2014 Design Society Development DESIS Lab project Slovo Park

1. The Slovo
Park Project
Socio-Technical
support through
service learning
University of Johannesburg - FADA
Design Society Development
South Africa
Jhono Bennett, 1to1 – Agency of Engagement, 1to1 –
Student League and the Slovo Park Community

2. Promoter(s).
Jhono Bennett
1to1 – Agency of
Engagement & the
Slovo Park Community
Development Forum.
Funder(s).
In-funded
Aknowledgements.
Mohau Melani, Carin Combrinck, Jacqueline Cuyler, Isabel Van Wyk, Claudia Fillip,
1to1 – Student League, The Unviersity of Pretoria, The University of Johannesburg,
the Slovo Park Community Development Forum, Slovo Park Youth Forum, South
African Shack/Slum Dwellers International Alliance.

3. Context:
The informal settlement
community of Slovo Park,
Soweto, has been in a on-going
battle with the City of
Jo’burg for development
since the early 1990’s.
This struggle has been fought
through constant shifts in
policy and disappearing
development budgets and
resulting in service delivery
protest, time wasting supply
chain processes and
currently a pending lawsuit
against the City of
Johannesburg.

4. The project:
The Slovo Park Project began
in 2010 when university
students began working with
the community structures of
Slovo Park and offered the
leadership spatial design
support through their course.
This assistance was
implemented at a small scale,
but aimed to have larger
impact on the greater
development needs of Slovo.
The original students have
provided ongoing support
since 2010 through various
design/build projects.

5. The design
process:
Participative research, design
and construction methods
have been used since the
project’s inception.
These tools have been
crucial in the development of
not only Slovo Park’s
Development, but have been
used to develop more
effective co-design and
research methodologies for
similar engagement in other
informal settlement
communities.

6. Slovo Park: established in 1986
Development was approved and
key concept
key concept
Governance and Policy Making
budgeted for in 1995, but
dissapeared in a corrption scandal
The development needs of Slovo Park are represented by the Slovo Park Community Development Forum
(SPCDF). The SPCDF is leading the current lawsuit against the City of Jo’burg with the support of the pro-bono
legal Socio-Economic Research Institute (SERI).

7. Activism and Civic Participation
Strategic small projects have the power to
unlock larger development oppurtunities
The SPCDF is part of much larger network of informal settlement leadership structures known as the Informal
Settlement Network (ISN)– who are supported by South African Shack Dwellers International Alliance (SASDI).
Each project initiated by the SPCDF is strategically conceived to unlock larger development opportunities.

8. Social Interactions and Relations
Sometimes facilitation
is more important
than product creation
Many key role-players support the community needs, 1to1 has assisted in this facilitation by making easing
access to leadership, translating important information into strategy and knowledge and allowing for the public
legitimatization of Slovo Park’s struggle.

9. City and Environmental Planning
Organized community structures
are key partners in their own
development – and need to be
recognized as so
The Slovo Park Project has shown that organized communities are viable and crucial partners in their own
development. This being crucial due to our government’s current stigma towards informal settlements in South
Africa. The project has also demonstrated the missing aspects of education in architectural schools in South
Africa and given those involved the means to address this in the curriculum.

10. Production, Distribution and Consumption
Slovo Park has the vision to be a
self-sustaining community
Through the participative mapping, research and design the project has uncovered a vision for Slovo Park to be
self-sustaining community – as many of these activities exist in Slovo, but require a strategic linking to larger
networks and distribution systems.

11. Skill Training and Design Education
Students of spatial design
disciplines need critical
experience in complex spaces
Spatial design students are the missing link
between grass roots & large scale development
Lessons from the Slovo Park Project have been distilled into both the University of Pretoria & the University of
Johannesburg Architecture Degrees – as well as shifting the South African Council for the Architectural
Profession’s to include community architecture in their accreditation for pre-professionals.

12. Job Creation
The project aims to foster the
development of a new type of
spatial design practitioner
The Slovo Park Project has laid the foundation for a new type of spatial design practitioner, a socio-technical
designer that not only provides technical services, but additionally assists in larger social and policy
processes with and for residents in poor or unsafe areas in South Africa.

13. Storytelling and Visualisation
Participative mapping & design
Co-research
Clear, effective and human based communication tools including tangible models, graphic posters and even the
creation of ‘Slovonopoly’, a research outcomes board game have been used to great effect in the Slovo Park
Project.

14. www.designsocietydevelopmen
t.org
www.uj.ac.za/fada
www.slovo-park.blogspot.com
www.1to1.org.za
info@1to1.org.za
University of Johannesburg - FADA
Design Society Development
South Africa
Jhono Bennett, 1to1 – Agency of Engagement, 1to1 –
Student League and the Slovo Park Community