Neil Fraser looks back at the planning that went into the creation of the inner city's Fashion District. The strategising that was set in place a decade ago is now showing signs of growth.

I RECEIVED an excited e-mail on Wednesday from Rees Mann, the doyen of Johannesburg's inner city Fashion District, with the news that investment in the Fashion District was approaching half a billion rand. We'll have a look at the detail of that next week, as well as the huge part that Rees himself has played, but I thought this week to look back at the beginnings of the concept because we tend to lose that knowledge over time. So next week we'll look at how far it's come.

It is so gratifying to see much of the planning and strategising that was set in place a decade ago now falling into place. Ten years may seem like a long time, but not in the life of a city being re-created! Then again, Rees, with the highs and lows of the past decade, wouldn't use the words "falling into place" because the road has not exactly been easy and there is a long way to go.

It was in fact exactly 10 years ago when we started to undertake the "vision for the inner city". This was done by the now extinct Johannesburg Inner City Development Forum, which consisted of representatives of business and community, local and provincial government and labour.

Something of a miracle
I always comment on the outcome of this process as being something of a miracle, as it started with a great deal of mistrust between the parties – this was 1996, after all. This mistrust or suspicion resulted in four sectors (ie, all except labour) each producing their own vision. At a critical time the four visions were coalesced into a single final agreed vision. With hindsight, that coalescing proved to be quite smooth when it was found that the aspirations and values of each sector were so similar, if not identical. The vision was launched by Thabo Mbeki in July of 1997.

Visions are useless, however, if one can't find methods of turning what amounts to dreams into reality. To a large extent that responsibility fell on what was in those days known as the Inner City Office, headed up by Graeme Reid, subsequently CEO of the Johannesburg Development Agency, and now consulting.

The Inner City Office used the vision to provide a framework for the formulation of a strategy and a programme of activities to kick-start the process of urban renewal in the inner city.

The strategy revolved around six aspects – economic; cultural and sporting activities; residential; education; quality of life; and transportation. But what the vision and strategy lacked was a more specific spatial and economic framework to guide the programme into implementation.

Two further exercises were therefore undertaken in 1993. Architects and Urban Designers, GAPP, were entrusted with the spatial framework and Professors Richard Tomlinson and Chris Rogerson with the economic one. The frameworks were ultimately endorsed through a City Consultation session with over 100 stakeholders. The Economic Development Strategy opened with a paradigm shift in thinking about the city:

"The Johannesburg inner city is increasingly an African city, but not in the sense of Dar es Salaam or Nairobi. Its Africaness arises from its being a dual point of integration, between Johannesburg's rich north (with essentially American and European values) and poor south (with essentially African values, but often with an American cultural veneer); as well as its being a key trading and migrant centre for sub-Saharan Africa. Due to Johannesburg's location in South Africa, the city's level of economic development surpasses that of other African cities, as does the standard of infrastructure and management. But the city also has social systems and survival networks that operate outside of formal management systems, and whose continuation depends on bending the rules.

"We do not fully understand what this overlay of African and Western cultural, economic, infrastructure, management, social and values systems means for the inner city, but we do know that the inner city has irrevocably changed. This also means that the economic potentials of the inner city have to be perceived and understood in a different and more complex light. It means as well that there has to be a paradigm shift in who we value and where we see economic potential, in such a way that we think in inclusive terms. Finally, instead of casting the inner city as in competition with Sandton (the northern suburbs), we should seek out niches such as cultural tourism where the inner city economy is complementary to the northern suburbs economy."

Graeme Reid commented on the framework: "The approach to developing the Framework was also informed by an understanding of a critical new role that the centre-city had to accommodate. Given the poly-nodal nature of the metropolitan area and the fact that it had been created both by the economic forces that drove decentralisation to the north and apartheid planning that separated the city from its underdeveloped and primarily black south, the city centre was the place where integration – racial and social – could happen. In light of this, the development of the Framework was underpinned by a set of ideas which, it was believed, would promote and foster this opportunity and thus promote urban renewal."

The first related to public space, the second to urban amenity, the third to the needs of the majority users of the inner city, the fourth to transportation and finally the need to "include and stimulate the informal sector in the urban renewal process".

