eat street

Eat Street Book 101103.indd 3 7/23/2010 10:23:39 AM

TABLE OF CONTENTS

GENERAL

GENERAL PLANS, SECTIONS AND ELEVATIONS page

EAT STREET: MARKET STREET page A social construct. By Nicolette Garrett

GENERAL MENU page

THE STREET AND ITS INGREDIENTS page By Brett Herbert FROM STREET TO MALL AND BACK page What malls can learn from

commercial streets.

By Philipp Andre Baer

MAPPING EMOTIONS page The emotions of migration. By Tina S Magodo

GENERAL TIME GRAPHS page

MELVILLE

MELVILLE AXONOMETRIC page

SPACE AND PLACE page Streets and restaurants as places of

cultural identity and symbolism -

A case study of Melville 7th street.

By Qefate Lerotholi

MELVILLE MENU page

FOOD, FABRIC AND FEMININITY page By Napha Lopes PLEASED TO MEET YOU page Vegetarianism as an urban strategy By Amy Mania


FORDSBURG FORDSBURG AXONOMETRIC page MEMORY AND DUALITY page By Tarushin Pather

FORDSBURG MENU page

THE SPATIAL DIMENSION OF FORDSBURG MARKET SQUARE page By Chayneeka Jayawardena

THE GRID page By Dwayne Saldanha

SPICES page Mint Street Fordsburg

By Mitchell McCraw

JOBURG MALL

JOBURG MALL AXONOMETRIC page PUBLIC SPACE AND THE EATSCAPE page By Dale Swanepoel

JOBURG MALL MENU page

RITUAL VERSUS ADAPTATION page By Alexa Hayley Segal

YEOVILLE

YEOVILLE AXONOMETRIC page

DESIRE BOUNDARIES page Semiotics at the edge of a building.

By Kate Keightley-Smith

YEOVILLE MENU page

CYRILDENE CYRILDENE AXONOMETRIC page

THE FOREIGN HOMETOWN page By Tien Wen Jack Wu

CYRILDENE MENU page

ALTER-SPACE page By Caitlyn Manicom


YeovilleRockey / Raleigh Street

0 15 25 30 50scale in meters

03

0102030405060708091011121314151617181920

SWEET POT VEGETARIANAPPLE CRUMBLEGHANAIAN TAVERNHOUSE OF TANDOOR / JABU STONE SALONFISH AND CHIPSMC CHICKENBUBMBLE BEEFISH AWAYSCHRISTOPHER'S BAKERYROCKAFELLA'S SUPER CLUBUKUDLA KWASEICHAYA - SOUTH AFRICAN CUISINEMARKETKFCDEBONAIRE'STIME'S SQUARE CAFEUNCLE BEN AFRICAN RESTAURANTBLESSING'S CATERINGJOZI CHICKEN AND MOHICAN PUBEKHAYA RESTAURANTKIN MALEBO RESTAURANT

02

0104

05

06

07

08

09

1011

12

13

14

1516

17

18

19

20

Axo's for Book A2.indd 1 7/22/2010 1:07:04 AM

coffee ceremony

ethiopias coffee ceremony is an integral part of their social and cultural life. an invitation to attend a coffee ceremony is considered a mark of friendship or respect and is an excellent example of ethiopian hospitality. in most parts of ethiopia, the coffee ceremony takes place three times a day - in the morning, at noon and in the evening. it is the main

social event within the village and a time to discuss the community, politics and life.coffee holds a SACRED place in their country. the best ethiopian coffee may be compared with the finest coffee in the world. in a world where time has long become a commodity, the ethiopian coffee ceremony takes us back to a time when value was given to

conversation and relationships.

j o b u r gma l lLITTLE ETHIOPIA

injeraflat breadTRADITIONS

injera is unique to ethiopia, from its distinct taste and main ingredient the teff cereal. this thin crepe like flat bread that the dishes such as wots, tibs and fitfit are served on. to eat the dishes pieces

of injera are torn off and used to scoop up mouthfuls

FOOD

ETHIOPIAN FOOD GLOSSARY

ALECHA WAT stew that does not contain berere spice blend

AYEB buttermilk soft cheese. similar to cottage cheese

BERBERE spice blend that contains chilli, fenugreek, paprika and ginger

INJERA flat bread made of tef flour

KITFKO steak tartar in which rare or raw ground beef in marinated

MITMIA extreamely hot chilli blended with cardamom and black cumin

NITER KIBBEH spice infused clarified butter used as the frying medium for most ethiopian dishes

TEF indigenous millet form used in the production of injera bread

TEJ honey wine

TALLAH tef, maize flavoured with indigenous hops

WAT spicy stew flavoured with berbere

Menu's for Book A3.indd 1 7/22/2010 9:06:34 PM

Johannesburg has changed quite radically since enforced segregation ended in the 1990s. The spatial patterns of its urban change holds great lessons for designers. As the size of the city and its population grow rapidly, the city also reshapes itself around new social patterns. One clear change in the city is the growing multiplicity of immigrant groups which is reflected in the emergence of regional food shops and restaurants, which in turn impact on the form of the city as new social spaces, new visual cultures and new public places are created through the media of meeting and eating.

In the suburbs, eating out tends to happen in malls. In the city centre, in the absence of large, safe open places, restaurants open onto the street, or, where retail space crowds it out, higher up in buildings. At least five clusters of restaurants are thriving within five kilometers of the inner city: the multi-ethnic Seventh Street in Melville, Indian and Pakistani Mint Road and surroundings, Eritrean and Ethiopian Joburg Mall, Pan-African Rockey-Raleigh Streets and Chinese Derrick Street. Each street offers security and easy access to a multiplicity of different types of food shops and restaurants.The presence of restaurants introduces diversity and sociability into urban space, making the broader context more social and secure. As owners need supplies for their restaurants, they also create new routes for food importation and distribution. Both of these consequences of food space benefit the city by ensuring its social and food security.

The strong emotions around food tie closely in to societys need to regulate its spaces of preparation and consumption, to purge its dangers. At the same time food and its spaces it can be powerful social attractor, a repository of culture, and signifier of exotic otherness. In the face of the bland medium between these extremes that restaurant franchises bring about, collective eat streets run and managed by communities offer some delicious alternatives.

This book emerged both from our enthusiasm for exploring Johannesburg as well as from many questions that its eatstreets raised about the construction, life and sustainability of urban space. How do these spaces happen? Who are the actors involved in establishing new restaurants, and what are the spatial moves that they make in order to turn an activity into a place? What differentiates each of these places from each other - how does the visuality, the menu, the freshness and above all, the apparent intangibility of atmosphere - come into being? How does this express diversity and difference in the city? What threats exist to these spaces? What potential do they contain? How can we imagine the consequences of these spaces being supported through shifts in urban policy and planning?

The research began with a distant view, considering the distribution of restaurants in the city over time from above, from maps and memories. We then visited the five streets, to sketch, interview and photograph them in parallel ways. The participants produced an axonometric of each street at the same scale, a set of visual essays, an analysis of food flows and interviews.

EAT STREETintroduction

Hannah le Roux


In addition, each participant worked alone to explore a specific theme or question that relates to the common research question, using a form of writing or annotated visual research of their own choice.

