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15.11.

2011

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URBAN CHANGE IN JOHANNESBURG INNER CITY

INFORMATION THROUGH TECHNOLOGY

CRAIG WARMAN

SERIES EDITOR: HANNAH LE ROUX SCHOOL OF ARCHITECTURE AND PLANNING UNIVERSITY OF THE WITWATERSRAND 2011

15.11.2011

15.11.2011 JEPPE URBAN CHANGE IN JOHANNESBURG INNER CITY INFORMATION THROUGH TECHNOLOGY

JEPPE

CONTENTS

02 INTRODUCTION 04 APPLICATION 05 MAPPING 06 RESEARCH 10 INTERVIEW 11 COMPLEXITY OF JEPPE URBAN CHANGE IN JOHANNESBURG INNER CITY 13 CONCLUSION 14 FLOW DIAGRAM 16 BIBLIOGRAPHY

INFORMATION THROUGH TECHNOLOGY

CRAIG WARMAN

SERIES EDITOR: HANNAH LE ROUX SCHOOL OF ARCHITECTURE AND PLANNING UNIVERSITY OF THE WITWATERSRAND 2011

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15.11.2011 JEPPE URBAN CHANGE IN JOHANNESBURG INNER CITY INFORMATION THROUGH TECHNOLOGY

15.11.2011 JEPPE URBAN CHANGE IN JOHANNESBURG INNER CITY INFORMATION THROUGH TECHNOLOGY

INTRODUCTION

Mobile marketing is a fast, effective, inexpensive and cutting-edge marketing strategy, offering businesses a plethora of new ways to reach customers through the one thing they never leave home without: their technology. (Unknown 2011) Currently there is very little communication between suppliers, traders and customers in the CBD (Central Business District of Johannesburg) and to make matters worse there is little or no knowledge of what goods are for sale there. It is for this reason that the intervention I intend on introducing into Jeppe is a cellular phonic application based program that is intended to improve communication. I believe it would be an ideal tool which could be used to reach the people of the communities, within the CBD, in an economic manner. And we meet in places that cannot be found on city maps. (Mitchell 1997, 23) Many of the places in the CBD have not been mapped and are not well advertised, if at all. They rely on clientele that utilise their services on a regular basis, advertising by word of mouth, or the possibility of someone getting lost and wandering into their place of business. Mitchell, in his book, City of Bits, describing a virtual tour through a museum, states As they do so, visitors note items they will want to see in the original. At the conclusion of the virtual tour, they get a printed plan for a correspondingly personalized tour of the actual museum. An overlay of virtual space thus changes the use of the actual space. (Mitchell 1997, 37) The reason that I feel this is relevant is because of the chaos that exists in the CBD. There seems to be no structure to the planning and positioning of amenities. If an application based program were to be introduced, I think it could provide a similar service as mentioned by Mitchell.Urbanization, at its very core, concerns the multiplication of relationships that can exist among people and things and the way in which value can be created by enhancing

the circulation of people, ideas, materials, and practices and by using things that exist in more than one way. (Simone 2010, 6) As Simone says in the previous quote, I believe that this application will add value by creating an accessible way for people to circulate ideas and information by creating awareness of what is happening in their surroundings.

A group of University students have been researching the physical context of the inner city of Johannesburg over the past six months. The research conducted has looked specifically at the areas around Jeppe street incorporating the Ethiopian district and surrounding urban fabric. This research needs to be seen within the theoretical context of the criteria noted in the IABR (International Architecture Biennale Rotterdam) brief, the primary objective being to present Jeppe as the smart city that it is, or is becom-

ing (initiating personal interventions). To provide a finished collective product which fulfils the needs of the brief is one of the main objectives. My intention with the project is to use the existing quality of the social interaction within certain locations, (such as Ethiopian coffee houses/Buna Bets, internet cafes and cellular trading stores) and to apply these smart communication principles within the application.

