most cases, communities cling to ritual or tradition from home and that these are not always easy or accessible when one is no longer at home. The degree of modernization within this adaptation is particularly interesting. My research has brought me to a fascinating point. Ritual and tradition are generally eradicated with the onset of globalization, yet in immigrant communities, because they are a slice of home, they are clung to, protected and nurtured. The very things that are dismissed by globalization in local communities so that they can evolve are what allow immigrant communities to thrive in foreign countries, and to achieve a matter of globalization that expresses tradition. In this paper I hope to explore the food related rituals of some of the communities we have studied, and, with my own biographical comparison, draw a relationship between ritual and modernization in immigrant communities. With a series of photographs, sketches and plans, I have highlighted certain aspects of ritual with the use of colour and analysis, and in this way have been able to identify levels of ritual and tradition, amidst the backdrop of modernization and the challenges that they face in the new South African settings of the communities that we have researched. In Judaism ritual and tradition are inextricably interwoven into the religion. Because communities have been thriving outside of Israel for thousands of years we have adapted these rituals and traditions to suit, within reason, what is available to us. Overall, however, the rituals that we perform with regards to slaughter, preparation, storage and blessing have remained intact. The podium that this has provided me with has allowed a point from which to recognize and observe the different rituals apparent in different foreign communities. The Joburg Mall is in the Ethiopian Quarter of town and on its top floor is a space where Ethiopians can gather, eat, drink, and buy an array of different things. The Ethiopian Orthodox Church is based on a set of very strict rituals and traditions, many of which correlate with the laws of Judaism. Unfortunately, many of these are not practiced within the South African Ethiopian community. This may be because the community is very young and probably does not have access to many of the amenities that a more established community might have. They have, however, clung to some rituals. (Bogale, 2010) The Jewish community in South Africa has a rabbinic court known as the Beth Din, which oversees all matters of Judaism in the country, including laws of food, its preparation and storage. They provide resources and information as well as a seal which certifies food as being kosher, and complying with these laws. An institution like this takes a long time to establish, and although they are common amongst established communities, such as the
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Muslim community in Fordsburg that I will discuss further on, it is not surprising that the Ethiopians do not have their own equivalent. As a result, they seem to purchase food based on cost effectiveness, as opposed to religious/traditional requirements. Although some of the Ethiopian rituals have fallen away, many have remained, one in particular being a coffee ritual. The Ethiopians believe that a transformation of the spirit occurs during this ceremony. Traditionally, coffee ceremonies occur three times a day and can last for hours. In traditional Ethiopian villages, this ritual is a time when the community congregates and socializes. The coffee is served like a meal with three courses, each cup representing something different, and the consumption of all three results in blessings. Coffee is served without milk in small, delicate tea cups with either sugar or salt . (Helena, 2010). There is an Ethiopian proverb, “Buna dabo naw”, which translates to “Coffee is our bread”. (Epicurean.com, 2010) It is no surprise that this particular ritual remains so central to Ethiopian life, specially amongst immigrant communities in a foreign country. It is a ritual that encourages socializing, togetherness and unity. In a measure of adaptation and modernization, two coffee shops have been established in the Joburg Mall, where this coffee ritual takes place. People come from the surrounding areas to perform this ritual and can sit for hours with no pressure from management to leave or spend more money. The Ethiopians understand that this ritual is about socializing. Perhaps this is one of the reasons why the community remains so close knit. (Helena, 2010) Fig 1.1 shows a plan and seating arrangement of a coffee shop called Ethiopia Coffee. From this plan it is apparent that this space is about socializing. Only snacks to be eaten at the ceremony are served, therefore no kitchen is required, and the coffee is made in a small corner of the shop, therefore maximizing seating space, with stools and seats and very small tables in every available space. In this young community what is important is unity, establishment and most importantly, survival.
Fig 1.1
Plan of Ethiopian Coffee Shop, Joburg Mall, Johannesburg CBD. Not to a particular scale.
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Fig 1.22. Ethiopia Coffee Shop, street, Joburg Mall, Johannesburg CBD. July 2010. Figure Street section; Rockey Yeoville
The Chinese community in Cyrildene consists of myriad shops and restaurants that stock and serve Chinese food to the Chinese immigrant community in the area. They have remained tight knit and stick to certain rituals. Ancestor worship, for instance, is common. The Chinese believe that their ancestors have a form of existence in the physical world and that they have the power to influence the lives of the living. As can be seen Fig 1.3, shrines to them with candles and ornaments are popular. In this image the ornaments and the colour red represent fortune. (Wu, 2010). In this community there does not appear to be a problem in maintaining ritual in a new and foreign environment. The Chinese community in Cyrildene is well established, particularly in comparison to the older Chinese community in the Johannesburg CBD. The problem lies in assimilation, or lack thereof.
