JOHANNESBURG
MAP 5.5: Johannesburg, South Africa
109 Trends in Urban Resilience
The Joburg 2040 Initiative
The City of Johannesburg has been showing serious determination to acknowledge the social, economic and environmental stresses depicted above, working towards a more sustainable and inclusive city, as well as confronting the local and global challenges that put a strain on its urban ecosystem.
The first Growth and Development Strategy was launched in 2006, with the aim of reshaping the city’s future development as a way of turning the challenges posed by migration, climate change, increased capital mobility and resources scarcity into opportunities.
The Strategy – which is also well aligned with the five-yearly Integrated Development Plans – differs substantially from spatial plans in the traditional sense, focussing on strategic directions with a multi- sectoral outlook, as well as on long-term goals through medium-term delivery.
Formulated in 2006 – with a greater emphasis on economic growth and human development – the Strategy was subsequently refined in 2011 to account for the main socio-economic and political changes that occurred in the previous five years, hence giving shape to the Joburg 2040. As explained by Johannesburg’s Executive Mayor, Mpho Franklyn (Parks) Tau, in his introductory note to the programmatic document, the Growth and Development Strategy Joburg 2040 is meant to align Johannesburg’s challenges with its immense potential, prefiguring a transition to a
“vibrant, equitable African city, strengthened through its diversity; a city that provides real quality of life; a city that provides sustainability for all its citizens; a resilient and adaptive society.”30
The Growth and Development
Strategy Joburg 2040 is meant to
create a vibrant, equitable African
city, strengthened through its
diversity; a city that provides real
quality of life; a city that provides
sustainability for all its citizens; a
resilient and adaptive society.
Chapter 5 – Case Studies 110
Nine main areas of activity were selected for Joburg 2040, which transversally deal with the aforementioned urban challenges and position Johannesburg in the globally transforming environmental and socio- economic patterns. These areas are: population dynamics, poverty and health, economic growth, resource sustainability, environment, transport, liveable communities, community safety, and smart city and governance. Owing to its tight coordination with the five-year Integrated Development Plan, the Growth and Development Strategy is well positioned to achieve its 2040 goals in matters of good governance, economic growth, human and social development, and
From challenges to opportunities
environment and services; pursuing the broader aim of enhancing Johannesburg’s liveability, sustainability and resilience. Consistent with the clusters exposed above, the Strategy is intended to reach four main outcomes:
1) Improved quality of life and development-driven resilience for all, 2) A resilient, liveable, sustainable urban environment – underpinned by infrastructure supportive of a low-carbon economy, 3) An inclusive, job-intensive, resilient and competitive economy, and 4) A leading metropolitan government that pro- actively contributes to a sustainable, socially inclusive, locally integrated and globally competitive Growth and Development Strategy.
Gandhi Square in Johannesburg, South Africa.
© Flickr/South African Tourism
111 Trends in Urban Resilience
Along with the broader objective of improving metropolitan governance performance (Outcome 4) – particularly in terms of accountability, increased people participation and sound financial administration – the Strategy puts greater emphasis on liveability, equity and inclusion, both in spatial and socio- economic terms. Although the city has moved away from its past of segregation, the Apartheid’s spatial legacy still overlaps with larger areas of informality, making social exclusion an urgent. Consequently, the Growth and Development Strategy (Outcome 1 and 2) predominantly focuses on services supply – water, energy, sanitation and waste – and integrated transport networks, as well as on spatial investment in new areas of growth for better integration and land-use functions.
The issue of informality will be tackled with an incremental and diversified approach, acknowledging the critical role that informal settlements and
economies currently play in the city and moving towards strategies of gradual upgrading and
regularisation. Urban informality is then acknowledged as a controversial yet crucial part of the urban
ecosystem: one that plays an essential role in sustainable livelihood creation, but that equally requires incentives and partnerships to be fully capitalised.
Accordingly, Joburg 2040 Growth and Development Strategy will be proactively committed to fostering local small scale clusters of entrepreneurship, as well as to enhancing a positive correlation between economic growth and job creation. Not only will these measures make Johannesburg’s socio-spatial landscape more integrated and inclusive, but they will also set the case for greater environmental and economic sustainability; particularly concerning transport, renewable energies and sustainable urban environments31. Moreover C40 Cities Climate Leadership Group awarded Johannesburg in 2015 – as one of 10 worldwide leader cities demonstrating climate action leadership – for the category of Finance and Economic Development regarding the Green Bond Initiative32, a financial instrument geared to sponsor environmentally sound urban projects.
The Joburg 2040 Growth and Development Strategy benefits from both extensive bottom-up contributions – resulting from a multi-stakeholders outreach process at the community level – and a solid coordination with other parallel urban strategies currently in force, notably the Integrated Transport Plan, the 2040 Spatial Plan, the 2040 Sustainable Human Settlements Plan and national visions of space and mobility. As stated by the city’s Executive Mayor at the Strategy’s launch event: “[the strategy is] about the ability to mobilise business, communities and labour to be part of a broad coalition of people that are working towards a common objective of achieving a better city and a better
Johannesburg for all.”33
“The strategy is about the ability to mobilise business, communities and labour to be part of a broad coalition of people that are
working towards a common
objective of achieving a better city and a better Johannesburg for all.”
– Mpho Franklyn (Parks) Tau,
former Executive Mayor of
Johannesburg
Chapter 5 – Case Studies 112
Nelson Mandela Bridge in Johannesburg, South Africa.
© Flickr/Evan Bench
113 Trends in Urban Resilience
5.5 KIRIBATI ISLANDS
Context and challenges
With 33 islands – of which 21 are permanently
inhabited – and an altitude not exceeding 4m above sea level, Kiribati is one of few nations around the world already experiencing the consequences of climate change in terms of gradual sea level rise and increased wave heights. A 2000 World Bank study indicated that around half of the highly populated areas of the