Small Atlas of Johannesburg
|Portrait of Johannesburg: Graphic Analysis of the Urban Structure
Texte intégral
1.1 Methodology
- 1 Metropolitan Municipalities include the City of Johannesburg, Tshwane and Ekhuruleni. District Muni (...)
1Demographically and economically, Gauteng is the major province of South Africa. It contains around 18% of the country’s population and is mainly urban in nature. 99.6% of the province’s residents are city dwellers, one third of whom live in the City of Johannesburg Metropolitan Municipality, which represents only 6.4% of the surface area of the province. Local governance in the province is carried out via three Metropolitan Municipalities and two District Municipalities, with these District Municipalities further broken down into three and four local municipalities respectively1. These municipalities are further broken down into 130 wards that cover the province.
2Gauteng corresponds to the administrative grouping of Pretoria, the former Witwatersrand and Vereeniging. After being known as Pretoria-Witwatersrand-Vereeniging (PWV) between May 1994 and June 1995, the province was officially renamed Gauteng (“Place of Gold” in Sotho-Tswana). The analyses presented in this report focus on the municipality of Johannesburg.
3This study relies on several scales, where each level of observation reveals only certain phenomena. The atlas seeks to combine and link together different levels of spatial analysis, in order to study the urban morphological evolution of the city, in an attempt to grasp its various facets. Indeed, strong interactions exist between the various levels, and a multi-level analysis makes it possible to integrate the myriad of aspects.
4The first level under study concerns the city, which is defined by its administrative limits. The current structure of Johannesburg as a unified space of governance is still marked by the historical evolution of the city, in a context where urbanisation realistically goes well beyond the administrative limits. The metropolitan scale is ideal to analyse major urban phenomena. This is complemented by a general representation of the physical characteristics of the city, constrained by phenomena such as the relief or the hydrography and other economic and political particularities that will be discussed.
5The second level under study concerns a number of selected suburbs. This intermediary level calls for a more detailed analysis so as to highlight other, more qualitative, dimensions of urban functioning. The idea is to capture elements that do not necessarily appear on bigger scales, where averages often conceal high internal differences and contextual specificities.
6Four suburbs have been selected as case studies. These have been defined by a concurrent study on densification undertaken by Wits University. These cases were chosen as areas of the city that have densified in Johannesburg, but all in different ways:
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Bram Fischerville, a recent extension of Soweto (a large formerly black ‘township’ south west of Johannesburg) with a significant population increase, as testified to by the construction of informal housing inside private plots;
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Houghton, a historical suburb with an upper income population, which is densifying via the division of large plots into townhouse complexes;
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Hillbrow, a suburb of central Johannesburg with many high-rise blocks of flats that has densified through increased occupancy in largely structurally unchanged buildings. This change occured through the evolution of the suburb from a predominantly middle-income one, to a lower-income community with many migrants from both rural South Africa, and other countries in Africa;
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North Riding, a recently developed residential middle-class suburb, located in the outer suburbs of Johannesburg, where urbanisation has occurred through converting small holdings into large townhouse complexes.
7These suburbs are characterised by the fact that, in the past few years, they have experienced strong urban densification. While these sites are not statistically representative, they illustrate unique situations in terms of location, integration into the urban environment, and local real estate market prices among other things. While they are all located in areas with important issues, these differ from one site to another. The projects developed there are also very diverse.
1.2 Overall Presentation of the Urban Structure
Map 1: Urban Trends at the End of the 1980s
8Johannesburg is one of the largest cities in Africa. It is the business capital and arguably cultural centre of South Africa, a unique destiny for what was originally a mining camp at the end of the 19th century. As gold mining sites moved further away from the city, mining was no longer a key sector of the urban economy which was also marked, since the middle of the 1970s, by a constant decline in the manufacturing production. This evolution was accompanied by the rapid development of tertiary activities, as testified to by the increased number of offices established in the Central Business District (CBD) and, more recently, in the wealthy northern suburbs such as Sandton.
9Today, public policies are confronted with important challenges for the future development of Johannesburg. The strong inertia linked to the racial policies of apartheid, and the evolutions of economic structures, are long-lasting legacies which have starkly left their marks on the city.
10Maps 1 and 2 show the evolution of major urban trends in Johannesburg.
11Due to the lack of data, it was not possible to precisely map the growth of Johannesburg. These two maps are therefore diagrammatical representations of general growth trends in Johannesburg over time.
