Patterns of Africa

STUDENT ESSAYS ON THE PATTERNS OF COHABITATION IN URBAN SOUTH AFRICA

PATTERNS OF AFRICA 1

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RUSSIA

SOUTH AFRICA

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Strelka Institute for Media, Architecture and Design

Studio «Another Place»

Towards the New Patterns of (Co)habitation Studio directors

Anastassia Smirnova

David Erixon Studio tutor

Kuba Snopek Students

Izabela Cichońska

Varvara Degtiarenko

Polina Filippova

Margarita Googe

Ondřej Janků

Artem Kalashyan

Anna Kaydanovskaya

Filip Mayer We would like to thank Ksenia Mardina and Rashiq Fataar (Future Cape Town) for all help in organizing the field trip.

We also would like to thank our experts, guides and other people who assisted us: Brian McKechnie, James Ball, Lone Poulsen, Sharon Lewis (JDA), Michael Luptak and Nickolaus Bauer (Dlala Nje), Kiki Doermann (WITS University), Thorsten Deckler (2610 South Architects), Alexander Opper (Marlboro South project), Dustin Tusnovics, Karina Landman (University of Pretoria), Jan Malan (Streetsafe security company), Rashiq Fataar (Future Cape Town), Michellene Williams (Future Cape Town), Edith Viljoen (Future Cape Town), Andrew Fleming (Cape Town Partnership), Ron Haiden (IRT), Yehuda Raff (Coordinator of the Fringe District), Liza Cirolia (African Centre for Cities), Tony Elvin, Vuyisa Qabaka, Leon Kamve. © Strelka Education Programme, 2013

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TABLE OF CONTENTS 4

Russia and South Africa:

Towards the New Patterns of (Co)habitation

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Field Trip Program

10 Planning 18 (Self)governance 26

Social Housing

42 Gentrification 48

Local Community

60 Interventions 68

Gated Communities

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Urban Decay

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RUSSIA AND SOUTH AFRICA: TOWARDS THE NEW PATTERNS OF ( CO ) HABITATION How different is Moscow to Johannesburg or Cape Town? Can one compare places so distant and different? What can we learn from South Africa's biggest cities?

In search of a field trip location our intuition drove us as far as southern hemisphere. South African cities — drastically different to Moscow, share with her a vibrating energy of ongoing change. In both cases — remains of an ancien régime (USSR and Apartheid) overlap with the emerging new culture. Cities built in the previous era accomodate the new order, involuntarily becoming laboratories for change.

We visited a range of different locations: both lively and decaying neighborhoods, places subjected to gentrification and urban decay, poor townships and wealthy gated communities. We viewed and discussed urban projects of different scales and typologies: city development plans, architectural interventions, community projects. We met dozens of people, who actively shape the landscape of Cape Town and Jo'burg: architects and activists, community leaders and politicians, city planners, and private developers.

Tools of our blitz-research are more common for journalists

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Kuba Snopek Field trip coordinator, «Another Place» studio tutor

or detectives, than for architects: we observed, interviewed, photographed, recorded. We visited a variety of neighborhoods, entered apartments, talked to the locals.

From all places, projects and people we felt great energy of an ongoing transformation — a feeling so familiar for the dwellers of contemporary Moscow. Under the surface of great differences — climatic, cultural, historical — we detected same regularities, which shape all contemporary megapolises. These new patterns of (co)habitation, identified and named by the students, form chapters of this publication.

Visit to Alexandra, Johannesburg. Meeting the local community.

Artificial landscape of Century City, biggest commercial center of Cape Town

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Visit to the Lion Park, Johannesburg

Excursion to Lion’s Head mountain, Cape Town

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Rooftop of one of the abandoned buildings in Johannesburg CBD

ÂŤAnother PlaceÂť studio in Rand Club, Johannesburg

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FIELD TRIP PROGRAM JOHANNESBURG Curator: Ksenia Mardina 07.04 SUNDAY

08.04 MONDAY

09.04 TUESDAY

10.04 WEDNESDAY

REMAINS OF APARTHEID: VISIT TO THE RAND CLUB architect Brian McKechnie

URBAN CHANGES BROUGHT BY APERTHEID Lecture by Lone Poulsen, GIFA

VISIT TO LION PARK

URBAN DECAY, VISIT TO JOHANNESBURG CBD Tour with James Ball

REBIRTH OF THE CENTER: VISIT TO BRAAMFONTEIN NEIGHBORHOOD Tour with Ksenia Mardina, journalist

URBAN INTERVENTIONS IN TOWNSHIPS Talk with architects Dustin Tusnovics and Sarah Calburn

GENTRIFICATION, THE AFRICAN WAY Talk with Jonathan Liebmann, Founder and CEO of Maboneng Precinct

INITIATIVES OF JOHANNESBURG DEVELOPMENT AGENCY Lecture by Sharon Lewis , JDA MASSIVE URBAN CHANGES: PONTE TOWER AND HILLBROW Tour and talk with Michael Luptak and Nickolaus Bauer, Dlala Nje DINNER WITH TEACHERS & STUDENTS OF WITS

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SANDTON – NEW MODEL FOR A BUSINESS CENTER? Tour with James Ball URBAN INTERVENTIONS: MARLBORO SOUTH EXHIBITION Lecture by Thorsten Deckler, 2610 South Architects EXPLORING TOWNSHIPS: MARLBORO SOUTH Tour by Thorsten Deckler (2610 South Architects), Alexander Opper (Marlboro South project)

COMMUNITIES OF ALEXANDRA TOWNSHIP Tour with Dustin Tusnovics

CAPE TOWN Curator: Rashiq Fataar, Future Cape Town 11.04 THURSDAY

12.04 FRIDAY

13.04 SATURDAY

14.04 SUNDAY

HISTORY OF GATED COMMUNITIES IN SOUTH AFRICA Lecture of Karina Landman, University of Pretoria

DISCOVERING CAPE TOWN CBD Tour with Rashiq Fataar, Future Cape Town

DISCOVERING LANGA TOWNSHIP Tour with Tony Elvin, Vuyisa Qabaka

LION’S HEAD MOUNTAIN Excursion

PRETORIA: GATED COMMUNITY TYPOLOGIES Tour with Jan Malan, Streetsafe security company

SOCIAL HOUSING STRATEGIES Lecture of Andrew Fleming, Cape Town Partnership MYCITI INTEGRATED RAPID BUS SERVICE Lecture by Ron Haiden, IRT

MFULENI TOWNSHIP Tour with Vuyisa Qabaka, Leon Kamve

BOULDERS BEACH PENGUIN COLONY Excursion

CENTURY CITY Tour with Future Cape Town

GENTRIFICATION: FRINGE NEIGHBORHOOD Tour with Yehuda Raff, Coordinator of the Fringe District HISTORY OF HOUSING AND PLANNING IN CAPE TOWN Lecture by Liza Cirolia, African Centre for Cities

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PLANNING New urban wilderness

Ondřej Janků, 30 Architect, Czech Republic 12

In this article I am not going to write about the history of Johannesburg or that apartheid system gave the city its specific zoned structure.

What I found more interesting is to evaluate how the city is today: how post-apartheid freedom has effectively opened the cages in a zoo, and now that everyone has been set free how will the inhabitants who are used to being segregated behave? 1

Biological science has it that a lion growing up in captivity identifies its territory by the perimeter fence, which stops him from being free. Even if the lion escapes from its prison it does not run far because it is a territorial animal. The fence is a physical expression of the lion’s border between the known and the unknown; between secure and insecure2. An element once built as a barrier has became protection. People in Johannesburg are territorial by instinct: having grown up with clearly defined borders, they are respectful to other people’s territory. Within these terrorities, groups tend to create their own microworlds and sub-cultures.

Although these physical borders do not exist any more, the mentality that goes with them does.

Moreover, living in separate communities with an exclusive set of people has become a desire3. Indeed, for many it is the only imaginable way to live because for a long time it was the only option available.

Growing up in this situation with a top-down hierarchy of

power means individuals are free of certain responsibilities and that they lose their sense of survival.

The extended metaphor of the animal kingdom helps us to understand the behaviour of people who after being confronted with freedom now that they no longer have to live in a predefined secure zone.

Furthermore, the dichotomy of the familiar and the unpredictable does not only apply to the situation in Johannesburg but to many other cases. A good example is Moscow; the Soviet capital and today’s Moscow are two different cities. Certain freedoms from choice and routines turned into much wilder and seemingly chaotic scenarios that visibly changed the city fabric as well as its citizen’s behaviour; although, the strongest habits and traditions did continue.

From this perspective, the former Johannesburg has experienced a similar transformation to a new urban wilderness.

Once the former top-down structure disintegrated 4, elements of the system that are no longer stable started shifting the city’s fabric. Some of them became more opportunistic, seeing new gaps to fill. Some were more reserved and stayed in a zone of familiar territory. Either way, they all shared the common knowledge that staying in a group means a greater chance of succeeding then if they worked as individuals.

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The Model of Apartheid City

WHAT DOES THAT MEAN FOR AN IMAGE OF THE CITY? PACKS OF SOUTH AFRICAN LIONS: A FEDERATION OF MICRO-STATES As a result of a post-apartheid shuffle, the city has disintegrated into smaller bubbles that are easier to

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overlook. Until 1994, the city was never designed as one place – it was ruled by a power that maintained its unity by force. Therefore, its inhabitants are not used to seeing this sort of unity. What they do understand is the territory they were given to live within, the border zone and the neighbours. In this case, they have

Planning

evolved into actors of an urban safari where mankind does not behave as one flock but more as a number of well-organised packs of territorial predators.

And indeed, on our field trip we were – as when on a safari tour – unbiased researchers observing the individual areas that were once given freedom but the close proximity of other predators have kept them packed together in dense well-defined clusters, otherwise known as Johannesburg. And perhaps it was only with the advantage of viewing it from an outsider’s perspective that we were able to see that it also its had borders and constraints. It was not just a chunk of wild nature. The ‘animals’ there were being territorial within certain constraints imposed on them by the governing body. An administrator that although weak still existed beyond the visible horizon of seemingly free inhabitants.

following this pattern of separation and self-identification within clusters of smaller units is the only possible future for Johannesburg.

