This paper explores how entangled layers of use and contingencies of open spaces in downtown Johannesburg, South Africa, relate to their structural, material and symbolic aspects. Reflecting on research at Pieter Roos Park, Constitution Hill and Gandhi Square, this paper emphasises the walking route that connects these three spaces, mostly along Rissik Street. It examines the rhythms of people’s navigation of the city, according to perceptions of fear and safety, opportunity and adversity, and offers an initial understanding of the continuous interaction between structure and agency. It reflects on reading about these spaces, and how this connects with walking and writing about the city, all acts with particular, overlapping rhythms. Interpreting these in relation to each other, and in relation to my own rhythms, provokes questions that unsettle linear and straightforward understandings of time and memory as well as the individual and their connection to the public. Whilst linear rhythms are predominant, subject to the working week, surprising and paradoxical practices frequently punctuate these rhythms. Both rhythms and their disruptions are influenced on a variety of levels, often linked to perceptions, which intersect with lingering histories and memory in layered, complex ways.

本文探讨了南非约翰内斯堡市中心开放空间的使用层次和偶然性之间的纠缠如何与它们的结构，材料和符号方面的关系。通过对彼得·鲁斯公园（Pieter Roos Park），宪法山（Constitution Hill）和甘地广场（Gandhi Square）的研究进行反思，本文重点介绍了连接这三个空间的步行路线，主要沿着Rissik街。它根据对恐惧与安全，机遇和逆境的看法，研究了人们在城市航行中的节奏，并对结构与代理之间的持续互动提供了初步的了解。它反映了对这些空间的阅读，以及与步行和写作有关城市的联系，所有这些行为都具有特殊的重叠节奏。相互之间以及与我自己的节奏相关的解释，引发的问题动摇了人们对时间和记忆以及个人及其与公众的联系的线性而直接的理解。尽管线性节奏是主要的，但受工作周的影响，令人惊讶和自相矛盾的做法经常使这些节奏更突兀。节奏及其破坏都在各种层次上受到影响，这些层次通常与感知相关联，这些感知以层次复杂的方式与持久的历史和记忆相交。