Walkable & Pedestrian Friendly in Juta Street, Johannesburg

WALKABLE & PEDESTRIAN FRIENDLY IN JUTA STREET

JOHANNESBURG

MUHAMMAD AL HUDA MA Urban Design Sheffield School of Architecture

University of Sheffield

Our strategies framework are more based on the preliminary analysis and existing conditions in Juta street, and by analysis of the current physical and social condition and people’s movement of the Juta street, this final version of our strategy framework will introduce the urban intervention in more detail in each strategy and at the end gives a more clear version of our proposals.

By seeing the physical aspect of urban space is the foundation of people’s activities and practices, the major transforms that this strategy framework emphasized is on the physical dimension, but there are also some participatory and activity’s innovation in this framework.

The main aim of this strategy is to improve the walkability of the Juta Street and make the neighbourhood dynamic and at the same time has its own identity. We believe the pedestrian friendly Juta Street will bring the area alive and adding unique characters for the neighbourhood in the city.

CONTENTS Background Walkability Analysis Spatial Design Strategies Individual Design Strategy Action Plan Critical Review Reference

BACKGROUND

34.5% of South Africa’s GDP is generated in Gauteng

10% of Africa’s GDP is generated in Gauteng gauteng online 2012

gauteng.net 2012

1/4 people unemployed in Gauteng

1/4 people unemployed at the height of the Great Depression the USA

UN Habitat 2011

Feinstein 2006 kilometers miles

South Africa Population : 54,956,900 80.2%

Braamfontein is a central suburb of Joburg in South Africa.

Situated north of the city centre, Braamfontein is the fourth-largest node supplying office space in the city of Johannesburg. The Nelson Mandela Bridge links Newtown and Braamfontein to form a "Cultural Arc". Several South African-based multinational companies have their offices here. The offices of the Johannesburg City Council and the University of the Witwatersrand are located in Braamfontein.

8.8% 8.4% 2.5%

black african coloured (mixed rece/malay african) white african asian (indian african/chinese african)

Major business hub Major cultural hub Big student population Major commuter zone -

Bus Route

Taxi Ranks

Railway Stations

Bus Stops

Residential tree Juta S

& co

Council Chambers

WITS

University

Tshimologong

Commercial

Industrial

School

Land Use Map

Car Parking

t

Sappi

southpoint & play

Retail

homeless resident

outdoor “formal� worker

university student

lower income retailer

lower income resident

informal street worker

higher income resident

visitor

office worker

coffee shop worker

high school student

primary school student

User Activities Map

Braamfontein Gate

Park Station

Intersecting Mobility Routes Key Player

Emergent Private Players

Emergent Public Players

User Energy Nodes

WALKABILITY CASE STUDY Great public spaces are those places where celebrations are held, social and economic exchanges occur, friends run into each other, and cultures mix. They are the “front porches” of our public institutions – libraries, field houses, schools – where we interact with each other and government. When theses spaces work well, they serve as the stage for our public lives.

Make the street easy to use The idea here is to reduce the complexity of a given intersection in the eyes of all travelers. A safer city street will trade long, indirect crosswalks for shorter crossings and pedestrian islands. Removing low-volume legs from the traffic cycle will reduce wait times for everyone and eliminate complicated (read: dangerous) turns. Clearer lane designations — for left-turns and through traffic alike — make the whole intersection more predictable.

Sidewalk Design The sidewalk is the area where people interface with one another and with businesses most directly in an urban environment. Designs that create a highquality experience at street level will enhance the economic strength of commercial districts and the quality of life of neighborhoods.

What makes some places succeed while others fail?

In evaluating thousands of public spaces around the world, PPS has found that to be successful, they generally share the following four qualities: they are accessible; people are engaged in activities there; the space is comfortable and has a good image; and finally, it is a sociable place: one where people meet each other and take people when they come to visit. PPS developed The Place Diagram as a tool to help people in judging any place, good or bad. http://nacto.org/publication/urban-street-design-guide/streetdesign-elements/sidewalks/

Create safety in numbers Counter-intuitive as it can seem, the safety-in-numbers effect suggests that more pedestrians and bike riders actually make streets less dangerous. Bike lanes are the obvious way to bring riders to an intersection, while islands, mid-block crossings, and direct pedestrian routes can do the same for walkers. Giving signal priority to pedestrians gets platoons of people in the streets before cars have the chance to turn. http://www.citylab.com/cityfixer/2013/12/-and-after-guide-saferstreets/7867/

http://www.citylab.com/cityfixer/2013/12/-and-after-guide-saferstreets/7867/

Downtown Conventional Sidewalk Sidewalks are central to pedestrian life. Cities can enhance the public realm by creating venues where people can observe street life and activity, especially in retail and commercial areas. http://nacto.org/publication/urban-street-design-guide/streetdesign-elements/sidewalks/

