CITICHAT 38/2001 - 28 September 2001
Beyers Naude Square & Melrose Arch
Apropos my comments on ‘Library Gardens/Civic Spine’ last week I had a number of supportive replies, a couple suggesting that an implosion wouldn’t be out of place! One provided some info I didn’t yet know - that the space is to be renamed Beyers Naude Square this Sunday 30th September. There is evidently to be a special Council meeting in the City Hall at 11.00 a.m. with an Interdenominational Church Service in the "Gardens" afterwards and then a Civic Reception at the Braamfontein Recreation Centre.I think that it is great that we are remembering a man such as Beyers Naude and at a time whilst he is alive and able to experience recognition for his bravery and courage during the struggle years. He is a humble man, which is just as well given the usual state of the ‘square’. Noticed when going to work this morning the unusual sight of numerous council trucks and plenty of workers cleaning the place up so I’m sure it will look spick and span come Sunday. Hope there isn’t a demo on Saturday or it will be returned to its “Trashmore Gardens” state overnight. An Inner City Committee member reminded me that the Inner City Committee had in fact taken a resolution last year which, to the best of my knowledge was approved by Council, that the area should not be used for gatherings, demonstrations and marches. Hopefully, its renaming might engender some pride even amongst trade unionists.
I’ve been highlighting the ‘smart growth’ approach to development for a while and using specific examples in other South African cities which is probably unfair given our very own local examples. I have previously given an historic overview of the ‘dumb growth’ of Greater Johannesburg generally but have kept away from individual examples. One project that I haven’t commented on, Melrose Arch, has recently caught my attention. Probably because I read an article that claimed that it is pioneering in South Africa the urban-planning concept known as ‘New Urbanism.’ This recent article on Melrose Arch states “New Urbanism aims to protect existing cities, and is applied mainly to ‘filler’ projects. Can anyone explain to me how in what was a good quality residential area with a ‘village main street retail’ character with great potential, a project of the sheer magnitude of Melrose Arch is ‘protecting the city’? Just look at these statistics – a 12 000 car basement on 400 000 square metres; 8 000 square metres of retail space; 42 000 square metres of office space; 1 000 square metres of entertainment; 3 000 of residential space. And that is only Phase One comprising just 25% of the R3 billion project due for completion by the end of the decade! By mid 2002 there will be a 6 000 square metre hotel and 3 500 square metre gym! Protecting the city and a ‘filler’ project?
The co-ordinating architect of the Melrose Arch professional team says that “New Urbanism can be distilled into four main principles: walkable neighbourhoods, a grid of streets, mixed land use across a 24 hour day and a clear distinction between the public and the private realm through the use of perimeter blocks – these four tenets are the essence of Melrose Arch”.
Sounds to me like the essence of any city! As does “we want to add life to the streets; buildings overlooking the street and people interacting.” Maybe the truth underlying the project, the real hidden objective, is to be found in three further statements in the article; - one - “We have told the architects that our buildings must be fun places to be inside” – two – The downfall of any standalone A-grade office block in central Johannesburg is that it is unable to control the neghbourhood around itself” – three - “If you are worried about security, you will be pleased to hear that phase one will feature more than 200 CCTV cameras, while it has also been decided to enclose the project in a security fence.”
Well, fortunately you can’t enclose cities in security fences, nor can you control the level and type of persons who work and live in them, hallelujah – but yes, you can upgrade the neighbourhood that surrounds your building – look at Fox Street, Gandhi Square, Main Street and the recent impressive Hollard Street upgradings all paid for by the owners of the properties that surround them - and you can add CCTV cameras to city space as is being done (but if the entire city from Ellis Park on the East to the western side of Newtown, Braamfontein Ridge on the north to the M2 in the South needs 350 cameras, in what is described as a ‘state of the art system’, Melrose Arch’s 200 cameras sounds like Big Daddy let alone Big Brother!) With office rentals at R120.00/square metre (recently reduced to R75.00) this doesn’t sound like New Urbanism but like the New Enclave for the Rich and White, Melrose Fortress!!!! Let me have the city anytime with its grime and noise, its taxis and traders, its poor rubbing shoulders with those that might be better off, BECAUSE IT IS REAL. And, strangely, it is also covered by “what Melrose Arch holds most sacred, the open sky”
Sunday, October 28, 2001
Friday, October 26, 2001
Constitution Hill Citichat 26 October 2001
CITICHAT 42/2001 - 26 October 2001
Constitution Hill
Last week I mentioned the sod-turning ceremony at Constitution Hill. Attended by the Minister of Justice and Constitutional Development, Penuell Maduna , the Premier of Gauteng, Mbhazima Shilowa and the President of the Constitutional Court, Justice Arthur Chaskalson it was far more than a ceremony to mark the start of a new project. It actually was a celebration of the end of an era of injustice, suffering and separation and the start of an era of hope and of freedom.
The old era started in 1892 when the ZAR Government under Paul Kruger built the Fort which was to serve as a prison right through to 1987, apart from the years between 1899 and 1902 when it served as a military defence facility during the Anglo-Boer War. Subsequently, the so-called ‘Natives’ section for black male prisoners, known as ‘Section 4 & 5’ was added with its isolation cells whilst the Women’s Gaol and the Awaiting Trial Building, were added in 1907 and 1920 respectively. Taken together, the whole complex became known as “The Fort”. Incarcerated within its walls were both common criminals and those who were criminalised through colonial and apartheid laws such as the ‘hut tax laws’, ‘beer brewing laws’, the Pass Laws and the Group Areas Act. Boer military leaders were jailed there during the Anglo-Boer War whilst in 1906 a number of leaders of Asiatic descent were jailed for burning their passes in response to the promulgation of the Asiatic Pass Law legislation of that year. Amongst them was a young attorney, Mahatma Gandhi, who asked for the maximum sentence of four years imprisonment but was given only four months as a first offender. Ironically, white miners who took part in the strikes of 1907 and 1913 as well as in the Rand Revolt of 1922 were also jailed in the Fort. Ironically because their rallying cry was “Workers of the World Unite for a White South Africa” ! But the building was also the first stop for thousands of resistors to the repressive regime of the apartheid state before being moved to longer term detention facilities. Those involved in the 1952 Defiance Campaign, the 1956 Treason Trialists, those imprisoned following the ’76 Sharpeville uprising and the ‘states of emergency’ of the mid-80s all became familiar with the Fort and its treatment of inmates. For, irrespective of the reason for incarceration, The Fort was notorious for its harsh treatment of those that crossed its threshold. Some years ago I was part of an informal group who were looking at various possibilities for the complex and we were joined by a Senator who had spent some time there. As we stood in the courtyard he described how he and his fellow ‘detainess’ had been rudely ushered into the open courtyard where they were stripped and then indecently searched to the mirth of their jailers. We went and stood in the wire detention cages in darkness so complete that one could not see the wire mesh encircling ones body only centimetres away. A couple of weeks ago, at the launch of another city project, our past President Nelson Mandela, an ‘old boy’ of this establishment, commented on how he had never really understood the phrase “Clothes makith the man’ until he had stood naked in the same courtyard with many others, stripped and humiliated by their white captors!