The Economic Report itself highlighted the inner city clothing economy: "It is clear that the early 1990s have seen a period of considerable change and restructuring in the inner city clothing economy of Johannesburg. Key features of this restructuring have been the progressive emasculation of the formal clothing economy, particularly in the wake of competitive imports, and the parallel rise of a burgeoning small-enterprise clothing economy, dominated by black South African entrepreneurs (the majority, women entrepreneurs) and yet with an increasingly important segment of production from immigrant-run businesses.

"In a policy context, it is useful to locate the inner city Johannesburg clothing economy in the national context. The national situation is of the beginnings of concerted attempts to reshape a new South African clothing industry that would be globally, or at least regionally, competitive. In general, it is expected that the industry as a whole will undertake a conscious move out of the lower end of the market and become more export-oriented, focussing on value added products and niche markets. In addition, through the adoption of what were earlier referred to as dynamic adjustment strategies, the clothing sector would reduce its dependence on government by improving industry productivity through enhanced human resource development, work organisation and improved technology.

"It is within this overall vision of change that interventions to support the inner-city Johannesburg clothing economy might be most appropriately considered. It is suggested that inner city Johannesburg contains the makings of an incipient clothing cluster or industrial district … A set of interventions is recommended to strengthen the competitiveness of this cluster as a whole and to seek to shift the industry away from a trajectory of mere survival to one of long-term growth. The proposed garment district draws upon what might be described as the best practice concerning sectoral interventions, particularly as regards clothing."

The consultants then went on to recommend the following objectives:

• Create a hub institution that will stimulate, guide and monitor interventions to promote the garment industry.
• Through the hub institution and other related research facilities, obtain a better understanding of what is needed to enhance the incomes and productivity of clothing enterprises in the inner city (such as regulations, fashion information, business and financial services and support, regulations and physical infrastructure).
• The hub institution should aim to develop a network of linked service providers, public and private, that serve the garment industry and aim to address low productivity, encourage new technologies and products, and enhance the competitiveness of clothing producers in the Johannesburg inner city.
• Create a garment district for marketing and tourism purposes.
• The hub institution should motivate a sister city programme with other cities that have garment districts and that can provide necessary services and marketing outlets.
• The hub institution should seek to move from a two-year project financed with donor funds to an ongoing self-financing institution that has the flexibility to adapt to and to continue to serve a changing garment industry.
  

They suggested that the garment district could, inter alia, provide:

• a design and fashion centre where entrepreneurs can learn of the latest fashions and materials;
• a young designers' workshop where designers can hold fashion shows and retail their products;
• a production centre that provides access to equipment unavailable to informal enterprises;
• skills training;
• business training;
• exchange visits to other enterprises to enable entrepreneurs to view better technology, management practices or marketing; and
• a sister cities programme with other cities that have garment districts.
  

Both the Economic and the Spatial Framework had emphasised that specific "precincts" or districts where new uses had already begun to emerge should be fostered. An area on the east of the inner city bounded roughly by Delvers and End Streets, Market and President that had previously housed large scale garment manufacturing in the 50s and 60s was identified as such a precinct. It had developed into a home to "pavement seamstresses" and micro and small garment industry-related businesses with an emerging emphasis on African urban fashion.

So the skeleton of a precinct existed but what would be key would be to determine the interventions that would be required to bring all the pieces together and add body to the bones. Clearly, also, someone who shared the vision and the passion for the area was needed. We'll pick that up next week together with an update as to where we are now.

Ciao, Neil

PS: Update on the Rand Laundry issue
On Thursday, 7 February the Parktown & Westcliff Heritage Trust led a public protest against the actions of the Imperial Group that had resulted in the annihilation of the Rand Laundry heritage buildings in Richmond. I, unfortunately, was in Potchefstroom attending a hearing whose date had been preset last year so missed the opportunity to take part but I understand that it was well supported and resulted in over 100 more signatures for the petition. Watch this space!

Neil Fraser is a partner in Neil Fraser & Associates which trades 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 at (083) 456 0242 or (011) 444 4895 or by e-mail at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it . Views and opinions expressed in Citichat are not necessarily those of Urban Inc.

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• Citichat: Talking about the city