Assessing the consistency of development applications with the City of Johannesburg’s Spatial Development Framework

Abstract

The City of Johannesburg has a fragmented urban form, one that has been shaped by apartheid spatial planning. Hence certain areas are at a disadvantage in terms of development when compared to others within the city. The City has developed a large number of spatial plans over the years that are targeted at remedying this issue. The study examines the extent to which the development trends are consistent with the Spatial Development Framework, with a focus on the city’s marginalized areas -the previously disadvantaged areas within Johannesburg. The research report looked at town planning and building plan application data over a 10 year period. And also at municipal infrastructure spend within the City. The report analysed the town planning and building plan data from the City of Johannesburg through the production of graphs and maps in relation to the spatial policy used within the City of Johannesburg. The research revealed that there is consistency between development and the spatial policy within the City of Johannesburg. The spatial policy aims to influence development and where development happens and although there are challenges especially with regards to the private sector development, the spatial policy is able to create a vision for development and influence where the City spends its infrastructure budget. The spatial policy of the city has also been able to influence some form of development and transformation within some of the marginalized areas. This is evident within Jabulani in Soweto, which is one of the nodes selected as an area of focus by the City and has now become a part of the Transformation zone as per the Spatial Development Framework of the City