CUBES/School of Architecture and Planning, Wits University

Temba Middelmann grew up in Johannesburg where he completed a BA in history and applied economics, and subsequently BA Honours degree in history at the University of Witwatersrand in 2013. He completed an MSc in African Studies at the University of Oxford in 2016 with a distinction for his research dissertation titled Caught Between the Past and Future: Layers of Meaning at Constitution Hill which compared the vision for and uses of the Constitution Hill precinct. The research for this led to an invigorated interest in the complexity of uses of urban public space, which formed the seed of his PhD project. 

Temba¡¯s PhD research aims to better understand how spatial justice and/or injustice are constituted in public places in Johannesburg through ethnographic case studies of three such places in the inner city: Pieter Roos Park, Constitution Hill and Ghandi Square. He aims to contribute theoretically to understandings of what public space means in contemporary South Africa, and empirically in terms of documenting and analysing predominant uses and perceptions of the case study spaces in question. This involves an exploration of how different publics are structured through their activity in public space and how their competing claims are adjudicated.

Email: tjdm90@gmail.com or 387078@students.wits.ac.za 

www.tembamiddelmann.com

CUBES/School of Architecture and Planning, Wits University

Enabling The Good Life: Inner transition and resilient, just community 

Simon Sizwe Mayson majored in Environmental and Geographical Sciences and Social Anthropology (Stream Distinction) in his Bachelor¡¯s degree. His MSc Development Planning degree on informal inner city housing (Distinction) involved significant experiential learning and was awarded various prizes. As Assistant Director in the City of Johannesburg Housing Department/ Office of the City Manager he coordinated the development and implementation of the highly commended Inner City Housing Implementation Plan informed by his research findings. He plans to spend the upcoming years working (and potentially living in community) with research partners who would find the outcomes beneficial. 

Rising inequalities, socioecological crises raise significant questions about the Western development model followed globally. ¡®Degrowth¡¯, conceptualised as a ¡®missile word¡¯, ¡®challenges the hegemony of growth and calls for a democratically led redistributive downscaling of production and consumption in industrialised countries as a means to achieve environmental sustainability, social justice and well-being¡¯ (Demaria F, Schneider F, Sekulova F, Martinez-Alier J. 2013. ¡®What is degrowth? From an activist slogan to a social movement¡¯, Environ Values 22, 191¨C215.). Given the aims of Degrowth at a macro scale, how is it enabled at a personal scale ¨C can this be the key to The Good Life? If so, how can Inner Transition enable resilient, just community towards Degrowth?

Email: ssmayson@gmail.com

mayson.co.za

Urban Futures Centre, Faculty of Engineering and Built Environment, Durban University of Technology 

Doung is a kreole-Mauritian-born, living in Durban, South Africa.  He is an architect. He is not an architect. His experience of the ¡®profession¡¯ led him to broaden his definition of architecture focusing on space - an architecturewithoutwalls. In 2000, doung conceptualised and implemented the ¡®CityWalk¡¯ initiative as a way of directly engaging and observing the flux and mutability his adopted city.  It now includes 13 major cites internationally. His work is multi-media including live performance, film/video, sculpture, installation and architecture. He has instigated projects with organisations and artists internationally of diverse nature including site responsive architectural installations that engages the urban fabric often in an openly critical and sometimes provocative manner. In 2008 he co-founded dala an NPO which engages art architecture for social justice. 

He recently published in Urban Future MANIFESTOS (Hatje Cantz 2010) along Saskia Saken, Edward Soja, AbdouMaliq Simone, Michael Sorkin, Lebbeus woods and Ai Weiwei amongst others.

Email: doung@dala.org.za

Urban Futures Centre, Faculty of Engineering and Built Environment, Durban University of Technology 

Tanya Dayaram is a registered professional planner with seven years of experience which includes: Consulting (varied projects, one of which involved a trip to Tanzania for a publication titled ¡°Colonial Planning Concept and Post-colonial Realities: The influence of British planning culture in Tanzania, South Africa and Ghana,¡±(2015); Volunteer and internship with WESSA; Yoga and fitness enthusiast; Student-assistant at the disability unit and junior lecturer at UKZN. She obtained a Bachelors degree in Housing (2009) and a Master¡¯s degree in Town and Regional Planning (MTRP, 2012 at the University of KwaZulu-Natal). 

