Book talk: Johannesburg’s Wild Places: Parks, Rivers, Zoo and Cemeteries

Johannesburg is usually imagined as a concrete jungle of streets, buildings and mine dumps - but it is also a city of remarkable green spaces, waterways and wild places.

This month, for our regular Book Talk, JHF chair and heritage author David Fleminger will lead a panel discussion with Lucille Davie, James Delaney and Kathy Munro exploring Johannesburg beyond its buildings.

We’ll discuss some of the city’s less obvious heritage landscapes, including The Wilds (Johannesburg’s only proclaimed nature reserve), the city’s parks, the Jukskei River (an emerging urban water project), the Johannesburg Zoo, and the historic cemeteries that form an important part of the city’s green heritage.

Heritage writer Lucille Davie will discuss her work on Johannesburg’s parks, cemeteries and zoo, drawing attention to the stories, people and landscapes that lie behind these familiar places.

Multidisciplinary artist and rehabilitator of The Wilds, James Delaney will talk about The Wilds Project and its remarkable transformation from neglected urban landscape into a place where nature, heritage, community and conservation come together.

Heritage luminary and JHF Book Nook curator Kathy Munro will discuss the new HSRC Press book Johannesburg from the Riverbanks: Navigating the Jukskei and how Johannesburg’s waterways have shaped its growth and evolution.

Together, our speakers will ask what these spaces mean to Johannesburg today, and whether our parks, rivers, cemeteries and natural areas can be understood not simply as amenities, but as an essential part of the city’s heritage and identity.

The JHF Book Room will be open for sales before and after the talk.