A pioneer of Jozi’s pavement restaurant culture, Greenside is at an impasse.
The neighbourhood needs to develop and re-imagine itself, but residents and business owners aren’t unanimous about the way forward.
Two clear paths have emerged – most want to recreate the suburb and rebuild it for the benefit of all, but there are those who believe wishful thinking will restore Greenside to its former glory.
The suburb of Greenside in Johannesburg has come to a significant juncture in the history of its development, the community needs to look ahead and decide what next step they must take to develop the suburb.
Greenside can either embrace a new vision for the suburb and revitalise the space. Alternately, there’s the option of wishing that Greenside would restore to its former glory.
Nostalgia’s good and well, but hard commercial truths must inform any decisions that are made about Greenside.
Residents of the area (Ward 87 and 88 in Census terms) have an average age of about 35. People between the ages of 20 to 29 make up the largest demographic share of the suburb.
One only needs to look at Maboneng and Braamfontein to realise the huge benefit these districts have accrued through concerted improvement.
The rewards have been increased footfall to commercial hubs in the area; a marked increase in property prices; and the ability to attract investment capital.
As important, there’s been significant enhancement to people’s experience of life; thriving entrepreneurial opportunities have been created; jobs have been created; and there’s been big benefit in tourism and cultural terms.
The new vision that has been presented for Greenside is big, bold and daring.
But it is a sustainable and well-reasoned proposition that looks set to breathe new life into the suburb, and has drawn in undesirable elements at times.
The imaginative plan – dubbed ‘Love Greenside’ – was created by the Greenside College of Design in collaboration with members of the Greenside Business Association and has been received enthusiastically from most at the Greenside Residents Association.
A collective of business owners drawn together in the common interest of preserving and promoting the suburb.
The big idea behind ‘Love Greenside’ is to re-imagine the suburb as a ‘cradle of design’ with a slogan: ‘Changing the world by design, 1% at a time’.
Design affects almost every aspect of urban existence – from the buildings that populate our neighbourhoods; to the clothes we wear; the spaces we live in and how they look; the aesthetics and nature of the technology we use; the games we play; the parks we rest in and much more.
A primary concept behind ‘Love Greenside’ is to transform the suburb into a place and space that everyone can love – not just the residents who call it home and the businesses that trade there.
Ideas for realising this include creating a green lung where people will be able to participate in a unique outdoor gym, another is to landscape the area using indigenous flora.
The latter is a proposed outdoor space that could prove popular as a children’s park with design-inspired interactivity, games and puzzles.
A public space in the neighbourhood will be transformed into a community ‘dream board’ where people can share thoughts, visuals and ideas. This ‘dream wall’ will be a place where everyone who co-habits or transits through Greenside can place thoughts, drawings and doodles about their vision for the neighbourhood.
The new plan seeks to re-imagine and brand Greenside as a suburb that’s different and unique.
Here, the design college proposes a unique logo and embraces the colour green for obvious reasons and strongly associates the suburb with sustainability, growth and commits to an eco-friendly future.
Besides the green lungs, there will be initiatives to reinvigorate the outdoor restaurants Greenside is famous for, while ‘tuk tuks’ will be used to ensure that the parking problem that plagued the area is no longer an issue.
Bolstering local businesses is a key driver of the campaign, but informal trading will not be ignored, and the initiative will look at creating a space with a high traffic throughput where emerging entrepreneurs, makers, crafters and the informal sector can benefit from the urban renewal.
Also key to the development is to give the young segment of our community a place to ‘play’ – a safe, but vibrant, strip filled with music, art, design and culture and that will cater for the youth market – the biggest part of Jozi’s population.
This is a remarkable opportunity for Greenside to embrace sustainable development with a strong emphasis on improving the environment for all, and the suburb needs to decide a way forward.
Wishing that Greenside will return to what it was during its heyday isn’t pro-active or useful.
There’s only one way to change the future and that’s through sustainable development.
Invest in Greenside with the vision of making it a better place for everyone living there, and knowing that this will bring greater custom, investment and improve the quality of life for all who live there and all who pass through it.
Details: Oresti Patricios; yebostaki@gmail.com