Before devoting herself to full-time doctoral studies, she was a project officer at Project Preparation Trust, a NPO which piloted the Informal Economy Support Programme (she continues to work there part-time). Her doctoral research proposal was accepted by Durban University of Technology. The project is titled ¡°The role of business support interventions in promoting spatial justice: A case study of informal economic development in a residential zone, eThekwini (Ward 68),¡± and she is supervised by Dr Kira Erwin. Using mixed methods, this research seeks to explore the association between residential businesses in an area notorious for historical discrimination, and the challenges / benefits identified with models of business development support.

Email: tanya.d365@gmail.com

Urban Futures Centre, Faculty of Engineering and Built Environment, Durban University of Technology 

Lindsay Bush was born and bred in Durban and is a qualified Architect. Having lived and worked in many different countries, she completed an Advanced Masters in Urban Design at ETH in 2011 with a focus on informality in Brazil, and since then has worked intensively in the field of community-driven development and public participation. Lindsay has co-authored two books and a printable website, exhibited project work in ¡®Conflicts of an Urban Age¡¯ at Venice Biennale 2016 and now teaches undergraduate Architectural Design and Visual Communication at UKZN. 

Lindsay¡¯s Doctoral study focuses on the residential high-rise buildings along the Durban beachfront and the people who inhabit them today. It aims to employ a socio-spatial lens to better understand what aspects of tall building design work better than others in this context ¨C an edge condition where the dense inner city meets the ocean ¨C by looking at both quantitative data such as unit size, cost, plan layout and number of occupants, and qualitative data such as ways of occupying space, behaviour, likes & fears and social networks. This study explores a user-centric approach to understanding and intervening in the multicultural city, in an attempt to derive design-level tools and theories applicable to high-density housing solutions for South Africa.

Email: ambush.urbanism@gmail.com

Department of Urban and Regional Planning, University of Venda 

Frank Moffat is a PhD student in Urban and Regional Planning at the University of Venda (2017-2019). He has the following qualifications from the University of Venda; Master of Urban and Regional Planning Distinction (2017), Certificate in Geographic Information Systems (2016) and Bachelor of Urban and Regional Planning (2015). He is also registered with the South African Council for Planners (SACPLAN) as a Candidate Town Planner (Reg. number: C/7588/2013).

Project title: Scenario modelling of spatial transformation in post-apartheid City of Polokwane, South Africa. 

Frank¡¯s project seeks to map out scenarios of spatial transformations in post-apartheid City of Polokwane, to determine the drivers, and associated implications of such spatial transformations. Understanding spatial transformation is fundamental for the application of UrbanSim platform to simulate future spatial development in post-apartheid City of Polokwane. This study is based on the premise that there is need for urban modelling to generate spatial evidence needed to address the complexity associated with the apartheid legacy of spatial injustice, inequality, non-resilient and unsustainable growth path inherent in South Africa which is exacerbated by implications of unprecedented urban growth.

Email: moreblessing.moffat@gmail.com

Department of Urban and Regional Planning, University of Venda 

Wendy is currently a full time PhD student in Urban and Regional Planning at the University of Venda. She holds an MSc in Rural and Urban Planning and a BSc in Rural and Urban Planning. She has five years of lecturing experience in Zimbabwe in Rural and Urban Planning and three years in NGOs as a trainer in Training for Transformation. Wendy enjoys volunteering her services for the betterment of her community and spending time with her two children Anotida  and Tadiswa who are also her source of inspiration. 

Gated open public spaces can be viewed as a concept, process and practice largely derived from the notion of gated communities; a general tendency towards privatization of space through physical barriers. The assumption is that while gating enhances public security and safety on public open spaces; how then can privatization of such public open spaces be achieved without interfering with social justice and the right to the city of the CBD users? The aim of the study is to interrogate gated public open spaces and the implications on social justice in CBDs of selected rural towns in Vhembe District, in Limpopo province, South Africa.

Email: mandazawendy@gmail.com