Imagine that the center circle on the diagram is a specific place that you know: a street corner, a playground, a plaza outside a building. You can evaluate that place according to four criteria in the orange ring. In the ring outside these main criteria are a number of intuitive or qualitative aspects by which to judge a place; the next outer ring shows the quantitative aspects that can be measured by statistics or research. http://www.pps.org/reference/grplacefeat/

Make the invisible visible Clear sight lines can improve a street's safety significantly. Curbs lined with parked cars can make it hard for a turning vehicle to see what's in another part of the street. That problem can be addressed by removing some of the parking spaces closest to the corner — a process called "daylighting," which increases visibility considerably (so long as parking enforcement is strict).

Curb extensions that bring pedestrians further into the street have a similar effect.

Downtown 1-Way Street As part of a full reconstruction, consider widening sidewalks, especially when they have previously been narrowed in favor of additional travel lanes. http://nacto.org/publication/urban-street-designguide/streets/downtown-1-way-street/

Look beyond the problem Expanding the area of traffic analysis can unlock solutions across a wider wedge of the street system.

Redirecting traffic to another part of the local network, for instance, can help decongest crowded intersections without eliminating important routes. Sometimes the best street design is really a corridor design.

Curb extension Make intersection sidewalks wider so walking is safer and more pleasant

Quality over quantity Street engineers like to give cars as much space as possible, but removing lanes to reduce the complexity of an intersection can actually improve traffic flow. A jumble of un-designated lanes with competing signals has the potential to become much more congested than an intersection that bans complex turns and creates rightangle corners. Pedestrian plazas that take the place of former lanes can enhance visibility and the safety-innumbers effect. http://www.citylab.com/cityfixer/2013/12/-and-after-guide-saferstreets/7867/ http://www.citylab.com/cityfixer/2013/12/-and-after-guide-saferstreets/7867/

Intersections of Major and Minor Streets Minimize turning speeds from the major to the minor street. Design so that drivers on the major street yield to people in the crosswalk and cycle track. Ensure that drivers on the minor street can turn onto or cross the major street without excessive delay (either caused by signals or traffic). Bollards at legal turns keep turning drivers off the crosswalk and reduce crashes with pedestrians.

Interim Sidewalk Widening As neighborhoods change and develop, the intensity of a street's uses may also change. Sidewalks can be expanded using interim materials, such as epoxied gravel, planter beds, and bollards, easing pedestrian congestion in advance of a full reconstruction.

Extending the sidewalk is possible at the vast majority of New York’s intersections. Doing so would make walking within the city much more pleasant by relieving pedestrian congestion and reducing the distance required to cross roads. Walking would also be safer as people waiting at the edge of the sidewalk would have improved sightlines and be more visible to drivers.

http://nacto.org/publication/urban-street-designguide/intersections/intersections-of-major-and-minor-streets/

http://nacto.org/publication/urban-street-design-guide/interimdesign-strategies/moving-the-curb/ http://www.citylab.com/cityfixer/2013/12/-and-after-guide-saferstreets/7867/

Intersections are usually the busiest part of the sidewalk.

People wait to cross the road, vendors sell their wares and trash cans, traffic lights and newspaper boxes compete for space. Throughout New York cars typically park on both sides of the street and turning vehicles stay towards the center of the road to avoid them. This makes large sections of the road virtually redundant, right where it would most benefit pedestrians.

If a curb extension is long enough, potentially through the removal of one or more parking spaces, room for benches, trees and other vegetation can also be created making for more attractive and social streets. http://99stepsny.tumblr.com/post/75548897571/1-curb-extensions

ISSUES inactive street

1

dificult to cross the street for pedestrian physical barier

most visited place for informal worke

student gathering node

the on on

physical aspect

2 3

1

2

4 5 6

social aspect

3 active frontage

much less active frontage physical aspect

important less pedestrian movement

4

social aspect

5

physical aspect

6

physical aspect

7

social aspect

lack of open public space bussiest node

e ers

nly open space n this area Harrison is another key access point, but speed of traffic is an issue Biccard node most actively used

the eastern edge is very quiet

smaller shop encourage street use Saturday market brings energy to the whole block

7 8

De Beer intersection provides pausing / gathering for higher Bertha St, main access income users point from city and busiest node small node around petrol station and Rosebank College more pedestrian entrances allows more street use

gathering point for primary & high school student

most people passing through are going to WITS

t node

quieter areas become quieter western edge is very quiet west entrance for Braam train users

8

Juta Street started from the Western Gate of Braamfontein Train users, there are residential building, and very quiet intersection edge.

