Real Estate Investor Magazine South Africa August 2016 | Page 42

DEVELOPMENT

Building a New City
Johannesburg’s Freedom Corridors Development

C

ities are a necessity, but do not have to be in
anarchy. The urban environment can be joyful
and an inviting place to work, play and live,
where residents have a say in what they want and need
and mass transit eases the flow of growth instead of
chocking it.
It is this kind of space, with the environment at
heart, that Johannesburg has in mind. And it is this
kind of space that it is building, through structures
like the Johannesburg Development Agency (JDA).
Each project begins with identifying the area’s local
competitive advantages, needs and opportunities.
Its capital work projects are used to catalyse
private investment, enterprise and neighbourhood
development. Essential elements in any of its
programmes are improving the value added by capital
works interventions and boosting the longer-term
sustainability of capital investment.
Economic growth is promoted through clustering
industries, upgrading public spaces, developing
local economic potential in marginalised areas and
encouraging urban management partnerships. In
tandem with this, the agency encourages sustainable
energy consumption and land-use. Strategic transit
nodes and corridors are central to the vision.
The transformation of the City, over the last 14 years,
can be seen in areas like Braamfontein, Vilakazi
Street, Jeppes Town (Maboneng) and Main Street to
name a few. This has been a persistent process by the
JDA, which in turn has impacted positively on the
space economy of Joburg.
• The Inner City Transformation programme, with
a R205-million budget and a 10-year capital
investment plan, maintains and repairs the
infrastructure that is the backbone of the built

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AUGUST 2016 SA Real Estate Investor

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environment, as well as rejuvenates the inner city
and refurbishes parks and public spaces.
The Station Precinct Development programme
encourages optimal development of transit hubs
and corridors to provide access to affordable
accommodation and transport.
The Priority Area Planning and Implementation
Programme shifts the design of the city to
improve livability and create sustainable human
settlements, which include public amenities and
transit facilities.
The Greenways programme focuses on providing
resilient, livable and sustainable environments
by using roads, rivers and transport modes to
promote walking, cycling, and sustainable public
transport. It includes the continued roll-out of
the Rea Vaya Bus Rapid Transit service.
The Alexandra Renewal Project involves human
settlement development projects such as hostel
upgrading, housing development and the
construction of community facilities.

The primary aim is to reshape the space economy
of Johannesburg by ensuring that poor people have
better access to affordable housing that is well located
in terms of job opportunities, economic activity and
affordable transit services. With the new Rea Vaya
BRT services as the key structuring element, the
approach is to develop station precincts at key transit
interchanges.
All of these initiatives, however, have a driving force
behind them: increasing investment in Johannesburg
that will translate into economic growth and job
creation.

RESOURCES
JDA
www.reimag.co.za