Map of the month

In order to assess the level of community participation in municipal affairs, the GCRO’s Quality of Life Survey V (2017/18) asked a question on respondents’ participation in the Integrated Development Planning process. On average across the sample, 20% of respondents were aware of the IDP but have not participated in it. Only about 3% of the sample had heard of the IDP and had actually participated, while the majority (77%) had never heard of the IDP. This Map of the Month shows the percentage per ward in each of these categories, and also analyses IDP participation by race and income group.

In recent years there has been growing global and national interest in mental health. In the Quality of Life V (2017/18) survey respondents were asked how often they felt depressed or hopeless in the two weeks preceding their participation in the survey. This map shows the percentage of respondents per Gauteng ward who said 'nearly every day' or 'more than half the days'.

At 2 am most of us are home and asleep, and the city-region at its quietest. Yet not everyone is asleep, and many activities run 24 hours a day. And even where most people are asleep and there is little activity, it doesn't mean that the places we live in are dark. This Map of the Month uses freely available 1 km resolution light intensity data taken at 2 am to show where the brightest lights at night are in the Gauteng City Region and is visualised in an interactive 3D model. This data shows the extent to which humans have shaped urban form and where economic activity occurs.

This Map of the Month is an interactive visualisation – an online story map – exploring the various facets of graffiti in Maboneng, Johannesburg. The story map examines the spatial relationships between graffiti and the surrounding urban environment, notably the distribution and density of graffiti, the visibility of graffiti, and the themes conveyed by the artworks themselves.

The total number of commercial and industrial buildings in Gauteng increased by 30% from 2001 to 2016. This series of maps shows the distribution of these buildings broken down by commercial buildings, industrial buildings and informal trading structures. They also show areas of growth and decline.