2014 Design Society Development DESIS Lab Slovo Park
- 1. The Slovo Park Project Socio-Technical support through service learning University of Johannesburg - FADA Design Society Development South Africa Jhono Bennett, 1to1 – Agency of Engagement, 1to1 – Student League and the Slovo Park Community
- 2. Promoter(s). Jhono Bennett 1to1 – Agency of Engagement & the Slovo Park Community Development Forum. Funder(s). In-funded Aknowledgements. Mohau Melani, Carin Combrinck, Jacqueline Cuyler, Isabel Van Wyk, Claudia Fillip, 1to1 – Student League, The Unviersity of Pretoria, The University of Johannesburg, the Slovo Park Community Development Forum, Slovo Park Youth Forum, South African Shack/Slum Dwellers International Alliance.
- 3. Context: The informal settlement community of Slovo Park, Soweto, has been in a on-going battle with the City of Jo’burg for development since the early 1990’s. This struggle has been fought through constant shifts in policy and disappearing development budgets and resulting in service delivery protest, time wasting supply chain processes and currently a pending lawsuit against the City of Johannesburg.
- 4. The project: The Slovo Park Project began in 2010 when university students began working with the community structures of Slovo Park and offered the leadership spatial design support through their course. This assistance was implemented at a small scale, but aimed to have larger impact on the greater development needs of Slovo. The original students have provided ongoing support since 2010 through various design/build projects.
- 5. The design process: Participative research, design and construction methods have been used since the project’s inception. These tools have been crucial in the development of not only Slovo Park’s Development, but have been used to develop more effective co-design and research methodologies for similar engagement in other informal settlement communities.
- 6. Slovo Park: established in 1986 Development was approved and key concept key concept Governance and Policy Making budgeted for in 1995, but dissapeared in a corrption scandal The development needs of Slovo Park are represented by the Slovo Park Community Development Forum (SPCDF). The SPCDF is leading the current lawsuit against the City of Jo’burg with the support of the pro-bono legal Socio-Economic Research Institute (SERI).
- 7. Activism and Civic Participation Strategic small projects have the power to unlock larger development oppurtunities The SPCDF is part of much larger network of informal settlement leadership structures known as the Informal Settlement Network (ISN)– who are supported by South African Shack Dwellers International Alliance (SASDI). Each project initiated by the SPCDF is strategically conceived to unlock larger development opportunities.
- 8. Social Interactions and Relations Sometimes facilitation is more important than product creation Many key role-players support the community needs, 1to1 has assisted in this facilitation by making easing access to leadership, translating important information into strategy and knowledge and allowing for the public legitimatization of Slovo Park’s struggle.
- 9. City and Environmental Planning Organized community structures are key partners in their own development – and need to be recognized as so The Slovo Park Project has shown that organized communities are viable and crucial partners in their own development. This being crucial due to our government’s current stigma towards informal settlements in South Africa. The project has also demonstrated the missing aspects of education in architectural schools in South Africa and given those involved the means to address this in the curriculum.
- 10. Production, Distribution and Consumption Slovo Park has the vision to be a self-sustaining community Through the participative mapping, research and design the project has uncovered a vision for Slovo Park to be self-sustaining community – as many of these activities exist in Slovo, but require a strategic linking to larger networks and distribution systems.
- 11. Skill Training and Design Education Students of spatial design disciplines need critical experience in complex spaces Spatial design students are the missing link between grass roots & large scale development Lessons from the Slovo Park Project have been distilled into both the University of Pretoria & the University of Johannesburg Architecture Degrees – as well as shifting the South African Council for the Architectural Profession’s to include community architecture in their accreditation for pre-professionals.
- 12. Job Creation The project aims to foster the development of a new type of spatial design practitioner The Slovo Park Project has laid the foundation for a new type of spatial design practitioner, a socio-technical designer that not only provides technical services, but additionally assists in larger social and policy processes with and for residents in poor or unsafe areas in South Africa.
- 13. Storytelling and Visualisation Participative mapping & design Co-research Clear, effective and human based communication tools including tangible models, graphic posters and even the creation of ‘Slovonopoly’, a research outcomes board game have been used to great effect in the Slovo Park Project.
- 14. www.designsocietydevelopmen t.org www.uj.ac.za/fada www.slovo-park.blogspot.com www.1to1.org.za info@1to1.org.za University of Johannesburg - FADA Design Society Development South Africa Jhono Bennett, 1to1 – Agency of Engagement, 1to1 – Student League and the Slovo Park Community