In the last 20 years, City Improvement Districts (CIDs) have played a pivotal role in revitalising some of Joburg’s decaying business nodes, contributing to the monetary value of their neighbourhoods by shoring up the property market and increasing economic activity to generate additional revenue for the municipality.

A global model for rejuvenating commercial areas in declining central business districts (CBDs), CIDs have had to be established in several areas across Johannesburg to curb a deteriorating inner city caused by capital flight, the growth of suburban commerce and industry, and deindustrialisation.

Necessitated by rising crime and grime, souring levels of unemployment and poverty, and rising economic informality, as well as ur¬ban degradation, and economic blight, CIDs have become active collaborators with the City of Johannesburg in urban design, planning and management.

CIDs benefit both the community and the municipality, including the focused management of inner-city neighbourhoods, which bring pride in communal achievements and create social responsibility, as well as environmental awareness (recycling, greening, energy efficiency, and conservation).

Services provided by CIDs are more focused on security, cleanliness, marketing, and business development. They are intended to change negative perceptions about decaying areas and reverse business and urban deterioration.

“CIDs play a significant role in providing additional top-ups to municipal services to enhance public safety and supplement cleaning services. They are also important in fostering relations with the City through public-private partnerships,” explains Krishni Gounden, the Acting Unit Head for the Special Projects Unit (SPU) in the office of the City Manager.

Through business plans established by each CID, public spaces are upgraded and repurposed, including landscaping and refurbishing existing public art, capital improvements, access to public transportation, pedestrianisation, access to parking, joint branding, place-making, and place-promotion.

“CIDs assist in combating urban decay and degeneration by upgrading and improving the urban environment as well as attracting and retaining investment,” says Gounden.

Since their promulgation, CIDs have had several outcomes, including the attraction of new capital investments, marketing and promotion of their nodes, and an increase in property value. All property owners contribute to the budget and have control over the money to be spent in the CID.

Through improved and sustainable urban management, CIDs create job opportunities and stimulate the local economy. This has resulted in numerous positive spinoffs for the municipality, including enhanced service delivery and improved community relations. The protection of the rate base prevents CBDs and other areas from urban degeneration.

“CIDs provide a new and positive identity from which to launch a coordinated effort to maintain and improve the asset base and quality of life in Johannesburg, attracting ongoing investment and development,” Gounden adds.

CIDs define how urban space is regulated. Although they are publicly sanctioned and privately run, they have extensive sociocultural and socio-spatial outcomes, combining local economic development, urban management, and security to reshape urban neighbourhoods and improve the quality of life. As a result, the City and its residents reap the benefits when a CID in established.

Services rendered by each CID are supplementary to those offered by the municipality and operate solely within the boundaries of each neighbourhood.

“There is always an opportunity for communities to establish CIDs in Johannesburg,” she says.

Gounden notes that the municipality continues to work closely with the Gauteng Precinct Management Association (GPMA), a not-for-profit company to provide a platform to strengthen the collective voice of CIDs in the province.

“The municipality is thankful to its CID partners for their continued work and the role they play.”

The Johannesburg inner city has about 14 voluntary CIDs, including Bank City, Newtown, Braamfontein, and the ABSA precinct on the eastern periphery of the CBD, which all demonstrate how the model actively contributes to the revitalisation of the central business district. Vibrant CIDs outside the inner city include Parktown, Rosebank, Randburg, and Sandton.

The first CID was established in the Johannesburg city centre in the early nineties as a special purpose vehicle to facilitate collaboration between business and the community. Later known as the Central Johannesburg Partnership (CJP), the alliance has worked for the benefit of all stakeholders in the neighbourhood.

“It is important for the City, its residents and the businesses it serves to work together and share resources for the safety and upkeep of our beloved inner city,” says Gounden

In September 2015, the Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA) ruled on the validity of levies imposed under the Gauteng City Improvement Districts Act (the CID Act), which governs the imposition of levies on rateable, immovable properties located in a CID.

The decision prompted stakeholders to demand a review of the legislative and regulatory framework in South Africa for Legislated Management Districts. Due to the SCA’s decision, all co-managed areas in Gauteng now function as voluntary CIDs. Since voluntary establishments lack legal authority and legislative support, their ability to operate depends on the loyalty of the property owners who make up their constituency.

“The municipality is currently in the process of implementing a Special Rating Areas Policy and by-law that will allow a legislated and sustainable process of establishing CIDs,” says Gounden.

Here’s a list of CIDs in the Johannesburg inner city: