Cities Conference 2001 Strikes; Public Open Space Citichat 31 August 2001

Citichat 34/2001 - 31 August 2001




Conference round-up, strikes and public open space redevelopment

Just winding up on our Cities 2001 Conference in Johannesburg and Workshop in Cape Town last week, these were some of the critical issues/comments/suggestions to note:

4 KEY COMMENTS

• Planning needs to be PREDICTABLE, COMPETITIVE and UNDERSTANDABLE

• KNOW every one of your problems better than anyone else.

• ACT like the Property Manager of your city.

• FOCUS on Problem Solving..

4 REASONS FOR THE IMPORTANCE OF INNER CITIES

• ECONOMIC GENERATORS of the Region

• The SOCIAL KITCHEN and the HEART OF COMMUNITY

• Providing a UNIQUE SENSE OF PLACE

• SYMBOL of the Region.

4 FUNCTIONAL AREAS THAT MAKE CITIES WORK

• URBAN MANAGEMENT

• MARKETING (you need to tell people what you do)

• PLANNING (developing strategic plans and translating them into the 4 or 5 critical issues for the year.

• DEVELOPMENT

4 REQUIREMENTS TO BE A SUCCESFUL URBAN LEADER

• TAKE RESPONSIBILITY - for certain chosen critical operations

• PROVIDE LEADERSHIP - be the convenor to bring the right people around the table.

• ENGAGE IN ADVOCACY - seek changes in laws and regulations to allow greater effectiveness

• PROVIDE CO-ORDINATION - don't try to do it all yourself

4 STRATEGIC ISSUES FOR DOWNTOWNS

• ACCELERATE housing delivery and CREATE new residential neighbourhoods

• MAKE Downtown a GREAT PLACE

• LINK Downtown benefits to neighbourhoods (residential communities)

• ESTABLISH appropriate Public/Private Partnerships

4 MARKETING TRUTHS FOR CITIES

• IMAGE - IDENTITY- MESSAGE - BRAND

• KNOW THYSELF (have a foundation of facts)

• MARKET to LOCALS first

• BUILD on your STRENGTHS

Particular thanks to our four overseas visitors, Rich Bradley and Ellen McCarthy from Washington DC; Kate Joncas from Seattle and Bill Best from New Jersey. Also our local contributors Tim Middleton and Graeme Reid and Michael Farr from Cape Town.

Talking conferences, don't forget the International Downtown Association (IDA) Annual Conference in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania from September 29 to October 2, great programme. You can get full information on the IDA webpage http://www.ida-downtown.org or e-mail question@ida-downtown.org

Back to Johannesburg! Our offices are now situated diagonally opposite the Civic Spine so we were truly right on the edge of the strike/demonstrations of the past two days. I guess there were a fair number of people who were greatly irritated, some probably greatly inconvenienced, not just in 'Joeys' but throughout the country. Yes, it is disruptive but isn’t it great to see cities as the focus for peaceful (albeit noisy) protest thus symbolising our ‘new’ democracy? I thought the Trade Union organisation was good but it is a pity that they are unable to discipline the small group of members who are intent on using such occasions to create mayhem. And is the resultant abundance of litter really necessary? It is after all Trade Union members generally themselves who are responsible for cleaning the city! One of the country’s major property owners unwittingly chose Thursday to host nearly a hundred estate agents and brokers to “come to the city and see for themselves” but the event went off with good humour and a great deal of interest. Rich Bradley, here last week for our conference locally and workshop in Cape Town remarked that whilst we all strive to get our cities “clean and safe”, if we achieve only that, we sink into blandness and ‘boringness’! Cities are places where one should enjoy a variety of experiences. Can’t think of the city as boring – some of the northern nodes, yes, but hardly the city centre!

The hoardings around the pedestrianised Hollard Street upgrading have been removed and I took a walk through the area yesterday – what a great addition to the city’s public space, all those connected with the project are to be congratulated. Seems the private sector is determined to improve our public open spaces and this latest addition follows Gandhi Square, Fox Street and Main Street. The balance of Main Street up to Gandhi Square and Fox Street on the East of the Carlton will hopefully follow and even Eloff Street is now being re-discussed.