The City of Johannesburg has produced five iterations of its City Development
Strategy over the last 17 years with the latest CDS Joburg 2040, launched in 2011.
This dissertation argues that the City of Joburg’s leading role in negotiating for
developmental local government paved the way for long term planning at the local
government sphere. CDSs prior to Joburg 2040 were developed as technical
documents prioritising the needs of the municipal institution over citizens. Formulating
Joburg 2040 epitomised a combination of economic and political conflicts taking place
in the city. Joburg 2040 attempted to break the path dependence of urban growth and
development by re-envisioning the imperative of urban transformation. Thus, Joburg
2040 attempted to emphasise a political imperative of an incoming leadership that
was willing to listen and engage with citizens by coproducing a long term vision for
the City. As participation has being ineffective in facilitating active involvement of the
citizenry, participatory processes have served the needs of the municipality rather
than citizens. Joburg 2040 was a politically championed process of developing a CDS
that attempted to change that status quo.