Changing

space,
changing
city
J o h a n n e s b u r g a f t e r a pa r t h e i d

Edited by

P h i l i p H a r r i s o n G r a e m e G ot z
A l i s o n To d e s C h r i s W r ay

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Published in South Africa by

Wits University Press
1 Jan Smuts Avenue
Johannesburg, 2001
www.witspress.co.za
Published edition Wits University Press 2014
Compilation Edition editors 2014
Chapters Individual contributors 2014
Images and maps Individual copyright holders 2014
Editors: Philip Harrison, Graeme Gotz, Alison Todes, Chris Wray
First published 2014
ISBN: 978-1-86814-765-6 (print)
ISBN: 978-1-86814-766-3 (digital)
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced,
stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means,
electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without
the written permission of the publisher except in accordance with the
Copyright Act, Act98of 1978.
All images remain the property of the copyright holders. The publishers
gratefully acknowledge the publishers, institutions and individuals
referenced in captions and in the list of photographic credits for the use
of images. Every effort has been made to locate the original copyright
holders of the images reproduced. Please contact Wits University Press
at the address above in the case of any omissions or errors.
Cover artwork: Windows, Ponte City, 20082010
by Mikhael Subotzky and Patrick Waterhouse,
courtesy Goodman Gallery
Design and layout by Peter Bosman
Indexed by Clifford Perusset
Copyedited by Lee Smith
Printed and bound by Craft Print, Singapore

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Supported by

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Contents

Prefacevii
Cartographyx
1

Materialities, subjectivities and spatial transformation in Johannesburg 

Philip Harrison, Graeme Gotz, Alison Todes and Chris Wray

Section A: The macro trends

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The thin oil of urbanisation?

Spatial change in Johannesburg and the Gauteng city-region 
Graeme Gotz, Chris Wray and Brian Mubiwa

Poverty and inequality in the Gauteng city-region

David Everatt

63

The impact of policy and strategic spatial planning 

Alison Todes

83

Tracking changes in the urban built environment:

An emerging perspective from the City of Johannesburg 
Peter Ahmad and Herman Pienaar

Johannesburgs urban space economy 

Graeme Gotz and Alison Todes

117

Changes in the natural landscape 

Maryna Storie

137

Informal settlements 
Marie Huchzermeyer, Aly Karam and Miriam Maina

154

Public housing in Johannesburg 

Sarah Charlton

176

42

101

10 Transport in the shaping of space 

Mathetha Mokonyama and Brian Mubiwa

194

11 Gated communities and spatial transformation in Greater Johannesburg 

Karina Landman and Willem Badenhorst

215

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Section B: Area-based transformations

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12 Between fixity and flux:

Grappling with transience and permanence in the inner city 
Yasmeen Dinath

232

13 Are Johannesburgs peri-central neighbourhoods irremediably fluid?

Local leadership and community building in Yeoville and Bertrams 
Claire Bnit-Gbaffou

252

14 The wrong side of the mining belt?

Spatial transformations and identities in Johannesburgs southern suburbs 
Philip Harrison and Tanya Zack

269

15 Soweto: A study in socio-spatial differentiation 

Philip Harrison and Kirsten Harrison

293

16 Kliptown: Resilience and despair in the face of a hundred years of planning 

Hilton Judin, Naomi Roux and Tanya Zack

319

17 Alexandra 
Philip Harrison, Adrian Masson and Luke Sinwell

342

18 Sandton Central, 19692013: From open veld to new CBD? 

Keith Beavon and Pauline Larsen

370

19 In the forest of transformation: Johannesburgs northern suburbs 

Alan Mabin

395

20 The north-western edge 

Neil Klug, Margot Rubin and Alison Todes

418

21 The 2010 World Cup and its legacy in the Ellis Park Precinct:
Perceptions of local residents 
Aly Karam and Margot Rubin

437

22 Transformation through transportation: Some early impacts of

Bus Rapid Transit in Orlando, Soweto 
Christo Venter and Eunice Vaz

443

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Section C: Spatial identities

23 Footprints of Islam in Johannesburg 

Yasmeen Dinath, Yusuf Patel and Rashid Seedat
24 Being an immigrant and facing uncertainty in Johannesburg:
The case of Somalis
Samadia Sadouni

