Over the past 15 years, creative industries have emerged as a popular focus in urban policy discourses and have been used as a lever for several urban regeneration initiatives in Northern cities. Minimal scholarship exists on creative industries and urban regeneration in the global South. Notwithstanding that in South Africa creative industries have been recognised in policy frameworks, limited scholarly research exists on creative industries and their relationship with the urban landscape. In terms of geography most creative enterprises in Johannesburg are scattered across the northern suburbs of the city. Over the past few years, however, there is evidence of creative enterprises re-centralising and clustering in inner-city fringe areas such as the Maboneng precinct. Using interviews with creative entrepreneurs and stakeholders the purpose of this paper is to analyse the case of the Maboneng precinct Johannesburg in terms of the role of creative industries in urban regeneration.

Research concerning studentification is growing in importance. The supply of private student accommodation forms part of the wider urban process of studentification which documents changes in the social, economic and cultural fabric of cities. Although scholarly interest concerning the supply of private student accommodation has enjoyed sustained interest in the global North, only limited work is available surrounding the supply and demand for private student accommodation in global South urban centres. In South Africa there has been growing recognition of the impact of the studentification that has accompanied the massification of tertiary education in the post-apartheid period. Using interviews with key stakeholders, suppliers of student accommodation, as well as focus groups with students, this paper explores the supply of houses in multiple occupation and students’ perspectives on such properties in Johannesburg, South Africa. One distinctive influence upon the studentification process in South Africa is the impact of the national government funding system which was restructured in order to support the tertiary education of students from previously disadvantaged communities.

The process of studentification has emerged as a new form of neighbourhood change in the global North over the past 16 years and often situated within broader debates on gentrification. The growth of private student housing across cities globally has been linked to the increased neoliberalisation and massification of higher education and the lack of universities to keep up with the supply of student housing. Limited scholarship, however, exists on studentification in the global South. Notwithstanding that, in South Africa there has been growing recognition of the impact of studentification on urban environments. Despite some recognition in smaller cities, studentification has been neglected in large urban contexts. Using interviews with key informants and focus groups with students, this paper explores the impact of studentification in the urban neighbourhood of Braamfontein in Johannesburg. Over the past decade and a half there has been evidence of the concentration of student geographies and the commodification of student lifestyle in Braamfontein, Johannesburg.

Creativity is an increasing scholarly focus for urban and economic geographers. The aim in this paper is to contribute to what is so far mainly a Northern literature around the locational characteristics of creative industries. The results are analysed from a comprehensive audit undertaken of creative industries in Johannesburg, South Africa’s leading economic hub. In common with certain other investigations of creative industries the largest component of enterprises in Johannesburg is creative services involving the production of goods or services for functional purposes. An aggregate picture emerges of the geography of creative industries in Johannesburg as strongly focused in suburban areas rather than the inner-city and its fringe areas. Nevertheless, certain differences are observed across the eight categories of creative industries. The evidence concerning the spatial distribution of creative industries in Johannesburg provides a further case for re-positioning the suburbs in post-Fordist debates around creative city economies and for re-examining neo-liberal cultural policies that preference inner-city areas.

No abstract