The essays are arranged in six sections, the first of which draws on research into all five streets, followed by research that emphasized a specific street. The diversity of topics and perspectives shows how rich these parts of the city are in both their physical and social dimensions. The insights deal with the value and the complexity of spaces that are largely self-organised, that provide abundant sensual and emotional value to the city and that, in many cases, recycle built space in intensely productive ways. Although they are, without exception, everyday spaces, the eatstreets have proved to feed our designerly imaginations.

Acknowledgments

Suzi Hall

Melinda Silverman

Naomi Roux

Claire Benit-Gbaffou Conway

Kassa

Tigris

and the chefs, waiters, shopkeepers and patrons of Johannesburg who gave input to this work.


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Introduction

(migrancy to johannesburg)

Johannesburg is a city that is diverse in culture, space and ethnicity. The city has become a region of hybrid traditions and social interactions. This diversity is greatly caused as a result of people from various countries migrating into Johannesburg. In many cases people of similar ethnicities appear to collect in specific areas around the city. This collection seems to allow for migrants to be surrounded by people, social interactions, customs and spaces that are comparable to those of their home. Areas around Johannesburg that are synonymous with immigrant groups are Melville, Cyrildene, Fordsburg, Yeoville and the Johannesburg CBD. The congregation of ethnic groups results in the reproduction of certain social constructs that are unique to the particular group in question.

One of the predominant constructs is that of food and eating. In the areas named above, the social construct of food has materialised in the form of eat streets or streets in which collections of restaurants, markets and food shops have appeared. The eat streets of Melville, Cyrildene, Fordsburg, Yeoville and the Johannesburg CBD have become places that allow for social interactions and spatial organisation of the social construct.

EAT STREET : MARKET STREETa social constructNicolette Garrett

MIN

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Figure 1. map showing the migration to the eat streets in Johannesburg


Migration

(and the need to belong)

Migration is a one way trip. There is no home to go back to. (Chambers, I. 1994:9)

As people from various countries migrate into the city of Johannesburg they often experience feelings of detachment and uncertainty. These feelings draw them to people and places that are familiar and comparable to the place of their origin. The world was transformed utterly by the breakup of the feudal system and the massive movement of individuals... people were no longer quite sure where they belonged, what their futures held for them, or who their neighbours were... the pleasures and possibilities of social mobility coincided with feelings of alienation and meaninglessness. (Lindholm, C. 2008:3)

It is a natural occurrence for people to try and attempt to reduce uncertainty in their world and their place within it. One of the strategies that individuals use to reduce uncertainty is to find groups of people, similar to themselves, to which they can belong. Self categorisation provides us with an identity that regulates our interaction with others... it tells us what to expect of ourselves and others, and thus renders the social world and our place within it relatively predictable. Uncertainty is reduced. (Brown, R and Capozza, D 2006:37). The belonging to a group allows for the individual to create and attach meaning in their new context, it enables the individual to experience the same experiences with people of similar origins. It allows for them to know that there are people, like themselve, facing the same struggles and uncertainties. Living within groups has allowed for the survival of the human species throughout time. This phenomenon has not changed, individuals are inherently inclined to live in collectives, fearing that singularity leads to exclusion and isolation.

Within collectives there is a strong need for identity, attributes and characteristics that are specific to that group and unapparent in other social and cultural groups. These qualities allow for the group to create a sense of uniqueness and permits for the features that make their culture unique to become of more importance and thus more highly valued. Uncertainty is reduced because the group prototypes are both descriptive and prescriptive, they absorb the attributes of the group and prescribe behaviours and attitudes. (Brown, R and Capozza, D 2006:5)

Prototypes are one of the main ways in which identity is created as they allow for the group to appear more distinctive. Hogg, M. A. defines a prototype is a set of attributes that capture resemblance amongst members of one group (Brown, R and Capozza, D 2006:36). Being part of a group means that prototypes tend to be shared. This provides support; from ones group; for ones identity, perceptions, feelings and behaviours, support that allows for uncertainty and foreignness to be reduce.

In the areas of Melville, Cyrildene, Fordsburg, Yeoville and the Johannesburg CBD culture becomes a thing that needs to be maintained and retained. Due to the fact that; as migrants, these people have been displaced from their known context and their everyday culture is seemingly no longer evident in the world; there becomes a need for the construction of culture and the


production of customary practices that allow for their everyday to continue. Culture is the terrain through which the individual speaks as a member of the contemporary national collectivity, but culture is also a mediation of history, the site through which the past returns and is remembered, however, fragmented, imperfect or disavowed. Through that remembering, that decomposition, new forms of the subjectivity and community are thought and signified (Caldwell, M.I and Watson, J. I. 2005:202)

Figure 2. a maket in mozambique (author 2008) comparable to the market in yeovi l le - r ight (Keight ley-Smith 2010)

Figure 3. a maket in calcutta (garrett 2009) comparable to the market in fordsburg -r ight (Jayawardena 2010)

Figure 4. a maket in hong kong (author 2006) comparable to the market in cyr i ldene -r ight (Swanepoel 2010)


The expression

(of culture through food)

Food is both sustenance and symbol, providing physical nourishment and a key mode of communication that carries many kinds of meaning.

(Counihan, C. and van Esterik, P. 2008:308)

Food has become a very important symbol of individual and group identity. Food allows for a direct and physical means for individuals to express their specific culture or ethnicity while at the same time allowing for that expression to be shared on a collective level. There is an imitate relationship between gustatory(taste) and national memories and the power of nostalgic gastronomy(the art of good eating) in the semiotics(the study of sign and symbols as elements of communicative behaviour) of food for diasporic and migrant subjects (Caldwell, M.I and Watson, J. I. 2005:203). Food is a significant symbol of identity as it allows for the reproduction of culture in its physical and most basic form.

Market place

(as a social construct of culture)

The denseness of interactions and goods that were exchanged offered local communities the material and cultural means for their social reproduction, that is their survival as communities...

(Zukin. S. Landscapes of Power 1991, pg 9).

The interactions of culture, identity, meaning, and social structures occur on an everyday basis. These exchanges need to take place within some form of physical setting within the city, they need to be carried out in spaces that are already present within the existing fabric. In many cases these spaces take the shape of streets, squares, and markets; to name a few. The market appears to act as a central node in the synchronisation between food, culture and people and becomes a complex place of cultural constructs and social interchanges.

The areas of Cyrildene, Fordsburg, Yeoville and the Johannesburg CBD each have a predominant market place. However when looking at the case studies in their greater context it is not merely the defined market place, that acts as the market for the area, but the whole street in its totality. A market can be defined as the gathering of people for the sale and purchase of provisions (IOD 1998:499. Sv) all of the streets, in their entirety, embody this definition. In each case the whole street is a place where provisions are provided and acquired and thus the entire eat street, in each of the areas, becomes a market or market street. The restaurants, food stalls, grocery shops and defined market places all contribute to the greater market street, the streets become spaces which are defined by food. The symbolic nature of food in turn defines a place in which the specific ethnicity in question can reproduce their culture and a physical and sensory form.

