Arrival in Tubatse (coming from Haenertsburg) on Wednesday, 2.12.2009

Leaving Tubatse (for Jo’burg) on Monday, 7.12.2009

This leaves us with 5 days for working:

- the dates in the program are interchangeable until now, and want to indicate the time needed, but I hope in Nandumiso’s skill to define the best days for each step.

- we envisage

– one day for definition of program, meeting of stakeholders, etc

- two day for the ‘mapping workshop’ with all the community. Up to 80 people can/should participate. Day one: assessment of skills, resources, materials, etc; day two: the project outline, with final sketches and a model, and a name!!

- two days for internal assessment, a next steps plan, and visits to local communal institutions, shops, service facilities, etc

- the definition of what happens on what day is as I said open, and I would want to verify which two days will suit best for the mapping workshops, as we need some 80 members of the community to take part, for two days, is it fine to use Friday and Saturday??

- I would then use Sunday for an internal assessment day, nd a braai with all the community??? to celebrate the beginning of the project.

- requirements for the workshop and how this can be developed.

- we need six flip charts if possible, as we will devide the community members in six groups: ladies, gentlemen and then each in three age groups, so that we have six different teams that will work.

- I guess we will be working a total of 6 hours, three in the morning, three in the afternoon, as to really work out all the information necessary and available!

Looking forward to start this thrilling project,

Dustin

Vienna, 24.10.2009

got to the page !!

Sustainable projects and community work for a new architectural model, involvement with various universities on projects with students, research on the topic and real hands-on realizations in South Africa.

S.L.U.M._net is a non-profit open source organisation focused on realising  architectural projects, that are community based, enabling capacity building within the community, enhancing new entrepreneurial models, using skills transfer between the parties involved, raising the HIV/Aids awareness, encouraging equality between female and male participants.

As a Non-Profit open source organisation we depend on donations and sponsorings. If you want to adhere to our initiative look at the sponsoring information. I would like to thank our partners and sponsors (see links) for their help in making all this possible: TOGETHER WE CAN!

- projects in progress

KANANA GRADE “R” SCHOOL in IvoryPark Johannesburg/South Africa

TUBATSE COMMUNITY CENTRE in Tubatse, Limpopo/South Africa

- realized projects

- research and lectures

Planning processes dealing with some of the so-called ‘big’ issues of today, like “sustainable building” or “social housing” in informal settlements in the urban context of cities inevitably risk missing their goal. One either risks falling into the trap of being an idealistic ‘fool’ or else remaining at a level of superficiality that doesn’t help the issue. The question is, if there is no other possibility of addressing these ‘big’ issues . . . ?
This focus of the S.L.U.M._net is to outline and hence analyze the procedures used for a series of research projects addressing the social and sustainable aspect from a broader point of view. The final example used at the WORKSHOP ‘08 with architecture students at the University of Architecture in Venice will try to out line the implementations of working between disciplines, gathering information from various scientific
sources and the developing small interventions within the city in particular for a social/sustainable living in these urban metropolies.
The envisaged aspect of an interaction at various levels of various disciplines has been further developed by the td-net for Transdisciplinary Research, based at the Swiss Academies of Arts and Sciences in Zurich, where research in being done since 2003 in the field of environmental and sustainability sciences at a transdisciplinary level by stepping beyond multy- or interdisciplinarity. The awareness for the need for a maybe ‘new’ but ideally ‘common language’ between the disciplines enabling also engaging with so called non-disciplines has proven necessary.
The introduction of a methodology for a transdisciplinary planning process as a possibility to turn the cognitive (learning) ‘project’ (see: Paper by Tusnovics, Corp-conference 2007) into a real controllable creativity, by enriching architects and architecture as well as architectural teaching and opening to new research and planning models focussing on the city as a new model of sustainability.

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hoping to see you soon on this site again,

cheers and all the best,

dustin tusnovics

Vienna, 31.January 2009