The Future of our Cities: Unblocking the Debate
Dr Luyanda Mpahlwa
“The City has always been a place for people to meet and greet each other, a place to exchange information about the city and society, a place where important events were staged; coronations, processions, feasts and festivals, town meetings, and executions to mention just a few. The City was also a marketplace where goods and services were offered and exchanged. Finally the City was a thoroughfare providing access to and connecting various uses of the City. People walked about and goods were hauled from one place to another.”
Jan Gehl + Lars Gemzoe (New City Spaces)
T he discussion on the future of cities has been occupying urban planners and urbanists in the global north for quite a while. Cities have also been evolving over time, with urban design playing a bigger role to create liveable, accessible, more inclusive, and most importantly accessible and more affordable mixed-use environments. This development has seen inner city precincts being re-imagined, allowing new more integrated liveable environments being created. Examples like Covent Gardens in the UK, the Meat Packing District in New York, Shoreditch in the UK, and many others examples. Cities like Copenhagen, the venue of the 2023 UIA Congress (Congress of International Architects) have transformed the inner-city overtime, removing or reducing vehicular traffic and introducing a bicycle-friendly, walkable inner city with active street edges, buildings, and establishments opening onto wide pavements and public spaces.
Urban life in these environments has been transformed and people rediscovering the dynamic life of the city. A case study on the Covent Gardens in London, UK shows the revitalisation of Market Hall precinct and the adaptation of heritage buildings for new uses contributed to create a new precinct identity anchored by public spaces and a walkable environment in a mixed-use urban environment.
The Covid pandemic has introduced a new debate, the “post-Covid” future of cities. With the reality of “hybrid lifestyles”, work from home concepts, and the home office the debate is shifting, with the city finding a new definition towards the life, work and play concepts. It is becoming apparent, that the monocultural office buildings in the inner city will need to be reconsidered. Post Covid, it has to be recognised, that life in the inner cities is changing, with the economic pressures contributing to the change in living, working, and spending patterns. Some businesses have not been able to recover from the impact of Covid and others had to reinvent themselves. In the global North, where city life is the main urban playground characterised by integrated commercial, retail, residential, and social environments, some inner cities are faced with challenges of economic viability due to the post-Covid disruptions and consequencial economic imbalances. Various stakeholders in various cities are grappling with the new realities and seeking solutions that will define the revival and survival of the inner cities impacted by the post-Covid realities.
Discussions in some cities in Europe, Germany in particular, the retail opportunities in the pedestrian streets have been negatively impacted and cities are discussing post-Covid, how to revitalise these erstwhile thriving urban environments? In the Dialogue 4 Urban Change Conference (an exchange and P2P Learning Network of cities between Germany and South Africa) I attended in Stellenbosch earlier in the year, colleagues from the City of Bottrop, Germany reflected in the Living Lab, on how the city is grappling with “revitalising dying inner city pedestrian zones”. One of the initiatives being considered is to “change from the concepts of large retails stores” which did not survive post-Covid and bring smaller retail outlets but also “to bring affordable residential opportunities” in areas that were previously unaffordable for this land-use. Urban life is changing out of necessity.
Where does this live us in the global South? How do we assess the status of our cities in South Africa, what debate is happening regarding the condition of our cities? Most importantly, how can our cities reflect the values and aspirations of the new democratic order towards inclusivity and spatial justice?
On the 8th and 9th June 2023 I attended the 10th Conference of the Western Cape Property Development Forum (WCPDF) at the ICC in Cape Town. This is an annual conference which in 2023 saw officials and administrators of the City of Cape Town, including the Mayors, developers and property owners, corporates, professionals, academics and activists sharing a platform to discuss challenges and opportunities facing the City of Cape Town and the broader Western Cape.
The theme of this year’s conference was “Western Cape Investment: People, Purpose, Prosperity”.
