SALGA CBD Revitalisation Implementation Plans: The PLACE Process
An implementation-focused extension of the Gauteng CBD revitalisation work to ten additional CBDs, using the PLACE Process to build partnership platforms between municipalities, businesses, traders and communities.
2025 · South African Local Government Association (SALGA) · Implementation planning and stakeholder facilitation · 12 months duration
Key contributors: Annemarie Loots
The South African Local Government Association, in partnership with Gauteng COGTA, sponsored this project to extend the CBD revitalisation approach to a further ten CBDs in Gauteng. Engagements showed most CBDs already had plans and strategies; the constraint was implementation, hampered by fragmented stakeholder relationships and weak coordination. The scope therefore shifted from producing another planning document to a people-centric, implementation-orientated approach.
Cadre adopted the PLACE Process (Platform to Leverage Area Contributions and Expertise) as the core methodology. Instead of asking stakeholders what they need from government, multistakeholder and co-creation workshops asked what each party could contribute, identifying practical activities within designated kickstart zones.
Applied across ten pilot CBDs, the process produced varying levels of success in establishing functioning partnership platforms and generated valuable lessons: relationship-building is slow, requires ongoing facilitation and visible action, and people-centric engagement is a necessary condition for sustainable revitalisation, not an alternative to planning.
Key figures: 10 additional CBDs | 12-month programme | Multistakeholder and co-creation workshops in each CBD