The Governance of Urban Parks

The Johannesburg City Parks and Zoo (JCPZ) was recently restructured in 2013, from being accountable to the Department of Environment and Infrastructural Services to the Department of Community and Health Services in the City of Johannesburg.

The new emphasis of service delivery to the people, community engagement and partnerships, has led JCPZ to partner with CUBES (and the PSUG programme in particular) to document practices, challenges and opportunities of community engagement around the development and management of urban parks in the city. The main areas of research are:

Managing parks: developing partnerships between JCPZ and users groups
Practices of JCPZ officials in engaging with users groups
The management of homelessness in urban parks

The research findings are regularly presented and debated with JCPZ officials. This ongoing research partnership, exploring participatory approaches to Johannesburg parks management, has led to the following outputs.

CUBES reports for JCPZ

Changing practices of the state: Challenges and opportunities of community engagement in Johannesburg City Parks and Zoo - Officials’ perspectives

Report prepared for Johannesburg City Parks and Zoo by Patience Tumelo Bosaka and Claire Bénit-Gbaffou (March 2016).

Learning from communities’ involvement in the management of parks: The cases of Zoo Lake and Thokoza Park, Johannesburg

Report prepared for Johannesburg City Parks and Zoo by Sizakele Hadebe (January 2016).

Rethinking Park Design & Management in Inner-City Johannesburg to Improve Park Use and Safety: Learning the lessons from End Street South Park Upgrade

Report prepared for Johannesburg City Parks and Zoo by Nkosilenhle Mavuso (February 2016).

CUBES leaflet series

The management of parks and nature reserves in Johannesburg: exploring partnerships between communities and City Parks: The cases of Golden Harvest, James and Ethel Gray, Mshenguville Parks & Melville Koppies, Klipriviersberg Nature Reserves. A class research project, by 3rd year Planning & Politics students, Wits University, coordinated by Prof Claire Benit-Gbaffou (2016).

Towards improving inner city park uses and safety - the benefits of a participatory approach to design: The case of End Street South Park. By Nkosilenhle Mavuso (2016).

What Johannesburg City Parks and Zoo officials think when they engage with park users committees. By Patience Bosaka and Claire Bénit-Gbaffou (2016).

Learning from park users committees (or Friends of the Park) in the township and in the suburbs: The cases of Thokoza Park and Zoo Lake, Johannesburg. By Sizakhele Hadebe and Claire Bénit-Gbaffou (2016).

Completed research reports

The following students' research reports were completed between 2015 and 2017.

Masters reports

Zonke Mkhomazi (2017) Sustainable development of parks: Investigating the trade-offs in the conflicting development process of parks: The case of the Mshenguville Park, Soweto. Masters research report, School of Architecture and Planning, Wits University: Johannesburg.

Honours reports

Nigere K (2017) Privatisation of public places in South Africa: A local NGP (COPESSA) in a Sowetan park. Honours research report, Department of Social Anthropology. Wits University: Johannesburg.

Bosaka P (2016) Changing practices of the state: Johannesburg City Parks and Zoo officials’ views on opportunities and challenges of community engagement. Honours research report, School of Architecture and Planning. Wits University: Johannesburg.

Hadebe C (2016) Learning from communities’ involvement in the management of parks: The case of Zoo Lake and Thokoza Park, Johannesburg. Honours research report, School of Architecture and Planning. Wits University: Johannesburg.

Mokgere T (2016) Constructing a joint vision for Johannesburg nature reserves: City Parks and users’ committee engagements in Melville Koppies, Klipriviersberg and Kloofendal nature reserves. Honours research report, School of Architecture and Planning. Wits University: Johannesburg. Executive Summary.

Third year reports

Ratau F, Phakati L, Masilo O and Bénit-Gbaffou C (2018) Joint management of parks in Johannesburg? The case of James and Ethel Gray Park. Research report for the 2015 course ARPL3023 – Politics, Governance and the City, School of Architecture and Planning. Wits University: Johannesburg.
Baloyi L, Hunter M and Ntombela S (2015) Community engagement with the state: deciphering resident associations’ influence on park management, development and conservation in the Klipriviersberg Nature Reserve. Third year research report, School of Architecture and Planning. Wits University: Johannesburg.

Mcetywa N, Molema L, Thaver T and Zondo X (2015) A Golf Course or an Eco Park in Mshenguville, Soweto? Exploring the extent of community influence in the park development process. Third year research report, School of Architecture and Planning. Wits University: Johannesburg.

Mokgere T, Mashaba C and Tsbebe H (2015) Managing Golden Harvest Park as a Nature Reserve - The politics of public space management: residents’ involvement in the management of parks in Johannesburg. Third year research report, School of Architecture and Planning. Wits University: Johannesburg.

Ndlovu E, Msimango L and Hopa L (2015) Melville Koppies acting as a self-managed nature reserve. Third year research report, School of Architecture and Planning. Wits University: Johannesburg.

Research reports in progress

Research reports currently being undertaken by students on the governance of urban parks:

Tlholo Mokgere (in progress) Formalising partnerships between park users and City Park in Johannesburg – across the north-south divide. Masters research report, Urban Studies, School of Architecture and Planning, Wits University.

Lindokhule Msimango (in progress) Livestock grazing in urban parks of Soweto. Honours research report, School of Architecture and Planning, Wits University.

Audrey Laures (in progress) The management of homelessness in Norwood and Paterson Park, Johannesburg. Masters research report, Development Studies, University of Paris I – Sorbonne.

Mathabo Ntshangase (in progress) The management of homelessness in James and Ethel Grey Park, Johannesburg. Honours research report, School of Architecture and Planning, Wits University.

Lebogang Molema (in progress) Setting up partnerships for the management of the Braamfontein Spruit – practices of the state and conflicting institutional logics. Masters research report, Development Planning, School of Architecture and Planning, Wits University.

Contact

Claire Bénit-Gbaffou: claire.benit-gbaffou@wits.ac.za (PSUG programme coordinator)