12The city of Johannesburg, at the end of the 1980s, appeared as a fragmented city. The east-west mining belt of the Reef, around which the city was built, physically separated the residential suburbs of the black, coloured and Indian populations in the south from those of the white populations in the north. Much of the land left unoccupied on the Reef, between mine dumps, and immediately to its south, saw the establishment of industrial activities. The main industrial area includes Selby, Stafford, Booysens, Turffontein, Kenilworth and Springfield, south of the business district.
13The city centre, as the economic heart of Johannesburg, lost its hegemony largely to Sandton as many businesses moved north, but also to other areas such as Rosebank and Midrand. The rich previously white suburbs occupy the sunny slopes of the north and the urban expansion is facilitated by the establishment of a motorway and road infrastructure.
14Whether white or black, the suburbs are largely mono-functional housing areas, disconnected from one another by unused buffer areas.
Map 2: Today’s Urban Trends
15The end of the industrial era gave impetus to new modes of urbanisation. At the turn of the 1980s, the post-Fordist economic shift took on the form of large urban marketing operations, with the development of new business centres where land was cheap and available. This evolution, linked to that of cars, transformed the city all the more deeply since it was concomitant with the fall of the apartheid regime. The end of segregative policies amplified the movement of self-exclusion of the wealthy, and accelerated the gap between haves and have-nots which can otherwise be observed in many post-industrial cities across the world.
16Today, Johannesburg must face high urban growth and is more than ever divided between the wealthy northern suburbs, where most areas of economic activity and jobs are concentred, the city centre which seeks to rediscover dynamism and economic influence and, finally, the southern suburbs which are relatively densely populated but did not manage to level up (from the point of view of infrastructures as well as social mix) with the rest of the city.
17The spatial fragmentation of the city is widening, all the more since the choices made by politicians as well as technical choices have contributed largely to physically dividing the territory:
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The main transport routes (railway and roads) represent urban divides;
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Decrease in the mining sector has led to the decline of industrial zones, which means that the number of industrial wastelands has increased, thereby widening the mining belt, and creating urban enclaves throughout the city;
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The multiplication of economic hubs continues, thereby reducing job zones. Companies fled the city centre which is no longer a structuring economic hub at the metropolitan level;
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The development of mono-functional housing areas in the outer suburbs of Johannesburg, established without any real links to the central area of the city.
Map 3: Spatial Structure
Map 3: Spatial Structure

1. Spatial Structure Principle: Polycentric Cities; 2. Spatial Structure Principle: Johannesburg
Source: 1. Chreod Ltd. (2005); 2. Karen Lévy for the AFD.
- 2 Challenges resulting from the development of cities of the South: the spatial diagnostic of a city, (...)
18The spatial structure of cities, just as the spatial distribution of densities, explains the necessity of commuting as a stimulator of urban economy. Areas that have better access to employment zones have greater land value, and therefore a higher density when municipal by-laws do not hinder market operation. The way employment zones are distributed or concentrated across the city, is therefore going to define movement patterns which, in turn, is going to influence land value and density2.
19A city is considered polycentric when a majority of jobs is spread in secondary centres other than the city centre. Land value then decreases less rapidly from the centre than in a monocentric city; the same applies for density profiles.
- 3 Ibid.
20The top diagram opposite, stemming from World Bank studies, schematises how the spatial structures of polycentric metropolises function. This observation is made by referring to models according to which urban densities and forms of urban spreading are organised. The structure of a city is always created through the rational reaction of individuals and companies to constraints represented by the topography, urban regulations and the location of primary infrastructures3. Households, just like companies, always want to minimise distances and commuting time.
21The spatial structure of Johannesburg is complex and organised contrary to the classic models of distribution of population densities in the metropolitan area, as can be seen on the bottom diagram opposite. Densities increase with distance to the centre. Indeed, the different political choices in terms of housing, have dissociated dense housing areas from centres of activities and jobs.
22For the past twenty years or so, the city has experienced deep changes: as a reflection of post-apartheid policies, Johannesburg has been constantly redefining its political borders. Yet, each time, interventions by the authorities have led to greater dispersal in the city, unlike the more spontaneous forms of urbanisation. The commuting logic did not have any influence on the dynamic leading to change in the urban structure, with the market being largely impacted by social and security considerations.
