Submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Architecture Professional, MArch(Prof), to the Faculty of Engineering and the Built Environment. / Sophisticated in creation, Comic/Japanese Manga & Animation are a drastic representations of a real or hypothetical worlds. Comic and animation is a representation of cultural legacy that informs, excites and entertains the viewer in every tangible form of its existence, while filling minds with giant robots, space ships or masked super heroes. This dissertation serves as an architectural response to comic and animation creation. Through the exploration of the notion of the adaptive eye and its influence on the design process, the thesis seeks to create a dialogue between social legacy and comic & animation creation through the design of a production house. This thesis proposes a space that represents beauty, vision and excitement, but above all else one that realizes the possibilities of comic and animation as a means of social commentary. The building aims to symbolize the essence of comic and animation through its design and location, thereby echoing the vibrancy of Newtown. The production house is an attempt at social, cultural and environmentally responsible, generative architecture that induces thinking and energy within the world of comics and animation.

MA, Faculty of Humanities, University of the Witwatersrand, 2011 / The Newtown Cultural Precinct came about as one of government’s interventions to turn around Johannesburg’s Inner City degeneration as a result of big business’s migration to the North in the nineties when urban management and land use controls collapsed. Government’s approach to culture-led urban regeneration was by means of large public sector capital development. The research covers the history of the concept of Newtown as a cultural precinct and how it came into being. It explores the criteria for cultural precincts in terms of international best practice and whether Newtown meets these requirements. It determines whether what was planned for Newtown by government has been achieved, and is being implemented. A review of strategies, business plans, projects and activities related to the development of Newtown as a cultural precinct was undertaken, as were interviews with key stakeholders, in order to establish why the notion of a cultural precinct took root when it did, and whether it is a success or not.

No description available.

Abstract: The emergence and development of tourism attractions in inner cities throughout the world has given rise to a number of scholarly debates in the academic study of urban tourism. While academic scholarship in the field of urban tourism began with the cities of the developed states mostly in the 1980s, the emergence and development of tourism initiatives in the inner cities of the developing states in 1990s has drawn a great deal of attention to the South as well. This research explores the emergence and development of an inner city tourism initiative in the form of a craft project known as Beautiful Things. Beautiful Things is a two-year-old craft project located at Newtown’s Cultural Precinct, in the inner city of Johannesburg. The project was inaugurated at the World Summit on Sustainable Development in August 2002, and has since its relocation to the inner city of Johannesburg in December 2002, contributed significantly to the physical, social and economic regeneration of this area. The study of this project is very important in that it is shedding some light on the role of heritage and cultural industries in rejuvenating declining inner cities. It gives light on how Newtown Cultural Precinct as a whole functions within the inner city of Johannesburg. In spite of this project’s role in the development of the Johannesburg inner city, Beautiful Things has not yet been explored for academic research. This research on Beautiful Things is set to be informative on a number of theoretical issues underpinning the development of urban heritage and cultural tourism in general and the development of tourism in Johannesburg. The findings of the study of Beautiful Things reveal important international trends on the development of heritage and cultural attractions in inner cities and elucidate a number of similarities in the development of tourism policies across the cities of the world. This research begins with a chapter on the international experiences of heritage and cultural tourism developments in inner cities and then follows by a study of Johannesburg’s tourism policy and strategy developments. Both chapters are vital in providing the context under which Beautiful Things came to emerge in the inner city of Johannesburg, performing an important role of regenerating the declining inner city. The last part of this research is an empirical confirmation study of physical, social and economic contributions of Beautiful Things in the inner city of Johannesburg. The research is informed by theories of neo-liberalization, local economic development, and inner city regeneration.

As with the majority of Johannesburg areas, the Newtown Electric Power Station Heritage Precinct does not fully realise its potential for spatial relations facilitating creative means of living. Creativity is a powerful tool to engage present and future possibilities. A Centre to stimulate creativity will benefit the direct area users, as well as contribute to the prominence of the historical and cultural richness of Newtown. The vacant site adjacent to the Sci-Bono Discovery Centre provides an apt location for the Creativity Centre as the intervening programme will activate, strengthen and define the presently underutilised street corner edges. The proposed architectural spaces aim to direct the site’s current movement routes created by pedestrian commuters, in order for creativity to become more ingrained in daily life. The proposed architectural elements aim to facilitate creative activities - both curatorial and organically inspired through community appropriation of specifically designed open, or adaptable, spaces. The Centre aims to become a creative community gathering hub: becoming integral to the existing creative individuals currently pursuing artistic practices in Newtown. Gesamtkunstwerk theoretically guides the project: in terms of the architectural intervention being comprised of singular elements all contributing to a greater whole. Gesamtkunstwerk also programmatically unites the entire Electric Power Station city block, through promoting the unification of art forms with life, as a holistic, creative entity. The Centre acts as a crucial beacon highlighting the importance of creativity in the contemporary South African situation where it is undervalued and underutilised. It also articulates that as a directorial element of societal authorisations and processes, architectural design should articulate the value of creativity through facilitating and inspiring creative modes of living. / Dissertation MArch(Prof)--University of Pretoria, 2014. / Architecture / MArch(Prof) / Unrestricted

