On October 29, 2024, Mogale City Local Municipality in collaboration with the South African Local Government Association (SALGA) and Gauteng Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (COGTA) successfully hosted the 2024 Gauteng City Region Urban Festival at the city’s Centenary Hall.
This year’s festival brought together an array of sector stakeholders to engage in critical discussions surrounding urban development challenges and opportunities.
The festival served as a multifaceted platform for raising awareness about pressing urban issues, with a strong focus on climate action and sustainable practices. It facilitated meaningful dialogue, accelerating both climate initiatives and urban transformation while celebrating successful projects and youth-led innovations that demonstrate resilience in planning. By emphasising the critical role of youth and local leadership in policymaking, the festival forged essential partnerships, fostering a collaborative approach to a sustainable urban future.
Participants departed with a renewed sense of purpose and commitment to collaborative action, reaffirming the critical importance of sustainable urban development in building resilient communities.
While the successful hosting and fruitful engagements of this festival underscore the potential for ongoing dialogue and partnership in tackling the pressing challenges facing Gauteng’s urban areas, Mogale City contests on urban regeneration, homelessness and drug abuse, growing crime and other urban challenges have also once again been flagged.