Buffalo City: a university-city development strategy conceptional framework and implementation strategy: final report

Abstract

The report indicates that challenges in formulating and implementing urban and city-region development policies are impeding the adoption of effective inner-city regeneration models, such as those forged in other parts of the world. In this context, the fourth section of the report provides a detailed account of a stakeholder engagement process which took place in November 2018 at which many of the leading stakeholders in the sleeper site project and other urban regeneration processes expressed their concerns and interest. Local universities, government departments and the business community were represented. National Treasury and the Housing Development Agency made presentations. The workshop reaffirmed the need for conceptual clarity on the nature and form of the development strategy being forged by the BCMDA and its relationship to existing plans and programmes for the development of the city and the main interest groups and institutions. The fifth section returns to the idea of an anchor-plus city-campus strategy and highlights certain key aspects of such an approach in terms of possible demarcation and design. This progress report lays the foundation for further discussion and strategic reflection as the project develops. In sum, its purpose is to help clarify an approach for the BCMDA to adopt in its advocacy of a 'university city' and to specify how such an approach might be aligned with the realities of the city and the current opportunities. This report is intended primarily as a conceptual tool that will orientate a strategic planning framework, which will emerge through further research and engagement.