Arch 714
sa
IAN MILEY
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JOBURG 2018 + 48HRS + 48DYS + 48YRS
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IN AN EXCEEDINGLY URBANIZING WORLD THE OPERATION OF INDIVIDUALS WITH OTHERS THAT ARE UNLIKE THEMSELVES BECOMES EVER MORE A NECESSITY. THIS IS ESPECIALLY TRUE IN CITIES THAT ARE THE POINTS OF ARRIVAL FOR POPULATIONS THAT ARE COMING FROM OTHER COUNTRIES, RURAL HOMES, AND OTHER SMALLER URBAN ENVIRONMENTS. THE ROLE OF MANY DESIGNERS, AS THIS URBANIZING TREND CONTINUES, WILL REVOLVE AROUND DESIGNING URBAN ENVIRONMENT, SYSTEMS, AND POLICIES THAT CREATE A MORE HOSPITABLE PLACE FOR THOSE THAT ARE NEW TO A PARTICULAR URBAN ENVIRONMENT. IN JOHANNESBURG THIS IS ESPECIALLY THE CASE. IT HAS BEEN AN ARRIVAL CITY AND CONTINUES TO BE REGARDLESS OF THE ADMINISTRATION THAT CURRENTLY HELMS IT. TO THIS ENDEAVOR MY PROJECT WORKS IN LINE TO FOSTER JOBURG’S FUTURE BY GROWING ITS CAPACITY AS A PLACE FOR MIGRANTS AND TRANSIENTS. _IAN MILEY
PHILOSOPHY AND READING
06
Fostering Migrant and Transient Economies
22
Reading Downtown Joburgs Place
LANDING, INTEGRATION, OPERATION, SETTLING
34
48hrs, 48dys, 48yrs
38
Balancing Adaptation and Critical Mass
56
Johannesburg’s Threshold
60
Footholds for Landing
70
Timelines and Stories
76
Reflecting on a Design as a Foreigner
DESIGNER OUT OF CONTEXT
contents and path
CONTENTS
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Philosophy and Reading IMPRESSIONS + IDEALS + RESEARCH
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Fostering Migrant and Transient Economies INTERSTITIAL TIME AND LANDING IN JOBURG
Above: Inside Newtown-Zimbabwe Bus Terminus
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Fostering Migrant and Transient Economies INTERSTITIAL TIME AND LANDING IN JOBURG
Above: Fordsburg Open Market of Small Businesses
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Fostering Migrant and Transient Economies INTERSTITIAL TIME AND LANDING IN JOBURG
Above: Valuable Natural Space within the Newtown Area
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The cross-border traders and migrants that circulate through the Newtown-Zimbabwe bus terminus illustrate the macro trend of impermanence within Johannesburg’s downtown. Joburg is a point of arrival for many, and quality design in and around the points of entry must aspire to accommodate the people migrating to Johannesburg or trading within it. Not that the design gives things to individuals but instead is capable of being leveraged upon landing. The legibility of the urban landscape and the investment in the public good it provides allow the right of the city to be extend to individuals that would not typically be considered qualified to receive such rights. Migrants and transient traders are individuals placed in the margins of many our cities. Placed as such due to nationalistic fear or through bureaucratic machinations. Regardless of how they are treated, these uprooted individuals will operate to the best or their abilities and means to make a better life for themselves and their families. Why cant this effort be idealized and seen as a contributing factor to the development of our cities? If told that a citizen of a city was working to start a small business that contributed to the economic growth of a city they would be lauded for their tenacity and contributions. They operate as a city might define as a model economic citizen. The implicit understanding being that as individuals seek to better themselves by providing services or selling goods to other city residents they contribute to the city through taxes, by adding another facet of diversity to the landscape, and the multi-generational development of a city. This logic of the benefits of fine-grain economic development is present in much city policy and is the driving factor behind many city and region economic development plans. Plans that dictate urban design strategies just as much as any city 2050 plan. This logic of mutually beneficial development that designers and cities use to justify maneuvers that foster small business can and should extend to migrants and transient trader populations. The economic benefits from fostering a large migrant population within a city are easy to understand as, despite the typical xenophobic sentiment
Fostering Migrant and Transient Economies
Left: Vertically Adapted Building in Johannesburg
MUTUALLY BENEFICIAL DEVELOPMENT
Understanding Migrants and Margins
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sent their way, migrants do not operate in manner exceptionally different than established citizenry. If anything they operate more frequently as a model economic citizen than the current citizenry of a country. They immigrate to a city, such as Johannesburg, to grow economically to benefit themselves and family. They often work for a business or start their own. Thus operating within the parameters of being a model economic citizen by contributing to the economic development of a multi-faceted and constitutive urbanity. The transient trader however is a subject that is more complicated to classify when it comes to the long and short term benefits of their business. Within the short term it is plain to see that a city like Johannesburg can benefit from a revolving door of traders. If the city begins to see them in the same light that they see tourist and the arrive, spend, and leave business that they bring. The main difference being that traders operate on a continual cycle unlike tourist who may come once and leave. To capture this cycle of individuals the city must