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The revitalisation of parks and open spaces in downtown Johannesburg

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DOI: 10.5379/urbani-izziv-en-2016-27-01-003

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UDC: 712:712.25(682.131)
DOI: 10.5379/urbani-izziv-en-2016-27-01-003

Received: 17 Jul. 2015
Accepted: 12 Mar. 2016

Leani DE VRIES
Nico KOTZE

The revitalisation of parks and open spaces in

downtown Johannesburg

Notwithstanding the “back-to-the-city” process taking parks and open spaces has been adequately incorporated
place in pockets of Johannesburg’s inner city, the area into Johannesburg’s urban regeneration plans. However,
investigated in this study is still perceived by some observ- certain constraints are thwarting progress in implement-
ers as one of decline and is associated with criminal activi- ing such improvements. The unique dynamics of the inner
ties. Although Johannesburg’s parks and open spaces have city pose a significant challenge to maintaining parks and
been subjected to urban decline over the past decades, open spaces, and these should be properly understood
they are currently undergoing urban revitalisation. This and planned for. There also appears to be a need for fairer
study investigates the size and user-friendliness of the and more efficient allocation of resources and for forg-
open spaces and parks accessible to inner-city residents. ing more effective partnerships. The study concludes that
It also considers current conditions and the level and ef- the needs of the community will only be met once these
fectiveness of the maintenance services available. Further- management issues have been prioritised and addressed.
more, it examines the regeneration strategies of Johannes-
burg, determining through them the specific provisions
made for parks and open spaces by the local metropolitan Keywords: Johannesburg, parks, redevelopment, inner
council. The study determines that the redevelopment of city, urban decline

Urbani izziv, volume 27, no. 1, 2016

124 L. DE VRIES, N. KOTZE

1 Introduction

The decline of Johannesburg’s inner city cannot be understood

without considering the impact that apartheid had on all set-
tlements in South Africa. This is generally clear in the case of
central business districts in South Africa, which were zoned as
white-only areas in the apartheid era. Because there was lim-
ited access to these areas by non-whites, they were confined to
peripheral areas (Bollens, 1998). In the case of Johannesburg’s
inner city, decline followed as a result of the flight of white
businesses and residential populations to Randburg, Sandton
and Midrand, further north, in the  1970s and  1980s. As a
result, the inner city experienced significant change in the
Figure 1: Inner-city and informal traders (photo: Nico Kotze).
following periods. Buildings were abandoned, infrastructure
started to deteriorate and the previous predominantly white
inner-city population was replaced by a rapidly increasing play a role in the big city and be part of what it has to of-
black population that had previously been denied access to fer (Piiparinen, 2013; Walsh, 2013). The Maboneng Precinct,
the inner city (Young, 2012). a privately controlled urban enclave, has been developed on
portions of two of the oldest suburbs of the inner city (namely
Johannesburg’s inner city was unable to provide adequate City and Suburban and Jeppestown), providing for the needs
services and infrastructure for this growing population and of these new urbanites by making urban living space available
its accelerating demands  (Garner, 2011). Therefore, it came to them  (Walsh, 2013). The second area undergoing rapid
to be characterised as accommodating a predominantly poor change is Doornfontein, where the renewal process is mainly
population  (Winkler, 2009) and, as a result, underwent sev- being driven through developments providing accommodation
eral transformations in its downward spiral of decline. Af- to students  (see also Donaldson et  al., 2014). According to
ter five decades of urban decline, Johannesburg’s inner city, Tanja Winkler (2013), notwithstanding the large amounts of
along with its network of parks and open spaces, today faces money that have already been invested in its redevelopment,
a number of challenges, such as a rapidly increasing popula- Johannesburg’s inner city – with the exception of these isolated
tion (Murray, 2011; Todes, 2012). This is also a destination for pockets of regeneration – is still in a state of decline (see Fig-
a large numbers of immigrants, especially from Sub-Saharan ure 1). For many observers and the popular media, Hillbrow
Africa  (Landau  & Gindrey, 2008; Rogerson  & Rogerson, in particular remains an urban area in a state of decline, with
2015). As such, it is essential that this growing population be criminal activities reigning supreme  (Schnehage, 2012). As
assisted through provision of adequate services and facilities, early as 2005, Ivor Chipkin (2005) admitted that downtown
employment and thereby the promise of improved prospects Johannesburg needed to be cleaned up and that it should be
for making a living (Rudolph et al., 2012; Rogerson & Rog- done in cooperation with the private sector, which is regarded
erson, 2015). as a better partner in the regeneration process.

