Newtown renewed : a review

Abstract

Newtown, a district in the western inner city of Johannesburg, has a long history of urban renewal of contested inner city space.

The City Council of Johannesburg’s councillors, planners and consultants have guided and driven Newtown’s renewal planning process since council-owned buildings were vacated in the 1960s. Redevelopment proposals have been changed and revised, often without public participation. Projects have been abandoned, amended or shelved with resultant long delays in implementation.

This review of the renewal of Newtown commences in 1968 and ends in 1995 with the first democratic elections of local authority representatives.

The Council’s profit-driven approach to the renewal of Newtown excluded, or evicted Newtown’s indigenous marginalized cultures, such as squatters, street vendors, mini-bus taxi drivers and homeless people.

Several conclusions can be drawn, including that narrow personal and party-politically motivated agendas diverted resources and led efforts astray from their intended proper public purpose and that a fragmented, exclusive ‘culture’ was planned for.

Planning should be flexible and participatory to meet the changing needs of the diverse cultures that intersect and integrate in Newtown.