| The thesis explores the possibility for a place of culture: a place to reflect, celebrate and contemplate the cultural values of the people of Botswana, in the centre of the city of Gaborone. The present city plan was drafted with very little, if any, consideration of the culture of the people of Botswana. How does one appropriate such a plan to reflect the identity and aspirations of the people of Botswana? There is a line of argument that says that the traditional building technology of Botswana at the time the city was planned would not have, or did not give, any indication of building the nation's capital, perhaps justifying the transplant of that plan. While this thesis acknowledges the differences between the city and the village, it is in no way an attempt to recreate village forms; it should still be possible to learn and to distill the principles of habitation at the village level and use them to inform both the urban scheme and the building program. The city is currently regarded as a place of work and not a place to call home. There is a generation now of those who have been born and raised in the city. The challenge now is to make the city feel like home to them. |
