Municipal Industrial Space Revitalisation Toolkit

The Industrial Space Revitalisation (ISR) toolkit is designed to support the redevelopment of brownfield industrial areas in South African metropolitan municipalities. Created by the Cities Support Programme (CSP), the toolkit emerged from ISR pilot projects initiated in December 2019 to address urban and economic challenges in industrial zones.
 

The programme’s objective was to build the capacity of cities:

• To retain and expand investment by firms, through “getting the basics right”.
• To retain and expand employment opportunities in proximity to townships and informal settlements.
• To put in place institutional urban management mechanisms to ensure the effective and ongoing management of these spaces.
• To build community awareness regarding the value of these spaces in terms of employment generation and economic inclusion and development. | To build local business networks to facilitate access to available incentives, markets and business support.

The toolkit serves as a practical guide for various stakeholders, including municipalities, businesses, communities, trade unions, and NGOs. It incorporates global and local best practises, aiming to foster collaboration among these groups for sustainable industrial development. Its guidance includes steps for understanding local industrial challenges, developing revitalisation strategies, and building institutional frameworks for managing these spaces. The toolkit hopes to encourage shared understanding, capacity-building, and collective solutions to industrial revitalisation, with the goal of contributing to the broader social and economic development of both industrial spaces and surrounding communities.

Abstract based on original source.