This is what experts told a recent Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS) forum on whether Johannesburg is a world class African City.

In 120 years it has grown from a population of 200 to its current estimate of just under 4m in a wider city-region of 9m people. It is growing at 3-4% per annum and the population is expected to double in 17 years. It generates one fifth of SA's wealth and is home to 70% of corporate headquarters.

"The growth has been phenomenal from a physical point of view," says Neil Fraser, a partner in urban consultancy Urban Inc.
The period of decline - from 1990 to 2000 - saw relatively low new capital investment, mainly from the private sector. From 2001 to 2006 this increased to R6,5bn, of which R2,5bn was from the public sector. Of the R4bn from the private sector, 50% was in residential refurbishments, conversions and new developments, providing approximately 10 000 units, he said.

"There is just this unbelievable amount of residential (development) coming on to the sites," said Fraser.

Residential upgrades and conversions from offices in the Plein, Bree, Jeppe, Kerk, Pritchard and President streets area include the Empire State, Leisk House, Essanby, Connaught, Dundonald, Cavendish, African Diamond, Normandie Court, Textile Centre, 120 End Street, Lustre House, Newkirk, Berbro House, Stirling House, Fine Art House, Elgin, Royal St Marys, Castle, New Plaza, Tribeca Lofts, Record House, Persam Place, Lusan Court and Dorchester buildings.

Residential conversions in the CBD core include the previous Southern Sun complex, Shakespeare House and CNA complex, landmark buildings like 87 Commissioner Street, 1 Rissik Street, the Carlton Hotel. Some CBD core infrastructure projects are the Gautrain station, Gandhi Square, the Faraday Taxi Rank and Multimarket, the Rissik Street Post Office, the Kerk Street Linear Market and the Legal Precinct upgrade.

The south-western quadrant is seeing upper income residential development at Harrison Place, The Franklin and Mapungubwe. Other developments in this quadrant are Turbine Hall for AngloGold Ashanti, 11 Diagonal Street for Absa, and AA House for First National Bank. The Newton area, desolate for a long time, has come to life with the Nelson Mandela Bridge, completed in July 2003, opening the whole area, Fraser said.

Braamfontein, across the bridge, has seen major upgrades with the Liberty Life and JD Group parking areas and the Sappi headquarters, in addition to residential and student accommodation.

Fraser added that there were 9 655 inner city property transfers between 1996 and 2006, with a total value of R6bn, with 73% by value occurring between 2001 and 2006.

The city's parking crunch, which can be traced to a policy in the 60s that limited the number of bays, is being addressed with an additional 9 000 bays created over the last six years, and 7 000-8 000 more planned.

Fraser noted that when the city starts cleaning up the public environment in an area, people respond by buying up properties. Upgrading is slow in Hillbrow and the east, but the Ellis Park-Bertrams area has been allocated R300m, and the stadium itself R220m for upgrades.

Anticipated capital expenditure on known projects over the next three to five years could be in the order of R15bn.
But, says Fraser, the increase in residential developments needs to ring warning bells as the consolidation of people in one area will create a need for open spaces.

Dr Philip Harrison, Executive Director of Development Planning and Urban Management for the City of Johannesburg, told the forum of the multiple trends taking the city towards and away from the objective of being a world class African city for all, with complex and highly differentiated patterns of change shaping the city.

The spatial differences were glaring with very wealthy areas like Sandton contrasting with the 250 informal settlements in the city area.

Positive trends include political and leadership stability and an active opposition, improved financial management, the tarring of Soweto's roads and reducing water wastage, and innovative projects like the Cosmo City mixed use development.
Mixed trends include a spatially concentrated economic growth of about 5,3%, high but declining crime rates, and mixed patterns of regeneration and decay in the inner city.

There is an emergent system of urban management, but there are still management problems in many areas, Harrison said.
Negative trends are the ageing and deteriorating infrastructural networks across large parts of the city with some serious problems with power, water supply, and road infrastructure on the northern edge. Housing delivery is accelerating but there are growing housing backlogs as the city struggles to cope with urbanisation, very weak public transport, and protected enclaves for the wealthy, with further marginalisation of some of the poorer areas.

The major political concerns in the city are: achieving a 9% growth rate, effective urban management, inner city regeneration, getting public transport right before the Fifa Soccer World Cup in 2010 and formalising informal settlement and accelerating the delivery of housing.

"If Johannesburg is to grow by 9% we have got to get the basics right and make sure the city is functioning," commented Harrison.