At the WCPDF Conference, on the theme: “The balance between economic development, job creation, activism and social engagement” Prof Nick Binedell, Professor & Consultant, University of Pretoria’s Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS) in his opening address as guest speaker and facilitator of the panel, he commented on how important and unique it was, that ‘such a diverse and multi-stakeholder engagement was possible in Cape Town’, noting that similar platforms are “not possible” in other parts of the country and yet these are critically needed. I shall come back to reflect on the panel by Prof Binedell and the WCPDF Conference.
The debate on the future of South African cities has been documented in various publications and journals since 1994 and before, it has also been covered in various media platforms. However, there seems to be very little public discourse on the matter. To me, this is a matter of concern!.
In the Daily Maverick (6. March 2023), Johnny Friedman points out: “South Africa’s future development and prosperity depend on the creation of districts and neighbourhoods that are inclusive, mixed-use, vibrant, and that speak to young culture and entrepreneurial spirit.
“With the advent of democracy, the inner cities and central districts of South Africa were viewed as unsafe and dangerous. Many corporates and families relocated to the perceived safety of the suburbs and further afield. And in these suburbs, gated residential estates, suburban office parks and shopping centres became the norm – essentially large concrete boxes wrapped in even larger parking lots. Despite a few notable exceptional pockets, the vast opportunities that exist in the private and public areas that make up the fabric of our cities and neighbourhoods are frequently overlooked.”
On the other hand, in the State of the Nation address of 2020, 13. Feb 2020 President Cyril Ramaphosa presented a vision for new cities with bullet trains and other smart city ideas have been proposed by the President in the Lanseria area and other parts of the country. In the State of the Nation address the President announced that ”a new mega smart city project is taking shape in Lanseria, Gauteng”, the project being “a joint project between the Investment and Infrastructure Office in the Presidency and the Gauteng and North West provincial governments”. It was further reported, that this “Lanseria Airport City Mega Project’ is designed to be a high-density mixed-use residential area.” (Business Tech/News/Technology, 14. Feb 2020)
At the Habitat Conference held in Kenya early in June 2023, the SABC reported that the Minister of Human Settlements Ms Kubayi was saying that “South Africa needs new cities because the old ones are overpopulated and unable to serve the needs of the population”. According to the SABC report, the minister said “the country could not continue to rely on the current cities, which are overpopulated due to a lack of expansion”. (SABC, UN Habitat Assembly address, Kenya, June 2023 ).
In a response aired on NewsRoom Afrika, the Executive Director of the African Centre for Cities, Prof Edgar Pieterse reflected as follows:
“The challenge we have is not to build new cities, but to use the existing resources and to do much better with the cities we have. As a result of the legacy of Apartheid, we have a very poor spatial form in most of our cities and makes them unproductive and makes spatial inequalities continues”. He goes further to point out that “the real work that needs to be done, is to densify existing cities, create greater integration between the economy where people live and most importantly across class groupings”.
Prof Pieterse points out that “this is the work Government has set out in its Breaking New Ground policy in 2004, and the tragedy of this search for the silver bullet solution in new cities lies in the fact that Government has not been able to implement its own policies. The new cities are not the answer because they need additional expenditure to address current needs of society but they are also speculative bubbles which detract investment where the real challenges are and where the people are.” (Interview Newsroom Afrika, 18th June 2023).
There does seem to be some public interest in the matter of ‘new cities’ and the need to find solutions for our cities. In another published article, the Ster North, 1 June – 7 June reported that “the Vaal River Mega City project was to be funded by the US based Citigroup to the tune of R1.4Bn in Bedworth Parth. This project at the Vaal River City Interchange between Veereiniging and Vanderbijlpark will include a mega-city with a mixed-use metropolitan development, an international airport, along with logistics, manufacturing and agricultural hubs. This development has been in planning since 2015.
The published article further reports that President Ramaphosa first made reference to this mega-city development in his visit to the Vaal as part of his presidential Imbizo.