To the next intersection people just passing through this street because this is the main road leading to WITS-Uni. We would begin to find a crowd at the Station Street intersection, a lot of activity at this junction due there are Rosebank College and Petrol Station. Stop at the next intersection, where Bertha Street the main entrance and access point rom the city, very difficult to reach the next street when we walk, because there is no bridge or crossing.

On the western side of east of Bertha Street, the activities become increased, especially if we go on the weekend, the crowd will fill three blocks, due there are a lot of hang out places. The crowd becomes reduced at Simmonds Street edge, due there are only residential buildings and parking lots.

SPATIAL DESIGN STRATEGY

PHYSICAL

Sideways are too narrow while there has large people flows Lack of physical connection between each block Nelson mandela bridge become the physical barrier, segregate the area Lack of plants variety diversity Lack of open space Parking space can not meet the demands.

Corner space unwalkable

Lack of cultural events to engage and encourage people

SOCIAL

Western edge has less pedestrian movements

Dynamic Public Space Cooperative Transportation Connectivity (individual design strategy) Dimensional Sidewalk

Greenery Manipulate

Informal workers gathering place Unsafety parking lots People movement is easy to be interrupted by vehicle flow Lack of safety pausing space Homeless people occupies underpass

Defensible Urban Space

supporting space

parking space walkable

quiet & peaceful green space

relax static human scale

relatively active but also with slower rhythm

pedestrian friendly

sense of public realm

interactive walkable

safe

dynamic & inclusive public space

supporting space

parking space

Greenery Manipulate green park vertical greeneries

buildings along active frontage

Defensible Urban Space Dimensional Sidewalk security guards building reform

open space

footbridge

Dynamic Public Space provide communities spaces power generating dynamic street floor tiles furniture

along active frontage

Cooperative Transportation Connectivity

(individual design strategy) relocate vertical parking bus stops informal worker bike stations disable parking

INDIVIDUAL DESIGN STRATEGY COOPERATIVE TRANSPORTATION CONNECTIVITY CITY BUS TOUR

Ease & Walkable facilitate the pedestrians to reach the bus stop easier

Promote & Facilitate

Participation Event The Public Mass BUS PAINTING Transportation Modes as A Trends

hold an events involving buses as a media and become part of the art and culture

in collaboration with bus provider we could negotiate a new route which going through Juta street so this street would be easier to be attained

Walkable Sidewalk change the order of on-street parking from crosswise into lengthwise, so can providing enough space for pedestrian pathways

beside that we need to provision of convenient bus stops which provide passengers to prefer this mode of transportation

proposed disable parking lanes

proposed vertical car parking

proposed bike stations

proposed public space

proposed bus stops

bus route

Disable Parking Lane change the function of on-street parking into the emergency parking spaces for people with disabilities or provide for emergencies situation in each blocks

mostly crosswise car parking lane blocking the pedestrian pathway, makes the track becomes narrower and less convenient for pedestrians

a row of parking lanes blocking the pedestrian path

Improve New Routes

Facilitating Mass Transport Promote and Campaign about Public Mass Transport by Free Bus Pass at particular hours for instance

Participation Event

ANNUAL CYCLING EVENTS Promote & Facilitate The Environmentally Friendly Transportation Modes as A Trends

Participation Event

NIGHT-LIGHTS Multi-Purpose Public Space BIKES Evolving the Integrated park, into a multi-purpose public space, so it can be used by cyclist and pedestrian as well

Participation Event

BIKE TO WORK Promote The Cycling engage bike rental provider to promote the trends of cycling engage the people to follow the trends by holding cycling events

Providing Job Opportunities for Informal Workers provide new spaces to open up their stalls on a regular basis

Facilitating the Bike Lane after evolving the trends, we need to improve for the continuation of socialization cycling safely and facilitate the bike lane as well

a row of parking lanes blocking the pedestrian path

Providing Job Opportunities for Informal Workers build a new parking lot which can be hired former informal car parking guard

full let parking space

Provide new public space which can be used for social and events activities

public parking spaces can not accommodate the number of visitors in this area

Integrated Public Space

moving the parking space on the street, thereby sidewalks can be fully used by pedestrians Vertical Car Park

