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Small Atlas of Johannesburg

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Karen Lévy

On Mobility

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Map 16: Limitations of the “All-Car” System

Map 16: Limitations of the “All-Car” System

Map 16: Limitations of the “All-Car” System

© Karen Lévy for the AFD

1Servicing the entire area is hindered by traffic jams near economic centres. While Johannesburg has been developing since the 1960s according to a car-oriented modern paradigm, streets have become roads as a result of flow optimisation. By becoming car-focussed, streets no longer appear as places of exchange and vectors of urban integration. They have become tools of movement to users who wish to go everywhere and fast.

2While this urban structure is essential to everyone and to the poorest households in particular, the latter do not have access to individual cars to move around. Indeed, infrastructure and road networks determine mobility and either favour or constrain social integration. Accessibility to the city is limited for poor populations. Their lack of means forces them to reside far from employment centres, compelling them in turn to use minibus taxis or informal transport, since the public transport is insufficient or inadapted.

3Today the highway system has reached its limits with roads being too small and overused (due to the lack of public transport that does not reach the outskirts of the city), which is the cause of traffic jams at peak hours during the week. This problem cannot be solved with an increase in the number of lanes, roads or highways, but with a remodelling of urban morphology. Today, the traffic near the nerve centres of the city, accessible mainly via the highway system, is increasingly becoming a disadvantage, especially in the northern suburbs and the city centre.

4Distribution by means of transport shows the extent to which cars and minibus taxis predominate (nearly 80% of movements in 2011).

Overused Roads (pictures)

Overused Roads (pictures)

Map 17: Corridors of Freedom

Priority Investment Zones - Johannesburg Development Agency

Priority Investment Zones - Johannesburg Development Agency

5Densification processes, through their repetitive and serial nature, high levels of closure, low accessibility and disconnection from employment areas, imply on the one hand very low efficiency in resource utilisation and high carbon intensity, and on the other high sensitivity to energy costs. The main constraint to an increase in the number of cars is economic, in that many households still do not have sufficient financial resources to organise their own mobility on the metropolitan scale. In order to make up for the limitations of previous planning systems, the objective of the city is to guarantee accessibility to the entire population, as well as better energy efficiency, with a Transit Oriented Development (TOD) strategy named Corridors of Freedom. Mobility then becomes one of the main tools of urban development and planning, but this time through the development of public transport, not cars. TOD strategies aim at giving priority to urban intensification around transport nodes and public transport stations. Morphologically, this can be displayed with concentric circles corresponding to the time it takes to travel from a station to one’s home or place of work. The distance between these two nodes will then be accompanied with a progressive drop in density and facilities.

6Organising the territory around new BRT stations is central to metropolitan preoccupations. However, while the first lines of these corridors of freedom have been in operation since 2010, the process is struggling to become established. Because of the lack of densification around these corridors, deterioration in urban quality is being felt, as in Empire Road, where the number of shops tends to diminish and where, despite the invested capital, the pedestrian environment has become considerably degraded where, for example, two pedestrians cannot walk next to each other in certain sections of the pavement. Moreover, open spaces have been affected by the construction of parkings, and walls and gates often constituting the only urban facades in these corridors.

7In Soweto, stations remain relatively deserted with limited developments around them.

8Only the Gautrain stations, due to their economic appeal, seem to initiate a beginning of densification, as can be seen opposite in the aerial photograph of Rosebank.

9This setback in the establishment of corridors of freedom is caused by:

  • a lack of integration between transport and urban planning strategies;

  • a lack of strictness as far as the detailed design of urban sectors is concerned;

  • a lack of intermodality (no link between the different modes of transport - Gautrain, BRT, suburban train, etc.);

  • difficulties of integration of the informal sector.

10Today, Johannesburg seeks new alternatives to make up for these shortages, and kick-start the economic process leading to the development of efficient densification. The map opposite shows the priority investment zones of the metropolis: the corridors of freedom are to be privileged by the policy of the city which aims at transforming spatial inequality, connecting isolated urban areas, bringing people closer to employment opportunities (and other advantages offered by the city), and reducing the use of private motorised transport.

Absense of densification around BRT stations in Soweto

Absense of densification around BRT stations in Soweto

Beginnings of Densification with Shopping Centres in Rosebank

Beginnings of Densification with Shopping Centres in Rosebank

Photo Google Earth.

Map 18: Access

11Access to most suburbs is subject to security policies. The maps hereinafter show the different access roads to the selected suburbs and illustrate the connectivity they maintain with their close environment. Integration of these urban spaces into the city network is characteristic of suburban confinement: wealthy urban areas exclude themselves voluntarily from the urban network, leading to the generalisation of closed complexes, and from social suburbs by ensuring disconnection and control. The low number of entry points in a suburb automatically aggravates traffic jam issues.

12Historical suburbs are logically the best connected. Bram Fischerville on the other hand is isolated, with only three entry points and a sterile direct surrounding made up of wastelands.

