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Gauteng City-Region Observatory

Client: Gauteng City-Region Observatory (GCRO)

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Period: 2008-2022

Sustainable development

Multi-stakeholder partnerships

Education & knowledge

Civic & public

01 — The sneak-peek

We make the complex, simple

The Gauteng City-Region Observatory builds the data and analysis that inform development across South Africa's economic heartland. Over a long-standing relationship, BBA Liminal has made that research public — an integrated website, a monthly Map of the Month, the Urban Gaze photography competition, and a programme of publications and exhibitions.

02 — The liminal moment

The Gauteng City-Region is South Africa's economic heartland, generating a third of the country's GDP and home to 15.2 million people. The Gauteng City-Region Observatory builds the data and analysis that inform development across the region — an established voice in urban studies at home and internationally, and a partnership between two universities, the Gauteng Provincial Government and SALGA.

A research body of this weight faces a particular threshold: its work only improves lives if people can reach it. Dense, varied findings risk staying locked in academic form. Over a long-standing relationship, BBA Liminal has been asked to make that research navigable and public — an integrated website, an ongoing series of publications and exhibitions, and an information-design language. The brief is access. The deeper task is to make the complex simple without thinning the breadth and depth of the research itself.

03 — The transformation

A home for 14 years of research. We built a dynamic, integrated website that lets a diverse public navigate dense, varied material with ease, holding 14 years of the GCRO's outputs in one place. A colour-coded system differentiates each research theme, and a GIS template links cleanly to the wider GCRO network.

Making the complex simple. Each month we produce the GCRO's Map of the Month and research data vignettes, working to a brand colour template and an infographic language that turns dense findings into something readable at a glance — more than 140 infographics, maps and vignettes to date.

Building a public visual archive. We launched Urban Gaze in 2019, a photography competition that has become a valuable way to build a database of user-generated images for the GCRO to draw on across its maps, vignettes, photo essays, videos, research papers and interactive visualisations. We also manage its publications and exhibitions, locally and internationally.

04 — The craft

Searchable at a glance

An integrated website holding 14 years of urban research; a colour-coded theme system and GIS template; the monthly Map of the Month and data vignettes; the Urban Gaze photography competition; and a programme of publications and exhibitions at home and abroad.

Vignettes

Map of the month

Green assets report

Exhibition stand

05 — The validation of purpose

“The flexibility and compatibility of this site will undoubtedly allow it to function as the public voice and presence of the GCRO for many years to come.”

— Dr Rob Moore, Executive Director, GCRO

15.2m people in theGauteng City-Region

14 years of research in one platform

>140 infographics, maps & vignettes

Urban Gaze

Urban Gaze is a photography competition that was launched in 2019. It has proven to be a valuable tool in building a database of user-generated visual content for the Gauteng City-Region Observatory (GCRO) to use in its Maps of the Month, vignettes, photo essays, videos, research papers and interactive visualisations.

The brief

The Gauteng City-Region Observatory (GCRO) asked Breinstorm Brand Architects (BBA) to initiate a programme that would crowdsource the visualisation of a province through the eyes of its citizens as a form of action research.

Conceptualising Urban Gaze

BBA conceptualised Urban Gaze, a documentary photography competition open to all residents of the Gauteng City-Region (GCR) above the age of 18. BBA added the Keyes Art Mile and Fujifilm as partners on the project as secondary sponsors.

Execution and management

The project was geared at opening up the photography space for emerging photographers and creating a database of images to use in the GCRO’s research publications and online platforms. BBA managed the competition and exhibition on behalf of the GCRO.

Exhibition

An exhibition of finalists was held at Keyes Art Mile in Rosebank, Johannesburg. The exhibition featured photographs by all the successful entrants, alongside the overall winner and five winners in each of the competition's categories. Together these works offer a fascinating and intimate lens into the places, people and issues that make up the Gauteng City Region.