extend the same welcome that they give tourists to traders. Operating on the long term, benefits of traders moving in-between countries becomes less explicit and larger in scope. The approach a city and country takes to transients is reflective of the manner in which a country and city conducts its foreign relations. The long term benefits of a Zimbabwean trader moving goods from Johannesburg to Harare are not felt by neither Johannesburg nor South Africa. Instead, citizens of Zimbabwe, and by extension Zimbabwe as a nation, benefit from this trader’s movements. Through immediate trade and the multigenerational effects of this trade Zimbabwe is bettered. But is this necessarily to the detriment of South Africans? The elevation of a neighboring country through mutually beneficial engagement strengthens ties between countries and leads to growth as a region. Though at the scale of the individual, the micro-transactions that occur across borders leads to regional development that is diverse and more resilient due to it not being reliant on a singular mode of operation. To
Fostering Migrant and Transient Economies
Left: Emergent Adaptation within a Top-Down Design
MUTUALLY BENEFICIAL DEVELOPMENT
Understanding Migrants and Margins
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How does a city begin to operate and design itself in such a way to enable these individuals to operate more effectively and find their place within a city? How does a cities design extend the right to the city? Outside of the policy aspects of city management and development, the physical design of the city can help migrants operate at different modes of operation and levels of personal invest in the city. It does such by creating a leveragable urban space as well as fostering networks of trust, business, and socialization. Primarily these modes of operation consist of landing, operating, integrating, and settling. Landing is a difficult first step and much of the difficulty comes at the entry into networks as well as the legibility of the urban environment. Entry into networks of trust and business come out the needs associated with survival. Trust networks being ones that allow you find your way through the city, tapping into these networks is a way of translating the city when you are new to its language. Relying on others to play the role of translator for you. These networks can be developed by the development of space within the city that contains a critical mass of interaction as well as a high level of urban legibility to fill gaps that get lost in translation. Operating in the city as a migrant is fostered under the same logistics that current citizens would operate. Within Johannesburg this most reliant on movement and interaction as a means of operating. The circulation of labor, goods, and service are the lifeblood of working in Johannesburg. This circulation occurs through interactions as well as actual physical movement. Thus, fostering this movement comes in the investment in both public and shared transit. The freedom of movement that comes with quality transit allows an individual to operate without the burden of being previously established within the city. Integrating as an act is a development that propagates not just from the migrant or trader but is a mutual act between the new individual and the
Fostering Migrant and Transient Economies
Left: Underused Margins of the Newtown Area
MUTUALLY BENEFICIAL DEVELOPMENT
Understanding Migrants and Margins
Ian Miley
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established individuals. The relationship between the two parties must be made explicit for integration to be fostered. The major obstacle of integration with one another is xenophobia on the part of both parties. Fear of someone foreign to you, whether they be foreign to the country or simply foreign to one another as individuals. Trust develops through repeated interaction and to foster this urban form that allows for small acts of relationship building. Settling comes in different forms due to the circumstances that a new arrival carries with them. Settling is maintained at the longest timescale. Settling however begins from the first days of arriving and happens contemporaneously to the other modes of operation. The act of settling is establishing space within the city that one can claim. Then the growth because of the rootedness that comes with claiming space within a city. Because of the different forms that settling can take urban form must have the capacity to allow individuals at different means plug into it. Having a rich, fine-grain fabric to systems of ownership and residence allows the individual coming to Johannesburg with meager means to come and settle just the same as the individual that comes with more moderate means. When designed to facilitate these modes, a city can craft a future around the development of migrants, traders, and locals. Mutually beneficial development at the scale of the individual and at the scale of the nation. At the level of the district and neighborhood, implications of building form and public space begin to play a nascent role to the everyday life and modes people go through to make it in Joburg. The following is an investigation into the possibility of what that may look like and how does that coordinate itself. It investigates questions of how an individual changes spaces to suit their needs as the claim space? How is citizenry represented through urban form? In what ways does a city help or hinder the development of networks? What does it mean to settle in a new place?