23On the other hand, the structural divisions of the city which are linked to transport networks (mainly rail freight transport and urban highways) and to industrial wastelands partake of the spatial fragmentation characterising the city. The centre which has become impoverished during the last two decades, has lost its economic weight at the metropolitan level, to the benefit of other centres of activities, thereby disrupting the global balance of the city.
Map 4: Urban Morphologies
24While international trends show that, since the 1990s, cities have become less dense due to urban sprawl, Johannesburg has, in the last decades, experienced an important densification. Between 1991 and 2000, the population increased by 33% and built areas by 14%. Between 2001 and 2009, the overall density increased by 28.9% while population density in built areas increased by 16.4%. Housing production has taken on two distinct forms:
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The first is essentially private concerning the middle and upper income markets, and is found in the northern suburbs in particular. The residential suburbs of Randburg and Sandton are very spread out and their development is reminiscent of that found in American cities, attracting most investments. The creation of low density residential estates generally does not include public spaces.
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The second is largely promoted by the public sector: the housing policy initiated by the post-apartheid government’s Reconstruction and Development (RDP) policy led to the creation of vast mono-functional areas consisting of standardised houses intended for the most disadvantaged sections of the population. High rise constructions remain an exception.
25On the map opposite, we can see the different forms of urbanisation, clearly marking the urban fragmentation which is increasingly affecting the city. Recent urban forms, linked to metropolisation and globalisation, are organised in such a way that they are largely disconnected from the rest of the city, thereby creating, according to Gervais-Lambony’s definition (2001), an absolute divide between sections of the city, whether at the social, economic or political levels.
26Suburbs develop according to a cellular model: infrastructure (roads in particular, such as urban highways and other forms of expressways) aim to bring spaces closer together rather than integrate them. The separation of land use and social groups contributes to the biased distribution of work, social and commercial facilities and opportunities, and reinforces the gap between haves and have-nots.
27The morphology of these new forms of urbanisation is characterised by a low density, uncontrolled and explosive urban sprawl. The map opposite offers a striking illustration of the discrepancy between operations planned by the private sector, where low density appears as a norm, and spaces where social housing is predominant, with a relative density often amplified by the creation of informal housing.
28While one-family housing is the most developed model in Johannesburg, as in most South African cities, the land use coefficient is particularly low in the majority of suburbs. The city centre is an exception with an important initial density.
29However, suburbs which are planned according to the New Urbanism movement, seek to establish town planning principles in the inner and outer suburbs, such as architectural diversity and public space, and to confer upon housing estates a higher density than that of conventional estates, as well as functional mixing. This phenomenon, which remains marginal, can be observed in Melrose Arch or even Sandton, although these areas remain mostly upper income and fairly exclusive.
Morphological Characteristics of Ten Recent Housing Areas
Ex-Urban Fringe: Townships and satellite informal settlements

Covered area: 27%
COS: 0.4
Density: 15,722 inhabitants/km²
New Peri-Urban Squatter Settlement: Kya Sand

Covered area: 48%
COS: 5.2
Density: 51,685 inhabitants/km²
Notes
1 Metropolitan Municipalities include the City of Johannesburg, Tshwane and Ekhuruleni. District Municipalities include West Rand and Sedibeng, with these made up of the local municipalities of Randfontein, Westonaria, Mogale City and Merafong, and Emfuleni, Lesedi and Midvaal respectively.
2 Challenges resulting from the development of cities of the South: the spatial diagnostic of a city, Alain Bertaud, consultant, World Bank, 2000.
