In 2006, the reconstruction of the canalization lane and paving at Malé náměstí of Hradec Králové induced a salvage excavation of such an extent that has not been surpassed so far. Trenches discovered evidence of the development and changes in the function of the explored space during the High Middle Ages. There were found several phases in the surface reinforcement of the main street that connects the town with the Slezské suburb. The oldest surface treatment of the street can be dated as far back as the 13th century. In the second half of the 13th century, a build-up area developed alongside the road and it ceased to exist during the first half of the following century, at the latest. The cleared-up area was later transformed into a public space. Its historical development is reflected in a series of layers of reinforced surfaces. The research results confirm and refine the previously stated hypothesis concerning the development of the eastern part of the town.

Les problématiques liées à la démocratie locale et à l'innovation institutionnelle constituent le thème de recherche de notre travail. Suite à notre exploration empirique, celle de la construction d'un projet de territoire coordonné par une maison de quartier à Dunkerque impliquant différents types d'acteurs, nous avons constaté que la qualité sensible des intersubjectivités donne naissance à des symboles appropriés et à la création de cadres d'actions collectives dynamiques. Des espaces se construisent de cette manière et sont ceux de la socialisation continue et de la construction des motifs politiques. La présence de médiateurs, envisagés, de ce point de vue, comme des accompagnateurs d'un "jeu social sensible", constitue un important enjeu politique. Nos compétences citoyennes se construisent de cette manière car les liens entre ces espaces et les formes que prend la citoyenneté traduisent des interactions sociales qui s'appuient sur l'expérience de la considération. Ils sont des lieux d'échanges des représentations sociales. Ainsi, des processus de délibérations collectives multiformes et innovants construisent des équilibres délicats entre les acteurs d'un territoire. Notre travail de recherche propose de mettre en exergue les ressorts sensibles des formes d'accords et de solidarités afin d'interroger la gestion collective des émotions. Nous avons de cette façon compris les caractéristiques des compétences citoyennes et les qualités de l'espace public. Notre réflexion s'appuie sur une pensée pragmatique, incarnée par des auteurs tel que John Dewey, Erving Goffman mais aussi Daniel Cefaï, George Marcus et Richard Shusterman. Cette dernière se combine avec les travaux des sociologies représentées par Max Weber, Georg Simmel ou Edgar Morin...Pour compléter, au final, les observations de Maurice Blanc, Loïc Blondiaux, ou encore Pierre Rosanvallon, relatives à la participation démocratique. / This research deals with issues linked to local democracy and institutional innovation. Through empirical exploration of the construction of a territory project coordinated by different kinds of actors from a community centre in Dunkirk, we noted that the perceptible quality of intersubjectivities both gives birth to appropriate symbols and new frameworks for dynamic collaborative actions. Spaces are constructed that way : they are those of continuous socialization through which political interests raise. Having mediators coach this kind of sensitive societal game is an important stake. Our civic capabilities develop that way because links between these spaces and the forms taken by citizenship reflect social interactions built upon the experience of consideration. They are places of exchange of social representations. Thus, varied and innovative collective deliberations processes build delicate balances between actors of a given territory. Our research propose to highlight the sensitive springs of the forms of consent and solidarity in order to interrogate the collective management of emotions.In doing so, we have understood the specificities of citizenship competencies and the qualities of the public space. Our reflection is based upon a pragmatic thinking embodied by authors such as John Dewey, Erving Goffman but also Daniel Cefaï, George Marcus and Richard Shusterman. The latter combines with sociologies represented by Max Weber, Georg Simmel or Edgar Morin, and is completed at last with observations by Maurice Leblanc, Loïc blondiaux or Pierre Rosanvallon on democratic participation.

A presente pesquisa analisa ações de movimentos e coletivos atuantes no Brasil, evidenciando práticas que questionam problemáticas urbanas e propõem modos alternativos para a vida nas cidades. O estudo investiga a potência crítica e a capacidade disruptiva de ações e intervenções urbanas realizadas em diferentes cidades do Brasil, propondo a existência de um olhar comum entre elas, que questiona os padrões estigmatizados da cidade global mediados pelo discurso repressivo do capitalismo neoliberal. Essas práticas se configuram como um gesto de enfrentamento e resistência, que articulam micropolíticas na cidade e propõem novas possibilidades para a vida urbana. Instauram-se, por meio dessas ações, novos olhares sobre a cidade, trazendo, além da dimensão do direito de uso e participação, a extensão do direito ao prazer e ao lúdico na experiência de cidade. Defendendo desde pautas pontuais a agendas mais abertas, os movimentos e coletivos aqui apresentados representam diferentes vozes e olhares, políticos e poéticos, que articulam uma rede de afetos na cidade e tomam a potência de resistências urbanas. / The following research analyses actions from ongoing movements and collectives in Brazil, focusing on practises wich question urban problems and propose alternative ways to look at urban living. The study investigates the crictic power and the disruptive capability of actions wich took place after the turn of the 20th century in different cities in Brazil, proposing the existence of a common thought pattern between them, questioning the stigmatazed standarts of the global city, mediated by the reppressive speach of neoliberal capitalism. These practises configure themselves as a gesture of resistance, wich articulate micropolicis in the city and proposes new possibilities to urban life. It establishes, by mean of these actions, new ways to look upon a city, bringing beside the right to use and participate, the extension to the right of pleasure and leisure in the urban experience. Defending and speaking out from puncutal issues to wide agendas, the movements and collectives presented here represent diferent voices who articulate a network of affections and gather the power of urban resistances.

