Map 10: New Urban Areas

Map 10: New Urban Areas

a. Access to Housing for All

1Like all South African cities, the evolution of Johannesburg has experienced strong structural changes since the beginning of the century.

2The first significant evolution was linked to government directives. Indeed, after the 1994 elections, accession to private property became the basis for post-apartheid reconstruction (Morange, 2006). Boosted by the presidential programmes stemming from the Reconstruction and Development Programme (RDP), vast social housing projects were launched in large cities with the objective of putting an end to the urban inequalities inherited from apartheid.

3In Johannesburg, housing production was carried out essentially on low cost land situated largely on the outskirts of the city, in the north and the west, more than 25 km away from the city centre, or around existing townships such as Soweto and Alexandra. Today, symbolically, RDP houses acknowledge the presence of black populations in the cities, and the fact that they have the possibility of climbing the social ladder¹.

4Yet the continuous marginalisation of the poor to the outskirts of the city paradoxically contributes to increasing the spatial fragmentation of Johannesburg. Mass unemployment reflects failure in reaching objectives to reduce poverty and RDP inequality, in that the spatial development of the city has kept the poorest excluded from the fruits of development.

5Basic services, which are supplied at the same time as the RDP houses are built, are often of bad quality, and their profitability is often questioned by the lack of creditworthiness of the populations benefitting from these new facilities, which often prevents owners from being able to pay for their standing charges or make full use of the services².

Formal Houses

New residential development per km²

Cosmo City, May 2014

Soweto and its extensions, June 2014

Bram Fisherville, March 2014

b. Between Informal Housing and RDP Houses: The Example of Bram Fischerville

6Bram Fischerville is an RDP suburb that was built at the beginning of the 2000s. It harbours formal and informal housing, i.e. social houses as well as spontaneous constructions inside plots, called backyard dwellings. The emergence of these backyard dwellings in RDP suburbs is an unexpected consequence of the national South African “formal” housing policy, which gives priority to property ownership as opposed to rental housing. Backyard dwellings create a situation of cohabitation between property owners and lodgers on the same plot, although each one lives in a separate independent dwelling. This form of rental accommodates low income populations, often poor migrants, leading property owners to become “subsistence landlords” (Kumar, 1996b).

7This urban phenomenon is evolving in Bram Fischerville and can be observed on a number of plots already. The map below shows areas where backyard dwellings are established in Bram Fischerville. Evolution is slow as it is linked to the owners’ financial capacity to invest. The first step is generally the erection of walls or fences around the plot, followed by the extension of the original building and/or the construction of backyard dwellings.

Emergence of Backyard Dwellings

Backyard structure per grid cell

Evolution of the Densification Process, Bram Fischerville, March 2014

c. When Property Rhymes with Security: The Dynamics of Building Housing for the Private Market

8A second trend has also impacted strongly on the city’s urban development. In accordance with the neoliberal programme established at the end of the 2000s, urban policies were modified by the privatisation movements of urban services, as well as the multiplication of closed residential complexes, commonly known as Estates³ (upmarket housing intended for the very well-off) or Townhouses⁴ (intended rather for the middle class). These are private and enclosed residences, with access under surveillance 24 hours a day by security guards who are paid by the residents. Residential confinement can be analysed as a withdrawal strategy inside a comfort zone in which social homogeneity is preserved and access by “the undesirable” is controlled or even prevented (Ballard, 2004a). The racial motivation of this trend is no longer taking place, but a phenomenon of self-exclusion by the rich is underway. Violence is used as an argument to motivate protection of all kinds, even when justifying the erection of barricades and high walls to protect the rich from social ills which are no longer racially defined, but rather on levels of wealth and advantage.

9The urbanisation of gated communities is constantly developing on empty lands situated north-east of the city. These communities are entirely residential, with no functional mixing, and are disconnected from the metropolitan networks. These new urban forms are developing more and more and are bringing out existing socio-spatial gaps. Fragmented urbanisation, being built plot by plot without any global spatial policy or logic, is leaving a strong mark on the territory of the Johannesburg metropolitan area.

10These different residential areas are being built on the outskirts, far from centres of activity, and with higher densities than in residential suburbs close to the city centre. This is also leaving a mark on the landscape of Johannesburg. This tendency makes territorial development projects as well as efficient public transport network development projects complex. Indeed, the fact that residents live far from their place of work reduces the efficiency of public transport systems, which has an impact on the latter’s profitability and, therefore, viability.

Townhouses and Estates Development

New residential development per km²

North Riding, April 2014

North Riding, April 2014

Development of Residential Areas on the Outer Suburbs: the Example of North Riding

11As a suburb, North Riding is fairly representative of the empoverishment of urban structures through the multiplication of closed residential complexes. Few roads irrigate the area and these are only used as transport roads. Residences are small and some show a relative density per plot (with small semi-detached buildings on two floors).

