Real Estate Investor Magazine South Africa March 2016 | Page 38

TRENDS

CityPlanninginthe21stCentury
City and spatial designs benefiting the greater community
BY KATE THOMPSON-DUWE

P

roperty developers are increasingly becoming
more creative when looking at spatial and
property design, this to meet the ever-evolving
needs of the urban dweller. Shared spaces, duality
within the home, and access to public and private
(communal areas) amenities are all modern-day needs
that wouldn’t have been as important to a developer in
SA a decade or two ago.
As more people choose to move into the city to
minimise commute time, maximise security and
convenience; so do these urban residents look for more
out of their cities than before. A beautiful apartment
to live in is but one of their needs, people also require
creative spaces and open places that they can use for
their after-hours entertainment and relaxation, this
sometimes in lieu of a large garden or entertainment
area in their home. Although many urban apartment
owners that do have their own large gardens and
outdoor spaces still choose to utilise shared spaces for
the social benefit they offer.
“Property developers are becoming increasingly
aware of the value of the wider urban environment,
and in particular of the public realm” comments
Guy Briggs, Director at dhk architects & urban
designers. “This means that they are not only focused
on the design of individual buildings, whether
offices, shops, apartments or private homes; but they
are also aiming to create public spaces on private
land, as well as upgrading existing public space
outside of their site boundaries –ensuring that these
benefit the surrounding community. This serves
the dual purpose of improving the attractiveness of

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MARCH 2016 SA Real Estate Investor

the property concerned, as well as the surrounding
neighbourhood; which in turn increases the value of
their development.”
Good examples of developers doing this are
South Point in Braamfontein, Jhb; Propertuity, the
development brand behind the Maboneng Precinct
also in Johannesburg, and Blok, urban property
development brand making waves on Cape Town’s
Atlantic Seaboard.

Property developers are
becoming increasingly
aware of the value of the
wider urban environment,
and in particular of the
public realm
Braamfontein has evolved from a rundown area with
concerns about crime and vagrancy in the early 2000s,
to being the fourth-largest node for office space in the
city of Johannesburg and home to a number of South
African-based multinational corporations as well as
one of the country’s premier educational institutions,
the University of the Witwatersrand.
The Maboneng Precinct ten years ago was seedy,
crime-ridden and dilapidated. Today there are art
galleries, collaborative work spaces, cinemas, and
www.reimag.co.za