A mixed-use development focusing on dance activities with supporting educational and retail facilities. The creation of a new urban citizenship drives the process of urban regeneration in the inner city. The development is situated in the Newtown cultural precinct. The performance arts is used as a tool for urban regeneration. The process of regeneration begins at community citizen level. The city gives citizens hope for a better future. This dynamic force shapes the city. / Dissertation (MArch (Prof))--University of Pretoria, 2005. / Architecture / unrestricted

M.Tech. (Architectural Technology) / This dissertation explores the opportunity and necessity of a connection between Braamfontein and Newtown Johannesburg's landscape developed as a result of decades of socio-economic and geographic fragmentation where planning policies etched permanent boundaries of exclusion. The focus is to form a more integrated city fabric in the area to allow for a cross-pollination of people and activities between Braamfontein and Newtown At the same time the proposal aims to create a more socially Inclusive space that connects the urban users to each other and to the city as a whole...

M.Tech. (Architectural Technology) / The City of Johannesburg has no formal recycling strategy and waste is simply dumped as collected in designated landfill sites. Yet these landfill sites, reportedly, will be good for no more than another eight years. Throughout the city there is an informal network of waste collectors commonly known as trolley pushers who, together with the private buy-back and recycle centres, form the only real system of recycling in Johannesburg. There is no infrastructure for the trolley pushers, men and women who perform a vital function. There are no dedicated spaces and very little tolerance from the residents of Johannesburg. The trolley pushers sleep amongst their collection of waste, or travel far to start each day in the very early hours of the morning. They roll their improvised trolleys full of goods in the street among the traffic of commuters, hindering and being hindered. They store their messy waste, when they can in unsafe and public spaces, such as under bridges and on the side of some roads. Storage is such a problem for trolley pushers that often they’re forced to sell their goods as soon as they collect them, when the fluctuating prices may be too low. They are always essentially at the mercy of the privately-owned buyback centres. Their days are long and they have no ablution facilities, no designated space to catch their breath, eat, obtain drinking water, network or socialise. This project is about changing that by facilitating the informal recycling sector, providing the convenient infrastructure without formalising the process. The term ‘convenient’ in this context encompasses spaces close to the buy-back centre, with low tech, low maintenance, mixed-use facilities. These facilities include secure sorting and storage spaces, sleeping, ablution and social spaces. The essence of this project is to encourage, empower and improve work and income potential in the informal waste recycling sector through simple, appropriate architectural interventions that are essentially selfmaintaining.

M.A. (Tourism & Hospitality Management) / Urban tourism is a growing sector of the tourism market therefore many large cities in developed and developing countries have adopted tourism-led approaches to urban regeneration. Urban tourism now forms part of the South African local and regional economic development strategies of all major cities such as Johannesburg, Cape Town, Durban, Port Elizabeth, East London and Bloemfontein. Cultural tourism in turn is perceived as the fastest growing type of tourism in the world, and can function as a powerful tool in urban regeneration and transformation. Urban regeneration has the potential to produce economic benefits, improve physical environment, inner-city image and the welfare of city residents. The focus of the study was to explore the role of Newtown Cultural Precinct as a tool for urban regeneration, local economic growth and increasing tourist flows to the Johannesburg inner-city. Data was collected using mix-methods designs. In the first phase qualitative data was collected from various stakeholders involved in the development and management Newtown Cultural Precinct, and in the second phase quantitative data was collected from both domestic and international tourists visiting the cultural precinct. The result of the study reveals that Newtown Cultural Precinct serves as a ‘catalyst’ for urban regeneration and shows great potential in stimulating local economic growth and attracting a greater number of visitors into the Johannesburg inner city. Newtown Cultural Precinct has achieved, so far, some of the benefits of urban regeneration such as turning Newtown into a safe, secure, vibrant and friendly environment, improving social dimension of city residents, creating easy access into Newtown as well as positive perceptions of the image of Johannesburg inner-city.

The Multiple Streams model developed by John Kingdon (1995) and Nikolaos Zahariadis (2007) provides a valuable framework for understanding the nature of policy change. This investigation draws extensively upon the Multiple Streams framework in order to understand the development of gun-control policy initiatives under President Barack Obama. The investigation uses a case-study approach with in-depth analysis of four different mass-shooting events that took place in the United States between 2009 and 2012. Reconstruction of the shooting events and detailed parsing of the Obama administration’s official responses to each incident, when viewed through the Multiple Streams lens, clearly explain why Obama’s aggressive policy initiative was so delayed in its emergence in spite of several shootings and the President’s clearly stated belief that gun-reform was a necessary step for the federal government. While the term “policy change” is broad and may encompass all sorts of governmental responsiveness, the term herein should be interpreted in the narrowest sense: exclusively encompassing legislative initiatives. Ultimately, the investigation concludes that numerous factors, but most prominently concerns about the timing and results of the 2010 Midterm and 2012 General Elections, prevented an aggressive pursuit of gun-reform prior to January 2013. The tragic shooting of 28 people in Newtown, Connecticut, then served as a prime focusing event for the President to aggressively engage a long-standing goal.