Spatial Development Framework 2040: City of Johannesburg Metropolitan Municipality

The Spatial Development Framework 2040 for Johannesburg is a city-wide spatial policy document developed by the City of Johannesburg in collaboration with The Urban Planning and Design Lab from UN-Habitat, Iyer Urban Design Studio and Urban the Morphology & Complex Systems Institute. The document identifies the main challenges and opportunities in the city, setting a spatial vision for the future city, and outlining a set of strategies that to realize that vision. The core objective of the SDF 2040 is to ‘create a spatially just world class African city’. The SDF 2040 is premised on the notion of spatial transformation, defined through the principles of equity, justice, resilience, sustainability and urban efficiency which this SDF seeks to translate into a development policy. The SDF was develop through a participatory process gathering opinions from a wide range of stakeholders.

The SDF is not a static master plan; rather, it is a dynamic model of strategic planning that will be cyclically reviewed, adjusting the focus and direction based on city.