MA, Faculty of Humanities, University of the Witwatersrand, 2011 / The Newtown Cultural Precinct came about as one of government’s interventions to turn around Johannesburg’s Inner City degeneration as a result of big business’s migration to the North in the nineties when urban management and land use controls collapsed. Government’s approach to culture-led urban regeneration was by means of large public sector capital development. The research covers the history of the concept of Newtown as a cultural precinct and how it came into being. It explores the criteria for cultural precincts in terms of international best practice and whether Newtown meets these requirements. It determines whether what was planned for Newtown by government has been achieved, and is being implemented. A review of strategies, business plans, projects and activities related to the development of Newtown as a cultural precinct was undertaken, as were interviews with key stakeholders, in order to establish why the notion of a cultural precinct took root when it did, and whether it is a success or not.

M.Tech. (Architectural Technology) / The City of Johannesburg has no formal recycling strategy and waste is simply dumped as collected in designated landfill sites. Yet these landfill sites, reportedly, will be good for no more than another eight years. Throughout the city there is an informal network of waste collectors commonly known as trolley pushers who, together with the private buy-back and recycle centres, form the only real system of recycling in Johannesburg. There is no infrastructure for the trolley pushers, men and women who perform a vital function. There are no dedicated spaces and very little tolerance from the residents of Johannesburg. The trolley pushers sleep amongst their collection of waste, or travel far to start each day in the very early hours of the morning. They roll their improvised trolleys full of goods in the street among the traffic of commuters, hindering and being hindered. They store their messy waste, when they can in unsafe and public spaces, such as under bridges and on the side of some roads. Storage is such a problem for trolley pushers that often they’re forced to sell their goods as soon as they collect them, when the fluctuating prices may be too low. They are always essentially at the mercy of the privately-owned buyback centres. Their days are long and they have no ablution facilities, no designated space to catch their breath, eat, obtain drinking water, network or socialise. This project is about changing that by facilitating the informal recycling sector, providing the convenient infrastructure without formalising the process. The term ‘convenient’ in this context encompasses spaces close to the buy-back centre, with low tech, low maintenance, mixed-use facilities. These facilities include secure sorting and storage spaces, sleeping, ablution and social spaces. The essence of this project is to encourage, empower and improve work and income potential in the informal waste recycling sector through simple, appropriate architectural interventions that are essentially selfmaintaining.

M.A. (Tourism & Hospitality Management) / Urban tourism is a growing sector of the tourism market therefore many large cities in developed and developing countries have adopted tourism-led approaches to urban regeneration. Urban tourism now forms part of the South African local and regional economic development strategies of all major cities such as Johannesburg, Cape Town, Durban, Port Elizabeth, East London and Bloemfontein. Cultural tourism in turn is perceived as the fastest growing type of tourism in the world, and can function as a powerful tool in urban regeneration and transformation. Urban regeneration has the potential to produce economic benefits, improve physical environment, inner-city image and the welfare of city residents. The focus of the study was to explore the role of Newtown Cultural Precinct as a tool for urban regeneration, local economic growth and increasing tourist flows to the Johannesburg inner-city. Data was collected using mix-methods designs. In the first phase qualitative data was collected from various stakeholders involved in the development and management Newtown Cultural Precinct, and in the second phase quantitative data was collected from both domestic and international tourists visiting the cultural precinct. The result of the study reveals that Newtown Cultural Precinct serves as a ‘catalyst’ for urban regeneration and shows great potential in stimulating local economic growth and attracting a greater number of visitors into the Johannesburg inner city. Newtown Cultural Precinct has achieved, so far, some of the benefits of urban regeneration such as turning Newtown into a safe, secure, vibrant and friendly environment, improving social dimension of city residents, creating easy access into Newtown as well as positive perceptions of the image of Johannesburg inner-city.