| City Improvement Districts (CIDs) illustrate the increasing involvement of local business and property owners in managing the city. These self-taxing, self-help public private partnership organisations are set up to maintain, promote and develop public areas within a specific perimeter, specifically through the enhancement of public services. In Johannesburg, the North-American CID model brought up by a powerful coalition of business interests has been well acknowledged and has become a widespread tool of urban regeneration in the declining inner city and in the high income decentralised nodes. The paper analyses the emergence of CIDs and explores the implications of these developments in the context of South Africa's transition to democracy and post-apartheid restructuring. Considering CID beyond a tool of urban revitalisation, it points out how the balance of powers between public and corporate interests is being played with the growing empowerment of private actors and the consequences these developments might have on the intra-urban spatial structure. The paper also draws attention to the new forms of local participation that are fostered by CID organisations and questions how and to what extent these developments might pave the way for an elite-driven urban redevelopment. |
Export this paper