In 1964 the complex was declared a National Monument although it continued to function as a prison up to 1987. Apart from being allowed to generally decay since then, parts of it have been used by the City Council’s security services and the Fort itself has been home to the Rand Light Infantry.
Against that background Arthur Chaskalson’s address at the sod turning ceremony was particularly relevant and indeed poignant, as he explained the judiciary’s position during the Apartheid era and the principles that had subsequently guided the development of our new Constitution. The complex will of course house the Constitutional Court which is the highest authority of justice in the land and which is symbolic of the era we have entered into since 1994.
So what will be accommodated in the project? The overall project comprises a number of phases, the first phase being the building of the new Court and its ancillary functions. The Constitutional Court Building stretches down the site from south to north with its Library anchoring the northern end (basically on the southern edge of the existing recreational fields) whilst the Court Chamber will be built at the opposite end of the building, ie the southern end where the Awaiting Trial Block was - ‘was’ because most of it has now been demolished to make way for the new building. However its staircase elements have been retained and will be incorporated into the new building which, capped with new upper floor viewing rooms will give the Court building a very distinctive appearance. Linking the Library and the Court will be the Administration wing off at right angles to which five parallel structures will provide Judges Chambers. Between the Admin wing and Sections 4 & 5 will be the grand ‘African Steps’ which will sweep down the site from Constitution Square.
This phase of the work has already been put out to tender and has been awarded to the Rainbow/WBHO Joint Venture for about R77 million.
Future phases, along Hospital Road on the western boundary, include a number of ‘land parcels’. Land Parcel A, the site of the existing mortuary will be redeveloped to include shared facilities such as conference and training venues, libraries and public information facilities opening onto Constitution Square as well as exhibition space. Land Parcel B, to the immediate north of A, will provide offices for the country’ various commissions, a small hotel and some retail.
Land Parcels C, D and E will provide 10 000, 5 000 and 4 000 square metres of office space respectively, generally in four storey blocks. Queen Victoria Hospital, on the north west corner of the site, built in 1906/7 as a Maternity Home, will be retained as residential accommodation.
The Women’s Gaol at the corner of Kotze and Hospital Street will probably be utilised as the Gender Commission’s offices with exhibition space on the ground floor. Its austere red brick outside quite belies the wonderful central covered space, elliptical in shape and double volume in height. I believe that Winnie Mandela was one of the inmates as was Daisy de Melker, South Africa’s first woman to be hanged for ‘murder most foul’ - but someone needs to confirm those two aspects to me.
The Fort itself will be a heritage project which, with its history, restored ramparts and courtyard will undoubtedly draw great interest. Section 4 & 5 will be used as a museum facility in the short term until agreement is reached as to its best ultimate usage but will contain tourist facilities.
There is little doubt that the whole complex will become a major tourist drawcard and here I don’t mean just foreign tourists. The terrible history juxtaposed with its symbolism of freedom and hope are both such as to attract a great deal of interest. As I have previously written, the complex is seen as the northern apex of the Cultural Arc which then sweeps west through Braamfontein and then south via the Nelson Mandela Bridge into a rejuvenated Newtown.
A Blue IQ/Johannesburg Development Agency CD Rom paints a picture of the Hill, its Fort and its Gaol as a political place; fortified, colonial, garrison, African, Boer, British and apartheid place. But it is also a place of inspiration; of solidarity, thinking, discovery, stories, singing and greatness. The fact that it was a terrible place; of injustice and brutality, of separation and segregation, sickness and suffering, of fear and torture and of rape and murder will be overshadowed by the fact that it will become an internationally recognised symbol of the new South Africa, born out of the political process but now independent of it; the home of the Law of the Constitution and the home of the Guarantor of Human Rights for every South African citizen, A working place, an ordinary place, an urban place a place of stories, of history, triumph, yet a barren place, an extraordinary place, a place of contradictions, of resolution and a place of justice, of reflection, of sorrow, of hope, of simplicity, of study, learning, art and flowers. An everyday place at the heart of the new Constitution and at the heart of the new South Africa, and it’s all happening in Johannesburg, folks!
Constitution Hill
Last week I mentioned the sod-turning ceremony at Constitution Hill. Attended by the Minister of Justice and Constitutional Development, Penuell Maduna , the Premier of Gauteng, Mbhazima Shilowa and the President of the Constitutional Court, Justice Arthur Chaskalson it was far more than a ceremony to mark the start of a new project. It actually was a celebration of the end of an era of injustice, suffering and separation and the start of an era of hope and of freedom.
The old era started in 1892 when the ZAR Government under Paul Kruger built the Fort which was to serve as a prison right through to 1987, apart from the years between 1899 and 1902 when it served as a military defence facility during the Anglo-Boer War. Subsequently, the so-called ‘Natives’ section for black male prisoners, known as ‘Section 4 & 5’ was added with its isolation cells whilst the Women’s Gaol and the Awaiting Trial Building, were added in 1907 and 1920 respectively. Taken together, the whole complex became known as “The Fort”. Incarcerated within its walls were both common criminals and those who were criminalised through colonial and apartheid laws such as the ‘hut tax laws’, ‘beer brewing laws’, the Pass Laws and the Group Areas Act. Boer military leaders were jailed there during the Anglo-Boer War whilst in 1906 a number of leaders of Asiatic descent were jailed for burning their passes in response to the promulgation of the Asiatic Pass Law legislation of that year. Amongst them was a young attorney, Mahatma Gandhi, who asked for the maximum sentence of four years imprisonment but was given only four months as a first offender. Ironically, white miners who took part in the strikes of 1907 and 1913 as well as in the Rand Revolt of 1922 were also jailed in the Fort. Ironically because their rallying cry was “Workers of the World Unite for a White South Africa” ! But the building was also the first stop for thousands of resistors to the repressive regime of the apartheid state before being moved to longer term detention facilities. Those involved in the 1952 Defiance Campaign, the 1956 Treason Trialists, those imprisoned following the ’76 Sharpeville uprising and the ‘states of emergency’ of the mid-80s all became familiar with the Fort and its treatment of inmates. For, irrespective of the reason for incarceration, The Fort was notorious for its harsh treatment of those that crossed its threshold. Some years ago I was part of an informal group who were looking at various possibilities for the complex and we were joined by a Senator who had spent some time there. As we stood in the courtyard he described how he and his fellow ‘detainess’ had been rudely ushered into the open courtyard where they were stripped and then indecently searched to the mirth of their jailers. We went and stood in the wire detention cages in darkness so complete that one could not see the wire mesh encircling ones body only centimetres away. A couple of weeks ago, at the launch of another city project, our past President Nelson Mandela, an ‘old boy’ of this establishment, commented on how he had never really understood the phrase “Clothes makith the man’ until he had stood naked in the same courtyard with many others, stripped and humiliated by their white captors!