Bram Fisherville and North Riding

Bram Fisherville and North Riding

Bram Fisherville

Bram Fisherville

Hillbrow and Houghton Estate

Hillbrow and Houghton Estate

Map 19: Squares and Streets - Urban Challenge in Johannesburg

Map 19: Squares and Streets

Map 19: Squares and Streets

© Karen Lévy for the AFD]

13For several years now, the will to develop streets where pedestrians can move around safely, has been confronted with several challenges characteristic of South African cities:

  • First of all an urban challenge: the city was developed according to the car-oriented model, marked by urban sprawl and increasingly longer travel distances, as well as a lack of developments for pedestrians;

  • Then a social challenge: crime is a source of daily concern for city dwellers;

  • Finally, a historical challenge: spatial segregation remains a strong social marker. The notion of collective space remains excluded from the urban vocabulary for a large part of the population.

14Today, it seems that only those who cannot afford a car walk in the streets. A few private operations based on new urbanism principles, such as Melrose Arch, have integrated pedestrians into the city. However, the success of this initiative is due above all to the fact that entries are guarded and the place is considered as “secured” by users.

15Suburbs managed by City Improvement Districts (CID) are more successful thanks to the maintenance and protection of the right to public passage. Security then takes place at the entrance to individual buildings and, sometimes, as in the Maboneng Precinct, at each crossroad.

16Urban developments carried out by the city have contributed to creating a feeling of belonging to the city, and to defining the character of each suburb.

17Walking is no longer part of the daily practices of middle-class city dwellers: no one walks to work or to take the children to school, and even less to take a leisurely walk in the suburb. As seen previously, shopping centres have cashed in on most socialising rituals of city dwellers, and on the leisurly walks and shopping which, in the past, characterised the city centre and urban public spaces such as parks and squares. They have become meeting places for many residents of Johannesburg.

18Ensuring the return of middle-class pedestrians (from the outer suburbs) in the city centre is a major challenge: where security is a condition as well as a consequence of pedestrian practices, developing pedestrian spaces can be perceived as a tool to make the city safe.

Illustrations:
Road security / Access restrictions
Village main street
Private street
Township street
RDP street
I-biz and busy street - Inner-city.

Map 20: The Place of Pedestrians in the City

The Example of Houghton: Problematic Discontinuity of Walkways

The Example of Houghton: Problematic Discontinuity of Walkways

When pavements do not serve their purpose for pedestrians…

When pavements do not serve their purpose for pedestrians…

19Whether in central suburbs or on the outskirts, the place of pedestrians in Johannesburg is problematic. In Gauteng, 40% of deaths due to a road accident concern pedestrians.

20While road networks are generally fully proportioned, with large pavements, pedestrian walkways are in some places very limited. Indeed, most pavements are developed by private operators who develop bordering parcels. The lack of homogeneity across entire sections of pavement makes uninterrupted walking virtually impossible. Most pavements are landscaped and are planted with lawns and vegetation. Pedestrians therefore have to walk on the actual street.

21Today, it seems essential to maximise the use of existing spaces to create a clear hierarchy of road networks and to make pedestrians feel safe. Despite the importance of travelling on foot (as is the case for a population that often does not have any other means of locomotion), the city is today still largely oriented to the use of private cars. Pedestrians are seldom a priority in urban developments and the distribution of space is not equitable, which leads to high accident rates.

22The map opposite offers a schematic illustration of the patchwork of pavements in Houghton Estate. The same phenomenon is reproduced in the recently developed suburbs on the outskirts of the city, as in North Riding. The width of the roads and the low number of intersections allows cars to drive at often excessive speeds, making usage conflicts even more problematic.

23In the city centre, the issue takes on another form, but the consequences are the same: pedestrians move around with difficulty because of the priority which was given to motorised transport in the past: pedestrian crossings are not well marked and are often inexistant at crossroads; traffic lights are always to the advantage of cars, leaving pedestrians insufficient time to cross. At the same time, informal trading on the pavement not only limits the available space, but also forces pedestrians to walk on the actual street. This is the cause of high pedestrian accident rates.

The Example of Hillbrow: Obstructed Pavements Making Walking Difficult

The Example of Hillbrow: Obstructed Pavements Making Walking Difficult

Map 21: The Challenge of Bicycle Lanes

Map 21: The Challenge of Bicycle Lanes

Map 21: The Challenge of Bicycle Lanes

© Karen Lévy for the AFD

24In Johannesburg, as in most cities with low density, the road network was developped only with cars in mind and most local urban services are accessible by car only. The absence of two-wheeled vehicles on the roads remains fairly unexplained (even if safety issues have a strong impact on the practice). Although the topography and morphology of the city represents significant disadvantages for cycling in town (important differences in height, long distances between centres of attraction and high car traffic among others), this alternative method of travelling could be inserted in a transport chain as a complementary means to public transport.

25While the city is currently developing its public transport network, commuters should be given the opportunity to choose cycling as a travelling method, which is not the case at this stage. A real awareness is currently emerging on the importance of developing bicycle lanes so as to offer pedestrians and cyclists comfortable, continuous and legible paths. Bicycles could be made an essential link in peri-urban mobility, by favouring cycling through road-sharing and parking policies, and by offering cyclists the possibility of hopping onto public transport with their bicycles and ride or walk their first and last kilometer.

