EAST LONDON IS the regional center of a rural area that roughly covers the former Ciskei and Transkei homelands. It has an estimated population of 700.000 people, of whom about 300.000 live in Mdantsane and 80.000 in Duncan Village. It falls within a transitional zone of climate types. As a result the climate is highly variable. The climate of the coastal zone is classified as temperate to warm and humid. East London has a small industrial harbor at the mouth of the Buffalo River. The railway connection to Johannesburg, via King Williamstown and Bloemfontein, has played an important role in the city's development. The main source of income for East London is industry and small trade; tourism is still a minor one. The city is laid out as a series of suburbs, spread out over the undulating, hilly landscape. Duncan Village lies close to the CBD due to the fact that its residents successfully resisted attempts of forced removal in the past to Mdantsane, a huge township specially built for blacks about 25 kilometers from the CBD. One of the lingering effects of apartheid planning is the physical isolation of Duncan Village. This was a result of inadequate transport links from the townships to the rest of East London. The most common modes of transport are walking and taxi buses. Since the abolition of apartheid the influx of people from the rural areas has risen enormously, resulting in the overcrowding of Duncan Village and numerous squatter camps in and around the city. The greatest problems facing East London at the moment are its huge unemployment and a lack of affordable housing for lower income groups. THE DUNCAN VILLAGE COMPETITION SITE THE Douglas Smit Highway is the main artery connecting Duncan Village to the city, and at the same time the backbone tying together the many neighborhoods of which Duncan Village consists. On the one hand Douglas Smit Highway has a connecting function, and on the other hand it separates Duncan Village from Buffalo Flats. Through its connecting function, the Douglas Smit Highway attracts many informal activities, such as commuter transport, traders selling fruit, vegetables or meat, hairdressers, car repairs, and shack-panel builders. THE Douglas Smit Highway especially attracts commercial activity, which if better organized can offer better opportunities for development. In the given area bordering the Douglas Smit Highway there is much space available to develop and densify. The site can potentially play a key role in both the spatial integration of several separated areas, as well as the integration of commercial, public, transport facilities and housing. For this reason the project can form an example for the upgrading of living and working conditions in South African townships, with the aim to improve accessibility to jobs, education, commercial and public facilities, transport and housing for those that lacked this most in the past. COMPETITION ASSIGNMENT THE general aim is the development of the Douglas Smit Highway into an integrating zone, rather than as a separating barrier between Duncan Village and Buffalo Flats, or more precisely, between Duncan Village Proper and Pefferville. This integration must ultimately improve access to work, generate employment, and provide decent housing. Also it must improve access to facilities (health care, education, public transport, commerce, sports and entertainment facilities). Furthermore, mixed-use of buildings and public spaces should be encouraged. THE design must respond in such a way that the concerned people can develop, construct and maintain the proposed structures and spaces themselves, using their skills and locally produced materials. It must be flexible over time, sustainable and replicable. Proposals have to be sufficiently realistic so that they can easily be implemented. THE project area consists of the indicated area around the intersection of the Douglas Smit Highway and the Windyridge. A detailed design is requested for public spaces and building structures. The buildings must be low-cost and mixed-use, including housing. The project should be seen as a 'seed' planted on the site, with the intention that it can develop to full growth, and have a spin-off effect for the development of the surrounding area. The indicated study area around the Douglas Smit Highway, between Mahlangeni Street and Florence Street, requires an urban scheme which can develop over time.