CAPITAL: The Voice of Business Issue 1, 2015 | Page 51

URBAN RENEWAL

and the kind of city we deserve
truth: our children and youth will dictate
the future value of the city . Two thirds of
South Africans are under the age of 35, and
many provincial and local reports highlight
the fact that poverty as now being firmly
embedded in our urban areas. Children
and youth are the recipients — in many
cases — of that scourge.
What will be critical in addressing the
decay of many inner-city environments
is to ensure that these young people are
given opportunities to grow up in “learning
environments” that renew their sense of
positive possible futures.
An underlying principal of our city planning, of the City Development Strategy
(CDS), the Integrated Development Plan
(IDP), and many other planning thrusts
must be to ensure urban landscapes that
inspire and in which learning becomes a
given aspiration — not only for work but
also for play. We need our city elders to
commit to political, social and environmental planning and its implementation
that combines educational wisdom and

professional skills development in urban
and peri-urban landscapes brimming with
promise.
The Imbali Education Precinct (IEP) is one
such vision and urban space in the evolving Imbali-Edendale-Vulindlela landscape.
It reflects national, provincial and local
government, in partnership with educational, health and other institutions really
understanding a potentially wonderful future trajectory.
Another partnership has emerged
between local government, NGOs, UNICEF,
Save the Children and business, who came
together to host a Children’s Summit last
month in the Pietermaritzburg City Hall.
That Summit should see the city, with the
mayor as its champion, pioneering the
development of the first child-friendly city
in Africa, recognised by UNICEF.
Such initiatives, and a positive focus on
the energy and wonderment of children
and youth, will be a key to the renewal
of our city, giving us the city we want to
imagine and one that we deserve.

Other ways to imagine urban renewal…

Capital | Issue 1 |

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