With reference to this proposed Mega City, Prof Viruli (Associate Prof at UCT) and Director UCT Urban Real Estate Research Unit, URERU commented to the effect that “there is no need for mega cities in South Africa. The continent is riddled with mega/smart cities that have failed, often only those providing infrastructure have benefitted” he went further to say “let us look at the cities that we have in South Africa – repurposing buildings in our CBD’s is an approach that is socially and environmentally sustainable.
It appears to me that a critical debate is unfolding and needs to be had regarding the future of our Cities. What informs the need for these megacities and how will these relate to existing cities and what communities are envisaged for them? The most important question is the envisaged urban quality being consider for these mega-cities?
The big question is: Where is the public discourse on the ‘need for new mega-cities’ or what is the discussion regarding the state of our cities? Where do we as professionals, academics, architects, urban planners and urban design practitioners stand on the issues? What perspectives do we offer? How do we characterise the post-apartheid city?
My real interest in reflecting on the state of our cities, is to stimulate public debate, especially, the perspectives we as professionals in the built environment should offer towards more inclusive and sustainable cities.
Coming back to the WCPDF Conference, Prof Nick Binedell in the panel Constructive stakeholder engagement to facilitate development, investment & job creation, reflected on the importance of the involvement of multiple stakeholders in the making of cities.
Having lived in Seattle USA, he shared the experience of the deterioration of Seattle after disinvestment by corporates like Boeing early 2000, when the “Boeing Co. stunned its hometown by announcing it is moving its headquarters out of Seattle, where the aircraft manufacturing giant was founded 85 years ago. This meant that “less than half the 1,000 employees working at its Seattle corporate center will be moved to the new headquarters. The others will be transferred to other departments or may be laid off, only the company’s huge jet manufacturing plants will remain in the Seattle area, as will much of its research and development work” said the statement.
The city was facing uncertainty until the ‘new Tech Corporates, Google, Amazon, Uber etc started establishing themselves in the City. Prof Binedell went on to articulate how the City administrators, the Tech Industry Executives, professionals and activists came together to discussed plans of action for the revitalisation of the city. This has resulted in the urban regeneration which has contributed to Seattle being one of the most ‘liveable cities’ in the USA.
With these examples, I strongly believe, and advocate for similar approaches to be adopted in South Africa, to address the state of our cities and the perspectives for the revival and survival of these cities. If there are new cities required, there should be clarity as to how and where these are required, including how these relate to the existing cities. I do not believe that new mega-cities can be island in a sea of dysfunctional cities.
One of the contentious issues in the drive for inclusive cities in South Africa is the role of civil society. For the last decade or so, in Cape Town and other parts of the country this space has been occupied by organisations like the Social Justice Coalition and Ndifuna Ukwazi. These civil society bodes have been calling for the utilisation of public land in the inner cities and the provision of affordable housing especially in the inner cities, noting that housing opportunities in the cities should not only be provided for the higher income groups only. In the drive for affordable housing, civil society bodies have advocating for inclusionary housing which other cities in the global North have been able to provide, and this contributing to more integrated and inclusive cities.
The big issue for affordable housing is the availability of land in the inner city and Ndifuna Ukwazi and other civil society bodies have been calling for the utilisation of public land for this purpose instead of this land being sold off to private developers. This has led to contentious litigation in some cases, which has contributed to the “costly delays on projects” and a perceived “anti-developer sentiment”! This has been an unfortunate development in a space, which has been difficult for the professionals in the built environment to navigate due to the perceived “conflict of interest”.
Professionals in the built environment are an integral part of urban development, private and public, but also integral part of civil society and the drive for just cities is the space that built environment professionals should be promoting and sustaining. Spatial justice has become a term, which built environment professionals need to be engaging in and should be grappling with.
In the report City Leases, City of Cape Town Failures to Redistribute Land (March 2019), the report focuses the particular problem of “leased land owned by the City of Cape Town which should be prioritised for redistribution but instead is used in an inefficient, exclusive and unsustainable manner. How is this possible? Who is managing our land and what is blocking its release? How can we change this and what is possible if we do?”