Now, after a fall of the former regime, the city is transforming into another unknown realm. Perhaps, as its physical fabric is so connected to its apartheid past, we witness the ultimate end of the city. But more likely, the culture of segregation has never changed and planning trends today are nothing more than a continuation of the past. The present city is more shaped by groups of individuals then by a central power, yet it follows the same principles.

I suggest, that the only sustainable future for Johannesburg is not to escape from, but to follow the patterns of segregation that people eventually choose. The ultimate fate of the city is to recycle an apartheid past to a new model of sustainable future.

FOLLOWING THE PATTERNS OF SEGREGATION IS THE FATE OF JOHANNESBURG From within the city, all current attempts to overcome the rules of segregation seem to be futile and seems to have almost the opposite effect. Trends in planning are trying to deny the past, reconnect and gentrify by using the same practices as those from the previous regime.

The city was founded on the principle of the strict isolation of its inhabitants and one could argue that

LOCAL IDENTITY Johannesburg has evolved into a union of micro-enclaves with a different economy and legislation and is an extreme case of urbanisation as described by Pier Vittorio Aureli in The Possibility of an Absolute Architecture (2011). In the book, Aureli interprets a city as a contemporary urbanisation in which pluralism and diversity are “celebrated” within the strict spatial logic and enclave. Bound to the regime of the economy, this logic of inclusion/ exclusion dissolves the potential

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Access to and Use of Space. Source: Karina Landman, Lecture: Urban enclosure in South Africa, Pretoria, 2013

dialectical conflict among the parts of the city, and transforms confrontation and its solution – coexistence – into the indifference of cohabitation, which indeed is the way of living in urbanisation. In addition, Johannesburg can be seen as a contemporary and extreme example of Roman urbs. Apartheid planning served as a symbolic template for the whole inhabited space. It designated a universal and generic condition of cohabitation in enclaves. However, the definition of urbs would not be complete without including Roman civitas as its essential part. According to Aureli, civitas is the gathering

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of people from different origins who decided to coexist under the same law, which in turn gave them the condition of citizenship5. Before 1994, the definition of civitas as a decision of citizens to coexist under the same law was debatable, nonetheless its probably closer to its original meaning then if applied on the condition of Johannesburg today. As said before, economy and legislation of individual neighbourhoods, enclaves, townships and informal settlements differs significantly and only vaguely follows laws of the governing body of Johannesburg, which seems to have decreasing influence. If civitas,

Planning

as the condition of citizenship fails, Aureli allows us to speculate about the decay of urbs itself and its gradual disintegration into a “pre-urbs� form.

When EU was first established, the participating states were concerned that the integration and cultural inclusion might wash away local characteristics that made them specific from the other states. The inverse phenomenon has consequently emerged instead: the fear has turned into a healthy competition where local minorities made a much bigger effort to stand out

and show its individual characteristics compared to before when they were clearly separated by state borders. Johannesburg experiences an inverse notion: the identity of the city is based on extreme diversity.

Any effort to redesign the city as an integrated whole will only lead to its collapse or at least create unwanted tension between individual neighbourhoods. Current attempts to unite have not been successful however, connecting by pointing out the differences might be, on the other hand, a way forward. From this perspective, segregation is seen

Access to and Use of Space (same map indicating enclosures). Source: Karina Landman, Lecture: Urban enclosure in South Africa, Pretoria, 2013

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as Aureli’s confrontation keeping enclaves active and promoting borders between them.

If we have look forwards to an alternative future for the city: what will happen when all formal and informal settlements will be awarded full rights to the land they occupy? Let’s imagine them as autonomous units. How they will communicate with each other?

What coalitions they will make?

Will they try to improve life conditions in order to attract foreigners to immigrate and foster the enclave?

Will they try to become independent and self-sufficient? Let’s redistribute city executive power to the hands of self-governed territories: will this reorganisation lead to a total destruction of the city or to its rebirth?

is the perimeter of his secure zone, which defines the map of his city.

The city looks even more peculiar for a stranger. Today, without apartheid borders we cannot discuss it using the metaphor of “a zoo” however, “an urban safari” where freedom is restricted by rules of nature might still be a good way of describing the feeling to a visitor.

[1],[4] Apartheid system in South Africa: 1948 to 1994. Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ Apartheid_in_South_Africa [2] From guided safari tour at Lion Park near Johannesburg, Corner Malibongwe Drive & R114 Road, Honeydew, Gauteng, South Africa [3] Karina Landman, Lecture: Urban enclosure in South Africa, Pretoria, South African Republic, 2013 [5] The Possibility of an Absolute Architecture, Pier Vittorio Aureli, 2011, Chapter 1. Toward the archipelago. Defining the political and the formal in architecture.

APPENDIX: THE NEW MAP OF JOHANNESBURG In Johannesburg, there are several superimposed cities to be found. A map of the city for a white rich man is very different to a map of the same place for his black brother with middle or low income. For a black waiter who works and lives in Hillbrow, the Central Business District does not play any importance in his life. He does not know where it is located and he has no reason to visit it. For a white businessman from Sandton, there are certain places that are forbidden to enter like Alexandra settlement, just two kilometres away. What he is familiar with

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Planning

A Map of animal territories significantly reminds of the map of a post-apartheid ÂŤurban freedomÂť.

Source: Joe A Tobias, Nathalie Seddon, Estimating population size in the sub-desert mesite: new methods and implications for conservation. Source: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/ S0006320702001064

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( SELF ) GOVERNANCE Global Nomads

Artem Kalashyan, 30 Curator and Producer, Russia 20

We are on a dark road at night surrounded by forest. An old “bucky” truck slows down, turns off the headlights, and keeps going some 200 metres, seemingly at random.

As we approach undistinguishable thickets of bushes, the driver gets out and tosses them to one side, as they seem to be only for decoration to conceal an entrance. The bucky travels a further 500 metres along off-road loops and we stop in a clearing in the woods. Within this area is a small house made from a repurposed shipping container, and a parking lot for two vehicles, a barbeque spot, and some utensils whose purpose is indistinguishable in the dark.

“Is it your land?” I ask. ”No,” comes the reply. “I lease it illegally.” I continue my questions, “So, the foliage that disguised the entrance is this for the council?” He says, it’s not and just to keep out “the rest of the world. South Africa is a dangerous country: there are criminals, homeless, and vagabonds walking around, and I am all on my own. Sure, I have something in my sleeve to meet the intruders, but I’m better off with less people knowing about this place. And I’d prefer the Government to remain unaware as well.”

WHY SOUTH AFRICA? Having examined housing in Moscow’s suburbia for six months and analysed all sorts of factors influencing the living in the region, our

Studio group chose South Africa to see something different. On one hand, it is absolutely distinct: it is another hemisphere, with drastically different climate, with people of a different colour. On the other hand, the destination is to some extent similar to Russia: as the country lived through a serious political change almost at the same time. Back in 1994, the so-called “Apartheid government” was forced by the oppressed coloured majority and the outside civilised world to resign. As a result, the segregation of territories and forced displacement according to the race was abolished. The nation got a new Constitution based on equality for all citizens of South Africa, and carried out the first all-nation voting to elect the South-African resistance leader Nelson Mandela, who was previously released from the life imprisonment, to be their President.

LEGACY My part of the study is concerned with politics and self-government. In order to appropriately evaluate the present moment, you should see the process in its dynamics.

South Africa developed in a way that was dramatically different from the rest of the pro-Western world.

Instead of getting rid of anachronisms associated with slavery, the ruling class radically enforced racial segregation to preserve the elite’s economic well-being.

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A commercial building just next to Maboneng development, Johannesburg

In the 20th century, the South African government selects the path of development different from the approach deployed in pro-Western world, by radically enforcing the racial segregation. The official apartheid propaganda was leveraged by the will to avoid an economic downturn associated with the worldwide emancipation.

The policy started by passing the Land Act of 1913. The document declared white supremacy and vested in the coloured and black people of the country the right to own only seven per cent of the country’s territory, with the rest belonging to the white

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minority. The act was followed up by the constitutional restraint for black and coloured people (including Arabs, Asians, and the people born into inter-racial marriages) to visit the locations of the white population, also exposing them to forced deportation, job inequality, unbearable living conditions, and deprivation of education.

Although it happened just 16 years after the victory over fascism, the main railway station in Cape Town, one of the major South African cities, was totally rebuilt to segregate the passengers forming three groups for white, coloured, and black. These three groups were to remain isolated in any part of the

(Self)governance

Typical wall with barbed wire in a township

Children playground, Cape Town

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station, including but not limited to the platforms, rest rooms, ticket offices, and even the entrance.

The end of the century was the breaking point. Predictably, the process of liberation could not be all smooth. The two worlds forcedly divided into the oppressors and the oppressed went through mixed feelings, ranging from awkwardness and guilt to fierce hatred.

If compared to Russia, the process is similar to 1917 when the Bolsheviks took over the mansions and brutally murdered the owners. From the psychological standpoint, the state of things in South Africa is similar to the situation in Russian cities built around the penitentiaries where the freed prisoners may remain in the city after the liberation, living together with those who used to guard them. There is a tension in the air, or in psychology terms, an “unworked” trauma, in which ex-prisoners and ex-guards have neither the guts nor the experience to get over it. They prefer to stay away from it, not to talk about it, and not to remember it, if possible.

South Africans try to abstain from it. People, communities, and the entire cities build up concrete fences, use kilometres of barbed wire, deploy surveillance and train armies of security guards. The enforced borders emerge everywhere, chaotically fragmenting the habitable space.

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“Is it just paranoia?” our group leader asks the owner of the business providing security services to the community.

“You might be right, but you can hardly not be paranoid when they hold a knife to your daughter’s neck and a pistol to your wife’s head, and then rape and kill both of them,” he says.

SOUTH AFRICA TODAY Twenty years after the abolishment of apartheid, the economic turmoil inherent with the process of healing the country of fundamental social, political, and economic diseases has ended.

Communities of all sizes, protected by a solid outer enclosure, are exercising democratic institutes of self-government, while still struggling to interact with each other. It appears that they exist in separate realities.

