Several factors influence the aquatic sports culture of a society. These include the social norms of the ruling class (who decide where to spend public money) and the type of places and facilities available. The location construction and maintenance of facilities are linked to the cultural norms of a society while the moral norms of a society dictate how it views sports and how much of the communal resource a society devotes to particular activities.
In southern Africa, these norms were expressed by the Europeans introducing aquatic sports in the oceans and constructing dams, tidal pools, swimming pools and other structures. As public social spaces, swimming baths were physical manifestations of municipal grandeur and pride of the city. Indeed, the swimming bath, as a building type, was a cultural and architectural artefact to be celebrated. Read more about this from Louis Grundlingh
