Johannesburg, Africa’s World City: A challenge to action
- Johannesburg is considered a ‘slipping world city’ as its future as an African success story and an attractive and competitive location for business is not assured.
- Johannesburg will only be rescued from its current malaise, and made to deliver its full potential, if the country and its residents stop taking it for granted.
- During the past two decades, the role of cities has changed profoundly; they now function in a global rather than a national economic context. This is as true of Johannesburg as it is of any other major city in the world.
- Johannesburg must become an ideal place in which to do business; it must attract the entrepreneurs, skilled managers, professionals, technicians, and all the other talented and energetic people essential to running a ‘world city’.
- South African decision-makers need to reconceptualise Johannesburg. It is no longer a mining town, but a post-industrial metropolis, which must take its place on the global grid of competitive world cities.
