URB_714 Global Urbanism Studio: ‘Double Vision: A Comparative Studio Starring Johannesburg & Kampala’

This studio engaged global urbanism through direct observations of urban morphology and spatial negotiations in Johannesburg, South Africa and Kampala, Uganda. Ferdi le Grange joined the Johannesburg studio, which focused intensely on differing spatial and material conditions at the center and periphery of the city. In Kampala, Doreen Adengo led a one-week drawing workshop focused on negotiation—of space, goods, authority—in thriving Nakasero Market. The studio’s comparative model built on tensions between central and peripheral urban development, design processes reliant on formal and social systems, and two cities poised for significant change. 

In the 21st century, Johannesburg and Kampala will grow, facing competition from several other African cities. Students traveled to both cities, directly observing their richness and co mplexity. Speculations centered on how urban design can reinforce equity in the public realm, bolster social and economic support systems, and adapt urban forms to be resilient in the face of climate and demographic change. 

Situated at the heart of Gauteng province, South Africa, Johannesburg has a complex history of spatial segregation by race. This has left enduring regional challenges in terms of persistent mismatch between housing and employment locations, transportation access, resource delivery, economic mobility, and public health. Myriad municipal plans, including the United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UNHSP), have addressed these challenges. In each plan, the push and pull between the center and periphery has laid bare conflicting attitudes regarding density, safety, employment, and ecological health. 

Students tested dual (dueling) sites at the center (Marshalltown) and perimeter (Modderfontein) to assert new conditions of housing density, employment, ecologies, sustainability, economies, and the public realm. Beginning with direct observation, students drew and documented strategic points in the center and periphery of the city. The depicted physical reality of each site was used as the base layer for grounded speculations on future adaptations in the public realm.

In Kampala, students worked collaboratively with students from Uganda Martyrs University to observe and document negotiation in the market. This studio focused on the complex relationships among vendors, consumers, authority, and weather, and how they shape the social space in bustling Nakasero Market in downtown Kampala. As Kampala competes with other cities for international investment and prominence, sites like Nakasero Market are often developed into mid-rise buildings, displacing vendors, and extinguishing the social system it provides. By observing and documenting negotiations, students hoped to frame a conversation around the value of these spaces to the vitality and cosmopolitanism of the city—and what would be lost if the market was to disappear.