GCRO seminar on Industrialisation and sustainability in Gauteng: contradiction or coherence?

Gauteng City-Region Observatory seminar on Industrialisation and sustainability in Gauteng: contradiction or coherence?

Date:  Monday, 1 March 2010
Time:  12:45 for 13:00 – 16:00
Venue: University of Johannesburg, School of Tourism and Hospitality, Conference Room, Auckland Park, Bunting Road Campus (entrance off Annet Road).

Keynote speakers:
Prof Mark Swilling on the Gauteng Sustainability Strategy
Dr Susan Newman on the Gauteng Industrialisation Strategy

Discussant:   Hon. Firoz Cachalia, MEC for Economic Development, Gauteng Provincial Government

Chair:             Prof David Everatt, GCRO

Format:          20-25 minutes input from each speaker followed by questions and debate

Feedback from the presentation:

In response to the global economic crisis, the Gauteng Provincial Department of Economic Development commissioned both an industrialisation strategy, and a ‘green’ or sustainability strategy.  As many economies appear to be slowly (very slowly in some cases) emerging from the crisis, much counter-cyclical spending has been aimed at ‘green jobs’ and green technology; while on-going investment in infrastructure has been maintained in some places, and slashed in others. How should Gauteng, with ambitions to become a global city-region, respond? What should the industrialisation strategy comprise? Is it automatically ‘dirty’ - given its traditional reliance on the minerals and energy complex – or is a very different future possible, with a diversified economy, more local production, and more sustainable strategies? How do we industrialise and simultaneously improve the carbon footprint of the province and broader city-region? The GCRO, which helped draft the sustainability strategy, convened a seminar in March 2010, where two lead authors of the two strategies – Prof Mark Swilling and Dr Susan Newman - presented a summary of their argument, after the MEC for Economic Development, Hon. Firoz Cachalia, explained the scope and scale of the challenge facing his department. Some 50 participants debated the issue.

Presentations:

A Developmental Green Economy for Gauteng Professor Mark Swilling, Sustainability Institute

The Development of an Industrial Policy for Gauteng Province, CSID

Preliminary Reports:

A strategy for a developmental green economy for Gauteng

The Development of an Industrial Policy for Gauteng Province