A study of the decentralised business nodes of the post-apartheid city of Durban : toward a new business district as part of the greater Durban business system.

Examples of how office decentralization has been used as urban renewal projects are discussed, because it is the author's opinion that this should happen more often, especially in South Africa. Previous studies of three cities that have undergone office decentralization are discussed in the next chapter.

INTRODUCTION

Background of the Study

Motivation/Justification of Study

This provides a unique opportunity to investigate the suitability of the location of decentralized office nodes in eThekwini Municipality. Page | The three business hubs that occurred toward the end of the regime and beyond are a largely untouched topic.

PROBLEM STATEMENT

The urban spatial and hierarchical structure of a city or country is stubbornly resistant to a change in emphasis on location. In conclusion, in this section it can be seen that more attention must be paid to the logistics regarding town and city planning, infrastructure implementation, but above all to the location of decentralized economic nodes in South Africa as a result of the urban scars caused by Apartheid.

OBJECTIVES

Page | 4 It can be observed that other South African cities have had a more controlled approach to office decentralization (as in the case of Durban), while others have resisted it (as in the case of Cape Town). How can the concept of office decentralization be used to counter the strict planning rules imposed on cities during Apartheid.

DELIMITATION

Kevin Lynch’s Theories of City Form and its Elements

As density and overcrowding increase in the Central Business District (CBD), the functions that least need to be there move away (Daniels. Generally these are overcrowding, crime, and high land values in the center and low land values in the the suburbs.

South African Spatial Structure

According to Daniels, decentralization is "a process or procedure that results in the withdrawal or redistribution of something from a place or center where it has previously been concentrated". City councils can introduce policies that encourage businesses to move to new decentralized areas in an attempt to solve social, environmental and economic problems in the city as a whole.

RÉSUMÉ OF THE DISSERTATION STRUCTURE

In relation to this topic, the methodology is to achieve an understanding of international trends in office decentralization with a theoretical understanding of the fragmented urban form in relation to South African cities. To achieve this understanding, qualitative analysis will be conducted in South African cities as well as international cities.

SUMMARY

Page | 8 look at the social, environmental and economic issues unique to South Africa in general and then to Durban specifically in a case study.

A SYSTEMS APPROACH TO PLANNING

PLANNING

SYSTEMS

Objects
Attributes

Cybernetic systems, whereby "the transmission and interpretation of information is an essential part of the system." This means that the scope of the system varies according to the subject we are looking at.

SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS

On the subject of "size" of the system, Chadwick says it is a matter of the level of complexity of the system, as opposed to physical scale. In terms of the "size" and "scale" of the system, the "larger" system will be the metropolitan region, and the elements or objects will be the various centers within the city.

THEORIES OF CITY FORM AND ELEMENTS

URBAN ELEMENTS

Paths
Edges
Districts
Landmarks

People identify parts of the city by what the part is used for, for example the Central Business District. A hub or a break point in transport has a very important place in the eyes of the city's observers.

URBAN FORM

The Linkage System

Page | 23 Land use intensities in these centers are high, leading to multi-storey solutions, but there is a requirement of a local movement system that is not linked to the inter-centre movement due to the land use intensity in the center itself. Because of the general linkage through a region of this form, a certain amount of clearing, disorganization and waste can occur without disrupting the system as these activities can be bypassed.

The Radial System

The location and hierarchical rank of the foci depend on the intersection of major paths. It would be important to maintain visual contact with the centers and open spaces from the highway.

MOVEMENT SYSTEMS AND PERCEPTION OF SPACE

Simultaneous Movement Systems

As a city's movement systems are used over time, they become deeply embedded in the community's psychology (Bacon, 1980: 35). Drive systems must also match the tempo of the type of drive system it is designed for.

BACKGROUND

The Country Magnet
The Town-Country Magnet

This book introduced Howard's concept of the Garden City and social and political reform to the world. Hybrids of the garden city concept can be found in many cities around the world.

SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS

Ebenezer Howard's Garden City concept was never fully implemented, but it made waves around the world. It influenced planners and reformers in many countries around the world, even if they partially implemented the concept.

MODERNIST PLANNING

Modernist planners had an "overriding concern with separation." The four functions, or zones, mentioned above were "deliberately divided into monofunctional areas". Page | The functions of 40 modernist cities are separated in the form of zones, and “that's it.

SPATIAL PLANNING AND THE APARTHEID CITY

These poorest members of society, predominantly black, were seen as a source of cheap labor and were exploited as such. They were much closer to the economic center of the city, i.e. closer to economic and social opportunities than the poorest members of society (Boraine.

MOVEMENT AND THE APARTHEID CITY

When someone takes a trip, the value of the activity the destination provides is enough to justify the trip in the first place. This is the essence of the location disadvantage inherent in all Apartheid cities, where time is taken from the poor in the form of transportation.

NEW URBANISM

Introduction
Summary of New Urbanism in South Africa

The idea of a fully mixed node is one of the primary objectives of New Urbanism. Other drawbacks to New Urbanism in South Africa are the security and transportation issues in the country.

SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS

This is the primary problem with Melrose Arch because it purports to be an example of New Urbanism, but it is exclusive to the upper class due to a boom gate. The following section will discuss office decentralization in general and then the case specifically for South Africa.

WHAT IS MEANT BY OFFICE EMPLOYMENT?

Definition of ‘office’
Office typologies

They are generally single-tenant because the office functions are directly related to the processes in the production section of the building. These types are popular in "compact city" developments where you can live, work and play in one area.

A HISTORY OF TRANSPORTATION TECHNOLOGY

The Railway
The Streetcar
The Private Automobile
The Issue of Transportation in Developing Countries

Shortly after the widespread use of the tram, the private automobile was invented. Challenges facing developing countries seem to include the timing of the introduction of transport.

THE ROAD TO EMPLOYMENT DECENTRALISATION

Commercial Decentralisation

Most of today's developed countries and cities started with relatively small transport investments. But with the decentralization of the residential population to the suburbs, office growth in these suburbs soon followed due to the pressure of the great distances the public traveled to their workplaces.

COMMERCIAL COMMERCIAL

Public transport cannot compete with the superior travel times of the private car for longer journeys between dispersed destinations.” And as decentralization and dispersal continue, “an increasing share of the population will live [and work] in lower density areas, where accessibility by cycling and walking is poor. With an increase in land use intensity, the streets are bound to become clogged with both pedestrian and vehicular traffic.

RESIDENTIAL

Cost of Land (Daniels, 1975: 160)

The cost of land at the primary central node is generally more expensive than land at the periphery of the city which, when other conditions at the center approach a critical point, makes the decision to leave the center a much easier one to make. to take. In terms of real estate development, it is much cheaper to buy a piece of farmland on the outskirts of a city and rezone it than to do the same in an already built-up area of the city (Fowler.

Need to Expand (Daniels, 1975: 160)

Building a Corporate Identity

In the case of office parks, companies are attracted by the possibility of a location surrounded by lawns, trees and landscaping that would form an integral part of the work environment (Daniels.

POLICIES AND STRATEGIES FOR EMPLOYMENT DECENTRALISATION

Relocation of Existing Businesses
Incremental Job Creation
Encouraging New Businesses
Attracting International Investments
Deconcentration of Land Use for Political Reasons

Encouraging the opening of new businesses can encourage a population to become more creative and to establish a competitive base in order to reduce. In the case of South Africa in the 1970s, the Apartheid government became nervous about the overconcentration of office development in the city center and encouraged the relocation of offices to decentralized nodes in the suburbs (Boraine.

CONSEQUENCES OF DECENTRALISATION

More will be discussed about Johannesburg decentralization in the precedent study of the city later in this document. The impact of localized employment benefits from an office relocation depends "on the demand for labor that they generate and the supply of labor in the area." Labor demand will depend on the distance the office has moved.

