MyJHB

Stuff from Johannesburg

Continue your journey to excellence at the Dell Technologies Forum in Johannesburg

Johannesburg in the news:

  1. Continue your journey to excellence at the Dell Technologies Forum in Johannesburg: Are you wondering if multi-cloud environments can be managed better? Do you believe that, as a medium or small business, emerging technologies … – Google Alert – Johannesburg
  2. Alex Shutdown Movement opens case against Herman Mashaba: JOHANNESBURG – The Alexandra Total Shutdown Movement has opened a case against Mayor Herman Mashaba for contravening a court order … – Google Alert – Johannesburg
  3. Founders Factory is going live in Paris: After London and Johannesburg, startup accelerator and incubator Founders Factory is launching a third city — Paris. Once again, the company is … – Google Alert – Johannesburg
  4. Comic Con Africa welcomes first-ever KidsCon to Johannesburg: Cape Town – The highly anticipated Comic Con Africa 2019 welcomes the youngest member of the family to its spectacular four-day offering, KidsCon! – Google Alert – Johannesburg
  5. Air Madagascar commences Antananarivo-Johannesburg service: Air Madagascar, via its official Facebook account, announced (18-Jun-2019) it commence twice weekly Antananarivo-Johannesburg service with … – Google Alert – Johannesburg

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Have you tried: Visiting Port Elizabeth?

Did you know this about Johannesburg? Johannesburg City Hall was constructed in 1914 by the Hawkey and McKinley construction company. The plan for the building was drawn in 1910 and construction was started in 1913 and finished in 1914. The style is described as Edwardian Baroque with a portico of Ionic columns and tower with a half dome entrance described as neo-Renaissance. Florence Phillips, an art collector and the wife of mining magnate Lionel Phillips, established the first collection for the Johannesburg Art Gallery using funds donated by her husband. The architect, Sir Edwin Lutyens, came to South Africa in 1910 to examine the site and begin the designs, after Lady Florence Phillips had secured funding from the city for a purpose-built museum. The gallery was possibly Luytens’s first public building in the Beaux Arts style. It was built with a south-facing entrance, but was not completed according to the architect’s designs. It was opened to the public, without ceremony, in 1915, just after the start of the First World War.

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The World’s Largest Man-Made Urban Forest

One of the most surprising facts about Johannesburg is its status as a “green” city. When the first settlers arrived, the Highveld was a barren, treeless grassland (savannah). To support the mining industry, millions of trees were imported and planted to provide timber for mine underground supports. Fast forward to the present day, and Johannesburg is widely considered the largest man-made urban forest in the world.

There are an estimated 10 million trees within the city limits. This includes 1.2 million trees on sidewalks and in parks, and over 4.8 million in private gardens. This forest is so dense that satellite images of the northern suburbs often resemble a tropical rainforest. The most iconic of these trees is the Jacaranda, which was imported from South America in the early 20th century. Every October and November, the city turns a vibrant shade of purple as thousands of Jacarandas bloom simultaneously. However, this “forest” also highlights the city’s historical inequality; during the Apartheid era, trees were predominantly planted in wealthy white suburbs, leaving townships like Soweto as dusty plains. In the last two decades, “Greening Soweto” initiatives have seen hundreds of thousands of trees planted to bridge this “green divide,” emphasizing the role of urban forestry in social justice and climate cooling.