Development infrastructure as a social laboratory

The Mabopane Station is a potentially important commuter and economic facility in the Gauteng City-Region, even though it is located 40 minutes north of downtown Pretoria by car. GCRO's Ngaka Mosiane spent two months studying the station as a multi-modal transport facility and a nerve centre of an emergent local economy (see the image below). This study is part of a larger research project Landscapes of peripheral and displaced urbanisation. As a result of the research, the station is beginning to attract wider local and international attention. Ngaka led a tour of the station with Hannah Schilling, a doctoral candidate at the International Graduate Research Program, Center for Metropolitan Studies. He is also due to give a lecture in this facility, thanks to permission granted by the Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa. The talk will be given to a group of undergraduate students from the African American Studies Department, University of Maryland in the United States. They will be in the country during the period July 30 – August 17 to learn about the many dimensions of social inequalities and the consequences for well-being in South Africa. The station, along with commuter data, is to be featured in the GCRO July 2018 Map of the Month.

An aerial view of Mabopane Station precinct: a collage of the real and design images.

Source: City of Tshwane. (2013). Mabopane Station Modal Interchange Design Development Stage 3: Detail Design Report Rev 1. Bryanston: Bosch Stemele (Pty) Ltd.