For almost two decades now, regeneration efforts have been Parks and open spaces serve the surrounding community with
underway to revive Johannesburg and raise it to the status a multitude of functions and benefits, and are therefore im-
of a “world-class African city”  (Rogerson, 1996; Rogerson, portant considerations in attempts at urban regeneration that
2004; Rogerson & Rogerson, 2015). However, notwithstand- aim to assist decaying cities  (Thwaites et  al., 2005; Page  &
ing these endeavours and the fact that Johannesburg is at the Connell, 2010; Özgüner, 2011; Bratina Jurković, 2014; Cerar,
very core of South Africa’s economic heartland, the city is 2014; Pompe  & Temeljotov Salaj, 2014). It should generally
weakly represented in scholarly urban research programmes be acknowledged that the needs and demands of socially and
in the country (Visser & Roger, 2014; Rogerson & Rogerson, culturally diverse groups should be accounted for in urban
2015), which are fundamental for understanding and counter- planning programmes specifically for parks and open spaces in
ing urban decline and promoting urban regeneration. order to adequately fulfil their purpose in the modern urban
arena (Bollens, 1998; Chiesura, 2004; Goličnik, 2008). Access
As in the rest of the world, a process of “returning to the city” to parks and open spaces is a basic human right and, in light
is taking place in Johannesburg, a movement back to the in- of the current and ongoing attempts to foster regeneration
ner city, largely driven by young suburbanites that want to in Johannesburg, sufficient attention should be given to these

Urbani izziv, volume 27, no. 1, 2016

The revitalisation of parks and open spaces in downtown Johannesburg 125

“green lungs” because they have the potential to contribute to 1 Joubert park
the renewal and revival of the city. 2 Alec Gorschel Park 0
metres 400
3 J. Z. de Villiers Park
4 Mitchell Park
This study investigates one aspect of attempts at rejuvenation 5 Nugget Street Park
6 Attwell Gardens Park
taking place in the city; namely, the redevelopment of parks in 7 End Street South Park
inner-city Johannesburg as part of the city’s regeneration. The 8 End Street North Park
9 Ernest Oppenheimer Park
study is divided into five sections. The first section explains the 10 Tudhope Park
decline of the inner city and the need for urban regeneration.
The second describes the study area and presents the research
objectives. The third section reviews the functions and benefits
of parks and open spaces in urban areas. The fourth showcases
the improvements to the ten parks in Johannesburg’s inner city
included in this study. The final section offers recommenda-
tions and concluding remarks.

2 Study area and research aims

According to Martin Murray, cited in Christian Rogerson and

Jayne Rogerson (2015), the metropolis of Johannesburg has an
estimated population of 3.9 million, making it one of the larg-
est urban areas in Africa. Johannesburg is divided into seven
districts or regions  (Regions A through G). Region  F is the
region of interest in this study. It includes both the inner city
and the suburbs of Johannesburg South  (see Figure  2). This
Figure  2: Parks in inner-city Johannesburg  (illustration: Leani de
study area was chosen to encompass a network of ten diverse Vries).
parks randomly distributed within the inner city and bordered
by main roads. It comprises the suburbs of Berea, Hillbrow and Johannesburg Johannesburg Administrative Region F
Administrative Regions
Joubert Park and is bordered by Braamfontein and Doorn- 0 5 km
fontein. The streets marking the borders of the study area are
Albertina Sisulu Street to the south, Louis Botha Avenue to
the north, Harrison Street and Clarendon Place to the west, Braamfontein
and Joe Slovo Drive to the east. The parks thus fall into dif- Crematorium Rhodes
Park
ferent areas in the inner city, and the functions of these areas
range from commercial to residential. The ten parks in the
Street trees in
study are Nugget Street Park, the End Street Parks (North and Springfield
Facilities in
Springfield
South), Joubert Park, Attwell Gardens Park, Ernest Oppenhe- Pioneer Park
imer Park, Alec Gorschel Park, Tudhope Park, J. Z. de Villiers
Park and Mitchell Park (see Figure 3).

This study had the following aims:

• To determine the size of the open spaces and parks avail-
able to inner-city residents. Kibler Park

• To analyse the current condition and level of mainte-

nance of parks in the study area.
• To examine the regeneration strategies introduced by the
City of Johannesburg and determine the specific provi-
sions made for parks and open spaces through these
strategies.
Johannesburg Administrative region Ward Depots
boundary boundaries boundaries
To attain these aims, a mixed-methods research design was
adopted for this project to take advantage of a multiple-method Figure 3: Administrative regions of Johannesburg (illustration: Leani
de Vries).

