Project Global: Ground


This exploration of our current day metropolitan condition as a system of systems deals with the crust of the Earth as a primary carrying capacitor of human activities, from the extraction of resources deep within the ground, to agricultural operations that barely scratch the surface.

Part 1: Lexicon

Part 2: Atlas

Part 3: Architectural Projects



Part 1: Lexicon index

︎ Formation

    ︎ Kaapvaal Craton
    ︎ Johannesburg Dome
    ︎ Vredefort Dome
    ︎ Topsoil
    ︎ Müggelsee


︎ Measurement    ︎ Schwerbelastungskörper
    ︎ Mining Earthquakes
    ︎ Low-tech Soil Testing
    ︎ Soil Texture Triangle
    ︎ Geologic Time Scale 
    ︎ Stratigraphic Colum
    ︎ Geographic Information System
    ︎ Ecotone
    ︎ Cultural Landscape

︎ Prototype
    ︎ Unter den Linden
    ︎ Zoological Landscape
    ︎ Counterculture
    ︎ Cultural Agency
    ︎ Mine-pit Lakes
    ︎ Parliament of Things

︎ Land distribution
    ︎ 1913 Natives Land Act
    ︎ District Six
    ︎ Eavesdropping
    ︎ Reconciliation Policy
    ︎ Land Grabbing
    ︎ Land Acting
    ︎ The Red Ants
    ︎ #PutSouthAfricansFirst
    ︎ Suburban Enclaves
    ︎ Parallel State

︎ Extraction
    ︎ Cullinan Diamond Mine
    ︎ Platinum Group Metals
    ︎ Zamazamas
    ︎ Gold Rush Inertia
    ︎ Sinkhole
    ︎ Maize Doctor
    ︎ Coal Hands

︎ Infrastructure
    ︎ Gautrain
    ︎ Le-guba
    ︎ Lesotho Water Project
    ︎ Deutscher Wald
    ︎ Arrival City

︎ Production
    ︎ Safari Economy
    ︎ Agritourism
    ︎ Rainfall Line
    ︎ Upington Airport
    ︎ Tiergarten Transformation
    ︎ Pivot Irrigation
    ︎ Allotment Garden
    ︎ Bokoni Terracing
    ︎ Johannesburg Forestation
    ︎ Game Farming Cycle

︎ Waste
    ︎ Trümmerberg
    ︎ Fab-Soil
    ︎ Mining Waste Belt
    ︎ Sanitary Landfilling
    ︎ Soil Structure
    ︎ Biogas Technology

︎ Pollution
    ︎ Dry Stacked Tailings
    ︎ Water Pollution
    ︎ Soil Pollution
    ︎ Uranium Sandstorms
    ︎ Poaching

︎ Remediation
    ︎ European Green Belt
    ︎ Conservation Agriculture
    ︎ Airfield Urbanism
    ︎ Solar Park
    ︎ Gold Reef City
    ︎ Mine Pit Lake
    ︎ Loess Plateau
    ︎ Erosion Control




Sinkhole

“ ⁠— ”


In 1994, the first multi-racial South African parliament passed the Restitution of Land Rights Act 22, aimed at land redistribution to Black individuals who lost their property because various mechanisms from the 1913 Natives Land Act, and other institutional and informal racial discrimination.1 Since the implementation of the act, however, the South African government is struggling to bring about land reform and redistribution to the qualified Black claimants. In 2018, the majority African National Congress party had managed to redistribute only seven percent of its agricultural land.2
        Land grabbing in the South African context refers to the ways in which Blacks grab land back, by illegally building and then occupying informal housing or slums on land they wish to claim.3 The African National Congress resolved to encourage land expropriation without compensation during its 54th Elective Conference, and tabled the motion in the Parliament, which was voted in by the house.
        These land grabs are a source of contention between the African National Congress and the Economic Freedom Fighters party. The former is focused on agricultural land redistribution, the while the latter wants all land in the country to be nationalized, and openly encourages illegal land grabbing.4


Image source:  Unknown. “5 Areas in Gauteng That Are Currently Subject to the EFF’s Land Grabs.” Accessed March 6, 2022.


References
1.  “Land Reform | South African Government.” Accessed March 6, 2022. https://www.gov.za/issues/land-reform.
2.  “Another Land Grab in Durban | ENCA.” Accessed March 6, 2022. https://www.enca.com/south-africa/another-land-grab-hits-durban.

3.  Sauti, Gloria, and Mamadou Lo Thiam. “The Land-Grabbing Debacle: An Analysis of South Africa and Senegal.” Ufahamu: A Journal of African Studies 41, no. 1 (2018). https://doi.org/10.5070/F7411042305.
4.   Unknown. “5 Areas in Gauteng That Are Currently Subject to the EFF’s Land Grabs.” Accessed March 6, 2022. https://businesstech.co.za/news/government/231543/5-areas-in-gauteng-that-are-currently-subject-to-the-effs-land-grabs/.