3 Ibid.
Table des illustrations
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Titre | Location of the Four Case Studies |
Crédits | © Karen Lévy for the AFD |
URL | http://books.openedition.org/africae/docannexe/image/3477/img-1.png |
Fichier | image/png, 443k |
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Titre | The 100 wards of Johannesburg |
URL | http://books.openedition.org/africae/docannexe/image/3477/img-2.png |
Fichier | image/png, 79k |
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Titre | Map 1: Urban Trends at the End of the 1980s |
Crédits | © Karen Lévy for the AFD |
URL | http://books.openedition.org/africae/docannexe/image/3477/img-3.png |
Fichier | image/png, 135k |
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Titre | The mining belt: physical separation between Soweto and the CBD |
Crédits | Photo © Karen Lévy |
URL | http://books.openedition.org/africae/docannexe/image/3477/img-4.jpg |
Fichier | image/jpeg, 153k |
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Titre | Map 2: Today’s Urban Trends |
Crédits | © Karen Lévy for the AFD |
URL | http://books.openedition.org/africae/docannexe/image/3477/img-5.png |
Fichier | image/png, 427k |
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Titre | Spatial impact of transport infrastructures in the city centre |
Crédits | Photo © Karen Lévy |
URL | http://books.openedition.org/africae/docannexe/image/3477/img-6.jpg |
Fichier | image/jpeg, 161k |
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Titre | Map 3: Spatial Structure |
Légende | 1. Spatial Structure Principle: Polycentric Cities; 2. Spatial Structure Principle: Johannesburg |
Crédits | Source: 1. Chreod Ltd. (2005); 2. Karen Lévy for the AFD. |
URL | http://books.openedition.org/africae/docannexe/image/3477/img-7.png |
Fichier | image/png, 214k |
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Titre | Map 4: Urban Morphologies |
Crédits | © Karen Lévy for the AFD |
URL | http://books.openedition.org/africae/docannexe/image/3477/img-8.png |
Fichier | image/png, 412k |
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Titre | Population Density: Ten suburbs representative of new forms of urbanisation |
URL | http://books.openedition.org/africae/docannexe/image/3477/img-9.png |
Fichier | image/png, 90k |
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Titre | Altimetry: Ten suburbs representative of the new forms of urbanisation |
URL | http://books.openedition.org/africae/docannexe/image/3477/img-10.png |
Fichier | image/png, 73k |
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Titre | New Urbanism: Melrose Arch |
Légende | Covered area: 29%COS: 1.9Density: 1,496 inhabitants/km² |
URL | http://books.openedition.org/africae/docannexe/image/3477/img-11.jpg |
Fichier | image/jpeg, 91k |
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Titre | Luxurious Edge Cities: Sandton |
Légende | Covered area: 46%COS: 5.2Density: 1,445 inhabitants/km |
URL | http://books.openedition.org/africae/docannexe/image/3477/img-12.jpg |
Fichier | image/jpeg, 92k |
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Titre | Estates: Olive Crest Estate |
Légende | Covered area: 11%COS: 0.2Density: 1,045 inhabitants/km² |
URL | http://books.openedition.org/africae/docannexe/image/3477/img-13.jpg |
Fichier | image/jpeg, 95k |
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Titre | Enclosed Neighbourhood: North Riding |
Légende | Covered area: 16%COS: 0.5Density: 3,145 inhabitants/km² |
URL | http://books.openedition.org/africae/docannexe/image/3477/img-14.jpg |
Fichier | image/jpeg, 79k |
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Titre | Private City Improvement: Maboneng |
Légende | Covered area: 45%COS: 2.5Density: 9,950 inhabitants/km² |
URL | http://books.openedition.org/africae/docannexe/image/3477/img-15.jpg |
Fichier | image/jpeg, 124k |
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Titre | Ex-Urban Fringe: Townships and satellite informal settlements |
Légende | Covered area: 27%COS: 0.4Density: 15,722 inhabitants/km² |
URL | http://books.openedition.org/africae/docannexe/image/3477/img-16.jpg |
Fichier | image/jpeg, 129k |
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Titre | Established Township: Alexandra |
Légende | Covered area: 55%COS: 1.5Density: 44,519 inhabitants/km² |
URL | http://books.openedition.org/africae/docannexe/image/3477/img-17.jpg |
Fichier | image/jpeg, 122k |
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Titre | RDP: Bram Fischerville |
Légende | Covered area: 26%COS: 0.3Density: 11,991 inhabitants/km² |
URL | http://books.openedition.org/africae/docannexe/image/3477/img-18.jpg |
Fichier | image/jpeg, 83k |
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Titre | New Peri-Urban Squatter Settlement: Kya Sand |
Légende | Covered area: 48%COS: 5.2Density: 51,685 inhabitants/km² |
URL | http://books.openedition.org/africae/docannexe/image/3477/img-19.jpg |
Fichier | image/jpeg, 122k |
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Titre | Inner City Hyper Residential Density: Hillbrow |
Légende | Covered area: 36%COS: 0.3Density: 104,090 inhabitants/km² |
URL | http://books.openedition.org/africae/docannexe/image/3477/img-20.jpg |
Fichier | image/jpeg, 150k |
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