12The increase in enclosed residences is explained by the success of this type of housing with the middle class. These are indeed affordable properties, relatively dense with little or no facilities and parks. In North Riding, the urban model is much standardised and represents only a walled version of the suburb⁵. Yet, security is at the centre of discourses and practices: enclosed complexes have become a marketing tool. This reproduction mechanism is exacerbated to the point that enclosed residences dominate the entire residential offer. Since promoters are at the centre of the production process of these residences, they contribute to spreading this product established by them as a property concept. In North Riding, the duplication phenomenon at the level of the suburb, linked to spatial proximity, is particularly present and seems to have even become a selling point. It seems to guarantee social homogeneity and stability as well as security, and therefore seems to present assurances as regards investment potential.

Typical Estate Development, North Riding, March 2014

Evolution of the Densification Process, North Riding, March 2014

13Densification of Central Residential Suburbs: the Example of Houghton

14Plot sudivision with a view to creating housing, has been developing in historical upper income residential suburbs. Plot division is an individual land initiative which, far from being marginal, is becoming essential as a meaningful mode of urban evolution at the city level (short of a detailed assessment, we know that the ratio of plot division in retail-site development is important). It also leads to remodelling a suburb from all angles at the local level (morphologic, landscape, demographic, sociological, technical etc.).

15This method of densification in single family housing neighbourhoods is only one of the many facets through which the accumulation of uncoordinated individual choices generates an evolution of systemic functioning. Even if this method represents a cheap alternative to urban sprawl (no immediate investment in the networks, roads etc.), it appears nonetheless necessary to control and manage evolutions because the water and electricity grids are designed for initial densities, and are in some cases old and in need of maintenance.

16For a few years now, Houghton has undergone many changes with the construction of housing estates on existing plots. The city sees many positive aspects in the resulting densification, but not without controversy. Indeed, these changes mean, among others, the destruction of many old houses sometimes with heritage value, the quasi-systematic felling of trees and the increase of rainwater runoff with more impermeable surfaces.

17Despite the suburb’s rapid development, land value and real estate prices remain solid, even if, proportionally, the value of plots has not increased as rapidly as that of plots further north (in Sandton in particular). In 2001, the average price of a house was R1,200,000; in 2006, it was R3,700,000⁶.

Divided plots, Houghton, 2014

Example of Plot Division Process, Houghton

d. Informal Housing

18The third trend concerns population growth via the informal sector. Despite a voluntarist housing policy emphasising the building of houses and access to property for the destitute, a large portion of the population is excluded from these processes. As a result, informal housing has taken over from the public sector. According to the 2009 census, there were over 180 informal settlements in the city, and their population has been increasing faster than the average growth rate of the city⁷. However, carrying out an accurate enumeration of this population remains difficult.

19Informal settlements in Johannesburg are located mainly following an arch along the outer suburbs of the city, going from Ivory Park in the north-east, via Diepsloot in the north-west, to Lenasia, Protea Glen and Orange Farm in the far south.

20Informal housing often borders older townships such as Alexandra or Soweto, due to the appropriation of the buffer zones.

Development of Informal Housing Areas

e. Commercial and Industrial Areas

21Already at the end of the 1970s, the exodus of the white upper and middle classes towards the northern suburbs took place around two new centres: Sandton and Randburg. This population movement was soon to be followed by the movement of traders from the city centre towards the outskirts of the city. Part of the SMEs, offices and service providers also relocated towards the north⁸.

22The current evolution continues to widen imbalances initiated during the previous decades between jobs and housing. Indeed, residential densification is concentrated in the north-west, and the development of activities and trading is taking place mainly along the economic corridors (particularly along the N1 towards Pretoria).

Development of Recent Commercial and Industrial Areas

f. Densification of the Suburbs of the City Centre: the Example of Hillbrow

23Strategies to access housing are diversified. In the city centre, they can take on a particular form of densification with much higher occupation of flats than they were initially designed for. High-density suburbs with their tall buildings situated near the city centre play an essential role in housing a large population of poor migrants in search of job opportunities⁹. Sub-letting, which to migrants often appears as the only financially affordable option, is organised informally. Upon looking at the Shoprite supermarket wall off the main street in Yeoville, the wall of the former post office of Hillbrow or at the foot of Ponte Tower, one can see a proliferation of advertisements for renting a balcony or a space enclosed by curtains in a dining room or even a bed to share. Every month, spaces that have become available are advertised. These are often temporary solutions for residents, waiting for their personal situations to improve or circumstances to change. The quantity of advertising suggest that this is a widely spread phenomenon in these areas.

24This densification which is hardly quantifiable because of its fluid and informal nature, does not result in much external change in built form, but puts pressure on building infrastructure (water and electricity in particular) and the urban environment.

Advertisements for rooms to rent or “spaces to share” – Hillbrow

Flat Division Principle for Rental

Map 11: The Place of the Private Sector in the City Centre

Map 11: The Place of the Private Sector in the City Centre

25The growth of the private sector has a strong impact on the urban landscape and development methods are conditioned by it: within residential areas, security issues are dealt with according to different organisations, always relying however on a privatisation principle.

26As seen previously, the search for security has led the market to propose new radical urban and architectural forms. A whole new urban register has come to light, turning residences into ‘fortresses’ surrounded by walls, barbed wire, cameras and endowed with reinforced surveillance. This urban phenomenon has been increasing in scale, thereby increasing spatial segregation, expressing the fear of the other and a strong feeling of insecurity.

