Abstract:
In South Africa there are many informal settlements experiencing
worsening socio-economic living conditions, along
with associated environmental and urban open space degradation.
These socio-spatial problems have increasingly attracted
attention and responses from the South African government
and researchers. Urban designers and architects as
design professionals can make use of their visual-spatial skills
to play a leading role towards developing sustainable and
enabling urban open spaces in informal settlements. This
study employed visual assessment as a tool for urban designers
and architects to address socio-spatial problems in informal
settlements. A visual research methodology was explored,
using Khutsong Section informal settlement as a vehicle so
as to formulate a generalised approach to the upgrading of
informal settlements. The study area, Khutsong Section, is
located in Ivory Park township within the City of Johannesburg.
The visual-spatial design process gained from the context
of the study, visual analysis and interpretation of precedents
as well as the analysis and understanding of the study
area. The context-informed and -driven urban open space
design process resulted in an integrative and consolidated
spatial solution for Khutsong Section. The understanding obtained
of specific socio-economic activities imbedded in prevailing
spatial elements and features in informal settlements
has a broader applicability in the urban design and architecture
professions. Therefore, the application of the visual research
method in this study contributes towards positioning
urban designers and architects to be visionaries and pioneers
in the sustainable upgrading of informal settlements.