Fig 1.3 Owner of Chinese Restaurant on Derrick Street, Cyrildene. July 2010.
Food, in particular, is the hub of Derrick Street. Restaurants and shops supply Chinese exports and homemade delicacies, both fresh and dry, and yet for people who are not members of the Chinese community, it is nearly impossible to find ones way around. Members of the community barely speak English, and in many cases the ones that can pretend that they cannot for fear of questions of legality. Goods in shops are most often packaged in Chinese and cannot be deciphered by the English speaker, and as a result of the language barrier, in many cases it is very difficult to order or ask questions about the menu in restaurants. Because of this the area, unfortunately, does not seem to be very welcoming. The bright colours and foreign tradition are enticing and yet on closer inspection one generally finds that it is difficult to get past the superficial glance that initially drew you in. Fordsburg, in contrast to Cyrildene, is a largely
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English speaking, Muslim community. While Cyrildene seems to shut foreigners out, there is a general feeling in Fordsburg of wanting to invite people in. Mohammed Kashif, the owner of a restaurant called Kashifs Fusion Food, explained the general desire for a cosmopolitan city in the area. People make a concerted effort to invite outsiders into the community, to create, from Fordsburg, a city that abides by Islamic law but is open to all; Muslims as well as members of other religions and cultures. (Kashif. 2010). This idea brought about an interesting case study in the form of a fast food chain known as Akhalwayas. This is an Islamic enterprise with a number of branches around Johannesburg. Islam, just like Judaism and Ethiopian Orthodox, has a strict set of rules relating to food that need to be adhered to in order for the food to be recognized as Halaal. They, too, have a governing body of sorts that regulates the slaughter and production of halaal food. In a strange twist, tradition, something generally related to history and the past, has evolved into a fast food chain, something modern and very much with the times, that slots straight into the idea of globalization, and the idea of this cosmopolitan city. Fig 1.4 shows a plan of Akhalwayas Express that illustrates its “fast food� aspect. With the comparatively short preparation time Fig 1.4 Plan of Akhalwayas and seating that much Express, Mint Road, Fordsburg. Not to a particular Scale. July resembles a waiting room, 2010. there is plenty of room to queue and wait but very little room to sit and eat. The owner, Ibrahim, says that this is the intention, that the Restaurant is to collect food, rather than to sit down and eat it (Ibrahim, 2010). Tradition has produced a commercially accessible chain of restaurants that not only comply with religious laws, but are also convenient and accessible to not only the Muslim man on the street, but to all the men on the street. In this way, not only is tradition strictly adhered to but it is also inviting to both Muslims and non-Muslims, therefore inspiring a sense of unity within the community, and an invitation to those people outside the community.
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Fig 1.5 Akhalwayas Express on Mint Road, Fordsburg. October 2010.
Of course one must not forget that Fordsburg is an immigrant community, and in immigrant communities there are both people who have settled in and established themselves, like Mohammed Kashif, and new arrivals, like Emdad, an employee of the Asian Spice and Supermarket. Emdad works in his brothers shop and speaks in broken English. He stands behind a counter in a store selling general commercial goods such as dry packaged food and toiletries. In India there is a tradition of eating something called Paan. Paan is a “chew�. A certain type of leaf is filled with a variety of mixed spices and candies and is then wrapped up into a triangular shape and packaged in a piece of paper like a cone.
This
Fig 1.6 Process of making Paan. Asian Spice and Supermarket on Mint Road, Fordsburg. July 2010.