456

481

25 On spaces of hope: Exploring Hillbrows discursive credoscapes 

Tanja Winkler

487

26 The Central Methodist Church 

Christa Kuljian

494

27 The Ethiopian Quarter 

Hannah le Roux

498

28 Urban collage: Yeoville 

Naomi Roux

506

29 Phantoms of the past, spectres of the present: Chinese space in Johannesburg 

Philip Harrison, Khangelani Moyo and Yan Yang

512

30 The notice 
Caroline Wanjiku Kihato

527

31 Inner-city street traders: Legality and spatial practice 

Puleng Makhetha and Margot Rubin

532

32 Waste pickers/informal recyclers 

Sarah Charlton

539

33 The fear of others: Responses to crime and urban transformation

in Johannesburg 
Teresa Dirsuweit

546

34 Black urban, black research: Why understanding space and identity

in South Africa still matters 
Nqobile Malaza

553

Contributors567
Photographic credits
568
Acronyms569
List of plates
570
List of figures
571
List of tables
573
Index574

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Preface
This book is published in 2014 the year South Africa celebrates two decades of democracy.
It offers an account of complex and often bewildering transformations in Johannesburg
South Africas premier city since the end of apartheid. We focus on the citys physical
form, but relate this to trends across the economic, political, social and cultural domains,
thus attempting to bridge scholarly traditions that tend to emphasise either the material or
cultural dimensions of the city.
Our major contribution to the already diverse and lively literature on Johannesburg is to
provide a multi-layered analysis of urban change, drawing on new and updated sources of
empirical data, and informed by the perspectives of a range of scholars. Our primary aim
is to understand change in post-apartheid South Africa, but clearly Johannesburgs story
has the potential to inform understandings of the processes shaping urban space globally.
The book is the first product of a larger initiative of engagement with change in the
Gauteng city-region that includes the other major metropolitan hubs, and places that are
more marginal to our spatial imaginations. The initiative is a collaborative one, involving the
School of Architecture and Planning at the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg
and the Gauteng City-Region Observatory (GCRO), as well as contributions from many
scholars across different institutions.
As the book has been a number of years in the making, we have had assistance from
a range of agencies and individuals. The GCRO, the South African Research Chairs
Initiative of the National Research Foundation and the School of Architecture and Planning
provided financial and institutional support for the project. The substantive content comes,
of course, from the considerable efforts and insights of the contributors, and we offer them
our heartfelt thanks. We are also grateful to the anonymous reviewers who provided us
with perceptive comments. Wits University Press provided professional guidance and the
gentle reassurance we needed from time to time. Our sincere thanks go to the publishing
team Veronica Klipp, Roshan Cader, Mary Ralphs, Andrew Joseph and Peter Bosman. The
forbearance of our colleagues in the GCRO and the School of Architecture and Planning,
and of our friends and families, is deeply appreciated, thank you.

vii

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CARTOGRAPHY

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Plate 1Johannesburg within the Gauteng city-region.

Gautengs boundaries include the metropolitan municipalities of Johannesburg, Ekurhuleni and Tshwane, as well as
the district municipalities of Sedibeng and West Rand.

Data source: MDB (2010). Cartography by Chris Wray

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Plate 2Key places in the city of Johannesburg.

Many of the place names mentioned in this book are shown on this map.

Data source: GTI (2009); MDB (2010). Cartography by Chris Wray

Fo r d isc ussio n se e C h a pte r 1

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Plate 3Population distribution across the Gauteng city-region.

Data derived from Census 2011 show that 13.4 million people (one in four South Africans) live
within 100 km of Johannesburgs CBD.

Data sources: MDB (2010); Stats SA (2011b). Cartography by Chris Wray

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Fo r d isc ussio n se e C h a pte r 2

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Plate 4Land use in 1956.

Source: Fair et al. (1957)

These land use maps show the polycentric structure of the Gauteng city-region, and that
Johannesburg is located at the centre of two main axes of development: the north-south axis
connecting Pretoria to the Vaal Triangle industrial complex, and the east-west axis defined by
settlements and activities along the gold reef. Also evident here is how African, coloured and
Indian residential areas were deliberately dislocated from the main urban cores.

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Plate 5Land use in 1974.

Source: DPE (1974)

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Plate 6Urban expansion in Gauteng, 19912009.

Data sources: Mubiwa (2014); Mubiwa and Annegarn (2013). Cartography by Brian Mubiwa

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