The eat streets in question mark the urban landscape as places of distinct ethnicity and culture, in each of the


case studies the construction of culture is clearly evident through cultural specific foods, signage and decoration. They enable communities to represent themselves both to themselves and to the rest of the community. The producedisplayed and sold in the market streets generate a sense of familiarity for the specific ethnic groups in question, they provide them not just with the spices, and other ingredients that are vital to cooking traditional foods, they also make available a range of objects, images, conversation tools and spaces needed to maintain their culture, the owner of the Yat Kee Supermarket stated food is mostly imported, we call it ancient foods, this is because it is imported from Hong Kong and China ... We have a great supply because this is a hot spot for Chinese people to buy their Chinese goods. The objects and sensory experiences that occur along the streets invoke memories and nostalgia of home and everyday traditions, Mr Shadid from Market Management in Fordsburg said People love the experience and atmosphere of the market. It makes them feel like they are in India. It feels like home with the smells of the Indian food and Indian music playing in the background.The spaces become places where migrants can forge and create identity and community that is specific to their ethnicity. At its origins, a market was both a literal place and a symbolic threshold, asocially constructed space and a culturally inscribed limit (Low S. M. and Lawrence-Ziga D. 2003:308).

The material objects become a physical concretisation in which identity is created, meaning is attached and culture is maintained. Thus these market streets become important sites for the production of culture outside the place of origin. When speaking to people within the market one woman in Fordsburg stated language and food are two ways to retain our culture.

In areas of collective migrants, the relationship between culture and belonging, becomes something that needs to be constructed. The streets in question become the space in which the social constructs of culture can be physically reproduced. They provide spaces to gather and exchange important information such as events, schools, and employment opportunities as well as a place where new arrivals can experience a sense of belonging and community. The streets become a space where the culture of specific ethnic groups is allowed to survive and even thrive.


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Figure 5. inforamal food stalls on street

outside the market. (Swanepoel 2010)

Defined marketspilling out onto

street pavement -below (author 2010)


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Figure 6. food stalls spilling out onto

street pavement (author 2010)


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Figure 7. night market extending

outside the defined markets boundry

(Swanepoel 2010)


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Figure 8. clothing market inside Joburg mall

informal food stall on street pavement outside

mall -below (author 2010)


Conclusion

Food is an important symbol of identity that allows for the reproduction of culture. In situations where there is a predominant migrant community, the primary means of aquiring food and produce needed for this reproduction of culture is a market place. It is evident that when there is no space for the market place to exist, there is still a clear need for one to exist. The result is that the market then develops in other urban spaces, such as the street. Areas within the city that attract and house migrant communities have a strong need for spaces that allow for the construction of ethnic cultures and customs to be practiced. In many cases the space that most clearly allows for these constructs to occur is the market place and the street. The importance and strong symbolic attatchment to food has resulted in many migrant communities turning entire streets into markets. The market streets; that have been analysed; allow for the provision of many of the physical, social and psychological artefacts that are need for culture be carried out and thus allowed to survive. In an increasingly interconnected world, there is an increasing number an spaces within cities that are dedicated to the construction of foreign cultures and traditions. People all over the world; whatever their status, class, or ethnicity; have become aware of the necessity of defending, and sometimes even manufacturing, their own local culture.

Many social scientists have pointed to the resurgence of nationalism and ethnicity in the last two decades, and some argue that strengthened local identities are the direct challenge to globalising diffusion of consumer culture. (Counihan, C. and van Esterik, P. 2008:308)


References

Brown, R and Capozza, D 2006. Social Identities. Motivational, Emotional and Cultural Influences. East Sussex. Psychology Press.

Brown, A. 2006. Contested Space. Street Trading, Public Space and Livelihoods in Developing Cities. Wirwickshire. Intermediate Technology Publications Ltd

Caldwell, M.I and Watson, J. I. 2005. The Cultural Politics of Food and Eating. A Reader. Victoria. Blackwell Publishing.

Chambers, I. 1994. Migrancy, Culture, Identity. London. Routledge.

Counihan, C. and van Esterik, P. 2008. Food and Culture. A Reader, Second Edition. New York. Routledge.

Frank, K. A. The City as Dining Room, Market and Farm.

Frank, K. A. Food for the City, Food in the City.

Gombrich, E. H. 1979. The Sense of Order. Oxford. Phaidon Press Ltd.

Illsutrate Oxford Dictionary. 1998. SV market. Oxford. Oxford University Press.

Lindholm, C. 2008. Culture and Authenticity. Oxford. Blackwell Publishing.

Low S. M. and Lawrence-Ziga D. 2003. The anthropology of space and place : locating culture. Malden. Blackwell.

Urban, G. 2001. Metaculture. How Culture Moves Through the World. Minnesota. University of Minnesota Press.

http://info.comegoogle.com/phone/world-map.html image 10/10/11 world map

Image list

Figure 1. Map showing the migration to the eat streets in Johannesburg. Produced by author (2010). Diagram.

Figure 2. Nicolette Garrett, A maket in Mozambique(2008). Photograph.

Figure 2. Kate Keight ley-Smith, the market in Yeovi l le(2010).Photograph.

Figure 3. John Allen Garrett, A maket in Cal icut (2009). Photograph.

Figure 3. Chayneeka Jayawardena, market in Fordsburg(2010). Photograph.

Figure 4. Nicolette Garrett, Hong Kong street(2006). Photograph.

Figure 4. Dale Swanepoel, Cyr i ldene street scape(2010). Photograph.

Figure 5. Dale Swanepoel inforamal food stal ls on street in Yeovi l le outs ide the market. (2010). Photograph.

Figure 5. Nicolette Garrett, Yeovi l le def ined market spi l l ing out ontostreet pavement, (2010). Photograph.

Figure 6. Nicolette Garrett, food stal ls spi l l ing out onto street pavement in Cryi ldene, (2010). Photograph.

Figure 7. Dale Swanepoel. n ight market extending outs ide the def ined markets boundry (2010). Photograph.

Figure 8. Nicolette Garrett, clothing markets in and around Joburg mall , (2010). Photograph.


THE STREET AND ITS

Brett Herbert

Johannesburg. A place known to many immigrants as the catalyst location for opportunity, success and wealth. It is the story of the small gold mining shanty town that simply refused to stop growing. It is the tale of the ugly duckling that may not have achieved beauty but has certainly obtained a sense of authority and power, through its sheer size and economic control. Years after its founding in 1886, Johannesburg was already the most important town in Southern Africa. Its spectacular growth from town to modern city was much admired in other towns. (Bulpin 1987:x)

Initially every aspect concerning Johannesburgs emergence as a viable functioning city has been improbable. The landscape itself used to be a black patch of windswept veld, which owes its entire development to the discovery of gold, by a penniless prospector. Over the years though the city has transformed itself from its grubby infancy and ragamuffin adolescence into a more refined age of respectability and today over a hundred years after its unpromising beginnings it is the largest mining, manufacturing and engineering centre in Africa. Johannesburg is a typical cosmopolitan city, the chief industrial centre on the African continent, and second only to Cairo and Alexandria in the extent of its built up area.(Bulpin 1987:x)