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The mixture is eaten after food and is believed to aid in digestion and to act as a mouth freshener. (Emdad. 2010). This chew is common throughout India, but in Johannesburg not very many people know what it is. Emdad occasionally moves over to the corner next to the cash register and produces this fascinating triangle of tradition. It is handed over to the customer with pride. For the rest of the day he rings up commercial goods. This is one of the problems of immigration. Rituals and traditions get diluted and sometimes lost. Although in a strangely beautiful way, although tradition is somewhat maintained in Akhalwayays express by strict adherence to laws of food and preparation, the food that is served is commercial. One can purchase halaal hot dogs and hamburgers and the wonder of globalization is maintained within a packet of chips. On the other hand food rituals like paan can get lost or lose prominence in the struggle for survival. While Cyrildene retains strict adherence to ritual and unity within the community, they do not offer an area that is open to all. One has to wonder how far a community like this can progress while staying so isolated from its surrounding areas. Derrick street is an island of China in Johannesburg. Mint Road, on the other hand, is a street with various levels of tradition and ritual. Their intention is not only to branch out, but to invite people in. There are branches of Akhalwayas throughout Johannesburg, on Carr Street, on Mint Road, and even in Sandton City. This is a large community with very strict traditions and rituals and yet by their attitude of branching out, although some rituals may get lost, they have ensured access to food and culture throughout not only Johannesburg, but the whole of South Africa, and one cannot help but feel that in this way, they have in fact secured the survival of their community in this country. The Ethiopian community sits somewhere inbetween. Although in number they cannot compete with either community, their attitude lies in the midst of them. The Ethiopian community is small and young. They do not have access to the resources required to maintain all of their traditions and cultures. They are, however, incredibly friendly and welcoming. On entering the Ethiopian quarter one is met with curiosity and smiling faces. These are people that, on the whole, do not have a very good grasp on South African languages and yet they are eager to learn and eager to invite. Although communication is not easy, with the sole intent of the community being to survive, rather than to branch out, there is a feeling of warmth and openness in the area. There is, however, throughout all of these communities, a strong theme of survival, whether previously established or in the process of forming. This is where ritual and tradition come in. They stop communities from losing themselves. At the end of the day the survival of the community does not depend on how long they can stay in a particular environment, but rather on the extent to which they can remain themselves in these environments. Ritual and tradition provide differentiation. They are what stops Ethiopians, Muslims and Jews from losing their identities and becoming generic South Africans. Regardless of each of their place in their adaptation to a new country, success is reliant on maintaining one’s self. Aristotle says that “A city is composed of different kinds of men; similar people cannot bring a city into existence� (Aristotle,350BCE ) A journey through the realm of an immigrant community embedded within South African culture will bring about many wonders. The most poignant of which, in my opinion, is that through tradition and ritual, they remain noticeable in the fabric of South Africa. In this way they do survive, every day, in this foreign country.
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References
Helena. 2010 [Personal Communication]. July 27 Doyle, Emily. 2004. Epicurean.com. Available: http:// www.epicurean.com/articles/ethiopian-coffeeceremony.html[23 October 2010] Bogale, B 2010 [Personal Communication] October 19 Ibrahim. 2010 [Personal Communication] October 24 Kashif, M. 2010 [Personal Communication] July 26 Emdad. 2010 [Personal Communication] July 26 Wu, T. 2010 [Personal Communication] October 29 Aristotle. 350 BCE. The Politics
Note: Most people interviewed during field research did not feel comfortable giving out their second names. As a result I have referenced only their first names.
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DESIRE BOUNDARIES Semiotics at the edge of a building Kate Keightley-Smith
“ All cities communicate messages – functional, symbolic, and persuasive – to people as they move about. “ (Venturi, 1977: 73)
It is an arduous task, to pragmatically determine where the edge of a building lies. We do not know to where the boundaries of a restaurant stretch. Whether it be the last chair on a street periphery or the rubbish bin in the service yard, or logically perhaps the bricks and mortar which enclose the restaurant. Restaurant space appears to grow and shrink depending on time of day and intensity of passing trade. The boundary between public and semi-public to private blurs to an extent that it no longer exists. Instead, what does determine a threshold is rather the colour and ornament of a space. This is the desire boundary, and along with its human counterpart, it determines the way city dwellers move through a space. This identity, icon and allegory inform a pedestrian’s desire lines, perhaps even notifies the manner in which we enter into space and ultimately how we impart our subconscious movement through our cities. A barrier, facing the taboo of informality and ownership, the pavement is a rendered space of articulation and immediacy. The users of this space immediately either reject or accept the pavement space. However this space is constructed, detailed, dressed and inhabited, allows us the comfort or distress of experience. The borders of a restaurant space frequently eat onto the pavement or street, maximising the benefit of passing trade. A restaurant of nourished, significant identity is one more attractive to the consumer than one of emaciated character and size. Particular to Johannesburg, vendors and traders, whether moving or stagnant, also interact at this point of the city section, benefitting from pedestrian circulation. The act of obstruction adds to pedestrian movement inefficiency, in turn benefitting the donor, prolonging the visual contact between the consumer and the object. The controversial nature of these spaces as highly controlled places opposed to places where one can free oneself of restriction and be left to enjoy food and alcohol, perhaps allows for the very angst or emotion felt by that visitor. Perhaps this is what elevates these spaces from the mundane. These desire boundaries with their complexities and language, are layered intentionally and layered with aesthetic ideals. Derrick Street, Cyrildene is composed much more so of decoration than of structural walls. The boundaries of each restaurant and supermarket begin with a simple umbrella, billboard or vegetable carton spread out onto the street. (See Figure 1.) They are constructed to form a perspective, and an image or what prevails behind, and are incorporated into existing city compositions the purpose conveying a PRODUCED BY with AN AUTODESK EDUCATIONAL of PRODUCT message. Figure 1 Drawing of the componants which make up “Desire Boundaries” Derrick Street, Cyrildene.