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APPLICATION

MAPPING

After experiencing the city for a few months now, and having spoken to a number of people with regards to the use of technology in general and within the inner city, it seems that there is the misconception that technology is difficult to use. In some cases I would tend to agree. This is all dependant on how user friendly certain technology is made (Arnold 2010). This research has piqued my interest to see how existing intricate communication connections are made and if any such technology exists in order to make that connection. I feel it is important to facilitate this process with technology based interventions. I intend to incorporate the use of these technological advancements to improve communication within the inner city, which in turn will affect other aspects such as income; by allowing more efficient transactions and a quicker turnover rate by utilising an application to notify customers of prices, pickups and drop offs to name a few. At the moment shop owners and street traders do not have contact with the suppliers at all and their products are received on any random day. An application based program would increase the number of customers by al-

lowing them to know where, and what specials, are taking place and how to orientate themselves within the inner city, thus knowing exactly where to head. I believe this has the potential to make Jeppe an even smarter city. The aim of this project would be to create a cellular phonic application that would allow commercial networking between consumers and retailers in the area. This would also allow a digital connection to be made between outlets and their customers and encourage competitive pricing, as well as a platform to advertise any specials available during a specific period. This too, would provide a user friendly interface, accessible by all who own a smart cellular phone, that could incorporate portions of other peoples research (such as maps created, songs of the city and the path of an orange). Some examples are options that could allow users to choose a specific language to represent the information in (using simplistic keywords) as well as utilising iconic symbols to represent certain practices (recognizable by the majority or by common sense, e.g. a knife and fork to represent eateries).

In an attempt to spatialize this research in an architectural manner, I intend on researching possible points/places where it would make sense to alert the city of the applications availability. I would do so by utilising advertising in the form of billboards, posters and flyers; this would require extensive mapping of the area. It is most likely that the smaller elements would be located within the shops generally used for communication (places mentioned above) as well as a possibility of making use of mobile advertising, utilising the trolley pushers. This would include utilising their trolleys as advertising space, whilst paying the trolley pushes a fixed rate for every month the advert is on their trolley. This in turn would create a reliable income for them during the months that they advertise, which is helping with the problem of job creation and is headed in the right direction to making Jeppe a smarter city. The larger billboards would be placed at strategic points of arrival into the city such as taxi ranks and main arterial vehicular routes, as well as specific places within the city, which could incorporate iconic buildings and places that have the heaviest pedestrian traffic. Majority of the buildings are oriented with their larger

predominant facades facing North and South, allowing for an opportunity to utilise advertising as a shading device on the larger facades. This then too adds another layer to the understanding and travelling of the city as these billboards act as markers. The opportunity exists to do some collaborative work with an electrical engineering student to produce a prototype of the application I intend to create. If this does not materialise in a finished

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RESEARCH

product, or we are unable to collaborate, if time grants I would then try and attempt a course in application design and create a small application prototype myself. A user manual will be presented along with this body of text, which would illustrate the intentions and interface of the application. This would include a visual indication to its functionality and understanding. During the research process I looked at the existing infrastructure to see if any databases exist to link all traders of specific types or to provide a link between traders and their customers or traders and their suppliers. There did not appear to be any database of any sort in existence within Jeppe. A fear that being in constant contact with ones competitors may cause some problems, such as an issue of steeling clients, I posed the question to some of the traders and shop owners. Their reply was that constant contact between competitors would be of great use, this would allow for the availability of competitive pricing as well as equality of produce, quality and service. Owners would have to do their best to insure great quality, as well as, service in order to maintain their popularity. This area has been researched fairly extensively in the past, and placed in a negative light, and because of this the inhabitants of the inner city are a bit wary of students doing research. It is for this reason that the research, whilst individual, should be conducted in groups. I intend using methods such as case studies, interviews, surveys and photographs to identify the need for better communication within the inner city. An observational method would be useful in determining pedestrian and/or vehicular traffic in order to establish the best position to place billboards, flyers and posters. Interventions could possibly include upliftment of existing informa-

tion infrastructure, as well as the introduction of an additional application, which could be used in conjunction with the existing information within the area. Although there doesnt seem to exist a formal electronic database for Jeppe, their existing information infrastructure works very well in micro situations. For example police raids take place often and to deal with this, traders employ a few people to maintain a lookout from vantage points around their stalls. Whereas this incorporates illegal forms of business, it is empirical to their survival in the city. Is it possible to incorporate these elements into the application? Lastly one would also need to establish locality maps to derive the vicinity of existing points or places of communication. All of the above information could be included in the design of the cellular phonic application in order to provide the communities with adequate information in order to decipher the workings of the inner city and to move through and orientate themselves within the city with ease. As the area has become rather hostile, it is fairly difficult to gather completely accurate information. In this case, an abstract interpretation of how a Buna Bet (Ethiopian coffee house) operates may have to be taken into the envisaged application. Assumptions would need to be made on how one thinks the product would or should be used.