THE POST-APARTHEID CITY

The photo was taken from the roof of the Carlton Center - the tallest building in Johannesburg. Breaking up the cellular structure of settlements by promoting long connecting pathways of movement that help 'weave' the fabric together."

OFFICE DECENTRALISATION IN SOUTH AFRICAN CITIES

South Africa's urban settlements are "out of step with most people's economic realities and completely unsustainable". Settlements do not serve as a means to support and uplift the majority of the population, but rather depress them and hinder them personally. The new decentralized nodes are located in or near affluent suburbs, which are deliberately designed to limit the movement of the urban poor into these areas.

DECENTRALISATION AS A MEANS OF URBAN RENEWAL

Urban Renewal
Walter Sisulu Square, Kilptown, Soweto, South Africa
Summary

It was a two-day meeting that demonstrated a collective resistance to the Apartheid regime and culminated in the creation of The Freedom Charter (Barac, 2007: 40). The sheer scale of the structures, as well as their infrastructural feel, is evident in this image (Low, 2007: 18).

SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS

Also discussed in this section was office decentralization in South Africa, which does not seem to have helped the disjointed, fragmented and scattered nature of our cities. Gauteng is the smallest province in South Africa by area, but houses the largest part of the population, which is about 11 million (www.StatsSA.gov.za).

CHALLENGES OF DECENTRALISATION IN JOHANNESBURG

Johannesburg is the largest city in southern Africa, and is also the region's financial capital. Johannesburg is the largest city not located on a lake, river or coastline (www.southafrica.to).

THE SOLUTION

This led to the introduction of the Gautrain bus, which runs in sync with the Gautrain train system. Note where it says "Metrorail", the Gautrain connects to the existing commuter rail network which predominantly serves the lower income groups (www.gautrain.co.za).

SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS

BACKGROUND

Note how the lagoon separates the CBD from the rest of the city (www.wikipedia.org).

CHALLENGES OF DECENTRALISATION IN LAGOS

PAST SOLUTIONS

Each of the six major communities would be located along a zone of central functions that would have enabled further growth. These centers and development corridors would attract a large part of the population that would otherwise have been concentrated in Lagos (Ladas, 1979: 10).

CURRENT SOLUTIONS

According to Lagos Rail, the Blue Line will travel through one of the busiest corridors in the city. These are the routes that would be accessible to the majority of the population in the most congested parts of the city.

BACKGROUND

CHALLENGES OF DECENTRALISATION IN MELBOURNE

However, there is concern that the integrity of the CBD and the efficiency of the public transport system will not be sustainable due to the rapid population growth Melbourne has seen in recent years (Lahey, 2009). This would increase the efficiency of the public transport system while providing access to a larger part of the population.

SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS

Rob Adams' theory proposes a method of decentralizing the city to prevent the process of sprawl. This theory should work, but to solve the other problems facing the city of Melbourne, the capacity of the public transport network would need to be significantly increased, and its scale would need to be increased to include regular services to the outer suburbs.

CASE STUDY: THE CITY OF DURBAN

OFFICE DECENTRALISATION IN DURBAN, SOUTH AFRICA BACKGROUND
EXISTING DECENTRALISED OFFICE NODES IN THE GREATER DURBAN AREA AREA

This port has always been an important part of the city's economy, creating many jobs in the industry. Generally they chose affluent suburbs: first Berea and Westville to the immediate west and further west of the CBD, later La Lucia Ridge and Umhlanga Ridge which are 15 kilometers north of the CBD, and finally Kloof and Hillcrest which are approx. 30 kilometers west of the CBD, and seen as wealthy white suburbs.

OFFICE LOCATION

CENTRAL BUSINESS DISTRICT AND BEREA

There are two train stations, but they are located on the fringes of the CBD (Author: 2010). This probably adds to private vehicles on the road, because in South Africa it is perceived that public transport is for.