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Figure 3
Figure 2
Figure 2. Rockey Street “Sweet Pot” restaurant taken at 6:00 am Tuesday March 2010 Figure 3. Rockey Street “Sweet Pot” restaurant taken at 15:00 Saterday September 2010.
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2010 er 2010.
Restaurant dense streets, Rockey/Raleigh Street – Yeoville, Mint street - Fordsburg, Johannesburg Mall, Derrick Street, Cyrildene, are heavily layered, spatially and graphically, generating a certain difficulty in the rational comprehension of experiencing each space at any one point in time. The streets are not chaotic, although in many senses they do appear so. Instead there is richness, whether perceived as cliché or kitsch or muddled, which prevails to be consumed because it is of interest to the visitor. This interest can be perceived as a certain tension. This tension tastes less as a violence or anxiety and more as a catalytic response to a certain stimuli. Each element of the street has a certain allergory, the amalgamation of the many allegories lead to a complex lineage which runs the the lenght of the street. There is a connection between visitor and sign. In Barthes’ Elements of Semiology there is a necessary relationship between two ‘relata.’ The visitor to a particular restaurant and the aesthetic flavours the restaurant possess are two of these ‘relata’. The impact which each ‘relata’ has on the other is of profound importance when making up the existing tensions and interests of these very enchanting eat streets. Barthes explains the mental representation of one of the ‘relata’, which initiates the link between the stimulus and the response. A connection between viewer and sign has been made.“v) the relata exactly coincide or, on the contrary, one overruns the other; v) the relation implies, or does not imply, an existential connection with the user.” (Barthes, 1977: 189) Rockey/ Raleigh street is layered with a language difficult to comprehend initially. This is due to the depth of space used by restaurants, which goes beyond that of the initial street frontier and deeper into the suburban block. (see Figure 4.) When one goes beyond this prelude, a new sediment of space transpires. The courtyard, the ally, the service yard, the void. These spaces are produced through necessity rather than through cut-copy projected colonial or perhaps “contemporary” structure. This necessity is from where a certain language arises. The built environment suddenly becomes a space constructed from reason instead of ideal. Cutting through Rockey Street at various points, and drawing from section, the spaces behind the street front emerge as a ‘belly’, a defensive space, away from street tensions, roaming police and vehicular traffic. The success of the space lies in that this protective space caters for these very anxieties and hardships felt by a foreigner. Johannesburg is a city built up of established identities. Representation of identity through sinage and colour fight for the virewers attention. Semiotics exist in the representation of culture. Culture in itself is built on a relative understanding and difference between cultures. We define ourselves and our identities only by comparison to those around us. The existence of a singular worldly culture would present no culture at all. Identities exist only in opposition to one another. Johannesburg’s identity has been constructed through a variety of visual ingredients and certain phenomena. One such phenomenon is how its citizens adjust their cityscape and themselves for survival. This phenomenon reveals itself throughout the city, through different interludes of time. Street vendors selling vehicle mirror covers with the emblem of the South African flag is one such phenomenon. This vendor, as aesthetic image and aggravating obstruction, compiles part of the desire boundary of which the tourist consumes. Another phenomenon is the projected Renaissance prototype as architectural style, which prevails even amongst the most derelict buildings in urban Johannesburg. One individual’s ideal built form as part of the ‘happy meal’, ready to be ‘eaten’. Johannesburg, through these idiosyncrasies, is unique
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PRIVATE
SEMI-PUBLIC
SEMI-PUBLIC
PUBLIC
PUBLIC
PUBLIC
PUBLIC
SEMI-PUBLIC
SEMI-PUBLIC
PRIVATE
PRIVATE
Figure 4. Rockey Street section section at “Sweet Pot” restaurnat showing ‘sediments’ of restaurants and how layered space becomes a protective mechanism.