Urbani izziv, volume 27, no. 1, 2016

126 L. DE VRIES, N. KOTZE

approach to explore the problems of inner-city parks in Johan- the size of the open space can adequately accommodate the
nesburg. The locations and areas of the parks and open spaces surrounding population. Furthermore, distance between the
were determined. A semi-structured interview was conducted place of residence and the closest open space will also deter-
with the manager of Region  F to gather information on the mine the functionality of that space in the urban area. More
condition of the ten parks and their levels of maintenance, and, regular park users are more likely to live close to these ameni-
finally, site visits were carried out over a year (from June 2014 ties (Mwendwa & Giliba, 2012). Other studies have suggested
to July 2015) to ascertain whether the parks were being main- that there is a need for a network of several small connected
tained as claimed by the local government. open spaces that resembles a mosaic pattern rather than a
large dedicated open space in an urban area. This suggestion
3 Parks and open spaces: Functions makes sense in today’s society because of the low availability
of land to dedicate as green open space in most developed
and benefits cities  (Thwaites et  al., 2005). Furthermore, a sustainable city
Cities or urban areas are environments with a multiplicity and is viewed as being compact, with a wide range of functions
variety of land-use functions, including commercial, adminis- and multiplicity of uses, and as being able to accommodate a
trative, residential and leisure uses  (Page  & Connell, 2010). network of small open spaces. In the case of Central Park, it
Urban open spaces are significant in urban areas because they is suggested that the community would have benefited more
perform several functions within the urban area and provide a from a network of many smaller parks than from this large
wide variety of direct and indirect benefits. They are valuable one (Thwaites et al., 2005). Emily Talen (2010) believes that
because they provide for the social, psychological, environmen- the spatial distribution of parks and other public amenities is
tal and health needs of the surrounding community (Chiesura, a significant determinant of welfare and social justice. With
2003). Studies have shown that both the psychological and regard to welfare, she points out that residents of lower-income
physical health attributes of regular park users are generally neighbourhoods are more likely to walk greater distances to
greater than those for people that do not regularly visit parks gain access to open spaces. However, the utilisation and abil-
and open spaces (Chiesura, 2003). Such spaces serve the com- ity to realise the potential of these public amenities by the
munity by offering an opportunity to reduce stress levels and local communities living in the vicinity of the park is limited
enhance fitness levels. Children also benefit greatly from ac- due to negative perceptions, such as high crime rates in such
cess to open spaces because they allow for play. This has been areas (Talen, 2010).
shown to be extremely beneficial to children’s physiological
and cognitive development (Page & Connell, 2010). Planning Urban regeneration poses a solution to the problem of urban
is important for parks in areas of social and cultural diversity decay and can be realised through the implementation of ef-
and in open spaces in general. Halil Özgüner (2011) empha- fective planning methods. It is a process that generally fol-
sises the importance of planning when he states that it is vital lows periods of urban decay and decline in cities, and can be
for urban parks and open spaces to be designed and managed defined as “the redevelopment or rehabilitation of older parts
effectively to successfully provide for the needs associated with of towns and cities, including their business areas” (Gibson &
the social and cultural diversity of the community in the vi- Langstaff, 1982: 12). Along with physical regeneration, it is
cinity of parks. In their studies, Michèle Jolé (2008) and Wil- also important that the attitude of the community also changes
liam Solecki and Joan Welch (1995) also acknowledge the role in a positive way (Thwaites et al., 2005). Another important
that green open spaces play in serving the diverse communities aspect of urban regeneration, and central to the theme of
that surround parks and open spaces and utilise these facili- this article, is to acknowledge the importance of green open
ties. According to Emily Thompson  (2002), open spaces in spaces because they make cities more attractive and add to the
cities must be “beautiful places” that promote social cohesion aesthetic, historical and recreational value of the surrounding
and equity. Thus, the quality of urban areas is dependent on areas (Chiesura, 2003; Giliberti, 2013). Thus, Mwendwa and
the provision of planning and management strategies for such Giliba (2012) argue that policymakers should not ignore the
open spaces (Council for the Environment, 1989). However, role that open spaces play in urban areas. Furthermore, plan-
despite this, urban open spaces receive much less political at- ning measures for open spaces should be included in the overall
tention than necessary (Chiesura, 2003). planning programmes of cities to provide for the population’s
needs  (Enger, 2005; Zhang et  al., 2012). By attracting more
The way that open spaces are spatially arranged might also people and investment, open spaces have regenerative effects
shape the relationship between the population and the sur- and enhance the economic value of urban areas.
rounding open space, and the shared benefits that these areas
offer  (Thwaites et  al., 2005). Patrick Mwendwa and Richard There is also a lesson to be learned from urban regeneration in
Giliba  (2012) recommend a uniform distribution, in which Birmingham. Because the regeneration of Birmingham was in

