Causes Of Re-Development

1087 Words5 Pages

Re-development and gentrification will and always has been very important in the property market. Due to constantly changing economic, political and social factors of the built environment, gentrification and re-development will always be present within the property cycle as the needs and wants of people are constantly changing. In this document I will explore the causes of re-development and gentrification as well as various growth theories in an attempt to later apply them to the Johannesburg CBD. Growth theories such as Concentric Growth, Sector Growth, Axial Growth, and Multiple Nuclei Growth will all be explained and then if applicable, applied to the Johannesburg CBD. In economics and property, the property cycle of boom, slump, and …show more content…

This is often done in the private sector in an attempt to create more marketable property and in the public sector it is often use to benefit the community via improvements such as infrastructure, roads, or housing. Furthermore re-development is generally only done when the existing property no longer provides any functional utility or is no longer being used for the original purpose for which it was designed for (Useful Community Development, 2016). In the Johannesburg CBD there are many abandoned buildings as well as buildings currently being underutilised that are no longer aligned with current market trends (Joburg , 2010). Due to the fact that Johannesburg is a large growing city these abandoned and underutilised properties may prove to have high future value if re-developed with regard to emerging market trends. For example in the late 1990’s the Johannesburg CBD was almost entirely abandoned due to the crime wave which had swept the area as a result of the post-apartheid climate. However, recently activity has started to bring the CBD back thanks to the efforts from the private and public sectors (Joburg.org, …show more content…

During Apartheid, gentrification in the CBD and throughout the country was often not driven by economic factors but rather by brutal force and government influence. However, today in post-apartheid South Africa the Johannesburg CBD is under-going serious gentrification as much of the CBD had previously been economically repressed and has resulted in a very poor urban element. (Aljazeera, 2015) The private sector has recently invested into many areas in the CBD and surroundings such as Newtown and Braamfontein. Recently the Johannesburg City Council installed CCTV cameras through the CBD in an attempt to lower crime this can also be seen as a method of aiding gentrification (Wakefield, 2015). More will be elaborated specifically on gentrification in the Johannesburg CBD once we can apply the various growth

Open Document