Fostering Migrant and Transient Economies
Left: Established Fabric Store in Downtown Joburg
MUTUALLY BENEFICIAL DEVELOPMENT
Understanding Migrants and Margins
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Fostering Migrant and Transient Economies MUTUALLY BENEFICIAL DEVELOPMENT
Above: Vibrant Heritage of Trade and Migrant Culture
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Beyond initial impressions and understanding of migrants and traders within the city of Johannesburg, the facts behind them are staggering. Their presence and Johannesburg’s acknowledgment of the issues revolving around migration are not addressed. Given the magnitude of migration to Johannesburg that it is clear to see that these issues cannot go unresolved. The demographics in Johannesburg are continually moving in the direction of no longer being the minority but instead towards a majority. The historical context of such a paradigm change is not unprecedented within Johannesburg. In the same manner as the English speaking immigrants coming to Johannesburg to make their fortunes, migrants from Sub-Saharan Africa again come to Johannesburg to ďŹ nd their fortune. This round in the cycle however the landscape is not being exploited but instead being enriched by the presence of these new arrivals.
Reading Downtown Joburg’s Place
Left: Context Map
FROM THE GLOBE TO THE PERSON
Reading Africa, Johannesburg, and Newtown
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Above: Migration Routes with Intensities
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Above: Trade Routes with Intensities
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Bringing it out to the regional level the concept developed that downtown Johannesburg was poised to be the Intra-African Trade and Migrant Center within the area. Operating distinct from the different roles that other nodes in the region play. Sandton being the ďŹ nance center of the area, Rosebank being the entertainment center, and Soweto being the point of development for a rising middle class. Being such downtown has not only the capacity but also the means to gear itself for this economy, but it is not without its issue to face before becoming such a center.
Reading Downtown Joburg’s Place
Left: Regional Role Diagram
FROM THE GLOBE TO THE PERSON
Research and Regional Context
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Above: Issues and Assets Addressed
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Above: Diagrammatic Operation of Individuals
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Ishmael
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“I come to buy the jean, it is cheap. That is why I come here to buy the jean” -Trader from Malawi
Seeklima “Because of police raids and criminal activity, I’m worried my business will get quiet” -Migrant Shop Owner from Ethiopia
solomont “I feel they don’t want me here, but I don’t have a choice” -Migrant from Cameroon
ANai “I left Bulawayo because my cousin say I can learn here and get my children in a good school” -Migrant Mother from Zimbabwe
Above: Migrant Accounts from Around Downtown Joburg
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LANDING_INTEGRATION_OPERATION_SETTLING
DESIGN + APPROACH + PROJECTION
JOBURG + 48HRS, 48 DYS, 48 YRS Ian Miley
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48 HRS TO 48 DYS TO 48 YRS IN Downtown Joburg VISION Being one of these points of entry, the Newtown and Fordsburg area will be a neighborhood of MIGRANTS AND TRADERS that allows for the gradual rise in social and economic status. The area will adapt its existing excess built capacity to create DIVERSE RESIDENTIAL AND BUSINESS FOOTHOLDS, places of education, integration, and cultural retention for migrants. While expanding its immediate capacity it will also enhance the economic operations of cross-border traders.
DOWNTOWN JOHANNESBURG WILL FOSTER LANDING, INTEGRATION, OPERATION, AND SETTLING regardless if an individual has been here 48 hours, 48 days, or 48 years. By facilitating these individuals Joburg will ďŹ nd its future as the
CENTER FOR INTRA-AFRICAN TRADE AND MIGRATION IN SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA.
