Awakening the landscape

Abstract

South Africa is one of the leading countries globally when it comes to mining and extracting minerals from the Landscape. Mining companies in South Africa are not satisfying their legal responsibilities by effectively “closing down” mines. Derelict mine sites occur all over the country and are not rehabilitated or reused at all. These mines leave behind a trail of idle landscapes, influencing the environmental and social structure of its context. This dissertation investigates the role of the landscape architect in the revival of an abandoned dumping site on the Johannesburg mining belt, in the south of the city, within the proposed Corridors of Freedom Framework. It seeks ways of transforming derelict mining spaces into spaces for opportunity as proposed by the Johannesburg Spatial Development Framework and the Urban Framework for Turffontein. The two main issues caused by the derelict mining sites in Turffontein are that of unemployment and environmental pollution. The hypothesis states that landscape design can respond to the site’s socio-environmental issues through a: didactic landscape intervention that creates awareness of the unemployment and environmental pollution; and a programme that focuses on skills development, material generation and rehabilitation. In order to test the hypothesis, research was done on key contextual and site-specific issues through on site mapping and available desktop information. Existing urban frameworks and Spatial Development Frameworks regarding the future plans of the Turffontein precinct were consulted, along with a literature review and precedent study in order to identify made use of informal interviews to solutions and opportunities at a wide range of scales. The author gather insight on the site and context related matters. In conclusion, it is argued that a didactic landscape intervention, focused on skills development, remediation, and material generation can address the key social and environmental issues of the Turffontein area. The design programme directly responds to the contextual needs, while the experience of the site design is educational. By respecting the genius loci of the place, didactic moments are created along a route in the landscape to create awareness with the users of the socio-environmental constraints challenges of the site and context. The aim is to allow future generations to experience and learn through the design intervention that confronts them with the immediate challenges and creates opportunity for growth and change.