In 1964 the complex was declared a National Monument although it continued to function as a prison up to 1987. Apart from being allowed to generally decay since then, parts of it have been used by the City Council’s security services and the Fort itself has been home to the Rand Light Infantry.
Against that background Arthur Chaskalson’s address at the sod turning ceremony was particularly relevant and indeed poignant, as he explained the judiciary’s position during the Apartheid era and the principles that had subsequently guided the development of our new Constitution. The complex will of course house the Constitutional Court which is the highest authority of justice in the land and which is symbolic of the era we have entered into since 1994.
So what will be accommodated in the project? The overall project comprises a number of phases, the first phase being the building of the new Court and its ancillary functions. The Constitutional Court Building stretches down the site from south to north with its Library anchoring the northern end (basically on the southern edge of the existing recreational fields) whilst the Court Chamber will be built at the opposite end of the building, ie the southern end where the Awaiting Trial Block was - ‘was’ because most of it has now been demolished to make way for the new building. However its staircase elements have been retained and will be incorporated into the new building which, capped with new upper floor viewing rooms will give the Court building a very distinctive appearance. Linking the Library and the Court will be the Administration wing off at right angles to which five parallel structures will provide Judges Chambers. Between the Admin wing and Sections 4 & 5 will be the grand ‘African Steps’ which will sweep down the site from Constitution Square.
This phase of the work has already been put out to tender and has been awarded to the Rainbow/WBHO Joint Venture for about R77 million.
Future phases, along Hospital Road on the western boundary, include a number of ‘land parcels’. Land Parcel A, the site of the existing mortuary will be redeveloped to include shared facilities such as conference and training venues, libraries and public information facilities opening onto Constitution Square as well as exhibition space. Land Parcel B, to the immediate north of A, will provide offices for the country’ various commissions, a small hotel and some retail.
Land Parcels C, D and E will provide 10 000, 5 000 and 4 000 square metres of office space respectively, generally in four storey blocks. Queen Victoria Hospital, on the north west corner of the site, built in 1906/7 as a Maternity Home, will be retained as residential accommodation.
The Women’s Gaol at the corner of Kotze and Hospital Street will probably be utilised as the Gender Commission’s offices with exhibition space on the ground floor. Its austere red brick outside quite belies the wonderful central covered space, elliptical in shape and double volume in height. I believe that Winnie Mandela was one of the inmates as was Daisy de Melker, South Africa’s first woman to be hanged for ‘murder most foul’ - but someone needs to confirm those two aspects to me.
The Fort itself will be a heritage project which, with its history, restored ramparts and courtyard will undoubtedly draw great interest. Section 4 & 5 will be used as a museum facility in the short term until agreement is reached as to its best ultimate usage but will contain tourist facilities.
There is little doubt that the whole complex will become a major tourist drawcard and here I don’t mean just foreign tourists. The terrible history juxtaposed with its symbolism of freedom and hope are both such as to attract a great deal of interest. As I have previously written, the complex is seen as the northern apex of the Cultural Arc which then sweeps west through Braamfontein and then south via the Nelson Mandela Bridge into a rejuvenated Newtown.
A Blue IQ/Johannesburg Development Agency CD Rom paints a picture of the Hill, its Fort and its Gaol as a political place; fortified, colonial, garrison, African, Boer, British and apartheid place. But it is also a place of inspiration; of solidarity, thinking, discovery, stories, singing and greatness. The fact that it was a terrible place; of injustice and brutality, of separation and segregation, sickness and suffering, of fear and torture and of rape and murder will be overshadowed by the fact that it will become an internationally recognised symbol of the new South Africa, born out of the political process but now independent of it; the home of the Law of the Constitution and the home of the Guarantor of Human Rights for every South African citizen, A working place, an ordinary place, an urban place a place of stories, of history, triumph, yet a barren place, an extraordinary place, a place of contradictions, of resolution and a place of justice, of reflection, of sorrow, of hope, of simplicity, of study, learning, art and flowers. An everyday place at the heart of the new Constitution and at the heart of the new South Africa, and it’s all happening in Johannesburg, folks!
Friday, October 19, 2001
Johannesburg Heritage Trust Citichat 19 October 2001
CITICHAT 41/2001 - 19 October 2001
Johannesburg Heritage Trust
This has been another important week for the inner city.
The first meeting of the newly established Johannesburg Heritage Trust was held on Tuesday 16th October and the sod turning ceremony marking the start of construction of the country's first Constitutional Court was held on Thursday the 18th. In addition, Blue IQ held an impressive event at the Sandton Convention Centre highlighting their projects for which they are seeking private sector partners and investment. Blue IQ is the R1.7 billion initiative of the Gauteng Provincial Government to invest in economic infrastructure development through 10 mega-projects in the areas of tourism, technology, transport and high value-added manufacturing in order to create a truly "smart" province.. Two of those projects are of course in the inner city itself, Newtown and Constitution Hill, whilst a third, the high speed train linking the Johannesburg International Airport with Sandton, Midrand and Pretoria also connects to the inner city.
Newtown has a number of components - the massive MetroMarket with construction well out of the ground - Mary Fitzgerald Square where the contractor is moving at great pace to make his 16th December deadline and the Nelson Mandela Bridge plus the on-and-off ramps to the M2 which are also under way. More about Constitution Hill next week except to pick up a comment made by the Gauteng Premier, Mbhazima Shilowa, in his speech at the sod-turning ceremony. Talking about the relevance of the site selected for Constitution Hill - the 'Fort' was a prison in both colonial and apartheid times where Nelson Mandela and Mahatma Gandhi amongst thousands of others were incarcerated - the Premier said that as bad as our history was, it was the only history we have it and we cannot turn our backs on it. That comment links back to the establishment of the Johannesburg Heritage Trust (JHT).