The long history of segregation has had a surprisingly positively effect on the country’s governance. South African Republic does not have a single capital city: the branches of Government are territorially distributed. The State Assembly is located in Cape Town, while executive power resides in Pretoria and Supreme Court in Bloemfontein. Hundreds of kilometres of defragmented territories between them and inherent longing for isolation prevent the development of intra-country relations. Many problems are deprived of attention

(Self)governance

Informal consultations with South African political elite. One can learn more about the real processes after a couple glasses of wine... or bunch of bottles. From the left: Pam Yako, government consultant from Pretoria, Mohammed Bhabha, one of the authors of South African constution, Thabo Mokwena, South African Government's "gray cardinal"

from the government, while courts and elections operate legally and independently.

Alexandra, the oldest and the largest ghetto in Johannesburg, quickly manages inner problems and, unexpectedly, seems one of the safest places we have visited.

Still, while having the warrant of the Supreme Court ruling, they cannot influence the Government to issue the ordinance of establishing their rights of property to the land and estate where 20,000 people had lived with their families for almost 100 years. Another example to observe is the case of

Jonathan Liebman, the developer who purchased the entire Johannesburg district: he and the City Council are aware of each other but still act independently. In fact, Liebman is building a city inside of the city.

WHAT ABOUT MARK? High population density and centralised government result in sustainable structures, which produce positive and negative models at equal pace and momentum. The heaver the structure, the stronger the momentum, and the less likely are the changes.

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A cell phone shop in one of the townships of Cape Town

I am appalled by the perversity of the government system in Russia. I have seen a number of cases when enthusiasts with great ideas for changes would come in and turn into government zombies in a matter of weeks.

The denser and more inert the concentration of the governmental domain, the more tangible the vacuum where the system is not regulating itself. This is where free agents flee: such reservations attract people who resist the values forcedly imposed on them from the outside, who want to live their way, and refrain from sacrificing their goals in favour of sense of belonging to something bigger, but alien.

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I believe that this is the intercellular space where the new ideas are born, tested, and when becoming an efficient model, spread out and replace the legacy structures.

In such space, “invisible” to system-ruled people, lived African “swervers” crossing the country to and fro regardless of the limitations of the apartheid, or European gypsies travelling without any respect to borders. Today, their “lucky” successors are entrepreneurs with five citizenships where double citizenship is prohibited, or the owners of movable housing.

Mark Godsiff, who I met in Cape Town’s suburbs, owns a business, has a family, and travels around the

(Self)governance

world – so to say, lives a normal life.

Mark refused to anchor himself by having a proper house. His house is made of a redesigned shipping container and is totally equipped to suit the needs of an autonomous life. It is capable of quickly changing location, saves costs on taxes, land lease, or utilities — it is an ideal place to be.

But it is not about the savvy nature of the owner, and even not about the marvellous extravagance of our encounter. The core of this idea is radical distribution of resources to approach new possibilities. To refrain from such basic and natural need as the purchase of the house, which makes people develop their careers and feed a large chunk of world’s financial system, allowed the owner to travel free, self-actualise, and open new opportunities for his family. He has jumped to the next level where many dream to get to but often are late to do so.

“Do you mind if I make coffee?

It got so cold while was waiting for you at the lighthouse.”

“Of course not, but, frankly, I would be happy if you make it for two.”

“Here you go. I hope you don’t mind ants – they are always nesting in the sugar. It’s a tedious job to take them all out, so I’d rather drink my coffee with them.”

“Never mind. I ate a dried caterpillar a couple of days ago, so ants in a coffee made of rainwater are even exquisite.”

Now, in Moscow I can hardly believe it was not a dream – maybe there was no shack made of a shipping container, coffee with ants made of rainwater, and the incredible Mark whose son lives is the midst of two absolutely distinct and, at a first sight, disparate social models: a successful manager at a multinational company; and a hippie living in a movable house in the middle of the wilderness, enjoying surfing, hunting with friends in a neighboring Mozambique, and observing a sunrise in a sleeping bag at the Cape of Good Hope.

On my way to the hotel we passed the University of Cape Town, and I asked Mark whether he wants his son to study there. “If Jason wants it, then why not, but he is the one to decide on going my way, or his mother’s, or doing something different – and he must listen to his heart,” he said.

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SOCIAL HOUSING Living the Gap

Filip Mayer, 26 Architect, Sweden 28

The African National Congress (ANC) won the 1994 election partly due to the promise of social housing for everyone. This, of course, didn’t happen at the rate or to the degree as promised, but still the Government provided 3.2 million homes and 1.8 million1 subsidies from 1994 onwards, giving shelter to over 13 million people2.

Even though the probability of these numbers being accurate is low, it is still an astonishing amount of households built during that timespan. But with a staggering backlog of 2.1 million homes, approximately 12.5 million people without adequate housing, the promise isn’t going to be fulfilled any time soon.

What still needs to be addressed, is the fact that a growing part of the population is not only living without adequate housing, but also falling outside of the system’s protective net. These are the people earning between R3,501 and R9,000 a month, otherwise known as the “gap dwellers”.

These people are capable of paying for their homes but have an income just above the level for getting a subsidised home and just below the level of being able to take a bank loan. It’s estimated that 11 per cent of the South African population falls under this category. 3 To better understand the situation of the gap dwellers it is important to better understand the effects of social housing policies

effect on the housing and on the cities.

The history of South Africa’s Housing Policy began just before the democratic elections of 1994, with the formation of the National Housing Forum. This was a multiparty, non-governmental negotiating body comprising of 19 members from business, community members, government and development organisations. These actors came together to research, develop and negotiate legal and institutional interventions that were later used by the 1994 government when it was formulating the National Housing Policy.

The housing market of that time had certain characteristics, which to a large extent are still present today, and on which the National Housing Policy was based.

First, there was a 2.2 million housing shortage, with a estimated 204,000 increase every year due to rapid informal urbanisation. Together with this, the housing sector lacked capacity in both human recourses and materials to provide the housing that was needed.

Due to complex identification, allocation and development processes, land has always been insufficient. And the infrastructure and services connected to that land has not been able to even meet the standards of the low-income sector. This has resulted in great

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difficulties to provide the affordable households to the targeted population.

By early 1990, the housing sector was fragmented to a degree where there were 15 departments that dealt with housing and more than 60 national and regional state corporate institutions. These were all implementing 20 separate subsidy systems. And together with remnant obstructive apartheid laws that needed to be repealed, the system worked incredibly ineffectively.

Nonetheless, a right to basic housing is written into the constitution of South Africa and has had an fundamental impact on the National Housing Policy, and does so mostly through two principles (see frame).

In themselves the combined housing strategies were absolutely essential to the process of providing homes during this time. But in effect with the complicated governing system, under-spending and misguided resources allocation there has been a lot of problems with upgrading of informal settlements, providing affordable rental housing and most notably providing housing for the gap dwellers.

So what did these laws and regulations do to the cityscape?

According to Cape Town based researcher, Liza Cirolia of ACC (African Centre For Cities), exiting the 1992-1996 transition from the apartheid system most South

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A right to basic housing (Section 26 of South African constitution): 1) Everyone has the right to have access to adequate housing.

2) The state must take reasonable legislative and other measures, within its available resources, to achieve the progressive realisation of this right.

3) No one may be evicted from their home, or have their home demolished, without an order of court made after considering all the relevant circumstances. No legislation may permit arbitrary evictions.4 Defining the powers of National and Provincial Government and municipalities: • National Government has the power to develop laws that deal with matters that apply at the national level.

The focus of these laws is to regulate or co-ordinate activities throughout South Africa, so as to facilitate an effective and equitable housing sector.

• Provincial Government has the power to make specific laws for province in terms of all functional areas including housing. These laws must be in accordance with national laws.

• Municipalities (Local Government) have the power to administer matters such as housing and all other related matters like building regulations, municipal planning and service provision. The National and Provincial Governments are required to support municipalities in this regard. 5

African cities were left with an extremely skewed spacial landscape and dislocated spacial form.

Resulting in somewhat radial structures, the city centres were inhabited by middle- to

Social Housing

Possible gab dwellers. Very often it will be the people that service the city that find themselves in this situation. Everyone from municipal road workers, police, nurses, fire fighters fall into this income gap 2013, Cape Town, Rosebank.

Vacant subsidised housing. These houses are financially just out of reach for the gap dwellers. 2013, Cape Town, Langa.

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“Gap housing�, 2013, Chas Everitt International Property Group

This example of subsidised housing was extremely unsuccessful according to the local population.

They were saying that up to four families lived in one flat of two-three rooms and that conditions were horrible. There were also a lot of statements regarding to the demotivational factor of these building, that people living there had no aspirations and no prospects for the future. Alexandra, Johannesburg.

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“Gap housing” with 2 attached shacks for renting purposes, 2013, Cape Town

Shared living room in a subsidised flat building. Theses people were taking a well-deserved break after a hard week of work installing electricity cables for the municipality. They were having a small party with some beer and food cooked in the shared kitchen. Cape Town, 2013.

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Backyard dwellings in the centre of Cape Town. These living arrangements are utilised nearly in every building typology non-dependent on placing in or outside of the city. Sometimes these dwellings are constructed specifically for people that need to live in a certain area, such as nurses who need to be based close to a hospital or fire fighters close to a fire station. 2013, Cape Town

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Social Housing

One family flat. 2013, Cape Town. There is also the possibility of redirecting the funds for demolitions, to instead go to incremental but mass upgrading of housing and infrastructure in areas where people are illegally settling, most often the land is already earmarked for them. But perhaps a governmental strategy that would transform the existing patterns of cohabitation the most would be to direct development into densification of the city centres with regard to the poor, low- and low-middle income. To give them access to the city and all its benefits. The existing patterns still follow the lines of apartheid but now together with economical segregation. And due to the residual effects of the previous system, fear and a government that fails to integrate the precarious into the centres the risk is that different social spheres will become even more isolated from each other, and the result is a cumulative vicious circle of disadvantage.