As Johannesburg has grown in size, one cannot help feel that it is the social aspect of the city that has suffered. There is no doubt that recent inventions such as the motor car, cell phone and computer have played huge roles in reducing the physical barriers between people although at the same time, its these very interventions that have participated in the weakening of Johannesburgs community life. In the mining camp days the streets had a social function; now they were reduced to mere traffic channels, which cut the city and its surroundings into separate parts instead of linking them together. The buildings in the city centre also mirror the anonymity of the modern period. They contribute no cohesiveness to the street aspect they do not belong to the street and neither does the street belong to them. (Bulpin 1987:xi)

It is therefore extremely refreshing to come across three streets in the greater Johannesburg area which seem to burst with community life and social interaction. Namely; Derrick street in Cyrildene, Rockey street in Yeoville and finally Mint street in Fordsburg. These streets seem to serve as evidence to the fact that over the years, Johannesburg has become an attractive destination to immigrants and refugees from other developing countries. This is mainly due to higher wages and better infrastructure, which is often accompanied by the promise of a secure future. For security, social and economic reasons the residents of these streets seem to cluster together which in turn creates small villages where ones culture and identity is on full display. One only has to walk a few metres in Mint street, Fordsburg before being confronted by the aromas of various curry powders and spices, which is undoubtedly a strong characteristic of its Indian and Bangladeshi occupants. The same however can be said about the strong cultural characteristics which give Derrick street its vibrant Chinese influence and Rockey street, Yeoville its eclectic African feel.

INGREDIENTS


Unlike the majority of South Africas formal housing projects, where the overwhelming impression is that of sterility and bleakness, these three above mentioned areas portray a visual of social and economic connectivity. No where is this more evident than in Rockey street Yeoville where residents can eat out, buy groceries, shop for clothes and connect with family back home through one of the many internet cafs.

The colonial buildings which flank these streets have been transformed into transactional nodes which cater for the inhabitants every possible need. This in turn transforms the streets into social zips which tie their communities together and help portray a collective identity. The real issue is creating total settlements which not only accommodate the complex patterns of human needs and activities that characterise urban life, but do so in such a way that those activities are enriched and that a wide range of economic and social opportunities are created. (Dewar 1995:8)

As many of the people inhabiting the above mentioned areas have no option but to generate their own income, one can understand the high level of activity that occurs within the streets. Now undoubtedly there are many financial and social factors which contribute towards its hustle and bustle, however I am interested in exploring the streets tangible characteristics to hopefully better understand its success or failure? Much like a recipe, a street to is made up of different ingredients. These ingredients need to complement each other while being applied at the right time, within the right amount. With this in mind I aim to extract these defining elements of the street.

Scale:

This term is used to refer to the streets appropriateness in size, in terms of the human body and its capabilities. In modern planning we typically find an overriding dominance given to the motor vehicle. This can be seen, in the road width of Derrik street, Cyrildene. The wide strip of tarmac along with its high curbing and sloping profile seems to have a negative impact on the streets pedestrian accessibility. This promotes a barren landscape whereby the pedestrian feels no connection across the street. Due to Cyrildenes generosity of space, Derrik streets wide unprotected walkways contribute nothing towards social interaction. At times however Rockey streets narrow pre-modernism colonnades can feel somewhat intense and overwhelming. There is a relationship between lateral scale and intensity of use. Over large spaces with a deserted feel are neither pleasant nor safe. Conversely, excessively crowded spaces are stressful. Scale therefore should be informed by the structural and locational significance of the space. (Dewar 1995:19)

Derrick street, Cyrildene.


Rockey street, Yeoville

Connection:

Connection should be viewed in terms of the movement structure of a street as it is in this description of movement space, that the public life of the community takes place. Now at a glance one would assume that all three streets resemble a rather straight forward linear pattern of movement but on a closer inspection of Rockey street, one would find a far more complex pattern of pedestrian movement. It is a pattern that zig zags across the road, dives into small courtyard spaces and ultimately intensifies around the market and other popular destinations. This appears to promote uniqueness as opposed to standardisation, while at the same time giving the inhabitant a sense of clarity while moving through the street. Another important dimension of clarity is clarity of the definition between public and private space. The clarity of the definition determines the degree to which public activities impose on private space and it affects patterns of responsibility for the maintenance of space. (Dewar 1995:14)

Movement through Rockey street, Yeoville

Functional Integration:

All three streets seem to exhibit a high degree of integration in the sense that there is a mix and overlap of activities. It is within this overlap where, the community and social interaction is built. For example the local Shunarga restaurant in Fordsburg would battle to function were it without its weekly visit to Mosifs supermarket. While the Bismillah function hall would be left empty, if not for the streets close residential community. Sachins telephone booth would lie derelict if Mint roads market were to cease. It is ultimately this variety of different but complimentary activities and facilities located in close proximity to each other which not only benefits the individual but improves the local synergy of the community (Dewar 1995:14)


Enclosure:

It must be said that all three streets are clearly defined and therefore exhibit a sense of

enclosure, however the nature and feel of a space is significantly affected by the way in which these edges are made. In Yeoville we see a development from street to colonnade to shop; this in turn creates a progression from public to private and ultimately creates a comfortable and logical transition. Derrik streets transition from public to private is far more immediate as many of the shops spill out onto the sidewalk creating a distortion between the public and private realm. When the definition is blurred (for example, where it is not clear whether the space is public or private and therefore who has responsibility for it) problems arise: frequently, when the role is blurred the spaces are poorly maintained and used, they become dumping areas for rubbish, and so on. (Dewar 1995:19)

Derrick street, Cyrildene

Rockey street, Yeoville


Once these basic ingredients of the street have been extracted and analyzed, we find that we are left with three streets that are extremely multi-functional in terms of their social and economic roles within their communities. All three spaces seem to exhibit a sense of generosity and generality that allows for a variety of activity and relationships to occur. In so doing these spaces do not accommodate any one activity optimally but perform on a broader scale extremely well, as there flexibility is not compromised or directed to a singular function. for example the more a road is seen only in terms of the movement of vehicles, the more its flexibility is reduced and its overall performance impaired. (Dewar 1995:18)

In essence then these streets should be considered as the communal zips which tie their areas together. They all portray a space in which the immediate programmatic performance, although considered, does not necessarily determine the final outcome, as the direct needs of the community are catered for but not dictated. In this way these streets remain flexible and prepared to accommodate any unexpected demands.

References

: Awotona, A. 1997 TRADITION, LOCATION AND COMMUNITY Vermont, Ashgate publishing company.

: Bulpin T.V. 1987. Illustrated guide to Southern Africa. Cape Town: Readers Digest House.

: Chipkin, CM. 1993. Johannesburg Style: Architecture and Society1880s -1990. Cape Town: David Philip.

: Chipkin, CM. 2008. Johannesburg Transition Architecture & Society from 1950.Johannesburg: STE Publishers.

: Dewar, D. 1995 CREATING VIBRANT URBAN PLACES TO LIVE Cape Town, Headstart developments.

: Leach, N. 1997 RE-THINKING ARCHITECTURE: A READER IN CULTURAL THEORY, London. Routledge.

