With spatial disconnect still being a concern for the City of Johannesburg, where there is a mismatch between where people work versus where they live, City of Johannesburg (CoJ) executive mayor Parks Tau notes that working together with other stakeholders will assist CoJ in mitigating this challenge.

Speaking during the South African Property Owners Association’s (Sapoa’s) Meet the Mayor initiative last month, he mentioned that CoJ intended to learn from other cities which are more efficient at intensifying urban land use through higher residential densities, centrali- sation, mixed land uses and development limits outside a designated area.

“We need to look at the long-term implication of location decisions. As a result, there is joint work that we are doing with Sapoa to look at the impact of commercial real estate on the city economy,” he stated.

Tau further indicated that this was due for completion next year as CoJ was trying to stretch the scope in order to look at the cost of poor location decisions that are made by both the State and the market.

Acknowledging the importance of property in the city, he pointed out that working with property owners in developing their businesses was something CoJ was committed to as it could assist in creating an appealing landscape for residents and visitors to the city.

“One of Sapoa’s priority roles is ensuring that government departments and representatives remain in constant conversation with the property sector and that the industry’s needs are addressed at legislative level,” said Sapoa president Mike Deighton.

The initiative was attended by key government and property stakeholders within Gauteng, which Sapoa hopes will grow further with time, as the platform allowed for strengthening of partnerships, dialogues and collaboration between the commercial property sector and government.