Two toilet structures and an outdoor kitchen. These people were evicted from their informal settlements and are waiting to be transferred to social housing. 2013, Marlboro, Johannesburg

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Social Housing, 2013, Langa, Cape Town

Social Housing, 2013, Cape Town

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Social Housing

Mixed forms of living: shacks, private property, low- and high-rise subsidised housing, old and new.

These dense and varied textures create incredibly stressed forms of cohabitation 2013, Alexandra, Johannesburg

Population density, 2011, State of South African Cities Report

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Population density, March 07, 2000, Greater Johannesburg Metropolitan Council

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Social Housing

Education, March 07, 2000, Greater Johannesburg Metropolitan Council

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Population distribution, March 07, 2000, Greater Johannesburg Metropolitan Council

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Social Housing

high-income, most often white people. These spacial forms translated into skewed public and private investments, where the public investment in the majority was implemented in the white areas, with private finance following quite linearly.

As seen on the maps the centres have been shielded from densification, forcing the massing of people around and in between areas of commerce and strategic business points. Only the area of Hillsborough in central Johannesburg has the properties of the highly dense social housing areas and informal settlements. This is due to the mass flight of white middle- to high-income people during the end of the 1980s and subsequent overtaking of the area by low-income people and immigrants after the transition from apartheid.

What this means for the gap dwellers is that they are most often forced out to the suburbs both by the governments regular choice of situating gap housing, if they are so lucky to get a house, and if not, by their financial situation. This has created massive outskirt neighbourhoods that have little or no connection to the opportunities of education or work.

For the dwellers that are left without housing, often the only choice is to rent an informal room in a backyard. It’s very common for the people who have received housing to supplement their income by

building shacks on their property and then to rent them out.

The problem with this form of cohabitation is that it completely lacks any sanitary facilities, power or running water and becomes quite a hazardous place to live. And the whole economy surrounding it is informal, giving no security to the sub-letter and reinforcing the dysfunctional housing market.

SO WHAT IS THE GOVERNMENT’S RESPONSE TO THE GAP HOUSING ISSUE? The current housing programme targeting the gap dwellers is compiled of various projects administered by municipalities, all of them directed towards delivering gap houses every year. Unfortunately, the amount is extremely low compared to the demand from 11 per cent of the population.

Some non-profit organisations are stepping forward and partnering with the government trying to solve the issue, but without any real effect on the housing shortage.

The Government has created the Social Housing Regulatory Authority that carries that mandate to regulate and invest to deliver affordable rental homes and renew communities. Their plan for the next five years is to build on an average 5,400 social housing units per year.

In comparison with the backlog of 2.1 million houses, this won’t amount to any change for the situation

41

for 10 per cent of South Africa’s population.

Another problem is that these subsidised homes do not help the people that want to buy property, instead of renting. People in the municipal authorities of Alexandra were saying that it was absolutely crucial to the feeling of independence and sense of freedom.

And since the Government insists on hiring private companies to deliver the subsidised housing the process becomes even more stagnant and almost never results in the needed quality of housing (see p.8).

What needs to be done is to create an efficient governmental organ that could start delivering the houses for the gap dwellers.

Human-settlements minister Tokyo Sexwale is in the process of establishing such a governmental body, but so far without successes.

For the citizens that feel the need to own a house the Government could establish a subsidised loaning system directed specifically at the gap dwellers to bypass the obstructive banks, either a full home loan or a system that levies unused land and together with additional subsidies enables people to build their own homes.

There is also the possibility of redirecting the funds for demolitions, to instead go to incremental but mass upgrading of housing and infrastructure in areas where people are illegally settling, most often

42

the land is already earmarked for them. But perhaps a governmental strategy that would transform the existing patterns of cohabitation the most would be to direct development into densification of the city centres with regard to the poor, low- and low-middle income.

To give them access to the city and all its benefits. The existing patterns still follow the lines of apartheid but now together with economical segregation. And due to the residual effects of the previous system, fear and a government that fails to integrate the precarious into the centres the risk is that different social spheres will become even more isolated from each other, and the result is a cumulative vicious circle of disadvantage.

In The Freedom Charter, declared by the Congress Alliance and the ANC, it is stated that the mineral wealth beneath the soil, the Banks and monopoly industry shall be transferred to the ownership of the people as a whole.

And since the mining industry represents 18 per cent of the GDP alone, nationalising this industry, over a certain period of time, targeting the housing issues, would not only benefit the people incredibly, but provide a sense of stepping seven further from apartheid.

But the fact that the Government works extremely ineffectively, targeting certain areas for revitalisation based on politicians personal wants and needs. And the fact,

Social Housing

that a lot of the power structures effective in apartheid are still in place, makes a national solution an incredibly risky one.

[1] Disempowered, Presentation, Liza Cirolia, 2013 [2] http://www.info.gov.za/aboutsa/housing. htm#Subsidies [3] Disempowered, Presentation, Liza Cirolia, 2013 [4] http://www.constitutionalcourt.org.za/site/ theconstitution/english-09.pdf [5] http://www.psdas.gov.hk/content/doc/2006-1-04/ Social%20Housing%20in%20South%20Africa%20 -%20John%20Hopkins%20-%202006-1-04.pdf

43

GENTRIFICATION Not Yet Gentrification But New CBD Emerging

Polina Filippova, 21 Economist, Russia 44

GENTRIFICATION? “I’ve bought it all,” says a tanned white man as he points to the high tower on the horizon. “All this area from there to here.” We are listening Jonathan Liebmann, one of the most prominent developers of Johannesburg in one of the rooftop bars in Maboneng, the neighbourhood he owns.

In a city where people don’t even dare to walk between post-apocalyptical African reality and five-metre fences, Liebmann is developing an area suitable for living in a European manner.

On his travels, the young developer has thoroughly examined prominent neighbourhoods in the West and before starting renovation he had seemingly deduced a formula or a timeline of success: art studios are in avant-garde nice coffee shops, a book shop and a few galleries follow. Then, there are stores of sophisticated clothing and furniture by local designers.

This oasis is based in former industrial buildings. The decision to move here came to me immediately — as a chance to feel the vibe better.

Specifically, Maboneng used to be an abandoned area, not formally inhabited. Now, it’s a result of the comprehensive vision of Liebmann, who instead of gratitude is often accused of gentrification.

Regardless of acute symptoms (location in a poor black area, prohibition of street trade, etc) the

Gentrification is the transformation of a working-class or vacant area of the central city to a middle/ upper middle class residential and/ or commercial use often accompanied by evictions of the locals and/ or change of the initial social, economic and physical structure of the neighbourhood.

process happening in Maboneng breaks the main drawback of gentrification as it happens in the West: lower income locals or first newcomers – artists, students etc – are not forced to move after rental prices take off. There aren’t any poor artists and students initially.

To save time Liebmann couldn’t wait for a sub culture to bring up its own heroes, so instead invited some stars to move in.

Among the artists, looking for space was William Kentridge, the major event of the last Documenta and a favourite with wealthy galleries all over the world. Marginal street art in the area is signed by names from Europe and North America.

Despite being attractive, the neighbourhood has a palpable scent of artificiality. It’s as nice as generic: indistinguishable from any other such places. The similarities of these areas (initially aimed to give freedom to self-expression and to quench the thirst for self-identification in the urban environment) are bearing a strong

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There is a whole range of “gentrification tools� identified by developers as successful. Street art is amongst them

resemblance to orderly-mannered microrayons, edging the majority of modern megapolises.

And here is a negative perspective appears: a tendency of how planned segregation (formally finished in 1994) transforms into planned gentrification.

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What they call gentrification in Africa in reality has nothing to do with the freedom and experimentation phenomena of famous East-village, Soho and Kreuzberg. Nobody frames it this way but that’s possibly the reason why Maboneng, and others are so criticised by refined

Gentrification

architects and urbanists coming from all over the world to participate in community’s projects. Gentrification starts from a grassroots initiative, not from the comprehensive vision.

That is a point for a parallel to be traced between South Africa and Russia, where urban taxidermy is also becoming a universal cure for deliberate transforming of live into lifeless.

Regarding standardisation as a key of sorts, developers, and Liebmann among them, are willingly borrowing this clear mechanism, seeing no difference between natural and standardised, live and dead.

Gentrification, in this sense, has

become a strategic tool and lost its initial meaning.

A NEW MODE OF BUSINESS-DISTRICT I’m having breakfast at one of the street cafés and observing a black woman in a suit parking her Mercedes and leaving with the confident air of a businesswoman. Her Mercedes is the first I’ve seen in the inner city so far.

One of the most important factors behind processes happened in, for example, East Village2 in New York was the proximity of a business district serving as a source for demand for real estate. But the premises are different in Maboneng.

Once a flourishing business district, after the fall of Apartheid CBD has completely changed its face

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Vibrant art life on the one hand and proximity to the Wall street on the other, have defined the destiny of East-village in New York as a classical example of gentrification

A core contradiction between classical Western cases of gentrification and South-African is in the very definition. Maboneng and others are not examples of gentrification at all.

After the decay of Johannesburg CBD3 in post-apartheid turbulence Maboneng comes to the scene as a new model of business district, emerging as a response to structural changes in contemporary economy.

There are different reasons to believe it.

In developed countries, gentrification appeared as a bridge between old industrial and new post-industrial eras, in a period of transition (the late 1960s in New York, and 1990s in Berlin etc). The first

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(industrial) restricted certain pattern of living, separating activities: office, house, and shopping mall.

The latter (post-industrial) defined on the contrary more integrated model since the development of technologies broke a firm bond to physical place. Work time, structure of employment, accessibility and space organisation – many things changed, and model of multiple use is becoming more and more common. What is even more important: those gentrified areas showed the emerging power of so-called creative economy.

Being incorporated into global system, Africa can’t avoid this shift.

Business-centres such as Maboneng

Gentrification

accumulate interesting projects both in progressive spheres and handicrafts, and they actually serve as business centres for the new generation.

Apart from that, Maboneng is a place where new work opportunities are being created. The remarkable thing is a structure of employment: instead of attracting local highly skilled people from all over the country come here to work or to become entrepreneurs.

And finally, Maboneng literally provides work places. The majority of space is used for business purposes and offices and only small part is residential.

