The Urban Catharsis : Strategies for the adaptation of Johannesburg’s privately-owned public spaces along the mining belt. Approaches to the adaptation of mining landscapes for the leisurescape in Johannesburg south post-industry

Abstract

This dissertation offers a reading into three distinct sites of urban entertainment in Johannesburg, as a result of appropriation to post-industrial landscapes. The key to understanding Johannesburg’s seemingly disjointed landscapes is multi-layered and complex intersecting between past industries, a world-class city image agenda, recreation and city inhabitant geographies through class and race. Seemingly commemorative in nature, the entertainment based landscape seeks to invoke questions of public memory while simultaneously enticing cathartic experiences. This dissertation contextualises the Santarama Miniland amusement park within a family of sites as an archetype of urban entertainment landscapes (theme parks, shopping malls, casinos and outdoor cinemas in particular) that have manifested in Johannesburg. The landscape of pleasure addresess the ongoing question of heritage in the discourse of museology environments. The urban catharsis will act as a mediator in the exploration of adapting the amusement park, and a larger sporting precinct an environment founded by the transformation of previously productive landscapes to reimagined landscapes of pleasure in the Johannesburg landscape. Settlement on the ridge formed stark socio-economic spatial divides which still resound in the city today (Bobbins & Trangos, 2018). The intention of the project is to address the disparity of adequate public recreational facilities in the south of Johannesburg. Parks could be an important strategy to increase physical activity and reduce racial or ethnic and socioeconomic disparities. Key Words: Amusement Park, Heritage, Urban Entertainment, Leisure