Fynbos Futures. A speculative Re-imagining of the Cape Flats

This thesis explores the entanglement of ecological degradation and urban inequality in Cape Town’s Cape Flats, a marginalised territory home to the critically endangered plants, the Cape Flats Sand Fynbos. The work develops the methodology of Fiction-Friction, which combines situated research with fictional narrative to re-imagine post-apartheid urbanism. Central to the work is an original manuscript titled: Fynbos Futures, which acts as a design tool to imagine alternative futures for the Flats. By centring more-than-human agency and embracing alienation as a generative force, three future-scenarios are developed: the contaminated, amphibious and temporal territories, with each scenario offering grounded, hopeful visions for just urban futures.

Author
Cara Geldenhuys

Supervisor
Camillo Boano

Master's degree
Architecture for Sustainability