48hrs, 48dys, 48yrs
LANDING, INTEGRATING, OPERATING, AND SETTLING
DESIGN PRINCIPLES EASE OF TRADING AND MOVEMENT Allow traders to move, buy, and sell goods with ease without fear of crime or theft on the part of law enforcement or otherwise.
EXPAND MULTIPROVIDE FOOTHOLDS MODALITY OF FOR LANDING RESIDENTS Provide small business Build upon the existing and residential means of transit footholds for incoming locally, regionally, migrants and current and internationally to residents within the provide freedom of space of Newtown. movement.
DIVERSE HOUSING LOCAL AND FOREIGN EDUCATION WITHOUT ASSIMILATION OPTIONS INTEGRATION Create places of Create a gradation of Provides means of housing options that mixing and engagement local education while creating place that allows for the retention between traders, allow for retention of of residents as they migrants, and existing residents to facilitate home culture. develop their status. social integration.
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48hrs, 48dys, 48yrs LANDING, INTEGRATING, OPERATING, AND SETTLING
Above: 2050 Vision Collage
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The framework that developed in the Newtown and Fordsburg area balances the adaptation of the existing landscape and the critical mass that can be developed through new development. The overall operation picking up speed by developments that are initiated on the part of government by strategic moves such as developing transit points in the area, publicly incentive housing, and adaptation of existing public buildings. This initial move allows for the private market to take interest in the development of the area due to the inlaid infrastructure and city gearing.
Balancing Adaptation and Critical Mass
Left: Framework Plan
LANDING, INTEGRATING, OPERATING, AND SETTLING
Developing a Framework of Strategies
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2019-2021
2020-2021
2020-2025
City adapts existing establishments into language schools, migrant services, home services, and adult learning centers.
BRT lines are continued west to Fordsburgg and N-S within the Newtown area.
Westgate transport p and logistics g interchange g creates a threshold for Johannesburgg for migrants and g cross-border traders. d
20 20 The ďŹ rst step in the reorientation of the area comes with the initial step from the government adapting its existing buildings and local institutions to cater to the individuals migrating or trading within Johannesburg. In the framework this includes expanding the family court building to give services such as immigration services. The JDA can easily be adapted to become a place of home placement and gear its services towards the development of the area. Finally the current Newtown-Zimbabwe can slowly be adapted to be a recreation center as other transit options become available.
Balancing Adaptation and Critical Mass
Left: Adapting Civic Institutions Below: JDA Adaption Sketch
LANDING, INTEGRATING, OPERATING, AND SETTLING
Creating a Threshold to the City
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2019-2021 20
2020-2021
2020-2025
Cityy adapts p existing establishments into establishme language g g sschools, services, migrant g se services, and home servic adult llearning ccenters.
BRT lines are continued west to Fordsburg and N-S within the Newtown area.
Westgate transport and logistics interchange creates a threshold for Johannesburg for migrants and cross-border traders.
Balancing Adaptation and Critical Mass
Left: Creating a Coupled Transit Center Below: Transit Interchange Sketch
LANDING, INTEGRATING, OPERATING, AND SETTLING
Creating a Threshold to the City
30
20 20
The major installment of the development is the Westgate Transit Interchange that will be developed. It will couple international buses, local taxis, freight trains, metro rail trains, Rea Vaya BRT, and taxis geared towards goods movement. This is meant to be the catalyst for the reorientation of the city. It also would be coupled with space for retail and residential space so as to enliven the space 24/7. The area would also be integrated with natural spaces that are already present within the area.
Ian Miley
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2019-2021 2019
2020-2021
2020-2025
Cityy adapts p ex existing establishments into establishment schools, language g g sc migrant g services, ser home services, service and learning adult lea centers. ce
BRT lines are continued west to Fordsburg and N-S within the Newtown area.
Westgate transport p and logistics g interchange g creates a threshold for Johannesburgg for migrants and g cross-border traders. d
Balancing Adaptation and Critical Mass
Left: Creating Corridors Below: Transit Corridor Sketch
LANDING, INTEGRATING, OPERATING, AND SETTLING
Creating a Threshold to the City
30
20 20
As the surrounding area develops around the transit area the neighborhood to the north must be connected south to the transit center. This achieved by connecting it via BRT and making the corridors to the south more pedestrian friendly. These strategies would include the extension of sidewalks, increasing lighting, and the development along these corridors. This N-S movement would be crossed by similar corridors moving E-W that would connect the development and neighborhood back to the downtown core of Johannesburg.