The first meeting of the Board of Trustees of the JHT was an important milestone in our inner city revitalisation strategy. Johannesburg's gold fever origins have produced a mining-camp mentality that has resulted in the vast majority of our heritage buildings being razed to make way for modern faceless monstrosities with little relationship to human scale and even less in the 'personality' stakes. We do have some gems scattered through the city, few and far between, and often in derelict state. There are probably three main reasons for their state. In some instances the buildings form part of a parcel of land bought by private sector institutions for redevelopment. They would then have ran foul of the previous National Monuments Council and were not allowed to demolish those buildings which were considered to have an historic or heritage value. In many instances the organisations have abandoned the projects allowing the 'protected' buildings to literally crumble into the ground. creating eyesores on the cityscape and adding to the sense of decay. Heartless developers, the ugly face of capitalism - sure but the State is no better if not considerably worse! Take the Drill Hall for example. A building with possibly not the greatest architectural merit (described by Gerhard-Mark van der Waal in his book "From Mining Camp to Metropolis" as somewhat "removed from the Beaux Arts mode") it has considerable historic and heritage value. The foundation stone of the building, built as the "Volunteer Headquarters" was laid in June 1904 and was only the second military building to be erected in the city after the Fort. It was prominent during the strikes in 1922 as it headquartered the troops used to quell the riots. Whilst it was related to military usage right up to the early '90s, its most famous use was as the court for the Treason Trial, before the trial was relocated to Pretoria 'for security reasons'.
The building is owned by the State which has neglected it to the stage that it is totally overrun by squatters, is a haven for gangs and a centre of criminal activity. It is a cess-pit which constitutes a major potential health hazard, a number of fires have resulted in damage and it has been condemned as structurally unsound.. Yet the State does absolutely nothing!
The third reason for dereliction is that some buildings are just totally neglected by their owners or have in fact been abandoned.
The Trust has been establisher to deal practically with these buildings with the aim of recycling them into active and economic life. In this it has borrowed from Cape Town whose Heritage Trust has done some wonderful work. The objective of the Trust is thus to "conserve the architectural, cultural and natural heritage of the City of Johannesburg and its environs for the benefit of the inhabitants of the City and of the nation at large, through the redevelopment and management of specific buildings within the city, and through creating an awareness of the cultural value and heritage in the buildings by means of campaigns and education initiatives to the general public."
We need to ensure that our historic buildings are there as part of the only history we have. Some must be there to remind us of what must never happen again, some because of the integral part they played in the struggle towards democratic freedom, others again because of their contribution to our built environment. All of this relates to the story that a city offers to its listeners, and the story about Johannesburg is a great one. Coincidentally, I'm reading a little book published in 1953 entitled "The Johannesburg Story" by F Addington Symonds that I came across in a second-hand bookstore.. The author says; "The Johannesburg story is grotesque, incredible - a melodrama acted by characters too unreal for real life, too fantastic for fiction. The very origin of the city was a masterpiece of irony." And that was in 1953!
The first building acquired by the Trust is 90 Market Street, built in 1902 as the Natal Bank but I have previously written about this. The building has been refurbished to house both our organisation and the Johannesburg Development Agency. From the lessons learned we believe that it is feasible to refurbish such buildings sensitively and turn them into revenue producing structures which add to the fabric and life of the city rather than detract as is the case and as has been historically. The Trust already has its sights on a number of 'strategic' heritage buildings, the re-use of which will have a beneficial impact on various aspects of the city's economy. We currently lack finance but that is just another hurdle to be overcome!
The twelve Trustees are Phill Mashabane (SA Heritage Resource Agency); Maishe Maponya (Council,City of Johannesburg); Henry Paine (Gauteng Institute for Architecture); Herbert Prins (Simon van der Stel Foundation); Ms Lillian Mvumvu (Community); Graeme Reid (Johannesburg Development Agency); Martin Maluleke, Dr Pieter Snyman and Franco Andreone appointed by the Johannesburg Inner City Business Coalition and Mrs Lucy Taylor, Professor Alan Lipman and myself appointed by the Central Johannesburg Partnership. The last thing we want is to work as an exclusive club and are aiming to draw in numerous persons who are as passionate as we are about both the city and its great heritage in buildings. I know the JHT can make a difference because the CJP and JDA now work out of a building which proves just what can be done.
Johannesburg Heritage Trust
This has been another important week for the inner city.
The first meeting of the newly established Johannesburg Heritage Trust was held on Tuesday 16th October and the sod turning ceremony marking the start of construction of the country's first Constitutional Court was held on Thursday the 18th. In addition, Blue IQ held an impressive event at the Sandton Convention Centre highlighting their projects for which they are seeking private sector partners and investment. Blue IQ is the R1.7 billion initiative of the Gauteng Provincial Government to invest in economic infrastructure development through 10 mega-projects in the areas of tourism, technology, transport and high value-added manufacturing in order to create a truly "smart" province.. Two of those projects are of course in the inner city itself, Newtown and Constitution Hill, whilst a third, the high speed train linking the Johannesburg International Airport with Sandton, Midrand and Pretoria also connects to the inner city.
Newtown has a number of components - the massive MetroMarket with construction well out of the ground - Mary Fitzgerald Square where the contractor is moving at great pace to make his 16th December deadline and the Nelson Mandela Bridge plus the on-and-off ramps to the M2 which are also under way. More about Constitution Hill next week except to pick up a comment made by the Gauteng Premier, Mbhazima Shilowa, in his speech at the sod-turning ceremony. Talking about the relevance of the site selected for Constitution Hill - the 'Fort' was a prison in both colonial and apartheid times where Nelson Mandela and Mahatma Gandhi amongst thousands of others were incarcerated - the Premier said that as bad as our history was, it was the only history we have it and we cannot turn our backs on it. That comment links back to the establishment of the Johannesburg Heritage Trust (JHT).
The first meeting of the Board of Trustees of the JHT was an important milestone in our inner city revitalisation strategy. Johannesburg's gold fever origins have produced a mining-camp mentality that has resulted in the vast majority of our heritage buildings being razed to make way for modern faceless monstrosities with little relationship to human scale and even less in the 'personality' stakes. We do have some gems scattered through the city, few and far between, and often in derelict state. There are probably three main reasons for their state. In some instances the buildings form part of a parcel of land bought by private sector institutions for redevelopment. They would then have ran foul of the previous National Monuments Council and were not allowed to demolish those buildings which were considered to have an historic or heritage value. In many instances the organisations have abandoned the projects allowing the 'protected' buildings to literally crumble into the ground. creating eyesores on the cityscape and adding to the sense of decay. Heartless developers, the ugly face of capitalism - sure but the State is no better if not considerably worse! Take the Drill Hall for example. A building with possibly not the greatest architectural merit (described by Gerhard-Mark van der Waal in his book "From Mining Camp to Metropolis" as somewhat "removed from the Beaux Arts mode") it has considerable historic and heritage value. The foundation stone of the building, built as the "Volunteer Headquarters" was laid in June 1904 and was only the second military building to be erected in the city after the Fort. It was prominent during the strikes in 1922 as it headquartered the troops used to quell the riots. Whilst it was related to military usage right up to the early '90s, its most famous use was as the court for the Treason Trial, before the trial was relocated to Pretoria 'for security reasons'.
