Tariq Toffa – The ‘African City Of The Future’ : Johannesburg’s 2040 Vision

Photo: futurecapetown.com

futurecapetown.com. September 2014. Launched in 2011, the Johannesburg 2040 Growth and Development Strategy (Joburg 2040 GDS) defines Johannesburg’s vision for the next 30 years, toward a vibrant, equitable, diverse, “World Class African City of the Future.” It consolidates various other City strategies, and included a wide-reaching engagement and feedback process (GDS outreach).

Joburg 2040 responds to two contexts: continued transformation of the inherited Apartheid City, and the uncertainties of present and future challenges such as migration, globalisation, climate change, natural resource scarcity, and financial markets. Understanding these and other challenges of modern cites as resulting from complex and inter-related factors, key to the Joburg 2040 strategy is its cross-cutting nature, moving away from a narrow sectoral approach toward a more thematic approach to which all targeted City interventions can aim. To this end, three concepts were devised: resilience (the capacity to change and adapt), sustainability (development that does not destroy natural ecology) and livability (quality of life). The City has similarly also defined four inter-related drivers to achieve this: social, environmental, economic and institutional/political change.