A political economy analysis of transit corridors (2020)

This project seeks to understand the genealogy and the institutional political economy of what was previously called ‘Corridors of Freedom’, now transit-oriented development (TOD) corridors in Johannesburg, as well as, to a lesser extent, other more nascent forms of TOD in the Gauteng City-Region. TOD has gradually become, at national and metropolitan levels, the instrument for leading spatial transformation in the post-apartheid era, although there have also been more recent contestations. This focus on TOD - and specifically on improved mobility, accessibility and densification - can be connected to the increasing allure of the approach internationally in addressing growing socio-spatial inequalities. But it has strong local and national roots in a city marked by a particularly stark spatial paradox: i.e. the historically inherited but ongoing (indeed increased) spatial divide between housing location and employment opportunities for the majority of residents.

The emphasis on transit corridors has been shaping capital expenditure in Johannesburg and have been positioned as a conduit for intricate institutional and regulatory reconfigurations within the municipality. Meanwhile, the 2014 national Integrated Urban Development Framework (IUDF), aimed at guiding South African cities through spatial transformation, has explicitly endorsed the TOD model - and Johannesburg’s Corridors of Freedom as lead experience. However, many obstacles are likely to derail the initiative, including the technical difficulties of implementing such a complex urban intervention, its political management and (intended and unintended) complexities such as affordability and financial viability. The research seeks to answer the following question: is the globalising discourse / policy toolbox on TOD, and how it has been taken up locally, up to the task of leading comprehensive spatial restructuring in cities with distorted settlement patterns and politically and administratively complex and contested institutional settings?

This research traced the political, institutional, technical and financial dimensions of the COF. It sought to document the factors leading to TOD’s adoption by the City of Johannesburg’s leadership, and to excavate the ‘localisation’ of mainstream interpretations of TOD that was operated in the process. Apart from a number of dialogues and presentations, the primary output from the project was a GCRO Provocation published in November 2020 (A shared output with the Governing the GCR Provocations Series Project)

Outputs

GCRO outputs

Harber, J. and Bryer, M. (2020). 'Unrealistic expectations, unrealised: bus rapid transit in Johannesburg'. GCRO Provocation 7, Johannesburg: GCRO.

Presentations

Jackie Klopp, Jesse Harber, and Magnus Quarshie (June 2018). 'A Review of Metropolitan Governance, Bus Rapid Transit and Minibus Systems in African Cities', VREF Research Network Workshop, Dar es Salaam, 25 June 2018.

Jesse Harber (February 2018). 'Unbuilding the apartheid city: Johannesburg’s Corridors of Freedom'. ACC International Urban Conference, 2 February 2018.

Jesse Harber (September 2017) "Unbuilding the apartheid city: Johannesburg’s ‘Corridors of Freedom’", International Initiative for the Promotion of Political Economy Conference, 14 September 2017.

Jesse Harber and Barbara Lipietz (September 2017) "Seeing like a transformative state: the Corridors of Freedom and the promise of spatial justice in Johannesburg, South Africa", RC21, Leeds, 13 September 2017.

Jesse Harber (July 2017) 'The impact of transport on Gauteng as South Africa’s economic heartland', Transport Forum, 6 July 2017.

Last updated 23 November 2021