Common ground : a landscape shared between man, his productions and nature

Abstract

This dissertation investigates how a productive landscape can increase the carrying capacity of the land, by analysing and responding to the existing site and a proposed post-industrial development of the site done in 2010. The aim is to effectively communicate the influence of man’s highly consumerist nature on resources and the ecology on the user group. The chosen site is located in the highdensity urban context of Pretoria West, Tshwane, South Africa. The motivation of this dissertation is for the landscape to be the synergy between the existing productive entities. The strategy was to design holistically, with the objective being to include the larger systems at play. Systemic thinking, in terms of production, increases resources and the variety of resources’ deliverability. The only way that a productive landscape can be resilient is to instil positive meaning in the user and, consequently, indefinite stewardship. To achieve resilience, biophilic urban design guidelines were followed to have a positive psychological effect on the user. This dissertation aims to re-address age-old theories, such as biophillia and the “Web of Life”, as crucial guidelines to inform interventions for the current, real time, global and African issues relating to increasing resource demands.