GENTRIFICATION? СOMING SOON Perfectly organised rows of the business district with all its Starbucks are seemingly opposing to an area like Maboneng but that is how the new face of CBD will more likely look. That’s neither bad nor good in essence, but in a specific case of Maboneng or others, where hybrid business-centres are planted in poor districts, not being gentrified on their own, they will serve as a trigger for natural gentrification of the adjoining neighbourhoods.

I was coming back from an unsafe black district one night, passing the dead CBD on my way: lonely night servants were waiting on every corner for strangers to pass by, a street fight, while other lanes are completely empty. It’s an

uncomfortable feeling, I must admit, even in a cab. One would barely dare going out there after sunset.

But it is calm in Maboneng and even in the night. Honestly, in current terms even the absence of physical fences and the creation of however disputable but public space, is a serious contribution to the development of urban environment.

In a city where safe public space is precious, an attempt to break or at least transform, the perception of a street as a space worth spending more then a couple of minutes — that is worthy and attractive. The demand for this type of living will rise (as it does in Western countries) and those who can’t afford it will gradually move into nearby areas, start developing them and prepare a base for future gentrification.

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LOCAL COMMUNITY Constructing Local: Community Involvement in South Africa

Varvara Degtiarenko, 24 Art historian, Russia/USA 50

South Africa is diverse. It has 11 official different languages, and an interweaved heritage of different cultures.

From townships to gated communities, from never-ending fences to the silent inner cities on Sundays, South Africa’s very distinct buzzing characters are separated by very weak borders.

Another Place Studio spent five days in two of its most famous cities, Cape Town and Johannesburg, searching for patterns - elements that repeat with some form of regularity - of cohabitation, or as some say, socio-spatial phenomena. Our programme allowed us to experience the many sides we were looking for.

It was wonderful to meet such genuine people, and the impressions left with us are deep. Also, insomuch as we can consider ourselves open to new ideas and interpretations, intermingling above or below our own class was difficult. It was hard to move up, though we were given a taste of it during lunchtime at the lively, member’s-only Rand Club in Johannesburg, just as hard to go down, though township residents showed us gracious hospitality while also rightfully questioning our presence there, and what seemed like everything in between.

I tried to detect common threads of local community involvement in the post-Apartheid city, a topic wide enough to give enough perspective on such a wide breadth of information available. South Africa is new territory for me. This

short text is not an attempt to determine this exact involvement, or to describe the culture, tangible and intangible, of these places. Instead, I will summarise general observations in order to outline an argument for the deeper implications of the following trend: that the issue of community involvement is an issue of common identity in a community, and is no less a practical task than determining adequate provision of services for various needs. Just as well, it is closely tied to the relationship of an outsider’s point of view on it as its self-awareness of its own potential – branding, in other words.

Those leaders, developers, innovators, businessmen, initiative groups, agencies, studios and university scholars we met or visited largely considered residents in their projects, whether heavily or in part.

Successful discussions about the search for identity were these that came after productively involving people and communities. It concerned infrastructure, housing and political participation, not South African identity as some undefinable whole. This kind of discussion tries to escape vagaries in the sense that identity is as much an issue as having the means to make ends meet. For example, public art, in general but especially in the urban redevelopment project Maboneng, the rejuvenation project of Newtown, or the Fringe district in Cape Town, is viewed as kindling to an area’s improvement and legitimacy

51

– it is encouragement, safety, a symbol of the right to exist in a space, and is a first step when funds are tight. Consultations, surveys, or interviews with locals are used with purpose and a means to an end. If a project gathers controversy, as in the case with the Maboneng Precinct’s supposed gentrification, or perhaps a neighbourhood in Pretoria decides to build an electric fence fortress around itself to prevent crime, the point remains that the effects of image are explored along with socio-economic, infrastructure or security needs.

On Abraham Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs there are steps, particularly at the bottom, that we understand have market prices: biological, physiological, esteem and security needs – food, clothing, a home, entertainment. Others perhaps less obviously so: belongingness, cognitive, aesthetic, self-actualisation and transcendence – education, careers, or family. Money, though not listed, plays a significant part in the movement between these steps.

Being both an instrument and a unit of measurement of some exchange, it assigns only an abstract numerical value on these needs, since any actual relationship, even the most basic, is highly complex. Since money is based on both tangible and intangible values, it’s safe to say that the larger market economy — trade, debt, etc. — is based on needs and values. The advertising industry, for all of its various benefits

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and drawbacks, has over time made inroads into the study of values and the ways in which humans negotiate the defined needs listed in the pyramid. Effective communication strategies result in foundations and cornerstones of trust in the relationship with some brand. The fight for this trust, legitimacy and existence also exists in a community whether it concerns the wealthy or the poor, the black or white.

An overarching pattern emerging in South Africa is that notwithstanding the differences between the cultural histories of these communities, economic growth and sustainability seems to be fused with a need to define the boundaries of some heritage that henceforth constructs this. Like money, identity is both a tool and unit of measurement – a very useful one – of persuasion. Its existence has value for those outside and inside its context.

A community must not simply live but also make history in order to sustain itself economically. Though, of course, not the only component, heritage — in its widest understanding, shapes community involvement not only in South Africa, but also in Russia and around the world.

In South Africa, heritage is playing a more pragmatic role in this, even though the sector has not defined itself fully. Though the landmass is ancient, the country is young – its youth a major scapegoat of faulty decisions, as if other countries with governments centuries

Local Community

Alexandra Township, Johannesburg. While Peter Rich’s Interpretation Center seems to inspire faith in some for the past and future of Alexandra, for many others it is yet another symbol of decisions made by someone else without local opinion in the equation.

Alexandra Township, Johannesburg. Despite the contextual harmony sought for the construction process and use of the Interpretation Centre, it currently stands vacant and is guarded to prevent vandalism, unfinished because of disagreements on the government level. These words are cut into the entrance door.

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Alexandra Township, Johannesburg. The ÂŤHeritage CornerÂť joint is a popular spot across from both the Interpretation Center on one side and the Mandela Yard on the other. It was started concurrently with the building of the Centre.

Alexandra Township, Johannesburg. Alexandra, also known as Alex, is known historically for its independent, entrepreneurial, and democratic spirit. Because it was established just before the Land Act of 1913, many in the township owned property, building permanent houses here pre-date informal shacks.

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Local Community

Alexandra Township, Johannesburg. Johannesburg’s characteristic blue plaque designating a significant site is on Nelson Mandela’s former residence. It has fuelled a «historical» atmosphere in the surrounding area.

Langa Township, Cape Town. Shacks purposed for different services advertise in local styles and copy brands’ logos, not having the resources to display the «real thing.» This barbershop, with lively painted faces with different haircuts, is an example of the way informal structures are enlivened from the bottom up.

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Langa Township, Cape Town. A map and its notable places. When asked whether the tourism is interesting or useful, or whether they go to the new «Cultural Centre,» locals would tell me that they loved new people coming and were interested in new ideas, but they generally did not make their way to that part of town.

Langa Township, Cape Town. Many of Langa’s homes also pre-date informal settlements, and are marked with unique plaques with the name of this or that famous previous resident. The street just as colourful as this yellow home - there was a excellent noisy wedding happening a couple of houses to the left.

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Local Community

Langa Township, Cape Town. This notice board near the Guga S’Thebe Arts & Cultural Centre advertises the exhibit An African Story of the Mother City, as well as some other news.

Maboneng Precinct, Johannesburg. «Maboneng», meaning «Place of Light,» is an old saying about Joburg but not particularly this precinct. This commissioned art on the wall of a former industrial building, BMW and the trunk fragment of a branded tricycle are some of the juxtapositions seen in this new culture.

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Maboneng Precinct, Johannesburg. Public artwork by Hannelie Coetzee, Johannesburg-based artist.

This is another example of the kind of art commissioned for the streets and buildings of Maboneng.

Marlboro South Township, Johannesburg. In one of the industrial buildings in Marlboro South, adjacent to Alexandra in a former buffer zone (natural or manmade border between races during Apartheid), a pool table has been set up. He made the shot, in case you were wondering.

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Local Community

Mfuleni Township, Cape Town. Blue for the sky and white for the heavens, this church in the Mfuleni township keeps all the spiritual traditions and makes new ones, given the state of things.

Mfuleni Township, Cape Town. Paint is a powerful tool to express uniqueness and diversity. Many shacks and other structures are painted in every colour imaginable. The example of how townships use paint in general is a strong metaphor for issues of ownership in South Africa.

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Newtown, Johannesburg. On the gates to the repurposed bus factory (housing the Johannesburg Development Agency as well as an exhibition hall and other offices) detailed metalwork makes references to the landscapes and history of Joburg.

old do not repeat history’s mistakes.

In the wake of a speedy development in these two major cities, it is extremely easy to get heritage impact assessments through to build because of the lack of proactivity.

When a historic object is in question, initiatives emerge to preserve it, but there is generally no pre-existing plan. It’s old: it should stay.

It is an example of creating tangible culture where it may not be there, or an artificial creation of misunderstood intangible heritage. The need to preserve is not fully understood why; reasons are fumbled and grappled with that go beyond the physical fabric or physical appearance of the building, not necessarily to

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preserve it because of its aesthetic properties, but because of that which cannot be easily explained using economics.

Of the areas we visited, culture is more genuine, intangible and undefined, in areas where preserving it or focusing on it as a tangible element is not seen, particularly in the case of townships, whose residents struggle for elemental needs; the things they make, songs they sing, games they play, jokes they crack, home they fix, or person they heal are not encapsulated in the shiny luxury of heritage except in the case of two – Alexandra and Langa, the oldest in the two cities, which are rising in the ranks of history by

Local Community

reaffirming their complexity, their right to be where they are based on age-acquired value.

In 2005, the Council of Europe ratified the Framework Convention on the Value of Cultural Heritage for Society at Faro, which states that cultural heritage is a human right and a collective practice heavily connected to economic sustainability and a factor in democratic participation.1 South Africa is not a part of the convention, but what this suggests is that the initiatives of heritage sectors have far deeper implications globally. Xavier Greffe, in his contribution to the COE ’s publication Heritage and Beyond, summarised it this way: “While cultural heritage may give rise to development, this is because those of its components described as intangible develop and draw strength across a wide spectrum, within a true cultural environment.” 2 A true cultural environment is driven by an instinct that what is occurring will impact the future.

