Page 101 - University of Pretoria RESEARCH REVIEW 2018

Evolving public space –
constructing a knowledge of place
Karina Landman, Department of Town and Regional Planning
Cities across the world have experienced unprecedented change. Many people associate public spaces with decay and the fear of crime, yet public spaces evolve over time and are, importantly, also about revitalisation and regeneration.
In recent years, Karina Landman, Associate Professor in the Department of Town and Regional Planning, has focused her research
on the transformation of cities and
city spaces in South Africa. Her book, Evolving Public Spaces in South Africa: Towards Regenerative Space in the Post-apartheid City (Routledge, 2018), addresses the outcomes of a six-year project. It is a tale of changing urban conditions and the multiple narratives of ‘entangled’ public spaces that continue to accommodate and enable everyday life for a wide variety of users, be it in the inner city or the suburbs, townships or informal settlements.
Landman’s research is based on
over 100 case studies undertaken
of different types of public spaces: these include parks, botanical and food gardens, plazas or squares, pseudo-public spaces such as shopping malls, common open spaces in gated communities, and streets. Over a six-year period, Landman and her students spent time in these different types of public spaces to
gather information, and to build a knowledge base of public spaces in South Africa. Using the tools of spatial analysis, participant observation and semi-structured interviews – including interviews with the managers and developers of public spaces – she has developed a careful delineation of the nature and use of public spaces in South Africa.
The book combines a narrative of multiple places and temporalities, of key moments of intervention, and of double-sided meanings. Landman writes that the fact that public spaces in post-apartheid South Africa are changing is often exacerbated by
the multiple transitions that have characterised urban space in South Africa. She therefore extends her analysis beyond the constant process of transformation and introduces
a parallel process – that of evolving public spaces. Building on the theory of regenerative development and design, the understanding she presents of the evolution of public spaces is concerned with constructing a knowledge of place, in order to
align place and people and open up leverage points for meaningful socio- material flows and exchanges in public spaces.
Landman’s work offers an alternative understanding of public space, and of pathways towards regenerative space and the making of the commons in our cities. She challenges the negative views related to the ‘death of public space’ and argues that temporary decline can present opportunities for something new to emerge, not only in South Africa, but also on the African continent and in the global South.
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