: Mikellides, B & Porter, T 1976 COLOUR FOR ARCHITECTURE London, Cassel & Collier Macmillan Publishers.

: Patel, P. 2000 INTERFACE FOR IDENTITIES. Johannesburg, University of the Witwatersrand.

: Toffah, T 1998 URBAN CONTINIUM Johannesburg, University of the Witwatersrand.

: Tyrwhitt, J 1952 THE HEART OF THE CITY London, Lund Humphries & co Ltd.


FROM STREET TO MALLAND BACK

What malls can learn from commercial streetsPhilipp Andre Baer

Malls, an invention of the 1920s caused by the mass production of cars in the industrial era and the subsequent move of people away from city centres to suburbs, have become a dominant feature in the way in which millions of people around the world and particularly in Johannesburg experience shopping today. And while some malls might be fancier than others, they are all pretty much the same. The population is rapidly growing tired of these dull, monotonous, single purpose boxes, which all look and feel the same. Large, enclosed pedestrian arcades with shops lining either side of the mall, some anchor shops, aimed at drawing people into the mall, a food court and large parking areas surrounding it.

So property developers are seeing themselves faced with the challenge of finding new ways of designing these commercial developments. At the present day, for many developers the trend is towards mixed use developments that emphasise the importance of street front retailing (Homsy: 1999), aimed at giving shoppers a more authentic and enticing experience.

One such development is the Lifestyle Centre. This is a sort of hybrid of a strip- and a traditional mall, with Main Street connotations. It is outdoors, with varied, yet carefully regulated, building profiles, materials, and signage that are intended to evoke a sense of organic growth over time. Parking is abundant, but usually interlaced with the stores and punctuated by landscaped walks. Such developments usually lack department-store anchor tenants. They also include a wide range of restaurants, and sometimes night-time draws such as multiplex cinemas and comedy clubs (Hine: 2006).

Figure 1. Street section; Derrick street, Cyrildene


Typically, they first appear in affluent, fast-growing suburban areas, one reason why per-square-foot sales at lifestyle centres average roughly 22 percent more than at malls, according to the International Council of Shopping Centres (Hine: 2006).

The traditional look of lifestyle centres means that they are far easier to plug into urban planning schemes than inward-facing malls. Increasingly, developers are adding mixed-use components to these projects such as offices, flats and even civic components. It is this mix of various components which make for an attractive environment for people to come together and socialize, rather than just shop and then go home.

Theres no reason, of course, why a shopping centre cant be both a pleasant place to linger and an efficient place to shop. Lifestyle centres offer consumers more freedom and flexibility than malls. It is up to those who design these properties, along with those who design the stores and merchandise them, to make places where people will want to spend more time.

One such development within the city of Johannesburg is Melrose Arch. Here shops are located right next to restaurants, offices, flats and hotels and one really feels like being in the centre of a town. The scale of buildings seems to be appropriate for human use. Cars are allowed within most of the development but pedestrians feel safe as pavements are wide and there are actual pedestrian crossings, something that is rare to find in Johannesburg. Additionally, the speed of cars moving on the site is slow, as many speed bumps and traffic lights exist. A level of underground parking that goes across the majority of the site allows for easy access and reduces the need for extensive street parking allowing restaurants to open onto the street and piazzas, which are common throughout the Melrose Arch development.

From this example one can really see how new developments such as Melrose Arch create a shopping environment that is not so new all together. It is the sort of environment that malls were derived from initially.

Figure 2. Crocker Park Lifestyle Centre


The question that one has to ask oneself then is what lessons mall developers can learn from existing commercial streets in order to make mall environments more pleasant. Vice versa, there are lessons to be learnt from the mall as well, as its commercial success shows that not everything that is done is wrong.

In order to do so, five such commercial streets in Johannesburg, namely Derrick Street in Cyrildene (Chinese), Rockey Street in Yeoville (African Immigrant), Mint Street in Fordsburg (Islamic & Indian), 7th Street in Melville (Artists & Students) and the Johannesburg Mall situated on Jeppe Street in the CBD (Ethiopian) will be analysed. While the clientele may come from various cultural, religious and ethnic backgrounds, these streets all have some things in common. Firstly, the focus of all the five streets is their commercial component. Secondly, in each of the streets there is a strong sense of community, which is what property developers are aiming to recreate and which is what largely contributes to their success as central shopping street. So what is it that creates this strong sense of community? There are many aspects and some of them vary amongst the five different streets. Let us therefore look at them separately in order to find both their differences and common denominators.

7th Street is situated within the residential neighbourhood of Melville. There are a lot of guesthouses in the neighbourhood which, combined with the nearby SABC, Wits University and the University of Johannesburg, form a large part of the clientele on 7th Street. The commercial part of the street starts at the intersection with 1st Street at ends at a t-junction with 7th Street.

Figure 3. Melrose Arch Boulevard

Figure 4. Melville Panoramic


Next up is Mint Road in Fordsburg. The community in Fordsburg is mainly of Indian decent and the predominant religion in the area is Islam. This is probably why the restaurants and shops on Mint Road are rather inward looking.

The third street to be looked at is Derrick Street in Cyrildene. The population of the area is mainly Chinese and Derrick Street can be seen as replacing the traditional China Town in the CBD of Johannesburg.

Rockey Street in Yeoville, with its large African immigrant community is a vibrant part of the city of Johannesburg and serves as an arrival point for many of the immigrants when they first come to Johannesburg.

The last of the five analysed areas is the Johannesburg Mall off Jeppe Street in the CBD of Johannesburg. This is a slightly different as here the shops and restaurants

Figure 5. Fordsburg Panoramic

Figure 6. Cyrildene Panoramic

Figure 7. Yeoville Street View


are situated inside an actual mall off Jeppe Street. The Ethiopian people that occupy the building have a strong sense of community and things such as drinking coffee are a ceremony rather than just a mundane task.

Having introduced and gained a general understanding of the five different streets, the next step should be to look at the various aspects within them which separate these streets from the mall in the way in which they serve as community/town centres, where leisure is given as much importance as the streets commercial components. This mix is where the lifestyle centre gets it inspiration from in trying to make for a more pleasant shopping environment.

One such component is green space and while most of the five streets have some street planting, it is Yeoville that stands out from the rest as there is a public park situated right off Rockey Street. This actively manages to draw people from Yeoville itself and its surroundings into Rockey Street. This is especially effective as Yeoville is close to the CBD, in which tar and concrete are the dominant feature and green space is generally lacking.

The next aspect which makes for a lively town centre is people and their interaction with the street. While malls are busy during the day, most of them die down at night. This can be associated to the lack of community that exist around a mall. The five streets all benefit from having a strong local community which make them vibrant, especially in the evening. Perhaps Melville is the best example for this. The large number of residents and students mingle in the street at almost any given time of the day, creating a sense of security. One feels safe when walking along 7th Street, as restaurants and bars open onto the street so that the street is constantly monitored by people.