To conclude, as a socio-spatial phenomenon, community identity or local involvement has market share value and could be determined and sustained with an efficacious, forward thinking and human-centered communication approach that deals with needs as a complex organism, from heritage to infrastructure — a higher, purposeful and inclusive community branding that understands the tangible and negotiates the intangible culture of a place.

The cohabitation of communities is

influenced by the image and its connotations projected — far beyond only lessons learned from advertising. If there is a way to sustain the speed of change in local communities by strategically thinking about individuals, local image and the complexities they are valued by, perhaps this can help to build a more pluralistic, innovative, and human-centred global society.

[1] Council of Europe Framework Convention on the Value of Cultural Heritage for Society. 27 October, 2005. http://conventions.coe.int/Treaty/Commun/ QueVoulezVous.asp?NT=199&CM=8&CL=ENG [2] Greffe, Xavier. Cultural Heritage as a Vehicle for Sustainable Development. COE: Heritage and Beyond. 2008

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INTERVENTIONS Who needs interventions?

Anna Kaydanovksaya, 29 Architect, Russia 62

Informal settlements became a very attractive environment for architects, government or just philanthropists with money to make different kinds of interventions. The Alexandra settlement in Johannesburg is an example of all these points, because of its long and unique history as the only “black settlement” kept since 1912. Located close to the city centre, the place is a magnet for all kinds of researchers, developers or just tourists.

In the case of Alex (as it is called by locals) the definition of the word intervention can vary, it depends on what to take as the main fabric of the area. According to its history, the settlement was planned; it was based on a regular structure of near-identical, single-floor brick buildings. On the other hand, at the moment it looks obvious, that the place mostly consists of handmade shacks (as all informal settlements), these shacks form a continuous and dense structure interrupted only by roads. So, I am taking this spontaneous fabric as a basis and all attempts to implant things designed by professionals as interventions.

All this actions I roughly divided into three main types, which I call: “helpful points”, long-term redevelopment and experiments.

“Helpful points” is a name for interventions that are usually shown by a single building inside the existing fabric and considerably contrasting with surroundings. They are mostly built by private investors

who intend to help the community by organising space for their meetings and different types of activities.

Functionally, it is mostly community or children’s centres that look more like islands of comfort for visitors of the settlement, instead of a new useful part of public infrastructure of the area. We found two examples in Alexandra, very different, but telling a similar story.

A religious community established the first centre. A two-storey concrete building, partly painted and well protected by an electric fence.

It immediately raises the question, “Who does it work for?” The kid’s centre (as it is written on the wall) does not look empty, but on the other hand it is definitely not full of children and it does not invite anyone.

The second community centre was open. The unfinished steel and Plexiglas house is very well designed and completely empty. We were the only visitors, except a woman who kept the entrance open and provided us with information about the building. This example is even more interesting than the first one: the building (though it is almost abandoned) marks the public space, there is an extremely crowded and loud public life surrounding it but the house looks unnecessary.

I see these community centres as useful in the context of developing and fast increasing tourism to informal settlements all around the world (“poverty safari”). These islands of comfort could become 63

very good stops for tourist buses and a rich source of income for their owners.

The second type is projects done by government, that were trying to make the environment regular and simply organised. These attempts started together with apartheid in 1948, but they still exist.

During apartheid time the settlement was defined as an area for black people, who supposed to work as slaves for white citizens. This situation provoked the first regular intervention: the 1960 government decided to remove all single family houses and to build single sex barracks instead. The scheme was cancelled in 1979, though two barracks were built. These buildings are still there and look abandoned.

The second attempt to replace shacks with civilised housing happened in 1990. Some of the inhabitants were moved from their shacks to modern five-storey buildings with different types of apartments. The only problem with this is when people cannot pay the rent; they just don’t have the money to do this, so their illegal status becomes more and more criminal. This programme had to be terminated shortly after it started.

The last known project is to transform the existing area into a rural village. Courtyards surrounded by simple one- and two-storey buildings. All houses are different, probably to simulate the diversity

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of the existing lively environment.

Looking at the pictures, the existing structure is going to be demolished and replaced by housing which is at least 50 per cent less dense. At present, the project is only a proposal, so it is going to meet criticism and competition from other projects in the area.

There are some extreme activities that can be considered as a special case inside the second type of interventions done by Government.

Since 1994, people from all over the country moved to Johannesburg to work. It made informal settlements overcrowded, and Alexandra is no exception. This migration created the problem of employment and dramatically increased the load on infrastructure. The high density makes maintenance impossible – to start any kind of work a part of the housing has to be demolished and people are relocated into temporary camps (in the best case scenario).

The constantly increasing population creates a lack of public functions. I was lucky to meet people from WITS University currently working on school projects for informal settlements, who kindly agreed to tell me about the process. The typology was designed in 1980 and is still used everywhere without any changes, a simple one-storey barn occupying every empty place. There is no plan to renovate, in case of no available lot, a part of existing housing is quickly demolished, people relocated or just forgotten. Though

Interventions

Community centre protected by electric fence (shows one of ÂŤhelpful pointsÂť - first type of interventions)

General view of the settlement, and its illegal electricity

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Houses survived from the 1912 - the time Alexandra was established (housing typology for the whole settlement with regular plan)

The most typical courtyard for Alexandra: Old houses from 1912 and backyard shacks (usually for renting it out)

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Interventions

maintenance of underground pipes or building schools are extremely necessary things for the area, local inhabitants prefer to protect their place from this kind of help, what makes interventions even more problematic, though rather useful.

The third type of intervention is shown by independent architectural studios (mostly from EU countries) trying to find new solutions and feeling free to experiment with the existing complicated fabric.

The first example is by Dustin A Tusnovics architects. The project tries to react on two main characteristic features of the area: strong community feeling (or even local pride based on the powerful history of the place) and the problem of ownership.

Studio intend to keep local heritage (brick houses since 1912) and use it as public infrastructure: post office, community centre, school and other necessary functions; in this way, all buildings become the property of the whole community.

All shacks (that I considered earlier as the main fabric) are supposed to be demolished to clean the existing “mess” and make the ground level open for public activity: open market, public garden, playground, etc. This step also erases the question of ownership, rather radically.

The project itself looks very ambitious and future oriented. It is a two- to three-storey structure of new housing units, about seven metres high, supported by the forest

of concrete columns. Looking at all this, the first raised question is affordability. From the author’s words the total cost is $28,000 per house (that is about 5.5 times more expensive than the project from Government), in spite of this, the studio participants are convinced about possible realisation: all the concrete work is supposed to be undertaken by the men in the community and once the frame is up, the women will help complete the project. It sounds optimistic, especially for locals, who look forward to having this dream on their own plots, though the whole process implies a feeing of togetherness, strong community and shared ownership – a very futuristic model of society.

Of course, the project has many “but” moments and doesn’t fit into reality for 100 per cent; on the other hand the new model of life introduced by the studio seems worth a try (but I’m afraid the new six blocks are going to work only for people from another social and economical level).

We saw one further example the day before our visit to Alexandra.

The project was proposed by architects from Informal Studio and their students for the Marlboro township, located north of Alex. After the very detailed and deep learning about the area and community, they proposed different ways of reorganisation of the existing shacks to keep density, but have much more pleasant and efficient space.

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This type of intervention doesn’t require the inhabitants to jump into another social and economic level, so it appears that this tiny change became the most humane and elaborate project I’ve seen so far.

To sum up the situation, I need a small reorganisation of these types, concerning their possible consequences. The first one can be kept as it is, the second and the third are grouped together, because they provoke gentrification of the area, and (as usually) there are exceptions, that I see as a base for independent development of the settlement.

“Helpful points” is a questionable name. If this alien element in the existing fabric can support the developing system of tourism, the approach is inadmissible. It maintains, in an artificial way, the existing unacceptable condition of life to attract tourists. Tourism could bring economical growth to the area, but now it seems all the money is going to flow directly to the owners of these islands of comfort.

The two other types don’t seem to intend to provide healthy changes in the place. It is not difficult to see, people prefer to live in such an environment, because it costs them less. They are just not able to pay rent and taxes, so they have to keep their illegal (or criminal) status. All attempts to improve the quality of life there are always connected with the desire to make this environment legal, which means people are forced to pay their taxes. This kind

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of intervention makes poor inhabitants move from their area outside the city and establish new informal settlements.

Though after 1994 people moved from one socio-economic level to another (it is possible to meet extremely rich and well-educated black people as well as poor whites), different types of environment are strongly separated, and people mix only inside the existing clusters. After almost 20 years of the new political system, the whole city still has the structure of apartheid, but now it is more of a question of money than race. The areas are still separated and people from different social levels have almost no chance to meet. It seems this complicated polyphonic system tends to be simpler by moving poverty as far as possible from the rich centres, instead of using opportunities of the existing mixed city fabric.

I would also like to focus on two exceptions here that intend to help the community to improve their living environment by themselves. Including all its disadvantages, governmental attempts to maintain basic infrastructure inside the settlement is extremely necessary, though many things could be improved and the whole approach become more humane. I am not talking here about the basic needs, such as water, but education available for everyone, this cannot be overestimated. It is a big opportunity to change the situation and a mover

Interventions

of the future mixing and interconnection inside the city, though the way it is done meets a lot of criticism even from the participants of the project. It is interesting, the very important things completely missing in this type of intervention we saw in the project done by Informal studio (the second and the last example): the dedication to the context and playful design. Seven weeks of research done by professionals and students as well as their work with the community helped them come to this conclusion and how to make the living environment better inside current conditions and doesn’t push people to leave their homes.

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GATED COMMUNITIES Cities and Fear: Urban Schizophrenia as a Pattern of Cohabitation

Izabela Cichońska, 27 Architect, Poland 70

If one day you have the chance to travel to South Africa you should visit one of the most unexpected places in the country, the so-called apartheid model city of Pretoria. It is one of the country’s three capital cities situated in the northern part of Gauteng Province.