in that they exist subconsciously to the city dweller, yet make up a majority of what citizens see and feel each day. Johannesburg is constructed through necessity and what people believe to be necessary. Natural topographies, existing structure and the city council oppose the transformation Johannesburg tends towards, in turn, generating a constant tension between the informal and illegal and the established ideals of the authorities. This is what makes the spaces of the streets sensual in a way which is void in any other mundane neighbourhood. These tensions exist as the appealing characteristics at the boundary of a structure. The fact that these tensions operate around the greatest necessity of life, food and drink, perhaps heightens the arousing experience of these spaces. As living beings, depending on food to survive, we enter into these spaces in order to continue our existence. Despite certain fears or perceived aggressions, those foreign to a particular space or restaurant will continue to return to these ethnic restaurants because of the experience, taste, smell and sound waiting to be frenzied. Certain particularities about a space which affect fear, conjure a memory, or instil anxiety are often brought about intentionally by the people who control the space and control the features of the desire boundary. Mostly it is the people who inhabit these spaces, but if people control the spaces they occupy, the extent to which space has an impact on the visitor’s emotional existence is endless. Cultural demographic in itself is perhaps the reason why people avoid crossing the boundary of varied food traditions. Simultaneously it is precisely what a city is composed of. “, for culture continuously translates signs into other signs, and definitions into other definitions, words into icons, icons into ostensive signs, ostensive signs into new definitions, new definitions into propositional functions” (Eco, 1977:71)
Johannesburg in some light may drain the colour of the identities of its citizens owing to the claustrophobic meeting of cultures and harsh nature of city living conditions. Xenophobia, as another phenomenon of Johannesburg, is seen to be a manifest of this frustration, where citizens feel hatred for other cultures. There is a certain degree to which immigrants wish to lose their identities in the face of patrolling police, authorities and aggressive native citizens. Ethnic food and drink may thrust a foreign citizen from their perceived loss of identity and allow them a salvaged reminisce of home. Foreigners in Johannesburg often reside in the city as illegal immigrants searching for work and money but also longing for something by which to evoke their culture. The emblem and icon of a restaurant of this particular person’s tradition, relies on recognition, but
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simultaneously holds a tendency towards invisibility as a protective survival mechanism against perusing police or city council authorities. Restaurant owners are torn between identifying their restaurants and the endeavour to displace themselves in the surrounding fabric of a tightly woven, mixed cultured city.
Figure 5. Johannrsburg Mall. Signage and colour lessens towards more private space Figure 6. Photograph looking down from second floor to lower shopping levels taken lunchtime 28 October 2010
This line of enticement remains a paradox. Its function is seduction and it perhaps exists as the true envelope between street and restaurant, private and semi-private. It is constructed from signage and symbol, holding architectural existence, described as the visual noise, making up the street edge. This is the “desire� boundary because it begs the viewer to consume, announcing its own allure.
References:
Venturi, R, Brown, D. S, Izenour, S. 1977. Learning From Las Vegas. Cambridge, The MIT Press.
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References Alexander, C, Ishikawa, S, Silverstein, M. 1997. Pattern Language. New York, Oxford University Press. Buchler, J ed. 1940. The Philosophy of Pierce Selected Writings. Edinburgh, T. And A. Constable Ltd. The University Press. Borden, I, Ray, K. R. 2006. The Dissertation : An Architecture Students Handbook. Oxford, the Architectural Press. Murray and Shepherd and Hall. 2007. Desire Lines: Space, memory and identity in the postapartheid city. Abington: Routledge Barthes, R. 1977. Elements of Semiology Hill and Wang Eco, U. 1977. A Theory of Semiotics. UK, MacMillan Press Ltd Bremner, L, J. 1991. Published thesis in fulfilment for University of Witwatersand. Architectural Semiotics, A critical Assessment of the work of Diana Agrest and Mario Gandelsonas. Johannesburg
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ALTER – SPACE Caitlyn Manicom
A trip to Chinatown is a journey down Lewis Carol’s proverbial Rabbit Hole: The humble, low scale which is comfortable to the Chinese residents transforms their interiors, so that often as a Westerner, I must kneel to observe a plate of eats, or some other curiosity translated into a fetish through my misunderstanding of its context.
It is as a result of my foreign misreading of the diorama and my disproportioned self in space, that I perceive Chinatown as some sort of Wonderland. Suddenly I am capable of suspending my disbelief so that the perceived realities are no longer the only realities which exist but there are also the alternative realities of imagination, dreams, and myth.
Perhaps it is as a result of my foreign naivety that Chinatown is so steeped in the metaphysical. Lack of understanding forces me to apply my imagination: “flat iconography of consumerism and urban branding, […] leaves little room for embodied experience and reduces perception to a pure semiotics of detached and disinterested contemplation.” (Spuybroek, pg23)
My essay explores the adoption of ordinary space which is altered1, to the level of ‘altar2’ especially through a patina of tradition. It interests me that the same layouts of generic built-form can be reprogrammed so significantly by human contact, especially through desire lines3 in response to nationality.
