21st Century (2000–present)

Johannesburg Sandton CBD Precinct Plan

2016– · South Africa · Sub-Saharan Africa · Transit-oriented urbanism and corridor planning · Planned by City of Johannesburg
Skyline of the Sandton CBD, Johannesburg, the focus of the Sandton CBD Precinct Plan.
Skyline of the Sandton CBD, Johannesburg, the focus of the Sandton CBD Precinct Plan. · CC BY-SA 3.0

Core idea

Walkability/transit upgrades in edge city

Why it matters

Retrofit of Africa’s busiest business node

Description

The Sandton CBD precinct plan, prepared by the City of Johannesburg from the mid-2010s, is a framework for retrofitting the high-rise business node of Sandton with better pedestrian conditions, public space and transit access. Emerging around the Gautrain station and bus rapid transit connections, it promotes walkable streets, densification and reduced car dependence in a district that grew as a car-oriented edge city after capital fled the historic downtown.

Significance

The plan is a significant African instance of the international effort to urbanise edge cities, applying transit-oriented and public-realm thinking to a node often described as the busiest business district on the continent. It engages directly with Johannesburg's post-apartheid spatial agenda, since Sandton's accessibility shapes who can reach the city's concentrated employment. Its EcoMobility experiments and station-area upgrades have been cited in debates on retrofitting car-dependent business districts in the Global South.

What shaped it

Sources

Open it on the interactive timeline →
hub.toekom.st — History of Urbanism · an interactive timeline of 850 planned cities across 6,000 years.