Over the last few months, Mayor Herman Mashaba has been communicating his vision for accelerating the rejuvenation of Johannesburg's inner city. He has met with business people and property developers and challenged them to turn the CBD into a construction site. He has committed to tackle corruption and improve the enforcement of the city's by-laws. He has said all the right things about harnessing heritage sites and reusing old buildings. As a result inner city enthusiasts (and I'm sure many residents and workers as well) are feeling a new wave of optimism. It is going to be fascinating to watch the changes that occur in the coming years as the new administration tackles huge challenges in a complex environment.
Many of the projects featured in this piece were already in motion before the new administration took office. I hope to see a solid acceleration of activity (sensitively approached of course) in the coming years. (Note: As many structures in the inner city have cultural significance and/or are older than sixty years the Provincial Heritage Resources Authority Gauteng (PHRAG) will need to increase its capacity. If not there may be a bottleneck of applications or more worryingly the PHRAG may be bypassed. This will be one to watch).
Below are a number of projects I have spotted on recent walks around parts of the inner city. As the title of the article suggests this is not a full round up of activity. I have also included some updates where construction has yet to begin and highlighted projects and...