Architecture has the capacity to transform needs and desires into space: “It can capture fleeting or insistent memories into tangible, buildable or unbuildable forms.” (Bastéa: 2004, pg 1) “Etched into their hardened fabrics of brick and stone, records of human interaction mark cities as sites of endurance as well as change. However societies may similarly guard and control their memories and the transmission of their histories; they invent traditions, imagine communities, and construct their sites of memory.”
Greig Crysler argues that notions of the city have changed radically through the processes of globalization. We can no longer talk of cities as ‘bounded domains’ but instead need to think of them as interconnected urban networks: “[T]he categories of nation, city, architecture and building cannot be understood as separate entities: they exist as simultaneous and overlapping conditions” (2003:1).
Globalisation has affected Johannesburg’s economy significantly; it is progressively reliant on mobile users: cross-border traders, although politically unaccountable, leave significant traces and make increasing demands on its infrastructure (Murray: 2007). Johannesburg has become a palimpsest of persisting desire lines of migratory practices; “onto apartheid’s already mobile world, other circuits, geographies and comings and goings have been mapped.” (Bremner: 2007b)
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Johannesburg is a city founded on the invisible flux of capital. The flows of globalisation and capitalism have amounted in the diaspora which has led to Chinatown. This concept of flow as addressed by Smith and Ballantyne (2010: 21-26) creates a ‘zone of indiscernability’ between and around things. Instead of looking for the clear outline that defines the form, one gives’ priority to the line that connects and relates systems such as cities, architecture and users: “it is the flows that make things work, the connections across boundaries into the world beyond the building over which we might aspire to have immediate control […] flux is the substrate of life and everything is developed from it […] Territory is extracted from flow.”
Bremner (2007b) also identifies the impact of the urban nomad, she describes the city as having been “transformed into a permanent frontier zone” with constantly shifting and redrawn boundaries creating a fluid and vitally coded world. “Home is not one place, but many, spread across multiple sites of mobile belonging.”
The advent of democracy in Johannesburg attributed to many white residents fleeing its borders or moving to the walled security estates in the northern suburbs. This uprooting left fragile voids and vacuums to be filled with new modes of urban life: new residents set up shop, new signage appeared, walls were and still are painted over, rebuilt or torn down, rearranging and redefining the city.
The city becomes a volatile assemblage of shifting alliances, synapses of association and mobile authority. “Navigating them requires familiarity with a multiplicity of overlapping territorial codes, and a finely tuned sense of what belongs to whom, who belongs where, at what time and for how long.” (Bremner: 2007b)
This in contrast to Albie Sachs, Justice of the Constitutional Court of South Africa’s description of his daily experience of arriving at his chambers in the new Constitutional Court building in Johannesburg: ‘I don’t feel I am a white man in a white area, or a white man in a black area. At last, I say, I am just a person going to work in a zone of South Africa that is both historically and imaginatively free’; in many ways Johannesburg is a series of heterogeneous national identities. Space is still ordered into a nomenclature4 of ethnic, national and class taxonomies at the same time as it is dispersed across far flung networks and trajectories.
Initially the Chinese community was founded on Commissioner Street in Central Johannesburg. However, the increasing crime in the area forced the community to seek new accommodation. Cyrildene, a previously Jewish Suburb, became the new Chinatown over the last decade.
Despite its attempt at emulating an exotic location, Chinatown resists its Chinese identity: it becomes a connection between places, rather than a refuge.
Derrick Avenue in Cyrildene is not “Chinese” enough for the newly dislocated residents, and it is too “Chinese” to be familiar to the Westerners who previously inhabited the neighbourhood.
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Chinatown in Cyrildene, like the apartheid urban layout which superseded it, constructs and consolidates a fluctuating, effervescent border zone for permanent occupation. Borders are not to be crossed but rather to be stayed in.
The way the community spills out into the street is not unlike the shared courtyard of the Hutong turned inside out. As a Westerner I feel like I have crossed a threshold but am not welcome on the other side.
Johannesburg buildings are mostly designed by developers with profit in mind. In many ways they are packages intended in some way to sell trade goods, and services and can be seen, more than generators of a human condition, as the bargaining pieces of a gigantic game, in which the whole city is the gaming board and all its inhabitants the players.
Despite the context of Johannesburg, and the modern capsule facades, spaces are ‘altered’ into portals to home, through ritual, smell, object, and people.
“Rather than being universally given to feel ‘at home’ in particular spaces or geometries, the individual produces what biologist and philosopher Francisco Varela calls a microidentity – a practised and ready-to-hand response that guides us through everyday actions and situations.” – (Spencer 2006: 17)
The most affected space seems more often to be engendered by female occupants. We become the voyeur into their manipulated territories converted into mise en scène stage settings, which lure in clients like octopus gardens.