The report goes further to note, “unlocking public land remains arduous and complex. In the absence of a coherent legislative framework for land administration, developing housing on our best public land is hindered by multiple barriers. Collusion, budget cuts, and a lack of imagination often sees our best land disposed of to the private sector. Even where there is political will, the financial instruments to develop mixed-income public housing are not well developed, and narrow interpretations of legislation are used to block the disposal of land below market rate. Capacity in the City is limited or non-existent and planned projects take many years to move from feasibility to bricks in the ground.”
Ndifuna Ukwazi argues in the report, that “in Cape Town, so little affordable housing has been built in well-located areas like the inner city and surrounds since the end of apartheid. It is time to review how the City of Cape Town manages our public land and stop the renewal of bad leases.”
In my opinion, civil society bodies are an integral and important player in the shaping of our cities and as Prof Binedell pointed out, cities should be developed on a multi-stakeholder basis, and this includes Civil society bodies and the public in general. One of the successes of civil society bodies in the Western Cape at least, has been to achieve a threshold minimum for the provision of affordable housing in private developments, especially where public land is being utilised, or where development rights are being applied for at 20% of residential opportunities. One of the key requirements for this is ensuring that such housing is “provided for into perpertuity”, thereby ensuring that affordable housing is not just a token but entrenched in the housing strategy of our cities.
As a result of the drive for inclusive cities, the Western Cape and the City of Cape Town in the last few years have been engaging civil society bodies and developing concepts and legislation supporting “inclusionary housing”.
In my opinion, these are important developments which need to be accelerated to ensure that our cities to be inclusive, accessible and more integrated to accommodate all sectors of society not only for the higher income groups. It is a known fact that the legislated social housing provision is not adequate to meet the needs of middle-income earners, and the social housing entities have not been able to meet the needs due various factors, economic constraints, unavailability of affordable land, lack of access to finance and inadequate mechanisms to manage rental social housing on a large scale. Some organisations have achieved some successes in this space, but it is known, that there are many difficulties encountered to make social housing and affordable housing viable, some form of cross-subsidisation becomes necessary in current climate.
Prof Edgar Pieterse in his response to the question of “new cities”, pointed out that Government has good policies which are meant to assist with the management of urban development and the creation of integrated cities, however these are not being implemented.
To mention a few, the IDP’s of most cities, the Cape Town IDP in particular calls for “The City of Hope” driven by the following parameters: (see below)
On the other hand, the IUDF (Integrated Urban development Framework) championed by the COGTA (Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs) has nine levers which include Spatial Planning, Transport and Mobility, Human Settlements etc, all these promote equitable and inclusive cities, which in my opinion includes the existing cities as well. As Prof Pieterse pointed out, it appears that these policies are not being implemented at local level. I do not see the IUDF being considered in most of the housing projects of the Department Human Settlements currently.
In the article by Ashraf Adam and Roland Postma in the Daily Maverick (16. March 2023, Urban planning – our cities are at a crossroads) quoting the former National Statistician Mr Pali Lehohla, it is stated: “Confronted by the monumental task of building a nation divided and devastated by apartheid, South Africa has indulged in a series of plans— Reconstruction and Development (RDP), Growth, Employment and Redistribution (Gear), the Integrated Sustainable Rural Development Programme (ISRDP), the Urban Renewal Programme (URP), the Accelerated and Shared Growth Initiative for South Africa (AsgiSA), the New Growth Path, the National Development Plan (NDP), the Nine Point Plan, the Fourteen Point Plan, the New Dawn, the Growth Renewal and Sustainability Plan, the Economic Recovery and Reconstruction Plan, the District Development Model and attendant master plans, and Just Energy Transition. Fourteen plans in three decades is a new toy for the nation every two years.” Cabinet also adopted the integrated Urban Development Framework in 2016 and the National Spatial Development Framework was gazetted in February 2023.”