Figure 8. Joburg Mall Panoramic

Figure 9. Yeoville Public Park


Even though parking in the five streets is generally limited and sometimes not enough, there is lesson to be learnt for Lifestyle Centres with regards to layout. While in malls there is usually large open and underground parking areas, in the five streets parking is spread out in pockets, which is more pleasing to the eye then the sea of parking at malls. Also, this spread out parking allows for people to park closely to where they are going, reducing the need to walk long distances. The best example for this is Melville. The large number of quiet side streets allow for people to park closely to 7th street, while on the street the amount of cars is limited and therefore the street is a more pleasant environment.

Another major factor in town centres is accessibility. While one is not or does not feel welcome in a mall unless willing to spend money, in a town centre people are allowed to get together, sit on a bench or in a park without having to consume anything. Although this is not directly beneficial for retail developments, these activities should be encouraged or at least permitted nonetheless in order to draw more people into the development.

But accessibility does not end there. How come that if malls are such popular places where a large amount of people go to, they usually tend to be disconnected from public transport facilities. Perhaps one of the contributing factors is that most malls are only that, malls. In a development with a lack of permanently based people, bus routes to the area are often not viable for a relatively large percentage of time. High density mixed use developments, creating a large, permanent community around the shopping centre would make public transport facilities more feasible, which would draw an even larger number of people into the development, as now it has now become more accessible. This access to public transport would further reduce the amount of parking that is needed, which then would allow to

Figure 10. Lucky Bean (Melville) with seating opening onto the pavement

Figure 11. Melville Side Street Parking


increase density even further. The Joburg Mall, which sits in the high density CBD proves this connection between density and public transport facilities and due to density rapidly increasing in most suburban areas, where malls are traditionally located, public transport facilities here will become more and more available.

The last major factor contributing to the accessibility of the town centre is the importance that is given to various modes of transport. While in many town centres preference is given to pedestrians over cars, most malls are inaccessible to pedestrians. They are inwards looking boxes, hardly inviting to any pedestrians. Most of the five streets on the other hand, are rather accessible to pedestrians and due to their residential nature car traffic is limited, making it possible for people to walk in these streets. Shops and restaurants are outward looking, inviting passer-bys to window shop and gaze at other pedestrians.

The last aspect that should be looked at is scale. This might be the most important factor which separates the five streets from traditional malls. Most malls are huge boring boxes, where and individual feels overpowered and dwarfed. They are highly monotonous, both inside and outside, and lack variety in scale, form, materiality, texture and use. In the five streets on the other hand, perhaps due to the organic growth over time there is richness in all these aspects without one feeling a lack of coherence in the street. Neighbouring buildings show a certain respect for one another and the in-between spaces create intricate, more private courtyard areas, like the ones found behind, in between and above many of the buildings in Yeoville. It is this aspect which stands out the most between traditional malls and the five streets.

Figure 12. BRT Bus Stop on Jeppe Street near Joburg Mall

Figure 13. Fordsburg Street View showing richness and variety in scale, form, materiality, texture and use


As people are growing tired of malls, which look and feel the same wherever they are, developers are looking at alternative solutions.

One such solution, the lifestyle shopping centre, as part of a larger mixed use development has been identified as the trend (Greco: 2009). The five streets analysed provide many clues for such a development, as they function well commercially while also acting as community/town centres where people come together to do more than just shopping. As they have been formed over a lengthy period of time, there is a lot richness, layering and variety in these streets, which lacks in the singular development of a mall. In these streets, people are given the chance to explore new aspects over a period of time, giving them reason to come back over and over again. This is perhaps the one aspect where the five streets are most successful, in drawing peole into the street and making them want to come back and explore the street further.

References

Alexander, Kaye. The mall comes back to town. Architects journal (2008 April): pp.30-35

Barnett, Jonathan. Great Streets. Planning (2008 December): pp 16-19

Claus, Karen E. Claus, R. James. Visual Communication Through Signage. Cincinnati: Signs Of The Times Co, 1974.

Cassim, Nadia. Exploring an inclusionary approach to regeneration in post apartheid Johannesburg : a case study of Fordsburg. Johannesburg: University of the Witwatersrand, 2007.

Doubilet, Susan. Reinventing the mall: With some shoppers tiring of the same old settings and many turning to the Internet, retail developers give people a reason to come to the mall. Architectural record (1999 October 1): pp. 151-153

Enquist, Philip. Gallagher, Patricia. That great street hopes for a comeback. Planning (1997 January 1): pp.12-15

Fernadez Per, Aurora. Mozas, Javier. Arpa, Javier. D-Book: Density, Data, Diagrams, Dwellings. Alava: A+T Architecture Publishers, 2007.

Greco, JoAnn. Mall Makeovers. Planning (2009 July): pp 10-14

Hine, Thomas. Dillon, David. Prt--cit: Can the Main Street looks of a lifestyle center produce an instant community?. Architectural record (2006 October): p.78-80

Homsy, George. New Lives for Old Malls: Rethinking the nations first generation shopping centres. Planning (1999 May): pp. 20-22

Lennard, Suzanne H. Crowhurst. et al. Livable Cities: People And Places: Social And Design Principles For The Future Of The City. Southampton: Gondolier Press, 1987.

Marshall, Stephen. Streets & patterns. London : Spon Press, 2005.

Pearson, Clifford A. Shopping centers: cultural icons. Architectural record (2007 February): p. 123

Robertson, Kent A. Pedestrianization strategies for downtown planners: skywalks versus pedestrian malls. Journal of the American Planning Association (1993 Summer): pp.361-370


Rubenstein, Harvey M. Pedestrian malls, streetscapes, and urban spaces. Hoboken: John Wiley and Sons, 1992.

Sarkar, Sheila. Qualitative Evaluation of Comfort Needs in Urban Walkways in Major Activity Centers. Transportation quarterly (2003 Fall): pp 39-59

Specter, David K. Urban Spaces. New York: New York Graphic Society, 1974.

Webb, Michael. Reviving dead malls: a competition seeks ways to regenerate shopping centers. Architecture (2003 April): pp. 41-42

List of Illustrations

Figure 1: Anonymous (2010), Crestwood Court: Anatomy of a Dead Mall or Emerging Arts Center? http://vanishingstl.blogspot.com/2010/01/crestwood-court-anatomy-of-dead-mall-or.html

Figure 2: Anonymous (unknown date), source from http://www.cyburbia.org/gallery/data/507/crocker_park_03.jpg

Figure 3: Jacobsen, Paul (2009), Touring the new section at Melrose Arch 16. http://www.flickr.com/photos/pejrm/3409750850/

Figure 4: Baer, Philipp (2010) after Herbert, Brett. Melville Panorama

Figure 5: Baer, Philipp (2010) after Jayawardena, Chayneeka. Fordsburg Panoramic

Figure 6: Baer Philipp (2010) after Segal, Alexa. Cyrildene Panoramic

Figure 7: Baer Philipp (2010). Yeoville Street View

Figure 8: Baer Philipp (2010) after Google Street View. Joburg Mall Panoramic

Figure 9: Baer Philipp (2010). Yeoville Public Park

Figure 10: Baer Philipp (2010). Lucky Bean (Melville) with seating opening onto the pavement

Figure 11: Swanepoel, Dale (2010). Melville Side Street Parking

Figure 12: Hayward, Pauline (2009). BRT Bus Stop on Jeppe Street near Joburg Mall

Figure 13: Jayawardena, Chayneeka (2010) Fordsburg Street View showing richness and variety in scale, form, materiality, texture and use


MAPPING EMOTIONSThe Emotions of Migration

Tina S. Magodo

The immigrant experience offers a rare glimpse to the fluidity of identity, and the cultural boundaries of resistance and change. As a transitional status, the immigrant cultural experience also offers us insights into the complexity of patterns of relationships between dominant and minority groups, change and resistance, and patterns of ethnic experience, racism, and identities. (Koc, Welsh, 2002)

This essay focuses on three out of the five streets visited over the course of the Eat Street research week, namely Mint Street in Fordsburg, Derrick Street, Cyrildene and the Ethiopian District in inner city Johannesburg, Joburg Mall, Kerk Street.

