A story of re-integration of the people and place of Marabastad

Abstract

This dissertation comprises an investigative narrative that approaches the real world issue of drug addiction, which represents only a small part of the complex issue of homelessness. The story looks at the transformative regeneration of Marabastad, which the author feels is essential to the re-integration of people and place. The technique of narration was envisaged to best reveal the potentially regenerative nature of the architecture within the greater urban framework of the area. With this approach, the complex situation of a developing community with limited infrastructure and its associated social problems, is better assimilated by the reader as it looks beyond the more abstract issues, at the personal. In this scheme, the 'designer' is not assuming the role of expert but is adopting a more reciprocal role, receptive to the needs of the local population. The narrative approach becomes a means of putting both designer and reader into the situation, in such a way that the project can be better accessed on a humanitarian level. This counters the 'top-down' approach to architecture and urban planning that is so often superimposed on a community from the outside. Regeneration as a way of looking at the potential of an environment, goes beyond gentrification in that the health and well being of the immediate community, as well as the resilience of the landscape, becomes the major dialectic revealed by the argument.Die verhandeling bestaan uit 'n ondersoekende narratief, wat die regte w?reldse probleem van dwelmverslawing benader, 'n probleem wat net 'n klein deel van die komplekse kwessie van haweloosheid verteenwoordig. Die verhaal kyk na dietransformerende herlewing van Marabastad, wat, volgens die skrywer, 'n noodsaaklike rol speel in die herintegrasie van mens en plek. Storievertelling was in die vooruitsig gestel as 'n tegniek om die potensi?le regeneratiewe aard van argitektuur, binne die konteks van die groter stedelike raamwerk, te openbaar. Met di? benadering word die komplekse situasie van 'n ontwikkelende gemeenskap met beperkte infrastruktuur en die sosiale kwessies wat daarmee gepaard gaan, beter deur die leser begryp, omdat daar verby die meer abstrakte kwessies gekyk word, na die persoonlike kwessies. In die skema neem die 'ontwerper' nie die rol van die kenner aan nie, maar plaas haarself in 'n wedersydse rol, wat die behoeftes van die plaaslike bevolking in ag neem. Die naratiewe benadering word 'n middel om beide die ontwerper en die leser in die situasie te plaas, op so manier dat die projek meer toeganklik raak op 'n humanit?re vlak. Die benadering gaan teen die "bo-na-onder" benadering waarvolgens argitektuur en stedelike beplanning so dikwels in 'n gemeenskap toegepas word deur eksterne partye. Herlewing, as 'n manier om na die potensiaal van 'n omgewing te kyk, gaan verder as gentrifikasie, deur dat die gesondheid en die welstand van die onmiddellike gemeenskap, asook die veerkragtigheid van die landskap, deur die argument as die hoof dialek geopenbaar word.