Urbani izziv, volume 27, no. 1, 2016

The revitalisation of parks and open spaces in downtown Johannesburg 127

fact based on the development of a new city park, the Depart-

ment for Transport, Local Government and Regions  (2002)
in the United Kingdom uses this example to illustrate how
increasingly more cities are realising the potential of their parks
and open spaces. Open spaces are said to have a “restorative
potential” as components in the urban regeneration process
that can satisfy a new urban lifestyle and sustain a liveable
city  (Thwaites et  al., 2005). According to Anna Chiesu-
ra (2003), the idea of a more liveable city is increasingly being
attached to the concept of green open space, the importance
of providing adequate areas of open space and enabling the
population to gain access to them.

4 Development and redevelopment Figure  4: The  2015 redevelopment of Alec Gorschel Park  (photo:
of parks in Johannesburg Nico Kotze).

The Council for Scientific and Industrial Research or However, Johannesburg City Parks and Zoo does not keep to
CSIR  (2012) has published guidelines for the provision of these recommended timetables and tends to clean up parks
social amenities and facilities in South Africa. These guide- only when there is a demand for such services.
lines apply to different types of settlements that range from
metropolitan areas and large cities to remote rural villages. According to Ipeleng Dube  (2014), senior manager for Re-
The open space provision (including parks, sports facilities and gion F at Johannesburg City Parks and Zoo, the parks in re-
cemeteries) in South African metropolitan areas is indicated as gion F are classified on the basis of their characteristics, which
less than 0.5 hectare per 1,000 residents (CSIR, 2012). This is determines their maintenance requirements and schedules.
considerably lower than the international standard. According Flagship parks are regarded as “top” parks that require weekly
to the City of Johannesburg (2014), open spaces in the inner maintenance. These are usually the larger parks in Johannes-
city are severely lacking in terms of the international standard burg. Developed parks are usually community parks that re-
of two hectares per 1,000 residents. quire maintenance in a twenty-one-day maintenance cycle, and
underdeveloped parks are maintained only once in a sixty-day
The Johannesburg Development Agency  (JDA) was estab- cycle. The undeveloped parks are large open spaces mainly in
lished in 2001, with its main priority being the regeneration older suburban or previously disadvantaged areas, as in Johan-
of the inner city. It tends to invest in both high- and low- nesburg South, which forms part of Region F. The challenges
profile projects (Bethlehem, 2013), some of which are aimed of maintaining the inner-city parks are unique compared to the
at improving the public environment, including the inner-city rest of the city’s parks because the inner-city parks face several
parks. According to Monyane Mapetla (2006), the JDA is cur- constraints. First, the situation in the inner city is such that
rently involved in managing the planning and development of both maintenance and security are required virtually on a daily
the inner-city region projects and is thus a relevant stakeholder basis. This causes complications in setting up schedules and
worthy of consideration. Johannesburg City Parks and Zoo keeping to them. Second, limited budgets and time constraints
was also established as a stakeholder in the City of Johannes- hinder proper maintenance. An additional factor is the lack
burg in 2000, and is responsible for over two thousand parks of manpower and inadequate workforce skills. Dube estimates
in the municipality of Johannesburg. In accordance with the that, of her  140  staff members, only sixty-six are involved in
vision of the City of Johannesburg, Johannesburg City Parks maintenance-related work. This number is insufficient, consid-
and Zoo aims to transform the city into a “green, clean, con- ering that Region  F includes the inner city as well as Johan-
served and active world-class African city” (Johannesburg City nesburg South and is home to around 230 parks, amounting
Parks and Zoo, 2014). to a total area of 6,288 hectares.