ACTION PLAN

engage local parking service providers and investors to build proposed vertical parking space

2016

establishing cooperation engage the government andthe stake holders, and proposing the spatial planning

relocate all the street vendors to the proposed site

involving private sector along the street to enhance greeneries on own building

involve local communities to undertake tree planting event along the street

enhance the security, in crime-prone zones

to realize the strategy of dynamic urban space, the need for land acquisition at proposed point which has been chosen, and also would be used for the public as well enhance awareness of public facilities

to realize the road improvement promote formulate strategy of street furnitures alternative regulation of expanding of dynamic urban complementary transportation the existing pedestrian space, the parking lot used sidewalk promote & need for land 2018 engage the 2019 facilitating 2020 acquisition at 2021 for public, not 2017 for private environmentally proposed point people to installing a sectors only friendly which has been serial of power follow the transport chosen, and vertical parking generating floor trends by modes also would be development engage the tiles on the holding used for the people to flow most visited public as well cycling events nodes the trends of organizes various land acquisition adventuring events for public space

the cities

construction of a new bus stop on proposed nodes

engage bike rental provider to promote the cycling trends

new bus route which going through Juta street, so this street would be easier to be attained provide jobs for informal workers, particularly the car guard on a new parking lot were developed

hold an events involving buses as a media and become part of the art and culture

2022

Re-appropriating (ideas of) public space in Johannesburg is an excellence experience I have learned. The project was observed and produced ideas of public space in the vibrant hub of Johannesburg, South Africa.

Johannesburg is a complex place. This, combined with a fluctuating migrant population, high crime rates, and sprawling suburban/rural patterns, makes it an ever difficult city to understand, yet alone work on. The project embraces the idea of 'designing from afar' as a contextual condition. As a way of situating my research within the complexity of Braamfontein notwithstanding the impossibility to visit the site, we were also asked to develop digital participation tools that allow us to engage with residents and users of the district. We were working on group work and illustrate our 'propositional critique' to the Urban Development Framework in our group's final design report. Our report was delivered digitally in the form of a movie, graphic, or presentation, and aimed at communicating to our ideas to a well-defined group of stakeholders, for instance the digital community, spatial design practitioners, Johannesburg local government, or public space users in Braamfontein.

The propositions which we develop in the studio are not only set a crucial precedent for future spatial interventions in Johannesburg, but their people-entered approach in methodology is breaking ground for how South African designers should work in such complex contexts. At the beginning we should develop one precedent study in public space design, using Spatial Agency as an interpretative framework and studying the work of particular practice, and select one example of public space intervention to analyse and contribute to defining a shared body of research into public space interventions. In the group working we come together to develop a (provisional) manifesto for inclusive public spaces in Johannesburg. Our manifesto is based on our ongoing research about public space and public life in the city, and defined a clear set of 5 design principles which is support us to move towards design proposals for inclusive public spaces in Johannesburg. These principles are explicitly articulate the values that inform our design proposals for in Juta Street, Bramfontein. This 'value system' are addressed in broad and general concerns in the design of public space in Johannesburg, but can also include suggestions for concrete design interventions. In other hand our tentative design principles are addressed both the physical and the social shaping of public space.

Afterwards we develop a Spatial Design Strategy for the future development of inclusive public space in Juta Street, Braamfontein, Johannesburg. This Spatial Design Strategies was grounded in our Provisional manifesto for inclusive public spaces in Johannesburg, and learns from the precedent studies, which was developed in the Studio. Our spatial Design Strategies are include a range of tangible/physical and intangible/social elements.

Reflects on the re-appropriating public space I have learned urban design project that integrates knowledge of the social, political, economic and professional contexts that influence the production of the built environment and I also have gained the interesting knowledge approaches in the urban design, participative urban design, sociology of urban design, sustainability in urban design and regulatory requirements; and formulate the design response which is appropriate to the site, the physical and social context. I also realize there are still many weaknesses in my design strategy, because this is my first experience of formulate and collaborate by partial strategy and compiled in Spatial Design Strategies. I felt very satisfied working in the group, it makes us easily to share our ideas and correlate with their ideas, and also they are very responsive to provide some input to our ideas and make a strong improvement.

CRITICAL REFLECTION

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