At first sight it is confusing, complex, elusive, and appears to be fragmented. But if you understand its deepest secrets, then you will understand its nature as Pretoria suffers from schizophrenia.

What characterises Pretoria as a city engulfed by mental disorder?

How can you translate language of disease into a socio-spatial noise generated by the city?

Schizophrenia literally means split personality. The etymology of the term has Greek roots: skhizein (to split) and phren (mind). According to current diagnostic criteria in psychiatry, the primary symptom of schizophrenia is characterised by a breakdown of thought processes and a deficit of typical emotional responses. Studies show that we can read schizophrenia as a disruption of information metabolism, which is an essential feature of life when an energy exchange occurs between a living organism with its environment.

Based on the idea that schizophrenia shapes the personality of Pretoria in the urban language, I will evaluate the representation of the visible dissolution of intellectual functions and emotional responses in the city structure.

A governing body of a municipality represents intellectual functions that are formed in the nature of the city. They constitute written rules, the law, morality, and responsibility for the safety of its residents.

The authorities in their powerlessness give privileges to the society to shape their own urban spaces.

Consequently, enclosed neighbourhoods having an impact on traffic, urban maintenance and leading to further polarisation of the city confine the public roads, which should be accessible for all citizens. This form of sharing power shows the fragility of intellectual functions of Pretoria.

Emotional responses represent the social order, values and sensations as freedom or fear. Society is searching for its own utopia where safety and territoriality form the core of a new urban order.

This fragile connection between intellectual functions and emotions leads to the appearance of the core symptoms of schizophrenia, described by psychiatrist Eugen Bleuler, where the pattern of cohabitation drifts between autism and psychosis attacks.

The information metabolism of this city, which exchanges information among all social classes with its environment result in building dialogues, is inefficient.

As a result, Pretoria is struggling with the ability to recognise the reality. The capacity to form judgments and communication skills deteriorate so much that the 71

Schizophrenic Nature of Pretoria

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Gated Communities

functioning of the city is seriously hampered.

Autism as an expression of emptiness and the lower growth of life, which is manifested by border pathology. I use the term to describe the occurrence where the boundary, which separates itself from outside world, dilates, swells or even expands. It provides foundations for the creation of gated communities, where certain social layers are isolated. These gated communities create a sort of wall of silence and self-control. They oppose the metabolism of information and they try to withdraw from the environment and enclose themselves, living their own lives with their own rules.

Those neighbourhoods adopt some characteristics of the Greek polis. Pretorian poleis become independent units of citizens with its inhabitant as rulers, without creating a proper society separated from the state structures with its legal political representation. They live in a defined area and profess similar beliefs in terms of safety, freedom, and defense. However, Greek polis was the formation of urban order driven by creating optimal efficiency of the city, belonging to a national group and by means of dialogue formulating a dike as a spirit of moral order and fair judgment. Fear has never been a motivation to create polis. Pretorian poleis built on fear would never acquire the lightness of spirit and creativity characterised by the Greek polis.

The artificial freedom achieved behind the walls effectively puts its head in a noose. The persistent fear of danger reduces and weakens social networks and relationships.

Social individuals become voluntary prisoners taking the form of dreamers, powerless observers, and pretending to live in a perfect model of society. However, the autistic nature of Pretoria is where values go awry and the community starts to live in a fictitious world. In fact, fences become a symptom of weakness, and freedom is redefined to the bizarre form of captivity. Gated communities are paying for their own protection with the highest value of freedom.

Voluntary prisoners and their visitors are constantly registered and under unlimited control of security companies that they pay for.

The social isolation from the world and from the exchange of information leads to a schizophrenic emptiness. Therefore, the state of increased autism and the mist of dreams, which magically surrounds the Pretoria, must be dispelled.

Pretoria, which buries its own freedom and cohesion, gently decays into small independent communities. This process creates a room for structure of apprehension and anxiety in between them. Conflicts between those outside and inside increase tension at the wall and leads to explosion of aggression. The right of information metabolism is stronger than its autistic tendencies.

Finally, the process of breaching the limit depicts the second nature of 73

the city. It discovers new informal settlements in which the crime and aggression reach its apex in the scale of world cities. At this point, the city experiences an attack of psychosis generating assays, anxiety, hallucinations and delusions. The walls of gated communities are vulnerable to destruction. Pretoria is portrayed in the media as being guilty of the most cruel crime, provoking further societal groups to fall into a state of autism.

Nevertheless, the outbreak of psychosis means also a spurt of freedom. The city of walls gets to know itself; it empowers individuals who can take advantage of the situation to better themselves. If you ever visit Pretoria, make sure you talk to the inhabitants. These are people who do not have the fear, who understand the nature of the city as though they were urban planners. The landscape created by Pretoria is the consequence of a schizophrenic defect – horizontal, restricted and at first sight deprived of identity. Despite the sweltering sun you can feel the coldness and indifference.

All in all, the presence of the city’s disease expresses itself in fear, while Pretoria shapes not only the physical space for living. The city has the ability to externalise the darkest emotions and extremes of human imagination manifested by obsession about the property protection where fear and perturbation materialise.

The schizophrenic pattern of cohabitation of Pretoria city leads

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the structure of the city to extreme conditions, where you can see a clear division between rich and poor, where the social world is deformed and in the spirit of apartheid it becomes black and white.

Pretoria city doesn’t realise that it is turning into hell. Today, Pretoria freezes in the entire spectrum of emotions, immersing itself in the autistic condition dreaming about its freedom. But the longer the city exists, the less fearless it becomes.

Who knows what it would become tomorrow?

Gated Communities

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URBAN DECAY Sentenced to Decline

Margarita Googe, 22 Marketing specialist, Russia 76

Urban decay is the process whereby the city, or part of it, shows the symptoms of depopulation: higher unemployment rates, deindustrialisation, crime and inhospitable city landscape.1 Also known as urban rot or urban blight, this term is coming from Northern American and European cities.

With its governmental policies, social and economic conditions, Johannesburg in South Africa has been sentenced to this status: it started as a gold-mining city, but for the past 20 years, Johannesburg has reached its highest rates of unemployment, crime, social inequality and segregation. 2 Abandoned buildings in the city centre, poor housing conditions, gated islands for white people, slums with outside toilets, and segregated neighbourhoods are the main characteristics of today’s Johannesburg.

On the global arena, the city is still seen as extremely dangerous place with post-apartheid hangover.

However, Johannesburg is moving towards a new way of development.

Along with the “white flight” when more than 800,000 white people left South Africa after Nelson Mandela’s release from prison in 1990, it’s possible to find projects aimed to improve existing conditions. Not all of them have been completed, and not all of them could change anything, but here’s the question: what can be done to change the situation in the city?

We need to define what type of city we are dealing with. The existing image of Johannesburg is more complex than the one portrayed in the media. What if the term “urban decay” is no longer the main characteristic of the city that plays an influential role in the economic development of South Africa? The perception of the current situation being dramatic and critical can be traced in every proposed project on city regeneration. Decisions are being made in fear of urban decay.

This representation of stereotyped Johannesburg in the global media can be designated as a pattern of cohabitation – a template that was, let’s say, widely promoted outside of Africa – as it has a strong effect on people’s perception of Johannesburg being a city of crime and danger. 3 As long as this vision of the city affects the existing situation, this pattern is here to stay, but switching our attention to other patterns, may change the spirit of the city.

Changing the perspective of Johannesburg having an incurable disease, and instead, considering this as a specific case that needs a particular model, can be a way forwards to future development. Looking for other patterns that are already in the city but covered with the veil of the destructive image of South Africa and creating an environment for their coexistence is one way to make a positive change. This paper attempts to evaluate the existing models as a

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part of the plan of escape from the shadow of threat and an attempt of understanding the ongoing processes in comparison with Moscow, the capital city of Russia.

JOHANNESBURG 360° As with any city, different groups of citizens see the place they live in from their own perspective. In Johannesburg, inequality of income, housing conditions and access to education colours inhabitants’ views. With these controversial representations Johannesburg looks more like slices from different pies put together, rather than one city. For me, not being a local, it is fascinating to have an opportunity to research this multidimensional city while experiencing every situation.

While visiting South Africa we had a chance to meet people from various backgrounds: from city planners to immigrants from informal settlements. Having city tours with experts such as Brian McKechnie and James Ball, both associates at Activate Architects, who work on various heritage and city regeneration initiatives, allowed us to see the city centre and new business district through the eyes of educated and experienced experts who have an international perspective.

Then, having a look around settlements with local people we got a different view – the story from the protagonist rather than the narrator.

A comparison of working approaches of developers both governmental

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and private has showed different degrees of freedom and risk in decision-making: Johannesburg Developing Agency (JDA) is focusing on the city areas that need to be renovated and that were in decline, supporting its economic functioning. As Government funds them, JDA deal with their budget carefully and develop a long-term strategy.

From the other side, Jonathan Liebmann, founder of Maboneng precinct (an area that is one of the greatest examples of gentrification in Johannesburg), a young entrepreneur who is leading the projects on city regeneration, working according to his own vision of the city development, comparing it with other examples from all over the world.

Visiting gentrificated areas and being warned by people about our plans to see the most dangerous districts in the city (see Transitional city) and comparing the two, gave us an idea of a city pattern that is even more complex and ambivalent than we expected. Later, comparing it with Alexandra, the oldest township in Johannesburg where the society tends to self-organisation (see Voids and density), we had the feeling of being between different cities in different countries rather than simply riding around one city.

Activists who worked in collaboration with the Goethe-Institut for Architecture in Germany provided more parts to the puzzle with their own visions based on different backgrounds and the experience of

Urban Decay

Before going to Hillbrow, the most criminal district of Johannesburg, we were warned by the owner of the caffee we had lunch in, who was anxiesly describing the area where local people attack visitors, getting into strangers’ cars and robbing you in the middle of the street. Popular music band Die Antwoord in their video “Fatty Boom Boom” exploitating the global perceprion on South Africa based on white stereotypes. Source: Die Antwoord, «Fatty Boom Boom», Music video and story concept by Ninja and Yo-landi Vi$$er, Produced by Zef Filmz in association with Egg Films, Battalion, and VICE

“If it’s your 1st time in the concrete jungle, just sit back and relax. Everything is going to be ok.”

