Juxtaposing a cultural reading of landscape with institutional boundaries: the case of the Masebe Nature Reserve, South Africa

The article explores theoretically the juxtaposition of local stories about landscape with institutional arrangements and exclusionary practices around a conservation area in South Africa. The Masebe Nature Reserve is used as a case study. The article argues that the institutional arrangements in which the nature reserve is currently positioned are too static, and consequently exclusionary, in their demarcation of boundaries. This stifles local communities’ sense of belonging to these landscapes. Hence, they strongly resent and feel alienated by the nature reserve. Their opposition and alienation often manifests in poaching. The empirical material is based on how local people living adjacent to the Masebe Nature Reserve have historically named and interpreted the area’s impressive sandstone mountains, in the process creating a sense of belonging. Juxtaposing this mostly tranquil cultural reading of the landscape to the institutional practices of boundary demarcation gives the analysis an immediate critical edge regarding issues of social justic

Thinking ahead: design-directed research in a city which experienced fifty years of sea level change overnight

Disasters are an engine for innovation; creativity becomes vital in responding to a disaster and leveraging it. For Christchurch, New Zealand, the earth-quakes of 2010 and 2011 have driven many ideas about how to rebuild the city and have inspired an explosion of temporary landscapes, events, and buildings. While the earthquakes themselves have invoked this remarkable opportunity for inventive thinking, they have also created a scenario which has ramifications far beyond the city itself. Because of the massive changes to the city's topography and hydrology, as a consequence of the multiple earthquakes, flooding has increased dramatically. This article focuses specifically on the implications of the city being catapulted into a watery future that are only still being imagined in other cities around the world. We share ideas that herald possibilities rather than fully resolved scenarios, remembering that it is crucial to avoid leaping to conclusions when delving into situations of dramatic change