The world has sat up and taken notice of Johannesburg's innovative Xtreme Park, built in Diepkloof in just 24 hours.

LIVCOM judges were "blown away" with Joburg's Xtreme Park, according to City Parks' managing director, Luther Williamson.

On 10 November, Johannesburg City Parks walked off with a gold award at the Liveable Communities Awards ceremony held in Dongguan City, China, for its Diepkloof Xtreme Park.

The park was created in just 24 hours. Speaking on his return to South Africa, Williamson said the world was sitting up and taking notice because the entity was making greening issues attractive.

"Instead of focusing on legislation and regulation, we are focusing on making greening issues more sexy, more marketable," he said.

LivCom is a United Nations Environmental Programme initiative that recognises those cities and municipalities that are making an effort to create liveable spaces for their inhabitants. The competition is now in its 12th year.

Compared to some of the competitors, Johannesburg's budget for projects was "insignificant".  But, where others threw billion-dollar budgets at greening projects, City Parks was throwing in the "passion of the people", Williamson added proudly.

Accolades for all
Johannesburg entered three projects in the competition - the Xtreme Park, Cosmo City and the Klipriver Greening and Rehabilitation Project; it also entered the Whole City Award category for cities with a population of more than 750 000 people.

It received accolades for all four entries. 

The delegation from City Parks: MD Luther Williamson, the project manager for the Xtreme Park, Ludwig Holtzhauzen, and City Parks spokesperson Jenny Moodley

The Xtreme Park took second gold in the natural category for environmentally sustainable projects; first gold went to New Plymouth district in New Zealand. The Klipriver Greening and Rehabilitation Project received a silver award in this category, while Cosmo City received silver in the built category. 

Johannesburg also took the criteria award, Planning for the future, and the bronze award in the whole city category for cities of more than 750 000 people.

LivCom finalists this year included one of the smallest communities in the world, Ogema, in Saskatchewan, Canada, with only 320 people; with a population of 4,2 million, Johannesburg was one of the larger competitors.

Initial judging took place earlier in the year, after which presentations from nearly 50 finalists from around the world were assessed by the awards panel during the ceremony.

The focus was on six criteria for both projects and communities: showing strong evidence of how the landscape was enhanced; heritage management; that environmentally sensitive practices were employed; community sustainability; how this improved healthy lifestyles; and planning for the future.

On the right track
City Parks is clearly on the right track but Williamson foresees even greater innovation in the near future. 

The park in Diepkloof was created in just 24 hours

Developing truly "green parks" would be a key focus from now on, he said. This included building solar-powered ablution systems, recycling water, rain harvesting and using "green" equipment. The idea was to start with a small project and build it up from there. 

However, the lack of a research and development unit was a challenge, especially with the loss of biodiversity a growing concern.

"This should be at the forefront of our environmental programmes," he believed.

City Parks would also re-look at landscaping, moving away from traditional to more innovative designs. "Road islands must become garden islands; parks need to be garden parks ... That's the language we've got to be talking."

In 2007, the municipal-owned company walked away with eight LivCom awards, four of them gold. The ceremony was held in London on 26 November. Johannesburg also shared second place with Arriyadh City, the capital of Saudi Arabia, in the Whole City Awards category.

For more information on the competition visit the LivCom website.

Related stories:

• Joburg back in LivCom spotlight
• City Parks bags big awards
• Diepkloof gets its extreme park
• New plan for botanical gardens