ACCESSIBLE CITY STUDIO - REDESIGNING PUBLIC PLACES
The Accessible City Studio is a design studio dealing with Yeoville as a specific community. It engages students with issues of urban accessibility – socio-economic issues, informalisation, migrants, immigrants and refugees, movement and transportation, inclusiveness and exclusiveness, human rights, gender, children, aged and groups with special needs, and poverty. In doing so, the course employs various research methods such as physical and social mapping. This will lead to developing both broader scenarios and concrete urban design proposals.
The underlying understanding is that urban design is a process; not a product. Participatory elements and involvement of residents into the design process is therefore a central element of the studio.
The main objective of the studio is to develop an urban design proposal that responds to local problems and is understood by the community. This entails to develop the capacity of residents by involving them in a meaningful way and by providing information as a basis for developing a greater understanding of the needs in the community and as a catalyst to enable them to actively participate in future development projects.
Workshop
The midterm workshop on April 21 from 3 – 5.30 pm actively engaged with community stakeholders to set priorities with regards to the developed scenarios and urban design proposals.
The students presented their analysis and their first visions and ideas for two catalyst sites in Yeoville. The site selection is based on the idea to strengthen the overall urban design framework. This framework foresees an active Raleigh Road. However, investigations in Yeoville made obvious that further components need to be strengthened to establish this idea and to access Yeoville in different ways and for different target groups. The overall strategy aims at opening Yeoville through the Louis Botha/ Bedford intersection and through creating a more accessible sports field at Bedford Rd.
The workshop meant to set a dialogue with stakeholders in the community and enable the evolution/ modification of the ideas (see programme attached).
10 participants from the community joined in the discussion and contributed with very meaningful comments and suggestions (see attached participant list). Especially the model was a helpful tool for exchanging ideas. Some general concerns were about the parking situation in the area and the need for safety. The idea of closing the road between the school site and sportsfield was highly appreciated. Also, to come up with alternatives to the Shopprite turning its back to Bedford Rd received positive feedback.
For the Louis Botha/Bedford site concerns were raised about temporary housing solutions. Urban food gardening was perceived as an option. However, community members requested that the students look more closely on what has functioned and not in similar projects.
Overall there was a strong request for presenting the detailed and final results – most probably during a YSF meeting. The students felt the feedback has grounded their work and were motivated to develop more in depth proposals for their selected sites.
Download Accessible City Studio Yeoville
Download the proposed transformation of the sports ground precinct
