Building Gauteng (2020)

As GCRO’s December 2015 map of the month shows, urban land cover in the province has grown substantially in the last quarter of a century, and that it is set to grow a great deal more. Furthermore there has been extensive densification on existing urban land cover (Todes, Harrison and Weakley 2015). Across the province, an enormous amount of construction is under way, including major projects at Modderfontein, Waterfall and Steyn city; dozens of planned mega human settlements; vertical constructions in Sandton, Illovo, Rosebank and elsewhere; and cluster housing in the belt north west of Randburg through to south east Pretoria. In informal settlements and in state-sponsored human settlements, there is extensive self-built accommodation in the form of back-yard rooms, back-yard shacks and standalone shacks.

For the working class, the property sector is a major employer and, for those who receive a low cost house, a chance for a welfare transfer and a better dwelling. For elites the property sector is a major opportunity for wealth accumulation. For the middle class it is a chance to ride a property wave and to live in spaces that augment their social reproduction. In an economy that is struggling to find an engine, the construction and property sectors are notable for their visible activity. Unsurprisingly, therefore, this sector has been endorsed by political representatives. In his 2016 state of the province address, Premier David Makhura proclaimed ‘Let the cranes go up everywhere in the province. Let the construction work intensify.’

The ‘Building Gauteng’ project complemented ‘Spatial Imaginaries’ – a GCRO project which began in 2015 and which examines some of the representational and symbolic aspects of space making in Gauteng. ‘Building Gauteng’ examined a more material set of considerations including an understanding of various actors and role players in the state, landowners, developers, construction firms, and labour.

The major activity within this project for 2016-2017 was the organisation of a two day workshop from 25 to 27 July 2016, on the theme ‘Understanding the role of urban developers’. Around 50 people attended, including city and provincial officials, developers, researchers and other interested stakeholders. The meeting was divided into two parts. Half a day was devoted on an ‘Urban Lab’ which is part of a monthly series organised by the Wits South African Research Chair in Spatial Analysis and City Planning. The intention of this series is to allow for City of Johannesburg officials to engage with key stakeholders on specific themes. For this particular urban lab, city officials presented the Spatial Development Framework and several developers responded. The discussion brought to light some of the key differences between city officials who are concerned about urban sprawl and developers working on the periphery of the city.

The second part of the meeting, a day and a half, was a more academic workshop arranged around the presentation of research findings. It also broadened the geographical scale of interest, as it included four presentations from researchers working on other parts of the world: Jenny Robinson (working on large developments in London); Gavin Shatkin (Asian cities); Liza Weinstein (India) and Donald Leffers (Canada). In addition, 12 South Africa-oriented presentations contributed towards a wide ranging set of inputs. Some presenters are currently investigating possibilities of publishing a special issue of an academic journal on their papers.

Following the conference Richard Ballard and Sian Butcher proposed a special issue of seven of the papers presented at the workshop to the journal Environment and Planning A: Economy and Space. The proposal was accepted and articles were submitted for review in 2018. The collection was published in February 2020.

Outputs

Theme issue: Environment and Planning A

Ballard, Richard and Sian Butcher (2020) 'Comparing the relational work of developers' Environment and Planning A: Economy and Space. 52(2): 266-276 https://doi.org/10.1177/0308518X19893684

Mosselson, Aidan (2020) Habitus, spatial capital and making place: Housing developers and the spatial praxis of Johannesburg’s inner-city regeneration. Environment and Planning A: Economy and Space. 52(2):277-296https://doi.org/10.1177/0308518X19830970

Alison Todes and Jennifer Robinson (2020) Re-directing developers: New models of rental housing development to re-shape the post-apartheid city? Environment and Planning A: Economy and Space. 52(2): 297-317 https://doi.org/10.1177/0308518X19871069

Leffers, Donald and Gerda R Wekerle (2020) Land developers as institutional and postpolitical actors: Sites of power in land use policy and planning Environment and Planning A: Economy and Space. 52(2): 318-336https://doi.org/10.1177/0308518X19856628

Butcher, Sian (2020) 'Appropriating rent from greenfield affordable housing: developer practices in Johannesburg. Environment and Planning A: Economy and Space. 52(2): 337-361 https://doi.org/10.1177/0308518X19895278

Brill, Frances (2020) 'Complexity and coordination in London’s Silvertown Quays: How real estate developers (re)centred themselves in the planning process.' Environment and Planning A: Economy and Space. 52(2): 362-382https://doi.org/10.1177/0308518X19860159

Ballard, Richard and Philip Harrison (2020) 'Transnational Urbanism Interrupted: A Chinese developer’s attempts to secure approval to build the ‘New York of Africa’ at Modderfontein, Johannesburg.' Environment and Planning A: Economy and Space. 52(2): 383-402 https://doi.org/10.1177/0308518X19853277

Mouton, Morgan and Gavin Shatkin (2020) Strategizing the for-profit city: The state, developers, and urban production in Mega Manila Environment and Planning A: Economy and Space. 52(2): 403-422https://doi.org/10.1177/0308518X19840365

Presentations

Richard Ballard and Phil Harrison (July 2016) ‘Transnational Urbanism: Chinese investors seeking approval to build the ‘New York of Africa’ at Modderfontein’. Understanding the role of urban developers workshop, Johannesburg (26 July 2016)

Romain Dittgen, Phil Harrison, Mike Makwela, Alison Todes (April 2016). Title: Contested spatial visions: Mega Projects in Johannesburg, South Africa. Project workshop at the University College of London.

Richard Ballard, Philip Harrison (February 2018). 'Transnational urbanism: Chinese investors seeking approval to build the "New York of Africa" at Modderfontein'. ACC International Urban Conference, 1 February 2018.

Richard Ballard (June 2018) ‘Transnational Urbanism Interrupted: Chinese investors seeking approval to build the ‘New York of Africa’ at Modderfontein, Johannesburg’ Seminar, Urban Futures Centre, Durban University of Technology, 18 June 2018.

Richard Ballard (April 2019) 'Transnational Urbanism Interrupted: Chinese investors seeking approval to build the ‘New York of Africa’ at Modderfontein, Johannesburg' Presentation to Wits Planning Masters ARPL 7071 Theories and Practices of Urban Management, 4 April 2019.

Last update: 4 August 2020