Ian Miley
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2020-2025
2025-2032
Westgate transport p and logistics g interchange g creates a threshold for Johannesburgg for migrants g and cross-border traders. d
A network of public spaces and natural spaces are developed to revitalize investment within the Newtown area.
20 30 To incentive investment and increase the quality of life within the area the development of the public spaces that can be programmed are invested. These public spaces are then connected as a network of public spaces. The major spaces that are involved are the green spaces integrated into the transit interchange as well expansion of the recreation center into the area currently known as Sugga Place.
Balancing Adaptation and Critical Mass
Left: Developing Public Space Below: Sugga Place Public Space Sketch
LANDING, INTEGRATING, OPERATING, AND SETTLING
Creating a Threshold to the City
Ian Miley
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2025-2032
2028-2038
A network of public spaces and natural spaces are developed to revitalize investment within the Newtown area.
Housing and mixed use development occurs adjacent to the Westgate Transit Interchange.
20 30 Near the transit interchange major redevelopment of the existing warehouses into mixed-use developments that incorporate residential, retail, small-scale production, and accommodation for passing traders. Also developed would be the small scale public spaces that are integrated with the buildings but also blur the public and private. Also within these is the ability to cross the block at the mid-block through interior retail streets.
Balancing Adaptation and Critical Mass
Left: Developing Mixed-use Typologies Below: Development Sketch
LANDING, INTEGRATING, OPERATING, AND SETTLING
Creating a Threshold to the City
Ian Miley
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2028-2038
2036-2042
2042
Housingg and mixed use development p occurs adjacent j to the Westgate g Transit Interchange.
Infill and adaptive reuse of excess capacity of the built area in Newtown to solidify N-S corridors with retail, production, and residential
Creation of schools and c for inter-af trade cente establishe further educ and larger g t
20 40 Accompanying the development in conjunction with the development that is occurring near the transit interchange, along the corridors with BRT lines smaller scale interventions will occur at a variety of scales. Consist through out this will predominately be residential, retail, and small production. The objective of this being that there are a gradation of residential spaces that allow for a mix of incomes and socioeconomic lifestyles.
Balancing Adaptation and Critical Mass
Left: Creating a Gradation of Footholds Below: Foothold Sketch
LANDING, INTEGRATING, OPERATING, AND SETTLING
Creating a Threshold to the City
Ian Miley
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2028-2038
2036-2042
2042
Housingg and mixed use development p occurs adjacent j to the Westgate g Transit Interchange.
Infill and adaptive reuse of excess capacity of the built area in Newtown to solidify N-S corridors with retail, production, and residential
Creation of schools and c for inter-af trade cente establishe further educ and larger g t
20 40 As the community develops and the economy in Johannesburg becomes more orientated towards trade and the way the city embraces migrants. The necessity for the economy to produce its own goods will develop. To ďŹ t this niche, the underused capacity within the northern areas warehouses can be adapted to be used for small to medium scale production that is paired with residential areas in a shop-house style.
Balancing Adaptation and Critical Mass
Left: Creating Production Spaces Below: Production Sketch
LANDING, INTEGRATING, OPERATING, AND SETTLING
Creating a Threshold to the City
Ian Miley
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2036-2042
2042-2046
2035-FWD
Infill and adaptive p reuse of excess capacity p y of the built area in Newtown to solidifyy N-S corridors with retail,, production, production,, and residential
Creation of TVET schools and center for inter-african trade center are established for further education and larger scale trade.
Housingg and urban environment are continuallyy adapted p byy users to meet user and future needs
20 50
20 40
The development of the community is also developed through the communities institutions. Chief amongst these is the development of a TVET campus to educate individuals in future manufacturing, development, and mechanic strategies. Also developed would be the Center for IntraAfrican Trade that would house uses from the ofďŹ ce of internal affairs and a branch of the African Union. Such institutions not only establish anchor presence within the neighborhood but I also develops the residents of the neighborhood in place.
