Paper short abstract:

This paper emphasises experimental practices employed in approaching research on three types of public space in Johannesburg. It explores the relationships between the self and other - and between the private and public - where identities are mutually constituted and our public cultures are shaped.

Paper long abstract:

This paper reflects on research conducted at Constitution Hill, Gandhi Square, and Pieter Roos Park in inner city Johannesburg. The research explores how the histories, management, design of public spaces relate to their use, while this paper emphasises some of the experimental practices employed as part of a mixed-methods approach. These practices arise out of attempts to understand the dialectical triad of the self, others and the collective. This includes confronting subjectivity head-on by including the self as one of the objects of research, which allows drawing one's research practices closer to ones' own everyday life in the city. This facilitates a better appreciation of the interrelations of the self with others, and collectives, and thus how, where and when particular publics are formed, challenged, or fragmented. A great deal of what makes up the public culture of cities is ephemeral. Observation, conversation, walking, and collecting, are all ways of capturing and understanding elements of these ephemeral processes and phenomena. Creative juxtapositions of objects, artefacts and moments with processes and themes can reveal new ways of understanding the city. The inter-relationships between the self and other - and between the private and public - are where identities are mutually constituted and our public cultures are shaped. These relationships are also revealing of how social cleavages and conflicts are manifesting, being managed, and thus also contributing to public culture. This paper articulates some of these relationships in the context of research on three different types of public space in central Johannesburg.