Figure One: Dazibao
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“[M]embers of the mobile diasporic networks rely on varying levels of (in)visibility for their survival” (Bremner 2007a): a radically provisional assemblage of objects, spaces, persons and practices represent a collective rather than individual identity. In many instances the individual hides his identity for political and social reasons in the euphoria of his or her national identity.
The bakery on Derrick Avenue in Cyrildene typifies this reprogramming of space. The bakery inhabits a tiny shop-front in a modest modern building with residence above. (Figure one). The shop is invisible to the Westerner’s eye, camouflaged in the Dazibao5 that lines the façade. If found, its interior reveals a manipulation of space into a diorama of fetish objects and altered scale.
It reveals a reaction to containment one assumes is necessary in China where space is limitted: “The size of experiential space is not so much determined by its physical dimensions, but by our concrete experience of the quantity and quality of the events contained in it.” (Spuybroek pg 35)
The shop interior (figure two) has transformed itself into a dollhouse. The ceiling of SAP timber forms a ridge, so that one feels like they are in a Wendy house. Mirrors line the walls in an attempt to widen the parameters of the miniature shop; these are mostly hidden by colourful cake boxes, Bow-tie sweets, and cup cakes. Lucky bamboo, a clock and Chinese artwork line what is left of the walls, and an oversized elaborate lantern hanging in the centre dwarfs the space further. A Peking duck hangs in its vending machine masking the private area beyond (figure three). Figure Two: Diorama - Diaspora
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The children’s vending machine produced to lure children into gambling pocket money in the hope of retrieving junk to later be discarded is reprogrammed by the Chinese inhabitants into a functional preparation space. It is somewhat ironic that the stuffed synthetic fibre toys with ‘Made in China’ tags stitched to them have been replaced with more significant reminders of home- Peking ducks line the glass boxes as part of their preparation process.
“Once a work becomes abstracted from its original context, once it is treated in another manner, it changes its meaning. For to decontextualise a work is effectively to desemanticize it, and, by extension, to recontextualise it is to invest it with another meaning.” (Jameson: pg 23)
The hyper-mixed-use space of the vending machine, like the shop front of Cyrildene is transformed by polynization and fetishism when adopted by other cultures, which create unique ‘new worlds’ for the objects to exist in.
“The city has developed into a montage of ideological fragments. “A staging of identity with urban elements being displayed, decontextualised, and transformed into pure decoration.” (Bastéa: 2004, pg 72)
The bakery like the vending machine acts as a contained unit of lit objects, intended to entice a client. Each space is guarded. The vending machine requires the manipulation of a sterile mechanism to retrieve a prize, and while the bakery allows us a glimpse into another world, it is equally impenetrable.
Entities that people still hold precious and that aren’t to be shared by others interest me – fetish objects that may appear mundane, banal or unimportant by some ‘tribes’: are important to others.
One wonders if the same thrill a Western child receives at the proposition of a gamble, and the practise of manipulating a metal hand to retrieve an object of little significance, is equally endearing for an Eastern child. What is it about the vending machine that creates such a thrill for the infant? Is it the lit objects, the metal hand that obscures the desire line, or the bright branding that sits at a liliputan’s eye level, hiding the mechanics of the ‘magic machine’.
“In a culture where capitalism absorbs our heritage into the framework of commodified tourist “experiences”, the line between authenticity and inauthenticity becomes somewhat blurred.” (Leach 1999)
Diaspora has brought out the indomitable human spirit. It is not commonplace to prepare duck in South Africa, and the weather does not permit the drying of the delicacy, this has forced an ingenious manipulation of the found object. The reprogrammed vending machine becomes a significant intersection of networks, and the emblem of a misplaced community.
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“[S]tasis and mobility, the formal and the informal, closure and openness, the bordered and the borderless, the real and the imaginary exist not so much as distinct opposites, but as the blurred and overlapping poles of continua constantly undergoing shifts and realignments.” (Bremner: 2007b
The vending machines are hardly acknowledged by the community (figure four). They are mostly tolerated obstacles that obstruct paths between shops; yet they are the inhabitants’ totems to Asia. They are also constant reminders of the situation of not quite belonging: the adoption of the generic object is undeniably a temporary solution. Occupation of the apartments and shop fronts on Derrick is equally ephemeral.
While the Mandarin text that lines the boundaries of the streets is reduced to hieroglyphics in my ciliary function6, the wording on the vending machine is plainly legible: “HAPPY CRANE” is framed by a scattering of Hansel and Gretel gingerbread houses attempting to illustrate utopia: an ironic attempt at selling the joyride. The ‘cranes’ within do not look so “happy” as they sway in the heat.