The building is owned by the State which has neglected it to the stage that it is totally overrun by squatters, is a haven for gangs and a centre of criminal activity. It is a cess-pit which constitutes a major potential health hazard, a number of fires have resulted in damage and it has been condemned as structurally unsound.. Yet the State does absolutely nothing!
The third reason for dereliction is that some buildings are just totally neglected by their owners or have in fact been abandoned.
The Trust has been establisher to deal practically with these buildings with the aim of recycling them into active and economic life. In this it has borrowed from Cape Town whose Heritage Trust has done some wonderful work. The objective of the Trust is thus to "conserve the architectural, cultural and natural heritage of the City of Johannesburg and its environs for the benefit of the inhabitants of the City and of the nation at large, through the redevelopment and management of specific buildings within the city, and through creating an awareness of the cultural value and heritage in the buildings by means of campaigns and education initiatives to the general public."
We need to ensure that our historic buildings are there as part of the only history we have. Some must be there to remind us of what must never happen again, some because of the integral part they played in the struggle towards democratic freedom, others again because of their contribution to our built environment. All of this relates to the story that a city offers to its listeners, and the story about Johannesburg is a great one. Coincidentally, I'm reading a little book published in 1953 entitled "The Johannesburg Story" by F Addington Symonds that I came across in a second-hand bookstore.. The author says; "The Johannesburg story is grotesque, incredible - a melodrama acted by characters too unreal for real life, too fantastic for fiction. The very origin of the city was a masterpiece of irony." And that was in 1953!
The first building acquired by the Trust is 90 Market Street, built in 1902 as the Natal Bank but I have previously written about this. The building has been refurbished to house both our organisation and the Johannesburg Development Agency. From the lessons learned we believe that it is feasible to refurbish such buildings sensitively and turn them into revenue producing structures which add to the fabric and life of the city rather than detract as is the case and as has been historically. The Trust already has its sights on a number of 'strategic' heritage buildings, the re-use of which will have a beneficial impact on various aspects of the city's economy. We currently lack finance but that is just another hurdle to be overcome!
The twelve Trustees are Phill Mashabane (SA Heritage Resource Agency); Maishe Maponya (Council,City of Johannesburg); Henry Paine (Gauteng Institute for Architecture); Herbert Prins (Simon van der Stel Foundation); Ms Lillian Mvumvu (Community); Graeme Reid (Johannesburg Development Agency); Martin Maluleke, Dr Pieter Snyman and Franco Andreone appointed by the Johannesburg Inner City Business Coalition and Mrs Lucy Taylor, Professor Alan Lipman and myself appointed by the Central Johannesburg Partnership. The last thing we want is to work as an exclusive club and are aiming to draw in numerous persons who are as passionate as we are about both the city and its great heritage in buildings. I know the JHT can make a difference because the CJP and JDA now work out of a building which proves just what can be done.
Friday, October 12, 2001
Tourism Citichat 12 October 2001
CITICHAT 40/2001 12 October 2001
Tourism
"R10m boost for Joburg". On face value the front page of the last week's Saturday Star looked like some more good news for the city, According to the article, a tourism body is to be established to "aggressively market the city which will host (ie at the Earth Summit) more than 135 heads of state and 60 000 delegates from around the world." This tourism structure will evidently focus on the city's heritage. Of course the 'city' is not the Inner City or even the CBD, but covers the whole Metropolitan area. Thus the article talks about Melville Koppies, Klipriviersberg in the south and Klipspruitberg in Soweto, sites relating to the Anglo-Boer War, a struggle route taking in Nelson Mandela's former house in Orlando West, the Hector Pietersen Memorial and the Walter Sisulu Centre. The Inner City does get a mention in relation to "the area around the Mai-Mai bazaar, the Newtown area and the Constitutional Hill precinct". There is of course a whole lot more that the Inner City can contribute in terms of heritage which I hope is not being lost sight of! But I wonder if R10 million can do more than scrape the surface following the years of neglect to this aspect of the city!?
For the Inner City has been sadly neglected for the last decade in relationship to its tourist potential. Johannesburg Tourism, mainly funded by the Council, moved out of the city years ago to establish itself in Sandton leaving a single office in the Carlton Centre. With the demise of this organisation even that one office has gone. The Gauteng Tourism Agency set up its offices in Rosebank. The reason for the establishment of tourism organisations outside of the Inner City is always glibly given as that they must have offices where the tourists are - which is of course right in principle but, sadly, nothing is done about establishing a process that will lead to tourists visiting the city. Crime is always given as the excuse, “who would want to come to the CBD?” Yet, over the years, our organisation has constantly been approached by various bodies, businesses and embassy/consulates to act as city ‘tour guides’. Typical request from an Embassy; "we have this group of architects from our country (for architects read planners, engineers, city officials, businesspeople) whom we have been trying to dissuade from visiting the city because it is unsafe. But the idiots insist. Could you put on a walking/driving tour that will help them understand the changes and dynamics of the city and provide some of your security officers to accompany them?" We have always obliged and just sometimes the consular staff have even accompanied their charges. At the end of the tour they are effusively appreciative and wondering what the fuss was all about. We have something to sell – Johannesburg remains as the country’s crucible of change - a unique urban laboratory which, believe it or not is of great interest to many, many people from all over the world. Overcome their nervousness in regard to the perceptions of the city and they relax and are deeply engrossed in the story we tell and the quite intriguing environment we introduce them to.
In the last year or so, walking tours by groups such as Beryl Porter's 'Walk Tours' - www.walktours.co.za - have started to include the Downtown/CBD, and are an important tool in educating locals and visitors about the city as well as great fun.
