Braamfontein Citichat 8 June 2001

CITICHAT 22/2001 - 8 June 2001


Braamfontein Regeneration Initiative & Alley Kulcha

Mentioned Braamfontein almost in passing last week but it is an area that does deserve more coverage. Particularly as a public meeting for stakeholders was held on Wednesday evening this past week to inform stakeholders of the general plans for the area. This followed the meeting mentioned in last week's Citichat. (For non-Johannesburgers, Braamfontein is an area to the North-North-West of the Johannesburg CBD.)

The concept of a Braamfontein Regeneration Initiative was first raised at the Urban Futures Conference hosted by Wits University in July last year. It has now developed with three main thrusts, those of the University, the Council and the Private Sector, the latter largely through the proposed establishment of a City Improvement District (CID), although there are other private sector initiatives in place already through BAG (The Braamfontein Action group)..

The types of uses in Braamfontein have changed over the past decade. Braamfontein was previously the home of upmarket restaurants, landscaped A-grade office blocks, specialist shops and theatres with a few sought after flats along the northern ridge. Users from these sectors supported businesses in the area. Students also lunched, shopped and sought entertainment in Braamfontein.

With the decline of the CBD itself, some Braamfontein businesses, concerned that the urban decay would spill over into their area, joined the move North to the new office nodes. This of course contributed to the decline, another self-fulfilling prophecy! Smaller businesses have filled some of the vacant space whilst other commercial space has undergone conversion into residential accommodation. Users in Braamfontein, including students, now generally have lower spending power. This has led to a change in the type of retail available in the area, an increase in fast food outlets and a decrease in restaurants. One of the problems in the area is its "alleyways" required in a by-gone planning era but now adding to the feeling of an unmanaged environment - dirty and dark and perceived as magnets to criminals.

Instead of hitting you with the mostly boring list recommendations for the area, I thought I'd rather share with you the recommendations from Katherine Cox of our office (Katherine headed up the CJP's Braamfontein urban research process) for what she refers to as an ALLEY KULTCHA!

Katherine says that she has experienced political gatherings, art, music, raves, festivals and laser shows in alleyways of Inner Cities around the world. She suggests that many African and European Cities, have alleyways designed into the urban fabric. She says: "They have purpose, convey and allow symbolism and are a well-used part of the public realm. “Characteristic urban features of seventh-century M'zab communities included a network of wide streets and narrow alleyways designed for pedestrian and animal circulation. The wide streets connected the major community facilities; the Azzaba masjid and madrasa (school) in the centermost area of the ksar, public open spaces such as the suq, the cemeteries, and the summer valley town. Alleyways were used as passageways for pedestrian traffic (shortcuts/ ALTERNATIVE ROUTES), starting from wide streets and ending with cul-de-sacs. These alleys tended to follow the contours of the land and often were sheltered by the two-story houses, creating welcome shaded passageways in the Sahara sun.”

“The urban bazaar historically has been the heart of the Iranian town. In virtually all towns the bazaar is a covered street, or series of streets and alleyways, lined with small shops grouped by service or product.”

Alleyways are in constant interplay with the buildings that define them, and the qualities of both buildings and the external spaces reinforce each other in creating unique experiences. Due to physical separation, change in scale, light and use, alleyways have a distinctive character apart from the surrounding area. They also offer the opportunity of developing an open-space-hierarchy in the public realm, opportunities of surveillance and sub-culture. It is precisely this variety and richness that, among other things, make them ideal spaces of interest. They are public and accessible to all people at all times, whilst offering potential semi-private space. Alleyways are channels of movement and access, but more importantly, they are the places where we can relate and perform socially.

So our feeling is that Braamfontein’s alleyways can have a positive relationship with the surrounding area and its users – students, shoppers, business, tenants, tourists and property owners. We need to:

 Allow them to be places to trade, talk or stroll around and be. They can become places of atonement / respite/ redemption from surrounding area.

 Encourage alleyways to develop cultural and aesthetic value.

 Allow the alleyways to exist for themselves – i.e. no monetary value or return initially.

 Take into account current access requirements of adjacent buildings.

 Encourage pedestrian flow through the alleyways.

 Security and cleaning to be built into CID function – i.e. privately managed public space.

 Negotiate lease of alleyways / servitudes from council / current owners.

 Funded partly by the CID and partly by Council.

 Start with few and allow the initiative to spread incrementally.

 Design lighting into each “subject”.

 Provided appropriate facilities for specific use – e.g. water, drainage, refuse removal, etc.

 Not necessarily use all the space initially – can start with a small area at each end of the alleyway.

So the CONCEPT is to utilise the space or part thereof, in the alleyways aesthetically. Each alley to allow/take on a different ‘character’ or ‘subject’:

Alley Food

Successive, small, ethnic food outlets

Alley Flowers

Space dedicated specifically to flowers – growing, banners, virtual, murals, as many flowers as possible in the space.

Alley Agriculture

Urban agriculture, if sustainable and successful can be used by homeless / other residents in the area, murals and anything related.

Alley Art

Sculpture, murals, mixed media, psychadelia – anything interactive, live drama performances on a small scale.

Alley Sound

Decorated audio experience – equipment under 24-hour surveillance, also virtual use. Live music performances, alleyparties.

“Based on Shakesperian tale A Midsummer Nights Dream, Midsummer is an hallucinatory re-contextualising of this great work set against a backdrop of surreal house music and urban alleyways. This multi award-winning piece veers from the lavish to the downright psychedelic sometimes even taking on a Greenaway feel. A great exploration of FX and digital technologies and very smooth stuff to boot”.

Alley People

Space allowed free of charge to socially conscious initiatives, places of information and news, places where people can access information regarding resources.

Alley Green

Space for ‘green sustainable urban projects’, pilot run off, permaculture , education etc.

Kool Kultcha from Katherine! Any comments from out there?

Whilst it might be more relevant to cover a Braamfontein eatery this week, I have recently had the opportunity to renew acquaintanceship with "Gramedoelas". Part of the Market Theatre complex in Newtown, this is a restaurant that has never disappointed. They pioneered serving South African traditional specialities. First from our rich Malay/Dutch heritage (Snoek Sambal with Moskonfyt, Bobotie, Sosaties and Tomato Bredie) and later African tribal dishes (Umngqusho - evidently Nelson Mandela's favourite dish, Mogodu and Masonja (otherwise known as Mopani Worms which I introduced some time back to my friend Rob Walsh from Charlotte where the staple diet is more in the line of 'grits'!). -More recently they've gone more African with Moroccan (Chicken and Lamb tagines), Ethiopian (Doro Wat) and Zanzibarean (Zanzibar Duck) dishes plus much, much, more. Lunches Tuesdays to Saturdays, Dinners Monday nights to Saturday nights. Mine hosts are Eduan Naude and Brian Shalkoff and you can book on 838 6960 or cell 082- 880. 5555. Great food, beautifully served in unique surroundings - who says there's nowhere to eat in the city!