Bridging of urban borders
- GCRO
The GCRO to shift borders at first Seoul Biennale on Architecture and Urbanism.
The Gauteng City-Region Observatory (GCRO), of which Wits University is a partner, will be participating in the Cities Exhibition at the inaugural 2017 Seoul Biennale on Architecture and Urbanism. The Gauteng City-Region is the only South African city represented in the Cities Exhibition.
The GCRO exhibition, entitled Shifting Borders and Building Bridges, explores the making, shifting and bridging of urban borders. In recent years we have seen the continued relevance of international borders and how these affect the lives of people in different places. While political borders remain as pertinent as ever, this exhibition examines kinds of ‘urban borders’ in the context of the Gauteng City-Region (GCR).
The exhibition observes these urban borders through four perspectives: spatial, social, institutional, and resource via four interactive story maps. Each story draws on a combination of previous research and new innovative content including videos, interactive visualisations and experimental maps. Using touch screens and tablets, visitors can scroll through each story map or play with the live maps and visualisations and is fully bilingual (English and Korean).
The exhibition will be on display from 2 September to 5 November 2017 and is accompanied by several events.
Centered on the thematics of the Ten Commons, the Seoul Biennale is organized along two major sections: exhibitions installed during the Biennale, and the continuous research and development activities of the Seoul Lab. The exhibitions include Thematic and Cities Exhibitions, which showcases the most innovative initiatives occurring in cities around the world. The Seoul Lab manages the Live Projects Seoul, International Design Studio, Mapping the Commons project, Film and Video Program, Information Platform, workshops and other programs that engage public participation.
GCRO will be exhibiting in the Dongdaemun Design Plaza designed by the late Zaha Hadid.
About the Gauteng City-Region Observatory
The GCRO is a partnership between the University of the Witwatersrand, University of Johannesburg, the Gauteng Provincial Government and organised local government in Gauteng. The GCRO collects data and benchmarks the city-region, provides policy analysis and support, undertakes applied research and publishes critically reflective academic work.