In my rather quick visit to the USA last week I had some exposure to at least what one other city is doing in this aarena. I managed to squeeze a day-and-a-half in Washington DC for some meetings. One was with Kathy Schneider who runs the DC Heritage Tourism Coalition. The Coalition is a private sector driven consortium of more than 90 heritage, arts, community and cultural organisations 'dedicated to strengthening the image and economy of Washington DC.' Their members include historic house museums, neighbourhood historical societies, arts organisations, preservation groups, ethnic organisations, parks and gardens, art galleries, museums, historic houses of worship as well as business groups, tourism professionals and the hospitality industry. (Could this even happen here?). Everybody putting aside their parochial agendas for the good of the city. (I guess I’ve just answered my own question!) And by ‘good of the city’ I don't mean that they do this because they are philanthropic. Just consider these figures! 22 million people visit Washington DC every year, 61% of whom visit the city for its historical and cultural attractions which actually means that DC is the number one destination for heritage tourists in the States. They contribute $9 billion to the region of which $5,4 billion goes into the DC economy. That’s not small change! It sounds even more impressive when converted to rands, but we won’t do that exercise – nor one in Zim dollars! Yet very few of these 22 million visitors in fact go outside of the National Mall! Why? For the very same reason that they won't come to Downtown Joeys! They are scared because of the negative perceptions that the media have built around the city although the greatest proportion of their problems take place outside of the downtown! (My favourite quotation is still that of their immediate past mayor who said that if you remove the figures for murder, their crime stats don’t look at all bad!) So, the Coalition is working with its members to create new ways of experiencing the city's heritage and culture. Kathy agreed with me when I suggested that the only way to overcome bad perceptions is by bringing the people into the Downtown to see for themselves what is being done and what has been achieved. The City IS the Museum! What they are doing is to provide information about the city's treasures; use art and theatre to tell local stories and design and promote heritage trails. All of this also helps to instill a new sense of pride among their citizens. Kathy is working at drawing the 22 million visitors into the amazing smorgasbord that DC offers off the mall. Kathy, through the Heritage Tourism Coalition, has just produced a book, "Capital Assets" which is the result of her research into the tourist potential of neighbourhood heritage and cultural sites in Washington DC on the basis of (a) what is ready, (b) what is almost ready and (c) what could be ready. She has also classified aspects that have potential that is not fully realised, aspects that are in danger of disappearing altogether and lists of people with energy and ideas. Great stuff and a data base to work from that is priceless. A similar exercise here would be of more value than developing trails on an ad hoc basis.
From the information, the DC Heritage Tourism Coalition together with the Downtown DC Business Improvement District (yeah, CIDs!) has developed a heritage trail which is called ‘Civil War to Civil Rights’. What a story for a city to be able to tell through the medium of a walking tour!
But Johannesburg Downtown also has a story to tell that the world really wants to listen to and experience - we have so much to offer but the downtown is put down continually by ignorance, prejudice and negative perceptions. Like DC we can change this with a well developed strategy implemented by the many people who care and who love the city - but R10 million for the Metro area just as a reaction to the Earth Summit? Surely the downtown alone is worth more than that in terms of changing those perceptions, creating jobs, black empowerment, etc. etc. etc.? We have a once-off opportunity to 'raise the bar' through the Earth Summit but we must do it in a way that it remains a sustainable base to work from in the future and not just another event which has got to be coped with. We have to attract many times more than R10million if we are going to do the opportunity justice. I’m sure that business will dig deep because it will see the return but the public sector must show they are serious. Eleven months to go to the Summit and there is not even an agreed budget for the overall event although the calculation of the boost to the economy has been calculated as R1.3 billion! We need to leverage the R10million that the Council is allocating to the ‘city’ by a factor of 10 if we are really going to make a sustainable difference!
Tourism
"R10m boost for Joburg". On face value the front page of the last week's Saturday Star looked like some more good news for the city, According to the article, a tourism body is to be established to "aggressively market the city which will host (ie at the Earth Summit) more than 135 heads of state and 60 000 delegates from around the world." This tourism structure will evidently focus on the city's heritage. Of course the 'city' is not the Inner City or even the CBD, but covers the whole Metropolitan area. Thus the article talks about Melville Koppies, Klipriviersberg in the south and Klipspruitberg in Soweto, sites relating to the Anglo-Boer War, a struggle route taking in Nelson Mandela's former house in Orlando West, the Hector Pietersen Memorial and the Walter Sisulu Centre. The Inner City does get a mention in relation to "the area around the Mai-Mai bazaar, the Newtown area and the Constitutional Hill precinct". There is of course a whole lot more that the Inner City can contribute in terms of heritage which I hope is not being lost sight of! But I wonder if R10 million can do more than scrape the surface following the years of neglect to this aspect of the city!?
For the Inner City has been sadly neglected for the last decade in relationship to its tourist potential. Johannesburg Tourism, mainly funded by the Council, moved out of the city years ago to establish itself in Sandton leaving a single office in the Carlton Centre. With the demise of this organisation even that one office has gone. The Gauteng Tourism Agency set up its offices in Rosebank. The reason for the establishment of tourism organisations outside of the Inner City is always glibly given as that they must have offices where the tourists are - which is of course right in principle but, sadly, nothing is done about establishing a process that will lead to tourists visiting the city. Crime is always given as the excuse, “who would want to come to the CBD?” Yet, over the years, our organisation has constantly been approached by various bodies, businesses and embassy/consulates to act as city ‘tour guides’. Typical request from an Embassy; "we have this group of architects from our country (for architects read planners, engineers, city officials, businesspeople) whom we have been trying to dissuade from visiting the city because it is unsafe. But the idiots insist. Could you put on a walking/driving tour that will help them understand the changes and dynamics of the city and provide some of your security officers to accompany them?" We have always obliged and just sometimes the consular staff have even accompanied their charges. At the end of the tour they are effusively appreciative and wondering what the fuss was all about. We have something to sell – Johannesburg remains as the country’s crucible of change - a unique urban laboratory which, believe it or not is of great interest to many, many people from all over the world. Overcome their nervousness in regard to the perceptions of the city and they relax and are deeply engrossed in the story we tell and the quite intriguing environment we introduce them to.
In the last year or so, walking tours by groups such as Beryl Porter's 'Walk Tours' - www.walktours.co.za - have started to include the Downtown/CBD, and are an important tool in educating locals and visitors about the city as well as great fun.