Johannesburg is divided into seven regions; the inner city (the The ten parks in the inner city range in area from 2,800 m² (Tud-
study area) is located in Region F, with nineteen wards and six hope Park in Berea) to 38,500 m² (Joubert Park in the CBD;
parks (see Figure 3). The parks of Johannesburg are categorised see Table  1). Among these parks, only Joubert Park is classi-
as either flagship, developed or underdeveloped parks, and fied as a flagship park with a seven-day maintenance schedule.
park maintenance is scheduled according to these categories. The other nine parks are all classified as developed parks with

Urbani izziv, volume 27, no. 1, 2016

128 L. DE VRIES, N. KOTZE

Table 1: Parks of inner-city Johannesburg.

Park Location Size (m²) Maintenance cycle (days) Redevelopment cost (ZAR)
Joubert CBD 38,500 7 1.5 million
Alec Gorschel Berea 16,700 21 n.a.
J. Z. de Villiers Berea 16,000 21 3.6 million
Mitchell Berea 11,320 21 0.65 million
Nugget Street Doornfontein 8,000 21 None
Attwell Gardens CBD 8,000 21 4.5 million
End Street South Doornfontein 7,700 21
10.4 million*
End Street North Doornfontein 5,500 21
Ernest Oppenheimer CBD 3,300 21 n.a.
Tudhope Berea 2,800 21 19,000
Note: * For both parks.

twenty-one-day maintenance schedules, thus being cleaned The two smallest parks in the inner city are Tudhope and Er-
only once every three weeks. Of the ten parks in the study area, nest Oppenheimer Parks. Tudhope Park is located in the resi-
eight are fenced with gates locked at night to prevent vandal- dential area of Berea and was redeveloped more than a decade
ism. This defeats the function and purpose of these recreational ago in the 2001–2002 financial year at a cost of ZAR 19,000.
areas because it denies residents free access to them. An official The park has poor facilities and consists of an open lawn and
from Johannesburg City Parks and Zoo also admitted at an large trees, with paved walkways and a few benches and chil-
open meeting held in 2014 that the highest costs incurred in dren’s play facilities. This park is also categorised into the twen-
maintaining the parks in the city is repairing vandalised fences ty-one-day maintenance schedule, which means that it scored
due to theft of their metal components, which are then sold poorly regarding litter. Ernest Oppenheimer Park, located in
as scrap metal. the CBD, was reopened in April 2011 after being redeveloped
by the JDA. This park is fenced off with two entrances on op-
The two largest parks in Johannesburg’s inner city are Jou- posite sides of the park. Ernest Oppenheimer Park is unique
bert Park and Alec Gorschel Park. Joubert Park is the oldest because it displays original sculptures and has been specifically
and largest park. It is located in the CBD of Johannesburg identified as an integral part of Johannesburg’s urban regenera-
and dates back to  1906. From  2012 to  2014, ZAR  1.5 mil- tion plans (see Figure 5). Some signs of decay are visible, with
lion (USD 1 = ZAR 15.4 as of February 2016) was allocated public toilets out of order and litter present during site visits.
for improvements to the park. The park is fenced and has sev-
eral gates that are locked at night. Being classified as a flagship Mitchell Park and Nugget Street Park, located in Berea and
park, it is cleaned once a week (see Table 1). The second-largest Doornfontein, are two medium-sized parks with the most and
park is Alec Gorschel Park in the residential suburb of Berea. least facilities in the study area. Mitchell Park was improved
It is surrounded by a large number of apartment blocks, with a during the  2001–2002 and  2012–2013 financial years at a
primary school and several secondary schools nearby. This park cost of ZAR 650,000. Notwithstanding the money spent on
was improved during the 2001–2002 and 2007–2008 financial improving the park, it is neglected and unkempt, with areas
years. The first improvement was spearheaded by Johannes- where the lawn has died and piles of litter. Nugget Street Park
burg City Parks and Zoo, and the second by the JDA, which could be more readily described as an open space rather than
redeveloped the playground at a cost of under ZAR  20,000. as a park because there is no indication of any improvement.
Although the park is fenced off, it was noticed during site visits Both these parks are classified as developed parks.
in  2014 that the perimeter fencing was breached at several
points. As a developed park, Alec Gorschel Park is cleaned The End Street North and End Street South Parks are lo-
up only once every three weeks. The park was improved for cated in Doornfontein. Both of these parks were redeveloped
the third time in  2015. To an observer, it would seem that in 2009 by the JDA for the 2010 FIFA World Cup at a cost
large sums of money are being spent on improvements to these of ZAR  10 million. The two parks mainly consist of paved
parks, but a lack of regular maintenance is causing the parks to areas with a limited area covered by lawn and only a few large
lapse back into a state of disrepair. As can be seen in Figure 4, trees. Each park includes a playground and is fenced with gates.
almost all of the vegetation has been removed from the park Although these two parks also fall into the twenty-one-day
and it is being replaced by a hard, user-unfriendly paved area. maintenance cycle, site visits showed the level of maintenance

Urbani izziv, volume 27, no. 1, 2016

The revitalisation of parks and open spaces in downtown Johannesburg 129

Figure 5: Ernest Oppenheimer Park in the centre of the CBD (photo: Figure 6: Playground at End Street South Park (photo: Nico Kotze).
Nico Kotze).