Balancing Adaptation and Critical Mass
Left: Creating New Civic Anchors Below: Civic Anchor Sketch
LANDING, INTEGRATING, OPERATING, AND SETTLING
Creating a Threshold to the City
Ian Miley
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Johannesburg’s Threshold
CREATING A PLACE FOR THE CITIES FUTURE POPULATION The center of focus was the area around the Transit interchange was chosen as it is a place that is coupling multiple functions and uses. The parcelization of the area is geared towards creating small scale development opportunities as well as large opportunities. The organization of the area also geared to facilitate trade and local commerce along an E-W axis along Anderson street. The space connects the regional buses, taxis, and international bus service. The overall goal being that upon landing a migrant or trader can immediately access the city and its networks. Above: District Plan
Refuge hostel for critical new migrants Overow pedestrian thoroughfare
Internal trade street for small businesses
JOBURG + 48HRS, 48 DYS, 48 YRS
Taxi loading and unloading area
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Bus terminus and integrated landing point
Linear Student residences
TVET and digital production college
Interstitial market space
Vegetated green roof over bus and logistics hub Westgate international bus arrival point
Overflow for metro bus ranks
Flexible street trading colonnade Metro Rail Station from Soweto
Point of arrival for freight goods and supplies
The Westgate Transit Interchange’s multifaceted operation relies on the coordination of multiple forms of movement and the development that occurs as a result of its presence. This critical mass brings a large amount of population to the area. It is then integrated with a diverse variety of footholds, both residential and business. These allow for landing and growing in place by offering places for people to be accommodated in places that are commensurate to the economic status they are arriving at.
Above: Annotated District Plan
Johannesburg’s Threshold
Taxi rank for movement of goods and logistics
CREATING A PLACE FOR THE CITIES FUTURE POPULATION
Diverse foothold block for integration
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Flexible residential space Integrated and exible semi-public space Renovated warehouse space for retail and service Renovated warehouse space Ground Floor Retail
Flexible street trading colonnade Covered walkway around perimeter to blend pub-priv. Lower international bus entry Logistics hub
Landing residential space Temporary accommodations for traders and migrants Flexible street trading colonnade Covered walkway around perimeter to blend pub-priv.
The typologies within the district area are orchestrated to offer a variety of foothold sizes for landing while also balancing a mix of uses. The most prevalent typologies is a tower from 8-10 stories with a podium that lends itself to expandable retail and manufacturing spaces. Within the area near the transit interchange a series of typologies form a cohesive complex. It integrates itself with the public realm and the adaptable series of columns.
FOOTHOLDS FOR LANDING
Left Opposite: District Axons Top Facing: Mixed Foothold Typology Middle Facing: Bus Terminus Typology Below Facing: Ancillary Transit Residential Typology
DEVELOPING A GRADIENT OF PLACE
Block Typologies
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Refuge apartments Small to medium scale production space Shop-House residential space
Medium scale retail space
Linear student dormitories Maker space for TVET studies and production Small service shops ran by students
The typologies within the district area are orchestrated to offer a variety of foothold sizes for landing while also balancing a mix of uses. One of which is a block designed to be a refuge for individuals that will integrate them with locals and fellow migrants in attempt to create a safe space upon landing in Johannesburg. Paired with this is a typology that buffers the previous type by a series of students housings.
FOOTHOLDS FOR LANDING
Left Opposite: District Axons Top Facing: Refuge Typology Bottom Facing: Student Housing Typology
DEVELOPING A GRADIENT OF PLACE
Creating a Threshold to the City
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FOOTHOLDS FOR LANDING
DEVELOPING A GRADIENT OF PLACE
At the level of detail modularity and territory become a paramount for bringing the concepts at higher levels to bare. By the coordination of paving material and the creation of a series of columns, territory can be demarcated in a legible manner. This modularity scales up to encompass the way in which stores are created and the kiosks made available. This spectrum of spaces allow for a diversity of retail spaces as businesses grow and develop.
