Negotiating Property Development in Johannesburg: Re-thinking the Developer-Planner Relationship

Abstract

This presentation is about negotiations of two property development projects in Johannesburg. It discusses particular actors and relationships that emerged within these negotiations to re-think the developer-planner relationship. The focus of this talk is on municipal planners, local consultants, and their relationships in Johannesburg. It emphasises the agency of planners negotiating with developers to advance policy goals within development. It shows that planners from the City of Johannesburg at times not only control but were able to (re)direct developers towards policy goals (Ballard and Harrison 2020, Robinson and Todes 2020). The negotiations discussed here however present two particular cases which need to be considered in the wider context of property development and institutional, political and socioeconomic circumstances in the city. It also showcases the role of local consultants in the planner-developer relationship. It demonstrates that local consultants may not simply argue for short-term interests of developers but sometimes also negotiate for policy goals. It revealed positive, ongoing consultant-planner relationships facilitating development planning. This speaks back to recent critical debates on developers and their network of actors (Ballard and Harrison 2020, Mosselson 2020). This presentation contributes to developing a nuanced understanding of relationships between planners, developers, and consultants in property development in Johannesburg, where municipal planners are ascribed a greater role than is commonly assumed. The development projects present two of three case studies in Inken Oldsen-thor Straten’s PhD project, which is an analysis of local authorities and property developers’ relations shaping spatial change in Cape Town and Johannesburg.