Source: Die Antwoord, «Fatty Boom Boom», Music video and story concept by Ninja and Yo-landi Vi$$er, Produced by Zef Filmz in association with Egg Films, Battalion, and VICE

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Common burden of regime past: strife for satefy and independence. Ivanteevka, 20 km from Moscow, 2013. Photo: Izabela Cichońska

Common burden of regime past: strife for satefy and independence. Private housing, Johannesburg, 2013. Photo: Izabela Cichońska

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Urban Decay

working with people from the townships. We saw how the energy and ambitions of young people from all over the world is reshaping the city landscape.

Meeting with people who still live in shacks without any indoor facilities and then, 15 minutes later driving the bus into the middle of an entirely artificial SimCity with manicured grass and trees, an extra large shopping mall, a palace with a huge logo of Vodafone, empty streets and shining car showrooms has changed our vision of the possible plans for cohabitation in South Africa.

All of these experiences gave us a chance to see what is going on in Johannesburg at the moment and what changes the city is ready to implement. With this new understanding, I would like to consider the idea of urban decay in Johannesburg.

Before the trip to South Africa, we had some expectations about the situation there: the south hemisphere is moving into winter and the complex political and social issues seemed so different from what we have in Russia. South Africa appeared to be completely different.

However, contrary to our expectations, Moscow and Johannesburg have a lot in common; the similarities of two post-cities (post-soviet and post-apartheid) may have a great potential for further research that is open to new approaches of urban studies in these two cities.

POST-REGIME HANGOVER Issues of racism and discrimination in South Africa are now widely discussed and integral components of the image of the country. Social segregation based on racism is turning to segregation based on wealth – one can face the same situation in Moscow with its obsession for owning property: dachas (second homes) as one of the first opportunities to create private space.

Ownership is another painful common topic in Johannesburg: due to historical events, all issues with property, housing and governmental support have played a big role in the social mentality. There are certain overlapping of the patterns between Moscow and Johannesburg that shed new light on understanding the cause-and-effect of networks.

The burden of a colonial historical past of Johannesburg cryptically echoes with the Soviet heritage in Moscow, but current trends of development already have different features.

In Moscow, it is possible to live next to your neighbour for years without acknowledging them with a simple, “Hello”. In Johannesburg, people in neighbourhoods (where, as the media says, “Each day, an average of nearly 50 people are murdered”) 4, communicate with each other with ease, greeting each other in the street, kids are playing together under the watchful eye of

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older people who are selling wares on the street in front of them.

The general disappointment and anger within the South African townships has helped to generate grassroots activities, independent funds and emerging local communities. The urge to deal with the situation and a willingness to improve conditions with their own resources, mostly without relying on the Government, are not comparable with pressure of constant suspicion, post-Soviet fatigue and disbelief in positive change in Moscow.

Having similar stories in the past, two post-regime cities are now seeking their own path forwards: shared experiences of the “extremes” and common challenges of recovery are the features that form a special layer to the complexity of the existing situation. Moreover, it is a question of values – the legacy of the regime and social change – but can new values be created and if so, how?

Today, Moscow is one of the most expensive cities5 in the world but it doesn’t necessarily have a high quality of life 6. People from all over Russia move to the capital in search of a better income and education, but almost nobody moves there for the conditions that provide the city, such as transportation issues, the extremely high mortgage and rents, or bad ecology, which does not make Moscow the dream place to stay. Few people consider Moscow as a place in which to stay for the long term and, for example, to bring up a family – according to a survey, 20 per cent 82

of Muscovites want to move to the suburbs7.

Moreover, Moscow as the main transportation hub in the country that accommodates thousands of people every day who are spending anything from a couple of hours to a couple of days there before moving further abroad. Imagine a map that represents all movement in and out from the city and willingness of its citizens to live here for a significant amount of time. It seems that Moscow in this sense is transitional city by the general perception, but people who are brave enough to move here temporarily, spend their whole life delegating decisions of choosing the place to stay for the next generation.

TRANSITIONAL CITY? The settlement of Johannesburg began when gold was discovered in Witwatersrand in 1886; this discovery spurred a feverish gold rush as fortune hunters from all over the world descended on the area. Within three years this settlement became the biggest in South Africa. The first buildings in Johannesburg were constructed without any consideration for a future city: it is the world’s largest city that’s not located near a lake, navigable river or seaport.8 The miners saw their homes as temporary dwellings and were ready to leave them as soon as the resources were gone. The City of Gold, as Johannesburg was known, was considered as a source of wealth and power, but not as a permanent place to stay.

Urban Decay

The symptoms of urban decay that are present today overlap with the original idea of Johannesburg being a temporal camp. Once it was regarded as a permanent city, Johannesburg quickly began to display features of urban decline, as the media described it. But is it even possible to say that there is urban decay in a city that is only 100 years old? Is it even right to be concerned with changes that are taking place as the consequences of urban decay? What if this is one of the stages of development of the future city, and its transition is just of the first phases of the city’s evolution?

The experience of transitional status pops up again when the black population was moved from the city in temporal townships that, as the first settlement of Johannesburg, remains part of urban canvas. People are keep on saying that the settlements were not considered as “home” and that people perceive this place as transitional when referring to the disorder and crime records, but time shows that people are still here and from the inside these houses are furnished as homes. The image of Johannesburg as the world capital of crime however, for those who have never been there, still remains.

Understanding the model in these terms provokes projects that are led by people from outside that are not always successful. If the place were considered as transitional, projects that are taking

place there probably would have the same vibe.

Both patterns of decay and of transition that are present in Johannesburg may be depicted with another story about the decaying heart of Johannesburg.”

VOIDS AND DENSITY One can find a large amount of articles that describes the city centre of Johannesburg. Here is the example:

“Many of the high-rise towers in downtown Johannesburg that were once polished and gleaming are now decrepit and filthy, inhabited by squatters, with broken windows and laundry hanging from the formerly fancy balconies. The streets around them are filled with garbage, broken furniture, and abandoned appliances.

The businesses that used to occupy the ground floors are gone. This seems to apply to apartment buildings, office towers, and hotels alike.

Unless the owners have somehow managed to successfully barricade their properties, the buildings have all suffered the same fate.” 9

The former business centre is now used differently: it is only decaying from the white businessmen’s point of view who experiences a loss of control. Designed as an apartheid colonial city, it is changing according to new conditions that are forming in the local society. If there is a purpose to turn Johannesburg into a vivid place, everything is already appearing; conditions are not aseptic any more – the chemical reaction have begun and the 83

Panoramic view on Johannesburg

city centre is decaying only for the “apartheid paradigm”.

Zooming out from the city centre to the suburbs, the “insideout” model can be seen: Hillbrow that is known as the most criminal district, where blacks began to settle illegally as apartheid laws became harder to enforce, is as dense as other non-central areas unlike the sparsely populated city centre. Hillbrow has a reputation for changes happening organically as not many external projects have been proposed.

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This peculiar model of Johannesburg and its districts cannot be described in terms of urban decay that was coined to describe North American and European cities that faced the situation of people moving to the suburbs or immigrants who settled around the city centre.

For example, Alexandra the largest township in Johannesburg, is the oldest settlement established during the gold rush and shows signs of a strong sense of community. Alexandra is characterised from other townships in that it has always had business

Urban Decay

structure with its own economy and inhabitants owned land there so during apartheid, private houses were demolished.

If comparing with Moscow again, people from Alexandra tend not to hide their plots with fences as we see in Russian capital. There are no boundary walls, but dense housing and a communal area in the street. Left to their own, they show a tendency to self-organisation, increasing public activity, whereas a survey showed that 91 per cent of residents believed the Alexandra

Renewal Project (ARP)10 did not help them in any way.11 There is a lot to learn from how a sense of ownership and opportunity for local markets can give a rise for cohabitation unlike the paternalist projects that echoes of colonial patronage.

CLICHÉS THAT BLUR THE VISION Johannesburg is like a kaleidoscope that you can watch and see completely different combinations of elements in it. A set of stereotypes that is a significant part of the image 85

Empty office building in the city center and recently opened grocery market with street food sellers.

Johannesburg, 2013

of the city can be read in the projects of urban regeneration; but understanding the existing models is far more crucial for Johannesburg, rather that maintaining an endless stream of projects that are tasked to solve the problems that are themselves only one view.

A pattern that is occurring against the background of “stereotyped images� can be seen in the city neither bounded by terms of urban decay nor stage of transition. This is a model that is still very fragile: residents take a responsibility to create their own space according to their needs. From the outside, it looks like

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chaotic Brownian motion but interventions in the forms of projects have partial success, as only elements that exist within the pattern can determine what and how the situation can be changed.

Changing this point of view means looking at the city without sadness. City planners need to focus on existing trends and their potential. New understanding of the existing pattern of Johannesburg can bring more explicit decisions, and thus, more significant change to the city.

[1] Hans Skifter Andersen, Danish Building and Urban Research Institute, Urban Sores, On the Interaction

Urban Decay

between Segregation, Urban Decay and Deprived Neighborhoods [2] https://www.osac.gov/pages/contentreportpdf. aspx?cid=10935 [3] http://www.southafricaweb.co.za/article/ south-african-crime-statistics [4] http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/8668615.stm [5] http://www.mercer.com/articles/ cost-of-living-2012 [6] http://www.mercer.com/press-releases/ quality-of-living-report-2012 [7] http://www.russia.ru/news/ society/2012/10/24/3252.html [8] http://www.mediaclubsouthafrica.com/index. php?option=com_content&view=article&id=2121:mel rose-211210&catid=50:visitnews&Itemid=117 [9] http://gatesofvienna.net/2007/10/ the-death-of-johannesburg/ [10] http://www.Johannesburg.org.za/ index.php?option=com_content&do_ pdf=1&id=177&limitstart=4 [11] http://www.news24.com/SouthAfrica/Politics/ Alexandra-renewal-project-disappointingsurvey-20120620

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CAPE TOWN

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