Retail Development in Ekurhuleni South: The Impact of Chris Hani Crossing on the Space Economy of Vosloorus and its Immediate Surroundings

Date
2015-11
Authors
Mtshali, Skhumbuzo
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg
Abstract
As cities continue to grow and progress the agenda and work of urban planners and economists generally overlap. In light of this, understanding microeconomic programs and problems that affect the space economy is a key stride which has the potential of providing useful insights that can help plan efficiently and ultimately devise innovative ideas, more especially for long neglected communities. Communities living in the townships, otherwise known as ‘third space’, of Ekurhuleni Metropolitan Municipality used to travel to former apartheid towns such as Boksburg and Germiston for economic utilities (i.e. Shopping and formal job opportunities). The growth of middle class populace together with the augmentation of economically active members in Ekurhuleni south increased the demand for retail centres that would bring goods and services similar to those afforded to their counterparts in wealthier northern regions. This has sought to reverse some of the legacies of apartheid such as the elimination of the need to travel to areas outside the township for economic needs thus making a drastic impact on the space economy of the region. Whether, by virtue of current political dispensation, this has been motivated by the goal of transforming the space economy of previously marginalised area or the capitalist need to penetrate new markets the spatial outcomes are worth analysing. Micro-spatial transformative tendencies of retail development, which have remained in the blind spot of most municipal authorities in the South African context cannot be ignored or underestimated any further as a development endeavour which has the potential to reshape and reconfigure cities of the South. In addition, part of the Ekurhuleni Metropolitan Municipality’s socioeconomic and spatial goal as well as the Gauteng Provincial Government’s radical economic transformation pillar is to engage in programs that help rectify the apartheid spatial patterns (Manamela, 2015; Motsaanaka, 2008). To interrogate this Chris Hani Crossing has been selected. This research was inspired by a number critical views and debates on the role of malls and shopping centres in third spaces. The idea of third spaces, which will also be interrogated in the body of this research report, is a fairly new concept for an old occurrence which denotes a spatial realm that is exclusive and unique to South African cities. It is every so often referred to as a township or ‘kasi’ (colloquial expression derived from the Afrikaans word lokasi) – which is commonly understood as an underdeveloped space that is neither urban nor rural that was created as a separate monofunctional reserve for people of colour during apartheid, located on the fringes of towns (Mahajan, 2014; Pernegger and Godehart, 2007; Qabaka, 2013). Some of these debates are epitomised by this quote adapted from Urban Land Mark (2013: 2) - "These developers, they just come here, build their shopping centres and then take all the profits out of our areas." This research interrogates such statements by questioning from a planning perspective, the combination of interrelated aspatial and spatial aspects which has led to deeper research and discussions. In conjunction, the development application also considers both the impact of the shopping centre on the distorted spatial makeup of the area and secondary outcomes such as the further provision of job opportunities for the surrounding community both during the construction and operational phases of the development (Motsaanaka, 2008). With the use of both qualitative and quantitative methods of enquiry this research has discovered a localised impact of retail development on the space economy of Vosloorus. Initially, the spatial impact was activated by the development and expansion of basic infrastructure services such as electricity and water to the area which turned the Bierman and Brickfield Road intersection into a prime location for investment. This, as per development plan, was followed by the development of Chris Hani Crossing which further attracted other economic activities thus changing the mono-functional nature of Vosloorus. Correspondingly, retail is a key driver of city expansion and main shaper of the urban form, and infrastructure is a catalyst of development which is crucial for economic and social development, that improves the quality of people’s lives (Fairgray, 2015; Gwagwa, 2014). The secondary developments which have now agglomerated around the mall are the newly established Vosloorus Crossing across the road, light industrial development in the form of automobile industries and brick-making hardware firms on different parts of the intersection, the construction of the biggest medical centre in Kathorus located a walking distance away from the mall, the concentration of informal retail stalls around the mall and the attraction of mobile real estate offices and educational institutions to the area. On the other hand aspatial impacts identified were the increased level of employment, the curtailment of travelling distance and time which has resulted to locals having more disposable time and income to spend on other things as well as the simultaneous rise of both the formal and informal property markets. Evidently, infrastructure development and the establishment of a retail centre in a previously marginalised monofunctional area operated as sequential catalysts of transformation and further development thereby responding to the objective of rectifying the apartheid spatial geography.
Description
Planning Honours Research Report 2015, Wits University
Keywords
space economy, Chris Hani crossing, Ekurhuleni, third spaces, economic development, Vosloorus
Citation
Mtshali, S (2015). Retail Development in Ekurhuleni South: The Impact of Chris Hani Crossing on the Space Economy of Vosloorus and its Immediate Surroundings, Johannesburg