Welcome To Neil Fraser's Citichat

The Central Johannesburg Partnership (CJP) was established in 1992 as a tri-lateral organization with three sectoral partners, the Community, Business and the then Local Authority, the City Council of Johannesburg. The objective of the business was to stop the spiral of decay in the inner city and create a platform off which new investment would again flow into the inner city thus reversing the previous downward trends.

Neil Fraser was appointed the Chief Executive at its founding and led the CJP for some 13 years until he retired from the organization early in 2005.  

During the early years of the CJP it became clear to him that some of the major forces working against the attainment of the organisation’s objectives were an unsympathetic and adverse media always keen to show the inner city in the worst possible light with no interest in positive progress, however small at that stage, and, secondly, the lack of knowledge and general lack of interest in the inner city across a wide front. The lack of appreciation of the importance of the inner city and of the work that was being undertaken to create a new platform off which positive growth could again take place was seen in the attitudes of South Africans almost across the board even at Central Government level. When visitors arrived in the country they were warned not to visit the inner city by locals who had, more often than not, themselves not been in the inner city itself for many years.

Neil felt that there was a need to keep the inner city stakeholders and roleplayers aware on an unbiased basis of the state of progress in the inner city. Later, this could be expanded to a broader base. He would do this through the medium of a newsletter which he called “Citichat” which would be available, initially, in both faxed and electronic formats. Starting on a fortnightly basis but fairly quickly thereafter on a weekly basis, Citichat thus forms an unusual commentary on the urban renewal of the Johannesburg inner city from 1997/8.

Because he was also traveling quite extensively to witness and understand how cities around the world were dealing with issues of urban decay and regeneration, he also included reports on what he had experienced nationally and internationally generally emphasising aspects that could well be adopted or adapted for local use. Over the years he also started using the newsletter to inform and remind readers of some of the unique history of the city and the newsletter broadened although its major focus has always related to the inner city of Johannesburg.    

Citichat has obviously always reflected his personal views and not those of an organization and he continued producing the newsletter after he retired from the CJP early in 2005 and established an urban consultancy practice, “Urban Inc” with business partner Katherine Cox.

This blog will ultimately provide access to all past and current copies of Citichat as well as some relevant work that has been produced by Neil Fraser or Urban Inc over the years.

It is Neil’s intent that www.citichat.co.za will provide a platform for comment, whether general, positive or negative, regarding the inner city and the urban renewal process.