Neil Fraser

RELATED LINKS: About Citichat NEIL Fraser is a partner in 'Neil Fraser & Associates trading as Urban Inc', an urban consultancy dedicated to the revitalisation and regeneration of cities and of the inner city of Johannesburg in particular. He can be contacted on 083 456 0242 or 011 444 4895 or by e-mail at neil@urbaninc.co.za Citichat is a free weekly publication concerning cities generally and Johannesburg specifically. Please forward Citichat to your colleagues who may wish to be placed on the subscription list. To subscribe please contact us at info@urbaninc.co.za READ previous editions of CitiChat Neil Fraser - passionate city man HE'S got a full white beard and moustache to match his white hair, he smiles often, and he's passionate about cities, particularly Johannesburg . . . he's Neil Fraser, executive director of the Central Johannesburg Partnership, an inner city renewal initiative. Read more Four fixable inner city issues PREPARING for the Inner City Summit later this year, a workshop identifies places in the inner city that have been neglected and allowed to decay. Read more City gears up for Inner City Summit QUESTIONS that will be posed at the Joburg Inner City summit to be held in 2007 include what makes a city liveable, vibrant and attractive. A workshop looked at the issues around public and leisure spaces and arts, culture and heritage. Read more Joburg Inner City Summit THE idea is to develop a blueprint to guide and prioritise future interventions and investments in the inner city and a benchmark of the City's commitments, roles and responsibilities with regards to regeneration. Read more Work towards Inner City Summit begins WORKSHOPS leading to next year's Inner City Summit have begun, with the safety, security and urban management sectors the first to meet. Read more Transport on the table ahead of Inner City Summit THE third in a series of workshops leading up to the Inner City Summit in May focused on transport. It is an issue close to people's hearts, if the number of comments and suggestions from the public is anything to go by. Read more Social issues on agenda for Inner City Summit THE Inner City Summit workshops have continued, with a meeting of the social, or community, development stakeholder's working group. In line with concerns raised, we can learn some lessons from South America. Read more Residential issues on agenda for Inner City Summit HOUSING is an emotional topic, yet it needs critical analysis for all citizens' needs to be addressed. Some of the pertinent issues were raised at the first residential development working group meeting ahead of the Inner City Summit. Read more Final 'dumping session' for Inner City Summit ECONOMIC development was the final stakeholders' working group to meet for its first session ahead of the Inner City Summit. From here it is time to prioritise issues and find solutions. Read more City must explore ways to house the poor IN the third of a series on inner city living, Neil Fraser looks at evictions, displacement and gentrification. The Europa Hotel offers one solution. Read more Cities should focus on human happiness THE former mayor of Bogota focused on developing his city for the majority of people - the lower income group. He established open public spaces and prioritised public transport. Read more

Distilling the issues for the Inner City Summit and Charter The third round of stakeholder working group meetings for the Inner City Summit are almost over, and the list of issues and concerns is being drawn up. Neil Fraser looks at what has come out of the meetings so far. March 12, 2007 By Neil Fraser NEARLY all of the third round of stakeholder working group (SWG) sessions leading to the Inner City Summit and Charter have been completed and a list of the critical issues that have emerged is taking shape. The following is the current "chopping block" we are working on. These issues obviously still have to be refined and developed into commitments, but the following will give you an idea of where we are going. As I've previously mentioned, at stakeholder after stakeholder session the plea has been: "Please don't start with fancy new things. Focus on the basics. Concentrate on doing what a municipality should be doing." In particular this relates to: Waste, grime and disrepair; Taxi ranking; Street trading; By-law enforcement; City systems and processes that delay development, such as clearance certificates, and so forth; Service delivery responsiveness and co-ordination; and Visible policing. While it is clear that stakeholders want things cleaned up and sorted out, they also want an inner city that is developed in a balanced way, and that accommodates all people and interests: Both commercial and residential; Not a dormitory for the poor, nor an exclusive enclave of loft apartments, galleries and coffee shops. There is a need to provide for both "the rich" and "the poor"; A place of first entry, yet a place where people want to stay; and Both a transport transit point and a destination point, where people want to walk in the streets. Specifics that have arisen from each SWG are: Transport Issue By the summit ... BRT / ICDS Announce exactly how the Bus Rapid Transport will function as an Inner City Distribution System Greater Park Station Precinct Reveal detailed designs of this 2010 legacy project, with clarification of how it will provide inter-modal interchange facilities for all transport modes, how it will link to the Gautrain and also support cross-border shopping Taxi ranking and rank management Announce an approach to more managed taxi-ranking in the inner city Parking Propose a new approach to on-street parking and off-street facilities Integration with rail transport From Metrorail and the South African Rail Commuter Corporation announce medium-term plans to upgrade stations, and clarify changes to Park Station lines Mobility / congestion Clarify improvements to traffic signalling, as well as measures to promote and facilitate non-motorised transport Urban management and safety and security Issue By the summit ... Concern about unresponsive service delivery and poor by-law enforcement Provide a detailed, systematic and convincing picture of what the new urban management system will do and how it will work. Fully resource Region F so it can be announced that this will be up and running within 2007 Bad buildings Propose a single window approach for identifying, mapping and tackling problem buildings. Propose a clear approach to preventing slum-lording and improving conditions Visible policing and CCTV Without detracting from smart policing, announce a plan to put a "foot patrol" on every block in certain parts of the inner city by 2010. Clarify how closed circuit television cameras will work across the inner city over the next five years Waste management Announce a new waste management system that will keep the inner city clean on a 24/7 basis Street trading Clarify the new approach to linear markets Disaster management Clarify key interventions to