Maboneng displays an interesting approach to urban regeneration being driven by a single developer vision. Central to this approach has been the establishment of a new economy in support of an increasing property market which is being encouraged through a dominant branding and marketing strategy identifying the ‘neighbourhood’ and community as intrinsically artistic. This study aims to juxtapose this structure of urban regeneration and city based development as defined by the City of Johannesburg and to track the evolution of the precinct from an informal and innovative approach toward a more structured and conventional upgrading mechanism. Addressing the question of creating space within the inner city by exploring what the spaces are, who is using them and how the manifestation of a new identity affects the pre existing reality. The report thereby presents a discourse around the evolution of the Maboneng approach within the context of Johannesburg and determines the potential transferability of key principles that the City could draw upon in informing future growth and development agendas within the inner city.

This document is submitted in partial fulfilment for the degree: Masters of Architecture (Professional) University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa, 2014 / This thesis is part fantasy, part real and part ironic. The automobile enthusiast market has evolved into a fully-fledged entertainment industry where driving is a mere portion of the car experience. With a rich cultural, social, political, spatial, and economic presence in South Africa, it is clear that this informal culture has a religion and following all to its self. Reflecting this, Lenasia, located south of Johannesburg (a predominately Indian township as a result of the apartheid regime) has become notorious for modified cars, loud music and raging petrol-heads. With minimal infrastructure in and around the urban footprint to support this growing culture, car enthusiasts have no option but to take to the streets of the residential suburbs to flaunt their glistening cars and test their roaring engines. This in turn has become a conflicting issue between some frustrated community members and passionate car enthusiasts. More importantly, it has also become a life threatening predicament which has claimed several lives within the community thus far. This recurring conflict has emerged as the vital point of enquiry for this thesis. Addressing the concerns with which this stimulating yet life threatening culture is synonymous, the location of the site plays a vital role in this proposal. The chosen site, Albert Street, is located on the edge of the township. It has a history of being drag raced on and is embedded in an established and robust industrial district which hosts a range of depleted automobile and other workshops which build, “pimp” and recycle cars. This intriguing juxtaposition of construction, de-construction and transformation has proven to be a suitable theme with which to engage in terms of appropriating the anatomy of the street arena and associated fabric into a celebrated “motor-tainment” utopia by night and after hours, but also preserving the current industrial networks of production, retail and repairs by day and during working hours. It will boast programmes amongst others: an appropriated drag racing strip, a multi-purpose activity capsule, a customisation and training facility, various “rent a workshop” spaces and safe spectatorship areas with medical, security and various other support facilities.

This document is submitted in partial fulfilment for the degree: Master of Architecture [Professional] at the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa, in the year 2015. / This Thesis, Urban Active Junction: Connecting neighbourhoods with a NTM fitness centre, is about movement and physical exercise in an urban environment. In-between spaces are often underutilised, creating an opportunity for to connect and integrate adjacent spaces. With the help of human activity these space can become public environment with a social atmosphere, which can be enhanced through design details. I then introduce non-motorised transport and the significant need for an alternative mode of transport, due to increasing congestion in the city. This is done through an analysis cycling and what is required to develop cycling as an alternative mode of transport. The relationship between body and building, illustrate their intertwined and inseparable nature. Despite the wide range of movement that the body is capable of, architecture has the ability to enhance a user’s experience of a space by stimulating a sensory response to the building, while also manipulating the body into particular movement patterns. The programme of the building creates a dialogue between different the public space and the building. A with a non-motorised transport interchange and a gymnasium making up the bulk of the programme, serving to integrate the contrasting communities of Bellevue and Yeoville with Houghton. The site is located on the corner of Louis Botha Avenue and Cavendish Street on the border Bellevue, Yeoville and Houghton. Through a thorough urban analysis and site analysis the site is understood in greater detail, with precedent studies serving to give relevance to certain design decisions. The design of the building opens to the urban context on the ground floor, with movement routes informing positioning and functionality of space / GR 2017