26Several bicycle lanes have been planned in the city of Johannesburg with many objectives in mind:

  • reducing traffic and traffic jams, in the dense urban centres in particular, such as Sandton and the city centre;

  • enabling the destitute to access local employment areas. In this regard, the construction of a pedestrian-cyclist bridge is under study to link Alexandra and Sandton safely. Likewise, an ambitious project of cycling development is under study between Diepsloot and Fourways and between Soweto and Noordgesig;

  • creating new uses and practices within the city: a bicycle lane, linking the different campuses of the city is under way and should develop connections between students and the members of the personnel of the universities of Johannesburg and the Witwatersrand.

27Several municipal campaigns seek to change mentalities and promote cycling. This is an important challenge, as Johannesburg has a long way to go before it can project the image of a city where cyclists and pedestrians are adequately accommodated. The objective of these campaigns is to show the advantages offered by cycling, spreading information about the positive effects of cycling on people’s health, the low cost of bicycle lanes for the public compared to the road network, the reduction in air pollution and the development of the city’s appeal, in that cycling is a powerful factor of social and territorial cohesion.

Cycling promotion campaign, July 2014

Cycling promotion campaign, July 2014

Development of a bicycle lane in Braamfontein, June 2014

Development of a bicycle lane in Braamfontein, June 2014

Table des illustrations

Titre Map 16: Limitations of the “All-Car” System
Crédits © Karen Lévy for the AFD
URL http://books.openedition.org/africae/docannexe/image/3500/img-1.png
Fichier image/png, 200k
Titre Overused Roads
URL http://books.openedition.org/africae/docannexe/image/3500/img-2.jpg
Fichier image/jpeg, 222k
Titre Overused Roads (pictures)
URL http://books.openedition.org/africae/docannexe/image/3500/img-3.jpg
Fichier image/jpeg, 137k
Titre Priority Investment Zones - Johannesburg Development Agency
URL http://books.openedition.org/africae/docannexe/image/3500/img-4.png
Fichier image/png, 669k
Titre Absense of densification around BRT stations in Soweto
URL http://books.openedition.org/africae/docannexe/image/3500/img-5.jpg
Fichier image/jpeg, 72k
Titre Beginnings of Densification with Shopping Centres in Rosebank
Crédits Photo Google Earth.
URL http://books.openedition.org/africae/docannexe/image/3500/img-6.jpg
Fichier image/jpeg, 103k
Titre Bram Fisherville and North Riding
URL http://books.openedition.org/africae/docannexe/image/3500/img-7.png
Fichier image/png, 402k
Titre Bram Fisherville
URL http://books.openedition.org/africae/docannexe/image/3500/img-8.png
Fichier image/png, 338k
Titre North Riding
URL http://books.openedition.org/africae/docannexe/image/3500/img-9.png
Fichier image/png, 349k
Titre Hillbrow and Houghton Estate
URL http://books.openedition.org/africae/docannexe/image/3500/img-10.png
Fichier image/png, 402k
Titre Hillbrow
URL http://books.openedition.org/africae/docannexe/image/3500/img-11.png
Fichier image/png, 419k
Titre Houghton Estate
URL http://books.openedition.org/africae/docannexe/image/3500/img-12.png
Fichier image/png, 662k
Titre Map 19: Squares and Streets
Crédits © Karen Lévy for the AFD]
URL http://books.openedition.org/africae/docannexe/image/3500/img-13.png
Fichier image/png, 425k
Légende Illustrations: Road security / Access restrictionsVillage main streetPrivate streetTownship streetRDP streetI-biz and busy street - Inner-city.
URL http://books.openedition.org/africae/docannexe/image/3500/img-14.jpg
Fichier image/jpeg, 400k
Titre The Example of Houghton: Problematic Discontinuity of Walkways
URL http://books.openedition.org/africae/docannexe/image/3500/img-15.jpg
Fichier image/jpeg, 84k
Titre When pavements do not serve their purpose for pedestrians…
URL http://books.openedition.org/africae/docannexe/image/3500/img-16.jpg
Fichier image/jpeg, 670k
Titre The Example of Hillbrow: Obstructed Pavements Making Walking Difficult
URL http://books.openedition.org/africae/docannexe/image/3500/img-17.jpg
Fichier image/jpeg, 352k
Titre Map 21: The Challenge of Bicycle Lanes
Crédits © Karen Lévy for the AFD
URL http://books.openedition.org/africae/docannexe/image/3500/img-18.png
Fichier image/png, 466k
Titre Cycling promotion campaign, July 2014
URL http://books.openedition.org/africae/docannexe/image/3500/img-19.png
Fichier image/png, 266k
Titre Development of a bicycle lane in Braamfontein, June 2014
URL http://books.openedition.org/africae/docannexe/image/3500/img-20.jpg
Fichier image/jpeg, 250k

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