Rhizome, horizontal underground plant stem that is capable of producing the shoot and root systems of a new plant.
(Britannica)
Philosophical Theory: ‘rhizome’ as developed by Deleuze and Guattari
The rhizome theory, introduced by Gilles Deleuze and Félix Guattari in A Thousand Plateaus, is a model of non-hierarchical, interconnected, and horizontal knowledge organization.
Contrasted with vertical "arborescent" (tree-like) structures, rhizomes, like grass or rhizome roots, connect any point to any other, allowing for multiple, decentralized, and ever-changing
entry points.
Deleuze and Guattari use this concept to challenge traditional structures, encouraging "making rhizomes, not roots" to foster creative, open-ended, and fluid thinking.
One of the principles of the theory is Cartography, where A rhizome is a map, not a tracing. It is open, adaptable, and connects to reality, rather than reproducing a pre-existing, fixed structure.
Socio-political Theory: Lefebvre’s Right to the City, and Harvey From the Right to the City to the Urban Revolution
Urban Theory: Simone’s People as Infrastructu Roy’s Urban Informality,
Johannesburg Page 1 of 1
Gauteng Printed from my Mac
0 600 1200 1800 1800
m
1. Formal/Striating Institutions 2. Hybrid/Negotiated Institutions 3. Extra-legal/Insurgent Institutions
3.a - Pavement Economies
Ethnic Protection
Networks
Criminalised
INCLUSIVE
+
Informality Zone
s
ld
fast fashion
3.c - Informal Security
ho
hawkers
s
and Governance
re
Highest high zone
th
3.
Informal Security
Peak Enforcement
Threshold synthetic hair
fruit & veg trolley trader
sellers
3.b - Logistical Actors
trolley pushers
airtime Hawkers
ts
Lower high tide
on
2.a - Migrant
pfr
Tenancy Networks Habesha mirco-retail tenants
sho
Habesha
Habesha restuarants
community 2.b - Formalised Commercial Tenants
Infrastructural Withdrawal Mosques
joint rental / subletting syndicates
Threshold 2.c - Socio-cultural/
2.
religious Institutions informal supply chains
malls (retail + wholesale)
l 2.d - Retail and Wholesale Institutions
ro
nt
Highest low tide
1.b - Financial and r /co
1.
shopping center owner
EXTRACTIVE
e
Housing Insititions
p ow Asian property landlords
Protected
Institutional Core
TUHF 1.c - Property Captial / Owners
AFCO
CoJ By-laws 1.d - Market Brokerage amd Speculation
Lowest low tide Johannesburg Metro Police Department (JMPD)
Johannesburg Property Company
1.a - Municipal / State Governance