The big question in my opinion is how policies can be translated into actionable programmes. This is a matter, which should be at the centre of the discourse on the future of our cities and the debate on new mega cities”! It does not seem to make sense, to call for new cities when the mechanisms which the public sector has control of, for managing existing cities seem to be ineffective, inadequate or simply failing. The way new mega cities are likely to develop, is for them to be even more exclusive than the current ones. This is a mater of concern given the lack of public debate on these issues and given the exclusive nature of our cities inherited from the apartheid era.
In the course of 2021 and 2022 I was part of an initiative exploring the urban regeneration and revitalisation of a precinct in the inner City of Johannesburg.
One of the approaches for this initiative was developing an urban strategy at precinct scale as a way of managing the transformation of a precinct which was losing its corporate image as most parts of the JHB inner city have experienced over the last decades, starting in the 90s, with the emergence of Sandton, the revitalisation of
Rosebank and later, the development of Melrose Arch which to many of us was seen as a breakthrough in creating a different sense of urban quality. All these developments were driven by the private sector working with the City of Johannesburg. More recent initiatives include the precinct of Maboneng and Jewel City, which was linked to the revitalisation of the ABSA Bank precinct in the inner city.
The urban strategy we developed for the inner city precinct in Jhb in 2021 was a result of the establishment of an advisory panel of various experts in the built environment, property experts, historians, social activists and the corporate sector, calling for a multi-stakeholder platform which would include other corporate stakeholders, the City, Gauteng Province, civil society, the taxi industry etc to participate and drive the revitalisation initiative. This initiative did not succeed due to the economic and investment climate at the time, and more concerning, the difficulty to get the multi-stakeholder platform off the ground.
In addition to this, the economic viability of the envisaged revitalisation did not seem to work, and the investment climate did not seem to support it.
I am mentioning this as a painful lesson of seeing how an urban strategy and an opportunity to revitalise an inner city precinct was doomed to fail, due to the reasons of lack of coherence and interest in the revival of the fortunes of an inner city precinct and the lack of a longer term vision beyond the current economic and investment climate facing the commercial hub of Africa, Johannesburg,
In conclusion, it is important to mention, that there are no simple answers, the above contributions are part of a broader discourse which I believe is necessary in the context of the state of our cities.
The South African Cities Network is another important player which has been playing a key role in advocating for better cities. Somehow, it does seem that there are many voices playing a role in shaping our cities but there also seems to be a lack of coherence and the shared values do not seem to converge or translate into a coherent vision for our cities. All these voices need to be galvanised to hopefully achieve a shared vision for our cities. Cities cannot be shaped by top-down decisions and declarations at a political level only, they should be shaped by concerted efforts, to meet the needs of society on a multistakeholder basis, the public and private sector working with civil society and the public in general. The debate regarding the future of our cities should centre around ways to achieve this.
In the Daily Maverick (6. March 2023), Johnny Friedman further points out: “I also believe that the concept of a central business district has become obsolete.
“Instead, we should focus on creating multidimensional spaces where people, particularly young people, want to live, work and socialise in order to attract business. These are places that speak to our human, social and cultural needs. Places that are designed to make our cities more connected, sustainable and green foster successful, happy and safe places and people. If we do this, businesses from all over the country and the world will come to these cities, changing South Africa’s outlook, perception and story.”
Johnny Friedman further points out, that “I am convinced that reinventing our cities and neighbourhoods is the only way to turbocharge our economy, create jobs and provide hope to millions of young people. But it is critical to understand that commerce and economic growth are by-products of creating great private and public spaces. It rarely works the other way around.”
Given the current challenges facing our cities, I am fully convinced that this public debate should be inclusive of all the stakeholders and in my opinion, professionals in the bult environment are and should be a critical voice and an active component of this broader discourse regarding a shared and vision for the long-term sustainability of our cities.
.gif)
