The CJP examined how the move of the provincial government from Pretoria to Johannesburg could most positively and effectively impact on the city. It came to the conclusion that a concentration of provincial government in an area or precinct would be most beneficial. The conversion of the City Hall, which had had limited usage since the building of the Civic Centre in Braamfontein, to house the provincial government legislature, had been part of the proposal that the CJP had made for the move of provincial government from Pretoria to Johannesburg.
It thus seemed logical to concentrate the required office accommodation around the new Legislature and the area bordering the so called Civic Spine provided just such an opportunity. The CJP proposal was accepted in-principle by the provincial government.
The CJP provided the provincial Ggovernment coordination team with an office planning expert who worked full time with the provincial government throughout 1995.
Tenders for space were called for and in October some 80 000 square metres of office space was selected with subsequent requirements bringing the space to approximately 100 000 square metres. This was in addition to the accommodation provided by the legislature building.
The CJP was requested by the SAPS to set up an inner city workgroup to investigate the use, funding and organisation necessary for the deployment of CCTV within the Inner City. The SAPS and the CJP undertook an investigation into city related CCTV interventions in the United Kingdom in early 1996 and subsequently Business Against Crime (Gauteng) (BAC), the SAPS and the CJP arranged for an international CCTV expert from the British Home Office to visit the city in August 1996. BAC took over the project in 1999 in order for it to be operationalised.
Other safety initiatives
Apart from its involvement in the Inner City CCTV initiative, CIDs, etc. the CJP was actively involved in the city's community police forum for a number of years and generally in all anti-crime activities related to the inner city.
In order to advise and support the business sector as well as the visioning process, the CJP undertook, either directly or in partnership with others the following research:
As part of the overall visioning process, members of the ICDF undertook a study tour of various cities in the UK and USA in April/May 1996. Participants included elected councillors and officials, provincial government officials, community leaders and business representatives.
The study tour was planned and organised by the CJP working with the Prince of Wales Business Leaders Forum in the United Kingdom and with the International Downtown Association in Washington DC., USA. Funding for the study tour was obtained by the CJP from UK and USA government funding agencies as well as from local business.
The CJP and PUR, organised a tour of United States Eastern Seaboard cities in May 1999 for members of the Pretoria City Council, Pretoria Inner City Partnership and Johannesburg Inner City Section 59 Committee members. Funding for community representatives from both Pretoria and Johannesburg was raised from USAID by the CJP/PUR. The group visited New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore and Washington D.C. before attending a city conference in Charlotte North Carolina.
In 2000, the CJP organised attendance for Pretoria, Cape Town and Johannesburg council representatives at the International Downtown Association annual conference in Los Angeles extending the tour with a focused visit for the Johannesburg Inner City manager to Development Agencies in Long Beach, San Jose and San Antonio prior to the restructuring of the Inner City Office to the Johannesburg Development Agency.
The CJP organised a planning charrette for the Inner City which was led by International Architects and Urban Planners, the Development Design Group Incorporated, Baltimore, USA, in October 1996.
In 1999 the CJP, on behalf of the JICBC who provided the financing, co-ordinated the production of a Spatial Framework for the Inner City in parallel to the development of an Economic Framework. Both Strategies were adopted as policy by the Section 59 Committee.
In 2000 the CJP, again acting on behalf of the JICBC, extended the earlier spatial framework study by developing a strategic business plan for the downtown core of the city and which consolidated much of the relevant thinking and planning that had taken place over prior years and incorporates a practical approach for future investment and development. This process culminated at the Urban Futures Conference in July 2000 where it was presented in charette form to local and international delegates before final approval by the Section 59 Committee.
The CJP has been responsible for a number of urban conferences and workshops. In 2004 it organised a conference entitled ‘Cities in Change' as part of the Johannesburg City Council's Ten years of Freedom celebrations. British and American specialists in various urban fields were invited to present papers together with a number of local speakers.