Informal Capacities: Exploring grounded architectural practice in transitions to sustainable urbanism in Cape Town

[摘要] ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The research presented in this dissertation pertains to the role of architectural practice in the insitu upgrading of informal settlements in Cape Town, with in situ upgrading being understoodas a transition to sustainable urbanism in terms of socio-technical transition theory. Two ideasguide and structure the research: the notion of 'in[formal]ity' as a dialectic whole to replace thedichotomy of formal vs. informal (thereby enabling architectural professionals to develop theinformal capacities required to engage constructively with residents in informal settlementupgrading interventions) and the phenomenon of grounded architectural practice (GAP) as unit ofanalysis. I embark on a hands-on exploration of GAP – engaging with residents through liveproject case studies undertaken in collaboration with local organisations – so as to arrive at abetter understanding of this emergent mode of architectural practice, as well as the informalcapacities that architectural professionals require in order to engage with residents in suchpractice. The empirical data obtained during the case studies is supplemented by an analysis ofexisting data derived from literature reviews. As a multi-disciplinary extension of thirdgeneration activity theory (AT) that enables empirical analyses of work activity, the method ofdevelopmental work research draws together the live project case studies and AT mapping, andin doing so provides a framework for the exploration of GAP. This framework incorporates thenotion of 'in[formal]ity' into AT, mapping the activity systems of residents and local governmentas networked around the partially shared object of fostering transitions to sustainable urbanism.GAP is then positioned as an intermediate 'empty stage' between the live project case studiesand the AT mapping, and is used to capture the ideas that emerge. The latter are understood tobe the informal capacities that architectural professionals employ when engaging with residentsin the co-production and collaborative design of upgrading interventions. These informalcapacities offer architectural professionals (who it enables to comprehend the socio-technicalregime of local government as well as the informal spatial practice of residents) the opportunityto foster spatial justice by advocating on behalf of these residents in support of the in situupgrading of their settlements as a transition to sustainable urbanism. As such, this researchdoes not aim to develop a new model for architectural practice – doing so would require a muchlarger data set than the three live project case studies that inform this research – but rather toexplore the informal capacities that are required and developed when engaging in GAP in thespecific context of Cape Town. In doing so, I wish to contribute to the influence of this emergentniche-level practice on the regime of conventional architectural practice, thereby encouragingmore architectural professionals to engage with residents in supporting informal settlementupgrading as a transition to sustainable urbanism.

[发布机构] Stellenbosch University