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The Maboneng Precinct: A “Place of Light” in the Urban Core

The word Maboneng means “Place of Light” in Sotho, and it is an apt name for a neighborhood that rose from the literal and figurative shadows of Johannesburg’s inner-city decay. Located on the eastern edge of the Central Business District (CBD) in a sub-district once known as City and Suburban, this area was historically a collection of light-industrial warehouses and gritty manufacturing plants. During the 1990s and early 2000s, as capital flight saw businesses flee the city center for the fortified suburbs of Sandton and Rosebank, these blocks became a “no-go zone” characterized by hijacked buildings, crime, and urban flight.