Corridors of Freedom: Analyzing Johannesburg’s Ambitious Inclusionary Transit-Oriented Development

Abstract

In 2013, the Mayor of Johannesburg announced the ambitious Corridors of Freedom (CoF) initiative to transform the city’s socio-spatial structure. The CoF were constructed to be an inclusionary form of transit-oriented development (TOD). Using a 1,200 respondent survey, over 75 interviews, documentary analysis, and attendance at public participation interventions, the paper questions the possibilities for, and constraints on, the practice of inclusionary TOD. Using six criteria—spatial transformation, mobility, affordable accommodation, jobs and livelihoods, social integration, and participation—we demonstrate the mixed outcomes of inclusionary TOD.

Financing urban development, three business models: Johannesburg, Shanghai and London

“…The Corridors project reflects the path dependent concerns of post-apartheid governance, but they are not, of course, unusual in the global context with many municipal governments deploying forms of TOD motivated by concerns for sustainability and social inclusion (see, for example, Renne & Appleyard, 2019 ; Shen & Wu, 2019 ), Furthermore, the Corridors were in fact not a “new” idea. The concept drew on ideas circulating internationally but also developed as part of a long-standing South African conception of how corridor-based development could be used to remake the apartheid city which had been propagated since the 1980s ( Harrison, Rubin, Appelbaum, & Dittgen, 2019 ). In fact, since the single-tier metropolitan authority of Johannesburg was established in 2000, evolving spatial policy had been built around the densification, compaction and integration of a spatially dispersed and overall low-density urban agglomeration.…”

“…Although TOD is often linked to synergized public and private interests ( Guthrie & Fan, 2016 ), there were no large real estate developers waiting in the wings for the Corridors, and the City of Johannesburg had to work hard to entice developers away from their traditional spatial preferences to invest in the Corridors ( Todes & Robinson, 2019 ). The Corridors initiative was the consequence of a political move by an ambitious mayor who was concerned to show that his new administration could deliver practically on a national agenda for socio-spatial transformation ( Harrison et al, 2019 ). The Corridors was an ambitious initiative, embedded in a long-term perspective for the city, with densification expected to unfold progressively over fifteen to twenty years, rather than through a quickly implemented mega project (interview 2 August 2016).…”

“…The critical element for assessment is whether the public investment is catalyzing a requisite response from the private sector, and whether this response is consistent with the development and inclusionary objectives of the programme. In this regard, Harrison et al (2019) , p.11) reveal the complex mix of outcomes in relation to the inclusionary objectives with the benefits in terms of affordable housing, better access to services and transport, and economic opportunity, mainly “accruing to an upper lower segment of the market” rather than to the poorest social segments. Furthermore, and especially given the strong political steer and branding of the Corridors project, political changes in the city government could potentially have significant implications for outcomes over time.…”

Thinking density through selected international case cities

“…The Istanbul case shows how a conservative state ideology threatens the routines and communities of the gecekondu, which are pathologised as a 'bad' form of density, with the new developments failing to accommodate lifestyle diversity in its new developments. Harrison et al (2019) show that even policies that are inclusionary in their intent, can have outcomes that are negative, or at least ambiguous, in their effects on the urban poor.…”

Reinventing urban South Africa through global-Africanisation

“…M uch of the literature on urban reconstruction in post-apartheid South Africa has focused largely on the discourse of globalisation and its impact on urban policy (Parnell and Robinson 2006;Peet 2002;Watson 2003Watson , 2009Pillay, Tomlinson, and du Toit 2006), governance (Ballard and Schwella 2000;Carmody 2002;Marais ), Political Economy (poverty) (Williams and Taylor 2000;Jordaan 2001;Geyer 2005) and urban development and planning (Bond 2003(Bond , 2005Harrison 2006;Harrison, Huchzermeyer, and Mayekiso 2008;Harrison and Todes 2015;Harrison et al 2019), among other issues. However, it has paid little attention on Africanisation, let alone the Africanisation discourse that was dominant in the 1990s.…”