Is tension created in space as a direct manifestation of the emotions arising out of the conflict experienced within ones self as an immigrant?

My aim is to try and help inform ones experience of space by overlaying the intangible dualism that exists between community and movement in migrant societies and creates the emotional geographies of individuals everyday experiences. The result is three maps that both simplify and highlight some of the differences in the structure of the streets emotions and their relationships.

We began our research with a rather distant view, visiting the streets with the purpose of engaging with the people, mainly immigrants, but at times locals as well who engage with these immigrant spaces regularly, by conducting interviews, sketching and photographing in order to get a feel of the individuals experience of the street and in some places in the actual restaurants. I aim to draw upon these conversations and images to create maps of emotions of these streets.

The process involved: conducting literature reviews on the immigrant and identity as well as the emotional geography of space; observing and engaging with individuals and in some cases groups through interviews, focusing mostly on conversations, especially those conversations in which sentiments on experiences were expressed. And then finally,Mapping the emotions of these individuals on the street and introducing their emotional geographies to the already mapped order or layout of the street.

As a culturally and spatially transitional stage, the immigration process introduces possibilities for change, as well as resistance to new habits, behaviours and cultural experiences. Especially in the case of new immigrants who deal with tensions of adaptations or resistance to changes in lifestyle, consumption patterns and forms of cultural expression may have consequences. These changes can affect physical and mental health, perceptions of self and relations with others, as well as decrease the potential for successful settlement and integration.

City dwellers who move their place of residence lose a little of their sense of belonging as their sense of place


becomes ruptured. This can have dire consequences for the individuals concerned in that it can damage personal identity. In fact, alienation and homelessness may have partial roots in the growing fracture between people and place. (Walmsley, 1988)

We can be sure that emotions are amongst the most important ways in which we are connected with and disconnected from our world and our mortality. Emotions are a vital ingredient in the very composition of the world as something more than a concentration of causes and effects, as those places, people and incidents, that become meaningful to us, that we care about, fear, disdain, miss, hate and love. Without emotions we might indeed survive in, but hardly experience the world. What would it mean to think about emotional geographies when emotions also have a culture, history, seasonality, psychology, biology and economy? Emotions might need to be understood as events that take place in, and reverberate through the real world.

Places like people can be understood as being constituted within an emotionally charged middle ground, one neither entirely subjective nor objective. Emotions seem to be suspended in a kind of no-mans land, they inhabit an overlooked territory in between mind and matter, subject and object, resisting attempts to entirely appropriate them by one side or the other. They are however, vital and living aspects of who we are and of our situational engagement within the world. They compose, decompose and recompose the geographies of our lives. (Bondi, Cameron, Davidson, Smith, 2009)

At first the eat street research elective seemed to just be about food, but as we went from street to street, learning about the immigrant shop owners and other regulars life stories and histories, we began to realise that it was more of a journey into a world within our world, that very few of us knew existed.

I would like to invite you to take this journey with me, a journey to discover a world of possibility. This journey begins with a group of sixteen rather presumptuous students who seek to gain insight into an unknown world by means of food and space, in this case, the immigrant restaurant and the street within which it is located; how this in turn creates a particular type of place for the individual and builds community.

Figure 1 Photo of welcome mat outside restaurant in Cyrildene China Town.

Mary Catherine Bateson wrote, (2000)

Insight, I believe, refers to the depth of understanding that comes by setting experiences, yours and mine, familiar and exotic, new and old, side by side, learning by letting them speak to one another


Figure 2 Mint Street map of thoughts and Emotions


I will try to portray the emotions felt on these streets, by the day-to-day users, the shop owners and by us as we experienced them, most of us for the first time. It is my hope that we will gain from this, and all the eat street pieces of writing, not only an aesthetic appreciation for the glories of the food traditions experienced through this research, but also an understanding and appreciation of what it means to these different groups of people, then ultimately a more profound respect for the people themselves.

As we ourselves went from street to street, restaurant to restaurant, sharing food, I believe something changed within us. While the food we ate, or more often, just attempted to eat, was sometimes challenging, and often unfamiliar, though tasty, I realised that sharing food creates bonds between people, it reinforces community and in turn provides support against any pressure there may be to conform, which is particularly important to an immigrant. In the act of sharing, people who have lived here for years and even decades can get a taste of home among people who maybe speak their own language and share at least a part of their history. Food then becomes a sort of time machine, creating place and in turn building community.

What is community? Well, in South Africa we speak of Ubuntu, the spirit of togetherness, of interconnectedness. And when one arrives in an unfamiliar place, having migrated from a place they called home, community is exactly what they seek, a sense of belonging.

Immigrants have individual histories and inner struggles, as they wrestle with the changes in their lives. Ones life begins in another country, where their being was first accustomed to a different culture. Even after having been in South Africa for some time, when asked to express their thoughts about the country of their birth, as we found in our interviews, it is evident that they still feel connected to their homeland.

Figure 3 Photo of men gathered to have lunch in Ethiopian District Restaurant.

How would you feel if suddenly you did not understand the language, the culture? You had grown up in sight of mountains, and then suddenly you were deep in the hustle and bustle of the streets of Johannesburg? People around you act differently from the ones back home, you dont understand, you feel lost, the music you used to listen to is now only a faded memory in your head. You feel frightened, but you want to make it in this new


Figure 4 Derrick Street map of thoughts and Emotions


world because you chose to, you wanted to and you are determined.

While most of the theory on immigrant emotions expresses the idea of nostalgia, we also found, as we went from street to street, that there was often also a sense of moving on, where one embraced the newness, the change and the new connections made. The

Figure 5 Photo of table set up in China Town, Cyrildene with map of world in background.

stories were a mixture of humour and the challenges experienced, but there was also a lot of mention of the opportunities and accomplishments in this a foreign land, making the phenomenon of immigration rather dynamic. And this is what I have attempted to portray in the three adjacent maps.

The most dominant or common phenomenon experienced in all three of these spaces, is the sense of community. The streets are frequented by other immigrants, most of whom tended to be of the same nationality as the shop owners and/or managers. As expected, the amount of information divulged by regular street users was limited, mainly due to the language barrier in these particular streets, but also due to inadequate time spent in order to familiarize. People were at times guarded in their conversations with us and so there are aspects that were not revealed during our observations.