Figure  7: Informal sales activities at Attwell Gardens Park  (photo: Figure  8: The litter problem at Attwell Gardens Park  (photo: Nico
Nico Kotze). Kotze).

to be relatively good. However, these parks are user-unfriendly Zoo at a cost of ZAR 3.4 million. The second improvement
because they predominately have hard paved areas  (see Fig- by the JDA was during the 2007–2008 financial year at a cost
ure 6). of ZAR  20,000 for redeveloping the playground, the soccer
field and the basketball court. Although the park is fenced,
Attwell Gardens Park, located in the CBD of Johannesburg, the boundary has been breached at several points and litter
is close to Park Station, the city’s main railway station. The appears to be a serious problem.
park was reopened in August  2011 after having been rede-
veloped by the JDA at a cost of ZAR  4.5 million. The park
is mostly paved and fenced off, with a gate that is locked at 5 Conclusion
night. It is surrounded by informal vendors  (see Figure  7), a
fruit and vegetable market, and a taxi rank. All of these activi- Because they perform a variety of functions, the role that parks
ties tend to generate large volumes of waste. Because of the play in the everyday lives of urban residents should be regarded
twenty-one-day maintenance cycle here, litter appears to be as both significant and positive. This highlights the impor-
a serious problem, apparent during a number of site visits to tance of this study, which investigates the redevelopment of
the park (see Figure 8). the inner-city parks of Johannesburg and ascertains whether
they play any role in efforts to improve the decaying CBD
J.  Z.  de  Villiers Park, one of the larger parks in the inner- of one of the largest cities in Africa. The process of urban
city residential area of Berea, was initially improved during renewal in Johannesburg has been in progress for more than
the 2001–2002 financial year by Johannesburg City Parks and twenty years now.

Urbani izziv, volume 27, no. 1, 2016

130 L. DE VRIES, N. KOTZE

According to Winkler  (2013: 310), however, “much of the should be allocated for maintaining the parks and partnerships
literature on urban regeneration identifies 20 years as a suffi- should be put in place to remedy the situation. Management
cient ‘intensive period’ of public spending on regeneration for strategies should therefore be properly revised and adapted.
demonstrable and context-wide outcomes. Observers might
then be inclined to ask: If so much time, money and energy has Finally, even if money is spent on redeveloping the inner-city
already been spent on regenerating the inner city of Johannes- parks, as long as Johannesburg does not maintain these parks
burg, why have outcomes resulted in isolated and fragmented adequately they will never show any signs of improvement, nor
pockets of ‘beautification’ that are scarcely noticeable amongst will they change the negative perceptions of the popular press,
a mass of dereliction?” residents and other observers of Johannesburg’s inner city.

This study found that Johannesburg has recognised the im- Leani de Vries
University of Johannesburg, Department of Geography, Environ-
portant role that parks and open-space amenities play in mental Management and Energy Studies, South Africa
improving a city and in bringing benefits to the surrounding E-mail: [email protected]
communities. For this reason, adequate provision has been
made for parks and open spaces to be incorporated as vital Nico Kotze
components in inner-city regeneration plans. As such, parks University of Johannesburg, Department of Geography, Environ-
mental Management and Energy Studies, South Africa
and open spaces feature prominently in some of the more
E-mail: [email protected]
important regeneration strategies for the city, as in the case
of the Inner City Regeneration Charter of 2007 and the Jo-
hannesburg Integrated Development Plan  (2012–2016). As References
part of the regeneration of Johannesburg, several parks in the
inner city have been redeveloped and improved. This study Bethlehem, G. (2013) A new dynamic – urban regeneration in the
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en-2014-25-01-002
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resources required for redevelopments and, most importantly, Chiesura, A. (2003) The role of urban parks for sustainable cities. Land-
scape and Urban Planning, 68(1), pp. 129–138. DOI: 10.1016/j.landurb-
for the successful upkeep of the amenities. Furthermore, the plan.2003.08.003
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