In my rather quick visit to the USA last week I had some exposure to at least what one other city is doing in this aarena. I managed to squeeze a day-and-a-half in Washington DC for some meetings. One was with Kathy Schneider who runs the DC Heritage Tourism Coalition. The Coalition is a private sector driven consortium of more than 90 heritage, arts, community and cultural organisations 'dedicated to strengthening the image and economy of Washington DC.' Their members include historic house museums, neighbourhood historical societies, arts organisations, preservation groups, ethnic organisations, parks and gardens, art galleries, museums, historic houses of worship as well as business groups, tourism professionals and the hospitality industry. (Could this even happen here?). Everybody putting aside their parochial agendas for the good of the city. (I guess I’ve just answered my own question!) And by ‘good of the city’ I don't mean that they do this because they are philanthropic. Just consider these figures! 22 million people visit Washington DC every year, 61% of whom visit the city for its historical and cultural attractions which actually means that DC is the number one destination for heritage tourists in the States. They contribute $9 billion to the region of which $5,4 billion goes into the DC economy. That’s not small change! It sounds even more impressive when converted to rands, but we won’t do that exercise – nor one in Zim dollars! Yet very few of these 22 million visitors in fact go outside of the National Mall! Why? For the very same reason that they won't come to Downtown Joeys! They are scared because of the negative perceptions that the media have built around the city although the greatest proportion of their problems take place outside of the downtown! (My favourite quotation is still that of their immediate past mayor who said that if you remove the figures for murder, their crime stats don’t look at all bad!) So, the Coalition is working with its members to create new ways of experiencing the city's heritage and culture. Kathy agreed with me when I suggested that the only way to overcome bad perceptions is by bringing the people into the Downtown to see for themselves what is being done and what has been achieved. The City IS the Museum! What they are doing is to provide information about the city's treasures; use art and theatre to tell local stories and design and promote heritage trails. All of this also helps to instill a new sense of pride among their citizens. Kathy is working at drawing the 22 million visitors into the amazing smorgasbord that DC offers off the mall. Kathy, through the Heritage Tourism Coalition, has just produced a book, "Capital Assets" which is the result of her research into the tourist potential of neighbourhood heritage and cultural sites in Washington DC on the basis of (a) what is ready, (b) what is almost ready and (c) what could be ready. She has also classified aspects that have potential that is not fully realised, aspects that are in danger of disappearing altogether and lists of people with energy and ideas. Great stuff and a data base to work from that is priceless. A similar exercise here would be of more value than developing trails on an ad hoc basis.
From the information, the DC Heritage Tourism Coalition together with the Downtown DC Business Improvement District (yeah, CIDs!) has developed a heritage trail which is called ‘Civil War to Civil Rights’. What a story for a city to be able to tell through the medium of a walking tour!
But Johannesburg Downtown also has a story to tell that the world really wants to listen to and experience - we have so much to offer but the downtown is put down continually by ignorance, prejudice and negative perceptions. Like DC we can change this with a well developed strategy implemented by the many people who care and who love the city - but R10 million for the Metro area just as a reaction to the Earth Summit? Surely the downtown alone is worth more than that in terms of changing those perceptions, creating jobs, black empowerment, etc. etc. etc.? We have a once-off opportunity to 'raise the bar' through the Earth Summit but we must do it in a way that it remains a sustainable base to work from in the future and not just another event which has got to be coped with. We have to attract many times more than R10million if we are going to do the opportunity justice. I’m sure that business will dig deep because it will see the return but the public sector must show they are serious. Eleven months to go to the Summit and there is not even an agreed budget for the overall event although the calculation of the boost to the economy has been calculated as R1.3 billion! We need to leverage the R10million that the Council is allocating to the ‘city’ by a factor of 10 if we are really going to make a sustainable difference!
Friday, October 5, 2001
Pittsburgh Citichat 5 October 2001
CITICHAT 39/2001 - 5 October 2001
Pittsburgh
The thought that probably comes to mind when one hears the name ‘Pittsburgh’ is ‘smokestack city of the US steel industry’. If you have visited Pittsburgh in the last decade you will know that this is no longer true. The city has recreated itself from the smoky, grimy, steel manufacturer of the first half of the twentieth century to a lovely city in a unique setting. Downtown Pittsburgh, rich in history, nestles in a triangle formed by the confluence of the Monongahela and Allegheny Rivers where they come together to form the Ohio River. There is nearly 9 miles of riverfront thus providing great opportunities for river-front development and greening. Oh, for a river in Johannesburg! The city of Pittsburgh was host to this year’s International Downtown Association Annual Conference when mainly private sector city organisations come together to share the latest trends in urban management and development.
My American friends tell me that less than thirty years ago, there were days when the city was dark by three o’clock in the afternoon so dense was the smoke and soot that dozens of steel plants belched into the atmosphere. All that has gone, now replaced with a strong ethic of ‘greening’ and environmental awareness. The city boasts a large (possibly the largest in the USA) number of ‘green’ buildings, buildings that comply with the stringent requirements for national environmental recognition. Apart from its large modern buildings, the city also has numerous heritage buildings many of outstanding architectural merit. The city’s wide pavements are quite exceptionally clean and, unlike many American cities, have no informal traders. There are street people about but only once did I see someone begging. The downtown is exceptionally compact providing easy access for its 135 000 workers, you can walk anywhere in 10 to 20 minutes and 60% of all office accommodation is in downtown. Within a 30 minute drive are some 2,4 million people.
Everywhere there is evidence of a great deal of new investment, both public and private. Two magnificent new stadia, one for baseball and the other for American football costing $228 million and $233 million respectively, have recently been completed across one of the rivers and an $8 million park connecting the two is in the final stages of construction. Each of the stadia is open at one end so that from the city one is able to look across the river into the building, whilst those seated inside are afforded magnificent views of the city. This is quite unlike the unfriendly, closed facades of most stadia which turn their backs on their surroundings. On the downtown river-side a new $267 million state of the art convention centre is under construction. The city’s 2000 Development Report records over 200 projects either recently completed or under construction at a cost of three-and-a-half-billion dollars! A number of projects are focused on ‘softening’ the river edges and replacing the hard edges left by the city’s industrial past. A newly built riverfront trail will, with the completion of a number of similar projects, shortly enable one to jog or ride a bicycle on a trail to Washington DC some 250 miles away. Yet with all this investment the city has seen little growth. In the early 1900s the city had a population of 350 000. At the peak of its industrial era in the ‘50s, the city had grown to three-quarters of a million. Today it is 330 000! In one twelve month period, 200 000 jobs were lost. From this wreckage, the city has recreated itself and is a great example of what can be done - when the capital is available! The presence of a large number of foundations with an asset base of six-and-a-half billion dollars also helps!
The conference was up to IDA’s high standard but was obviously overshadowed by the events of September 11. Many of the presentations were prefaced or qualified as to thinking or projections that the speakers had developed before that date. The IDA Board, comprising urban practitioners from across North America together with a couple of us ‘aliens’, spent some time in sharing thoughts about possible outcomes for cities. Some were concerned that the truly positive strides made by so many cities over the last decade may well be nullified. Others took a more pragmatic approach and suggested that there could well be positive aspects emerging from the tragedy. Some reminded us that many tragedies have the effect of strengthening the affected town or city, the Munich Olympics, the Birmingham shopping centre bombings, tornado/hurricane destruction, etc. were offered as examples. I tend to agree with those that felt that cities per se would not be adversely affected but that there would be nervousness in regard to leasing the upper floors of very tall buildings that are in the ‘icon’ category. On the other hand, the Pentagon is a low-rise building although it too falls into the ‘icon’ category representing as it does the military might of the American nation. So the discussions ebbed and flowed over the three-and-a-half days; stories of people moving out of New York, stories of major corporations consolidating in the city to show their support. Stories of major corporations reviewing leases in tall buildings and of wanting to dilute the concentration of senior management in any one building, stories of increased interest in letting space. Stories of deserted streets in New York and surrounding urban areas for the first 48 hours after the attack followed by streets jammed with people who didn’t want to stay at home watching TV and sought the community contact that only cities offer. The various main speakers offered thought-provoking comments; “When people celebrate they come together usually in cities, when people grieve they come together usually in cities.” “Profound evil is overcome by profound love. Profound love is found in enhancing community, community is best expressed in cities”. “Some cities succeed because they are destined to, others because they are determined to.” “How do political structures of the 19th Century deal with technology of the 21st?”