respond to concerns Economic Issue By the summit ... Street trading Apart from linear markets, announce an expanded programme of support for street trading Support of key economic institutions Clarify support for jewel city, fashion district and so forth over the next few years Other key industry segments that may be targeted for support Clarify support measures for "tourism and hospitality", "garment and fashion", "business process outsourcing (BPO)" and so forth Telecommunications infrastructure (broadband) Announce exactly what we can undertake to provide or ensure broadband infrastructure, especially to support an emerging BPO industry in the south western quadrant of the inner city Need to optimise cross-border retail and wholesale trade Announce exactly how the inner city will work as a cross-border shopping hub and what a cross-border wholesale and retail distribution system will do Commercial development Clarify whether it is advisable to seek extension of the urban development zone incentive Social development Issue By the summit ... Early childhood development Announce a targeted programme of support for early childhood development facilities in the inner city Support of NGOs, CBOs and FBOs Clarify how we will scale up support to non-governmental, community-based and faith-based and organisations over the next few years (including how we can respond to a strong request for help in finding appropriate buildings) Countering xenophobia Announce a package of measures to counter xenophobia, including when a Migrants Desk will be established and how it will work Support of special groups Announce approach to addressing the needs of street children, the aged and so forth Health access Clarify how the Hillbrow health precinct will continue to be developed, and how health outreach will be supported. Also clarify plans for upgrading clinics Sports and recreation Deteriorated and closed facilities are being audited. Define a programme of upgrading over next few years, linked to 2010 Arts, culture, heritage and public open spaces Issue By the summit ... Walkable streets Announce comprehensive programme of pavement upgrading and street furniture development rolled out across the inner city over the next five years. Link it to a lighting plan and visible policing plan for the whole of the inner city. Propose agreement with ground floor retail and so forth on removing roller shutters and refurbishing foyers Parks and other green infrastructure As part of the spatial design framework, announce the design and roll out of a new set of green lungs for the inner city. Also a plan to refurbish existing parks and to green streets Iconic public spaces Identify a range of new iconic public space developments (some private sector led, some of which we will have to drive) Arts, culture and entertainment groups Propose coherent programme of support for arts and culture groupings. Possibility of a structure to provide advocacy and mutual support Heritage Clarify approach to balancing heritage and development Residential Issue By the summit ... Need for accommodation to be built at scale Announce a housing plan for the inner city, including plans to increase housing stock substantially Involvement of the private sector in supplying to the middle and lower end of the market Propose a package of "inducements" and "incentives" that will encourage and enable the private sector to enter the lower end of the market: Reduction in the time-cost of development by pushing inner city applications to the top of the queue; Fixing clearance procedures; Revenue system flexibility to ensure selected buildings don't pay commercial or marginal rates; and• Building owners become retail suppliers of water and electricity, and so forth Sectional title Announce programme of support for bodies corporate to address collapsing sectional title Better Buildings Programme Announce new approach to Better Buildings Programme (this is currently being developed and tested legally) Non-account holders in tenancy arrangements do not benefit from free water, electricity and so forth Propose creative approach to ensuring that non-account holders in selected areas such as the inner city can access the social package Hostels Good practice is emerging from the Alexandra Renewal Programme. State how this will be applied to refurbishing hostels in the south eastern part of the inner city Informal settlements Clarify how we are getting on top of the situation Emergency, short term and transitional accommodation Announce clear plans for providing emergency and short term accommodation at scale for decanting where buildings are unsafe and therefore evictions unavoidable Residential improvement districts Announce a coherent approach to formalising and supporting improvement districts in residential areas under stress The big "deals" included in the programme will, hopefully, be: Establishing a large public-private inner city fund to be used for public environment and street upgrading; security interventions and the purchase of land for targeted development; Developing a credible housing plan for the inner city (supported by all the necessary efficiency improvements); and Getting the efficiencies and institutional arrangements right. Big call? Big city! Ciao, Neil Tours by the Parktown and Westcliff Heritage Trust The costs for the walking and bus tours below are for members and non-members respectively. Bookings can be made at Computicket on 011 340 8000 or through the Computicket website. For more information, phone 011 482 3349 in the mornings only. Saturday, 17 March: Parktown Convent – a walking tour exploration of this landmark on Oxford Road. Meet at 40 Oxford Road, Parktown at 2pm; the tour lasts two-and-a-half hours and costs R50 and R70. Cascoland Festival The Cascoland Festival at the Drill Hall runs from Friday, 9 March to Sunday, 18 March. Hosted by the Joubert Park Project, Cascoland is a dynamic public art project that utilises the skills of local and international artists, architects and designers, together with local urban communities, in creating a public art festival. The aim of the project is to create awareness of particular urban issues in a creative framework and have communities get actively involved in shaping their public spaces. There is a daily programme of activities. For more information, visit the Cascoland website, or email info@cascoland.com or phone 079 4027 255. Permission to use web site material Publishers may use material from this site free of charge, as long as: Credit is given to either the "City of Johannesburg website (www.joburg.org.za)" or to "Johannesburg News Agency (www.joburg.org.za)"; If the article is used online, a link is provided to the original article on this website; The name of the article's author is acknowledged; The webmaster is informed of how and where the material is used (fill in this brief online form). Johannesburg News Agency is operated by BIG Media at 011-484-1400 Print this Page E-mail this article to a friend Help using Joburg.org.za