Change by Design Johannesburg (January 2025)

• Location: Johannesburg, South Africa
• Date: January, 2025
• Programme: Change by Design
• Project Partners: 1to1 Agency of Engagement
• Activities: Co- Design/ Community-Led Research/ Capacity Building

Assessing options for change and how these would perform in different contexts.

Building on previous Change by Design Johannesburg workshops, the 2025 project focuses on the final stage of ASF-UK’s methodology - Developing. The priority in this 5.5 day workshop was developing practical principles and strategies for upgrading informally occupied buildings, assessing how these would work in practice in different contexts. ASF - UK and 1to1 worked in collaboration with grassroots organisations, NGO’s, researchers and residents to do this. 

The workshop involved site visits, interviews, mapping, and co-design activities to identify scenarios and develop options for upgrading inner-city buildings. Sites included Fraser House, Argyle Court, Jean Law, Old Pem and Walpert Motors. Through the use of various methods and tools, future-oriented scenarios were developed, helping to understand inner-city housing on a more detailed level. 

The final event focused on creating a series of cross-scalar principles and options for change, ending on a discussion on what an ideal inner city building might look like and how it could function. Throughout the discussions, the importance of community-based and community-led governance was highlighted. Innovative methods are needed to transfer tenure and management responsibilities to residents and their supporting organisations, recognising that new financial models would be required such as the private sector possibly playing a role through new cross-subsidy mechanisms. Overall, it was agreed that there was a need for experimentation/ a series of pilot projects to test these ideas into practice.