Thesis is submitted in partial fulfilment for the degree: Master of Architecture (Professional) to the Faculty of Engineering and the Built Environment, School of Architecture and Planning at the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2016 / The heritage and history of a city is often based on urban legend. These stories pertain the cultural rooting of the society that had lived within the cities from their founding and until today. Johannesburg or Egoli appears to have skipped this cultural rooting and instead stems from the political and commercial soil of the gold mines. If we excavate into the gold mining history of the city – and even into the history preceding it - we can find the hidden sacred and cultural beginnings embedded in our society today. Our society has been formed on the continual evolution of the ideas of the sacred and profane through practices of incorporation, salvation and adaptation. As the gold mines in the city shut down, in 1940, the migrant labourers were left in hostels in an unfamiliar terrain and little means to make a living (Potenze, 2015). This means that today, we can still find evidence of the importance of sacred rituals similar to those in the mining compounds. Religions and cultures in Johannesburg, that have been gradually changed overtime, are a result of the incorporation of mining labour, urban customs and western ideas (including religion and technologies). Although the city has clearly harmed the rural traditions, we can still see glimpses of the endurance of the sacred within the profane landscape. The profane is adapted by the different communities in the inner city – as will be discussed with reference to the Mai Mai and Shembe (Nazareth Baptist Church) communities – to express their cultures of the sacred, traditional and religious and to accommodate for ritual practices associated with them. Today’s societies of the inner city are a mix of cultures, religions, God, the ancestors and ritual practices - both sacred and profane. By learning from the way in which these communities continually evolved to incorporate their environments into their traditions, the city too must now incorporate these communities and their beliefs into its structure. If this is achieved, it could ignite a healing process through integration as opposed to replacement or removal of elements of the city or of its society. This report explores ideas of the importance of religion and culture in Johannesburg’s context. As it is an architectural analysis, the response will be a proposal for religious infrastructure and space within the area of City and Suburban, alongside the Kwa Mai Mai market and the gathering spaces of the Shembe / Nazareth Baptist Church. This will promote and retain the cultures, traditions and religions that were brought to the city and used as a tool of survival. / MT2017

This thesis is submitted to the School of Architecture and Planning, University of the Witwatersrand in fulfillment of the requirements for the Masters of Architecture (Professional) / This thesis, entitled ‘The New Public’, aims to investigate the role of public space and civic architecture in the information age. Specifically, examining the role of design in facilitating multiple different forms of public life as well as challenging the current approaches to pedestrian movement within the city. The design approach was to create a campus containing a new public space and a hybrid civic building which together allow for spaces that facilitate new forms of public engagement. The aim of this campus is to create public spaces which host many different forms of public life and allow for mixing and exchange. The thesis is grounded in the context of 21st century Johannesburg, a city which brands itself a ‘world-class African city’ and whose vision is to be a city that provides real quality of life for all its citizens. However, while the current spatial policies strive to build a collective and shared vision for the future of Johannesburg, the city still plagued by a past based on segregation and inequality. What this has left us with is a bifurcated public environment. A spatial condition further impaired by the currently strongly dived public and quasi-public transport systems. I have therfore chosen to site my project in a space within the city which encompasses these issues: The Park Station precinct, Johannesburg. The research component of this thesis aims to unpack the factors which have led to a change in the culture of use of the public realm both globally and locally. I also investigate how Johannesburg’s past and current planning strategies created spaces that contain a ‘legacy of separation’. Lastly the research extends to the relationship between public transport and public space and the effect of transit oriented design (TOD) approaches on public life.

Thesis submitted in the fulfilment of Master of Architecture [Professional] to the Faculty of Engineering and the Built Environment at the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2017 / In light of the new National Health Insurance scheme being implemented in South Africa, there is a need for new healthcare infrastructure to be developed to ensure the National Health Insurance healthcare is accessible to the people of the country. This thesis explores: (1) what value a holistic healthcare approach can have on healthcare services, (2) what architecture can be beneficial to patients and staff members in healthcare facilities and (3) what impact advances in medicine have on healthcare design and healthcare practice. The architectural aim of this thesis is to create healthier healthcare spaces for patients and staff members, but to extend the healthcare infrastructure to create healthier spaces within the communities they serve. Furthermore, the thesis explores ways that healthcare facilities can incorporate solutions to help communities with their long term health needs, verses short term health needs. / MT2017

A research report submitted to the Faculty of Engineering and the Built Environment, University of the Witwatersrand, in partial fulfilment of the requirement for the degree of Master of Urban Design, Johannesburg 2016 / The public realm is continually under pressure as the container of constant urban change. Streets and public spaces function as connectors between public / private transport and the built urban form. The public realm is also responsible for hosting public activity that includes commuting, socialising, trading and governing. In the context of ever changing urban form due to accelerated urban sprawl, suburban growth, complicated politics and the increasing demand for vehicular transport, it is becoming increasingly difficult to maintain and develop quality public urban environments throughout our polycentric cities. The concept of relinking transport and public space to mixeduse urban form originates from theory of Transport Orientated Development (TOD) and the densification of our cities in order to be more sustainable and to control urban sprawl. The importance of good quality public space, public transport and supporting urban form cannot be underestimated in the drive towards a densified sustainable city. Together the city transport network and supporting public spaces need to stitch all urban form and more important need to be attractive for all types of people living in the city. The assumption is that this will encourage people to move towards these densified areas that are supported by public transport nodes. The aim of this research is to identify possible scenarios for repairing urban fabric in order to improve the link between the community and the public urban realm. Key concepts that will be investigated are public transport, public spaces, urban form, suburban densification and non-motorised transport. The design initiative will be to repair a specific suburban neighbourhood by means of public space creation, urban densification and mixing uses within built form. The heart of the intervention is to create a lively sustainable dense neighbourhood by activating publicness through a humanist urban design approach. / XL2018