The hanging ducks assume their new context as superficially as the Chinese residents; if they are exemplars of the community then what they are saying is formidable. They emulate how slowly but inexorably, local traditions are diluted in a global market.
Chinatown is a patina of desire lines, which have subconsciously reprogrammed Cyrildene with the precise repetition of the same gestures. The generic forms on Derrick Avenue have allowed its alteration to both port and portal. The Asian inhabitants have subconsciously altered the avenue revealing the commonplace semiotics of a diluted home. The Western visitor glimpses an exotic, and impenetrable other world.
Figure Three: Happy Crane
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Figure Four
NOTES 1) Alter: transitive verb \ˈȯl-tər\. 1. to make different in some particular, as size, style, course, or the like; modify: to alter a coat; to alter a will; to alter course. 2. to change; become different or modified. (www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/alter)
2) Altar noun, often attributive \ˈȯl-tər\ 1. a usually raised structure or place on which sacrifices are offered or incense is burned in worship —often used figuratively to describe a thing given great or undue precedence or value especially at the cost of something else 2. (in a dry dock) a ledge for supporting the feet of shorings (www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/altar)
3) Desire lines: an informal path that pedestrians prefer to take to get from one location to another rather than using a sidewalk or official route) indicate the space between the planned and the providential, the engineered and the ‘lived’ and between official projects of capture and containment and the popular energies which subvert, bypass, supersede and evade them. (Murray and Shepherd and Hall 2007: 1)
4) Nomenclature: ˈnoʊ mənˌkleɪ tʃər, noʊˈmɛn klə tʃər, -ˌtʃʊər –noun 1. a set or system of names or terms, as those used in a particular science or art, by an individual or community, etc. 2. the names or terms comprising a set or system. (dictionary.reference.com/browse/nomenclature)
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5) Dazibao: From Mandarin trad. 大字報, simpl. 大字报 (pinyin: dàzìbào) (big-character poster) (en.wiktionary. org/wiki/dazibao)
6) Ciliary Function: The ciliary muscle reproduces the effect of a lens and allows the eye to focus or blur vision. (Diller and Scofidio: 2007)
References
Barbery, M. (2008) ‘The Elegance of the Hedgehog’ CPI Bookmarque, Croydon Bremner, L. (2007a) ‘Memory, Nation Building and the Post-Apartheid City’ in Murray, Shepherd and Hall ‘Desire Lines: Space, Memory and Identity in the Post-Apartheid City’, Abington: Routledge Bremner, L. (2007b) ‘Living in the Ruins of Apartheid’, Architectural Review, Vol. 221, Issue 1324 Bastéa (2004). ‘Memory and Architecture’. University of New Mexico Press, USA Borden, B. and Rendell, J. (2000) ‘InterSections: Architectural Histories and Critical Theories’ London and New York: Routledge Chatwin, B. (1987) ‘Songlines’ New York: Viking Crysler, G. (2003) ‘Writing Spaces: Discources of Architecture’, Urbanism and the Built environment, 19602000, London: Routledge Diller and Scofidio (2007) Diller + Scofidio (+ Renfro), the ciliary function : works and projects, 1979-2007. Guido Incerti, Daria Ricchi, Deane Simpson ; preface by Reinhold Martin, Milano : Skira Gardner, M. (1965) ‘The Annotated Alice’ U.S.A. Penguin Books Leach, N. (1999) ‘The Anaesthetics of Architecture’ Cambridge, Mass. : MIT Mudimbe (1994) ‘The Idea of Africa’, Bloomington: Indiana University Press Murray and Shepherd and Hall (2007) ‘Desire Lines: Space, memory and identity in the post-apartheid city’, Abington: Routledge Patel, P. (2000) ‘Interface for identities’ Dissertation (B.Sc.) Architecture: University Witwatersrand Smith and Ballantyne (2010) ‘Flow architecture, object and Relation’ ARQ: Architectural Research Quarterly Cambridge University Press, United Kingdom Spencer, D. (2006) ‘When a Moving Body Meets a New Formation’ AA files Vol:53 UK Stickells, L. (2010) ‘Conceiving an Architecture of Movement’ ARQ: Architectural Research Quarterly Cambridge University Press, United Kingdom Toffah, T. (2008) ‘Urban Continuum: a Third Typology in Fordsburg’, Johannesburg: University of the Witwatersrand Author unknown [Sa] dictionary.reference.com/browse/nomenclature Accessed 21/10/2010 Author unknown [Sa] en.wiktionary.org/wiki/dazibao Accessed 21/10/2010
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