Mutualism : the antidote to exploitation

Abstract

The Johannesburg, Cottesloe, Gas Works is located within the Witwatersrand zone of integration, between the University of Johannesburg and Witwatersrand. According to the Johannesburg Metropolitan Open Space System (JMOSS), there is a high priority to link secondary open spaces such as the educational premises. The Johannesburg Gas Works forms part of Jozi’s cityscape and the three remaining 45meter high gas cylinders represents a visual iconic landmark in the city. The site is currently inaccessible. The aim of this dissertation will be to determine the manner in which a user experience can be created as a palimpsest of meaning between the tangible and intangible elements on site. This implies a dialogue between the polluted areas of industrial waste, the layers of historical significance and the remnants of nature. The dissertation specifically focuses on awareness creation through the landscape experience on a post-industrial site of the associated social exploitation and environmental contamination. The Open Narrative approach will be used as part of the methodology which implies multiple interpretations by users and recognizes the presence of embedded narratives inscribed by past and future cultural practices and natural processes. A new narrative is inscribed onto the site and provides multiple experiences with each visit to the site through a phased intervention that opens up areas and processes for experience as they become decontaminated. To facilitate the palimpsest of tangible and intangible meaning, the user experience is proposed to consist of three realities: a lower, in-between and upper reality with increasing elements of transience. The essence of the design and its programme becomes mutualistic (as opposed to exploitative), based on the principles outlined by Klein (2014) namely, “interdependence, reciprocity and cooperation”. The goal of the design intervention is to foster a renewed community identity and social and environmental health through the range of active and passive activities proposed but also through the particular experiences that open up the site for renewed interpretation to all users. The dissertation demonstrates that new meanings can be applied to spaces that once posed a cultural limitation. A mutualistic relationship between the site and the people can and should co-exist.