Above: Detail Plan
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FOOTHOLDS FOR LANDING DEVELOPING A GRADIENT OF PLACE
Above: E-W Section
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FOOTHOLDS FOR LANDING
Above: N-S Section
DEVELOPING A GRADIENT OF PLACE
The presence and development of the street as a public space was critical for the integration and normalization of traders and migrants within the city. As such the blending of the street with the buildings was a strategy deployed that would allow business to occur on the street, for individuals to interact within the street, and for new arrivals to be immediately engaged with the pulse and vibrancy of the city. This also is influenced by the diversity that occurs within the buildings themselves. As such buildings will be made to be flexible and adaptable to suit future growth and needs.
Danai (Trader)
2019
2020
Danai and her group begins trading school uniforms by bringing them back to Harare to sell them at a premium.
Danai moves up her shipment sizes because she can move more on the new BRT lines.
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2019-2021
2020-2021
City adapts existing establishments into language schools, migrant services, home services, and adult learning centers.
BRT lines are continued west to Fordsburg and N-S within the Newtown area.
20 20
JOBURG + 48HRS, 48 DYS, 48 YRS
Avg Stay: 48hrs
Thandiwe (S. African)
Thandiwe loses job as a young attendant at a local gas station. He enters work in the wholesalers in Newtown. 2019
Armando (Migrant)
2031
Danai receives a trader’s visa from the new home affairs building. This allows here ability to move freely and trade a preferred rate
Avg Stay: 72hrs
Avg Stay: 96hrs
2020-2025
2025-2032
Westgate transport and logistics interchange creates a threshold for Johannesburg for migrants and cross-border traders.
A network of public spaces and natural spaces are developed to revitalize investment within the Newtown area.
20 30
Thandiwe now works moving goods between downtown and the Westgate Interchange as a porter within a network of traders.
Thandiwe meets someone and they start a family. He finds new housing in the Newtown area in the adapted housing.
2025
2028
Armando moves from Mozambique to help him and his family to get by better as he had little oppurtunity back home.
Armando begins fixing taxi’s around Westgate as a mechanic fixing minor mechanical issues and learning as he goes.
2027
2030
Above: Project Timeline and Character Lifelines
TIMELINES AND STORIES
2029
Danai’s network expand out by meeting people in the new trader and migrant public plazas.
PROJECTING ACTORS AND THEIR PATH
2025
Danai and her crew begin having their goods moved directly from new rail connection to her bus returning home.
029
n and
2031
2036
Danai receives a traderâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s visa from the new home affairs building. This allows here ability to move freely and trade a preferred rate
Danai rents a small apartment in Joburg where she stays when she is in town.
Avg Stay: 5dys
2025-2032
2028-2038
A network of public spaces and natural spaces are developed to revitalize investment within the Newtown area.
Housing and mixed use development occurs adjacent to the Westgate Transit Interchange.
20 40
JOBURG + 48HRS, 48 DYS, 48 YRS
Avg Stay: 96hrs
Ian Miley
76 Thandiwe takes his son to play football and meets Armando through their sons. Armando offers him a job in his small mechanic shop. 2035
Armando begins fixing taxiâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s around Westgate as a mechanic fixing minor mechanical issues and learning as he goes.
Armando rents a small shop space near the Westgate Interchange but is looking to expand as his business is growing.
2030
2034
Armando and Thandiwe become business partners expanding their shop to offer more services such as design production. 2039
2036-2042
2042-2046
2035-FWD
Infill and adaptive reuse of excess capacity of the built area in Newtown to solidify N-S corridors with retail, production, and residential
Creation of TVET schools and center for inter-african trade center are established for further education and larger scale trade.
Housing and urban environment are continually adapted by users to meet user and future needs
20 50
Thandiwe sends his son to the new TVET school in the neighborhood. There he learns energy efficient car design.
Thandiwe’s son takes over the mechanic’s shop and expand its business into intelligent car services.
2042
2048
Armando is able to retire and sell his portion of the business to Thandiwe and their sons. 2045
Above: Project Timeline and Character Lifelines
TIMELINES AND STORIES
Avg Stay: 10dys
PROJECTING ACTORS AND THEIR PATH
2046
Danai is able to send her childeren to University of Zimbabwe on the money she made trading in Joburg’s markets.
