Editor ' s Letter /
From the editor
As we become more aware of climate change, the issues around carbon emissions, access to commercial opportunites and the fact that sitting is the new smoking, we are changing the way we think about cities – and about residential estates. We’ re moving away from the concept of dormitory suburbs and long commutes towards integrated mixed-use spaces where we can live, work, play and shop; pedestrian-friendly spaces that allow us to take back the streets and leave our cars in the garage for days on end – or, at the extreme, not own cars and take an Uber when we want to travel further.
ESTATE LIVING
Founder / CEO Jaimé-Lee Gardner
COO / Publisher Louise Martin
Editor Jennifer Stern
Golf editor John Cockayne
Senior subeditor Thea Grobbelaar
Creative Peter Batistich
Contributors Zeenat Moosa Hassan Helen Grange Nia Magoulianiti-McGregor Tessa Buhrmann Di Brown
This trend is really taking off in South Africa so we’ ve had a look at three very different groundbreaking precinct developments. The uMhlanga region on KwaZulu-Natal’ s North Coast is rapidly developing into an integrated, well-planned greenfield precinct. In Gauteng, Midrand is becoming more and more urbanised, as the gap between Joburg and Pretoria closes up. But it’ s not just one highway-dominated megalopolis. Smaller nodes of integrated mixed-use developments like Melrose Arch and Steyn City are creating mini-cities or neighbourhoods where people can live and work and play. But, in Cape Town, it’ s the historic part of the city – the Waterfront, Sea Point and the Foreshore – that is becoming a spectacularly successful mixeduse precinct where locals and international celebrities alike enjoy the freedom to explore that beautiful strip between the mountain and the sea.
But we’ re not limited to South Africa. We explore some of the more interesting old centres of cities around the world – proof that cities have been mixed-use spaces for centuries, even millennia. And – now for something completely different – we explore a somewhat out there community in the California desert, where the residents have created a precinct that fits their way of life and values. And perhaps that’ s the lesson, really. Cities, precincts and estates – they evolve to meet the needs of residents, and those that fail to do so will not be successful. Precincts are not about spaces – they are about people.
Jennifer Stern
Brand ambassadors Jenelle Oosthuizen Esmeralda Stander Michele Jones
Enquiries jaime @ estate-living. co. za louise @ estate-living. co. za
Front cover Marina Residential Estate
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