City of Johannesburg

Johannesburg Development Agency

No 3 Helen Joseph Street PO Box 61877 Tel +27(0) 11 688 7851 (O)
The Bus Factory Marshalltown Fax +27(0) 11 688 7899/63
Newtown 2107 E-mail: info@jda.org.za
Johannesburg, 2000

www.jda.org.za
www.joburg.org.za
To: All news editors
For immediate release
08 November 2022

TOWN PLANNING DAY: DIEPSLOOT GIRLS TAKE PART IN URBAN PLANNING

The “Indlela Yabafazi - Women’s Way” project, an innovative initiative that embodies all of the
principles of World Town Planning Day and is creating interest in town planning and creating
liveable communities

November 8 each year is World Town Planning Day (WTPD), also known as World Urbanism
Day. On this day, planners celebrate by hosting and engaging the role of planning in creating
liveable communities.

The Johannesburg Development Agency (JDA) operates within the context of spatial
transformation with a social, economic, and environmental mandate to develop resilient,
sustainable, and liveable urban areas in identified transit nodes and corridors.

The JDA’s Development Planning & Facilitation Unit has a team of urban planning,
development, and facilitation professionals.

Directors
L Brenner (Chairperson) M Mongane (CEO) S Moonsamy (CFO) LB Matshidze N Ntingane S Marota A Dreyer M Malinga W Thwala P Raphalalani C Whittle
R Shirinda (Company Secretary)
Registration Number: 2001/005101/07
An ongoing initiative within this unit is the “Indlela Yabafazi - Women’s Way” project, which
embodies all the principles of World Town Planning Day and is creating interest in town
planning and creating liveable communities.

The project currently being undertaken in Diepsloot, Region A, is based on the HerCity Toolkit,
a joint urban development initiative by UN-Habitat, the United Nations Human Settlements
Programme, and the independent Swedish think tank Global Utmaning (Global Challenge).

Together with the Johannesburg City Parks and Zoo (JCPZ), JDA “Indlela Yabafazi -
Women’s Way” project aims at creating safe routes connecting safe public spaces in the
Diepsloot informal settlement.

Through different tools and digital technologies for participatory planning and community
engagement, JDA, JCPZ and multi-stakeholders have been working alongside Diepsloot
young women and girls to redesign the area with a focus on accessibility, safety, and
inclusivity of public spaces for all.

About 38 girls from Diepsloot participated in the Her City toolbox intervention program to
assess the site and the city, collect data, analyse the challenges, and suggest solutions.

The digital toolbox guides urban actors to implement projects through a step-by-step
methodology that facilitates the ongoing dialogue between professionals and citizens. The
toolbox follows a process containing nine building blocks as a digital guideline on co-plan and
optimising cities from a girl’s perspective.

The nine blocks align with the three phases of the urban development process and will guide
cities through the assessment, design, and implementation phases.

The assessment and analysis of Diepsloot followed by recommendations to make the area a
safe and inclusive public space for all. The recommendations for action are:
 • Introduction of fencing to protect the neighbouring wetlands and provide a platform for
sports activities,
• Designing a bus stop, a treehouse, and a pedestrian bridge,
• Introduction of resources of leisure. The recreational activities like a library, tuck shop,
swimming pool, community park, and public art and sports facilities.

After the project, all participants received a certificate and a letter of recognition for having
participated in the project.

Ms Xolisile Sithole, Development Planning and Facilitation Specialist at the JDA, has worked
on the project since its inception. “It is recorded that the most common place for violence
incidences against women and children is in public spaces. It makes the voices and role of
women and children in shaping their communities very necessary,” she said.

“The planning, development and management of environments need to place the safety and
well-being of children, women, and the most vulnerable at the forefront of decision-making,”
Xolisile added.

ENDS
Issued by: Kenneth Nxumalo
Johannesburg Development Agency

For more information:

Elias Nkabinde
Email: enkabinde@jda.org.za
076 961 8022
www.jda.org.za