Ian Miley
78 JOBURG + 48HRS, 48 DYS, 48 YRS
Designer OUT OF CONTEXT
ROLE + INTERACTION + PROCESS
JOBURG + 48HRS, 48 DYS, 48 YRS Ian Miley
80
Despite the dedication and care put forth to understand the context in which I was designing for in Johannesburg, the questions continued to arise within my personal understanding of my role as a designer. Can a designer enter into a community they know little to nothing about and design in a sensitive and appropriate way? Can a handful of weeks of touring and research be enough exposure to pick apart how a place works? Is it the place of designer to â&#x20AC;&#x153;fixâ&#x20AC;? a communities issues? Should I be designing in a place Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m foreign to? These reflection continued to be pertinent even after the design came to a close, and are arguably more important than the designs and projections put forth. In the closing pages of this document I reflect on some these questions in an attempt to understand my role as a designer out of context.
Reflecting on a Design as a Foreigner
UNDERSTANDING FOREIGN CONTEXTS
UNDERSTANDING A DESIGNERS ROLE Above: Our Group Enters Alexandra Township
JOBURG + 48HRS, 48 DYS, 48 YRS Ian Miley
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Can a designer enter into a community they know little to nothing about and design in a sensitive and appropriate way? This was the central question I asked as I worked through this summer. I found that the answer is no. Yes could a designer engage in designing without knowing a community but this design would be divorced from the reality of peoples lives. The reality is that even when a designer is coming into a community she/he knows marginally they are going to do something insensitive in their design. Engaging in sensitivity is an ideal that can continually be approached with more and more engagement within the community. Where the engagement comes in is the rootedness of the designer within that community. Is the designer also affected by the design? This question is key for a designer to approach an appropriate design with the community.
Reflecting on a Design as a Foreigner UNDERSTANDING FOREIGN CONTEXTS
Above: Engaging with Local Habits
JOBURG + 48HRS, 48 DYS, 48 YRS Ian Miley
84
Can a handful of weeks of touring and research be enough exposure to pick apart how a place works? Our exploration of the city ended at different times depending on the student. Some choose to engage further and go beyond the tours to talk to people and engage in local culture even in small ways such as going dancing or hanging out with locals. Continual engagement and being open to experiences outside the academic and safe proved to be at times more valuable when developing a grounded design. A handful of weeks cant substitute for living a place, however the more diverse an experience one engages in, the more you can understand life and how the everyday happens for people.
Reflecting on a Design as a Foreigner
UNDERSTANDING FOREIGN CONTEXTS
Should a designer come in to try and “fix” the issues that community is grappling with? It seems that a fine line emerged for myself and my group. The difference between “fixing” a communities problems, and fixing a community. The biases that we each carry can lead folks to confuse typical condition with issues. When operating under the mode of fixing the community, a designer is operating without context or regard. This tends to be the default mode operation for many designers as they feel that they are the expert on what problems are and its the role of the community to receive the design. If a designer suspends their bias, then a designer can start to work with a community to approach the issues that they find nascent even if other glaring conditions fall outside of this dialogue.
JOBURG + 48HRS, 48 DYS, 48 YRS Ian Miley
86
Should I design in a place I am foreign to? This question persists in my thinking because of the paradox it presents. In one way a designer would be remiss to perpetuate the history of design imposed from a western â&#x20AC;&#x153;authorityâ&#x20AC;? onto a foreign place. However, the denial of quality design services on that principle is not the answer either because that leads to disinvestment and exclusion from the rest of the design world. Two solutions arise in my mind how this can be addressed. First, the education and fostering of designers that develop their skill within every context is paramount. Whether that is a designer that is not native to an area training and operating in a place or a designer that is native to a given place. Second, a method of practice that divests
Reflecting on a Design as a Foreigner
UNDERSTANDING FOREIGN CONTEXTS
itself of the notion that it is an authority and that quality visions of the future is something that can only come with training. The latter of these solutions begins to answer my role as a foreign agent. If I as a designer can divorce myself from ego and approach design from a place of collaboration instead of dictation, then design can lead to learning. Learning that the everyone in some manner is foreign but its our responsibility to engage with this foreignness critically. To create design with others that enables the designer and the community to learn to be less foreign to one another. In doing so fostering an exchange of skills and perspectives on where we collectively see our global society moving.
Ian Miley - Arch 714 - Summer 2018