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Student – BArch(Hons)
Architecture & Urban Design project - an urban strategy
Alternative [socially interactive] urban lifestyles
2020 – Quarter 2 design project
Hatfield district in Pretoria, Gauteng
The project's brief was formulated within the Planet Hatfield 2030 thought experiment, with specific reference to Kate Raworth's Doughnut Economic Model
Calayde Davey
Urban strategies, Hatfield, Doughnut Economics, digital twins, Individualism, social entropy, network resilience, social diversity and equity
Project Summary:
This urban strategy was intended to facilitate the emergence of alternative urban lifestyles, by increasing the potential for social interaction through the improvement of spatial networks that facilitate social interactions. In order for cities to be all that they could be, everyone needs to have the opportunity of engaging with them, regardless of a person’s social needs or behaviour. Currently, Hatfield simply does not offer this kind of inclusivity in terms of social interaction.
This studio is grounded in the Doughnut Economics Model which is a framework for development that investigates ways of enabling societies to live within what nature can accommodate (planetary boundaries) while providing for its inhabitant’s needs (social boundaries) (Doughnut Economics Action Lab (DEAL), 2020). The main goal of this model is to re-frame economic problems and set new goals, into one where prosperity means none of the twelve social foundations are neglected and none of the nine ecological ceilings overshot. At its core this model is intended to counter tradional economic models that rely on perpetual growth for success, in favour of an approach that relies on a healthy, stable equilibrium.
When applying this model to Hatfield I realised that within most, if not all, of the categories there is some aspect that relates directly to people’s ability, or inability, to interact socially making this a potentially value factor to leverage positive change.
But is social interaction a problem in Hatfield?
The first reason that can be provided is that when mapping social functions within Hatfield, it becomes ubundantly clear that social diversity is in fact quite low, with only about 8 out of 22 social functions being evident currently (social functions listed we derived based on similar studnet precincts in SA and internationally, as well as interests expressed by UP's studednts).
Furthermore, when these functions are tabulated one can see that they are remarkably similar in character and who or what social needs they cater for (Markowsky, 2017).
This however leads to the question of why this is a problematic condition.
When we consider the social needs and behaviour of Hatfield’s inhabitants (Cabral, et al., 2013) and compare them to the social options that are currently being offered, one finds a distinct disparity between the what is being supplied and what is actually needed, to the extent that one can argue that the majority of Hatfield's inhabitants are being catered for by the functions currently on offer.
THUS:
The second reason why the current condition for social interaction needs to be reconsidered is that environments with social functional diversity facilitate healthy and resilient social networks. These networks rely on people being able to access diverse interestsin order to connect with a wider variety of people. However, the current lack of functional diversity results in increasingly limited and fragile social networks which leaves people socially vulnerable (Truijen, 2013).
This means that an increasing amount of Hatfield’s population either need to go outside of Hatfield to find satisfactory social interaction or, unfortunately, they have to go without it.
Subsequently I postulate that there are two main factors that are limiting the quantity and quality of social interaction in Hatfield, and thus making it a city that isolates people:
These factors have been investigated by several authors such as Gehl, Lynch and Jacobs. However, the principles and solutions they discuss I found is well encapsulated by the contemporary theory of Social Entropy which states that the potential for social interaction is dictated by the level of social randomness meaning that the more varying opportunities there are the higher likelihood there is of some of them being satisfactory (Cabral, et al., 2013)
While this theory has several strengths, it also has two distinct shortcomings, namely that it is inherently anthropocentric and that it tends to be retroactive or reactive.
To counteract the former I included Ecological Conscience Theory, which aims to establish ecological sustainability as an individual personal social issue (Littman, 2009) and for the latter I incorporated Systems Thinking (Disruptive Design & Acaroglu, 2017) which relies on interconnections, processes and networks in order to be proactive and holistic in its solutions.
Subsequently I propose a strategy for transitioning Hatfield from its current situation of a few social moments in isolation to one of many and varying moment for everyone, all connected and working together.
This strategy makes use of 5 design principles that need to be implemented in order to improve the potential for social interaction:
The first principle is the identification and recalibration of wasted space
By 'wasted space' I firstly refer to vacant or open unused space that can easy be adapted and reintroduced into the functional network. I also, however, include spaces that are not being used optimally or to their full potential/capacity, with specific examples being roads, road reserves and sidewalk along with parcels of space that were effectively ‘left-over’ or forgotten about even though they have unique potential.
Several instances of such spatial wastage within Hatfield were identified:
The second principle entails turning flux (currently considered a weakness) into a strength.
This means capitalising on the cycles and changes already present in Hatfield, which could include using students’ proclivity for pop up commerce. Similarly one might consider the month long holidays when all the residences are empty as great opportunities for festivals. The other side of this principle is to use natural ecological cycles to the districts benefit. A prime example being harvesting of rainwater that is currently being lost.
This principle also means ensuring that all new interventions are susceptible to change both functionally and physically in order to increase their adaptability and resilience.
Thirdly I propose using the brains natural workings to the city’s advantage.
Our brains can only process about 50 bits of information out of millions per second, meaning designers need to capitalise on those 50 bits by predetermining what our brains will process (Markowsky, 2017).
The methods indicated here are the main tactics our brains use to make sense of our sensory environment and by using these methods we can make it easy for peoples’ brains to unconsiously process our surroundings. In other words: navigation, comfort, planning and so forth would all happen unconsciously, leaving your conscious mind free to focus on the experience of the moment (Lumen Candela, 2018).
The fourth principle is instituting Hatfield as a destination by establishing a strong place or brand identity. I propose to do this by clearly defining Hatfield as a district, distinguished from its surroundings by its brand identity which ought to hinge on diversity, movement efficiency and flux collectively facilitating an alternative social lifestyle.
The last principle is the process of introducing ecological sustainability as a personal social issue into the everyday life of inhabitants.
Currently decisions around sustainability practices are made at national level and implemented at district level. In South Africa, furthermore, individuals are not held accountable for ecological sustainability and most individuals are not even part of any such feedback cycle. Yet individuals form the foundation for this system and if individuals do not come to personally care for the environment we cannot hope for this sentiment to filter up the pyramid. In order to facilitate this, principles of sustainability need to become ingrained into individuals, and the best way to do this is to ensure that it is the path of least resistance.
In other words, sustainability needs to be fun, easy and profitable. Methods for this could include urban farming, pedestrianisation and making ecological systems visible in the urban environment.
These five principles are to be used as a kind of litmus test against which future development in Hatfield is to be measured and planned in order to determine whether a project will contribute to the social potential of the district.
To illustrate but one example of how this might be done I applied these principles to Burnett street which is the social and economic heart of Hatfield.
The following animation illustrates how I would have applied the principles in Burnett street, take note however that many of these changes would be unique to this street and I do not propose that they be summarily applied to the entire precinct.