Johannesburg is weathering a storm of crises. Nowhere is its complex tangle of challenges more visible than in the inner city, where crime, overcrowding, and infrastructure collapse – such as roads literally exploding – paint a grim picture. Cultural institutions haven’t been spared either, with long-standing landmarks like the Johannesburg Art Gallery caught in cycles of neglect and crisis.
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Yet, while many avoid the inner city or speak only of its decline, the creative and cultural practitioners of Johannesburg never left. In fact, artists, architects, fashion designers, animators, musicians and the like have been hard at work. They’re building, dreaming and shaping a new urban reality that could become the beacon of hope this city needs.
As a researcher and visual artist, I recently completed a PhD study that focused on Johannesburg’s cultural and creative industries. My research revealed that a clear understanding of the existing structures and dynamics within this industry is essential for developing effective strategies to strengthen its role in local economic development.
Here I explore one such opportunity: creative hubs. I argue that they represent a low-hanging fruit for the inner city’s growth and revitalisation.
Urban renewal
Numerous articles have explored strategies for the city’s economic development and urban renewal. One group of scholars recently outlined four critical focus areas: coordinated efforts across government levels; an active civil society; a shift in political culture; and restored leadership in a revitalised administration.
These are vital interventions, but they still beg a deeper question. What is the new “gold” of the “City of Gold”, the mining town founded in 1886 and on track to become a megacity by 2030?
What is it that truly sets Johannesburg apart, nationally and globally? What strengths already exist that, if nurtured, could help address the city’s challenges? The answer may not lie in building something entirely new, but in recognising and investing in what already thrives. The city’s people, its culture, and its extraordinary creativity.
In 2004, Unesco launched the Creative Cities Network. Today it comprises 246 cities in 80 member states. South Africa has three cities in the network: Cape Town (design), Durban (literature) and Overstrand (gastronomy). Johannesburg has never applied to belong.
Cities are acknowledging the economic and social value of the cultural and creative industries, particularly in addressing challenges such as youth unemployment, micro-enterprise growth, equity and community development.
Yet cities globally are grappling with how to retain creative professionals. This is the case in cities like Toronto, Sydney, Los Angeles, Cologne or Barcelona. Rising property prices, the redevelopment of industrial areas into commercial or luxury spaces, and short-term rental agreements are displacing these professionals from the urban cores they help energise. Cities are coming up with incentives and programmes to correct this.
A recent World Cities Cultural Forum report offers a solution in the form of Creative Land Trusts. These permanently hold land and assets at affordable rates for creatives. They take property out of speculative real estate markets. They’re designed to support not galleries or theatres, but the studios and workspaces where creative production actually happens.
Similar initiatives are happening in London, Helsinki and San Francisco.
Mapping Johannesburg’s creative hubs
Unlike cities that are trying to reverse the exodus of creatives, Johannesburg’s inner city has seen a recent surge in creative hub development.
A creative hub is a physical or digital space (in this case physical) designed to bring together cultural and creative professionals for studio space, collaboration, networking and the exchange of ideas.
Over the last year, 21 creative hubs have been mapped in the city, the majority newly established. Notable examples include Transwerke Studios, Asisebenze Art Atelier, Victoria Yards and Oovookoo. Remarkably, 19 of the 21 hubs identified in my open-source mapping process are in the inner city. Only two are government run – Transwerke and Downtown Music Hub.
Across Johannesburg, creative hubs buzz with independent activity, yet share a common commitment to cultivating talent, business support and community impact. They are evidence of innovative partnerships between creatives and property developers.
Inside these spaces, artists and creatives get opportunities through gallerist and investor visits (access to markets). They build practical and entrepreneurial skills through tailored workshops. And they collaborate on projects that place social upliftment at their heart.
Some hubs focus on offering studio spaces, while others extend their reach beyond their walls, blending artistic expression with community development and public engagement.
By actively building community and opportunity, creative hubs are becoming
lighthouses for the new urban economy.
They are small business incubators, urban beautification engines and potential cultural tourism hotspots. An event like Contra Fair opens the doors of art studio hubs once a year. Entrepreneur and social activist Tebogo Moalusi has now taken the lead in the establishment of Creative20. This will become a platform for revitalising Johannesburg’s creative cities campaign.
Neglected by the city
And yet the cultural and creative industries remain almost entirely absent from the city’s strategic planning. The Johannesburg 2040: Growth and Development Strategy fails even to mention the sector.
This is despite Gauteng, the province that houses Johannesburg, being the epicentre of South Africa’s creative economy. It contributes 46.3% of the industry’s gross domestic product and generates the highest employment impact. Johannesburg hosts the majority of creative businesses in the province.
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The Gauteng 2030 Strategy highlights three high-growth sectors: agro-processing, cultural and creative industries, and high-tech/knowledge sectors, including digital and gaming. Two of these directly involve the creative economy. Yet there’s been little effort to integrate them into Johannesburg’s urban development agenda.
If Johannesburg is serious about inclusive economic development and sustainable urban growth, it must recognise and invest in the cultural and creative industries which are already thriving within its borders.
Mariapaola McGurk consults to Creative20 Organisation
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