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It is understandable that not everyone in the area would have access to a smart phone and if the application is successful, they would not benefit from its production. It is for this reason that I would propose an extension to the research proposal at a later stage with the possible implementation of a large fixed touch screen device which is dedicated to the application. These fixed touched screens would then be allocated within the places of communication, mainly the internet cafes Buna Bets and Cellular phone stores mainly to avoid vandalism. This then means that everyone without a smart phone would be able to access the application during working hours. This too would be able to bring new customers to these places of business. If a finished product were to be developed, I am uncertain as to whether a small scale trial of the application would be launched within our research area. Mainly because I am unaware as to how I would go about it and how I would approach people with the idea. It is also important to note that some research would need to be done on what smart phone is the most common. Unfortunately not all smart phone brands use the

same software to develop applications and this should be taken into account if the research were taken further. The prototype I began looking at was initially for the iphone but as it is one of the most expensive smart phones around; not many people in this area would have access to the high end phones. It is for this reason that the application, would at a later stage, have to be developed for one of the lowest ranges of smart phones which still has access to applications.

The reason I have chosen the iphone is because I have access to one and would like to install a prototype of the application on the device. Below is one possible visual layout of what the application could look like.

Restaurant Internet Cafe Maps Information Path of an Orange Sounds of the city

Having experienced the inner city for a number of months now, and having applied many of the research methods I proposed, it is clear that the inner city has a structure to its communication,

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INTERVIEW

COMPLEXITY OF JEPPE

Isaac Unknown Corner of Kerk and Delver R 200.00 Stall owner

He sells clothes (Jeans Specifically). A Malawian street vender who recieves his merchendise from the Ethiopians, and in turn he sells them on the streets. He says that he uses a neighbouring buildings basement to store his merchendise over night. He starts packing up at 4:30 each day. He lives on Prichard street. The price of the Jeans ranges from between 100 & 400 rand.Has had issues with the metro, so they utilise inside men who warn them of their comings. Deliveries occur with no prior communication. Ethiopian delivers by street at random. He was not interested in social networking due to the ease of access of information. This means that the police too would have access to their ongoings. He sells twelve jeans per day on average, depending on the time of the month (end of month can climb as high as 24 jeans per day). He left Malawi for entreupreneurship, filling the niche

however confusing it may seem to a new comer. The city operates on many different levels and its complexity is evident at first glance. There exists layer upon layer of intricate communication networks which have woven together this urban fabric we now know as Jeppe. Its complexity is almost impossible to understand without years of study. Deliveries are made at all times of the day, whether it be from a storeroom situated in a building near-by or a supplier making deliveries to various traders. I believe that an advancement for this area would be by the use of a technology based intervention, thus allowing Jeppe to become a smart functional efficient city, giving the chaotic disorder a system or routine in order to structure delivery times and locations. The streets are constantly crowded and people are always on the move from one point to the next. More often than not, these people stick to what they know. The idea behind the application is to allow the public to know where to find places of similar function and try out different and new places, thus bringing business into different areas. Many of the coffee shops and internet cafes serve only people within the immediate vicinity, they survive by merely providing a service to the

same people day in and day out. Shop owners and street traders rely on their suppliers, they receive their goods on random days with no prior knowledge or arrangement. This can become a problem on many occasions as they may have limited stock or no stock left at all until a delivery is made which may be as long as a week later. The intention of the application is to allow for more efficient communication to take place, and set up schedules to allow the city to function on a system of sorts. Having interviewed many street traders I can empathise with their frustrations and fears. A large barrier when introducing such a form of technology, is a fear of being sought out by the police, because a lot of the business that occurs in the city is illegal. Many of the people I have spoken to have said that a form of technology would be of some use depending on how much information was available to the public. It is for this reason that it would possibly serve as a mass locator of certain business types rather than a provider of specifics.

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CONCLUSION

From a survey done on site, I have established that 98% of people have access to a smart phone, the most common of which is the Nokia with approximately 42%, second to Blackberry which is approximately 27%. According to Arup, four billion people worldwide have mobile phones today. It therefore makes sense to utilise these facilities to increase productivity within the city of Jeppe. The application would allow the places of communication to update their status on whether or not stock is needed, as well as allow the public to know how many people are currently in the place of business. This technology would soon take on a different form as William J. Mitchell

states in his book, City of Bits, So inhabitation will take on a new meaning - one that has less to do with parking your bones in architecturally defined space and more with connecting your nervous system to nearby electronic organs. (Mitchell 1997, 20) The idea behind this is that at some stage the city will utilise more than just an application to communicate, the architecture itself will provide communication facilities. Mitchell too states in his book that people meet in places that cannot be located on city maps (Mitchell 1997, 23) which is relevant, I think, to all cities. How does one locate all the informal activity that occurs within the inner city?

Is it possible to Locate it all? Having mapped a large portion of the city I feel it is of great importance to allow some sort of user manipulation within the application created, something that may have the same effect as Learning from Kumasi. I think it is imperative that if people come to the city to establish themselves, they should have the ability to locate themselves on a map, and allow the public to notify where they are located. The requirements for an application of this sort to function in this area involve many factors which include, a variety of phones, access to application based programs, availability of smart phones, as well as the need for such a service etc. After establishing these requirements, I set out to investigate how many people have smart phones, and which smart phones were sold most in stores on site. After surveying one hundred people it was established that the majority of people have smart phones, with the most popular brand being the Nokia. I then surveyed one hundred cellular phone distributors to establish the most common cellular phone brand they sold, which was again the Nokia . In another survey, having spoken to one hundred traders for their personal experiences with regards to their suppliers, it is evident that many traders have had issues with their suppliers. It is evident that the majority of the traders operate blindly, meaning communication exists at a minimal, if at all. This would therefore justify the notion that an application based program used for communication is a viable and workable option within the Central Business District (CBD). Jeppe operates as a smart city as it is, the many innovative measures people have gone through to establish themselves as successful entrepreneurs is evident. Even with the lack, or what seems to be a lack of communication, the people

of Jeppe have their own means and ways to surviving in this chaotic concrete jungle. Does Jeppe really need a form of intervention to be classified a smart city? The fact that this area is constantly buzzing, I think not. If I can assist, even in a miniscule way, to ease some of the redundancies that exist, I feel it would add just one more level of smartness upon the many that already exist. As it is, I feel, a simplistic introduction of an application as a form of communication would increase the level of productivity as well as Jeppe operating as a smarter city.

No. Of People

Contact with Supplier/s

Delivery/Collection

Method of Con- Have you ever run out tact (if any) of stock before? Verbal Telephonic Yes No No Yes No

56 17 13 11 3

N N N Y Y

Delivery Collection Mass self Storage Delivery Delivery

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FLOW DIAGRAM

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BIBLIOGRAPHY

Borden, I. et al. (2000). The Dissertation - an architectural students handbook. Oxford, Elsevier Architectural Press. Laher, S and Israel, N. (2007). Research Design Workbook. South Africa, The university of the Witwatersrand. Dawson, C. (2002).Practical research methods. New Delhi, UBS Publishers Distributors. Kumar, R. (2005). Research methodology - A-Step-by-Step Guide for Beginners. Singapore, Pearson Education. Mitchell, W. (1997). City of Bits - Space, Place and Infobahn. London, England, MIT Press. Simone, A. (2010). The Social Infrastructures of City Life in Contemporary Africa. Nordiska Afri kainstitutet, Uppsala. Amharic Dictionary, 2009. Amharic Dictionary. [Online] (Last update unknown) Available at: http://www.amharicdictionary.com/default.aspx [Accessed 21 September 2011]

Interbrand, 2011. Best Global brands 2011. [Online] (Last update 2011) Available at: http://www.interbrand.com/en/knowledge.best-global-brands/best-globalbrands-2008/ best-global-brands-2011.aspx [Accessed 11 October 2011] Arup Urban life, 2011. The smart solution for cities. Transforming power-hungry urban ar eas into low-carbon smart cities via the creative use of technologies. [Online] (Last update 2011) Available at: http://www.arup.com/urbanlife [Accessed 11 October 2011]

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