Frontier02_One Step Beyond - Thoughts...

As an intuitive start to this Frontier, the "other" that I explore is the phenomenon of Foreign owned spaza shops (Informal Micro Convenience stores) found in South-African townships and Residential neighborhoods...

"White House Spaza" shop, up the road from home. 

 What is a "Spaza"?

A Spaza shop is an informal micro-retail store, usually found in South African townships (1). This informal economy arose in townships during the apartheid era with small entrepreneurs selling every day groceries form their homes. The spatial layout of townships did not include immediate retail facilities, and the Spaza became a valuable economic solution to most township 

An interest of mine in exploring Migrant Owned spaza's in particular is due to the fact that though the spaza is historically a South African occurrence (2), the prevalence of foreign owned spaza's in some neighborhoods seems to advance that of locally owned spaza's. I am curious as to why. 

Comparing the ratio of Migrant to Locally owned Spaza shops. (Dawn Park, Boksburg)

The following statemt from the suggested readings was an interesting provocation in terms of one's "everyday" and aparently normal interactions with this "other."

“There are a you and an I, and there is no mine and yours! For without a you and an I, there is no love, and with mine and yours there is no love but "mine" and "yours" are, of course, formed from a "you" and an "I", and, as a consequence, seem obliged to be present wherever there are a you and an I. This is, indeed, the case everywhere, but not in love, which is a revolution from the ground up. The more profound the revolution, the more completely the distinction mine and yours disappears, and the more perfect is the love.” - Kierkegaard, S.!Works of Love (1847)[36].

Different Spaza in same suburb (Dawn Park, Boksburg)

I'd hope to uncover why it is that the network of foreign owned spaza's seems to me more predominant to the locally owned counterparts. What lessons can be learnt from migrant owned spaza shops around entering into "an other" (different from your own) economy (or system), and thriving in that foreign economy/system..

1. R7bn worth of untapped township potential Lessons from Spaza shop owners.

2. Migrant spaza shops: business lessons from Soweto

Powerful thoughts: The Laufen Manifesto for a Humane Design Culture

Was really impacted by this video... much of which I also stand for in how I understand my role as a designer. Something to consider in this early phase of my final, thesis project. 

http://laufenmanifesto.org/

An interesting video from the HDA: Government emphasizing an OPEN BUILDING approach to housing

Found a very interesting video from the Housing Development Agency (Or HDA) 
"The Housing Development Agency (HDA) is a national public development agency established by an Act of Parliament (Act 23 of 2008). The HDA promotes sustainable communities by making well-located land and buildings available for the development of housing and human settlements. (http://www.thehda.co.za/content/page/who-we-are)

The video outlines principles of Open Building in practice, within the South African context. See highlights and points extracted below. 



Video available from: https://youtu.be/u-InX1aY1Rk Or http://www.thehda.co.za/

Lessons learnt and key points:

There is value in informal contexts: 

"This approach seeks not to eradicate informality, but rather to work with informal communities so that they can progressively improve their livelihoods and their housing environments" (Narrator)

Open Building principles in practice 

Participation | Transformation | Levels of decision making | Increased agency | Distributed Control 

Community engagement is a step in the design process

Phase 1 for the housing delivery is the actual  engagement of community members within informal settlements. 

Open Building is relevant to the South African context

"Informal Settlement Upgrading appears to hold the vital key towards improving our human environments across South Africa and ... across the developing world..." (Narrator) 

Incremental phases of transforming and upgrading informal settlements; 

"Informal upgrading doesn't happen overnight..." (Narrator) 

Phase 2: Implimenting vital interim services
Phase 3: Securing tenure rights 
Phase 4: Implementing permanent infrastructure
Phase 5: Providing a variety of housing options.