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Densification is the way forward, and the draft land use plan for the Bus Rapid Transit pilot route should be carefully considered, as it is a positive signal from the council.
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About Citichat
NEIL Fraser is a partner in 'Neil Fraser & Associates trading as Urban Inc', an urban consultancy dedicated to the revitalisation and regeneration of cities and of the inner city of Johannesburg in particular. He can be contacted on 083 456 0242 or 011 444 4895 or by e-mail at
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IN response to my comments last week about the lack of council action regarding the Irish Barracks, the historic central police barracks in Marshall Street, Eric Itzkin, the City's deputy director of immovable heritage, points out that for some time the City has been trying to prod the national Department of Public Works, the building's owner, to permit the old building to be repaired.
"So it's not true that the City has been inactive on that one." - my apologies.
However, the lack of action on the part of the Works Department is symptomatic of the central government's inability to meet its obligations or, for that matter, to even recognise them when it comes to issues of heritage or property ownership.
The president was evidently fairly harsh on the City council and the business sector regarding the inner city when he held his imbizo back in April - yet one of his own departments has replicated the inaction and indifference of its predecessor, doing absolutely nothing about this building since it assumed responsibility for it in 1994.
Thirteen years of further inaction equates to 13 years of degeneration, including a fire that has partly destroyed the building. It now undermines all the good that has been done in uplifting and regenerating the general area around it.
Public art
Over the past decade, but more so over the last few years, the City has become increasingly responsive to the need for public art.
MetroMall, the Faraday taxi rank and the Constitutional Court are all relatively recent public developments that have showcased artworks; the columns supporting the elevated portion of Joe Slovo Drive leading to the Ellis Park precinct, have been clad in mosaic as part of the 2010 upgrade.
"Public art has become an integral part of economic regeneration and is playing an increasingly important role as creative catalyst in landscape design, urban design and architecture. (The Welsh Development Agency Design Guide)
A while ago I mentioned that work had started on the corner of Bertha and Ameshoff streets in preparation for a new piece of public art. Remember the hideous bridge that used to span Bertha Street? Now, we have a splendid artwork to grace one of the city's main gateways.
The initiative is a joint effort of the Johannesburg Development Agency, the City's department of community development and the Braamfontein Improvement District. The artwork is the result of a competition administered by the Braamfontein-based arts consultancy, the Trinity Session, which was also responsible for the metal tree sculptures in Juta Street.
The statue was chosen from submissions made by five invited professional artists with experience in large public commissions, the winning submission coming from Clive van der Berg. The work consists of two eland profiles with a combined weight of about 50 tons and 7,5 metres in overall height to the tip of the horns. It was cast on site on Saturday, 18 August.
It is no small object in anyone's language and will provide an iconic focus that will complement the public environment upgrading that took place a couple of years back that was funded jointly by the City and the major private sector corporates in the area. The representation of an eland, a buck that probably grazed in this area over a century ago, placed on this busy street corner should "prompt reflection on our relationship to the past, and to the inter-connectedness of environmental, cultural and spiritual destinies".
BRT and land uses
The City has come out with a draft development framework for supporting land uses along the Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) pilot route, which will run from Parktown to Sunninghill. This is a comprehensive document that clearly spells out a number of strategies that appear to be well thought-out and motivated. I say appear because I have not had time to read every page of the 100-plus paged document, but I must say that I like what I've seen.
One of the six strategies that the draft deals with in detail, is increasing density and compactness. The idea is "to curb urban sprawl" and to promote "the use of smart transportation". The strategy seeks to densify areas within walking distance of the proposed transit stations.
This may cause consternation in the affected areas but it is long overdue and the BRT becomes the ideal catalyst to achieve higher densities. Northern suburbs residents in particular have been spoilt with low density, sprawled development and if we are going to cope long term with growth and a better transport system, densification is critical.
Here are some pertinent comments on densification by international experts that I have extracted from a November/December 2006 Urban Land Institute publication on Architecture and Society. The emphases are mine:
- Dense, efficient cities are much more sustainable than sprawling medium-to-low-density cities.
- Density of development is fundamental in creating high quality urban projects.
- There is a particular advantage to the environment in vertical city making, requiring manipulation of light, air and comfort requiring attention and articulation in architectural design. There is no doubt that design can ameliorate density in such a way as to provide very pleasant lifestyles even in extreme densities. It seems that the capacity of cities to hold more people in the same area is almost limitless provided appropriate infrastructure is created at the same time.
- Cities are too important to be left to the politicians and economists
the challenge will be to focus in depth on social dynamics and how cities are used by the people who live and work in them and how to understand their needs and prepare for expansion of new communities.
- A classic model of a polycentric city is London; it has many centres - Greenwich, east London, parts of the West End, Chelsea, Camden, north London - all with their own dynamic intensities. And they were all suburbs once. Enough building mass and enough mixed use actually creates a fabric that over time becomes integrated into the surroundings. The problem is suburban housing that just has housing. You can't support a bus system, you can't support a school, you can't support a shop if you don't have enough people living within a 15 to 25km radius.
- In (some) cities, the form of the buildings, their layout on the ground, actually exacerbates the problem. Think of the vast amount of housing that is being built behind barbed wires, or electronic fences, or walls in cities like Mexico City, Sao Paulo, Caracas and Johannesburg. You know that as society changes and the neighbours may become wealthier, these will never become integrated areas. Building cities without walls is very important, and I am not optimistic that things are going to change in many of those places.
Well, here is a blueprint for change that all critics of local government - and I include myself in that group - should study and consider very carefully. I think it is a positive signal from the council.
Cheers, Neil
Parktown and Westcliff Heritage Trust
The Parktown and Westcliff Heritage Trust holds its annual Heritage Weekend bus and walking tours on Saturday, 25 and Sunday, 26 August.
The trust is a non-profit organisation dedicated to raising public awareness of the importance of conservation of historic buildings and sites in the northern Joburg suburbs of Parktown and Westcliff.
During the guided bus and walking tours, visitors will be enlightened and entertained with the anecdotes, antics and architecture of the city's earliest citizens. Tours will visit Parktown, as well as travel to other areas of the city.
There will be a selection of tours in the morning and afternoon of both days. No prior booking is required. All tours will depart from The Holy Family College at 40 Oxford Road, Parktown, Johannesburg.
For a copy of the tour programme contact Elaine Persona on 011 482 3349 on weekday mornings between 9am and 1pm.
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