PRECINCT MANAGEMENT
The Power of
Community Cooperation
Success stories of urban renewal
Most of human existence has been associated with a rural lifestyle. Within the first 1800 years, less than 4 % of the world lived in cities- by the 1900s this grew to almost 15 %. 2009 was the first time in history that more people lived in cities than in rural areas. If current urbanisation rates prevail, 2050 will see 70 % of the world’ s inhabitants urbanised. This global phenomenon spells trouble for most cities around the world, as most were never designed to cater for these volumes of inhabitants.
The way forward City / Business Improvement Districts( CID) are now commonplace worldwide, with more than 1,000 in the United States alone. Former New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani was a great supporter of improvement districts, so much so that he based his urban regeneration strategy for Manhattan firmly on this concept. Currently, there are in 74 improvement districts in New York with a total budget exceeding $ 134m.
In South Africa, depending on where you are located, these initiatives are known as CIDs( Gauteng), Urban Improvement Precincts or UIPs( KwaZulu-Natal) and Special Ratings Areas or SRAs( Cape Town). During 2016, CID’ s in Johannesburg collected more than R130m in levies. Almost 85 % of these funds were spent on security and cleaning initiatives. These precincts have attracted private sector investment exceeding R42bn.
The Excellerate Precinct Management team, a division of Cushman & Wakefield Excellerate, has been at the forefront of creating and managing almost all of the 18 legislated CIDs within Johannesburg. Excellerate has a demonstrated track record of taking a holistic approach to urban regeneration and place marketing; managing some of Johannesburg’ s premium destinations including Sandton Central, Rosebank, Braamfontein and The Retail Improvement District( adjacent to Bank City).
The key to success Every node has its own story and a unique identity. Excellerate Precinct Management’ s MD, Ryan Mathew, suggests a collaborative approach is key.“ We partner with our stakeholders to create a vision for the area. Once this is captured in a business plan, a detailed operations programme is created to address service delivery requirements. Besides addressing the basics of‘ crime and grime‘, particular emphasis is allocated to place-making interventions aimed at extracting the essence of what makes that area special.”
There are numerous success stories across Johannesburg where the city has partnered with the CID’ s to improve infrastructure by co-funding projects. Main Street Mall, Gandhi Square and the Braamfontein Alleyway Upgrade are all initiatives that have been facilitated through their respective improvement districts. During 2015, the City of Johannesburg together with the Sandton Central Management District( SCMD) hosted the global Ecomobility Festival. With pedestrians and public transport given priority in Sandton Central, and much of it off-limits to private motorised transport for an entire month, the success of this festival hinged on the SCMD’ s ability to facilitate and coordinate activities with the city.
City improvement districts offer a real-world mechanism to deal with widespread urban challenges that impair private property values. There is empirical evidence that shows these areas are significantly better placed to deal with the coming challenges of global urbanisation. Finally, private property owners have an effective means to halt and, in most instances, roll back the effects of urban degeneration.
Excellerate manages and services City Improvement Districts across South Africa with precincts in KwaZulu-Natal, Cape Town and Gauteng.
38 AUGUST 2017 SA Real Estate Investor www. reimag. co. za