City of JohannesburgThe City of Johannesburg Metropolitan Municipality, led by Executive Mayor Amos Masondo, covers 1,644 km2 and contains some 3.2 million people. The City, established as a single tier ‘unicity’municipality, merges previsouly independent satellite towns and suburbs such as Soweto,Alexandra, Randburg, Sandton,Roodepoort,Kyalami,Midrand and Ivory Park. Joburg 2030, the City’s 2002 strategic plan for growth, seeks to reshape Johannesburg’s economy and geography by boosting investment in the city, and improving the quality of life for all city residents. This was complemented by a Human Development Strategy in 2005, and a new Growth and Development Strategy (GDS) in 2006. The GDS is based on six core principles: proactive absorption of the poor; balanced and shared growth; facilitated social mobility; settlement restructuring; sustainability and environmental justice; and innovative governance solutions.
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Johannesburg Development AgencyThe Johannesburg Development Agency (JDA) is an agency wholly owned by the City of Johannesburg which stimulates and supports area-based development initiatives throughout the Johannesburg metropolitan area in support of the City’s Growth and Development Strategy.As development manager of these initiatives, JDA coordinates and manages capital investment and other programmes involving both public and private sector stakeholders. The objectives of the JDA are: to promote economic growth through the development and promotion of efficient business environments in defined geographic areas; to regenerate decaying areas of the city so as to enhance their ability to contribute to the economic development of the city and the quality of life of its residents; to promote economic empowerment through the structuring and procurement of JDA developments; to promote productive partnerships and cooperation between all relevant stakeholders on area-based initiatives; to develop best practice and organisational expertise in respect of area-based development management. |
WISERThe Wits Institute for Social and Economic Research (WISER) at the University of the Witswatersrand, hosts world-class research on the challenges of social and economic transformation specifically throughout Africa.WISER protects the space for independent, critical inquiry into the complexities of change in South Africa,while drawing upon comparative research from the rest of Africa and elsewhere in the world, and foregrounding the wider historical and theoretical significance accompanying research.Main research thrusts include law, criminality, and the moral logics of everyday life; meanings of money and the culture of economic rationality; rethinking ‘race’; cultures of sexuality and power; and the limits of the state. |
School of Architecture and Planning, University of the WitwatersrandThe School of Architecture and Planning at the University of the Witwatersrand is engaged with the challenges of design and development in the dynamic African city of Johannesburg and beyond. The School’s core activity is the provision of an excellent learning environment towards accredited professional degrees in architecture and in planning, and towards qualifications in related fields such as housing, urban design and wider urban studies. The School supports the quality of its degrees through engagement in research and professional work in these fields. The School’s associated research body is the Centre for Urban and Built Environment Studies (CUBES), which is a research and networking entity engaged with a variety of topics and issues on the built environment. CUBES hosts one of the University’s key Research Thrusts on ‘Cities’ and is responsible for bringing together individuals who are interested and can effectively contribute to this topic. |
