Episode 34: Densifying the City - Global Cases and Johannesburg

Talking Transformation

Another episode – another book review and another chance to revisit Johannesburg! I’m delighted to welcome the editorial team for the book - Densifying the City - Global Cases and Johannesburg - on this episode: Alexandra Appelbaum, Alison Todes, Margot Rubin and Philip Harrison.

For regular listeners, you’d know that Phil was our very first guest way back in July 2019 and that Margot has been a guest on another episode that dealt with backyard rentals, the last episode before the national lockdown if my memory serves me well.

A new publication has tackled the complexities of the processes and policies of density. The book draws on experience and inputs from a host of leading academics and practitioners and considers 25 inputs from some of the South Africa’s leading academic minds. Densifying the City – Global Cases and Johannesburg does what it says on the cover…It takes the reader on a series of case studies as diverse as Istanbul (Turkey), Sydney (Australia) and the poster child for TOD- Curitiba (Brazil). There’s plenty to digest- globally and locally: density in both its formal and informal forms, the drivers of density and the evolution of policy and urban management approaches.

Closer to home and through Johannesburg as the primary case study, the book considers the forms in which density takes via different spaces, processes and participants. The ambition and realisation of density through Transit Oriented Development adds a third dimension to the conversation. We considered the issue of Johannesburg’s Corridors of Freedom in our second episode and this conversation gives us an opportunity to update the perspectives and thoughts on this issue.

It promises to be a rich conversation with colleagues at the pinnacle of their game.

Recorded March 6th 2021