Priority Zone
Compassionate architecture acknowledges the more abrasive areas of life and living where run-down buildings, makeshift shelters and the litter of disposable consumerism hide or diminish the innate beauty and promise of an urban space.
It aims to turn areas around and, in so doing, the lives of the people living in them. For these are people who, with no reason for pride, simply remain in the mess and chaos around them. Operating purely in survival mode, they tolerate the status quo and sink further into a life challenged by crime, fear, health hazards and resultant hopelessness.
Architectural intervention can play a much more significant role than short-term beautification and quick return on investment. A global movement in urban development understanding poverty, demands greater insight into the needs of urban users, and establishes new rules of engagement.
It does this by creating spaces of hope, places of engagement, areas of relaxation and openness. It renews the human spirit with cleanliness, form and function and develops buildings and areas where people can be productive and safe.
Creativity, innovation, design, collaboration, rethinking and having a new perspective on old problems can make all the difference. It can breathe new life into what has been deemed an impossible situation. Bring hope. Purpose. Motivation. Architectural intervention can literally change lives! It requires being streetwise, taking risks and employing guerilla tactics.
Rebellious initiatives that make use of opportunities, aim for sustainability and jog society into change.
It aims to turn areas around and, in so doing, the lives of the people living in them. For these are people who, with no reason for pride, simply remain in the mess and chaos around them. Operating purely in survival mode, they tolerate the status quo and sink further into a life challenged by crime, fear, health hazards and resultant hopelessness.
Architectural intervention can play a much more significant role than short-term beautification and quick return on investment. A global movement in urban development understanding poverty, demands greater insight into the needs of urban users, and establishes new rules of engagement.
It does this by creating spaces of hope, places of engagement, areas of relaxation and openness. It renews the human spirit with cleanliness, form and function and develops buildings and areas where people can be productive and safe.
Creativity, innovation, design, collaboration, rethinking and having a new perspective on old problems can make all the difference. It can breathe new life into what has been deemed an impossible situation. Bring hope. Purpose. Motivation. Architectural intervention can literally change lives! It requires being streetwise, taking risks and employing guerilla tactics.
Rebellious initiatives that make use of opportunities, aim for sustainability and jog society into change.
"It is about transforming our view of our public spaces in cities and giving ourselves the right to own them, protect them and demand that they are responsibly cared for. We as architects are willing to climb in and get our hands very dirty!
It is architecture from the bottom up."
- Jonathan Edkins, Deputy Head of City Architects
It is architecture from the bottom up."
- Jonathan Edkins, Deputy Head of City Architects
"It all starts with one person and anyone else can adopt it."
- Thobile Mkhize, Facilities Manager
- Thobile Mkhize, Facilities Manager
The Priority Zone Pilot Project was established in November 2009 to manage and maintain the environmental, economic, social and cultural aspects of the Civic, Administrative, Centrum and Conventions Precincts as a place for all. This is achieved through an engaged, inclusive approach which recognises the deep resource of passionate human capital in the citizens and officials of the City.
"What nobody sees are the hidden social aspects that we’re involved in. Our project was to come in and clean up the area and make it safe by aligning the different line (service) departments. But what we have done is change the behavioural pattern of what happens out in the streets."
-Wendy Gibson-Taylor, Senior Facilities Manager
-Wendy Gibson-Taylor, Senior Facilities Manager
WHAT WE’VE ACHIEVED SO FAR:
CHANGE THE SPACE, CHANGE THE ATTITUDE
- We’ve established a safe precinct
- Kept the precinct clean over the past 18 months
- Got buy-in from Municipal Service Providers who respond to reports within agreed timelines
- Municipal Service Providers are now working more closely with each other
- The Priority Zone was proud to be awarded the national SALI (South African Landscape Institute) Gold Award for Maintenance of Public Space
- Independent informal traders thrive. The Flower Sellers have been operating from Church Walk for four generations and are an excellent example of sustainable street trading
- There is no longer any drug dealing, littering, illegal sticker display, vandalism, or vagrancy in what is now the Priority Zone
- The formal economic sector now enjoy the benefits of maintained, regulated and safe precinct. Encouraged by this, they have upgraded their own buildings and a reaping the benefits of additional customers
- Durban residents engage with their city again
- More tourists are coming to the area
- Local residents feel safe to return to the inner city they love
- There is economic business growth experienced at the Workshop Shopping Complex
- The public now comes to Medwood Gardens and Gugu Dlamini Park for relaxed recreation
- More people are learning about and playing chess in Medwood Gardens
- The Loco Plaza amphitheatre is now a thriving centre for public entertainment and expression
- Conference delegates are reassured by Priority Zone ambassadors that they can travel safely by local taxi
- Vegetables grown in taxi rank ‘flower’ bed are used by food stall owners
- There is provision of organic vegetables grown in roof garden for the needy – shelters and orphanages
- An educational programme is in place for sustainable food security
- Job creation for 183 people through the Priority Zone Pilot Project
- There is an (Adult Based Education Training) ABET facility for recyclers
- We have changed behavioural patterns
CHANGE THE SPACE, CHANGE THE ATTITUDE