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2.5 Urban Nomads in South Africa Today
Figure 11: Church Square precinct in Pretoria,South Africa (Ndebele, 2021).
2.5 Urban nomads in South Africa
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In African nomadic architecture: Space, place, and gender, Labelle Prussin (1995) describes the primitive nomad as an African woman who constructs a tent-like house that transforms into a saddle-litter palanquin for travel by camel with her children.
Nomadism has occurred since the beginning of humankind as progress was related to finding a home or making shelter in a new place (Acton, 2010). Hunters and gatherers were regarded as nomadic, as they would leave areas where fruits were temporarily exhausted and to allow areas to regenerate, the nomads would return cyclically (Acton, 2010). As the years progressed, commercial nomads emerged from rural areas. The emergence of commercial nomads occurred due to the high demand for urban-quality goods and services and the need to spend less on travel due to low income (Acton, 2010).
Human beings currently live in strange times where strange things happen. These are times of ever-expanding and fast-moving waves of change. Accounting for the fast-changing reality is considered hard work, but attempting to escape this occurrence is more difficult. This study explores how South Africans can account for the new reality they face. Most contemporary subjects are familiar with metamorphosis, mutations, transformations, and the process of change. Age-old habits and traditional points of reference are recomposed in modern times (Braidotti, 2015). Conceptual creativity is important in such times. The nomadic culture or nomadism was regarded as an ancient and cheap living. The nomadic lifestyle is an emerging trend with the young South African population: individuals are becoming more mobile (Hamurcu, 2018). As technological developments and accessibility increase rapidly, the individual’s place-dependency has decreased. In the thesis Nomadic product: Furniture design for the modern urban nomad, Qiangwei Zhu- an industrial design graduate at Rochester Institute of Technology (2015) describes modern-day urban nomads as college students and young professionals who maintain a high standard of living and have a special or particular way of living. These urban nomads live in urban areas where most rent rather than purchase homes (Zhu, 2015). As they move from one city to another, they travel with their belongings or leave them behind to follow their next business opportunity. This study explores how architecture can achieve the goal of providing clothing-buildings that are easily transformable and transportable (Figure 10).