The Wilds: How James Delaney r

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SustainableDesign ZA

The Wilds: How James Delaney revitalised a forgotten 40-acre public space in Joburg [video]

Thanks to James Delaney and other volunteers, The Wilds has become a restorative space for residents of the inner city and suburbs in Johannesburg.

The Wilds: How James Delaney r

YouTube/
SustainableDesign ZA

Johannesburg artist James Delaney was recently awarded at the AfriSam-SAIA Awards for his work on revitalising one of Joburg’s biggest inner city parks called The Wilds.

Delaney and Thulani Nkomo, who led the revitalisation project at The Wilds received praise for showing stellar leadership in spearheading the revitalisation of the urban nature reserve.

Starting with his own efforts to cut through the undergrowth,  Delaney began to revitalise the forgotten 40-acre public space.

This was followed by the addition of metal sculptures and with the help of volunteers and now The Wilds has become a restorative space for residents of the inner city and suburbs.

“Most people do not have the resources to get out of town, to get far away, to find a wilderness space,” says Delaney in a feature uploaded by SustainableDesign ZA. “This somehow magically remained a wilderness space even though Hillbrow is a kilometer away.”

According to CountryLife, The Wilds are set in the middle of Houghton, Johannesburg on the Witwatersrand Ridge. It initially began as an indigenous park in the 1930’s but has been abandoned by the people of Joburg for the last 20 years or so.

Delaney lives next to the park and realised that he should do something.

“I found this incredible wonderland of indigenous plantings, indigenous forest, and birdlife. But it needed a lot of work. I started slowly trimming the trees and clearing the undergrowth. And I realised actually it is quite a big job because 40-acres is a big garden to look after.”

He went on to bring in volunteers to help. One of these volunteers includes Kennedy Welani Tembo who started to do ‘cleanup hikes’.

Over the last three or four years, Delaney and volunteers took out 50 truckloads of dead wood.

“We’ve restored park benches, we’ve put in new flower beds, we fixed the pathways, and now it’s really come back to life.”

For it to be sustained in the long term, Delaney says that it needs other people to enjoy it.

“For a park to be relevant and to be looked after, It’s got to be loved.”

Watch: The Wilds – revitalising a forgotten public space