GCRO, Gauteng COGTA and Urban Planning's Spatial Transformation Symposium
The GCRO, in partnership with the Gauteng Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs and Urban Planning (Gauteng COGTA & Urban Planning), hosted a one-day symposium on spatial transformation and Gauteng Spatial Development Framework on 18 August 2022. The Symposium coincided with a two month public comment phase on the Gauteng Provincial Government's draft review of the Gauteng Spatial Development Framework (GSDF 2030). The symposium brought the draft GSDF 2030 review and recent GCRO research into conversation.
Over the last decade, the GCRO has made significant contributions to academic and applied policy research on spatial transformation in the Gauteng City-Region. In particular, it has recently published a number of major reports and academic articles on topics including: the role of multiple actors in producing space, key spatial trends, spatial inequality, spatial imaginaries and how spatial development is conceived, transit oriented development, and interwoven social justice and sustainability concerns in the planning of public housing developments. Much of this work has policy implications for the way in which future spatial development in Gauteng is conceived and implemented.
The event was held at the University of Johannesburg Council Chambers in the Madibeng Building. The programme is available here. The discussions were led by officials driving the revision of the GSDF framework and a response by a City of Johannesburg official on municipal Spatial Frameworks. GCRO researchers then provided engagements based on their research. In particular they argued the need to understand and work with existing forces of urban growth in order to direct spatial transformation, the importance of peripheral areas even though they seemingly contradict the ideal of the compact city and the paradoxical effects of housing provision on justice and sustainability.
The various presentations provoked many engagements from the floor. One noteworthy intervention urged that the next round of GSDF drafting should be used as a device to foster intergovernmental cooperation - various branches of provincial government and Gauteng's municipalities would jointly contribute to the drafting and therefore be able to have a shared conversation about spatial transformation.
You can download the presentations here:
Review of Spatial Development Framework 2030
Draft Review: Gauteng Spatial Development Framework 2030
Transformation in the Johannesburg SDF & SDF’s in Different Spheres of Government - Dylan Weakley
The production of space in Gauteng - Richard Ballard
Just transitions: a view through housing - Christina Culwick Fatti