WESTVILLE

It is a large office park which has a single entrance and extends deep into the country. From this image it can be seen that West End Office Park allows more urban space for pedestrians than Derby Downs Office Park.

KLOOF AND HILLCREST

Office Location: Kloof and Hillcrest

They have become hubs of economic activity because the people living in Hillcrest and Kloof would travel great distances to work in Durban. Low-density offices and office parks have been built along the M13 motorway, which runs through these areas, as well as along Old Main Road, which runs through Hillcrest.

LA LUCIA RIDGE AND UMHLANGA RIDGE

THE CITY OF DURBAN’S SPATIAL DEVELOPMENT STRATEGY

Mixed Investment Node: Bridge City, Kwa Mashu
Major Investment Node: Ridgeside, Umhlanga

Bridge City Shopping Center is designed to house a railway station under the building with a taxi rank on the roof. It is clear from this diagram that the city is trying to implement a system that is understandable to all members of the public.

ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION OF QUESTIONNAIRES

QUESTION 1: BACKGROUND OF RESPONDENTS

ANALYSIS OF QUESTION 1
SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS

QUESTION 2: EXISTING PUBLIC TRANSPORT

QUESTION 3: REASONS FOR NOT USING PUBLIC TRANSPORT

QUESTION 4: POSSIBLE SOLUTIONS PART 1

QUESTION 5: POSSIBLE SOLUTIONS PART 2

Central Business Districts versus Central Activity Districts
Spreading Economic Opportunities

QUESTION 6: OFFICE LOCATION FACTORS

CONCLUSION
Your Name (for my identification purposes only. It will not be disclosed in the research document)
In which area/suburb/township do you live? (Please state the street and the area name) Hedge Row, Brighton Beach, Bluff
In which area/suburb/township do you work? (Please state the street and area name) Umhlanga Ridge
How far in terms of distance is the place you live from the place you work?
How long in terms of time during peak and off-peak periods is the place you live from the place you work?
What forms of public/communal transport are available in the place you live? (e.g
Do you use public/communal transport to get from the place you live to the place you work?
If you answered ‘yes’ to question 2.3, which mode/s of transport do you use?
For what reason do you use the mode/s of public/communal transport mentioned in question 2.4?
Do you find the public transport system easy to use and understand?
If you answered ‘yes’ to question 2.7, what makes the public transport system easy to use and understand?
If you answered ‘no’ to question 2.7, what makes the public transport system difficult to understand?
For what reason do you not use public transport?
Seeing that office decentralisation has occurred in Durban, do you think it would be useful to link all the locations in the city where offices have appeared by a means of
Could you explain your answer to question 4.1?
If you answered ‘yes’ to question 4.1: could you choose one of the following modes of public transport which you think would suit the task of linking the areas in which
If a ‘town centre’ existed with work opportunities available in the area in which you live, would you choose to work there rather than at your present place of work?
Please explain your answer to question 5.1
Would your perception of Central Business Districts change if they were known as
Please explain your answer from question 5.3
Do you think spreading economic opportunities throughout the city, including the creation of new economic nodes in previously disadvantaged townships like
If you answered ‘no’ to question 5.5, could you explain your answer?

21% of respondents did not think it would be useful to connect all decentralized office nodes with public transport. 29% of respondents said they would choose not to work in the area in which they live.

END OF QUESTIONNAIRE Thank you for your time

Are you thinking of connecting the decentralized office areas by intensifying development? to increase population and business density) along existing routes between these areas to maximize the efficiency of existing public transport would slow the rate at which Durban is growing geographically. Do you think that spreading economic opportunities across the city, including creating new economic hubs in previously disadvantaged townships, such as creating new economic hubs in previously disadvantaged townships such as KwaMashu, Inanda and Umlazi, will be beneficial to both businesses and local residents?