Keynote speaker Neal Pierce who has made American cities and states his focus over three decades and who has written numerous books on the importance of the city and region (“Citistates; How Urban America Can Prosper in a Competitive World”) stressed the following:
Cities are symbols of what is lasting, of permanence.
Cities are shared places and the places for sharing.
Cities are the gathering places for society.
Cities are the economic and social centres for regions.
Predatory suburbs that entice business to leave cities need to be deplored.
‘Connected’ urban centres will be the successful centres of the future.
Business recognises that people skills are the key to their success, people need to meet, talk, challenge one another and cities are the creative stages on which this takes place.
No doubt the debate will rage for some time but the issue that all agreed upon is that this is the time for strong city leadership.
Pittsburgh
The thought that probably comes to mind when one hears the name ‘Pittsburgh’ is ‘smokestack city of the US steel industry’. If you have visited Pittsburgh in the last decade you will know that this is no longer true. The city has recreated itself from the smoky, grimy, steel manufacturer of the first half of the twentieth century to a lovely city in a unique setting. Downtown Pittsburgh, rich in history, nestles in a triangle formed by the confluence of the Monongahela and Allegheny Rivers where they come together to form the Ohio River. There is nearly 9 miles of riverfront thus providing great opportunities for river-front development and greening. Oh, for a river in Johannesburg! The city of Pittsburgh was host to this year’s International Downtown Association Annual Conference when mainly private sector city organisations come together to share the latest trends in urban management and development.
My American friends tell me that less than thirty years ago, there were days when the city was dark by three o’clock in the afternoon so dense was the smoke and soot that dozens of steel plants belched into the atmosphere. All that has gone, now replaced with a strong ethic of ‘greening’ and environmental awareness. The city boasts a large (possibly the largest in the USA) number of ‘green’ buildings, buildings that comply with the stringent requirements for national environmental recognition. Apart from its large modern buildings, the city also has numerous heritage buildings many of outstanding architectural merit. The city’s wide pavements are quite exceptionally clean and, unlike many American cities, have no informal traders. There are street people about but only once did I see someone begging. The downtown is exceptionally compact providing easy access for its 135 000 workers, you can walk anywhere in 10 to 20 minutes and 60% of all office accommodation is in downtown. Within a 30 minute drive are some 2,4 million people.
Everywhere there is evidence of a great deal of new investment, both public and private. Two magnificent new stadia, one for baseball and the other for American football costing $228 million and $233 million respectively, have recently been completed across one of the rivers and an $8 million park connecting the two is in the final stages of construction. Each of the stadia is open at one end so that from the city one is able to look across the river into the building, whilst those seated inside are afforded magnificent views of the city. This is quite unlike the unfriendly, closed facades of most stadia which turn their backs on their surroundings. On the downtown river-side a new $267 million state of the art convention centre is under construction. The city’s 2000 Development Report records over 200 projects either recently completed or under construction at a cost of three-and-a-half-billion dollars! A number of projects are focused on ‘softening’ the river edges and replacing the hard edges left by the city’s industrial past. A newly built riverfront trail will, with the completion of a number of similar projects, shortly enable one to jog or ride a bicycle on a trail to Washington DC some 250 miles away. Yet with all this investment the city has seen little growth. In the early 1900s the city had a population of 350 000. At the peak of its industrial era in the ‘50s, the city had grown to three-quarters of a million. Today it is 330 000! In one twelve month period, 200 000 jobs were lost. From this wreckage, the city has recreated itself and is a great example of what can be done - when the capital is available! The presence of a large number of foundations with an asset base of six-and-a-half billion dollars also helps!
The conference was up to IDA’s high standard but was obviously overshadowed by the events of September 11. Many of the presentations were prefaced or qualified as to thinking or projections that the speakers had developed before that date. The IDA Board, comprising urban practitioners from across North America together with a couple of us ‘aliens’, spent some time in sharing thoughts about possible outcomes for cities. Some were concerned that the truly positive strides made by so many cities over the last decade may well be nullified. Others took a more pragmatic approach and suggested that there could well be positive aspects emerging from the tragedy. Some reminded us that many tragedies have the effect of strengthening the affected town or city, the Munich Olympics, the Birmingham shopping centre bombings, tornado/hurricane destruction, etc. were offered as examples. I tend to agree with those that felt that cities per se would not be adversely affected but that there would be nervousness in regard to leasing the upper floors of very tall buildings that are in the ‘icon’ category. On the other hand, the Pentagon is a low-rise building although it too falls into the ‘icon’ category representing as it does the military might of the American nation. So the discussions ebbed and flowed over the three-and-a-half days; stories of people moving out of New York, stories of major corporations consolidating in the city to show their support. Stories of major corporations reviewing leases in tall buildings and of wanting to dilute the concentration of senior management in any one building, stories of increased interest in letting space. Stories of deserted streets in New York and surrounding urban areas for the first 48 hours after the attack followed by streets jammed with people who didn’t want to stay at home watching TV and sought the community contact that only cities offer. The various main speakers offered thought-provoking comments; “When people celebrate they come together usually in cities, when people grieve they come together usually in cities.” “Profound evil is overcome by profound love. Profound love is found in enhancing community, community is best expressed in cities”. “Some cities succeed because they are destined to, others because they are determined to.” “How do political structures of the 19th Century deal with technology of the 21st?”
Keynote speaker Neal Pierce who has made American cities and states his focus over three decades and who has written numerous books on the importance of the city and region (“Citistates; How Urban America Can Prosper in a Competitive World”) stressed the following:
Cities are symbols of what is lasting, of permanence.
Cities are shared places and the places for sharing.
Cities are the gathering places for society.
Cities are the economic and social centres for regions.
Predatory suburbs that entice business to leave cities need to be deplored.
‘Connected’ urban centres will be the successful centres of the future.
Business recognises that people skills are the key to their success, people need to meet, talk, challenge one another and cities are the creative stages on which this takes place.
No doubt the debate will rage for some time but the issue that all agreed upon is that this is the time for strong city leadership.
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