Most of the thoughts and emotions recorded on the maps is more a combination of conversations had between patrons and us the students, overlaid with our own take on what was said and how it made us feel. I would say that we may have also held back on how much we engaged with the immigrant street users because of our own security concerns and then of course the language barrier.


Figure 6 Joburg Mall map of thoughts and Emotions


We do however, begin to appreciate the importance of the context into which an immigrant comes and the ways in which the features of that context, the social networks, the opportunity structures, the confrontations with hostile or supportive members of resident host communities, play an important role in the overall experience.

Places are not neutral backdrops for human activities, nor are they fixed in time and space; rather places are constituted in relational ways, dependent on a throwntogetherness, the unavoidable challenge of negotiating a here and now. (Bondi, Cameron, Davidson, Smith, 2009)

References

Bondi, L., L. Cameron, J. Davidson and M. Smith (2009). Emotion,Place and Culture. Surrey, Ashgate Publishing Ltd

Deaux, K. (2006). To Be an Immigrant. New York, Russell Sage Foundation

Entrepreneur, Kwik, J.(August, 2008). Traditional food knowledge: a case study of an immigrant. Canadian foodscape. Internet: http://www.entrepreneur.com/tradejournals/article/203421715.html [Accessed 08/08/2010]

Koc, M. And J. Welsh (2002). Food, identity and the Immigrant Experience. Toronto, Ryerson University Centre for Studies in Food Security Ryerson University

Walmsley, D.J. (1988). Urban Living, The individual in the city. Essex, Longman Group UK Ltd

Zorn, T. Developing Research Proposals Handout Unviversity of Waikato. Internet: wms-soros.mngt.waikato.ac.nz/NR/.../Researchproposalexample.doc [Accessed 30/08/2010]

Image list

Figure 1: Photo of welcome mat outside restaurant in Cyrildene China Town. (Photographed by Caitlyn Manicom)

Figure 2: Mint Street map of thoughts and Emotions.

Figure 3: Photo of men gathered to have lunch in Ethiopian District Restaurant. (Photographed by Tina Magodo

Figure 4: Derrick Street map of thoughts and Emotions.

Figure 5: Photo of table set up in China Town, Cyrildene with map of world in background. (Photographed by Alexa Hayley Segal)

Figure 6: Joburg Mall map of thoughts and Emotions


Melville - 7th Street: Time vs Activities Graph: During the day

Melville - 7th Street: Time vs Activities Graph: During the week

- Local residents are the main income source, tourists only come during weekends- The busiest period Friday night to Sunday noon, lunch and dinner time.

Melville7th Street


Fordsburg - Mint Street: Time vs Activities Graph: During the day

Fordsburg - Mint Street: Time vs Activities Graph: During the week

- Weekend is the busiest time because Fordsburg market square opens from Friday night to Sunday. - Activity drops after the dinner time during weekdays, but during weekend, the street remains active because of the market.- Busiest time Lunch Time

FordsburgMint Street


Joburg Mall - Kerk Street: Time vs Activities Graph: During the day

Joburg Mall - Kerk Street: Time vs Activities Graph: During the week

-The mall is only busy during day time, and it close after working hours, therefore the night activity is none.-Everyday has same amount of people flow, the busiest period is during lunch break.-The mall starts to pick up costumers after brunch time, because lots of traders arrive.-People would just sit in the mall and kill time.

Joburg CBDKerk Street


Yeoville - Rockey Street: Time vs Activities Graph: During the day

Yeoville - Rockey Street: Time vs Activities Graph: During the week

-Night activity is very rich due to the huge amount of bars and clubs on the street.-Street is very busy, constant full of people, however, most are unemployed residents.-Lot of trading on the street during day time.-Restaurants and shops become very busy after working hours, people often buy foods on the way home.-The Market is busy whole day.-Saturday is the busiest day during the week.

YeovilleRockey Street


Cyrildene - Derrick Ave: Time vs Activities Graph: During the day

Cyrildene - Derrick Ave: Time vs Activities Graph: During the week

-very little activities happen after dinner hours. -Busiest period lunch and dinner time.-Few restaurants tend to focus heavily on serving between breakfast and lunch period.-Weekend is busiest period, lot of people come and buy glossaries.

CyrildeneDerrick Avenue


SPACE AND PLACEStreets and Restaurants as places of cultural identity and

symbolism - A case study of Melville 7th street Qefate Lerotholi

A creation of an environment that has some form of cultural identity and symbolism involves a modern and contemporary approach to its design. The discussion that follows emanates from an analytical research and exploration of how origin, difference and sociability manifest in the constellation of spaces that make up an environment. Cities are seemingly eclectic mixture of coffee shops, restaurants, public parks, sky scrapers, pedestrians, cyclists and various ethnic identities. As a whole, streets (in within cities) play a major role in defining cultural and symbolic environments in which social activities occur. Public spaces, as part of the eclectic mix of cities and streets, occur in two processes: an in ad hoc way without deliberate planning whether through appropriation, by repeated use in a particular way, or by the concentration of people because of an attraction. The concentration of people gives rise to defined spaces, i.e. restaurants. These are places that accommodate people for specific purposes and they become, overtime, places that people rely on to meet, relax, work or eat & dine.

Restaurants seem to play an important role in social and cultural life in many places; a role that is perhaps revealing of deeper social trends. They can define urban spaces and landscapes, reflecting and shaping the character of neighbourhoods or even the reputation of whole cities and regions. Moreover, they form a bustling microcosm of social and symbolic processes focused on the formation and maintenance of identities in the context of highly sensory environment. Berris explains that, restaurants, whether local or international, have an element of identity in within them, and that is achieved in various ways attached to a specific cultural identity. Unlike most state-owned restaurants, some private restaurants use creativity to meet customers demands for a new kind of dining experience, whereas in other cases, restaurants provide a context in which questions about class, ethnicity, gender and sexuality all play out. Observation proved that the most interesting aspects of social and cultural life in Melville, especially 7th Street, occur in groups throughout the whole 5 blocks along the entire street. The street as a whole is defined by sets of restaurants that are symbolic to numerous cultures and activities. Activities that occur in that setting are a function of culture, primarily of a set of rules that are part of the cultures in question. These not only define the setting of the street itself, but also define both the repertoire of activities available to members of those cultures and the subset of activities appropriate to the street.

A clear view and understanding of one of the characteristics of this study is the unfolding of the fundamental questions surrounding the topic/matter in hand. This relates directly to a set of questions put together that assist in collecting and summing up information used to table the essay. Amongst all; The essence of space, place & identity as experienced by a person of a foreign culture inhabiting a local space, What role is played by restaurant owners/users in localising international culture in within a defined space and place; i.e in restaurants. ?, What international characteristics of symbolic culture & identity are borrowed or rather imported and put into use in the local context in restaurants? How the street as the main dimension responsible for creating an environment, defines the cultural identity of 7th street, Melville, How the group of restaurants contribute in creating sub-sets of parts of


the streets, The nature of the street as an urban space created by numerous activities, And importantly, how one can enhance the existing environment using modern/contemporary urban design methods in order to achieve a defined urban fabric with a set cultural identity and symbolism. A better understanding of the direction this study is going i

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