Real and Reimagined contemporary Utopia’s : a mediation and recreation space for migratory and resilient urban communities

Abstract

ABSTRACT This is a concerted effort at understanding the contemporary utopian processes and systems of the formation and spatial narratives of the people it is designed for. Locality and nostalgia is the essence of the times we live in. There is currently a global refuge crisis which is defined and can be contained within each countries borders as well as external forces that disrupt the ‘contemporary utopia’s’ of the times. Man is conditioned from early life to be fascinated by the longing of a place to dwell. Safety and familiarity of place is an important state of where people choose to dwell. Dwelling is also a proponent of opportunity where local migrants and immigrants to the environment with limited resources such as South Africa. According to the UNHCR, it was determined that in 2015, South Africa received 62 159 asylum claims. A total of this, 2,499 were approved for refugee status while 58,141 were denied, suggesting that all the applications in the 2015 period were dealt with. However, 14,093 were appealed, and of these 12,361 remained open into 2016 (Africa Check, 2016). The conditions of these new city dwellers is threatened by a new spatial continuum of land restitution and/or transformation, very bureaucratic legal process, resource accessibility and inclusivity. There is an inherent lack of spaces of community building within the Pretoria CBD, with most space succumbing to decay, a sustained urban sprawl, monofunctional territories, and nucleated densities. New migrants into the city struggle to find formal and informal opportunities and resources for ‘urban survival-ism’. These conditions are ones that have ruinous affects on the cities utopian public spaces that mostly are stuck in the spatial utilitarianism of the time of production. The dissertation Real and Re-imagined Spaces as Contemporary Utopia’s looks to reevaluate the current conditions of the city that manufacture a hostile urban context and subsequently ‘agonistic’ people without spaces to commune. The urban condition is territorial, consumed by a fence fetish, entrapped by different spatial and architectural utopias and ruins. The presence of ruins is evidenced by a preoccupation with ‘Heritage’ architecture and landscapes. These leftover spaces and heritage provide 1 opportunities to have new layers of memory and legacy that is conscious to erasure, space-making, man and the environment, and the trappings of time.

UKUQALA Lena umzamo ohlanganyelwe ekuqondeni izinqubo zezinsuku zokuphila zangasese kanye nezinhlelo zokwakheka nezindatshana zendawo zabantu ezenzelwe. Indawo kanye ne-nostalgia yizona zinkinga zezikhathi esiphila kuzo. Njengamanje isiphephelo sezokuphepha emhlabeni jikelele esichazwe futhi singatholakala ngaphakathi kwamanye amazwe omngcele kanye namandla angaphandle aphazamisa ‘ubuholi besikhathi samanje’ ngezikhathi. Umuntu uphonywe kusukela ebusweni bokuqala ukuze athabe ukulangazelela indawo yokuhlala. Ukuphepha nokujwayela indawo kuyindawo ebalulekile lapho abantu bakhetha ukuhlala khona. Ukuhlala kubuye kube ngumgqugquzeli wamathuba lapho abafuduka khona kanye nabafuduki bezemvelo abanemithombo encane njengeNingizimu Afrika. Ngokwe-United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (okubizwa ngokuthi i-UNHCR kusuka lapha), kwaqunywa ukuthi ngo-2015, iNingizimu Afrika ithole izimangalo ezingu-62 159 zokukhoseliswa. Okubonke lokhu, abangu-2,499 bavunyelwe ukuba babe ngababaleki ngenkathi kuthiwa abangu-58 141 banqatshelwe, okuphakamisa ukuthi zonke izicelo ngonyaka wezi-2015 zibhekwa nazo. Kodwa-ke, abangu-14,093 babethweswa icala, futhi kulaba abangu-12 361 bahlala bevulekile ngo-2016 (i-Africa Check, 2016). Izimo zalaba bantu abahlala emadolobheni amasha zisongelwa ukuqhubeka kwendawo yokubuyisela umhlaba kanye / noma ukuguqulwa, inqubo yomthetho enobulungisa, ukutholakala kwemithombo kanye nokuhlanganiswa. Kukhona ukungabi nalutho kwezikhala zomsebenzi womphakathi ngaphakathi kwePitoli Central Business District (CBD kusuka lapha), iningi lendawo ehluleka ukubola, izindawo ezihlala emadolobheni, izindawo zokusebenza, kanye nezinkinga ezingasebenzi. Abafuduki abasha bangena emzabalazweni womuzi ukuthola amathuba asemthethweni namasosha ‘okusinda emadolobheni-ism’. Lezi zimo yizona ezithintekayo emadolobheni ezindaweni ezingekho emphakathini ezivame ukunamathela emphakathini wesikhathi sokukhiqiza. I-dissertation Real and Re-imagined Spaces njengobukeka be-Contemporary Utopia ukuhlola kabusha izimo zamanje zomuzi ezakha umongo wendawo edolobheni kanye nabantu abangenayo i-agonistic ngaphandle kwezikhala zokuxhumana. Isimo sasezindaweni zasemadolobheni siyindawo, sidliwa izinkinga zokubiya mawala, siboshwe yizindawo ezihlukahlukene kanye nezindawo zokuchitha izindawo. Ukutholakala kwamanxiwa kuboniswa ukukhathazeka ngezakhiwo ‘zeGugu’ nezindwangu. Lezi zikhala kanye namagugu asele ahlinzeka amathuba okuba nemigqa emisha yememori kanye nefa eliqaphela ukukhipha, ukwenza isikhala, umuntu kanye nemvelo, kanye nokuhamba kwesikhathi.