Constructing a joint vision for Johannesburg nature reserves: City Parks and users’ committee engagements in Melville Koppies, Klipriviersberg and Kloofendal nature reserves

Abstract

The research is about understanding the partnerships between Johannesburg City Parks and Zoo and nature reserves users’ groups towards the joint management and development of urban nature reserves. It is a comparative study of three nature reserves (Klipriviersberg, Melville Koppies and Kloofendal nature reserves), where the engagements between the municipal entity and users’ groups are studied through an ethnographic approach. It looks into genealogies and the nature of “partnerships”, which are questioned under the concept of transformation, whose multiple dimensions are unpacked in post-apartheid Johannesburg.