Building community and local business through GIS in Jeppestown

Chantal Mann, an Urban Programme Manager for Bjala, will present this Geospatial Sciences seminar.

Jeppestown has a rich urban fabric. After the decline of the CBD in the 80’s and 90’s and further exodus of industry following the development of industrial centres outside the city, Jeppestown quickly became an important residential area for low-income groups.

Through both formal and informal conversion of industrial buildings, cheap housing is available at scale in Jeppestown. Like many urban communities, Jeppestown is socially fragmented, but Bjala, a Jeppestown social enterprise hopes to change this through GIS.

Applying the principle of Asset-based Community Development (ABCD) which purports that if organised well, communities have both the resources and know-how within their localised area to solve a majority of its social and economic issues, and with the use of participatory GIS mapping, it is hoped to establish a variety of data sets that can help to begin community organising through, amongst others, identifying building use, distinguishing formal and informal residential areas, identifying employers in the area and creating a platform for sharing local job opportunities and local labour (job-seekers), understanding social themes of interest and connecting people who are interested in the same themes etc. 

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