27Another phenomenon, road closures, has also been developing in Johannesburg. These are mainly residential suburbs with certain access roads closed off or controlled by security guards who are recruited and remunerated by residents organised into associations. Unlike for private complexes, the streets and open spaces which were closed off remain public¹¹. Road closures have become the prevailing security model in these suburbs.

28In parallel, just like North American and European cities before that, South African cities have adopted en masse, from the 1990s onwards, the concept of Business Improvement District (BID). This was adapted into a City Improvement District (CID), initially conceived as a tool of urban regeneration reserved for city centres in decline¹². CIDs are local alliances between the private sector, civil society and local authorities; they consist in taking back control of the urban environment. All the owners of the perimeter concerned pay a local surcharge to take care of the improvement of the urban services in their suburb (security, cleaning, landscape development etc.) (Berg, 2004; Dubresson, 2008).

29The map illustrates the extent to which, on the grounds that it compensates for the difficulties of the public sector to implement efficient urban renewal strategies, the private sector has spatially taken over leading sectors of the metropolitan area. The municipal priorities are to make of these spaces economic and tax catalysts for the entire metropolitan area¹³.

30The focus has been on the creation of a successful economic environment and on the revitalisation of suburbs in decline. These policies have been focusing on the northern suburbs which are attractive because they are the wealthiest, and on the city centre. The latter appears as a first class location for the head offices of some of the largest companies, because it houses provincial and local governments as well as the main artistic, cultural and sports facilities of the city, and a high percentage of the total population of Johannesburg.

31Although public-private partnerships have shown their economic efficiency, they have negative consequences on the city. Indeed, they keep reinforcing the north-south imbalances and therefore the gap between rich and poor, leaving the municipality to manage the disadvantaged suburbs suffering from a chronic lack of means for their upgrade. These suburbs are part of a cycle of depreciation, where impoverishment continues to grow and the gap to widen. In addition, CIDs, in their crusade against insecurity, drastically exclude the poor who seek employment opportunities and any form of informality (commercial among others). Today, a major challenge of the municipality of Johannesburg is to manage social issues in CIDs, as well as in the continually spreading suburbs neglected by the private sector.

Map 12: The New Public Spaces of the City

Map 12: The New Public Spaces of the City

32While democratisation has changed the way public space is perceived in South Africa, the 1990s have also been characterised by an increase in crime, leading to a decline in traditional public spaces (streets, parks and squares), and to the multiplication of residential security phenomena such as enclosures or gated communities.

33In Johannesburg, these phenomena have reached such an extent that, today still, truly open public spaces are inadequate. They come in three categories:

• Few of the parks can be accessed at any time and without control. Zoo Lake appears as a symbol at the heart of the city. Its special status is a direct consequence of its history: when the grounds around the actual zoo and the park were bequeathed in 1904 by “Werner Beit & Company” (which later became Rand Mines) to the population of Johannesburg, it was on condition that it was to stay open to all residents of the city.

• Certain streets in a few historical suburbs (called Village Main Street on Map 12). This often concerns a street or part of a street where, in the middle of residential suburbs, shops have been opened on the ground floor of the buildings. These are not local shops but rather restaurants and bars. Over time, these suburbs develop a very localised and animated community life. Moreover, certain crossroads, because of the high number of people going there, have led to significant changes in the urban fabric and to the establishment of concentrations of shops.

• The city centre (Yeoville, Hillbrow etc.) is where the most significant urban roads are concentrated in terms of public-private interaction. Even if security issues have largely scarred the city centre, its general accessibility, collective appropriation and universal dimension make of it a unique space in the city.

34Public but controlled spaces have become common alternatives in Johannesburg. As a result, some parks are under surveillance, with secured and selective entrances. As an example, we can mention Atholl Park or the Botanical Garden. Certain areas, such as nature reserves, are not accessible to residents (e.g. Melville Koppies or Northcliff). Golfs courses, which are found throughout the urban network of the city, are representative of areas with reserved admission, and are only accessible (in the most part) to paying users.

35Social and cultural variations of “public” and “private” spaces have emerged in Johannesburg. Certain commercial areas, which have become symbolic of these new communal spaces, testify to this. They seem to represent today a private response to the public space crisis. The depreciation of the public sphere and the progression of the feeling of insecurity, explain the partial translation of social practices towards commercial centres. As undeniably private spaces, although their access is free, they are under surveillance.

36In this regard, two types of different spaces have emerged in the city:

• Territorial enclaves come under the initiative of the private sector and take on the form of closed suburbs (e.g. Melrose Arch, Montecasino or 44 Stanley Avenue). These come up as secured havens devoid of any sign of urban degradation, as observed in other suburbs. While keeping their distances from the turmoil of public spaces in the city as reflections of social, cultural and ethnic heterogeneity, these new territories live off urban liveliness and, as such, are becoming new “high places” of the metropolis.

• Commercial centres (shopping malls) with their galleries are becoming one of the main urban scenes of the strolling social ritual. They have evolved and are today considered by shoppers as the city’s socialising places.