Real Estate Investor Magazine South Africa September 2015 | Page 30

ADVERTORIAL

Johannesburg

Development Agency

C

An urban revolution building a new city

ities are a necessity, but do not have to be in
anarchy. The urban environment can be joyful
and an inviting place to work, play and live,
where residents have a say in what they want and need
and mass transit eases the flow of growth instead of
chocking it.
It is this kind of space, with the environment at
heart, that Johannesburg has in mind. And it is this
kind of space that it is building, through structures like
the Johannesburg Development Agency ( JDA). The
agency devotes its energies to improving the urban
environment of the city of gold, building an equitable,
sustainable and resilient city.
The JDA, owned by the City of Johannesburg, takes
an area-based approach to development. Each project
begins with identifying the area’s local competitive
advantages, needs and opportunities. Its capital work
projects are used to catalyse private investment,
enterprise and neighbourhood development. Essential
elements in any of its programmes are improving the
value added by capital works interventions and boosting

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SEPTEMBER 2015 SA Real Estate Investor

the longer-term sustainability of capital investment.
Sustainability, efficiency and innovation are words
that come up regularly when talking about the JDA
and its aim, which is to restructure Johannesburg by
developing defined, strategic geographic areas around
the city and the movement corridors that link them,
as well as turning around declining investment trends.
Economic growth is promoted through clustering
industries, upgrading public spaces, developing
local economic potential in marginalised areas and
encouraging urban management partnerships. In
tandem with this, the agency encourages sustainable
energy consumption and land-use. Strategic transit
nodes and corridors are central to the vision.
The transformation of the City, over the last 14 years,
can be seen in areas like Braamfontein, Vilakazi Street,
Jeppes Town (Maboneng) and Main Street to name
a few. This has been a persistent process by the JDA,
which in turn has impacted positively on the space
economy of Joburg.
www.reimag.co.za