Demographic Research

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 As my building will be located in Stamford Hill, Durban it is helpful to know the demographic of the region and relate it back to my project work

Durban is located in the KwaZulu-Natal province of South African and is the most populous city there with an estimation of 3,262,128 people as of 2024. (worldpopulationreview.com, n.d.). Its racial markup includes of mainly Black Africans (Zulu) which hold 51.1% of the population, followed by 24% of Asian (Indian) descent, 15.3% of white people (European descent) and 8.6% designated as coloured. (worldpopulationreview.com, n.d.). This makes the location a cultural melting pot as it shows a diverse range of people with different backgrounds.

As the theatre will be aimed at sharing African theatre, music and art it will host a range of traditional and contemporary performances and cultural events centered around the cities heritage and its Zulu, Indian and British influences. It will make use of this to cater to a wide audience and provide a range of performances. The main language spoken is English along with specific native languages such as Zulu, Xhosa and Afrikaans. 

Durban also mainly comprises of the people of working age (72%) which makes the theatre more likely to attract people with money to spend on entertainment. "The rise in the working age population (15-64) from 69.9% in 2011 to 72.2% in 2022 outstrps the province's 66.4%, signifying a potentially expanded labour force ready to participate  in the economy" (TheDurbanEdge, 2023). It also has a fairly equal number of both male (49%) and female (51%) residents respectfully (www.citypopulation.de, 2016) .

Durban has a diverse art scene which also makes it an environment for a theatre. It is home to one of the largest film festivals in Africa, the Durban International Film Festival (DIFF). It is an Oscar qualifying festival and is the oldest and largest of South Africa. (Durban Film Festival, n.d). This can attract people that attend such festivals and events to the theatre.

Based on this information, structurally my design will have to incorporate a more flexible use of space to accommodate a wider range of performances from different cultures. I will also have to include materials that reflect the culture and history of Durban which I have already taken into consideration.

Durban is also a city with well connected transportation networks, this will influence my access points to the theatre parking lot such as the entrances being away from busy roads such as roads connected to junctions and also integrating underground or garage parking. The theatre will also have to be easily accessible by public transportation.



References

Durban Film Festival. (n.d.). Welcome. [online] Available at: https://ccadiff.ukzn.ac.za/.

TheDurbanEdge (2023). CENSUS 2022 INSIGHTS INTO DEMOGRAPHICS, ECONOMY, AND POTENTIAL. [online] economy.edge.durban. Available at: https://economy.edge.durban/data-story/census-2022-insights-into-demographics-economy-and-potential [Accessed 23 May 2024].

worldpopulationreview.com. (n.d.). Durban Population 2020 (Demographics, Maps, Graphs). [online] Available at: https://worldpopulationreview.com/world-cities/durban-population [Accessed 23 May 2024].

www.citypopulation.de. (2016). Durban (KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa) - Population Statistics, Charts, Map, Location, Weather and Web Information. [online] Available at: https://www.citypopulation.de/en/southafrica/kwazulunatal/_/599033001__durban/ [Accessed 23 May 2024].

Comments

  1. Sam DarganMay 29, 2024 at 2:11 AM

    How has this information had an impact on your design? Does it change any aspect of what you are creating? Access points etc? Any research should be linked or related to the work you are doing - this post needs to be more specific.

    ReplyDelete

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