Architectures of Protest

Making an Activist City

Sihle Gumede

BArch Hons 2022

Supervisors:
Unit Leader: Jiaxin Yan Gong
Unit Assistant: Ruth Manda
Unit Assistant: Thandeka Mnguni

UNIT 14
Rogue Roots: Magic of Port and Passage

This work looks at the #feesmustfall movement that took place across the county at public universities, with students protesting against high student fees. Following this I looked at the frequent protests in the taxi industry documenting their movement across the city of Durban. Routes, meeting spaces, protest spaces and hideouts were drawn out and analysed to understand and make sense of the architectures of protest. The architectures of protest begin to highlight the ironies of social systems and structures where the actions of a collective often produce powerful and at times (counter) productive consequences to the intended. During protests, our urban spaces transform where balconies become lookout spots, trees become secret meeting rooms, and our streets become public platforms to demonstrate dissent. This work is explored through mediums such as ethnographic sketching, line drawings, narrative writing, mapping and lexicon making. I propose the creation of spaces that can be adapted for protests within the city as a template for future cities to promote and allow for greater activism within our cities as our political and social environments become increasingly tense.

Keywords:
Architectures of Protest, Procession, Gathering Spaces, Mapping, Activism, Protest, Public spaces, Protest Routes